From Newsday, Sept. 4:

Brooklyn boy dies after being struck by two cars
A Queens driver is facing a felony charge after he fled a Brooklyn accident in which a 7-year-old boy was struck by two vehicles and killed as the boy's mother and older brother watched, police said.

Bush's Sept. 3 visit to Iraq was his first not involving a stop in Baghdad. Instead he visited the former Sunni-insurgent stronghold of Anbar province, in what The Wall Street Journal calls a "a symbolic nod to the emerging administration strategy" of focusing less on the central government in Baghdad and more on local players who can bring about some stability to their communities. In Anbar province, "You see Sunnis who once fought side by side with al Qaeda against coalition troops now fighting side by side with coalition troops against al Qaeda," Bush said during his seven-hour visit, which included meetings with US commander Gen. David Petraeus, US Ambassador Ryan Crocker, Iraqi political leaders such as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Sunni tribal figures. (WSJ, Sept. 4) The Journal takes the opportunity of Bush's trip for a shamelessly optimistic opinion piece, "The Tide Is Turning in Iraq," by Kimberly Kagan of the Institute for the Study of War. Excerpts, with our commentary interspersed:

Two successive suicide bomb blasts hit the central Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi, killing at least 24 and wounding more than 60 early Sept. 4. The first bomber detonated his exposives on a bus carrying government workers. Minutes later, a motorcycle bomb exploded in a nearby market. "Today's attack was in the heart of the high security zone," said Ijaz-ul Haq, religious affairs minister. "This cannot be allowed to go on and measures have to be taken to ensure political stability." Brigadier Javed Cheema, interior ministry spokesman, said "both suicide blasts are interlinked and acts of the same network" with "tentacles" extending from Pakistan's tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan. (AlJazeera, Sept. 4)

An Aug. 24 Amnesty International press release claimed new photo evidence showing that the Sudanese government continues to deploy offensive military equipment in Darfur, despite the UN arms embargo. "Once again Amnesty International calls on the UN Security Council to act decisively to ensure the embargo is effectively enforced, including by the placement of UN observers at all ports of entry in Sudan and Darfur," said Brian Wood, Amnesty International's Arms Control Research Manager.

A Mexican federal judge in Chiapas sentenced 18 Tzotzil Maya men to 26 years in prison Aug. 28 on homicide and weapons charges for having participated in the massacre of 45 unarmed Tzotzils at the hamlet of Acteal on Dec. 22, 1997. They were also ordered to pay a total of 800,000 pesos (approx. $800) in damages. Of 87 followers of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) detained in Chenalhó municipality in the aftermath of the massacre, 79 remain imprisoned. The longest sentence, 40 years, was brought against Alfredo Hernández Ruiz. (La Jornada, Sept. 2)

Members of the "Other Campaign" activist network marched in Mexico City Aug. 26 in protest of the recent evictions of campesino communities from the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve in the conflicted southern state of Chiapas. (Expreso Chiapas, Aug. 27) On Aug. 31, Amnesty International issued a statement calling for an "immediate" suspension of evictions from the reserve. The statement expressed concern about the health conditions at the shelter in La Trinitaria where the expelled campesinos—including two pregnant women—are being held. The organization also expressed concern about the six arrested in the evictions, calling for their release and for transparency in the cases against them. (La Jornada, Sept. 2)

Juan Carlos "El Konan" García Cruz, a member of the Popular People's Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) was sentenced to three years in prison by a Mexican federal court in Oaxaca City Aug. 26 on arms possession charges. While several APPO supporters remain behind bars pending charges, García Cruz is the first to be formally sentenced. APPO legal spokesman Gilberto Hernández Santiago called the sentence "inadmissible," saying that García Cruz had been illegally arrested by unaccountable plainclothes paramilitary forces, that he had been tortured, and the arms "planted" on him. (La Jornada, Aug. 28)

State police in Guerrero, Mexico, announced they had discovered a cache of 14 firearms with home-made bombs and camo uniforms hidden in a corn warehouse (bodega de maiz) in the community of Chamacua de Michelle, Coyuca de Catalán municipality. Authorities said insignia identified the cache as belonging to the Revolutionary Army of the Insurgent People (ERPI). One resident, Arturo Duque Alvarado, was detained on charges of belonging to the guerilla organization. (Cronica de Hoy, Aug. 27; La Jornada, Aug. 26) Meanwhile in Santiago Pinotepa Nacional, Oaxaca, soldiers of the 47th Infantry Battalion carried out searches in districts under the control of the Democratic Civic Union of Barrios and Colonias (Ucidebac), on suspicion that the neighborhood organization is collaborating with armed groups. Ucidebac leader Librado Baños Rodríguez accused soldiers of menacing residents at gunpoint. (La Jornada, Aug. 29)