The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York Oct. 2 overturned the convictions of Yemeni cleric Sheikh Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad and assistant Mohammed Zayed because of evidentiary errors that deprived the defendants of a fair trial. Al-Moayad and Zayed were convicted in March 2005 on charges that they lead a terror-funding network based in Brooklyn. At their convictions, both maintained that additional evidence on government surveillance recordings would have showed they were not guilty. During their appeal, Al-Moayad and Zayed argued that they had been entrapped by government informants and presented character witnesses who said neither of the two condoned violence and that they had spoken out against terrorist acts. (Jurist, Oct. 3)

Sarah Palin went on the offensive this weekend, accusing Barack Obama of "paling around with terrorists." (LAT, Oct. 5) When Obama's tenuous ties to ex-Weatherman Bill Ayers were brought up a few months back, we pointed out that some of those making hay out of it were themselves far cozier with "terrorists"—such as Pat Buchanan, whose 1996 presidential campaign advisor Larry Pratt "pals around" with Klan and Aryan Nations types. Buchanan now enthuses that "of the four debaters we’ve seen, she [Palin] was the most interesting, attractive of them all." (NYT, Oct. 3) Indeed, there's much evidence that Palin and Buchanan—and his vile sidekick Pratt—are the proverbial birds of a feather...

With bodies still emerging daily throughout the city, the toll of residents killed narco-violence in Tijuana over the past week is approaching 50. Five bodies turned up in an alley between two shopping centers and nine on a vacant lot outside a daycare center—where a message nearby read: "Here are your people." The bodies in the lot were found face down with their hands tied behind their backs, and the ground was littered with shell casings. Another five were discovered in a van with US license plates. Two more were found beheaded, wrapped in blankets on a roadside, with the severed heads in plastic bags. Outside a popular seafood restaurant, the remains of two people were found stuffed in a barrel and dissolved with acid.

Ramiro Guillén Tapia, a campesino leader from Mexico's Sierra de Soetapan, doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire Sept. 30 in front of the Veracruz state government headquarters in Xalapa, saying it was an act of protest against failure of officials to respond to his demands for titling of indigenous and campesino lands in the mountain region. He survived 21 hours in the city's hospital before succumbing.

The Amazon is being destroyed more than three times as fast as last year, Brazilian officials said Sept. 29, acknowledging a sharp reversal after three years of decline in the rate of deforestation. Brazilian Environment Minister Carlos Minc said upcoming nationwide elections are partly to blame, with governors in the Amazon region turning a blind eye to illegal logging in hopes of gaining votes locally.

Farmers in Argentina began a six-day strike Sept. 3, halting delivery of grain crops and beef and holding public assemblies by the side of roads in several areas around the country. The strike comes after farmer leaders broke off talks with government over a new policy for the agriculture sector, hard hit by a severe drought. "All of us are Argentina," Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner complained. "That is why no single sector can hold the rest of society hostage, least of all at times like these."

President Evo Morales said Oct. 4 that he has rejected a request from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to fly over Bolivian territory. "Two days ago I received a letter...asking a government institution for permission to fly over national territory," the Bolivian Information Agency quoted the president. "I want to say publicly to our authorities: They are not authorized to give permission so that the DEA can fly over Bolivian territory... No DEA or American [agency] can be overflying our national territory. Under the pretext of fighting drug trafficking, under the pretext of monitoring coca leaf crops they want to overfly, and we are going to make it clear that we monitor domestically. We don't need anyone spying." (BBC, AFP, Oct. 4)

In the first six months of 2008, the "desplazados," or internally displaced persons from Colombia's conflict, reached a record number of 270,675—about 41% more than the same period in 2007. "The national rate shows an average of 632 desplazados for every 100,000 inhabitants; between January and June, 1,500 new refugees left their homes each day. This is the highest number since 1985", said Jorge Rojas, director of Colombia's non-governmental Consulting Group on Human Rights and Displacement (CODHES).