A statement from the Iraq Freedom Congress, Oct. 19:

Thousands of Workers Took To the Street against the Minister of Finance
US Troops and National Guards Surround the Event While the Labor Leaders Deliver Their Speeches
In a series of demonstrations led by workers of the Ministry of Industry against the Minister of Finance and government decisions that intend workers salaries cut back under terms of the International Monetary Fund, a massive demonstration was organized today October 19, 2008 in Firdaus Square in Baghdad, where thousands of workers have participated.

Some 30,000 indigenous protesters arrived in the Colombian city of Cali Oct. 25, where President Álvaro Uribe pledges to meet with their leaders this weekend for a dialogue on land conflicts and investigations into 1,240 indigenous Colombians who have been killed in the six years he has been in power.

Brazilian military exercises along the border with Paraguay are escalating tensions between the South American neighbors. Operation Southern Border II mobilized 3,500 soldiers from the Brazilian armed forces Oct. 19 along the border, as part of a larger force of some 10,000 soldiers also deployed along the borders with Uruguay and Argentina. The troops are to remain in place until Oct. 24. Paraguay's President Fernando Lugo warned Brazil in a news conference in Asunción that "not even one millimeter of the territorial sovereignty of the country can be bothered"—or "the Paraguayan reaction will be swift."

Supposed Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Jesús "El Rey" Zambada was among 16 arrested Oct. 22 after a street battle with police in which a grenade destroyed a car. Prosecutor General Eduardo Medina said Zambada's son and nephew, two federal police officers and one state police officer were also among those arrested. Zambada was identified as the brother of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, who allegedly heads the cartel along with the wanted Joaquin "Shorty" Guzmán.

Colombian authorities announced Oct. 21 they've broken up a drug and money laundering ring in an international operation that included the capture of three suspected of shipping funds to Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. More than 100 suspects were arrested in Colombia and overseas on charges that they trafficked drugs and laundered cash for Colombia's Norte del Valle cartel.

At least five suspects linked to regional Islamist groups were arrested in raids around Jakarta, local authorities said Oct. 22. Weapons, bomb-making instructions and chemicals were reportedly found at one house raided near a state-owned oil storage center, prompting police to say the suspects may have planned to attack it. One was identified as Rusli Mardani, a member of the local terror network Mujahedeen Kompak. "He is a big fish, one of the people who has stirred up a lot of communal violence," said Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group in Jakarta. (NYT, Oct. 23)

Saudi authorities have indicted 991 suspected militants on charges that they participated in terrorist attacks carried out in the kingdom over the last five years, Interior Minister Prince Nayef said Oct. 21. "In the past few years, the kingdom has been the target of an organized terrorist campaign linked to networks of strife and sedition overseas," Prince Nayef said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency.

A Canadian government inquiry has found that officials of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canada Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) "indirectly contributed" to the torture of three citizens while in Syria between 2001 and 2004. The men, Ahmed Al Maati, Abdullah Almalki and Muayyed Nureddin, claimed they were detained and tortured by Syrian military intelligence during trips abroad with the cooperation of Canadian officials. In the report released Oct. 21, former Canadian Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci found that officials contributed to the mistreatment of the men by supplying classified, and in some cases misleading, information to Syria linking the men to terrorist activities.