In a military trial at Fort Campbell, KY, Pfc. Bryan Howard, 19, pleaded guilty to being an accessory to the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the slaying of her family. He also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice by lying to his superior officers about the attack last year in Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad. Howard agreed to five years in prison under a plea deal but will not serve more than 27 months if he follows conditions of the agreement. Under the agreement, his rank will be reduced to private and he will be dishonorably discharged. He will also have to testify against others charged in the case.

The Euro-bashers are already having a field day with Italy's admitted capitulation to Taliban hostage-takers. But isn't it interesting that most stateside media accounts—while baiting the Italians as spineless, effeminate Euro-boys—fail to even mention that the Taliban captives were held by Afghanistan, not Italy. Even the New York Times front-page headline was utterly misleading: "Italy Swapped 5 Jailed Taliban for a Hostage." Worse, even the NYT story's text failed to note that the captives were actually freed by Afghanistan—as the below account from the Pakistan Times makes clear:

Police in Nepal are searching sugarcane fields in the southeast for bodies after clashes between Maoists and the Madhesi People's Rights Forum left at least 27 dead. The clash in the town of Gaur, on the Indian border, was the deadliest this year. Gaur and neighboring Kalaiya were both placed under curfew. At least 58 have been killed since January in protests by Madhesi activists seeking more government jobs and parliament seats for their people, who live in the Terai region bordering India.

European Union election observers won't be sent to Nigeria's delta region during next month's landmark elections due to the ongoing attacks and kidnappings which have prompted thousands of foreigners to flee the oil heartland in the past year. "We are not going to deploy in Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa because in these states, the environment for international observers is not conducive," said Max van den Berg, leader of the EU Election Observation Mission. "It is painful that we cannot observe in these three states, but it is more important to stay alive." The EU will send 66 observers to Nigeria's other 33 states. The elections are to mark the first civilian-to-civilian transition in the world's eighth biggest oil exporter since Nigeria gained independence from Britain in 1960. (Reuters, March 21)

Muslim pupils at a secondary school in northeastern Nigeria's Gombe state beat a teacher to death March 21 after accusing her of desecrating the Koran, police and witnesses said. Oluwatoyin Olusase, a Christian, was apparently overseeing an "Islamic Religious Knowledge" when the incident occurred. "We have received information that a female teacher has been lynched by her students," Gombe state police commissioner Joseph Ibi said. "We are investigating the report."

On March 22, Chad said warplanes from Sudan bombed two towns in its war-torn east, killing several people and violating a non-aggression pact signed last month. President Idriss Deby's government said two bombers have repeatedly struck the settlements of Kariari and Gregui near the eastern border with Sudan's Darfur region, causing heavy damage.

Pashtun tribesmen loyal to Pakistan's government exchanged mortar and rocket fire with purported al-Qaeda militants in South Waziristan for a third day March 21, leaving at least 114 dead. Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said 84 Uzbek militants and 30 local tribesmen, including nine civilians, have been killed. Another 83 Uzbeks were captured by the tribal forces, he said. The fighting started after former Taliban commander Mullah Nazir, who the government says has come over to its side, ordered followers of Uzbek militant Tahir Yuldashev to disarm. (AFP, March 22)

Major clashes broke out in Basra, Iraq's second city, March 21—apparently between Fadhila and Mahdi Army forces, two Shi'ite factions. The fighting comes only days after the withdrawal of British troops from the city, citing recent "progress" in security there. More violence is also reported from the Kurdish north, supposedly a relative haven froom Iraq's chaotic warfare. A suicide truck bomb attack on the Mosul headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), killed three and injured 20. The attack comes as Kurds celebrate the Persian new year festival of Nowruz. (Madrid11, March 22)