Southeast Asia
Burma: new airstrikes on Kachin rebels
Burma's army claimed responsibility for air-strikes against Kachin rebel positions in the north—less than a day after the government denied the strikes had taken place.
Author: CounterVortex
Iran
Iranian cities evacuated by smog alert
Iranian authorities have advised the 1.5 million residents of Isfahan to leave the city because air pollution has reached emergency levels—while denying rumors of a nuclear leak.
Planet Watch
Quebec: #IdleNoMore protesters block rail line
Protesters with the Idle No More movement, supporting a hunger strike by Chief Theresa Spence of Ontario’s Attawapiskat First Nation, blocked a rail line in eastern Quebec.
North America
Karl Marx and the Emancipation Proclamation
Kevin B. Anderson, author of Marx at the Margins: On Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Non-Western Societies, draws the link from Lincoln's radicalization to the First International.
Palestine
Israel orders Jordan Valley evacuation for training
Israeli forces delivered evacuation orders to around 100 Palestinian families in the northern Jordan Valley ahead of a training exercise, declaring the area a “closed military zone.”
Iraq
Iraq: sectarian attacks, protests
A wave of bomb attacks across Iraq taregted Shi'ite pilgrims, as Sunni protesters blocked highways to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
North Africa
Attack on Coptic church in Libya
Two Egyptians were killed and two injured in an explosion at a Coptic church at Dafniya, near the Libyan city of Misrata. The blast came just as mass was ending.
India: Tibetans march for human rights
Tibetans across the globe celebrated the 64th World Human Rights Day on Dec. 10 with a new spirit. What was hailed as a Global Solidarity Day for Tibet was most widely observed by Tibetan exiles in India. Hundreds of Tibetans… Read moreIndia: Tibetans march for human rights
The Andes
Peru: Conga project to advance in 2013?
Peru’s Minister of Mines Jorge Merino assured investors that his government will make every effort to see the controversial Conga gold mining project move forward in 2013.
The Andes
Peru: protest over mine’s water diversion
Thousands of campesinos filled the streets of Chiclayo in northern Peru to protest La Zanja mining company’s plan to dump waste water in high Andean canyons.
The Andes
Bolivia: progress seen in coca policy
Total area planted with coca in Bolivia dropped by up to 13% last year, as both eradication efforts and the areas where coca can be legally cultivated were expanded.
The Andes
Bolivia: Aymara declare mine personnel ‘fugitives’
Aymara authorities at Mallku Khota in Bolivia’s Potosí department declared two technicians from Canadian mining company South American Silver to be fugitives from justice.