Hundreds of Palestinians gathered in the West Bank Dec. 11 to mourn the death of a Palestinian protester who died after being hit in the face by a tear-gas canister fired by Israeli troops at the village of Nabi Saleh two days earlier. The body of 28-year-old Mustafa Tamimi was carried in a procession that began in the West Bank capitol of Ramallah ending 10 kilometers north at his home village, which hosts weekly protests against land confiscation for an illegal settlement. Linah Alsaafin, a Ramallah-based blogger reported live from the scene in Nabi Saleh during the Friday protest in which Tamimi was mortally wounded. He "was throwing rocks at the [Israeli army] jeep, the door opened and the canister was fired with precision and intent straight in his face," Alsaafin Tweeted. "To use their term, 'surgical precision.'" (CNN, Dec. 11; Ma'an News Agency, Dec. 9)

Media accounts widely differ on an offer being extended by Seychelles for naval forces of the People's Republic of China to have access to the African island nation. The offer was apparently made when a delegation from the People's Liberation Army arrived in Seychelles on Dec. 1, headed by China's defense minister, Gen. Liang Guanglie. An account by Eurasia Review states that an agreement was signed for China to set up a naval base in the Seychelles, to police the region against pirates operating out of Somalia. The LA Times' World Now blog says the Chinese Defense Ministry denies the facility would rise to the level of a naval base, but also notes a study by US government consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton finding that China is seeking to acquire a "string of pearls" across the Indian Ocean for eventual encirclement of India. Ironically, Voice of America portrays the deal in the least alarmist terms, saying it would be a refueling facility, and that China has not yet committed to it.

President Joseph Kabila and veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi both claim victory in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Nov. 28 elections, and at least 18 have been killed in political violence in the stand-off. The majority of those killed were shot by Kabila's Republican Guard. Many more have been injured by riot police using tear gas and baton charges against the supporters of Tshisekedi's Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS). Thousands have fled the capital Kinshasa across the river to the Republic of the Congo. The electoral commission has awarded victory to Kabila, of the People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD).

A Lebanese drug kingpin with alleged connections to both Hezbollah and Mexico's Los Zetas drug cartel, was charged with drug trafficking and money laundering, the Justice Department and DEA announced Dec. 13. Ayman Joumaa AKA "Junior" is accused of shipping an estimated 85,000 kilograms of cocaine into the United States and laundering more than $850 million in drug proceeds for Los Zetas cartel through front companies and the Lebanese Canadian Bank. The indictment, unsealed in Alexandria, Va., says his trafficking and laundering networks extended to the United States, Lebanon, Benin, Panama, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and elsewhere. DEA administrator Michele Leonhart said in a statement: "According to information from sources, his alleged drug and money laundering activities facilitated numerous global drug trafficking organizations, including the criminal activities of the Los Zetas Mexican drug cartel." (ABC News, DEA press release, Dec. 13)

Three inmates at Corcoran state prison who participated in this year's California prisoner hunger strike— Zaharibu Dorrough, Heshima Denham and Kambui Robinson—issued a statement Dec. 6 proposing "10 core demands" for the Occupy Wall Street movement. The communiqué, issued from Corcoran's supermax Secure Housing Unit (SHU), says the demands were hashed out by prisoners at Corcoran and Pelican Bay under the name of the NARN Collective Think Tank. It states, "These 10 core demands can be modified, augmented or amended to take into account the broadest cross-section of the 99 percent possible and the collective will of the movement." The demands are online at San Francisco Bay View:

Thousands of Occupy Wall Street protesters blocked cargo trucks at West Coast ports from San Diego to Anchorage Dec. 12, forcing terminals in Oakland, Portland and Longview to halt operations. Police used "flash-bang" percussion grenades to disperse protesters who blocked an entrance to a Port of Seattle terminal. Protesters responded with hurled debris, and several were arrested. The march to the Port of Oakland was led by Scott Olsen, the Marine Corps veteran who was gravely wounded when he was struck in the head by a tear-gas canister during a clash between police and Occupy Oakland protesters in October. While the protests attracted far fewer people than the 10,000 who turned out Nov. 2 to shut down Oakland's port, organizers declared victory and promised further such actions. "The truckers are still here, but there's nobody here to unload their stuff," protest organizer Boots Riley said. "We shut down the Port of Oakland for the daytime shift and we're coming back in the evening. Mission accomplished." (San Diego Union-Tribune, CBS, AP, Dec. 12)

Dec. 12 municipal elections in Syria were hailed as a step towards democracy by the regime—but were boycotted by the opposition, which called for an indefinite general strike and civil disobedience campaign. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said seven people were killed in Homs and Idlib. The strike was most widely observed in Daraa, cradle of the nine-month protest campaign. (CBS, Middle East Online, Dec. 12) In response to escalating violence, Syria's main opposition leader said he had urged military defectors to limit their actions to defending anti-government protesters. Syrian National Council leader Burhan Ghalioun said he pressed the leaders of the Free Syrian Army to rein in operations after they launched a series of attacks on government troops. "We are worried that we will slide towards a civil war which pits a free army and an official army against each other," he told Reuters in an interview. "We want to avoid a civil war at all costs." (Reuters, Dec. 9)

The Colombian armed forces have created three new "joint task forces" aimed at targeting the core of the FARC guerilla army, reports Caracol Radio. A main aim of the task forces —which will coordinate the National Police with the army, the air force and the navy—will be to target the guerilla group's middle men, who are crucial to the financing of the rebel army. The task forces will focus on the departments of Cauca, Nariño, Norte de Santander and Arauca, where the FARC's presence is strongest. Their creation marks a first step in the implementation of a new strategy around territory control, requested by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos in August to improve the armed forces' fight against illegal groups. The four task forces will report directly to armed forces commander Alejandro Navas, who has promoted the integratation of the security forces. (Colombia Reports, Dec. 12)