At the point of completing 40 days without food, 10 prisoners in Mexico's southern state of Chiapas—plus one who had been transfered out of state—ended their hunger strike Nov. 7, citing the imminent threat to their health and the lack of any response to their demands from state or federal authorities. Their family members and supporters have taken up the struggle by launching an ongoing protest vigil (plantón) outside the State Center of Social Reinsertion (CERSS), and blockading the San Cristóbal-Ocosingo highway that passes by the facility.

Mexico's military and police have committed widespread human rights violations in efforts to combat organized crime, virtually none of which are being adequately investigated, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Nov. 9. The 212-page report "Neither Rights Nor Security: Killings, Torture, and Disappearances in Mexico's 'War on Drugs'," examines the human rights consequences of President Felipe Calderón’s approach to confronting Mexico's powerful drug cartels. The report finds evidence that strongly suggests the participation of security forces in more than 170 cases of torture, 39 "disappearances," and 24 extrajudicial killings since Calderón took office in December 2006. "Instead of reducing violence, Mexico's 'war on drugs' has resulted in a dramatic increase in killings, torture, and other appalling abuses by security forces, which only make the climate of lawlessness and fear worse in many parts of the country," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.

Niger's military clashed Nov. 7 with a heavily armed convoy travelling though the desert from Libya. Thirteen of the convoy's gunmen were killed and several captured. Authorities said they believed the convoy is made up of fleeing Qaddafi loyalists escorted by local Tuareg fighters, and headed for Mali. A huge weapons cache, including machine guns and rockets, was seized in the clashes in the Arlit area. Northern Niger's Radio Nomad reported that local traffickers are selling Libyan arms to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). (BBC News, Nov. 9)

Farmers staged sit-in protests at five regional offices of lawmakers of South Korea's ruling Grand National Party on Nov. 9, demanding no ratification of the new US-Korea Free Trade Agreement. "The protests are to denounce the GNP, which is moving to ratify the FTA that will surely devastate the local agricultural industry," said a leader of the Korea Farmers League’s branch for North Gyeongsang province, which organized the protests. "We will mount a campaign against those lawmakers who vote in favor of the deal." (Korea Herald, Nov. 9) Days earlier, police in Seoul fired water cannons to disperse more than 2,000 protesters who tried to break into the National Assembly as lawmakers debated FTA ratification. (AP, Nov. 3)

Israel's public sector workers walked out for four hours Nov. 7, 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. A general strike by the Histadrut Labor Union was limited to four hours by an order of the National Labor Court. The union is demanding that the government officially hire some 250,000 contract workers, who are denied representation and job security. (Haaretz, JTA, AFP, Nov. 7)

Occupy Boston activists "stormed" the Israeli consulate in Beantown Nov. 5 in protest of the Gaza blockade. The activists—chanting "Occupy Wall Street not Palestine"—were also protesting the interception of the Gaza-bound "Freedom Waves" flotilla by Israeli naval forces the day before. Israel says it has started deportation of 22 detained on the two-ship flotilla, including Greek crew members. The Electronic Intifada website provided a live map, which followed the ships' course after they departed the Turkish port of Fethiye on Nov. 2, indicating that the vessels were still in international waters when they were intercepted. The Israeli military also admitted that the interception happened in international water. (Tripoli Post, Nov. 7; YNet, Nov. 5)

Sandinista candidate and incumbent President Daniel Ortega was re-elected to lead Nicaragua Nov. 6. The United Nicaragua Triumphs Alliance headed by the Sandinista party (FSLN) won some 64% percent of the vote, followed by the Independent Liberal Party (PLI) candidate Fabio Gadea with 30%, and the Constitutional Liberal Party candidate Arnoldo Alemán with 6%. The US State Department expressed its "concern" with "reports" of "procedural irregularities and voter intimidation." A youth of 18 was shot in the leg in a clash between Sandinista and opposition supporters in Jalapa, Nuevo Segovia department. Local PLI supporters said soldiers fired on the crowd. Electoral violence was also reported from Totogalpa, Madriz department, where a truck belonging to a local cooperative had its windows smashed.

Retired military general Otto Pérez Molina emerged victorious from Nov. 6 run-off elections for the presidency of Guatemala, vowing a crackdown on crime and drug-related violence. Pérez Molina was elected despite being accused by rights campaigners of having overseen genocide when he commanded military forces at Nebaj, Quiche department, in 1982-3. Pérez Molina will take office the first week of January. The US embassy released a statement congratulating him.