Recently formed civilian self-defence groups are thought to have joined the demonstrators wreaking havoc on Wednesday, reports the BBC's Will Grant in Mexico City.

BBC: Latin America & Caribbean

For decades, Israel's rulers have carried their patterns of thought from their military into their civilian careers.

ECONOMIST: Israel's new government

The legislation is critical because knives and box cutters that slipped past airport security are thought to be the weapons used by hijackers who turned civilian jetliners into weapons that destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon.

CNN: White House offers compromise for airport security

Then, just when miners thought there would be a commercial market from a proliferation of civilian power plant orders and plans, came the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island.

FORBES: Yellowcake Fever

The Small Arms Survey's latest study reckons that civilians in the European Union now hold about 84m handguns far more than had previously been thought, although well below the estimated 238m-276m in civilian hands in gun-obsessed America.

ECONOMIST: One victim every minute | The

The Iraqi civilian death rate, though harder to measure, remains high: at least 11, 700 are thought to have died since the fall of Mr Hussein.

ECONOMIST: Iraq: Is it getting safer? | The