On Nov. 21, US District Judge Thomas Hogan in Washington declared a mistrial in the terrorism and hostage-taking trial of Juvenal Ricardo Ovidio Palmera Pineda, a high-level leader and former negotiator for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), better known by his nom de guerre, Simon Trinidad. Palmera was arrested in Ecuador on Jan. 2, 2004, and extradited from Colombia to the US on Dec. 31, 2004.

From BBC, Nov. 23:

Drivers who get stopped by the police could have their fingerprints taken at the roadside, under a new plan to help officers check people's identities.

From AP, Nov. 25:

MEXICO CITY: A violent Mexican drug gang took out a rare, half-page ad in newspapers in which they claimed to be anti-crime vigilantes who wanted to stop kidnapping, robbery and the sale of methamphetamine in the western Mexican state of Michoacan.

General Federation of Trade Unions-Iraq (GFTU-Iraq) Statement on the Merger with the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI):

GFTU-Iraq's first convention was centered on the following statement: "The unity of the working class is the path to salvage the Iraqi society from occupation and civil war."

Between Nov. 14 and Nov. 17, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "Fugitive Operations Units" arrested 70 immigrants in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Manhattan. Of the total, 27 had been ordered removed by an immigration judge and 43 were simply present in the US without immigration status. ICE described those arrested as including "criminal and non-criminal aliens," but declined to say how many of them had been accused or convicted of crimes. The arrested immigrants are from Albania, Algeria, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mexico, Panama, Pakistan, Poland, Sierra Leone, Trinidad, Uzbekistan and Yugoslavia. All were transported to detention facilities in New Jersey and placed in removal proceedings. ICE announced the arrests on Nov. 17 as part of a national initiative dubbed "Operation Return to Sender." (ICE news release, Nov. 17)

A civil jury ruled Nov. 22 that rancher and vigilante Roger Barnett must pay $98,000 in damages to a Mexican-American family that he illegally held and threatened at gunpoint. The family were legal residents hunting on lands near his ranch, but Barnett apparently assumed they were "illegals" coming across the border (Douglas Dispatch, Nov. 24)

General Addeh Museh, president of Puntland, the autonomous region in northeastern Somalia, has vowed to resist any attack by fighters from the Islamic Courts Union, saying his administration would not accept "radicalism and extremism." Gen. Museh said, "We will continue to resist the spread of Islamic militants."

On Nov. 14 a federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, sentenced Cuban American business leader Santiago Alvarez to 46 months in prison for conspiracy to possess an arsenal; his employee, Osvaldo Mitat, received a sentence of 39 months. Both had pleaded guilty to avoid more serious charges; they have been in prison since November 2005, and this will count as time served. Although the US did not charge Alvarez with planning to use the arms against Cuba, the Cuban government has accused him of financing operations against it.