Last week, a US-Canada oil pipeline exploded in Minnesota, briefly affecting global prices—and highlighting the criticality of Canadian resources to the US and global economy. Our November issue featured the story "Flashpoint in the Flathead: US-Canada War Looms Over Energy, Water" by WW4 REPORT editor Bill Weinberg, noting resource conflicts now brewing in regions that span the border—such as the Flathead Valley, where coal mining on the British Columbia side is opposed by farmers and environmentalists downstream in Montana. Writes Weinberg: "While on the economic front all talk is currently of integration and falling trade barriers, battles are already being waged by the grassroots both sides of the border against resource plunder and mega-development schemes. These could eventually mean war between the two longtime allies if a populist government comes to power in Ottawa and tries to turn off the spigot of south-bound resources—and the Pentagon has already drawn up plans for this contingency." Our November Exit Poll was: "Which is a more likely prophecy of the future: George Orwell's 1984 or Michael Moore's Canadian Bacon? (In other words, is the US on a trajectory towards eventual war with Canada, or are we just paranoid?)" We received the following responses:

Colombian prosecutors on Nov. 22 ordered the detention of an army captain, Guillermo Gordillo, for participating with paramilitary killers in the massacre of eight civilians, including three children, in San José de Apartadó in February 2005. (Fiscalia press release, Nov, 22) "The community was right," read the Semana headline about Gordillo's detention Nov. 24. The case led to the suspension of more than $70 million in US military aid that year. The prosecutors' move acknowledges what Peace Community leaders said from the beginning, but was categorically denied by Colombian Vice-President Francisco Santos (nominally designated as the Colombian state's human rights representative) and high military officials.

On Nov. 23, approximately 5,500 Colombian and Ecuadoran women marched for demilitarization, to end violence against women, to construct peace with dignity and social justice and for a negotiated solution to the conflict. Their celebration was to mark Nov. 25, the International Day to End Violence Against Women. This was the seventh year that women from all over Colombia mobilized "to make visible" an area of conflict in the country and specifically, how that conflict impacts women. Women marched from Tulcan, Ecuador and Ipiales, Colombia: they met at the international bridge of Rumichaca, the border between the two countries.

From the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), Nov 27:

Brutal Government Attacks on Community of Cutumay Camones Continue
On November 22, the community of Cutumay Camones was again brutally attacked by the Salvadoran riot police (UMO). The community, in their continuous resistance to the construction of a garbage dump, blocked the entrance of the construction site. Orlando Mena, Santa Ana's mayor, joined with Police Director Rodrigo Avila in sending more than 300 riot police to "dissolve the protest," attacking the community with tear gas fired from surrounding helicopters.

Children exposed to World Trade Center dust are at much higher risk for respiratory problems, according to a New York City Health Department survey. The survey of the 3,100 children who are enrolled in the city's World Trade Center Health Registry found that being caught in the dust cloud in the immediate aftermath of 9-11 was the single biggest risk factor in developing respiratory problems. Half of all children enrolled in the registry developed a new or worsening breathing problem. But those who were caught in the massive dust plume were diagnosed with asthma at double the rate of those who were not. (Newsday, Nov. 29)

From the International Federation of Journalists, Nov. 23, via AllAfrica:

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today urged President Mamadou Tandja of Niger to take strong action for the release of two journalists accused of criminal offences following their coverage of the Tuareg rebellion in Niger.

The entire population of northern Niger's remote desert town of Iferouane has fled, a local official told BBC last week. Deputy mayor Mohammed Oumma said 5,000 residents were displaced following army reprisals in operations against Tuareg guerillas. The government in Niamey denies that Iferouane, home to several uranium mines, has become a ghost town. (BBC, Nov. 19) President Mamadou Tandja Nov. 23 prolonged an emergency zone in Niger's desert north region of Agadez, extending for a further three months the "state of alert" declared in August. (Reuters, Nov. 23)

Australia's Labor Party prime minister-elect Kevin Rudd said Nov. 30 he will pull the country's 550 combat troops out of Iraq by the middle of 2008. Rudd was elected in a landslide Nov. 24, ousting veteran conservative prime minister John Howard, a supporter of the US-led war in Iraq. (AFP, Nov. 30) In the latest in the growing string of US atrocities in Iraq, soldiers opened fire on a car that tried to run a road block during a supposed operation against al-Qaeda in Baiji, 140 miles north of Baghdad, Nov. 27. A wounded child was found inside the vehicle, and was transferred to a military medical facility where he died. "We regret that civilians are hurt or killed while coalition forces work diligently to rid this country of the terrorist networks that threaten the security of Iraq and our forces," said US military spokesman Commander Ed Buclatin. (AFP, Nov. 27)