Former Argentine police commander Mario Ferreyra, 63, pulled out a .45 pistol from his boot and shot himself dead in the middle of a TV interview at his home Nov. 22. Ferreyra, also known as "El Malevo," was accused of involvement in the kidnapping and torture of dissidents during the "Dirty War" of Argentina's 1973-83 dictatorship. He climbed at the top of a water tank above his house in Tucumán when he learned authorities were on their way to arrest him. When the crew from Cronica TV arrived, he made a brief statement, uttered, "Maria, goodbye"—referring to his wife—and then took his life. The station later aired the harrowing images, before a court order was issued halting the broadcasts.

A confrontation between the rival Mara Salvatrucha and La 18 gangs at Guatemala's central prison, on the outskirts of the capital, ended in seven deaths Nov. 22—with five of the dead beheaded and burned. When authorities retook the prison five hours after the riots began, one of the heads was displayed on a stick and hung in the bars of their cells. The revolt was started in reaction to the arrival of prisoners from another prison in the south, El Boqueron, which had also seen disturbances. (El Revolucionario, Nov. 23; AP, Nov. 22)

Somali pirates who hijacked a Saudi supertanker moved the vessel from its location at the port city of Harardhere, in the autonomous Puntland region, after Islamist militias threatened to attack them and rescue the ship. Both the exiled Islamic Courts Union and the Shabaab insurgent group issued threats to attack the pirates if they don't free the ship. "Saudi is a Muslim country and it is very big crime to hold Muslim property," the Shabaab's Sheikh Abdulaahi Osman said. "I warned again and again those who hold the ship must free it unconditionally or armed conflict should be the solution. If they don't free the ship, we will rescue it by force." The ICU called seizing the ship a "major crime."

Thousands of protesters surrounded Thailand's parliament building early Nov. 24, vowing a "final battle" to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat. Protesters say they will prevent MPs from discussing constitutional amendments they oppose that would rehabilitate members of the outlawed Thai Rak Thai party who were banned from holding office.

Icelandic protesters clashed with police in Reykjavik Nov. 23 during a demonstration against the government's handling of the country's severe financial crisis. Several hundred gathered outside the city's main police station to demand the release of a man arrested in a previous protest. Five were injured when police used pepper spray to disperse the group after some tried to storm the building.

Rashid Rauf of Birmingham, UK, alleged mastermind of a 2006 plot to blow up transatlantic jets using liquid bombs, was one of five people reported killed Nov. 22 by a presumed US missile attack in the North Waziristan region in Pakistan's Tribal Areas. Unnamed Pakistani intelligence sources said that a wanted Egyptian militant, Abu Zubair al-Masri, was among the others killed.

Shi'te followers of Moqtada al-Sadr protested Nov. 21 in Baghdad, defacing and burning an effigy of President George Bush in a display of contempt for a deal struck between the departing US administration and the Iraqi government to keep US troops in the country for another three years. The protest drew thousands of people to Firdous Square, where a statue of Saddam Hussein was torn down and destroyed five years ago in the wake of the invasion.

From Lebanon's Daily Star, Nov. 3:

Members of Israeli spy ring 'related to 9/11 hijacker'
BEIRUT — Two men arrested for running an Israeli spy ring in the Bekaa Valley are relatives of a suicide hijacker who piloted a plane in the September 11, 2001, attacks, a security source told The Daily Star on Sunday. The Lebanese Army announced on Saturday that it had arrested two people suspected of involvement with a spy network that gathered information for Israel's intelligence services.