Hundreds of Buddhist monks rallied outside the parliament building in Bangkok April 17 calling for Buddhism to be enshrined in the constitution as Thailand's national religion. The country's military-appointed government plans to unveil a new national constitution this month. In 1997, a campaign to make Buddhism the national religion was dropped amid concerns that it would divide the country. Since then, an Islamist insurgency has flared in Thailand's south, leaving more than 2,000 dead in the last three years. Previous Thai constitutions have never declared a state religion, although the current constitution states that the king must be a Buddhist and upholder of all religions. (MWC News, April 18)

Despite the early pretense of democracy in drawing up the post-9-11 Lower Manhattan development plans, most New Yorkers were not aware that a special "command center" had been created to oversee the multiple construction projects until a change of leadership there happened to make some small headlines. The militarist terminology is all too appropriate, given the fascistic nature of the redevelopment plans. From AP via Crain's New York Business, April 17 (link added):

The US is planning to use meetings with NATO and Russian ambassadors in Brussels April 19 to defend its plans to build an anti-missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic, saying the West needs a defense shield against the threat of Iran developing nuclear warheads. (Bloomberg, April 18) Polish President Lech Kaczynski has been invited to the White House in July to discuss building European support for the missile plan. (NYT, April 18) Hundreds of Poles marched in Warsaw March 24 against the missile proposal, and against Polish military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Reuters, AP, March 24)

Some 25 Islamist militants calling themselves the "Taliban" have been killed in an army offensive near the northern city of Kano, Nigeria. Militants took an area of the city after attacking a police station on April 17. Nine Islamists have been captured, as well as a quantity of arms, the army says. Authorities say the action was launched to avenge the assassination of a radical Islamic cleric shot dead April 13. The militants, numbering some 300, killed at least ten when they took the police station. The unrest adds to rising tension, with opposition parties threatening to boycott the upcoming presidential polls. Islamists have maintained a low-level insurgency in the Kano region for last few years.

A farmer in southwest China killed a village leader in a suicide bombing that also seriously injured nine other local officials following a land dispute April 15. Yue Xiaobao detonated explosives strapped to his body as he approached officials from Lishan village, Yunnan province, the Beijing Times reported. The attack came after village leaders had destroyed Yue's crop of sweet potatoes and tobacco, a leading cash crop in the region. Yue carried out the attack while officials were on an inspection tour of local farmlands. Yue and Lishan village leader Ren Xuecai were killed immediately.

Three people were killed April 18 in an attack on a Turkish publishing house which prints Bibles and Christian literature, according to media reports. CNN Turk television said the victims' throats were cut and that police had detained six people in connection with the slayings at the Zirve publishing house in Malatya. TV images showed casualties being carried out of the building and one man being restrained by police. Nationalists had previously held a protest outside the publishing house, accusing it of proselytising, the Dogan news agency reported. (AlJazeera, April 18)

Violence between the Philippine army and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) continues in the southern region of Mindanao. Clashes with the 2,000-strong MNLF have left 21 dead and displaced 50,000 people. [AlJazeera, April 18] A suspected motorcycle blast has shaken the Mindanao city of Cotabato after a pro-government rally. [Reuters, April 18]

US officials in Afghanistan claim to have intercepted arms sent from Iran to the Taliban. The Bush administration had earlier accused Iran of abetting Shia death squads in Iraq, and more recently claiming that Tehran was backing both Sunni and Shia militants in the country. The allegation of involvement in Afghanistan would suggest that US strategists are bent on making the case that Iran is concertedly opposing American efforts in the "war on terror" in the region. [NYT, April 18]