A powerful blast outside KFC fast-food franchise killed three people and wounded at least 15 others in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi early Nov. 15. The Baluchistan National Army, a separatist guerilla group in restive southwestern Baluchistan Province, claimed responsibility for the attack. But Pakistani officials deny the existence of the group. "We did it to protest, and we did it to pressure the government for our rights," a guerilla spokesperson, identified as Chakar Azam, told the AP. Pakistani officials dismissed the claim.

Police and troops in Kampala, capital of Uganda, are reported to be firing live and plastic bullets in running battles with protesters angered by the arrest on treason charges last night of the president's main political rival, Kizza Besigye. The government charges that Besigye's supporters are ransacking businesses, burning tires and throwing stones and at security forces. Police are said to have shot dead at least one protesters, although authorities said he was shot by a secuity guard while trying to break into a shop. Some 60 have been arrested, and several others hospitalized.

The Pope greeted a group of Tuareg desert nomads in St Peter's Basilica Nov. 13, using the occassion to invoke the "universal brotherhood" of all the world's peoples. The ten Tuareg visitors, dressed in blue and white robes and turbans, were in the Vatican to pay tribute to Charles de Foucauld, a French Catholic missionary who lived among their people in the early years of the 20th century.

Although it was only the attempt on a luxury cruise ship that made headlines, Somali pirates attacked five vessels last week, with shipping experts saying the operations were apparently directed from a mysterious "mother ship" prowling the busy Indian Ocean corridor.

Most vessels escaped, but one was commandeered, bringing to seven the number of vessels now being held captive along with their crews by pirates operating along Somalia's coastline, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said.

Rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles were fired at the US-owned Seabourn Spirit, carrying 150 western tourists, by gunmen in two small speedboats, but the ship's captain managed to change course and speed away. Thousands of merchant ships carrying oil and other critical coommodities pass the Somali coast to the Cape of Good Hope every year. (IOL, Nov. 12)

From NY Newsday, Nov. 14:

Brooklyn man killed in hit and run

BY ASHLEY HARRELL
STAFF WRITER; Staff writer Luis Perez contributed to this story.

A Brooklyn factory worker and father of three was killed in a hit and run while he was walking home from a night with friends, police and family said yesterday.

A gray BMW truck heading east on Myrtle Avenue struck Lucino Galindo, 51, at the corner of Emerson Place around 1 a.m. and did not turn back, police said.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accused Mexican leader Vicente Fox of being a "puppy" of President Bush and warned: "Don't mess with me, sir, because you'll get stung." Fox shot back Nov. 14 that "we have dignity in this country" and demanded an apology. Chavez responded by calling home his ambassador, and Mexico quickly responded in kind.

"The whole world knows that this didn't begin on the Venezuelan side," Venezuelan Ambassador Vladimir Villegas said. When asked what the driving issue was behind the controversy, he said, "look a little bit north"—a reference to the United States.

Tensions between Fox and Chavez boiled over after the summit in Argentina, where Fox defended a US-backed proposal for a Free Trade Area of the Americas. Chavez proclaimed the idea dead. On Nov. 13, Mexico issued a statement saying Chavez' insult "strikes at the dignity of the Mexican people and government." Early the next day, Fox's spokesman, Ruben Aguilar, said Mexico would expel the ambassador if Venezuela didn't apologize by midnight.

From the opening days of the Iraq campaign in March 2003, there were uncorroborated reports of use of chemical and other unconventional weapons. These reports emerged again with the re-taking of Fallujah one year ago. Thanks to the work of an Italian documentary team, these claims are now in the headlines again—in Europe at least. From the UK Independent, Nov. 15:

The apparent identification of a suicide bomber in the Jordan hotel attacks as an Iraqi who had been detained by US forces in Iraq adds a new dimension to reactions in the Hashemite kingdom. Authorities say three Iraqi men died in the blasts, and an Iraqi woman survived when her explosives vest failed to detonate. Knight Ridder newspapers reported that the name of one of the male suspects, Safaa Mohammed Ali, matches that of a man who was detained for about two weeks during clashes between insurgents and US Marines in Fallujah. (UPI, Nov. 14)