A gang in a jungle area of Peru's Huánuco region has been killing people to harvest their fat for sale on an international black market, police charged Nov. 19. Medical experts express skepticism at the authorities' claim that the fat is extracted for use in cosmetics by companies in Europe. But Col. Jorge Mejia, chief of the National Police Kidnapping Division, said three suspects have confessed to killing five people for their fat, and two were arrested carrying bottles of liquid fat. At least five other suspects, including two Italian nationals, remain at large, authorities said. Police said the gang could be behind the disappearances of up to 60 people in Huánuco and Pasco regions.

The governments of Colombia and Venezuela traded angry words again on Nov. 19 following the bombing of two footbridges connecting the two countries by Venezuelan guardsmen. The bridges were at the border town of Rangonvalia, where Venezuela's Táchira state meet Colombia's Norte de Santander department. In a statement, Colombia's Foreign Ministry announced it will denounce the destruction of the bridges before the United Nations and the Organization of American States, charging in a statement that "this is a unilateral act of aggression against the civilian population and the border communities."

The CIA built one of its secret prisons inside an exclusive riding academy outside Vilnius, Lithuania, a current Lithuanian government official and a former US intelligence official (both anonymous) told ABC News this week. Documents provided by Lithuanian officials showed a now-defunct CIA front company, Elite LLC, bought the property from a family and built the "black site" in 2004, the report said.

The UK's High Court ruled Nov. 19 that documents on the detention of Binyam Mohamed in Pakistan in 2002 must be released. This most recent decision is the latest in a series of back-and-forth rulings on whether redacted materials regarding Mohamed's detention should be disclosed. An October interim ruling by Lord Justice Thomas and Justice Lloyd Jones resulted in a redacted release, which the High Court indicated it would revisit after receiving submissions from both the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Mohamed.

Iran's judicial authorities plan to investigate the death of a young doctor who had testified before parliament about prisoner abuses in the aftermath of the disputed presidential election. Dissident websites said that Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani, 26, was killed in order to silence him, as he was the only independent witness to be able to corroborate the charges of torture.

On Nov. 16, a group of Israeli soldiers disobeyed orders to assist in the dismantling of two wooden structures that Jewish settlers had built without Israeli government authorization near Hebron. A military official said two of the soldiers were sent to prison for 30 days and permanently dismissed from command or combat positions. Several others are still being investigated. The area was secured by soldiers from an infantry battalion, some of whom "did not follow orders given to them," the official told Reuters, declining to provide exact numbers. The YNet news service said six soldiers were relieved of duty.

Violent clashes erupted between Palestinian residents and Israeli troops Nov. 18 as military forces razed two houses in al-Bustan neighborhood of East Jerusalem's Silwan district. The demolitions were the second and third of the day. Seven Palestinians were injured and dozens of others assaulted as Israeli troops fired tear gas at the growing crowd that gathered to confront the continued program of home demolitions in the neighborhood. Crowds gathered as Israeli bulldozers wrecked the homes, and protests began as the equipment moved on to the second building.

Neo-Nazis attempted to disrupt the 20th anniversary celebrations of the Velvet Revolution in Prague Nov. 17, and clashed with police who tried to keep them from marching on the main parade. Some 300 right-wing extremists, many wearing masks, threw stones and bottles at the police, while chanting "Communists!" and "police state!" They also reportedly attacked three random people. There were 48 arrests. (Romea, Prague, Nov. 18)