A panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit Nov. 4 suspended its review the status of Guantánamo Bay detainee Yasin Muhammed of Yemen as an "enemy combatant," saying it may lack jurisdiction over the case. Basardh had petitioned the court to review a Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT) determination that he could be held as an "enemy combatant," but the court said that provisions of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 that gave it authority to review the decision were likely at odds with a 2007 Supreme Court decision in Boumediene v. Bush giving federal district courts authority to review habeas corpus petitions by detainees.

The jury in the US military commission trial of alleged al-Qaeda media director Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al Bahlul reached a verdict in the case Nov. 1, finding him guilty of material support for terrorism. The verdict was sealed until Nov. 3, with al-Bahlul present in the courtroom at the Guantanamo Bay prison. Al-Bahlul, a 39-year-old Yemeni citizen, vowed earlier this year to boycott proceedings against him, saying he would attend only when a verdict was handed down or he was sentenced. The military jury deliberated for only four hours before reaching a verdict. Al-Bahlul is only the second detainee to go on trial at Guantanamo since the prison there opened in 2002.

Gen. Mario Montoya, commander of Colombia’s armed forces, resigned Nov. 4 after an investigation tied dozens of military personnel under his command to a growing scandal over the killing of civilians by the military in an apparent attempt to inflate the number of insurgents killed in combat by security forces.

On the night of Nov. 4, a Learjet carrying Government Secretary Juan Camilo Mouriño and José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, a former deputy prosecutor general, crashed in the middle of rush-hour traffic in an upscale neighborhood of Mexico City, killing all eight on board, many on the ground, and injuring dozens of others driving along the busy roadway. Authorities insist the crash was an accident, but rumors persist it was part of the drug cartels' murderous campaign against Mexico's security forces.

Media in South Texas are citing a leaked FBI intelligence report that apparently warns that the Zetas, paramilitary arm of Mexico's Gulf Cartel, are planning attacks on US Border Patrol agents in retaliation against stepped-up interdiction efforts. Law enforcement agencies on the US side of the Rio Grande Valley have reportedly been placed on high alert in response to the threat. (KVEO, Brownsville, Oct. 30)

Anwar Tambe writes from Kenya for SkyNews, Nov. 5:

It is scarcely believable, but it is true. A Luo can become President—of the United States of America, if not Kenya.

The Peace Community of San José de Apartadó in Colombia's northwestern Antioquia department reported on Oct. 31 that right-wing paramilitaries were threatening to murder community members. A joint operation of paramilitaries and the army's 17th Brigade murdered eight people in San José de Apartado on Feb. 21, 2005; retired colonel Guillermo Armando Gordillo confessed this year that his troops participated in the massacre. Peace communities refuse to collaborate with any armed forces, including rebels, paramilitaries and the army.

The official theme of the 18th Ibero-American Summit, held Oct. 29-31 in San Salvador, El Salvador, was "Youth and Development," but the global financial crisis was the main topic of discussions by the representatives of Spain, Portugal and 19 Latin American countries.