In a 12-count indictment issued Nov. 20 in US District Court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the former CEO and three managers of the Agriprocessors kosher meat company were charged with new counts in connection with the hiring of unauthorized workers at the company's plant in Postville, Iowa. The case is based on allegations that a top manager provided cash for workers to obtain false documents and that lower level supervisors helped employees get new paperwork.

When we began publication in the immediate aftermath of 9-11, we pledged we would publish "until peace." Today, we almost dare to hope we can cease publication sometime over the next four years. But this is not the time to let our guard down. We will be watching the transition to the Obama administration closely. We note with alarm that the Bush White House in its endgame has been bombing Pakistan almost weekly—to little media outcry. And while the leaders of Iran, Venezuela and Bolivia have hailed Obama's election as a new era, the cabinet he is assembling does not seem to indicate a real break with the ultra-interventionist status quo.

In the days before the presidential elections, the US launched an air-strike on a village in Syria. Since then, the US has been bombing Pakistan every few days, with the media paying very little note. Our November Exit Poll was: "Will the Bush administration instrument a new global crisis in the time remaining to it?" We received the following responses:

The army is patrolling the streets of Jos, in central Nigeria, after four days of violence between Muslims and Christians left hundreds dead. A Muslim charity says it has collected more than 300 bodies that had been brought to local mosques, and fatalities are also expected among Christians. Homes, churches and mosques were put to the torch before troops restored order and imposed a curfew. The Nigerian Red Cross says at least 10,000 people have fled their homes. The violence broke out following contested elections in Plateau state Nov. 26, in which the Christian-backed ruling People's Democratic Party was declared to have won. The result was challenged by the opposition All Nigeria People's Party, which has wide support from Muslims. (AlJazeera, Nov. 30; BBC News, Nov. 29)

Bolivia's government said Nov. 30 it is preparing "terrorism" charges against Branko Marinkovic, a leader of the autonomy movement in the country's four hydrocarbon-rich eastern departments, in connection with a wave of strikes and protests earlier this year in which at least 17 people were killed. "We have enough evidence in this investigation to allow us to link Mr. Marinkovic with the acts of terrorism that occurred in several parts of the country in September," government minister Alfredo Rada told state radio. "What Mr. Marinkovic has to do is prepare his defence and not try to run."

Mexican President Felipe Calderón, speaking at last week's APEC summit in Lima, warned US President-elect Barack Obama against following through on his campaign pledge to consider revising the North American Free Trade Agreement, saying it would send more Mexicans across US borders. "If you eliminate the benefits of free trade, you eliminate many of the opportunities for jobs and for growth for both Americans and Mexicans," Calderón told reporters. "If you get rid of the trade and job opportunities, one of the effects, which no-one wants, would be an increase in emigration from Mexico."

Twenty people were killed in apparent narco-violence Nov. 28—mostly in the border cities of Ciudad Juárez and Tijuana. The single bloodiest incident occurred when a group of hooded gunmen opened raided on a party at Juárez seafood restaurant, singling out and killing eight diners. Nov. 25 was one of the most violent days Ciudad Juárez has seen this year, with 17 assassinated in 15 hours, seven of whom were tortured and left just a few meters from a school. Ciudad Juárez is now Mexico's most violent city, accounting for more than 1,000 of the nearly 5,000 drug-related homicides registered nationwide this year. (EFE, Nov. 28; El Diaro, Juárez, Nov. 26)

Peru's President Alan García Nov. 27 blamed his country's recent rash of guerilla attacks on Mexico's drug cartels, saying their inroads have sparked violent turf wars. "Mexican cartels are capturing, or trying to capture, the Peruvian market. This is the problem," Garcia told a group of foreign reporters. "The Mexican cartels are much more aggressive than those from Colombia," he added. He was speaking the day after five police were killed in a presumed Sendero Luminoso ambush in the jungle zone of Tingo Maria. In the last two months, at least 22 police and soldiers have been killed in Peru. García's administration says the guerillas have largely abandoned their Maoist ideology in favor of narco-profiteering, and accuse them of teaming up with Mexico's Sinaloa cartel. (Notimex, Nov. 28; Reuters, Nov. 27)