Ten alleged terrorists, mostly Arabs, were killed and seven others injured in a missile strike on a house near the village Kaloosha, South Waziristan, near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan Feb. 27. A "security source" told the Italian news agency AGI the missile had been launched by US forces on Afghan territory. The house hit belonged to Sher Mohammad Malikkheil, a Pashtun known as "Sheroo" with purported links to Afghan militants. A Pakistani military spokesman, Gen. Athar Abbas, said that he had not received reports of any missile attacks. (AGI, Feb. 28)

On Feb. 28, Bolivia's National Congress narrowly approved holding a national referendum on a new constitution drawn up by supporters of President Evo Morales. The vote, setting the referendum for May 4, was boycotted by the opposition, which had been attempting to change the draft constitution approved in December. The draft constitution would give the president more power over natural resources, collapse Bolivia's legislature into one body, and allow the president to seek election for two consecutive five-year terms. (NYT, Feb. 29; Jurist, Feb. 28)

From New Scientist, Feb. 27:

Governments around the world are rushing to develop military robots capable of killing autonomously without considering the legal and moral implications, warns a leading roboticist. But another robotics expert argues that robotic soldiers could perhaps be made more ethical than human ones.

In a major setback to US-backed national reconciliation efforts, Iraq's presidential council rejected a plan for new provincial elections and sent the bill back to parliament Feb. 27. Many Sunnis boycotted the January 2005 elections for the 275-member parliament and local offices, which gave majority Shi'ites and minority Kurds the bulk of power. The US hopes new elections, to be held Oct. 1 under the draft measure, would give the Sunni bloc more power and thereby undercut the insurgency.

Shihab al-Timimi, 74, chief of the Iraqi Journalists' Union, died Feb. 27 of wounds suffered in an ambush outside the union headquarters in the Waziriya district of Baghdad five days earlier. His deputy at the journalists' union, Mouayed al-Lami, said, "We have lost a pious, irreplaceable and honest man... This shows that Iraqi journalists are still living under constant danger." Al-Timimi's son was also wounded in the attack.

Jawed Ahmad, an Afghan journalist for Canada's CTV network held by the US military four months without charge, has been designated an unlawful enemy combatant, the Pentagon announced. Ahmad was allowed to make a statement before an enemy combatant review board, which determined there was credible information to detain him because he was dangerous to foreign troops and the Afghan government, said Maj. Chris Belcher. Ahmad is being held at the military compound in Bagram, 30 miles north of Kabul.

Four hostages held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were released Feb. 27, in a deal brokered by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. The four ex-members of Colombia's congress are among some 40 high-profile hostages held for years by the guerrilla organization. They were handed over to a delegation of Venezuelan and Colombian politicians and Red Cross personnel sent by Chávez at an undisclosed location in the Colombian jungle. They then flew to the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, to be welcomed by relatives. (Newsday, Feb. 28)

In his recent tour of African capitals, President Bush did his best to avoid any mention of the Pentagon's new Africa Command (AfriCom), focusing instead on development projects and his new initiative against AIDS. But on Feb. 20 in Ghana, he admitted he was finally forced to address "a controversial subject brewing around that's not very well understood." He said: "I want to dispel the notion that all of a sudden America is bringing all kinds of military to Africa. It's just simply not true." He said AfriCom's aim is "to enhance our efforts to bring peace and security to the people of Africa and to promote the...development of health, education, democracy and economic growth." (LAT, Feb. 22)