Americas

A soldier running from angry protesters died instantly when he fell off of a cliff, town offices were burned down, and one mayor escaped to Lima, claiming that his constituency was planning to lynch him. In spite of the Organization of American States' report of a normal election, Peruvian President Alan García called on the armed forces to quell violence across the country during and after regional elections held November 19, 2006.

"The history of the criminal case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, which is by now almost 25 years old, has been characterized by bias right from the start: against a black man whom the court denied a jury of his peers, against a member of the economic underclass who did not have a real claim to a qualified defense, and against a radical, whose allegedly dangerous militancy obliged the state to eliminate him from the ranks of society."

The presidential victory for the United States' Cold War Sandinista foe, Daniel Ortega, is certain. With 91.6% of polling stations reporting, the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) candidate Ortega is in first place with 38.07% of the vote. In second place is Alianza Liberal Nicaraguense (ALN) candidate Eduardo Montealegre with 29%, followed by Partido Liberal Constitucional candidate José Rizo with 26.21%. In fourth place is Movimiento Renovador Sandinista (MRS) candidate Edmundo Jarquín with 6.44%, and coming in last is Alianza para el Cambio (AC) candidate Edén Pastora with 0.27% of the vote. Montealegre officially conceded the victory to Ortega on November 7th.