A Mexican citizen who is in the US legally has filed the first lawsuit challenging the aggressive immigration-enforcement efforts of Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona's Maricopa County, charging unlawful detainment and racial profiling. The suit seeks a declaratory judgment that Arpaio's actions are unconstitutional, and injunctions prohibiting the use of Arpaio's anti-immigration hotline and directing the Sheriff's Office to disband its Illegal Immigration Interdiction unit.

From the Iraq Freedom Congress, Dec. 12:

We Must Stand Together Against the Women-Killing Gangs
Unidentified gangs began to commit a series of organized crimes and killing many women in various cities in Iraq, particularly in Basra where more than 40 women are said to have been killed in the last 5 months. In addition to those crimes, these gangs threatened unveiled women to follow Islamic law and start wearing head scarf otherwise facing the severe consequences.

From the Iraq Freedom Congress, Dec. 8:

Under the slogan of "No to occupation ... No to sectarianism and subservience... No to the Oil & Gas Law," the clans of southern Iraq held a large conference in the province of Basra on December 8, 2007. These clans have a strong opposition to the Iranian interference in Iraqi affairs, especially in the city of Basra.

Turkish warplanes attacked PKK guerilla positions across the border in the mountains of northern Iraq early Dec. 17, the military General Staff said in a statement. BBC reports that 10 villages were hit, and at least one person killed. A representative of the Kurdish Regional Government said the struck villages were not held by the PKK, and asserted the attacks were illegal. The representative said that while Turkish forces have previously hit Iraqi territory with artillery and helicopters, this attack marked the first time planes were used. (Reuters, BBC World Service, Dec. 16)

The rival Moro guerrilla groups in the Philippines have agreed to talks after a meeting in Manila with Saiful Islam Qadaffi, eldest son of Libyan President Moammar Qadaffi. The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) agreed to work towards peace with the government as well. "We agreed to resolve the conflict not beyond September 2008 in accordance with a road map," said MILF leader Eid Kabalu.

Eight people were killed in a four-hour gun battle between police and thieves in the Villa Hermosa suburb of Guatemala City. An armed gang had robbed a jeweller in a shopping center, killing a security guard. Hundreds of Special Forces troops from the National Civil Police, backed up by some 70 army troops, later surrounded them in a private house, where they refused to surrender. One local radio station, broadcasting from the scene, carried recordings of a man shouting: "The only way we'll come out is dead." One officer was killed in the shoot-out, and six bodies were found in the house—along with assault weapons and hand grenades. Four police and a soldier were wounded. "The exchange of gunfire was very intense, but everything is now under control," Interior Minister Adela Camacho said. (BBC, Xinhua, Prensa Libre, Guatemala, Dec. 16)

In an unusual ruling, a Danish court acquitted seven leftist activists—who had sent funds to the FARC in Colombia and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine—of sponsoring terrorism. The panel of judges ruled that though both groups were branded as terrorist groups by the United States, the European Union, and Denmark, "their actions were not meant to intimidate the population or destroy a political and economic system. They were therefore not guilty of any terrorism." The Danish leftists—members of an activist organization calling itself Fighters and Lovers—plan to continue transmitting the profits of their FARC and PFLP t-shirts to support the "non-violent" operations of both rebel groups. (The Guardian, Dec. 14)

Iraq's Foreign Minister Hosheyar Zebari met with officials in Damascus Dec. 12, with both governments agreeing to speed reactivation of the oil pipeline from the Kirkuk fields to Syria's Banias terminal on the Mediterranean. The Syrian government pledged to help Baghdad secure the pipeline route from insurgent attack, and new oil deals are said to be in the offing. "There is a Russian company performing surveys and what this pipeline needs," Zebari said.