Some 60 are confirmed dead, 100 wounded and an undetermined number displaced following clashes this week between the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and supporters of a local militia commander whose forces are officially integrated with the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in Malakal, capital of Upper Nile state. The flare-up has renewed fears that conflict could resume in the region, two years before the end of the six-year interim period designated by the 2005 Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

The Committee to Protect Journalists protested the arrest of Tamil-language newspaper editor Nadesapillai Vidyatharan in Sri Lanka Feb. 26, calling it part of a pattern of repression of media outlets critical of the government. Officials said he was arrested in connection with the Feb. 20 air raid by Tamil Tiger rebels on the capital, Colombo. Vidyatharan, editor of the Sudar Oli Tamil daily, was detained while attending a funeral in Colombo. Police first reported he was abducted but later admitted he had been arrested.

Military authorities in Bangladesh say 72 officers are still missing after a two-day mutiny by border guards in which at least 76 people were killed. The uprising was sparked by longstanding grievances over pay and benefits. Authorities have found scores of bodies buried in shallow mass graves in the Dhaka headquarters of the Bangladesh Rifles border force. The army brought tanks to the streets of Dhaka before the mutineers surrendered. Violence was also reported in Chittagong and elsewhere around the country. India's Border Security Force remains on high alert. (Xinhua, Feb. 28; AP, Feb. 27; The Guardian, Feb. 26)

A young Tibetan monk was shot by Chinese police after he set himself on fire Feb. 27, the third day of the Tibetan New Year, at a market in Sichuan province's Aba (Ngaba in Tibetan) prefecture, Voice of Tibet radio service reported, citing eye-witness accounts. The monk from Kirti Trunkhor monastery was apparently named Tabey and aged between 25 and 30. He doused himself with gasoline and set himself ablaze after holding aloft a picture of the Dalai Lama. He collapsed after being shot by police, and was taken away. It is not known if he is alive or dead.

Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a suspected al-Qaeda operative held in the Navy brig in South Carolina since 2003, is to be officially charged and tried in US federal court, following the unsealing of an indictment Feb. 27. Al-Marri, a legal US resident, was arrested in December 2001 in Peoria, Ill., and charged with being part of a terrorist sleeper cell and is the only person held as an enemy combatant in the United States. He is expected to be charged with providing material aid to terrorists. The move comes just two months before the Supreme Court is to hold hearings on al-Marri's petition for habeas corpus.

Venezuela and Bolivia Feb. 26 condemned the new US State Department human rights report that singles out the two South American countries, saying Washington has no right to pass judgment. The government of President Hugo Chávez said it categorically rejects the report, which cited a politicized judiciary and harassment of Venezuela's political opposition and the news media. Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said the report is "plagued with lies." He added: "No government in the world has the right to use a report to meddle in, judge or qualify the situation in other nations."

Representatives of Venezuela's Jewish population said Feb. 26 that unidentified assailants threw an improvised explosive at a community center in La Florida district of Caracas in a pre-dawn attack. The explosion damaged the doors to the center and blew out a window of a nearby car, but there were no injuries. Abraham Garzón, president of the Jewish Community Center located in the downtown district, said: "The damage, really, is spiritual because it seems there are some people in our country who want to use terrorism." (El Tiempo de Venezuela, Feb. 27; AP, Reuters, Feb. 26)

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe announced Feb. 26 that the Department of Administrative Security (DAS) will no longer be able to conduct wiretaps with just a court order, and will now require the cooperation of the National Police. This order follows allegations that the DAS illegally recorded the conversations of Supreme Court magistrates, media directors, and politicians from the opposition. According to Uribe, the police will need to verify the legality of the requests and will act as a check on the power of national intelligence gathering, improving transparency. DAS Director Felipe Muñoz has acknowledged the existence of evidence supporting the allegations. DAS Intelligence Director Fernando Tabares resigned Feb. 26, the fourth DAS official to step down in the scandal.