Guatemala: Candidates for Encuentro por Guatemala, the leftist party for which Rigoberta Menchu is presidential candidate, have been the primary victims of armed attacks over the last week. Since last Monday, one party member has been killed and four injured in armed attacks. Elections are September 9th.

Vying for leadership, Lula heads north, Chávez south: Venezuelan oil, or US/Brazilian ethanol?

Coal mining and coal bed methane, BC to Montana: Environmental standards? What standards. We can roll the standards into mine start up... Get with the times, people!

Alberta: A strike at the patch?

Michael Ignatieff has published an apology for his apologia for the US invaston of Iraq.

From Al Jazeera: 'Civilians dead' in Nato air raids in Afghanistan.

John Pilger: The Invisible Government lecture delivered a few weeks ago.

Photo from the tyee.

Beware Europeans bearing gifts from bilaterals.org: after the emerging disaster of CAFTA, Central American countries recently launched into a new round of trade negotiations, this time with the European Union.

Ahni at Intercontinental Cry has this month's roundup of coverage of indigenous struggles around the world.

Miners digging rebates details the large subsidies that Québec is giving to mining exploration companies. Mongolia comes up again, as in "Quebec's stance is in marked contrast to Mongolia, where a windfall profits tax for mining companies has been introduced... Canadian mining companies had been active in Mongolia, with Canada second only to China in terms of foreign investment, almost all of it in the mining sector."

The BBC is reporting that the World Bank has announced a $178 million dollar loan to the D.R. Congo to repair 1,700km of electric cables "to increase power for the mining sector."

Nevermind that only 6% of people in the DRC have access to electricity, the mining industry needs another massive subsidy.

Drummond cleared of paramilitary links. Stevenson Avila, Sintramienergetica president states "We knew this was becoming a question of state policy, and that America protects its companies, but we held out hope that presenting real, documented evidence of the company's responsibility, that justice would be served."

I just transcribed these remarks by Gord Hill in this interview for a story, and thought they might be worth posting. The whole interview is worth listening to.