Following litigation against Chiquita Brands International for its payments to Colombia's right-wing paramilitaries, the families of five missionaries and lay workers with the Florida-based New Tribes Mission killed by the FARC guerillas in 1994-5 have filed suit against the company in federal court in Miami. The 63-page complaint claims Chiquita provided "numerous and substantial hidden payments" to the rebels in addition to weapons and supplies, amounting to support for "acts of terrorism."

Musayyib power plant sit-inThe March monthly bulletin of the Federation of Workers' Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI) notes numerous labor actions in the energy sector throughout the country last month. On Feb. 4, thousands of electricity workers walked off the job and marched through the streets in Basra, Musayyib, Hilla and Kut to demand moves against corrupt bureaucrats in the Energy Ministry, electrification of poor districts, better housing for workers, and redress of other grievances. When there was no response to their petitions, the workers held sit-ins at power stations and industrial sites in these cities the following day. Some 7,000 workers at the Ur industrial complex near Nasiriyah also held a sit-in to demand upgrading of power facilities, as well as the right to free unionization and repeal of the Saddam-era anti-union Law 150.

Iraq's government noted the 20th anniversary of the Halabja massacre March 16 by announcing plans to take legal action against the suppliers of chemicals used in the poison gas attack that killed 5,000 people. "The cabinet decided to take legal measures to sue the companies who provided the ex-regime with the chemical weapons used in Halabja," the statement said, without naming the companies.

Police in Kathmandu clashed with hundreds of Tibetan refugees during a protest March 15 over the repression in Lhasa. The protesters tried to march on the Chinese embassy, but the police barred their way. The previous day, dozens were injured when police broke up a march on the embassy by some 1,000 Tibetan protesters, including dozens of monks. Twelve monks were reported injured. (IANS, March 15; AP, March 14)

A week after it began, the uprising in Tibet finally hit the front page of the New York Times March 15, with clashes reported throughout Lhasa the previous day. At the Tromsikhang market, Chinese-owned shops were burned and cars overturned. At least two were killed when police fired on crowds in the city's Barkhor district. A tourist bus was torched outside the Ramoche temple, where monks clashed with police and protesters waved traditional white scarves, chanting "Free Tibet." Beijing is said to be bringing in military police troops, as well as dispatching them to other parts of China with significant Tibetan populations—such as the sacred city of Bamei, Sichuan. BBC News says Chinese authorities put the total dead at 10, but the BBC World Service reported early the 16th that the Dalai Lama says he has received reports of up to 100 dead. He also rejects official Chinese assertions that martial law has not been declared. "I have the feeling this is like in 1959, after the 10th of March... I fear more killing, more suffering."

As the Bush administration heads into months of negotiations with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on the future of US troops in Iraq, it aims to stretch the bounds of executive power to unprecedented lengths. The administration plans to bypass Congress to forge a status of forces agreement (SOFA) that would grant the US an unlimited "authority to fight" provision, according to statements by the State Department's Coordinator for Iraq, David Satterfield, and Assistant Secretary of Defense Mary Beth Long, at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing last week. Drafts of the SOFA, a binding pact, also provide legal immunity for US private contractors operating in Iraq, according to a January New York Times article.

Authorities in Ciudad Juárez said March 14 they had discovered a further 19 bodies buried behind two houses used by drug dealers, bringing the total number of corpses found there to 33. Agents began digging behind the houses on March 1, after raiding one, confiscating 3,700 pounds of marijuana and arresting several people. All but three of the bodies appear to be men, and most have been buried at least five years. Some were dismembered. It's the second such find in less than a month: federal authorities also unearthed nine bodies buried in the yard of a Ciudad Juárez home in late February after a drug bust. (LAT, NYT, March 15)

Mexico's lower House of Deputies voted to open an investigation into accusations that Government Secretary Juan Camilo Mouriño improperly helped his family win contracts from the state oil monopoly Pemex. The accusations stem from contracts Mourino signed between 2000 and 2004 when he acted as the legal representative of his family's company while also working as a lawmaker and then as deputy energy secretary. The move comes as President Felipe Calderon, who campaigned on an anti-corruption platform, is seeking to further open Pemex to foreign investment.