The Dutch government on Dec. 9 formally apologized for a massacre at the village of Rawagede, in West Java, 64 years ago that day. Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia Tjeerd de Zwaan presided over a tearful ceremony at the now renamed village of Balongsari. The Dutch apology in the 1947 massacre of at least 150 boys and men at the village comes after a long legal battle by survivors and widows. Survivors and their advocates say the actual death toll was closer to 400. "Today, we remember your family members who died 64 years ago at the hands of the Dutch military troops," de Zwaan said at the ceremony. "On behalf of Dutch government, I deeply apologize for the tragedy."

At least four Palestinians are dead in new Israeli air-strikes on the Gaza Strip over the past two days. The first strikes came on Dec. 8, targeting cars carrying presumed operatives of Hamas' armed wing and Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, both of whom were killed. Militants responded with a barrage of rockets, some of which landed near Beersheba. No one was hurt in the rocket attacks, but aiir-raid sirens summoned residents of southern Israel to shelters. Another Israeli air-strike followed before dawn on Dec. 9, hitting a Hamas target in Gaza City. The blast flattened a nearby home, killing its owner; the man's 12-year-old son was pronounced dead hours later. The man's wife and five other children were wounded, hospital officials said. (Ma'an News Agency, Dec. 9)

Some 2,000 protesters filled Tripoli's Martyrs' Square Dec. 7 to demand withdrawal of the militia forces that have been in the capital since the fall of Moammar Qaddafi pull out of the city. Jurists and police were among the leaders of the march, accusing the militiamen of terrorizing residents with impunity. Placards read "No to weapons; Yes to justice!" The rally was organized by the city council and backed by the interim government. The militias, mostly from the cities of Misrata and Zintan, continue to occupying buildings that formerly housed Qaddafi cronies to use as their headquarters. The interim government is pressuring militiamen to go home and leave security functions to the police and the new army it plans to create. Prime Minister Abdurrahim al-Keib and the city council have given militias until Dec. 20 to leave. (Reuters, Reuters, AFP, Dec. 7)

In response to the victory of Islamist parties in run-off elections, Egypt's military rulers said Dec. 7 that the new parliament will not be representative enough to independently oversee the drafting of a constitution, and they will appoint a council to oversee the process. The constituent assembly will still be appointed by the parliament, but the military-appointed council will coordinate with the assembly to check the influence of extremists. "We are in the early stages of democracy," said Gen. Mukhtar Mulla, a member of the ruling military council. "The parliament is not representing all sectors of society."

With foreign journalists effectively barred from first-hand reportage on the violence in Syria, the situation is by definition murky. But accounts from the city of Homs suggest an outbreak of sectarian killings, with numerous bodies—many of them tortured or mutilated—left on the streets in recent days. On Dec. 5, 36 bodies were dumped in a square adjacent to both Sunni and Alawite areas of the city, and the violence is portrayed by opposition activists in Homs as a cycle of retaliatory killings by followers of the two sects. The cycle was apparently initiated by a pro-government militia known as the Shabiha, which is said to be arming Alawites and attacking Sunni protesters.The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights called the 5th "one of the deadliest days since the start of the Syrian Revolution." Since then, at least 20 more bodies have been left in the streets around the city. Some 4,000 are believed to have been killed in Syria since the start of the uprising in March. (SAPA, NPR, Dec. 7; LAT, NYT, Dec. 6; AFP, Nov. 26)

Five bomb attacks in Baghdad, Latifiyah and elsewhere in central Iraq targeted Shi'ite pilgrims headed for the holy city of Karbala Dec. 6 for Ashura celebrations, killing 21 people and wounding nearly 100. Car bombs and roadside devices were aimed at buses carrying the pilgrims, and places where they gathered. (AP, Daily Star, Lebanon, Dec. 6) That same day, simultaneous attacks on public Ashura observations were carried out in three Afghan cities. The attack in Kabul left more than 50 dead. At least four were also killed in Mazar-i-Sharif, while the attack in Kandahar caused several injuries. The Kabul bomb was the deadliest in the capital since 2008. The banned Pakistani group Lashkar-i-Jhangvi claimed responsibility—a Sunni militant organization with a special anti-Shia mission. (AFP, Dec. 7; UN Dispatch, Reuters, BBC News, Dec. 6)

Norma Andrade, a leader of the organization Our Daughters Return Home and a critical voice demanding justice in the long string of "femicides" in Ciudad Juárez is stable condition after being shot twice Dec. 2, as she drove home from her job as a teacher in the violent Mexican border city. Five shots were fired altogether. Chihuahua state police said she was the apparent victim of a carjacking or robbery. But the Mexico office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a statement calling for authorities to take actions to protect human rights defenders in the country. (UN News Centre, Nov. 6; CNN, Dec. 6; El Paso Times, Dec. 3)

Honduran radio journalist Luz Marina Paz Villalobos and a driver identified as her cousin were killed Dec. 6 in a hail of bullets fired by men on two motorbikes as they sat in their car preparing to leave for work from her home in the San Francisco de Comayagüela district of Tegucigalpa. Paz, 38, hosted a morning program, "Three In The News," broadcast on the Honduran News Channel, where she often discussed politics and drug trafficking, and had been an outspoken critic of the 2009 coup d'etat.