The Andes
Bolivia: government wants immigrants back
Bolivia is launching incentive programs to encourage nationals living abroad to return to the country, including providing land under the new agrarian reform.
Mexico
Mexico: Federal District OKs same-sex marriage
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.
Africa
Nigeria: children killed in new sectarian fighting
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.
Southeast Asia
Thailand: UN protests forcible repatriation of Hmong to Laos
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.
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.
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.
Iran
NY Times op-ed page legitimizes illegal aggression against Iran
In a heart-warming display of holiday spirit, the New York Times runs a Christmas Eve op-ed making the case for illegal pre-emptive military strikes on Iran.
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.