Center-left political candidate Clara Luz Lopez has been shot dead in Guatemala, amid a wave of violence ahead of elections schedule for next month. She was running for a local council seat in the south-east and killed while driving home after campaigning. Luz Lopez was a member of the party of presidential candidate Rigoberta Menchu, a Nobel Peace prize winner. More than 40 people have been killed since the poll was announced in May, the most violent campaign since the civil war ended a decade ago. (BBC)