With the choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is not backing down from oil drilling. Palin is a champion for drilling, the Bush-Cheney approach to energy policy that brought us $4-per-gallon gasoline and the rising threat of global warming.

A federal jury Aug. 28 acquitted former US Marine Sgt. Jose Luis Nazario Jr. of voluntary manslaughter and other charges in the first civilian trial for crimes allegedly committed by a member of the US military in Iraq. After six hours of deliberation, a jury in US District Court for the Central District of California found Nazario not guilty of ordering his squad to shoot four unarmed Iraqi men in a house they had just searched in Fallujah in 2004. In addition to manslaughter, Nazario was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.

On the morning of Aug. 27, UC Berkeley campus police raided the Long Haul Infoshop on Shattuck Ave. in South Berkeley, breaking down the door and confiscating all computers on the premises. Computers taken included those used by East Bay Prisoner Support and the collective that publishes the Slingshot newspaper. Police also broke into cabinets, cut locks, and went through mail. A statement from the Long Haul claimed Alameda County deputies and FBI agents were also involved in the raid.

A new report by the Israeli group Peace Now said Israel has nearly doubled construction in its West Bank settlements this year—violating commitments under the US-backed "road map" peace plan even as it pursued revived talks with the Palestinians. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who met with Israeli and Palestinian officials for a second day in a bid to move negotiations forward, said she had told the Israelis that settlement activity is "not helpful."

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) reported that an investigation by its human rights team found that some 90 civilians were killed, including 60 children, during operations carried out by international and Afghan military forces on Aug. 21 in Shindand district in Afghanistan's western Herat province—contradicting claims of the US government.

Jumma man Ladu Moni Chakma was hacked to death Aug. 26 by a group of Bengali settlers at his home in the Sajek area of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh. His wife, Shanti Bala Chakma, who was also attacked, was taken to hospital. Local people believe that Ladu Moni Chakma was targeted because he had given information to members of the recently reformed Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission about settlers stealing land from the indigenous tribes of the area.

India's Border Security Force has launched a new initiative to combat "illegal" infiltration of peasants from Bangladesh into Assam and other northeastern states. The Assam Assembly witnessed noisy scenes last month after the state government announced that Bangladesh and neighboring Indian states were encroaching on the state's land. Assam authorities said nearly 500 acres of land was being encroached on by Bangladesh along the border while 87 hectares of land was illegally occupied by the states of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya and a small stretch by West Bengal. Scientists warn that low-lying Bangladesh, if inundated by sea-level rise and flooding, could send millions of refugees into neighboring countries. (Daily Green, Aug. 26; Assam Tribune, Aug. 25; Zee News, July 15)

Food riots erupted Aug. 27 in eastern India, where more than 2 million people have been forced from their homes and about 250,000 houses destroyed in the worst flooding in 50 years. One person was killed in Madhepura district when villagers clashed over limited supplies of food at overcrowded relief centres. The Kosi River in Bihar state smashed through mud embankments and changed course last week, inundating hundreds of villages and towns and killing nearly 50. The devastation has strained India's ties with Nepal, since the disaster is apparently due to deforestation and failure to maintain enbankments upstream in Nepalese territory. (Reuters, PTI, Aug. 27; Times of India, Aug. 28)