Niger's new ruling junta lifted a curfew and reopened the borders a day after consolidating control in a Feb. 18 coup d'etat that toppled President Mamadou Tandja. The army stormed the palace during a cabinet meeting and seized Tandja and detained his ministers before announcing it was suspending a constitution that the 71-year-old leader had pushed through with a contested referendum last year. "The situation is under control," assured junta spokesman Col. Goukoye Abdoulkarim. "There is no single voice of dissension in either Niamey or in other parts of the country."

For the first time, Malaysian authorities have caned three Muslim women under Islamic law for acts of adultery, the country's national news agency Bernama reported Feb. 17. Home Minister Hishamuddin Hussein said the punishment was carried out Feb. 9 at a women's prison near Kuala Lumpur, "to educate and make the offenders realize their mistakes and to return to the right path."

Bolivian President Evo Morales Feb. 18 appointed 18 judges ahead of the country's judicial elections, calling the move "the beginning of the decolonization of the judiciary." The appointees will fill five vacancies on the country's Supreme Court, five on the Constitutional Court, and three on the Judiciary Council, while five others were named alternates. All will serve until judicial elections are held on Dec. 5. Though roughly 20 of 26 high-level judicial posts were unoccupied prior to the announcement, the move has drawn criticism from Morales's opponents who fear it jeopardizes the judiciary's independence. The Bolivian National Congress passed legislation last week authorizing Morales to appoint judicial officials on an interim basis until the election.

The White House is considering endorsing a law that would allow the indefinite detention of some terrorist suspects without trial as part of efforts to break a logjam with Congress over President Barack Obama's plans to close the Guantánamo Bay prison, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Feb. 15.

A suicide car bomber in Iraq struck a vehicle checkpoint in Ramadi, Anbar province, killing at least 11 people, both police and civilians, Feb. 18. The attack also left 15 people wounded. Four police and a young girl were among the dead. (AlJazeera, Feb. 18) On Feb. 13, provincial officials in Maysan charged that US forces shot eight Iraqis, most of them "innocent bystanders," in a raid in a village north of the provincial capital of Amara. "What happened this morning was a massacre in every sense of the word," said governor Mohammed Shia al-Sudany. The US military said the raid was against suspected members of an Iran-backed militia. (Press TV, Feb. 13)

Up to 11 villagers, including a child, were killed when a group of over 200 Naxalite guerillas attacked a village in Jamui, Bihar, late Feb. 17. The attack reportedly came in retaliation for the killing of eight Naxalites by the villagers a fortnight ago. (Indian Express, Feb. 19) A day earlier, Naxalite gunmen on motorcycles and pickup trucks killed 24 paramilitary officers in a daylight ambush against an encampment of the Eastern Frontier Rifles in West Bengal. (NYT, Feb. 16)

Hundreds of striking Finance Ministry and customs employees protested in Athens Feb. 17, as Prime Minister George Papandreou prepared to meet opposition leaders to discuss Greece's financial crisis. Greek unions oppose the new Socialist government's new austerity measures, as European finance ministers warned Athens othat it would have to impose even tougher budget cuts. Amid the strikes, a bomb exploded Feb. 16 at the Athens offices of JP Morgan, causing damage but no injuries. Police also defused a bomb outside the offices of the Citizen Protection Ministry. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the bombs, but police say they suspect anarchists. (AP, DPA, Feb. 17)

Guillame Joseph-Marc Beaulieu, 27 of Vancouver, has been arrested as the "ringleader" of the "Black Bloc" anarchists who rioted in the city in protests against the Winter Olympics Feb. 14. He is charged with mischief and faces fines of over $5,000. Lliam Brander, 27, of North Vancouver has been charged with assault. The investigation continues and further arrests may be pending, police say. Among 11 arrested so far, one is from Shoreline, Wash. He has been charged with possession of weapons and handed over to immigration. (Vancouverite, Feb. 16)