Gen. John R. Allen, outgoing US commander in Afghanistan, submitted military options to the Pentagon that would keep 6,000 to 20,000 troops in the country after 2014, defense officials said Jan. 2. Gen. Allen offered Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta three plans with different troop levels: 6,000, 10,000 and 20,000, an anonymous official told the New York Times. The 6,000 troops would mostly consist of Special Operations commandos who would hunt down insurgents. With 10,000 troops, the US would expand training of Afghan security forces. With 20,000, the US would add conventional Army forces to patrol in areas of the country.

Some 20 settlers rioted in the West Bank village of Jallud, near Ramallah, on Jan. 2, according to the residents. Witnesses said the settlers shattered the windows of one home, assaulted three residents, vandalized a parked car, and then fled the scene. The attacked residents were taken to a hospital in Nablus by the Red Cresecent. The incident took place hours after a similar incident was broken up the IDF, leading to a clash between the settlers and soldiers. The IDF said the settlers arrived in Jallud and began pelting Palestinian reisdents with stones, damaging cars and intruding into a local home. IDF forces were dispatched to the scene and dispersed the rioters. A statement said: "The IDF treats such public disordered very seriously, as they may destabilize the area and force the IDF to divert attention from its primary mission—protecting Israel and its citizens." (YNet, Jan. 2)

A study carried out by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has found that more than 60,000 people have been killed in the conflict in Syria since March 2011. According to the report, the average number of deaths per month has increased significantly since the summer of 2011, where the average was approximately 1,000 deaths per month, to an average of 5,000 deaths per month since July 2012. However, the study noted that 60,000 is likely an underestimate and that the actual toll may be significantly higher. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay stated that "the number of casualties is higher than expected, and is truly shocking." While cautioning that the figure is not "definitive," she said the report is the "most detailed and wide-ranging to date."

US President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 (PDF) into law on Jan. 3. The bill, which authorizes appropriations for military activities for 2013, expressly prohibits using funds to transfer individuals detained at Guantánamo Bay and also prohibits using funds to construct facilities in the US intended to house Guantánamo detainees. Obama signed the NDAA despite earlier indications that he may veto (statement, PDF) the bill, in part because of concerns over the Guantánamo detainee restrictions. Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), has criticized Obama for signing the bill, stating that he has "utterly failed the first test of his second term" by effectively ensuring that indefinite detention will continue and jeopardizing his ability to keep his promise of closing the military prison.

The Burmese military on Jan. 2 claimed responsibility for several air-strikes against Kachin rebel positions in the country's north—less than a day after the government denied that the strikes had taken place. The military statement said that "an assault mission, utilizing air-strikes, was carried out" in the strategic Lajayang region, less than 13 kilometers from the rebels' headquarters in Laiza. This contradicts an earlier government claim that it was only using air forces to "deliver food supplies to its troops" and "to provide security for the workers who are repairing roads and bridges."

Iranian authorities on Jan. 2 advised the 1.5 million residents of Isfahan to leave the city if they can because air pollution has reached emergency levels. (BBC Radio, Jan. 2) Tehran's Air Quality Control Company also warned Jan. 2 that air pollution in the capital has also reached alarming levels, and ordered elementary schools and daycare centers closed in the city due to heavy smog. (Mehr News Agency, Jan. 1) Early last month, Tehran residents were likewise urged by authorities to lave the city in response to "dangerous" smog levels, blamed on nearly incessant bumper-to-bumper traffic. Similar edicts were issued for Isfahan and Arak. Schools were also ordered closed, and a cabinet meeting in the capital cancelled. Hospital admissions during the smog alert jumped by 15%, primarily due to people suffering headaches, respiratory problems and nausea. (AAP, Dec. 6; IBT, Dec. 5; AFP, Dec. 3)

Protesters supporting a Native Canadian chief's 23-day hunger strike blocked a rail line at Pointe-a-la-Croix in eastern Quebec Jan. 2. Theresa Spence of Ontario's Attawapiskat First Nation has been fasting to press her demands for a meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to discuss new legislation that weakens indigenous land rights and environmental protections. The new law, part of the Harper government's budget bill, sparked the #IdleNoMore movement, which has brought together First Nations and environmental activists in a wave of protests across Canada.

This New Year's Day marked the 150th anniversary of the Emanicpation Proclamation, with attendant media idolization of Abraham Lincoln. In the 10th YouTube edition of the Moorish Orthodox Radio Crusade, Kevin B. Anderson, author of Marx at the Margins: On Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Non-Western Societies and co-editor of the International Marxist-Humanist, discusses his article "Spielberg's 'Lincoln,' Karl Marx, and the Second American Revolution"—revealing the connection between the First International and Lincoln's radicalization, and tracing the legacy of freedom through the Arab Revolutions and Occupy movement.