At least 20 are dead after a march of 10,000 Copts on Cairo's state TV building was attacked by stone-throwing counter-protesters. A street battle ensued as the Coptic protesters fought back and hurled stones at their assailants. Gun shots were fired in the air as army troops intervened in the clash. Egyptian TV showed protesters throwing petrol bombs and army vehicles burning outside the television building. The dead include 16 protesters and two soldiers, with some 40 people injured. Among those killed are Mina Daniel, an activist and blogger; Wael Yunna, a journalist for Coptic TV; and Michael Mosaad, a leader of the Maspero Youth Union, which organized the protest.

Hundreds of Afghans marched through Kabul on Oct. 6—eve of the 10-year anniversary of the US military campaign in their country—to condemn United States forces as occupiers and demand the immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops. About 300 men and women gathered early in the morning near a shrine in the city's center, holding placards and banners accusing the US of "massacring" civilians while denouncing President Hamid Karzai as a puppet of Washington. "Occupation—atrocities—brutality," read one sign, held by two women with scarves covering their head and face. (Reuters, Oct. 6)

Warlords are using threats to pressure municipal officials to fraudulently prepare ownership documents for the lands that they have already grabbed in Afghanistan's northern Baghlan province, a local mayor said this week. Dozens of acres of land had been grabbed in Pul-i-Khumri by the strongmen, who are forcing municipal officials to give them ownership documents, Sahib Nazar Sangin told the local Pajhwok Afghan News. Employees of the land records department have been beaten up several times on order of the warlords, who have fighters and weapons at their disposal, the mayor complained. He added a retired general of the interior ministry, known as Habib, was among those who had seized the municipality's land in the Silo area, and is now using his influence and force to get documents. "Recently, the commander insulted me in my office for refusing to prepare documents for him," Sangin said.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) filed a motion in the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta Oct. 7 to halt enforcement of a controversial Alabama law that expands restrictions on undocumented immigrants. The law requires school officials to verify the immigration status of children and parents, authorizes police to detain an individual and ask for papers if the officer has "reasonable suspicion" that the driver is in the country illegally, and requires businesses to use the federal E-Verify system to determine whether potential employees are legal residents.

Peru has leased its first five oil and gas exploration contracts since passing a new law designed to protect the country's indigenous peoples. Exploration blocks have been awarded to British firm Pitkin Petroleum (Lot 18, Piura region) and Colombia's Ecopetrol (Lot 179, Loreto region). Another British firm, Hydrocarbon Exploration, has contracts to explore two blocks (Lots 183 and 188, in Loreto and Ucayali). Another block is leased to Argentina's Tecpetrol (Lot 174, Ucayali). State agency PeruPetro said the companies, which won the exploration rights through a tender in July, re-signed in October with an added clause confirming "their commitment to strictly comply with the law of prior consultation." (FT, Oct. 4; RPP, Sept. 29; La Mula, Lima, Aug. 4)

Thousands of protesters returned to Madrid's central square, the Puerta del Sol, Oct. 6, as students, parents and teachers joined in a massive march against education spending cuts by the Spanish capital's provincial government. "Defend public education, make cuts for bankers," read the lead banner, while other slogans included "Yes, there is money, but the bankers have it," "Less vultures and more desks," and "Education is not a waste, it's an investment." Some 85% of the city's students walked out of class for the march. Media accounts of the march's size varied widely, with AFP putting it at 4,000, and El País claiming 68,000.

Authorities in Peru say National Police rescued 293 women from sexual exploitation in raids across the country's Amazonian region of Madre de Dios. At least four people were arrested in the regional capital Puerto Maldonado on suspicion of human trafficking. Among those rescued from about 50 brothels were at least 10 minors—the youngest being a 13-year-old girl. More than 400 police agents took part in the three-day operation across the region, known for its illegal gold mining. Authorities said some of the women were being held against their will in mining camps, while others had been forced to work as prostibares—prostitutes who operate out of bars that line the region's main road. Last month, the charity Save the Children said that more than 1,100 underage girls were being used as sexual slaves in illegal mining camps in Madre de Dios. Many were lured to the region with promises of work in shops or as domestic helpers, only to find themselves forced to work as prostitutes. (BBC News, Oct. 4; Crónica Viva, Lima, EFE, Oct. 3)

Noel Salgueiro Nevarez AKA "El Flaco" (Skinny), the Sinaloa Cartel's top boss in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, was captured by army troops Oct. 5 in Culiacán, Sinaloa, in what authorities called a precise operation with no shots fired. El Flaco's arrest "affects the leadership structure, as well as the operational capabilities," of the Sinaloa network in Chihuahua, the Defense Secretariat and Prosecutor General's office said in a joint statement. He is said to be the leader of a criminal gang called the Gente Nueva (New People), which serves as a local enforcement arm of the Sinaloa Cartel (also known as the Pacific Cartel) in Chihuahua. However, the cartel's maximum boss, Joaquín Guzmán AKA "El Chapo" (Shorty), still remains at large. (EFE, Borderland Beat, Oct. 5)