From the Committee to Protect Journalists:

New York, December 12, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the assassination today in Beirut of Gebran Tueni, a journalist and member of parliament who was a fierce critic of Syria and its policies in Lebanon. Tueni, 48, was managing director of Lebanon's leading daily Al-Nahar.

A parked car exploded as Tueni's armored vehicle drove past, international news agencies reported. The blast killed three other people and injured 32.

"Our deepest sympathies go out to Gebran Tueni's family, friends, and colleagues," said CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper. "This attack is an assault on free expression and freedom of the press. We call on the Lebanese authorities and the international community to work swiftly to put an end to these attacks on the media and the impunity with which they have been carried out."

Predictably, even as tensions rise between the two Horn of Africa rivals, Ethiopia and Eritrea are mirroring each other in a crackdown on the press. In a Dec. 12 press release, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists protests the use of "outdated and illegitimate charges" to imprison two journalists in Ethiopia:

Getachew Simie, former editor-in-chief of the defunct Amharic-language weekly Agere, was sentenced on December 7 to three months in prison for criminal defamation. Leykun Engeda, former editor-in-chief and publisher of the Amharic-language weekly Dagim Wonchif, was sentenced on December 9 to 15 months in prison for allegedly publishing false news.

From the New York Times, Dec. 12 (and apparently little-reported elsewhere):

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, Dec. 11 - In the remote hamlet of Tamga, residents frustrated by corruption and the sorry legacy of a chemical spill did something that would have been unthinkable in Kyrygzstan not long ago: they rose up.

Declaration of the Left Worker-Communist Party of Iraq-LWPI Regarding the “Elections

From Reuters Dec. 9:

The founder of Argentina's leading human rights group was laid to rest yesterday, 28 years after she was abducted during the country's military dictatorship. Family and friends buried the ashes of Azucena Villaflor on a prominent Buenos Aires plaza that for many Argentines has come to symbolize the fight for justice by the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. The group of mothers, often seen wearing white handkerchiefs, have pressed for a full accounting of their sons and daughters, who went missing during Argentina's 1976-1983 military dictatorship known as the ''Dirty War." ''Azucena rest in peace, this is your place," said Marta Vazquez, one of the mothers. Villaflor was kidnapped by state security agents in December 1977. Forensic experts identified her remains in July after they were unearthed in a cemetery on the outskirts of the Argentine capital.

The Chinese news service Xinhua boasts Dec. 10 of the opening of a new luxury tourist train across Tibet under the auspices of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Corporation. Meanwhile, observing International Human Rights Day, the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) in the refugee community of Dharamsala, India, issued a statement saying the human rights situation in Chinese-occupied Tibet remains "tense and grim."

Torture remains to be one of the gravest issues in Tibet. The Tibetan prisoners of conscience are subjected to severe torture and maltreatment in a network of detention centres and prisons in Tibet. Following ten years of appeals and negotiations, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowark, finally made an unprecedented trip to the People’s Republic of China from 20 November till 2 December 2005. Upon the completion of his visit, he reported that torture "remains widespread" in China and Tibet and also complained that his fact finding mission was obstructed by the authorities. TCHRD documented 88 known deaths of Tibetan prisoners of conscience since 1987 and is equally concerned about the 145 known Tibetan prisoners currently detained in various Chinese detention centres and prisons.

From Al-Jazeera TV in Doha, Qatar, Dec. 9:

[...] Meanwhile, appeals were made to release the four [members of the] Christian Peacemakers Team [CPT] held hostage by the Jama'at Saraya Suyuf al-Haq [Brigades of the Swords of Right Group].

[Shaykh Abd-al-Salam al-Kubaysi from the Association of Muslim Scholars] I would say that the fate of those [hostages] identifies you [kidnappers] because they should be shown hospitality instead of being taken hostage. If you do not know these facts [about the hostages' mission], then you should listen.

[Correspondent] The statements of Al-Kubaysi coincided with the visit of the representative of Canada's Muslims Union, who called on the kidnappers to release the hostages in order to spend Christmas day with their families and to convey the facts about what is taking place in Iraq to the world. [End of recoding] [Video shows Iraqi preachers delivering sermons; US scorched truck; US helicopter; AMS official speaking]

Nir Rosen has a piece in the December Atlantic Monthly entitled "If America Left Iraq: The case for cutting and running." Rosen poses the following questions and answers them all himself:

Would the withdrawal of U.S. troops ignite a civil war between Sunnis and Shiites?

No. That civil war is already under way—in large part because of the American presence. The longer the United States stays, the more it fuels Sunni hostility toward Shiite "collaborators." Were America not in Iraq, Sunni leaders could negotiate and participate without fear that they themselves would be branded traitors and collaborators by their constituents. Sunni leaders have said this in official public statements; leaders of the resistance have told me the same thing in private.