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MEXICO CITY: An American citizen, two policemen, four young men and a local government official were among those killed in attacks scattered across Mexico, as a wave of violence associated with powerful drug cartels continues.

Police identified U.S. citizen German Norman Hall on Thursday as one of two men murdered by gunmen with assault rifles in the border town of Piedras Negras across from Eagle Pass, Texas. Police said Hall was shot eight times in the Wednesday attack.

Four men sitting down to eat in the Mexican state of Sinaloa died when attackers burst into the restaurant with assault rifles and sprayed them with gunfire.

One victim tried to fire back with a handgun before he was killed in the Wednesday afternoon attack, said Martin Gastelum, prosecutor for drug-plague state on Mexico’s West Coast.

The killings don’t represent a new wave of terror _ about 17,900 people have been killed since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against drug trafficking in December 2006.

But they reflect the ongoing wars for local turf and drug routes to U.S. markets among entrenched gangs.

Much of the attention in recent weeks has been centered around the border town of Reynosa _ across from McAllen, Texas _ where federal authorities warned residents to avoid certain neighborhoods after three people were killed in two separate shootings Wednesday.

In Chilpancingo, capital of Mexico’s southern Guerrero state, two commanding police officers were killed Wednesday when gunmen opened fire on the car they were riding in, peppering it with more than 70 bullets, according to police reports. Their murders follow the killings of six other police officers in the region since last weekend.

Soldiers killed a government employee and arrested three other men, including a former politician, during a Wednesday shootout in northeastern Nuevo Leon state.

Mexican military officials say the men were traveling in the town of Apodaca in a pickup that had been reported stolen and were armed with pistols. The shootout erupted after soldiers tried to stop them. Instead of pulling over, the pickup truck driver opened fire and tried to flee.

Empty shell casings were found scattered around the vehicle following the pre-dawn attack. Apodaca Mayor Benito Caballero confirmed the dead man, aged 20, was an events organizer for the city.

“It’s regrettable that an a local official was involved in this type of activity,” Caballero said.

President Barack Obama announced that he plans to spread the money that accompanies his Nobel Peace Prize among 10 different charities. Obama was awarded the prize based on the hope that his presidency would bring about a change in American foreign policy, had decided soon after being notified of the award that he would donate the $1.4 million award to charity. The prize money would be distributed amongst non-profit organization which include organization that provides housing for families of those receiving medical care at major military and Veterans Affairs medical centers.

The House of Representatives on Wednesday roundly defeated a resolution demanding President Barack Obama withdraw all US forces from Afghanistan, in a key election-year test for his war strategy. Lawmakers routed the resolution in a 356-65 vote that saw 60 of Obama’s Democratic allies and five of his Republican critics cast ballots to call home all US forces from what he has called the central front against extremism. The measure demanded Obama pull US forces out of Afghanistan 30 days after the bill becomes law or, if he decides that is too dangerous, by no later than December 31.

Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday condemned Israeli plans to build 1,600 more homes on occupied land where Palestinians seek statehood, announced in the middle of his visit to help revive peace negotiations. Israel’s refusal to stop settlement building despite US urging has been a major obstacle to a resumption of the talks, and the announcement put Biden in an uncomfortable position ahead of a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai would arrive in Pakistan tomorrow on a two-day visit. Karzai would be visiting the country for the first time after being elected as president for the second term

ANKARA: At least 38 people are reported to have been killed in an earthquake in eastern Turkey.The government’s crisis centre says many of the victims were from the small villages of Okcular, Yukari Kanatli and Kayali, where the quake with a preliminary magnitude of 6 flattened stone or mud-brick houses and minarets of mosques. Some 60 people were reported injured

BAGHDAD: Iraqis voted Sunday in an election testing the mettle of the country’s still-fragile democracy as insurgents killed 25 people in the capital and sending down a barrage of mortars intent on disrupting the day. About 19 million Iraqis are eligible to vote in the election for who will lead the country as U.S.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asserted that the Sept 11 attacks on US World Trade Centre and Pentagon a ‘big lie’ which was used by the US as an excuse for the war on terror. Ahmadinejad, while addressing the Intelligence Ministry staff, said “September 11 was a big lie and a pretext for the war on terror and a prelude to invading Afghanistan,” calling the attacks a “complicated intelligence scenario and act.” Ahmadinejad also questioned US claims that the death toll reached 3,000 saying that the Americans never published the names of those who died. Back in 2007, New York officials have rejected the Iran leader’s request to visit the World Trade Center during his NY visit for a UN meeting.

BAGHDAD: A car-bomb blast in the holy city of Najaf killed at least three people and injured more than 50, an Iraqi police official says. The official says the blast occurred Saturday near a bus carrying pilgrims, killing one Iraqi and two Iranians

President Barack Obama said that a forthcoming review of the US nuclear posture would reduce the number and role of nuclear weapons in Washington’s national security strategy.