Iran
Iran headed for Ashura revolution?
In a fourth day of protests during the Ashura holy period in Iran, police fired teargas to disperse demonstrators. The death toll in the past 48 hours stands at at least eight.
Author: CounterVortex
Iraq
Iraq: Ashura terror in Kirkuk; Christmas terror in Mosul
Bomb attacks targeted Shi’ite worshippers in Kirkuk and Christian churches in Mosul, leaving seven dead. Over the past six days, 32 Iraqis have been killed in Ashura violence.
Afghanistan
Pakistan: Ashura terror in Kashmir, Karachi
A suicide bomb in Muzaffarabad, in Pakistan-administrated Kashmir, killed at least 15 and injured over 100 in an attack on a Shi’ite religious procession marking the Ashura holy period.
Central America
El Salvador: another anti-mining activist assassinated
Dora “Alicia” Recinos Sorto, 32, was assassinated in El Salvador’s Cabañas department—the second anti-mining activist killed there this week. She was eight months pregnant.
Mexico
Mexico: Quintana Roo journalist 12th killed in 2009
José Alberto Velázquez López, owner of the Mexican newspaper Expresiones de Tulum, was shot by a gunman on a motorcycle, bringing to 12 the number of reporters killed this year in the country.
Palestine
Egyptian authorities bar Gaza Freedom March
Egypt has informed organizers of the Gaza Freedom March that the Rafah border will be closed over the coming weeks. Organizers are calling for pressure on Egyptian authorities.
Palestine
Israeli forces kill three in Nablus; al-Aqsa threatens retaliation
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades pledged that “the Israeli occupation has thrown open the doors of its own inferno” following an IDF raid on Nablus that left three youth dead.
Greater Middle East
Yemen link claimed in apparent al-Qaeda Christmas terror attempt
Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemen-based radical imam with ties to the suspect in the Fort Hood killings, has been named in the apparent thwarted Christmas Day terrorism attempt.
Watching the Shadows
Guantánamo prison may remain open until 2011: reports
The military prison at Guantánamo Bay may have to remain open until 2011 to allow an Illinois prison time to prepare for the arrival of the detainees, reports indicate.
East Asia
China: rights activist sentenced to 11 years for “subversion”
Chinese rights activist Liu Xiabo, who for 20 years has called for an investigation into the Tiananmen Square massacre, was sentenced to 11 years in prison on subversion charges.
Iraq
Iraq terror targets Shi’ite pilgrims —again
Three bomb blasts in Iraq killed more than 30 people and injured 75 others as the Shi’ite Ashura ceremonies opened, while a Christmas Eve attack left one Christian dead in Mosul.
Inner Asia
Kyrgyzstan: wave of attacks on the press turns deadly
Gennady Pavlyuk, who died after being thrown from a window in neighboring Kazakhstan, is the latest in a wave of Kyrgyzstan opposition journalists to face violent attack.