The head of the Basque government and his chief opponent went on trial Jan. 8 over alleged past contacts with Batasuna, banned political wing of the armed separatist group ETA—just weeks before they are to face off in regional elections. Juan José Ibarretxe of the region's ruling Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), and Patxi Lopez, regional leader of Spain's ruling Socialist Party, face possible prison terms and bans on political activity if found guilty. (AFP, Jan. 10)

Leonidas Vargas, one of Colombia's most notorious drug lords, was shot dead in his Madrid hospital bed Jan. 8, Spanish authorities said. At least one gunman entered the room in Madrid's Doce de Octubre Hospital where Vargas was being treated for a serious illness, and shot him four times. The Spanish press reported the assassin asked another patient who was sharing the Colombian's room if he was Vargas. When the man said no, he took out a gun fitted with a silencer and shot Vargas, who was asleep.

Thousands of fishermen in Mexico went on strike last week to protest the rise in the cost of diesel fuel, which they say has reduced their profit margin to zero. The strike, dubbed "Zero Fishing 2009," was declared in the northern state of Sinaloa by fishermen operating a fleet of around 100. In less than a week, the number of vessels involved in the strike had climbed to over 2,500.

The US continues to be the major weapon supplier to Mexico's drug cartels, according to a report the Cabinet submitted to President Felipe Calderón last week. In the text, the secretariats of Government, Defense, Navy and Public Security, and the Prosecutor General's office say the cross-border arms traffic is a $22 million-a-year trade, and that weapons from the US have reached Los Zetas, bloody paramilitary wing of the Gulf Cartel, as well as criminal organizations in Sinaloa and Tijuana.

During a live broadcast the night of Jan. 6, at least five masked gunmen riding in two pickup trucks fired high-caliber weapons and tossed a grenade outside the studios of the Televisa network in Monterrey, in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo León. The two news anchors asked the police for help on the air during the attack. Televisa's news director in Monterrey, Francisco Cobos, told local reporters that the gunmen left a message on the windshield of one of the cars parked in the station's lot saying in Spanish: "Stop reporting on us. Also report on narco officials."

From Witness Against Torture, Jan. 8:

WASHINGTON – On Sunday, January 11 – the seven-year anniversary of the opening of the prison at Guantanamo – more than 200 human rights advocates will join 60 people who are beginning a nine-day fast to encourage President-Elect Barack Obama to keep his promise to shut down Guantánamo and end torture in his first days of office.

Israel carried out new deadly air raids on the Gaza Strip early Jan. 9, even as the UN Security Council finally passed a resolution calling for an "immediate, durable" ceasefire leading to the "full withdrawal" of Israeli forces from Gaza. The text, while stopping short of demanding that Israel call off the offensive before a ceasefire is implemented, does call for "the unimpeded provision and distribution throughout Gaza of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment." The US abstained but refrained from vetoing the resolution. The vote was otherwise a unanimous 14-0. The death toll in the offensive now stands at 778.

Survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims protested in front of the US Embassy in Sarajevo Jan. 8 to demand Washington call a halt to Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip. Said Munira Subasic, who lost her husband and son in the massacre: "In 2009, Palestinian mothers are going through ordeals we experienced in 1995 and we are raising our voice because we know about pain and suffering. We know how it feels to lose a child or husband."