A member of the Philippine parliament blamed unbridled large-scale mining and logging activities in Northern Mindanao region behind the devastating floods that have left nearly 1,000 dead and hundreds missing. Said congressman Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis party: "This is a disaster waiting to happen... Mining corporations are highly accountable for the serious environmental degradation and deforestation in the region and other parts of the country." According to the Manila-based Center for Environmental Concerns, forest cover in the Philippines is down to an estimated 6% of the original, and is further threatened by an average 157,400 hectares lost to deforestation per year.

Peru's President Ollanta Humala called off the state of emergency in four provinces of Cajamarca region Dec. 16 after local leaders agreed to suspend their civil strike against Newmont Mining Corp.'s $4.8 billion Conga gold project. Prime Minister Oscar Valdés will lead a "high-level committee" to Cajamarca Dec. 19 to meet with regional officials and community leaders. Cajamarca's regional president Gregorio Santos announced suspension of the paro in the face of growing pressure; the state of emergency had blocked bank accounts and other financial services in the region. Village mayors and community leaders have agreed to comply with the suspension pending the outcome of talks.

Unknown gunmen opened fire on a helicopter carrying Freeport-McMoRan mining company workers in Indonesia's restive province of West Papua Dec. 17, injuring one passenger, a Filipina woman who was hit by shrapnel. The transport chopper with 23 passengers and three crew members landed safely in an airport in Timika town. The attack follows a string of mysterious shooting ambushes on the road linking the company's massive gold and copper mine with Timika town. Thousands of Freeport workers agreed to end a three-month strike after a wage deal was reached two days before the new shooting incident. The attack came as thousands of unionized employees were preparing to return to the Grasberg mine following a three-month strike that has crippled production. Though the 8,000 striking workers were supposed to be back on the job on the 17th after management agreed to a 37% pay hike, the union said plans were pushed back so the two sides could iron out last-minute details.

Kazakh interior ministry troops fired on striking workers in the Caspian Basin city Zhanaozen Dec. 16, leaving at least 10 dead. Scores were injured, and scores more detained. The violence came in a move to oust hundreds of striking workers from the square they had been occupying for six months to demand better wages and democratic reforms. The Kazakh prosecutor general called the protesters "hooligans" who tried to take weapons off police and torch installations of the Ozenmuinagaz oil company and government buildings as well as vehicles and ATMs. All communication to the city has been blocked, with Twitter and phone lines cut off.

The Germany-based Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) warns of a further destabilization of post-Qaddafi Libya. "Libya is threatened by a Berber revolt," said the STP's Africa expert, Ulrich Delius. "The country's new leadership is not prepared to honor the help of the Berber militias during the overthrow the Qaddafi regime by recognizing the basic rights of the non-Arab minority. Libya is about to fall back into times as bad as during the Qaddafi regime, if there is no end to the general arabization and racism against non-Arabs." This month has seen scattered skirmishes between Berber and Arab militias and the nascent national army.

A Pakistan-based NGO, the Foundation for Fundamental Rights (FFR), led by Islamabad lawyer Shahzad Akbar, has filed a legal case in that country's courts on behalf of a Pakistani citizen, journalist Karim Khan, whose 18-year-old son and brother were killed in a drone attack on New Year's Eve in 2009. The criminal complaint for wrongful death has resulted in Pakistan CIA station chief Jonathan Banks fleeing the country, apparently to avoid prosecution after his anonymity was compromised. The FFR, along with the UK-based legal advocacy group Reprieve, is also seeking an international warrant for former CIA legal director John Rizzo on behalf of families of civilians killed in drone strikes. Rizzo was the individual responsible for approving targets in drone strikes in Pakistan..

On Dec. 12, "narco-banners" (narcomantas) with a four-paragraph communiqué were hung from pedestrian overpasses at 10 different spots around the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, signed with the name of Miguel Angel Treviño AKA "Z-40"—a fugitive leader of Los Zetas. Not hand-scrawled like most narcomantas, but professionally printed, the messages' first paragraph declared: "We do not govern this country, nor do we have a regime; we are not terrorists or guerillas. We concentrate on our work and the last thing we want is to have problems with any government, neither Mexico nor much less with the US." The message went on to distance both Treviño and the Zetas from the alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the US, as well as an August attack in a Monterrey casino that killed more than 50.

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir arrived in Washington DC Dec. 14 to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, World Bank president Robert Zoellick and international investors at a two-day conference. Simultaneously, California-based Oakland Institute issued a report, based on on-the-ground-research, warning of a scramble for the new nation's land as foreign agribusiness interests move in. "As South Sudan opens for business, foreign companies are flocking to invest in the new country and buy up land," said David Deng, author of the report looking at land deals covering an estimated 5.15 million hectares. " For a school, a health centre, some vague promises of employment opportunities, or a couple of thousand dollars in annual lease payments, companies are given long-term leasehold rights of up to 99 years, often without the knowledge of the local populations living on the land."