The Palestine People's Party (PPP) denounced the latest Israeli decision to demolish five Palestinian homes in the town of Bruqin in the northern West Bank Oct. 31. Senior PPP member Isam Baker called the decision "part of the ethnic cleansing policy that is carried out by the Israeli authorities in the Palestinian territories."

The European Campaign to Break the Siege on Gaza is preparing to send a massive international parliamentarian delegation to Gaza by sea. The delegation had arranged a solidarity visit to Gaza, but was denied entry to the area by Egypt via the Rafah crossing in mid October. Lord Nadthir Ahmad, head of the planned delegation said the group "feels it is their moral duty to break the siege that is imposed over the past three years." (Ma'an News Agency, Oct. 31)

A Syrian court sentenced 12 prominent dissidents to two and a half years each in prison Oct. 29 for calling for democratic reforms and an end to the Baath Party's monopoly on power. The dissidents, 11 men and a woman, were arrested last year after holding a large meeting to revive a movement that called for freedom of expression and a new constitution in Syria. The defendants, who are among Syria's leading intellectuals and opposition figures, have been imprisoned since their arrest. The charges against them include "weakening national morale." (Reuters, Oct. 29)

A jury for the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Oct. 31 found Charles McArthur Emmanuel AKA Chuckie Taylor Jr., son of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, guilty on charges of involvement in torture and other crimes in Liberia and Sierra Leone between 1999 and 2002. Emmanuel, a US citizen raised in Boston, had pleaded not guilty to the charges and was the first person indicted under a 1994 federal anti-torture law known as the "extraterritorial statute," which allows people living within the US to be charged for acts of torture abroad.

Our October issue featured the story "Behind the Econocataclysm: Globalization, Oil Shock and the Iraq War" by Vilosh Vinograd, citing George Soros, Joseph Stiglitz and Walden Bello to argue that the financial crisis was sparked by George Bush's imperialist aggression in the Middle East. Our October Exit Poll was: "Is it 1929 yet?" We received the following responses:

Even now that the economy is hitting the skids bigtime and the price of oil is back down below $100 ($66 per barrel on Oct. 30 according to CNNMoney)—prompting OPEC at its Vienna meeting to decide to cut production, after months of high output (WSJ, Oct. 25)—Exxon's profits continue to break records. John McCain seizes on this to take a cheap (if none too logical) shot at Obama...

Eleven near-simultaneous bomb blasts tore through Guwahati and the towns of Barpeta, Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon in India's conflicted northeastern Assam state, killing 40 people and wounding 200 late Oct. 30. Most of the blasts targeted crowded markets. One of the nine bombs in Guwahati also targeted a crowded bus. A state of emergency has been declared throughout Assam. After the blasts in Guwahati, a crowd of angry residents threw rocks at the police, who fired into the air to disperse them. A curfew has been imposed in the city.

The Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) found the government of Niger liable Oct. 27 for failing to aid a young woman who was held in slavery for ten years. The West African court ruled under a 2003 Niger law that made the ownership of slaves a criminal offense, and a provision of Niger's 1999 constitution which bans slavery. Niger's government will be required to pay $19,750 in restitution to Hadijatou Mani. Observers say the ECOWAS court's binding ruling will affect every ECOWAS member state may force a number of nations to consider the legality of slavery within their borders, as well as act to protect whose who may be illegally enslaved.