On the night of Jan. 1, an armed group entered the village of El Cedro in Yarumal municipality, in the Colombian department of Antioquia, and shot to death four civilians, two men and two women. The victims included Yolanda Munoz Herrera, vice president of El Cedro's Community Action Board, and Jose Argemiro Mora Zapata, who was the Community Action Board's president and managed a local radio station in the village.

Unknown Somali fighters opened fire with automatic weapons and launched rockets at Ethiopian and allied Somalian troops in Mogadishu Jan. 9. The attack came as the troops had established themselves in a building formerly used by the police force. No casualties have yet been reported, but the gunfight lasted several minutes, and was the second attack targeting Ethiopian troops in Somalia's capital in the past three days. Somalia's Ethiopia-backed interim government has postponed plans to disarm the public for the moment, but pledges to carry them out—by force if necessary. (Garowe Online, Somalia, Jan. 9)

From the Arab American Community Coalition, Jan. 1:

The Arab American Community Coalition has just learned of an entire Palestinian family - the Ibrahims - being held in jail in Texas while waiting an unjustified deportation. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) grabbed the family of five in a Gestapo-like raid on November 3, 2006.

On Jan. 2, a California National Guard helicopter assisting the Border Patrol crashed in the mountains about 20 miles southeast of downtown San Diego. Two National Guard soldiers and three Border Patrol agents were hospitalized with neck and back injuries; another two Border Patrol agents and two Guard members survived the crash unhurt. On Jan. 3, officials grounded the remaining six Guard helicopters doing border duty, including one UH-1 Huey and five OH-58 observation craft. The chopper that crashed was a 1973 Huey transport helicopter; Col. Mitchell Medigovich, an aviation expert who is leading the California National Guard's investigation into the crash, said it was one of six Hueys left over from the Vietnam war era still flown by the state Guard. (AP, Jan. 3)

On Dec. 5, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in favor of an immigrant deported for a first-time drug conviction in South Dakota. "Conduct that is a felony under state law but a misdemeanor under the Controlled Substances Act is not a felony for purposes of immigration," stated the majority opinion by Justice David Souter in the case, Lopez v. Gonzales, 05-7664. Jose Antonio Lopez became a lawful permanent resident in 1990; in 1997 he pled guilty to state charges of aiding and abetting possession of drugs for having told someone where to obtain cocaine. He served 15 months in prison for the crime, which is a felony in South Dakota but a misdemeanor under the federal Controlled Substances Act. Treating a misdemeanor under the federal law as a felony for deportation purposes "would be so much trickery," Souter wrote. Justice Clarence Thomas dissented.

Swift & Co. said on Jan. 4 that a series of Dec. 12 immigration raids at its six of seven meatpacking plants nationwide are expected to cost the company $30 million. Swift, the nation's third-largest processor of fresh beef and pork, said it has hired hundreds of new workers to replace employees who were detained, incurring about $10 million in hiring incentives and worker-retention efforts. The company expects to lose $20 million more in lost operating efficiency as workers are trained. Swift is operating on all shifts but likely won't "return to a state of normalcy" until the end of this year, said Don Wiseman, the company's general counsel. "We might have the warm bodies back, but they do not represent the same efficiency and skill level we had on the morning of Dec. 12," he said. (Denver Post, Jan. 5) The nearly 1,300 workers arrested in the raids amounted to about 9% of the company's work force. Swift's two main rivals, Cargill and Tyson, ramped up their production after the raids. (Rocky Mountain News, Jan. 5)

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From Ali Javadi of the Worker-Communist Party of Iran, Jan. 1:

A Step toward a Dark Future!

The UN Security Council has unanimously voted on a resolution to impose a series of political and economical sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran. According to this resolution, the export of Commodities and materials with dual use in Uranium enrichment, production of heavy water and also missile production will be prohibited. In addition, the resolution has given a 60 day notice to the Islamic regime to comply with the resolution to halt Uranium enrichment, otherwise heavier economic sanctions will be imposed. The United States government demands unilateral sanctions against Islamic regime in Iran. Ahmadinejad, in response has announced that the Islamic regime will continue its nuclear enrichment programme and will soon have 3,000 centrifuges for production. Real and serious dangers threaten the society and people!