Israeli activist Yonatan Pollack arrived Jan. 11 at the Hermon Prison in the lower Galilee where he will serve his three-month prison sentence. Pollack was convicted of illegal gathering during a Tel Aviv protest against Operation Cast Lead two years ago, where he rode his bicycle slowly along the streets, causing traffic jams.

The Israeli military bombed three sites in Gaza Jan. 12, after five rockets were fired by militants across the border over the past three days. The air-strike came shortly after the Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned that further military action in Gaza would follow continued rocket fire. Speaking to the press in Jerusalem, he said Hamas would "make a terrible mistake to test our will to defend our people; I think they will make a terrible, terrible mistake."

An Israeli court ruling last week overturned an Israeli Defense Forces decision to allow a Palestinian farmer to work a contested field near the West Bank settlement of Shiloh. The ruling also questioned the army's authority to reach a decision on other such land disputes. Jerusalem Magistrate's Court Judge Shimon Fineberg gave a major victory to settlers, rejecting the land right claims of the farmer from the Palestinian village of Krayot. Shiloh resident Moshe Moskowitz said he has been farming the land since 1980. The court ordered the IDF to allow Moskowitz to work there.

As South Sudan voted in its independence referendum Jan. 9-10, more than 60 were killed in the disputed region of Abyei, in a series of clashes between a local police force made up of Ngok Dinka tribesmen and militias of the nomadic Misseriya tribe, said an official of the Abyei Referendum Forum (ARF). The casualties included about 40 Misseriya tribesmen and 24 Dinka civilians. (Xinhua, Jan. 11)

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Jan. 10 for the release of opposition candidates, journalists and others detained in Belarus during the crackdown on protests following the Dec. 19 election. Police beat and arrested protesters and rounded up opposition candidates after the vote, which officially handed a fourth term to President Alexander Lukashenko. As of last week, some 200 of the estimated 650 detainees were still being held. (Reuters, Jan. 10)

The defense chiefs of South Korea and Japan met in Seoul Jan. 10, agreeing to work on two pacts aimed at boosting military cooperation. Seoul's defense minister Kim Kwan-jin and his Japanese counterpart Toshimi Kitazawa pledged to seek "future-oriented" military relations. The talks came after a recent high-profile visit to Seoul by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who called for greater cooperation with Tokyo and Washington in the wake of North Korea's Nov. 23 attack on a border island. Following his talks with South Korean brass last month, Mullen urged "much more trilateral cooperation" in response to security challenges from Pyongyang, and suggested unprecedented three-way military drills.

The Tunisian government said Jan. 10 that 14 had been killed in unrest over the weekend in the western towns of Kasserine, Regueb and Thala, while labor and opposition leaders put the figure at 25. Authorities claim the police opened fire on protesters in self-defense. The government has ordered the closure of schools and universities across the country until further notice. Protesters have attacked public buildings and local offices of the party of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who has ruled since taking power in a bloodless coup in 1987.

From Charter 97, Minsk, Jan. 7:

"European Belarus" demands immediate release of all political prisoners
"European Belarus" civil campaign demands the international community to impose the harshest political and economic sanctions against the usurper, and unconditional immediate release of all political prisoners. It was stated on January 5 at a press-conference in Warsaw by "European Belarus" coordinator Zmitser Barodka.