No surer sign of creeping (or galloping) totalitarianism. From AP, Nov. 5:

ASMARA, Eritrea -- Gospel singer Helen Berhane, who belonged to a banned evangelical church in Eritrea, has been released after more than two years in detention, a human rights group said.

From The New Times, Kigali, Nov. 12 via AllAfrica:

An unprecedented public inquiry into France's role in the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda held hearings in Kigali last week, where the French army was accused of complicity in the massacre of Tutsi and modreate Hutu.

The election results from the Democratic Republic of Congo are in—and predictably contested. The incumbent Joseph Kabila (and son of the late Laurent Kabila, leader of the 1996 revolution) has been declared victor, while supporters of contender Jean-Pierre Bemba, a "former rebel warlord," pledge "the people will resist this fraud." (The Guardian, Nov. 16) Rarely do media accounts explore how Western powers and corporate interests have exploited, fueled and manipulated Congo's chaotic and incessant wars over the past ten years since the Mobutu dictatorship was overthrown. Here's a relevant nugget from Left-Green Weekly Nov. 9 via Toward Freedom:

It was inevitable, but that doesn't make it any more probable. How can the GWOT propagandists buy this thesis while Tehran's agents and al-Qaeda's local franchise are locked in a death struggle for control of Iraq? Maybe it's because they're too dumb to tell Sunnis from Shi'ites—or think we are. From The Telegraph, Nov. 15:

Iran 'is training the next al-Qa'eda leaders'
Iran is seeking to take control of Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda terror network by encouraging it to promote officials known to be friendly to Teheran, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

From UPI, Nov. 14, links added:

WASHINGTON -- A Pentagon spokesman dismissed as "frivolous" a lawsuit alleging war crimes filed in Germany Tuesday against Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

From the AP, Nov. 14:

ISTANBUL — Turkey warned Tuesday that allowing Iraq to split apart would force its neighbors to act and would usher in "an unbelievable new era of darkness."

From the Capital Times of Madison, WI, Nov. 8:

Organizers of a movement to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq are lauding success at the ballot box from Wisconsin to Massachusetts.

A patrol of Jordanian soldiers in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) came under fire on the evening of Nov. 10 as they were returning to their camp near the Port-au-Prince international airport. Two soldiers were killed: 1st Lt. Ahmad Mohammed Hassan Ba'irat and Cpl. Rami Wasif Taha Al Mohammed. The incident took place close to the center of Port-au-Prince's Sonapi (Societe Nationale de Parcs Industriels) industrial park, near the impoverished Cite Soleil neighborhood. This was the worst violence against the MINUSTAH force since Dec. 24, 2005, when a Jordanian soldier was killed with a shot to the head, also near Cite Soleil. (Associated Press, Nov. 11; Haiti Press Network, Nov. 11)