Peruvian lawmaker and ex-interior minister Mercedes Cabanillas of the ruling Aprista Party, with the support of current Prime Minister Javier Velásquez, is proposing legislation that would authorize the National Police to use deadly force against civilians if they believe a violent confrontation is imminent. Opponents of the measure say it would give police broad discretion to fire on protesters—just as indigenous groups in the Amazon are preparing a new mobilization in defense of their land rights.

A bill introduced in Peru's congress to ammend the law on the "Right to Rectification for People Affected by Insulting or Inexact Information in the Mass Media" would be a threat to the freedom of press, especially for small and independent outlets, say journalists and other media professionals. Congressman Victor Andres Garcia Belaunde said "this is a way to threaten the owners of the companies running the media, a subtle way to tell them 'don't let John Doe say this because you may end up having civil responsibility.'" ("no contrastes a fulano porque lo que digan podrá hacerte civilmente responsable")

Supposedly temporary restrictions on freedom of expression in the run-up to Afghanistan's presidential vote are drawing protests from the country's press. Media outlets are standing firm against a government call not to broadcast reports of violence on election day, charging that it violates their constitutional rights. Fahim Dashti, the editor of the English-language Kabul Weekly newspaper, told Associated Press that the demand was "a violation of media law" and a constitution that officially protects freedom of speech. Kabul fears that voters will be scared away from polling booths by the reports.

Jaime Mendoza Collío, a 24-year-old Mapuche activist, was shot by the police while taking part in an occupation of land claimed as indigenous territory Aug. 12 at Angol in the southern Chilean region of Araucanía. His slaying marks the third indigenous activist killed since the restoration of democracy in 1990, when the Mapuche launched a strategy of land occupations aimed at recovering their ancestral territory.

Coup-installed Honduran President Roberto Micheletti for the first time admitted Aug. 17 that forcing the deposed President Manuel Zelaya to leave the country, instead of arresting him, was a mistake. "There was an error by a certain sector," Micheletti said in an interview in Tegucigalpa. "It wasn't correct. We have to punish whoever allowed that to happen. The rest was framed within what the constitution requires." Micheletti nonetheless reiterated that the military was following the law in seizing Zelaya at his home early June 28. He also said that Honduras is now vulnerable to a military attack from its neighbors because the US has cut off military support. (Bloomberg, Aug. 17)

Chinese protesters Aug. 17 broke into a smelting works they blame for the lead poisoning of hundreds of children, smashing trucks and tearing down fences. Villagers around the Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Company in Fengxiang county, Shaanxi province, launched their spontaneous protest after the government ruled that emissions from the facility had harmed the health of local people. At least 615 of the 731 children in two nearby villages have been diagnosed with dangerously high amounts of lead in their blood.

Chinese artist and human rights activist Ai Weiwei says he was roughed up and detained by police last week when he and 11 others tried to attend the trial of rights advocate Tan Zuoren, who has been charged with subversion. The accusations against Tan Zuoren are apparently tied to his investigation of the deaths of thousands of schoolchildren in the May 2008 earthquake in Sichuan, as well as essays he wrote about the 1989 student protests in Tiananmen Square that ended in a deadly military crackdown.

Philippine Sen. Rodolfo Biazon Aug. 17 called for suspension of peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), claiming the group helped fight the military during last week's clash on Basilan Island. The firefight left 23 government troops dead in Tipo-tipo district, in what the government called a "counter terrorism" operation aimed at the Abu Sayyaf group. (Manila Times, Aug. 18; Inquirer, Manila, Aug. 17)