Two residents, including an 11-year-old boy, are dead following riots at the village of Cubulco in Guatemala's Baja Verapaz department. Protesters torched the home of the mayor, Rolando Rivera, and the village remains occupied by a large detachment of the National Civil Police (PNC) and elite Special Police Forces (FEP). Police used tear gas in clashes with residents who responded with Molotov cocktails. The deaths apparently occurred when Rivera's private security force opened fire on protesters. The protests were sparked by Rivera's plans to renovate the town's central park two weeks before the municipal elections, in which he is running again with the right-wing Patriot Party (PP). (Prensa Libre, Aug. 28) Forty have been murdered nationwide in political violence during the presidential campaign now underway, in which a leading candidate is the PP's Otto Perez Molina, a former military intelligence chief who promises a security crackdown under the slogan of "The Iron Fist." (The Telegraph, Aug. 26)

From AP, Aug. 28:

Mexico has broken its record for the most extraditions to the United States in a year, shipping a man north of the border Tuesday who is wanted in Georgia for drug trafficking. Hilario Larrago, who faces methamphetamine trafficking charges, is the 64th fugitive sent to the United States by Mexico this year. Last year, Mexico sent 63 suspects to the United States, U.S. Ambassador in Mexico Tony Garza said in a statement.

From Amnesty International, Aug. 23:

Evictions crisis deepens for Palestinian villagers
The Israeli army has increased efforts to force Palestinian villagers out of the Jordan Valley region of the occupied West Bank, by destroying villagers’ homes and restricting their movement and access to water. Humsa and Hadidiya, two hamlets in the north of the Jordan Valley, are among the targeted villages. More than 100 villagers, most of them children, risk losing their homes and being forced out of the area.

From Amnesty International, Aug. 23:

Iran: Authorities thwart campaign for gender equality
Women's rights activists in Iran face imprisonment. Activists campaigning for gender equality in Iran are unable to exercise their rights to freedom of expression and association, as shown by a number of recent arrests. Many of those arrested are supporters of the Campaign for Equality, a network which works to end legal discrimination against women.

From Fox News, Aug. 28:

Washington Post, Other Newspapers Won't Run 'Opus' Cartoon Mocking Radical Islam
A popular comic strip that poked fun at the Rev. Jerry Falwell without incident one week ago was deemed too controversial to run over the weekend because this time it took a humorous swipe at Muslim fundamentalists.

We recently posed the question of whether the relentless bloodshed in Iraq is fundamentally a national liberation struggle or a sectarian civil war. Which does it look like to you? From AP, Aug. 28:

31 killed at Iraqi religious festival
BAGHDAD — A power struggle between rival Shiite groups erupted during a religious festival in Karbala on Tuesday, and at least 31 people were killed by gunmen with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades who fought street battles amid crowds of pilgrims.

From the New York Times, Aug. 25:

Head-On Collision in Connecticut Kills 4 Teenagers and Injures 3 Adults
BRISTOL, Conn. — Four teenagers from nearby towns who had met on MySpace never made it home from an evening swim at another friend’s pool on Thursday night. They were killed when the driver of their speeding Subaru sports car lost control and veered into an oncoming car in the opposite lane, according to the police and interviews with young people who knew them.

Two days after launching aerial attacks on Shi'ite enclaves in Baghdad, the US is accused of air raids on police stations in the Kurdish autonomous zone. Jabar Yawer, spokesman for the Kurdish peshmerga militia, said a US helicopter attacked two Kurdish police outposts on Aug. 26, killing four police, wounding eight and destroying two vehicles. "We demand American troops to give an explanation for the US air strike against a police station," the Kurdish Interior Ministry said in a statement. The US military said it was investigating the report.