Some 1,000 experts from 52 nations are expected to attend a world economic conference hosted by Cuba this week. Sponsored by Cuba's National Economists Association and dubbed the "International Economists Meeting on Globalization and Development," the conference will cover topics including the subprime mortgage crisis in the US, regional integration in South America and the Doha round of world trade negotiations. It will feature some 300 presentations by experts from around the world, with one headliner being Canada's Robert Mundell, a 1999 Nobel Prize winner. (Xinhua, March 2) Mundell's bio on the Nobel Prize website identifies him as "the co-founder of supply-side economics."

As of Feb. 29 the 41,000-member Teachers' Federation of Puerto Rico (FMPR) was maintaining an open-ended strike at public schools that started on Feb. 21 over wages, classroom size and health issues. Meanwhile, controversy continued over the role of Change to Win, a US labor federation reportedly jockeying to replace the FMPR as the teachers' representation. New York Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez noted that Dennis Rivera—vice president of the 1.6 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), a major component of Change to Win—seems to be deeply involved in the effort. Calling Rivera "the most influential Puerto Rican labor leader in the US," Gonzalez said members of independent unions in Puerto Rico "never expected" to see Rivera "treat them just like those old Washington labor leaders have done for so long."

A man claiming to be Jaber al-Banna (also rendered Elbaneh), a Yemeni-American who is among the FBI's most wanted terrorism suspects, showed up in a Yemeni court Feb. 23—and was allowed to walk free, surprising the attendees. Al-Banna's appearance was at the court hearing the appeals case of 36 Yemenis sentenced convicted last year of planning attacks for al-Qaeda.

The third suicide attack in Pakistan's northwest in as many days left up to 40 dead and 30 wounded near Darra Adam Khel, North West Frontier Province, March 2. The bomber struck a grand jirga of five tribes in Zarghon village, called to discuss the increasing pro-Taliban activities in the region. Another suicide attack on a vehicle carrying police in the Bajaur agency, Federally Administered Tribal Areas, killed 20 on March 1. On Feb. 29, a suicide attack on a funeral procession for police killed earlier that day in the Swat Valley, NWFP, left 50 dead.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad received what the United Arab Emirates' Gulf News called a "hero's welcome" in Baghdad, where Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the Islamic Republic's recent approach towards his country has been "extremely helpful." He described his discussions with Ahmadinejad as "friendly, positive and full of trust," adding that his landmark visit to Baghdad sends a positive message to neighboring countries to reinforce their ties with Iraq. He also pledged to crack down on Iranian guerillas operating from Iraqi territory, including the Mujahedeen Khalq Organization (MKO) and the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK). Slogans on the walls of houses and public markets in Baghdad's Sadr City welcomed Ahmadinejad and hailed him as a hero. Signs in Sunni neighborhoods condemned him as a villain and architect of Iraq's sectarian violence. (Gulf News, UAE, March 3; Press TV, Iran, March 2)

At last two are dead and 12 wounded in an ambush 130 kilometers south of Kirkuk on a bus carrying Shiite pilgrims returning from the Arbaeen celebrations in Karbala March 1. "Two people, including a woman, were killed and 12 others injured in an attack by unidentified gunmen on a bus carrying civilians returning from the Arbaeen pilgrimage near Soliman Pak area, south of Kirkuk, on Saturday morning," a medic at Kirkuk's hospital told Aswat al-Iraq/Voices of Iraq news agency. (VOI, March 1)

Unknown gunmen kidnapped Chaldean Archbishop Faraj Rahho in Mosul after killing two of his bodyguards and his driver soon after he left Mass in the northern Iraqi city's Safina Church. Pope Benedict XVI regretted the kidnapping and said he is praying for Iraq to reach the path of reconciliation and peace. For the past year, Mosul's Christians have been targeted in a wave of attacks that have damaged several churches and seriously wounded four parishioners—as well as leaving a priest dead in June 2007. In October, two priests from Mosul were abducted and held for nine days. A Syriac archbishop was kidnapped in Mosul in January 2005. (Al-Sumariia TV, March 1)

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vows to continue his campaign in the Gaza Strip despite an international outcry over the ground and air operation that have killed 73 Palestinians over the past two days following the death of one Israeli civilian last week in a militant rocket strike. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas suspended all contacts with Israel over the assault. (AFP, March 2) The European Union criticized Israel's "disproportionate use of force," while the White House used more neutral language. US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters at President George W. Bush's ranch in Texas, "The violence needs to stop and the talks need to resume." The UN Security Council, meeting in an emergency session, urged all sides to "immediately cease all acts of violence." (AFP, March 2)