Oil prices rose as the IAEA released a report finding that Iran is capable of developing a nuclear weapon and Israel tested a long-range ballistic missile. The British armed forces are said to be preparing for military action against Iran.
Israel’s public sector workers walked out for four hours, shutting down trains, buses, airports, banks, government ministries and municipalities. Traffic jams clogged Tel Aviv, and the city’s stock exchange and Ben Gurion International Airport were closed.
Occupy Boston activists “stormed” the Israeli consulate in Beantown, chanting “Occupy Wall Street not Palestine.” The activists were protesting the interception of the Gaza-bound “Freedom Waves” flotilla by Israeli naval forces the day before.
Electoral violence was reported in the north as Sandinista candidate and incumbent President Daniel Ortega was re-elected to lead Nicaragua. Hugo Chávez hailed Ortega’s victory while the US State Department expressed concern about “irregularities.”
Retired military general Otto Pérez Molina emerged victorious from run-off elections for the presidency of Guatemala, vowing a crackdown on crime and drug-related violence. Pérez Molina is accused of having overseen genocide in the 1980s.
The future of Colombia’s FARC guerillas is in question following the death of leader “Alfonso Cano” at the hands of the Colombian army Nov. 4. Local media reports anticipate a power struggle between regional commanders.
The fear of being seen as “socialist” is deep seated. It is time to get over it, and reclaim the word, as gays did the word “queer.” The concept that the Earth and its wealth belong to society must be redeemed. Everything, ultimately, is riding on it.
At least 63 were killed in bombings and armed attacks by the Islamist movement Boko Haram in two northeast Nigerian towns. The attacks come days after the Yobe police commissioner denied that Boko Haram had any presence in the state.
International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said all war crimes allegations against NATO, NTC and pro-Qaddafi forces committed during the recent conflict will be investigated “impartially and independently.”
Thanks to a donation from a reader in New York City, we have exceeded our winter fund drive goal of $2,000. The total now stands at $2,250. If any other readers want to thusly encourage us, please feel free…!
Colombian army forces announced that they have killed Guillermo Leon Saenz AKA “Alfonso Cano”—supreme leader of the FARC guerillas. Initial reports that he was killed an in airstrike contradict forensic evidence of multiple bullet wounds.
China’s embassy in Zambia denied charges in a new Human Rights Watch report of oppressive health and safety conditions and anti-uinion practices at Chinese-owned copper mines in the southern African country.
