Internet restrictions passed in February 2010 are set to go into effect in Belarus on Jan. 6, amid international criticism. The law creates several tiers of limitations on use of the Internet. Anyone who owns a shared connection, or a cyber-cafe, must monitor all users to insure that they do not visit a "blacklisted" site, or, in some cases, simply a site hosted off of Belarus servers. Users are required to identify themselves, and the owners of shared connections must keep a surfing history of each user for at least a year. Violations of any of these provisions may result in fines.

Mexican federal officials have mobilized thousands more military troops to violence-torn northeastern Tamaulipas state in an emergency move prompted by escalating violence—punctuated by a prison riot that left over 30 dead on Jan. 4. The move brings the total of army troops patrolling Tamaulipas to 13,000, plus thousands more navy troops and federal police agents. The deadly riot broke out at the Santa Amalia prison in the city of Altamira—a facility designed to hold 2,000 inmates but which has a population of more than 3,000. The fighting apparently pitted followers of the Gulf Cartel against adherents of the rival Zetas narco network. A similar incident left 20 dead at a prison in nearby Matamoros in October.

Hundreds of Libyan soldiers protested Jan. 5 in the eastern city of Benghazi, demanding payment of overdue wages and complaining that militia groups have taken over their bases and resist joining a new national army. "The revolutionaries don't want to join an organized military, they want to keep their current situation," Mabrouk Abdullah al-Oraibi, who formerly worked in the military's accounting department, told Reuters. While the Reuters account emphasized that the army had been "marginalized" by Moammar Qaddafi (presumably in favor of mercenaries in his direct pay), Algeria ISP reports that the protesting soldiers chanted "Yes, yes, yes, Moammar is alive!"

Amid growing tensions in the Persian Gulf, the US and Israel are preparing to hold the largest missile defense exercise in the history of the Jewish state. Last month, Lt.-Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of the US Third Air Force, based in Germany, visited Israel to finalize plans for the upcoming exercise, expected to see the deployment of several thousand US soldiers in Israel. The drill will include establishment of US command posts in Israel and IDF command posts at European Command headquarters in Germany.

From the New York Daily News, Jan. 4:

Delaware woman in wheelchair is hit by three cars and left to die
A Delaware woman trying to cross a roadway in her wheelchair was killed Tuesday night after three cars struck her—and not a single one stopped to help, police say.

More than 950 relatives of inmates launched a protest occupation of a Venezuelan prison over the New Year holiday, saying they will refuse to leave the facility until authorities agree to their demand for faster trials for their loved ones. Prisons Minister Iris Varela sad the relatives decided to "kidnap themselves" at the Yare I and II prison about 70 kilometers southwest of Caracas. They include 800 women and 150 children and youth, as well as a few men. Varela said President Hugo Chávez has told authorities to negotiate peacefully. But, while Venezuela's prisons are dangerously overcrowded, Varela also alleged that human rights groups financed by the CIA are trying to use the occupation "to destabilize the country." (AP, Jan. 4)

Protests in Peru's north-central region of Cajamarca resumed on Jan. 2, with a thousand gathering in the city square to demonstrate against the Conga gold mining project. "We will mobilize in a peaceful protest in Cajamarca, in Hualgayoc, and in Celendín," said Wilfredo Saavedra, head of Cajamarca's Environmental Defense Front, referring to the municipalities to be impacted by the project. Canal N television reported that regional leaders are expected to decide whether to launch a new indefinite strike in the coming days. With negotiations with the administration of President Ollanta Humala at a stalemate, Cajamarca's regional council in the closing days of 2011 voted to declare the Conga project to be "unviable." The declaration stated the project "could cause irreversible damage to fragile ecosystems, in turn generating economic and social damage of incalculable magnitude, which clash directly with the fundamental rights of people living in these jurisdictions…" (Peru This Week, Jan. 3)

A three-judge panel of the Provincial Court of Justice of Sucumbios in Lago Agrio, Ecuador, on Jan. 3 upheld a multi-billion dollar fine against Chevron for polluting large areas of the Amazon rainforest in the 1980s. The $18 billion fine, one of the largest in the history of environmental contamination suits, was originally set at $8.6 billion, but was more than doubled for Chevron's refusal to pay "moral reparations" to the Ecuadoran government, as required by the original ruling. As Chevron officials condemn the decision as fraudulent, unenforceable and corrupted by the politicization of Ecuador's judiciary, the corporation is pursuing private recourse through the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.