Sixteen protesters have received terms of one to six months in federal prison in connection with a Nov. 19, 2006, demonstration at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia; they were demanding the closing of the US Defense Department's Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), a combat-training school for Latin American soldiers, formerly the US Army School of the Americas (SOA). Some 22,000 people took part in the demonstration in 2006, the highest number since the annual gatherings started in 1990 to protest the school's record of training many of the worst human rights violators in the hemisphere. Military police arrested 16 protesters who crossed into the base as an act of civil disobedience.

Unknown gunmen shot dead 23 textile factory workers from the ancient Yazidi culture in an apparent revenge killing in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul April 22. Authorities said the gunmen erected a roadblock, forced the workers out of a minibus, lined them against a wall and shot them execution-style in the eastern al-Nour district of Mosul. Three survived, seriously wounded. Iraqi Brigadier-General Mohammed al-Waggaa said the killings seemed to be in retaliation for an incident in which a Yazidi woman was stoned to death several weeks ago for converting to Islam.

At the behest of Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki, US officials have agreed to stop the construction of a wall separating Sunni and Shia enclaves in Baghdad. The 5km, 3.6m-tall wall surround the Sunni neighbourhood of Adhamiya, billed by US planners as a necessary security measure, has prompted waves of protest from Sunni and Shia leaders. [AlJazeera, April 23] US officials have planned to extend the barrier-construction scheme to other neighbourhoods of Baghdad, including al-Rashid, al-Khadrah and al-Amiriya. Critics have panned the idea as destined to inflame sectarian tension in the country. [AlJazeera, April 18]

Tucked away on the April 21 letters page of the UK Guardian, 130 British doctors are calling to boycott the Israeli Medical Association. Dr. Derek Summerfield, who wrote a scathing report on Israeli war crimes in the Oct 16, 2004 British Medical Journal, makes the call along with colleagues in the form of a letter supporting the UK National Union of Journalists' (NUJ) decision to boycott Israeli goods:

The recent military campaign by tribesmen in Pakistan's northwest borderlands to drive out Uzbek Islamist militants, portrayed as a victory against extremism by Islamabad, may have more to do with mere animosity between Pashtuns and Uzbeks than a rejection of al-Qaeda's ideology. Mullah Nazir, the tribal commander who led the weeks-long battle against the Uzbeks in South Waziristan, is now refered to in Pakistan's media as a "Taliban leader"—and says he would protect Osama bin Laden if the al-Qaeda leader sought shelter in his territory.

From the Iraq Freedom Congress (IFC), April 21:

Iraq Freedom Congress congratulates all freedom-loving and progressive people around the world for the launch of Sana TV today. It is you who made it happened and you who will keep it continue.

About 100 Iranians protested in Tehran April 21 against a new Sivand dam, charging it threatens archaeological sites dating to the first Persian empire of 2,600 years ago. Protesters carried banners with Zoroastrian symbols and demanded the resignation of Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, head of the state culture and heritage organization. "Mashai, you are the bloodthirsty Genghis, you are Alexander," they chanted, referring to Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great who both invaded and sacked Persia.

Two prominent Somali clan leaders, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed and Hussein Aideed, have issued an ultimatum to the Ethiopian forces to leave Somalia now or prepare to fight to the death. The two leaders of the Hawiye clan that dominates the Somali capital, Mogadishu, spoke after holding talks in Eritrea. Aideed said that Somalis will unite against "the brutal occupation" by Ethiopia.