A blast at Iran's Alghadir missile base at Bid Ganeh—so powerful it rattled windows 30 miles away in Tehran—has raised speculation about Israeli covert action against the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. Seventeen of the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps were killed, among them a man described as the "architect" of the country's missile program, Maj. Gen. Hassan Moghaddam, reported to have been trained in ballistic science by China and North Korea. Mostafa Izadi, an Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps commander, and a close friend, said in his obituary: "Since 1984 he pioneered the IRGC's ground-to-ground missile system...the work which has so frightened the world's imperialist powers and the Zionist regime today."

Some 500 of police officers, many in riot gear, descended on Manhattan's Zuccotti Park after midnight the night of Nov. 14, in a surprise sweep of the Occupy Wall Street encampment. Police handed out notices to occupiers ordering them to evacuate the park, supposedly to be allowed to return after a cleaning—but without their tents and equipment. Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office simultaneously Tweeted: "Occupants of Zuccotti should temporarily leave and remove tents and tarps. Protestors can return after the Park is cleared." Police began tearing up the tents and confiscating equipment at about 1:45 AM after throwing press out of the park. The books in the camp's library were thrown into the street. Blocks around the park were sealed off as supporters began converging on the scene from around the city. Occupiers initially resisted eviction, locking arms amid chants of "Whose park? Our park!" At least 70 were arrested, as a core group of about 100 dug in around the kitchen area in the middle of the park. There were unconfirmed reports of police using tear gas or pepper spray to dislodge these, at least some of whom apparently remained in the park as dawn approached.

In the fourth Internet edition of the Moorish Orthodox Radio Crusade, World War 4 Report editor Bill Weinberg interviews legendary songster and activist Darryl Cherney and film-maker Mary Liz Thomson on their new work Who Bombed Judi Bari?—documenting the life of the fighter for Northern California's ancient redwoods who was targeted in a car bomb attack and then framed by the FBI. Darryl and Mary Liz talk about Judi's legacy in light of the Occupy Wall Street movement on the eve of their sneak-preview screening of the movie at New York's Anarchist Forum.

Several hundred protesters, some wearing goggles and gas masks, marched through downtown Portland, Ore., late Nov. 13, after riot police forced Occupy Portland demonstrators out of two encampments in nearby parks. Mayor Sam Adams had ordered the camps shut, citing unhealthy conditions and thir supposed attraction of drug users and thieves. More than 50 protesters were arrested in the eviction. (AP, Nov. 13) Denver police in riot gear one day earlier cleared protesters out of Civic Center park, tearing down tents and arresting 17. (Denver Post, Nov. 12) In Chapel Hill, NC, riot police wielding assault rifles stormed an abandoned downtown commercial property that had been occupied by protesters. Eight were arrested in the Nov. 13 raid. The Chapel Hill Transit bus used to take away the arrestees had a Wells Fargo ad, prompting the chant, "Who do they serve? Wells Fargo! Who do they protect? Wells Fargo!" (ThinkProgress, Nov. 13)

Residents in Cajamarca, Peru, held a 24-hour general strike Nov. 11, with protestors erecting roadblocks to halt traffic on the Cajamarca-Bambamarca highway. Students from the National University of Cajamarca took over the campus, and almost all urban transport unions, teachers and shops joined the strike. The action was called to demand that the Yanacocha Mining Corp. abandon its development of a giant gold mine at the community of Conga, which residents say will threaten vital water sources. The mine project will destroy four mountain lakes. The company has pledged to replace them with reservoirs—an offer rejected by local residents and municipal governments.

The newly independent government of South Sudan accused Khartoum's Sudan Armed Forces of bombing targets in its territory over the past 48 hours, including a refugee camp at Yida in oil-rich Unity state, where reports indicate at least 12 people have been killed and some 20 wounded. Another seven were killed in the remote area of Guffa, Upper Nile State. (See map.) UN human rights commissioners Navi Pillay wanred that a war crime may have been committed, and called for an investigation. The Khartoum government denied that Sudan's armed forces were to blame. (Sudan Tribune, BBC News, NYT, Nov. 11).

Mexican Governance Secretary Francisco Blake Mora was killed when his helicopter crashed Nov. 11 near Chalco, México state. Four other Governance Secretariat and three Air Force personnel were also killed in the crash. President Felipe Calderón said it was probably an accident caused by bad weather, but public speculation points to a hit by one of Mexico's warring drug cartels. Skeptics noted that the government's most notorious Drug War hardliner is Public Security Secretary Genaro García Luna, and a more likely cartel target. However, the crash eerily comes one week after Blake Mora attended a memorial ceremony for Juan Camilo Mouriño, his predecessor who was killed in a plane crash three years earlier. (NYT, El Economista, Nov. 11)

Bolivia and the US agreed to restore diplomatic relations on Nov. 7, three years after President Evo Morales expelled the US ambassador and then, weeks later, the DEA force in the Andean country. This was the first of several times since then that Morales has accused the US of plotting against him. In announcing the move to restore ties, Morales emphasized that the DEA would not be allowed back in his country. Morales said that he himself had been a "victim" of the DEA as a coca grower. He called the DEA's exclusion from Bolivia a question of "dignity and sovereignty."