The death toll from bomb and rocket attacks in Baghdad on March 7, reached 37 with 62 others wounded, as Iraqis voted in the country's parliamentary election. Most of the attacks were on residential buildings in densely populated neighborhoods far from the Green Zone. (Xinhua, March 7) One day earlier, a car bomb ripped through a parking lot used by Shi'ite pilgrims at the Imam Ali shrine in the holy city of Najaf, killing three—two Iranians and one Iraqi. The attack near an Iranian tour bus also wounded 54 people, 19 of them Iranians. (LAT, March 7)

Togo's main opposition leader March 7 rejected the results of a presidential poll handing a second term to incumbent Faure Gnassingbe, as hundreds of activists rallied in the capital Lome to demand justice and police responded with tear gas. Gnassingbe was returned to office in the March 4 election, defeating his main rival Jean-Pierre Fabre who took 33%, according to official results. "I have never wanted to use violence, but if I am stolen from, I will not give up the fight," warned Fabre. "We are going to stage protests, we are not going to take this lying down." (AFP, March 6; AFP, March 7)

Striking Greek workers shut down transport and tried to storm the parliament building in Athens as lawmakers passed 4.8 billion euros ($6.5 billion) in budget cuts, including wage reductions. Yiannis Panagopoulos, leader of Greece's main GSEE union, was attacked by goons outside the parliament building, which further escalated the violence. Clashes were also reported from Thessaloniki, where riot police used tear gas to disperse protesters outside government buildings. (AFP, Bloomberg, Toronto Sun, March 5)

Ultra-orthodox Haredim Jews torched trash cans in Jerusalem's Shabbat Square and nearby streets March 7. Police closed all roads leading to the square and heavily deployed forces in the area. The unrest comes two days after dozens of Palestinians were injured as Israeli forces again stormed East Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque compound to break up protests following Friday prayers, firing tear gas, rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades. (YNet, Ma'an News Agency, March 7)

Municipal police in San Nicolás de los Garza, a suburb of Mexico's northern industrial hub of Monterrey, staged protests outside their precinct stations March 6 after three of their colleagues were shot to death and a fourth was gravely wounded in a dawn ambush on a patrol car. The protesting cops demanded better weapons, more bulletproof vests, and life insurance. "We want our rifles back," was a favored slogan. City officials said the police have agreed to continue working "under protest" while talks are underway.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ended a five-day tour of Latin America March 5 with a stop in Guatemala, where she promised the assembled Central American leaders more Drug War aid—and repeated her call for them to recognize the new government of Porfirio Lobo in Honduras. "We support the work that President Lobo is doing to promote national unity and strengthen democracy," Clinton said at a news conference, announcing that the US will restore aid to Honduras. Lobo himself attended the meeting—seeming to signal a step toward normalizing relations with Guatemala and El Salvador. Costa Rica and Panama, also in attendance, have already recognized the Lobo government. The Nicaraguan government of Daniel Ortega, who did not attend the meeting, is unlikely to do so. Also on hand were the presidents of Belize and the Dominican Republic. (NYT, CSM, March 5)

The number of extremist groups in the United States exploded in 2009 as militias and other organizations steeped in anti-government conspiracy theories exploited populist anger across the country and infiltrated the mainstream, according to a report issued this week by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

Doctors in the Iraq city of Fallujah are reporting an unusually high amount of birth defects in the region, with many medical professionals saying the weapons used by US forces in the intense 2004 fighting are to blame. Heart and nervous system defects among newborn babies is said to have soared in the city in the years since the fighting, now at levels 13 times those of Europe. Doctors and parents interviewed by BBC say they believe toxic materials left over from the 2004 fighting entered the water supply in Fallujah. One doctor says medical officials note two or three cases of birth defects each day, and are urging local women not to have children.