The Zapatista rebels' "Other Campaign"—thusly named in reference to the presidential campaigns now underway in Mexico—has held rallies at various locations around the state of Chiapas since it took off from the jungle village of La Garrucha on New Years Day.

From AP via Newsday, Jan. 5:

Taliban militants beheaded a teacher in a central Afghan town while his wife and eight children watched, officials said Wednesday, describing the latest in a string of attacks targeting educators at schools where girls study.

Four men stabbed Malim Abdul Habib eight times late Tuesday before decapitating him in the courtyard of his home in Qalat, said Ali Khail, a spokesman for the provincial government of Zabul, where the attack took place.

The assailants made Habib's wife, four sons and four daughters watch, Khail said. His children were between the ages of 2 and 22. No other family members were hurt.

Days after Russia sparked a brief crisis in Europe by cutting off gas to Ukraine (and therefore points west), comes another sign of Moscow using petro-politics in a bid to restore its lost Great Power status. Under the five-year deal that ended the four-day crisis, Ukraine agreed to pay Russia's Gazprom $230 per 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas, as Gazprom had demanded. But Ukraine will end up paying only $95 per 1,000 cubic meters for the gas it receives in total because it will get lower priced gas from Gazprom partners in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. (AFX, Jan. 5) This will, of course, increase the pressure on Moscow to find a new outlet for the Caspian Basin hydrocrabons bypassing both Ukraine and the new West-controlled trans-Caucasus Baku-Ceyhan pipeline. Right on cue, reports appear that Gazprom is seeking a stake in the planned Iran-India gas line, viewing it as a prelude for a new Iranian route from the Caspian to international markets. From India's Business Standard, Dec. 23:

Following a meeting with representatives of Haitian political parties on Dec. 30, Max Mathurin, president of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), announced the postponement of the presidential and legislative elections previously scheduled for Jan. 8. "Following our work schedule, some preparation operations will go on past Jan. 8," he said. "This explains why it is impossible for this date, set for the first round, to be respected." He did not announce a new schedule.

On Dec. 24 a hired killer shot to death Kaiowa Guarani indigenous leader Dorvalino Rocha at his community's makeshift roadside encampment in Antonio Joao municipality, in Brazil's Mato Grosso do Sul state. The killer shot Rocha in the chest after arriving at the encampment in a vehicle with two other men. The 500 residents of the Nande Ru Marangatu territory—demarcated officially in March 2005 but facing a court challenge by local ranchers—have been camping by the highway since Dec. 15, when they were forcibly evicted by more than 100 Brazilian federal police agents.

On Dec. 21, police agents from Chile's militarized Carabineros Special Forces attacked the Mapuche community of Juan Paillalef in Cunco commune in the 9th region (Araucania). The attack came as community members were protesting a decision by the Ministry of Public Works to widen and pave a road through Mapuche land without following required legal procedures. Police used tear gas, clubs and firearms against community members and badly beat lonko (chief) Juana Rosa Calfunao Paillalef; some children were among those injured in the raid.

The "Other Campaign," a tour of Mexico by leaders of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), set off from the Chiapas village of La Garrucha on New Years Day—the anniversary of the Zapatistas' 1994 uprising. Rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos, at the head of a procession of hundreds of Zapatista rebels (masked but unarmed), departed from the village on a black motorcycle with a Mexican flag tied to the back. (Xinhua, Jan. 2)

On December 16 the Mexican League for the Defense of Human Rights (LIMEDDH) reported that a campesino active in the environmental movement in the southern state of Guerrero, Diego Bahena Armenta, hasn't been seen since November 8, when he was kidnapped by eight hooded men in a Nissan van without license plates as he was working with his nephew cleaning the road near the Riscalillo ranch, in Zihuatanejo municipality. His family reported his disappearance immediately to the state police but has received no information on him.