On Feb. 28, Bolivia's National Congress narrowly approved holding a national referendum on a new constitution drawn up by supporters of President Evo Morales. The vote, setting the referendum for May 4, was boycotted by the opposition, which had been attempting to change the draft constitution approved in December. The draft constitution would give the president more power over natural resources, collapse Bolivia's legislature into one body, and allow the president to seek election for two consecutive five-year terms. (NYT, Feb. 29; Jurist, Feb. 28)

Several hundred Guatemalan campesinos took 30 police officers hostage [Feb. 21] in response to the jailing of a local farm leader and to demand that land they had been occupying for the last 10 years be legalized by the Guatemalan government. According to Rolando Yoc, the human rights office's chief advocate, the local campesinos also believe that a powerful person is trying to displace them.

From New Scientist, Feb. 27:

Governments around the world are rushing to develop military robots capable of killing autonomously without considering the legal and moral implications, warns a leading roboticist. But another robotics expert argues that robotic soldiers could perhaps be made more ethical than human ones.

In a major setback to US-backed national reconciliation efforts, Iraq's presidential council rejected a plan for new provincial elections and sent the bill back to parliament Feb. 27. Many Sunnis boycotted the January 2005 elections for the 275-member parliament and local offices, which gave majority Shi'ites and minority Kurds the bulk of power. The US hopes new elections, to be held Oct. 1 under the draft measure, would give the Sunni bloc more power and thereby undercut the insurgency.

Shihab al-Timimi, 74, chief of the Iraqi Journalists' Union, died Feb. 27 of wounds suffered in an ambush outside the union headquarters in the Waziriya district of Baghdad five days earlier. His deputy at the journalists' union, Mouayed al-Lami, said, "We have lost a pious, irreplaceable and honest man... This shows that Iraqi journalists are still living under constant danger." Al-Timimi's son was also wounded in the attack.

Jawed Ahmad, an Afghan journalist for Canada's CTV network held by the US military four months without charge, has been designated an unlawful enemy combatant, the Pentagon announced. Ahmad was allowed to make a statement before an enemy combatant review board, which determined there was credible information to detain him because he was dangerous to foreign troops and the Afghan government, said Maj. Chris Belcher. Ahmad is being held at the military compound in Bagram, 30 miles north of Kabul.

Two Palestinian followers of Fatah's al-Aqsa Brigades were killed Feb. 28 in clashes at Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus on the West Bank. Sources within the al-Aqsa Brigades told Ma'an News Agency that al-Aqsa fighters responded to the targeted assassination of militant Ibrahim al-Masimi by undercover Israeli forces. Eyewitnesses said that a large Israeli force invaded Balata camp early in the morning after an undercover force infiltrated into the camp. Fierce clashes erupted between the invading forces and Palestinian resistance fighters. (Ma'an News Agency, Feb. 28)

Four hostages held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were released Feb. 27, in a deal brokered by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. The four ex-members of Colombia's congress are among some 40 high-profile hostages held for years by the guerrilla organization. They were handed over to a delegation of Venezuelan and Colombian politicians and Red Cross personnel sent by Chávez at an undisclosed location in the Colombian jungle. They then flew to the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, to be welcomed by relatives. (Newsday, Feb. 28)