Remember all the hype when Padilla was first arrested? Now that he is finally going to trial—on considerably less ambitious charges than those originaly floated—it is a discrete little story on the inside pages. Funny how that works, huh? We have noted a lot of utterly specious terrorism cases lately. This much-hyped case could turn out to be another one. From Los Angeles Times, April 16:

Now that Iran has a nuclear program, other Middle East countries want nuclear power—potentially resulting in a nuclear arms race in the region, the New York Times reported April 15. "Two years ago, the leaders of Saudi Arabia told international atomic regulators that they could foresee no need for the kingdom to develop nuclear power. Today, they are scrambling to hire atomic contractors, buy nuclear hardware and build support for a regional system of reactors," the newspaper said. "Turkey is preparing for its first atomic plant and Egypt has announced plans to build one on its Mediterranean coast. In all, roughly a dozen states in the region have recently turned to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna for help in starting their own nuclear program."

Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in Casablanca close to the city's American Cultural Centre April 14—apparently causing no casualties other than themselves. (AlJazeera, April 14) After the blasts, the US consulate in Casablanca was ordered closed until further notice. (AKI, April 16) Police raided the city's Sidi Moumen suburb, an impoverished district of slums and shanty-towns, arresting the third brother of the two boys who blew themselves up. The boys' mother, Rashida al-Raidi, told AlJazeera: "My son is innocent. He is innocent. Shame on them [the police] for taking him away from us. He never left my side. And he is very young." (AlJazeera, April 15)

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), called on the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Manila to abide by a 1996 agreement that was meant to end conflict in the southern Philippines. An ongoing battle over the past three days has killed 18 people, including a child, and displaced thousands. Government forces dropped 250-pound bombs and fired rockets into the base of MNLF commander Habier Malik near Panamao town on the southern island of Jolo over the weekend after he fired mortars on their headquarters on April 13, killing a child that lived nearby. (Reuters, April 16)

Venezuela is advocating regional integration at a two-day, 12-nation energy summit of South American leaders that opens April 16 on the Caribbean island of Margarita. "Gradually, the US empire will end up a paper tiger and we, the peoples of Latin America, will become true tigers of steel," President Hugo Chávez said on the eve of the summit. Chávez is expected to use the summit to promote his plan to build a 8,000-kilometer gas pipeline linking Venezuela to Brazil and Argentina.

Hungary's Finance Minister János Kóka has presented a bill in Parliament to make the country an attractive route for transnational gas transport. The intended beneficiaries of the tax exemptions on gas transported across Hungary are the interests behind the planned Nabucco and Blue Stream pipelines, both slated to carry gas from Turkey to the EU. Nabucco is backed by a consortium headed by Austrian oil firm OMV and championed the EU, and would carry gas produced in Caspian Sea countries. The Blue Stream pipeline is a planned extension to an existing pipeline carrying Russian gas under the Black Sea to Turkey. György Gilyán, Government Commissioner for Eastern Economic Relations, said in an interview with daily Népszabadság, "it is in Hungary's interest to have as many transit gas pipelines cross its territory as possible." (Budapest Times, April 16)

A new Iran-Armenia gas pipeline, officially opened on March 19 by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Armenian President Robert Kocharian, is emerging as a source of speculation about regional energy alliances. A trip to Armenia by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili two days after the pipeline's opening has provided fuel for conjecture despite the official line that it was a ski vacation. Saakashvili's spokesmen admit he met with Kocharian and that talks touched on the pipeline.

Moqtada al-Sadr has pulled his faction out of the Iraqi government in protest of the continuing US presence in the country. Said Nassar al-Rubaie, head of the bloc: "Al-Sadr's ministers will withdraw immediately and give the six cabinet seats to the government." While relinquishing their cabinet seats, the Sadrists are expected to remain in parliament. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki says he sees no need to set a timetable for a US troop withdrawal, but his government is working to build up Iraq's security forces as quickly as possible so the US-led forces can leave. (AlJazeera, April 16)