Presumed Islamist insurgents detonated two bombs that killed one and left 71 wounded in Narathiwat province of Thailand's restive south Nov. 4, and burned down a school the following day. Nobody was injured in the arson attack, but the two-story schoolhouse was destroyed. More than 80 Buddhist teachers have been killed in southern Thailand since an Islamist insurgency broke out in 2004.

The US military said Nov. 5 that it will investigate a report that an air-strike hit a wedding party in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, killing dozens of civilians and prompting new protests from President Hamid Karzai. "We cannot win the fight against terrorism with air-strikes," Karzai told reporters in Kabul, hours after Barack Obama won the US presidential race. "This is my first demand of the new president of the United States—to put an end to civilian casualties." (LAT, Nov. 6)

Israel launched an air-strike against Islamic Jihad militants in northern Gaza's Jebaliya refugee camp the night of Nov. 4 after rockets were fired into Israel. Palestinian security sources told CNN there were two Israeli strikes, though the IDF confirmed only one. The Palestinian sources said the first strike hit a group of militants, killing one and injuring three. The second, five minutes later, tageted the rocket-launching squad. (CNN, Jerusalem Post, Nov. 5) No casualties resulted from the Islamic Jihad attacks, although an Israeli army spokesman said that one of the rockets landed in Ashkelon, ten miles north of the border with Gaza. (The Scotsman, Nov. 6)

Israel's departing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced measures Nov. 2 in response to a rise in violence by extremist Jewish settlers in the West Bank, including a halt to all government financing of "illegal" Jewish settlement outposts. The announcement amounted to an acknowledgment that public funds are still being spent on the outposts, contrary to government policy and a longstanding pledge to the US. However, the move applies only to some 100 outposts considered illegal under Israeli law—not to the more than 120 "official" settlements.

Voters in two US states Tuesday Nov. 4 defeated immigration-related ballot measures. In Arizona, Proposition 202 would have revoked the business licenses of employers that knowingly hire undocmented immigrants and would have strengthened penalties for identity theft. But in Florida, a referendum intended to protect immigrant rights went down to defeat. Amendment No. 1 would have changed the state constitution, deleting a provision allowing lawmakers to prohibit ownership of real property by undocumented immigrants. The Florida Legislature had never exercised its authority under the 1926 provision, enacted as a measure against Asian Americans.

The US Department of Defense Nov. 4 announced the transfer of one Guantánamo Bay detainee to Somaliland. DOD hailed the move as proof of the effectiveness of its review processes and of US desire not to hold detainees any longer than necessary. The Department reports that approximately 60 detainees at Guantanamo are currently eligible for transfer or release.

A panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit Nov. 4 suspended its review the status of Guantánamo Bay detainee Yasin Muhammed of Yemen as an "enemy combatant," saying it may lack jurisdiction over the case. Basardh had petitioned the court to review a Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT) determination that he could be held as an "enemy combatant," but the court said that provisions of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 that gave it authority to review the decision were likely at odds with a 2007 Supreme Court decision in Boumediene v. Bush giving federal district courts authority to review habeas corpus petitions by detainees.

The jury in the US military commission trial of alleged al-Qaeda media director Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al Bahlul reached a verdict in the case Nov. 1, finding him guilty of material support for terrorism. The verdict was sealed until Nov. 3, with al-Bahlul present in the courtroom at the Guantanamo Bay prison. Al-Bahlul, a 39-year-old Yemeni citizen, vowed earlier this year to boycott proceedings against him, saying he would attend only when a verdict was handed down or he was sentenced. The military jury deliberated for only four hours before reaching a verdict. Al-Bahlul is only the second detainee to go on trial at Guantanamo since the prison there opened in 2002.