On Oct. 30, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested two workers at the Casa Fiesta restaurant in Oberlin, Ohio. Two employees of the Casa Fiesta restaurant in Fremont and one employee of Casa Fiesta in Ashland were also taken into custody on Oct. 30, said ICE spokesperson Mike Gilhooly. It was the second raid at the local restaurant chain in less than 100 days; on July 23 ICE agents arrested 58 Mexican workers at eight Casa Fiesta restaurants in northern Ohio, including five workers at the restaurant in Oberlin. The Fremont and Ashland restaurants were also among those raided on July 23. (See INB, Aug. 10)

On Oct. 25, immigration detainee Mamadou Bah escaped from Delaney Hall, a private detention facility in Newark, NJ, which was holding 120 immigration detainees under contract with the federal government. Essex County corrections director Scott Faunce would not comment on how Bah was able to get out of the facility. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson in Newark Harold Ort said Bah had been turned over to the immigration agency after being convicted of fraud in Essex County, and that he was picked up by an ICE fugitive unit in Kentucky four days after his escape. Ort declined to disclose Bah's country of origin.

On Saturday, Nov. 15, at 8 AM, eight military veterans and a military mother climbed a 9-foot retaining fence outside the National Archives Building in Washington DC, and occupied a 90-foot high scaffolding to raise two 450-square foot banners reading, "DEFEND OUR CONSTITUTION. ARREST BUSH AND CHENEY: WAR CRIMINALS!" and "WE WILL NOT BE SILENT." The same message was also displayed at demonstrations in the Los Angeles area that day.

President-elect Barack Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel apologized Nov. 14 for disparaging remarks made by his father about Arabs. Benjamin Emanuel, speaking about his son to an Israeli newspaper last week, said, "Obviously, he will influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn't he? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floors of the White House." Rahm Emanuel called the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee to apologize, saying "These are not the values upon which I was raised or those of my family." (Fox News, Nov. 14)

Palestinian security forces arrested 12 followers of Hamas in West Bank Nov. 16, in an ongoing crackdown against the Islamic movement. The arrests, by forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, took place in Nablus, Salfeet and Hebron, a Hamas statement said. The arrests could further complicate efforts to reconcile the Hamas and Fatah movements. Hamas days earlier rejected an Egyptian initiative to hold a Palestinian reconciliation dialogue, saying it cannot sit with Fatah while its followers on West Bank face a Fatah-led clampdown.

Iraq's cabinet Nov. 16 approved a security pact with the US that will allow American forces to stay for three years after their UN mandate expires at the end of the year. The decision follows months of negotiations and, pending parliamentary approval, would remove a major point of contention between Baghdad and Washington. Parliament's deputy speaker, Khalid al-Attiyah, said he expected the 275-member legislature to begin debating the document this week and vote on it by Nov 24.

A Moroccan criminal court Nov. 13 convicted Moroccan citizen Said Boujandia of crimes related to terrorist acts. The Salé Criminal Court sentenced Boujandia to 10 years in prison. Boujandia admitted his association with with an organization which sought to aid the Afgahn Taliban, but denied committing any crime. Boujandia was held in US custody in Guantánamo Bay from 2001 until May 2008.

Speaking before the General Assembly, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said Israel's ongoing efforts to build settlements in the West Bank is "illegal," a breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and have lead to widespread human rights abuses against Palestinians. Ban's statement came as he announced the findings of two new reports prepared for his office last week.