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.

Sholom Rubashkin, former CEO of the Agriprocessors kosher slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa—which made national headlines when it was the target of a massive ICE raid of undocumented workers in 2008—this week filed an appeal of his conviction to the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals. Rubashkin was convicted in November 2009 of 86 counts of fraud stemming from a $26.8 million loss to lenders after the immigration raid found nearly 400 undocumented workers at his plant. Although the indictment included charges of harboring unauthorized immigrants for profit, federal prosecutors opted not to pursue the immigration charges after the fraud conviction. A state trial acquitted him of knowingly employing underage workers.

Rising food prices led to an outbreak of riots in Algeria Jan. 5, with unrest continuing today in several cities. Authorities have rushed police reinforcements to towns where hundreds of youths are taking to the streets and blocking highways. There has been a simultaneous outbreak of youth riots in neighboring Tunisia, which saw a wave of angry demonstrations over unemployment last month.

Moroccan security services broke up a 27-member terrorist network, authorities announced Jan. 5. According to the Interior Ministry, the cell's Moroccan ringleader aimed to set up an al-Qaeda base in the kingdom and send recruits to AQIM training camps in Algeria and Mali. Police found three arms caches near Amghala, "comprising 30 Kalashnikov machine guns, three sub-machine guns, one 82-mm bazooka, two RPG-7 type rocket grenade launchers, several pieces of live ammunition, plus 66 strong-boxes for storing weapons and other munitions", according to Interior Minister Moulay Taieb Cherkaoui. (Magharebia, Jan. 6)

The powerful Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ended his self-imposed exile in Iran and returned to his stronghold hometown of Najaf in central Iraq this week. Al-Sadr fled Iraq in 2008 after the government issued an arrest warrant for him. His return was seen as evidence that his faction struck had struck a deal to have the warrant cancelled in exchange for al-Sadr's movement joining the new government led by Nouri al-Maliki.

More than 1,000 protesters took to the streets in Erbil, Iraq's Kurdish regional capital, to condemn a new law requiring all public demonstrations to have government permits. Protesters said the law is part of a broader crackdown on free speech in the autonomous Kurdistan region. In the past six months, the government has sued at least 60 writers or media organizations for publishing work critical of the government, according to the Kurdistan Journalists' Syndicate. Aso Karim, a legislator with the Kurdistan Democratic Party, said the restrictions were necessary because "Iraq is not politically stable." (NYT, Jan. 4)