From iWire, April 10:

Google has joined forces with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum to create a visual record of the attrocities that began in the Darfur region of Sudan in 2003. The Crisis in Darfur project has assembled photographs, data and eyewitness testimony—from a number of sources that are brought together for the first time in Google Earth.

Halliburton announced April 9 all of the commitments of its subsidiary working in Iran have been completed and it no longer has operations in the country. In January 2005, the company announced it would not accept new contracts in Iran but would complete its existing projects there. Halliburton maintains its operations in Iran, handled through a Dubai office, were legal because they were isolated from the US operations and management. (Kuwait Times, April 10)

The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) is meeting in Doha, Qatar, to discuss the possibility of forming a body that would represent gas producers and exporters in the global market, with some leaders calling for a cartel that would function as the gas equivalent of OPEC.

Ethiopia admitted for the first time April 10 that it detained 41 suspected terrorists from 17 countries. The statement comes a week after the Associated Press reported that terror suspects had been transferred from Kenya to Somalia and then to secret facilities in Ethiopia. Ethiopian officials at the time denied any suspects were in custody. Human rights groups call the detentions a violation of international law. The International Committee of the Red Cross says it has not been granted access to the detainees despite having sought meetings for the last month. A Canadian, Bashir Makhtal, is believed to be among those held. The Canadian government has officially asked Ethiopia for consular access to the former Toronto resident.

Amnesty International condemns Egypt's record on torture and illegal detention in a new report, and calls on other countries to abandon diplomatic "no torture" deals with Cairo. Egypt's record on torture recently made headlines after police officers raped a 21-year-old taxi driver with a stick and filmed the torture on a mobile phone. Amnesty's report, "Systematic abuses in the name of security," focuses on the question of "rendition" of terror suspects to Egypt. In 2005, Cairo acknowledged that since 2001 the US had transferred some 60-70 detainees to Egypt.

Chad's government reports a rebel convoy of "more than 200 vehicles with armed elements" attacked from Sudanese territory April 9, resulting in heavy fighting that has left "many" dead. (AlJazeera, April 9) Recent violence in eastern Chad has killed hundreds of civilians and thousands displaced. According to an April 10 news release from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees: "More than 9,000 Chadians from 31 villages have now arrived at the new Habile site for internally displaced people (IDPs), joining another 9,000 who had fled earlier attacks in the region." (UNHCR, April 10)

Forces from the separatist Somali state of Somaliland and neighboring autonomous Puntland clashed April 9 over a disputed strip of land along their shared border in the Sanag region. "Puntland forces attacked the town of Dahar around 8:00 this morning," Somaliland Information Minister Ahmed Hagi Dahir said in a statement. "The attacking forces were supported by 17 technicals and 3 big trucks." Technicals are pick-up trucks mounted with weapons, the Somali version of a tank. At least one fighter was reported killed.

Nine Algerian soldiers and at least four Islamist insurgents were killed in clashes after militants ambushed an army patrol in the southwestern province of Ain Defla, 150 kilometers from Algiers April 7. Government troops, backed by helicopters, are searching for the attackers, estimated at 50 militants. They are presumed to belong to the al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb. Fighting was also reported between security forces and Islamist rebels in the Biskra region, southeast of Algiers, which has been tense following an April 2 rebel attack which killed three soldiers. The new fighting has brought the largest single casualty toll among government forces since Islamist guerrillas killed at least seven troops in November 2006 in the Bouira region east of Algiers. (Reuters, April 9)