Hilary Clinton's arrival in Burma Nov. 30—the first visit by a US secretary of state since 1955—is being plugged as an historic step towards normalization of relations between the Washington the Southeast Asian nation. But the day before her arrival, Burmese army chief Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and his Chinese counterpart Gen. Min Aung Hlaing met in Beijing to sign a major new agreement of military cooperation. (BBC News, LAT, The Irrawady, Nov. 30; Vancouver Sun, Nov. 28)

Iranian labor activist Reza Shahabi has begun a prison hunger strike in protest of his undetermined judicial status. The Vahed Company Workers Union website reports that Shahabi has been detained for more than 15 months, and so far the authorities have kept his case in limbo. Shahabi is reportedly suffering from grave ailments in his spine and kidneys. The Jaras opposition website reports that Shahabi’s absence has put his wife and children in financial difficulty, and all their efforts to follow up on his case with the authorities have failed.

An estimated 7,000 detainees are still being held without due process by Libyan revolutionaries, according to a UN report made public Nov. 28. The report to the UN Security Council, by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, says that most of the prisoners are being held in facilities maintained by independent brigades not under the control of the government, and that there have been allegations of abuse of prisoners. The report says that many of the prisoners are Black Africans suspected of being mercenaries for former Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi. Among the alleged abuses of prisoners there have been allegations of torture, targeting individuals based on race, detaining women in facilities with all-male guards, and detaining children in facilities alongside adults. Ban urged immediate action to end the abuse of prisoners:

Nobel peace laureate Tawakkul Karman on Nov. 28 uged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to conduct an investigation into the violent crackdown on dissent and alleged human rights violations by the country's former president, Ali Abdullah Sakeh. Although Karman presented ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo with a file on crimes she believes were committed by Saleh's regime, the Nobel laureate was also quick to acknowledge that her plea will likely fail due to the fact that Yemen has not signed the court's founding treaty, the Rome Statute, and is therefore not a member of the ICC. Consequently, the only way the prosecutor can begin such an investigation is if the UN Security Council instructs him to do so. While the Security Council has yet to make such an order, it has issued a statement on Yemen reiterating that "all those responsible for violence, human rights violations and abuses should be held accountable." Saleh stepped down as president last week in a deal that would grant immunity to the country's former leader.

Customs employees at Adabiya Seaport in the Suez Canal Zone refused to allow a seven-ton shipment of tear gas to pass Nov. 28, and were detained for questioning by security officials. Documents released by the customs workers indicate the first of three such shipments ordered by the Interior Ministry. Remaining shipments apparently remain en route from Wilmington, Del. Documents indicate the tear gas was manufactured by Pennsylvania-based Combined Systems.

Women's organizations throughout Latin America used the United Nation's International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Nov. 25, to highlight continued abuse of women in the region and the failure of governments to take steps to reduce it.

Tens of thousands of students marched in more than a dozen Latin American cities on Nov. 24 in the Latin American March for Education, a coordinated regional demonstration to support free and high-quality public education. The mobilization was planned by Chilean and Colombian students earlier in the month, but by Nov. 24 it had spread to include actions in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. Participants stressed that students had similar demands throughout the region and were also united in their support for the movement in Chile.

A little-known office of the US Defense Department is now taking bids from private security firms on a $3 billion contract for US-funded anti-narcotics operations in Mexico, Colombia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries. According to a report in Wired News, the Pentagon's Counter Narco-Terrorism Program Office (CNTPO) announced a "mega-contract" on Nov. 9 for as much as $950 million for "operations, logistics and minor construction," up to $975 million for training foreign forces, $875 million for "Information" tasks, and $240 million for "program and program support." The cash will start flowing next August, and the contractors may be able to extend the jobs for three more years.