The US Supreme Court Nov. 30 vacated a decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that required the Pentagon to release photos of abused detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Court remanded Department of Defense v. ACLU for further consideration under Section 565 of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2010. The Act gives the Secretary of Defense the ability to prevent certain protected documents from being made public.

An Algerian court Nov. 29 sentenced in absentia Guantánamo Bay detainee Ahmed Belbacha to 20 years in prison for being part of an "overseas terrorist group." Belbacha has been cleared for release from Guantánamo but says he does not want to return to his home country of Algeria for fear of torture and has requested asylum in the US. Belbacha has been held in Guantánamo since 2002 after he was captured in Pakistan. Human Rights Watch reported that he tried to commit suicide at Guantánamo but would rather stay there than return to Algeria. HRW said that there are approximately 60 detainees who face a credible threat of torture or persecution if they return to their home country. (Jurist, Nov. 30)

Israel's Knesset Nov. 29 unanimously approved a resolution demanding that Argentina extradite those military officers involved in mass killings during the country's 1976-1983 military dictatorship so that they can be put on trial. MK Yossi Sarid (Meretz) proposed the move, saying that it was a "hypocritical discussion since all the facts have long been known and the government of Israel never once lifted a finger and cooperated with the Argentine murders because of their interest in arms deals."

After missing work for several days, José Emilio Galindo Robles, the regional director for Radio Universidad de Guadalajara in Ciudad Guzmán, Jalisco, was found dead inside his home Nov. 23, Milenio reports. Authorities have given little information about the case but have confirmed that the journalist was killed. A motive had not been confirmed.

Our November issue featured the stories "Venezuelan Labor Between Chávez and the Golpistas" by Venezuelan journalist Rafael Uzcategui writing for the Spanish anarchist journal Tierra y Libertad, and "Venezuela: Demarcation Without Land" by José Quintero Weir writing for the Caracas anarchist journal El Libertario. The stories documented, respectively, repression against unionists and indigenous peoples under the Hugo Chávez regime. Our Exit Poll was: "Are we traitors to the Revolution for airing an anarchist critique of Bolivarian Venezuela?"

Police in Geneva, Switzerland, used water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets Nov. 28 at a protest opposing the World Trade Organization summit that opens this week. Hooded "black bloc" anarchists who broke away from the main march set fire to at least four cars, broke shop windows and committed other acts of violence, police said. The group Anti-WTO Coordination said it "regretted being unable to finish the demonstration" and condemned "unreservedly all police repression violating democratic rights." (AP, Nov. 29)

Denmark's parliament Nov. 26 passed legislation giving police sweeping powers of "pre-emptive" arrest and extending sentences for acts of civil disobedience. The law comes ahead of the UN talks on global climate change in Copenhagen, which start on Dec. 7 and are expected to attract thousands of protesters. Under the new powers, Danish police will be able to detain people for up to 12 hours under suspicion they might break the law in the near future.

The Nov. 27 crash of a Russian express train between Moscow and Saint Petersburg was caused by a terrorist attack, authorities say. The Russian Prosecutor General and the secret service report that remnants of explosives have been found at the scene, while the Echo of Moscow radio station reports that the neo-Nazi organization Combat 18 has claimed responsibility for the attack. Some media reports have suggested the claim is a publicity stunt. At least 26 were killed and 60 injured in the derailment on the Nevsky Express, but the final figures are expected to be higher. (Romea, Prague, Nov. 29)