The Jerusalem city council's district planning committee on Dec. 28 approved plans for a large tourism complex in the flashpoint neighborhood of Silwan, just south of the Old City. The project is to be built on a plot of land currently being used as a parking lot opposite the Dung Gate, main entrance to the Western Wall and the Old City's Jewish Quarter. It would be managed by Elad, a hardline settler organization, which runs the nearby archaeological site at David's City. Local Palestinian activists protested the move. "This project aims to promote settler tourism and religious tourism," said Fakhri Abu Diab, head of the Silwan Defense Committee, who said the city had confiscated local land for the project. "This complex will change the character of the area and will emphasize the idea that Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people—because it is a political project too."

In the fifth YouTube edition of the Moorish Orthodox Radio Crusade, World War 4 Report editor Bill Weinberg interviews Andrew Kliman of the Marxist-Humanist Initiative, author (most recently) of The Failure of Capitalist Production: Underlying Causes of the Great Recession, who argues for Marx's law of the Long-Term Falling Rate of Profit, and analyzes both the potentials and limitations of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

From now through the first week of January, World War 4 Report will be on semi-hiatus, with a low level of activity, while editor and chief blogger Bill Weinberg takes a well-earned stay-at-home vacation and sees to some personal matters. If you appreciate our daily offerings, please take this opportunity to support our year-end fund drive, so we can hit the ground running when we get back, with refocused energies—and hopefully having reached our goal of $5,000. Thanks for reading, and for your support.

Even as villagers at Wukan in China's Guangdong province announced an agreement to negotiate with authorities and began dismantling their barricades after a 10-day stand-off on Dec. 20, clashes were reported between security forces and thousands of protesting residents at Haimen, an industrial city about 100 kilometers up the coast in Shantou prefecture. The protests were sparked by plans to build a coal-burning power plant in an area where numerous factories have already polluted local waters and harmed the fishing economy. Protesters reportedly surrounded a government building and blocked an expressway before police used tear-gas and batons to clear them. Online accounts of the incident said hundreds were savagely beaten, and that two people were killed. Authorities denied any deaths in the incident. (FT, Reuters, McClatchy, Dec. 21; AGI, Dec. 20)

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.