Undoubtedly, everyone has been busy with their friends and families during the holiday season.  As we collectively settle into 2013, we have assembled this list of headlines and articles that you may have missed over the last few weeks.

Egypt

Over much controversy, the Egyptian Draft Constitution has passed on December 25, 2012.

Almost a month ago, Amnesty International listed their concerns about the draft and what its implications were for women and religious minorities in Egypt.

Total number of citizens eligible for voting: 51,919,067 
Total number of votes: 17,058,317 (32% voting rate)
Total number of valid votes: 16,755,012
Total of 10,693,911 Yes Votes (63.8%)
Total of 6,061,101 No Votes (36.2%)

Israel and Palestine

The UN General Assembly recently passed a non-binding resolution condemning expanded settlement activity by 196 to 6.  Since Palestine’s upgrade to non-member observer status in the UN in late November, Israel has announced the planned construction of approximately 6,000 new homes.

Israeli Military Chiefs upgraded the status of an Israeli college in the West Bank.  It now has the same status as universities inside Israel.  The Palestinian Higher Education Office has called upon the international community to boycott the new university, considering it an obstacle to peace.

Syria

Bashar al-Assad’s regime has most recently resorted to “cluster bombing” civilian towns.  Citizens fear that measures of collective punishment by the government are taking hold as the main choice of attack. 

According to United States Department of State spokesman Mark Toner in a State Department daily press briefing (starting at 22:38),

Any use or proliferation of chemical weapons by the Syrian government would cross a red line.

Associated Press reporter Matthew Lee Hammers questioned Toner,

Aren’t you at all concerned that this sends a message that ‘you can go out and slaughter as many people as you want with conventional weapons and we won’t intervene’? Is there any concern that that is the message that is being sent?  That unless you do something that uses WMDs, we don’t care what you do, you can kill as many of your own people as you want to.

Hammers is referring to the approximate 45,000 casualties in Syria since the uprisings have began.