Multiple ethnic struggles in Indonesia made headlines over the New Year's weekend. On Jan. 2, local police announced they have detained at least one man in connection with the New Year's Eve bombing at a Christian market in Palu, Central Sulawesi, in which seven people were killed and 56 wounded. The town is some 300 kilometers west of Poso, where three Christian schoolgirls were decapitated on their way to school Oct. 29 by presumed Islamic militants. The province has seen escalating violence between its roughly equal Christian and Muslim communities. (AKI, Jan. 2)

Iraq's largest oil refinery has been shut down following death threats to tanker drivers. The threats followed a steep government-ordered rise in the price of petrol earlier this month. The oil ministry said the shutdown at the Baiji refinery was costing $20 million a day. Fears of severe shortages have led to long lines at petrol stations in Baghdad.

The ministry said it hoped the refinery, which has been out of action since the weekend, would be back up and running within days. Although billions of dollars have been spent on infrastructure since Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled, fuel and electricity production have not reached the levels maintained before the 2003 invasion of Iraq. (BBC, Dec. 30)

A disturbing clip from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency:

Chavez makes anti-Semitic slur
Venezuela's president said in his Christmas speech that "the descendants of those who crucified Christ" own the riches of the world.

"The world offers riches to all. However, minorities such as the descendants of those who crucified Christ" have become "the owners of the riches of the world," Chavez said Dec. 24 on a visit to a rehabilitation center in the Venezuelan countryside. (JTA, Dec. 30)

From the Financial Times, Dec. 28:

Colombian insurgents have killed 28 soldiers in the deadliest attack on the military since President Alvaro Uribe was elected three years ago, setting the stage for heightened tensions ahead of elections in May.

The assault by 300 rebels from the leftwing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) took place on Tuesday near the Sierra Macarena national park, in the province of Meta, south-east of Bogotá, the capital. Farc guerrillas opened fire when 80 troops were trapped in an area sown with anti-personnel mines, the military said, hampering rescue efforts.

From the New York Times, Dec. 28, via IHT:

A recent series of indictments and revelations about corrupt federal agents has rocked the attorney general's office here and undermined one of President Vicente Fox's few solid accomplishments: the creation of an elite, honest federal force to fight kidnappers and drug dealers.

It has been four years since Fox established the force, known as the Federal Investigation Agency, under the attorney general, aimed at ridding Mexico of the scourge of kidnappers and drug kingpins. Since then the agents and the prosecutors who work with them have won praise here and in Washington as an effective crime fighting force, Mexico's version of the Untouchables.

But the recent accusations against the force, known by its Spanish acronym, AFI, have shaken that image and undermined Fox's claim to have dealt a body blow to organized crime. The charges accuse federal agents of doing the bidding of drug traffickers and carrying out kidnappings and extortion plots, the same kind of corruption the agency was created to stop.

From Newsday Dec. 28, via Sikhnews:

From Queens to a rural district in his native India, word of the Yellow cab driver's death spread quickly Tuesday.

Gurbaj Singh immigrated five years ago to Richmond Hill, where he lived and died.

Singh worked a grueling overnight shift as a cabbie, hoping to bring his wife and children to the United States. He died early Monday trapped in that Yellow cab, which became became engulfed in flames after it was broadsided by a minivan that ran a red light just blocks from Singh's 118th Street home, police said.

From The Scotsman, Dec. 26:

French police said about 100 vehicles were burned overnight, which marked an average weekend tally for urban violence and did not signify a flare-up of violence after riots last month.

One of the real signs of hope in Afghanistan is that the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), until recently active only in the refugee camps in Pakistan, has been able to establish an open presence in the country. Forced underground and into exile by the Taliban and Mujahedeen warlords decades ago, RAWA is now running a network of small shelters for Afghanistan's many war orphans where equality between the genders and progressive values are fostered. RAWA is seeking donations in a year-end fund drive for this initiative, and we urge our readers to participate.

Dear Supporter:

RAWA are helping to bring very poor and often homeless girls and boys off of the streets in Afghanistan and give them a chance for a brighter future. The shelters are run like a family home; a local husband and wife care for the children and make sure they have a warm bed, warm and clean clothing, regular meals, and a place to call home. Your help will enable RAWA to further help the neediest of Afghan children, by providing them with an environment of love, tolerance and respect for others. Not only will you providing these children with a brighter future, you will helping to provide them with the skills they need help build a modern and peaceful Afghanistan.