Immigrants and supporters marched and rallied in Chicago on March 10 to demand legalization for out-of-status immigrants and oppose anti-immigrant legislation currently being considered by the Senate. Organizers estimated the crowd at 130,000, while Chicago police estimated 75,000 to 100,000 people took part, making it one of the biggest pro-immigrant demonstrations in US history, according to national advocates. The march was dominated by Mexican immigrants but also included Irish, Polish, Chinese and African-American participants. The protesters stepped off shortly after noon for a two-mile march to Federal Plaza, followed by a 2 PM rally; The march was so long that many participants had not yet reached the plaza when the rally ended at 4 PM. (Chicago Tribune; La Jornada, Mexico, March 11)

On March 8, students at the National University of Bogota held a protest against the Colombian government's Feb. 27 signing of the Andean Free Trade Treaty with the US, Peru and Ecuador. Agents from the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD), a unit of the National Police, attacked the students at close range with tear gas grenades and rubber bullets. Oscar Leonardo Salas, a 20-year-old linguistics student from the Francisco Jose de Caldas District University in Bogota, was hit in the face by either a tear gas grenade or a rubber bullet which apparently passed through his eye and lodged in his brain. Salas was taken to a local clinic, but doctors were unable to save him; he was pronounced brain dead and disconnected from artificial life support early the next morning. Hundreds of students marched on March 9 in Bogota to protest Salas' death and to demand the immediate dismantling of the ESMAD. (El Turbion, March 9; Asociacion Colombiana de Estudiantes Universitarios [ACEU], March 9)

A March 13 report from Pakistan's Daily Times on the army-occupied town of Miranshah in North Waziristan:

PESHAWAR: Authorities in Miranshah further eased an eight-day-old curfew on Sunday after soldiers killed dozens of militants in an operation last week.

The military said that security forces killed up to 30 pro-Taliban foreign militants and their local supporters in a village about 10 kilometres west of Miranshah on Friday night. The curfew was relaxed from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. Shops and markets remained open during the day but many residents were seen leaving their homes in private cars and pickups piled with household belongings, witnesses said.

With all the global horrors in the headlines, this one barely grabbed any attention. Ironically, our attention is distracted precisely by the Middle East instability being used to justify the expansion of oil exploitation on Alaska's public lands. From MarketWatch, March 10:

BP Plc. said Friday it hoped to soon wrap up repairs to a leaking pipeline on Alaska's giant Prudhoe oil field that has already spilled over 200,000 gallons of crude, one of the biggest spills ever seen on the state's North Slope.

A statement from an entity called the Iraqi National Resistance purports to put forth conditions for peace. It is said to represent both armed insurgent groups and supporters in civil society. From Tom Hayden's blog in The Huffington Post:

On the Iraqi side, there also is a proposed withdrawal plan that generally fits the contours of the American "strategic redeployment" proposal. According to reliable sources in Amman, the author is Dr. Khair-eddin Haseeb, a former governor of Iraq in the Sixties. The core provisions of the draft, titled "Iraqi National Initiative to End Occupation of Iraq Unconditionally, Reflecting the Will and View of the Iraqi National Resistance and Other Major Political Forces Opposing Occupation", are these:

This March 12 piece by Nerma Jelacic from The Guardian reflects our sentiments precisely.

Even in death, Milosevic wins again
The death of Slobodan Milosevic has put a smile on many Bosnian faces, but I am sad. Not because the man, whose actions earned him the title 'the butcher of Belgrade', has my sympathy, but because he has not lived to be punished in a court of law. Because he will not answer for his crimes and because thousands of victims will not get the long-awaited sense of closure on their usurped lives. They will not see justice done.

From Turkey's Zaman, March 9:

Turkish Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said they spoke with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) President Mohammed El Baradei about Turkey’s nuclear energy program, which is expected to be announced shortly, in addition to current regional issues.

From AP, via the Burlington Free Press, March 9:

NEWFANE -- Voters gathered Tuesday in an 1832 white-clapboard town hall to conduct their community's annual business and to call for the impeachment of President Bush.