Colombian authorities detained 14 top paramilitary leaders Aug. 16, saying they were not complying with the amnesty law. The leaders, who include two former commanders wanted in the United States on drug-trafficking charges, were taken into custody in various parts of Colombia, with some of them voluntarily surrendering to police.

From AP, Aug. 22:

Close election in Chiapas spurs another protest
TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, MEXICO - The dispute over Mexico's presidential vote took a new twist Monday as a gubernatorial candidate backed by the ruling party vowed to protest a state race where the main leftist party held a slight edge.

From Xinhua, Aug. 22:

Mexico's Jews march for Middle East peace

More than 1,500 people, mostly Jews, staged a peaceful protest on Monday, calling for peace in the Middle East and an end to the armed conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrilla.

From an Aug. 22 NYC Die-In Press Release:

New York Jews Stage PENN STATION “DIE-IN”
Say to Israel and U.S.: The War Didn’t Work, Honor the Cease-Fire!
Destroying Lebanese and Palestinian societies is a crime, not a security policy

New York City - A group of more than 20 Jewish protestors staged a “Die-In” during rush hour this morning outside Penn Station, unfurling large banners and lying down on the ground to demand a cessation of continuing Israeli military aggression in Lebanon and Palestine. In a peaceful demonstration, silent protestors created a harrowing scene reflecting the large civilian death toll in Lebanon and the aftermath of war.

From the Washington Post, Aug. 21:.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sunni Arab insurgents armed with rifles and mortar shells killed 20 pilgrims and wounded 300 others who thronged the capital Sunday for one of Shiite Islam's most important holidays, authorities said.

This comes, of course, in response to activist pressure. On Aug. 17, a lively grassroots "public hearing" on the proposed regulations was held at St. Marks Church in the East Village, where at least three City Council members spoke out in opposition to the new regs. The official public hearing scheduled (somewhat perversely) for police headquarters later this week, has been cancelled. From the New York Times, Aug. 19:

The ongoing indigenous uprising in Ontario perculates up into the New York Times, Aug. 17. The Times gets a B for at least including some historical context, but a failing grade for consistency, having largely ignored this crisis for months, and finally slapping it in their "Journal" slot, for off-beat "local color" stories. They could have got an A for historical context if they were more accurate—the Six Nations (also known as the Iroquois or Haudenosaunee Confederacy) were officially neutral in the American Revolution, and the campaign of ethnic cleansing that George Washington ordered against them (led by Gen. John Sullivan) was in response to guerilla activity by the Mohawk chief Joseph Brant and his band of partisans—not the Confederacy as a whole. The Times also fails to inform readers that the British had effectively won Indian sympathies by promising to halt settler colonization west of the Appalachians—as we have noted.

Former Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988-1994), top officials in the government of current Mexican president Vicente Fox Quesada and a leader of Fox's center-right National Action Party (PAN) were involved in a conspiracy in 2004 to remove Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the center-left Party of the Democratic Party (PRD) from contention in the July 2, 2006 presidential election, according to a tape played on the "Hoy por Hoy" ("Nowadays") radio program on Aug. 18. The tape allegedly records a confession by one of the conspirators, Argentine-born business magnate Carlos Ahumada Kurtz, when he was in custody in Cuba in March and April 2004; he is currently imprisoned in Mexico City on corruption charges.