Colombia's former President Alvaro Uribe on Nov. 3 was subpoenaed to testify in a civil case against Alabama coal giant Drummond over the company's alleged ties to paramilitary death squads. A group of 500 Colombian victims of the paramilitary violence demand compensation from Drummond and claim Uribe "has direct knowledge of a number of key cases, including until what point the armed forces supported the paramilitary protection of mining properties of Drummond," Terry Collingsworth, the attorney of victims of the paramilitary organization AUC, told radio station La FM. The former president "knows the levels of cooperation between the armed forces and the AUC, specifically in regions like Cesar where Drummond was active," the lawyer added.

From the Oakland Tribune, Nov. 4:

Two killed in East Oakland after CHP chase
OAKLAND -- Mark Aragon was driving to one of two jobs he worked to support his wife and three stepdaughters when he died in an East Oakland car wreck Thursday morning, a family member said.

Lawyers acting for more than 140 Iraqi civilians are challenging the British government's refusal to hold a public investigations of the treatment of detainees in British-occupied areas of Iraq following the 2003 invasion. The British government has already held one inquiry into claims of abuse, with a second due to hold hearings next year. But Public Interest Lawyers say the two inquiries only cover a fraction of the cases, asserting that at the current pace it would take more than 100 years to hear them all. (AP, Nov. 5)

President Hosni Mubarak on Nov. 6 condemned threats by the al-Qaeda franchise in Iraq against Coptic Christians in Egypt and promised to protect them. The Islamic State of Iraq, claiming responsibility for a bloody hostage taking in a Baghdad church last weekend, threatened to target the region's Christians if the Coptic church did not release two women the group claimed had were being held against their will after converting to Islam. Mubarak told Pope Shenouda III in a phone call that he rejected "pushing Egypt's name into the terrorist act that targeted a church in Baghdad."

California voters defeated Proposition 23 in the Nov. 2 elections, voting 61.3% in favor of keeping the state's 2006 greenhouse gas reduction law, the Global Warming Solutions Act (AB32), considered the strongest in the nation. A "yes" vote on Prop 23, backed by Texas oil money, would have suspended the law until the state's unemployment rate stayed at or below 5.5% for four consecutive quarters. Assembly Bill 32 requires industry to report and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and is set to go into effect in 2012.

The Iraqi oil ministry's auction of three natural gas fields last week has been angrily opposed by all the governorates in which they are located, with provincial officials threatening legal action against Baghdad and warning that they will refuse to cooperate with the developers. Bids were granted to companies from Turkey, Kuwait, Kazakstan and South Korea to develop gas fields holding approximately 10% of the country's reserves. The fields in Anbar, Diyala and Basra are primarily being developed for domestic consumption to improve Iraq's feeble power supply, oil ministry officials said.

Some 4,000 indigenous people ended their blockade of the Río Marañon in northern Peru Oct. 30, after reaching an agreement with the government and Argentine oil company Pluspetrol. After an oil spill in June, Peru's government started distributing food and goods to the people most affected in the region. However, with Pluspetrol declaring the pollution problem resolved, the government has cut off aid—in spite of indigenous complaints that their lands and waters are still impacted. The agreement calls for peace on both sides until the government's water authority can test the Marañon for pollution. (EFE, Earth First!, Oct. 30)

Up to 3,000 villagers are facing arrest after taking part in a "silent protest" against the Jaitapur nuclear power project in India's Maharashtra state Oct. 29. The villagers, upset about the lack of transparency surrounding the project, organized a "Jail Bharo" (fill up the jail) protest, by showing up at the project site to await their arrest. The government reacted by issuing "preventive arrest" warrants, prohibitory orders and setting up road blocks. According to media reports, 750 people were arrested including a former Supreme Court Judge. (Times of India, Oct. 29)