President Hamid Karzai openly called for a timeline for NATO to withdraw from Afghanistan. At a Nov. 26 news conference with NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Karzai rhetorically asked: "How long will this war go? Afghanistan can’t continue to suffer a war without end." (NYT, Nov. 27)

President George Bush hailed the Iraqi parliament's approval of a landmark accord for US troops to remain in the country in three years—but a popular referendum on the deal was included in the legislation. As part of political bargaining before the vote, the Baghdad government agreed to demands by Sunni parties to hold a referendum on the accord no later than July 30. Even if the accord is voted down, Baghdad would have to give Washington one year's notice, meaning that troops would be allowed to remain in the country only until the summer of 2010. (AFP, Nov. 27)

The Indian navy seized two Pakistani merchant ships, asserting that they were used to drop off the Mumbai attackers in a series of small boats. According to Indian news agencies, intelligence sources pinpointed one particular cargo vessel that had stopped in Mumbai briefly before leaving for Karachi, Pakistan. Indian navy and coastguard vessels happened to be engaged in routine exercises off the coast of Gujarat and were immediately dispatched to intercept the vessel.

The New York Police Department has beefed up security at the city's subway and train stations after federal authorities warned of a possible suicide bombing over the Thanksgiving holiday. "Transit passengers in larger metropolitan areas like New York may see an increased security presence in the coming days," Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke said. "The increased personnel could include uniformed and plainclothes "behavior detection" officers, federal air marshals, canine teams, and security inspectors."

A glimmer of hope from the New York Times, Nov. 24:

A federal judge in Brooklyn ruled on Monday that the United States government could not use ethnicity as justification for detaining two Egyptian-born men who were questioned for four hours after a cross-country flight in 2004.

On Nov. 23, Israel's Supreme Court issued a decision to allow the state until May 2009 to implement its ruling of February 2006 concerning the "National Priority Areas" (NPAs). In its 2006 decision, the court ruled that the government's division of the country into NPAs that are awarded special educational benefits discriminated against Arab citizens and must be annulled. The court originally gave the state one year to implement its ruling, until February 2007.

In an e-mail to local news outlets, an organization calling itself the "Deccan Mujahedeen" claimed responsibility for the coordinated shooting attacks in Mumbai that left at least 100 dead Nov. 26. Fighting continued as the e-mail arrived, with army commandos moved into the luxury Oberoi and the Taj Mahal hotels to flush out gunmen holed up on the premises. Attackers hit ten places in Mumbai, including the rail station, mostly targeting foreigners. Hostages are still being held in the hotels and an office bloc, and fighting continues between security forces and militants armed with automatic weapons and grenades. The army has been called in, and residents have been told to remain indoors. Pakistan's ISI has formally denied involvement. (Pakistan Daily Times, Times of India, BBC World Service, Nov. 27)

Ayatollah Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, a dissident cleric imprisoned since October 2006 for criticizing the Islamic Republic's system and advocating separation of religion and state in Iran, was "exiled" from Tehran's Evin Prison to another facility in the city of Yazd Nov. 24. Boroujerdi was taken away blindfolded, according to a report on the Human Rights Activists in Iran website.