India's Maoist Naxalite rebels have been very busy lately, but the wave of attacks is going virtually unreported outside India. From PTI via The Hindu, March 14:

Naxalites this morning released the passenger train that they had seized last evening in a thick forest area in Jharkhand, without causing any harm to the passengers.

An ACLU press release, March 14:

PITTSBURGH – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Pennsylvania today released new evidence that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is conducting investigations into a political organizations based solely on its anti-war views.

An ominous sense of deja vu. The US invasion of Iraq and rift with France immediately preceded new oil deals between Saddam and the French giant Total. (Seee WW4 REPORT #56) Now, just as Bush is rattling the sabre and hurling WMD accusations at Iran, comes this:

LONDON, March 14 (IranMania) - French state-run Gaz de France is in talks with French oil giant Total and Iranian authorities over participating in a huge liquefied natural gas (LNG) project there, Les Echos daily reported Tuesday.

A March 9 communique from the San José de Apartadó Peace Community in Colombia's northern Urabá region (our translation):

The Peace Community of San José of Apartadó denounces new abuses committed by the public forces against the civil population of the zone. The facts that we make known and leave for history are:

From the International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC), March 11:

Christian Peace Maker Teams (CPT) headquarters in Chicago in the United State has confirmed that CPT member kidnapped in Iraq Tom Fox, 54 was found dead in Baghdad on Saturday morning.

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.