Canada's Canoro Resources has signed an agreement with India's parastatal Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) to explore for crude in the jungles of Nagaland, a state in the country's remote northeast, where large swaths of territory have been controlled by separatist guerillas for decades. Nagaland Industry & Commerce Minister Khekhiho Zhimomi said the predominantly Christian state of two million has the potential to yield some 600 million tons of crude. "Nagaland is literally sitting on a multi-million dollar oil reserve," Zhimomi said. Exploration work undertaken by ONGC in 1994 was suspended following threats from the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM). This time Zhimomi says things will be different: "We have the full support of the local people this time while executing the agreement with the ONGC. We hope there should be no problems now."

The US Justice Deparment April 12 obtained an emergency order from Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans barring the imminent release of Cuban right-wing militant Luis Posada Carriles. The move came after Posada's family in Miami posted the balance of a $350,000 bond with the federal court in El Paso, where he faces trial on immigration fraud charges.

The problem is a lot bigger than a dangerous intersection in Brooklyn, folks. From Newsday, April 12:

DOT under fire about its pedestrian safety plans
The Brooklyn intersection where 3-year-old James Jacaricce was struck and killed by a car last February was just a few blocks away from where two fifth-graders died the same way in 2004.

From The Guardian, April 9:

Five Turkish punk rockers and their agent face up to 18 months in jail for insult after a bureaucrat took offence at their song criticising the country's unpopular university entrance exam.

Iran's Fars News Agency reported April 10 that the US nuclear submarine Newport News polluted the Persian Gulf waters with radioactive and chemical materials after it collided with a Japanese super-tanker, and was forced to leave the Gulf following strong protests by Iranian officials. The Newport News, accompanying the USS Eisenhower, sustained heavy damages when it collided with the Japanese tanker Mogamigava east of Hormuz Strait on Jan. 8, according to Fars. The report also said the ship's captain Mathew Vinegar was dismissed as a result of the accident. According to an April 12 report in the UAE's Gulf News, the US Navy has denied the claims.

A bomb blast tore through a busy market in the town of Yala in southern Thailand April 12, injuring 11 people. The attack happened amid a protest held by mourners after the funeral of Buddhist woman, Patcharapom Busamad, who was shot dead and then set on fire April 11. Police say Islamist insurgents, who have been blamed for over 2,000 deaths in the last three years, were behind this attack as well as the April 11 shooting. A second bomb near the scene was safely defused. Some 200 residents paraded the charred remains of Patcharapom Busamad through the streets of Yala to protest the escalating violence. The villagers wrapped her body in white cloth and placed it outside a government building where Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratglin, head of the Thai junta, was meeting with local leaders.

India successfully tested an Agni III missile April 12, capable of launching a 300-kiloton nuclear warhead across 3,000 kilometers—a dramatic increase on prior missile systems principally designed to strike at Pakistan. The missile was launched from Wheeler Island in the Bay of Bengal off the Orissa coast. An earlier test last July had failed to reach its target. Defense Minister A.K. Anthony boasted: "India has matured in the missile technology area and [is] definitely at par with many other developed countries." (AP, April 12)

One of Iraq's main insurgent groups has confirmed a split with al-Qaeda, according to a spokesman for the dissenting organization. Ibrahim al-Shammari told AlJazeera TV that the Islamic Army in Iraq decided to break from al-Qaeda in Iraq after its members were threatened. "In the beginning, we were dealing with Tawhid and Jihad organisation, which turned into al-Qaeda in Iraq," he said, his identity hidden for security reasons. "Specifically after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi died, the gap between us [and al-Qaeda] widened, because [they] started to target our members... They killed about 30 of our people, and we definitely don't recognize their establishment of an Islamic state—we consider it invalid.""