The Israeli daily Ha’aretz reports that construction in West Bank settlements is “booming” despite the declared freeze, with expansion underway at more than 50 settlements and two industrial zones.
Several international activists were injured by Egyptian riot police during demonstrations with the Gaza Freedom March in Cairo. Egypt has denied the march access to the besieged Strip.
In a move heralded by human rights groups, Israel’s supreme court ordered the military to allow Palestinians to travel on part of a major highway that runs through the West Bank.
World-renowned political organizer and one of Africa’s most celebrated poets, Dennis Brutus, died early on Dec. 26 in Cape Town, in his sleep, aged 85.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai appointed a delegation to investigate 10 civilian deaths, including eight schoolchildren, believed to have occurred during a NATO raid in Kunar province.
Another indigenous Guarani leader, Osmair Martins Ximenes, was killed in Brazil last week, the latest in a string of killings related to the theft of the people’s land.
Colombian senator Piedad Córdoba asked the FARC to state whether they are responsible for the death of Caquetá governor Luis Francisco Cuéllar, as conspiracy theories abound.
Survivors of the 1989 US invasion of Panama marked the 20th anniversary with a protest at the old US embassy in Panama City, burning effigies of Barack Obama and Panama’s new president.
Bolivia is launching incentive programs to encourage nationals living abroad to return to the country, including providing land under the new agrarian reform.
In a first for a Latin American city, Mexico City’s legislature voted 39-20 to permit same-sex marriage. Mayor Marcelo Ebrard is expected to sign the bill.
The Red Cross says that of the 39 killed in a clash between government forces and the Yan Kala-Kato Islamic sect in the Nigerian state of Bauchi, some 60% were children.
A UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) official protested Thailand’s move to forcibly repatriate some 4,000 ethnic Hmong back to Laos. Some 400 have been removed so far.
