Prejudice behind Darfur campaign?
Roger Howard compares the current crises in Darfur and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the Guardian. Though little distinguishes the two places in terms of the magnitude of death and violence, a huge gulf separates western interest in "liberal intervention" in Darfur and similar interest in the DRC. Howard suggests a crude "anti-Arab prejudice" is responsible for the west's disproportionate attention to Darfur.
Multi-issue terrorist network forming in India?
Indian security analysts fear that Marxist guerrillas in the centre of the country are increasingly forming ties with militants and separatists elsewhere in the region. Intelligence sources point to possible meetings between the leftist insurgents and Kashmiri militants, as well as their northeastern and Tamil Tiger counterparts elsewhere in the subcontinent.
India can only rely on a rule-of-law counterterrorist approach that respects human rights in defeating the Maoist insurgency, says Suhas Chakma on Madrid11.net.
So mal in Somalia
An African Union convoy was struck by a road-side bomb in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, killing an unknown number of Ugandan peacekeepers.
A pair of aid workers - a Kenyan and a Briton - remain in the custody of their kidnappers in northern Somalia. The kidnappers are demanding "minor" political concessions from the authorities of Puntland, the semi-autonomous and relatively stable northern region of the country.
Two South Korean fishing boats have been seized by pirates off Somalia's increasingly unprotected coast.
Russian reactor for Myanmar
Russia's atomic agency has announced a deal to design and build a nuclear reactor in Myanmar under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Association. Russia and China have increasingly become key supporters of Myanmar's military government.
Gaza truce collapses again
Despite agreeing a shaky truce, Hamas and Fatah fighters have clashed again in Gaza, leaving fourteen dead today as internecine violence stretches into its fourth day.
Israeli aircraft fired rockets into allegedly "uninhabited areas" of Gaza as a "deterrent" to militants keen to fire rockets into Israel.
Chlorine bomb detonated in Iraq
A chlorine bomb has exploded in a village in the religiously-mixed province of Diyala, killing 32 people. Iraqi insurgents have been increasingly accused of using chlorine - which causes severe burns - in their attacks.
Lieutenant-General Douglas Lute has been appointed as the US' new "war tsar" for Iraq, a position that has proven quite difficult for the Bush administration to fill.
Explosion prevented in Spain
Police have deactivated a bomb in an industrial estate in the northwest Spanish town of Lugo. Tensions have been rising between Madrid and Basque separatists ahead of elections in May, but separatists in the northwestern region of Galicia have rarely caused significant trouble for the Spanish government.
France in the cross-hairs
After the victory of Nicolas Sarkozy in the French presidential elections, an alleged al-Qaida proxy has threatened to stage attacks across France. Describing Sarkozy as a "crusader and a Zionist", the little known Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigade claimed it would soon carry out bombings in Paris.
Turkish court overturns ruling on paramilitaries
Turkey's Supreme Court overturned rulings against two paramilitary officers guilty of bombings in a Kurdish town two years ago, arguing that there were "shortcomings" in the investigation. The court's decision is likely to inflame sentiment in Turkey's restive Kurdish southeast, which was scarred by riots after the bombing.
Two Turkish soldiers were killed in the southeast by a landmine allegedly laid by rebels of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK). Fighting has intensified in the spring between the Turkish army and PKK fighters.
Algeria kills over a dozen rebels
In an intense offensive against insurgents of al-Qaida's North African wing, the Algerian army allegedly killed 13 rebels east of Algiers.
Afghans rally against Pakistan
Thousands of Afghans rallied outside the Pakistani embassy in Kabul, chanting "Death to Musharraf! Death to Pakistan!" in protest the incursion of Pakistani forces into Afghanistan in recent days.
David Foster travels to Kabul and finds it to be a city "in intensive care".
