Hussein Aideed, a veteran Somali warlord who is now deputy prime minister of the transitional government, accused Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu of committing "genocide" since arriving in December. Ethiopia dismissed the comments as an absolute fabrication. Hundreds of residents have been killed and thousands forced to flee since Ethiopian troops arrived in the Somali capital at the transition government's invitation. Aideed, an influential leader of the Hawiye clan, many of whose members are joining the armed resistance. (BBC, April 13)

Scott Ritter has been wrong before, but The Nation is still enamored of him. Robert Scheer has also been wrong before. Now they team up for a little collaborative error. In an April 13 piece on Scheer's TruthDig, "The Final Act of Submission," Ritter once again displays his right-wing nationalist colors, scapegopating the usual suspects for Washington's misadventure in Iraq. His charming closing lines:

For the first time since his tour stop in Matamoros in December, Subcommander Marcos of the Zapatista rebels arrived back on Mexico's US border April 11. Traveling with 10 Zapatista comandantes from Chiapas, Marcos stopped at the desert village of Magdalena de Kino in Sonora state to meet with leaders of the Tohono O'odham (Papago) indigenous people, whose territory is intersected by the international line. The Zapatistas are en route to El Mayor Peace Camp in neighboring Baja California. Marcos said he will return to Magdalena de Kino within two weeks to announce plans for the Intercontinental Indigenous Conference, slated for northwest Mexico in the fall of 2007. (Narco News, April 11) When Marcos was in Magdalena de Kino last October, he briefly crossed into the USA.

Florentin Melendez, president of the Interamerican Human Rights Commission (CIDH), in Mexico on an official visit, registered protest on the Mexican government's policy for indigenous peoples. He said the pre-NAFTA reform of the Mexican constitution's Article 27, allowing privatization of collective lands, has had a "destructive" effect on indigenous culture. He especially cited the example of Chiapas, where the "individual parcelization" of collective lands has broken up comunities, left many without land, and sparked a violent struggle over conflicting claims. (APRO, April 12)

The US Justice Deparment April 12 obtained an emergency order from Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans barring the imminent release of Cuban right-wing militant Luis Posada Carriles. The move came after Posada's family in Miami posted the balance of a $350,000 bond with the federal court in El Paso, where he faces trial on immigration fraud charges.

The problem is a lot bigger than a dangerous intersection in Brooklyn, folks. From Newsday, April 12:

DOT under fire about its pedestrian safety plans
The Brooklyn intersection where 3-year-old James Jacaricce was struck and killed by a car last February was just a few blocks away from where two fifth-graders died the same way in 2004.

From The Guardian, April 9:

Five Turkish punk rockers and their agent face up to 18 months in jail for insult after a bureaucrat took offence at their song criticising the country's unpopular university entrance exam.

India successfully tested an Agni III missile April 12, capable of launching a 300-kiloton nuclear warhead across 3,000 kilometers—a dramatic increase on prior missile systems principally designed to strike at Pakistan. The missile was launched from Wheeler Island in the Bay of Bengal off the Orissa coast. An earlier test last July had failed to reach its target. Defense Minister A.K. Anthony boasted: "India has matured in the missile technology area and [is] definitely at par with many other developed countries." (AP, April 12)