Nearly two million hectares of forest in Peru have been destroyed in order to grow coca, the country's Environment Minister Antonio Brack said in a Lima Dec. 28. "The traffickers invaded protected areas and cleared forests for land to grow coca," the minister said, adding that most of the damage has been done in the jungle regions of San Martín and Huanuco, and in the Valley of the Apurimac and Ene rivers, known as the VRAE region. Drug trafficking also hurt the environment by dumping chemicals into rivers. "The illegal trade has had a very strong impact on the environment," Brack told the official Andina news agency. "We can help restore forests and improve environmental systems in the drug zones, once they are pacified." (IANS, Dec. 29)

A Brazilian rancher suspected of orchestrating the 2005 murder of Sister Dorothy Stang, a US-born nun who spoke out against logging in the Amazon rainforest, is to be charged in the killing and brought to trial following his arrest for land fraud, prosecutors announced Dec. 28. Federal police arrested the rancher, Regivaldo Galvão, two days earlier at his home in the northern Amazon state of Pará. He was accused of trying to use forged titles to claim possession of the same public land that Sister Dorothy was fighting to protect when she was fatally shot in February 2005.

On Dec. 12, some 1,300 federal prisoners staged an uprising at the privately run Reeves County Detention Center in Pecos, Texas, to demand better medical treatment after a detainee died at the facility, allegedly of natural causes. The Reeves County Detention Center has been run since 2003 by the GEO Group, based in Boca Raton, Florida, under contract with the federal government. The medium security prison holds more than 2,400 people, mainly inmates detained for immigration law violations. The uprising took place after the detainee's body was removed from the prison, Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper John Barton told the Pecos Enterprise. The prisoners set a fire in an exercise room at the facility and were evacuated to an outdoor yard, where they took two prison recreation workers hostage. The newspaper reported that firefighters had to extinguish bonfires inmates had set to keep warm overnight.

On Dec. 10, ICE agents arrested 15 immigrants who were employed as contract janitorial workers at the BP oil refinery in the town of Whiting in northern Indiana. ICE said the arrests stemmed from "a two-year critical infrastructure worksite enforcement investigation that is continuing." The 11 women and four men arrested on administrative immigration charges were all employed by United Building Maintenance (UBM) of Carol Stream, Illinois. One of the workers is from Guatemala; the others are from Mexico. All were expected to be placed into deportation proceedings. Each case is also being reviewed for possible criminal charges by the US Attorney's Office, Northern District of Indiana. Two former UBM employees from Mexico were arrested by ICE earlier this year after they were discovered working without authorization at the BP refinery; they are currently facing criminal prosecution in the Northern District of Indiana. "BP Corporate Security has been fully cooperative in the investigation and has provided invaluable assistance to ICE," according to an ICE news release. (ICE news release, Dec. 10)

On Dec. 4, ICE agents raided Idaho Truss & Component Co., a wood framing company in Nampa, Idaho, just west of Boise, arresting 16 of the 22 workers present. The workers, all Mexican men, were expected to be placed into deportation proceedings for administrative immigration violations. ICE's investigation began with a tip from the public, said ICE spokesperson Lorie Dankers. ICE then initiated an investigation after reviewing the employment records of individuals who were helping build military housing at Mountain Home Air Force Base, about 50 miles south of Boise. Further investigation revealed that some of the workers may have secured employment using false Social Security numbers and other counterfeit identity documents. The company had been providing information to ICE for the past several weeks, said Idaho Truss President Kendall Hoyd. ICE was assisted in the investigation by the Metro Violent Crimes and Gang Task Force based in Nampa and the US Postal Inspection Service. (ICE news release, Dec. 4; Idaho Statesman, Dec. 5; Boise Weekly, Dec. 10)

Five people were killed and nearly 40 wounded in two bomb blasts in Afghanistan Dec. 29. Two US soldiers and their interpreter were among about 20 people wounded in a suicide car bombing in the small town of Charikar, 50 kilometers north of Kabul. There has been a suicide car bombing in Afghanistan every day since Dec. 26. A purported member of the Hezb-i-Islami faction of insurgent leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar claimed responsibility for the Charikar bombing, claiming by telephone to AFP that several US soldiers were killed. A second, remote-controlled blast hit the southern town of Spin Boldak, on the border with Pakistan, killing a two-year-old and two adults, and leaving 19 injured.

From the International Transport Workers' Federation, Dec. 28:

Trade unionists and human rights activists are sending a strong warning signal to the international community following the detention of trade unionists by the Iranian secret police over the holiday period.

Israeli air-strikes continued on Gaza for a second day Dec. 28, bringing the death toll to 292, with more than 1,000 injured, 180 of them seriously. (Ma'an News Agency, Dec. 28) At the 36-hour point in Israel's "Operation Cast Lead," Israeli missiles hit some 40 smuggling tunnels under the Egyptian border, killing two and injuring 22. Smuggled fuel being stored in the tunnels ignited, causing huge fires. The blasts prompted hundreds to race for new gaps in the border wall, but the refugees were met by Egyptian security forces, who used force to repel the crowds. (Ma'an News Agency, Dec. 28) Some 150 rockets and mortars have been fired from Gaza into Israel since the air-strikes began, killing one person and injuring about 12. (BBC News, Dec. 28)