The leaders of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela formally ended their dispute March 7 with handshakes and embraces at the 20th Rio Group Summit in the Dominican Republic, approving a "Santo Domingo Declaration," which condemns Colombia's March 1 cross-border raid in Ecuador but emphasizes the need for regional cooperation in combating illegal armed groups. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe apologized for the raid and pledged to refrain from further such incursions, in exchange for commitments on cooperation. The Rio Group, established in 1986, is a regional bloc aimed at promoting political and economic cooperation.

In its 2007 Annual Report, released March 5, the International Narcotics Control Board called on the governments of Bolivia and Peru to ban coca chewing, as well as its sale or export. The indigenous people of the Andes have chewed coca for thousands of years, and the call is likely to fall on deaf ears in the Andes.

Iran plans to open a television station "for all of Latin America," to be based in the coca-growing Chaparé region of Bolivia, President Evo Morales announced at a gathering of cocaleros after his re-election as president of Bolivia's coca-growers union. The station would be "for all of Bolivia, for all of Latin America, recognizing the great struggle of this peasant movement," Morales told the gathering in Cochabamba. (AP, Feb. 19)

Bolivia's National Electoral Court (CNE) issued a ruling March 7 postponing a referendum on the new draft constitution scheduled for May 4, saying there is not enough time to ensure "legal guarantees" and an "adequate electoral environment." CNE president José Luis Exeni said: "No technical, operative, legal or political conditions exist to allow it to go forward." He added that the schedule failed to meet a constitutional requirement that referendums be held at least 90 days after being approved by the congress. It is unclear if the decision will also apply to the referendums on regional autonomy called without congressional approval by Bolivia's eastern departments. (BBC, AP, March 8)

Fugitive environmental activist Tre Arrow was extradited from Canada Feb. 29 to stand trial in Oregon on conspiracy and arson charges after nearly four years in a Canadian prison. The 14-count indictment charges him with taking part in the destruction of several concrete-mixing trucks at Ross Island Sand and Gravel Co. in Portland in April 2001 and sabotaging logging trucks at Schoppert Logging Co. in Eagle Creek near Mount Hood in June 2001.

Israeli authorities say the previously unknown Galilee Freedom Battalion was behind the March 6 attack on West Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav Jewish seminary, and the gunman was an Arab from Jerusalem. (Ma'an News Agency, March 7) Opening fire with a Kalashnikov rifle in a ground-floor library, the gunman killed at least seven students and wounded nine before he himself was gunned down by an Israeli army officer. (NYT, March 7)

A small bomb caused minor damage to New York's Times Square military recruiting station before dawn March 7, and police are searching for a hooded bicyclist observed pedaling away on a surveillance video. The blast left a hole in the front window and shattered a glass door. No one was hurt, but Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the device, though unsophisticated, could have caused "injury and even death." Police found a metal ammunition box they believe contained the explosive. Kelly said the box was readily available in Army-Navy surplus stores.

Viktor Bout, a notorious Russian arms dealer accused by both the UN and Amnesty International of flouting embargos, was arrested at a five-star hotel in central Bangkok March 6. Thai authorities issued the warrant based on information from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). A former KGB officer, Bout allegedly sold arms to the Taliban, al-Qaeda, Colombia's FARC rebels and warring sides in several African conflicts. Russia and the US are both seeking his extradition.