Molajula Koteswar Rao AKA "Kishenji," most-wanted leader of India's Naxalite guerillas, was killed in a gun battle with security forces in the Burisole jungle region of West Midnapore district, West Bengal, authorities said Nov. 24. Sympathizers of the Maoist rebel movement as well as human rights groups immediately questioned the government's version of events, and charged that Kishenji had been illegally executed. Varavara Rao of the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committeeo called the slaying a "political murder." The New Power website said, "These fake encounters mask a campaign of targeted assassination." (PTI, Nov. 27; NewPower.org, Nov. 26)

German police on Nov. 27 battled thousands of anti-nuclear protestors—many chained to railroad tracks—who blocked the shipment of radioactive waste returning from a French treatment plant. The rail convoy was halted for 18 hours outside its final destination at Dannenberg, including overnight, amid mass demonstrations. Protesters boasted that the blockade's duration now topped the record set during a shipment one year ago. Police said they detained about 1,300 people. The 150 tons of uranium waste, originally from German nuclear plants, was being moved in 11 containers from a facility run by the French nuclear giant Areva in Valognes, Normandy. It was the last of 12 shipments, because of a German move away from nuclear power.

New street clashes broke out in Cairo Nov. 26, the day after a young protester was killed when he was run over by a police truck. The incident occurred when protesters attempted to march on the Interior Ministry, which oversees the security forces, to oppose repression that has now left 40 dead in a week of demonstrations. Police erected a concrete barricade on the street connecting Tahrir Square and the Interior Ministry, which protesters have sprayed with graffiti reading, "Freedom is coming." Protesters remain in control of Tahrir Square, and have extended their sit-in to the nearby building that houses the cabinet, demanding the formation of a civilian-led "national salvation government."

Pakistani officials said Nov. 26 that NATO aircraft had killed at least 25 troops in strikes against two military posts on the border with Afghanistan. The strikes, carried out by helicopters and fighter planes, apparently targeted posts in Mohmand tribal agency. Army chief of staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani called the attacks "unprovoked and indiscriminate." Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani called it "outrageous" and convened an emergency meeting of the cabinet. The Pakistani government responded by ordering the CIA to vacate the drone operations it runs from Shamsi Air Base within 15 days. It also closed the two main NATO supply routes into Afghanistan, including the one at the border town of Torkham. NATO forces receive roughly 40% of their supplies through that crossing, which runs through the Khyber Pass. Islamabad gave no estimate for how long the routes will be shut down. (NYT, Associated Press of Pakistan, BBC News, Nov. 26)

In factory towns across China's Pearl River Delta industrial zone in Guangdong province, thousands of workers walked off the job this week in response to belt-tightening measures imposed by slowing orders from the West. Some 1,000 workers are striking at the Jingmo Electronics Corporation’s Shenzhen factory, located in the industrial district of Shajing township and owned by the Taiwan-based Jingyuan Computer Group. Workers are protesting mandatory overtime with no overtime pay, as well as the high rate of workplace injuries, abusive treatment by managers, mass layoffs of older workers and the lack of any benefits. At Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings' giant shoe factory in Huangjiang town—a major supplier for sports brand New Balance—some 8,000 workers took to the streets Nov. 24, blocking roads, overturning cars and clashing with police. The Federation of Hong Kong Industries has warned that up to a third of around 50,000 Hong Kong-owned factories in Guangdong and elsewhere in China could downsize or close by the end of the year, putting at risk hundreds of thousands of jobs. (Reuters, The Telegraph, Nov. 25; China Labor Watch, Nov. 23)

A 24-hour strike in Portugal against proposed austerity measures grounded flights and halted public transport Nov. 24, in what labor leaders called a "red card" for the government. Austerity measures adopted in return for a 78 billion euro ($104 billion) bailout by the European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Hundreds of thousands of workers took part in the action, including air traffic controllers, trasnportation workers, teachers and hospital staff. The strike was called by Portugal's two leading labor unions, the General Confederation of the Portuguese Workers (CGTP) General Workers Union (UGT) (BBC News, AP, Nov. 24)

Four men have been killed in protests this week by the Shi'ite minority in Saudi Arabia's east—the most serious violence in the kingdom since the start of the Arab Spring. Street clashes began after a youth was killed at a checkpoint near Qatif. On Nov. 24, security forces fired on the funeral of a slain protester, leaving two more dead. Police said they exchanged fire with gunmen who "infiltrated" the mourners. The Interior Ministry said that "a number of security checkpoints and vehicles have since Monday been increasingly coming under gunfire attacks in the Qatif region by assailants motivated by foreign orders." (The Independent, Middle East Online, Nov. 25)

The hegemonic media line that Greece's new "austerity" government is being staffed by non-ideological "technocrats" is deflated by Mark Ames on the Naked Capitalism blog Nov. 16. Ames documents that in fact this "technocratic" government includes figures from the old-line Greek fascist right, spawn of the military junta that ruled from 1967 to 1974. The post sports a photo of three men walking on a college campus—one armed with a club, another with an axe. The text explains: