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)

Unregistered Afghan refugees face an uncertain future after the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) announced it will discontinue the repatriation program April 15, the same day that the Pakistani government had set as the deadline for all unregistered refugees to return home. Last year more than 2.15 million Afghan refugees received registration cards from the Pakistani government recognizing them as legally residing in Pakistan until December 2009. After this date, the Pakistani government says it will consider unregistered Afghans to be illegal immigrants, and that there will be no extension of the deadline.

A new Human Rights Watch report, "The Human Cost," accuses the Taliban, Hezb-e-Islami and other insurgent groups of war crimes in Afghanistan. Joanne Mariner, HRW's terrorism and counter-terrorism director, said in a statement: "Suicide bombings and other insurgent attacks have risen dramatically since 2005, with almost 700 civilians dying last year at the hands of the Taliban and other insurgent groups. The insurgents are increasingly committing war crimes, often by directly targeting civilians. Even when they're aiming at military targets, insurgent attacks are often so indiscriminate that Afghan civilians end up as the main victims." (AlJazeera, April 16)

Tens of thousands of people marched throughout Argentina on April 9 as part of a general strike called to protest the death of a teacher, Carlos Fuentealba, who died on April 5 in the southwestern province of Neuquen after being shot at close range with a tear gas canister. The country's teachers observed a total one-day strike called by the Confederation of Education Workers of the Argentina Republic (CTERA). The protests were backed by the two main labor confederations: the leftist Federation of Argentine Workers (CTA) and the General Confederation of Workers (CGT), associated with the Justicialist Party (PJ, Peronist). The CGT limited its general strike to one hour, from noon to 1 PM.

According to exit polls released after balloting ended, Ecuadorans voted overwhelmingly on April 15 to support President Rafael Correa's plan for a constituent assembly to write a new constitution. The exit polls conducted by the Cedatos-Gallup firm among 40,000 voters in 21 of the 22 provinces showed 78.1% approving the call for the constituent assembly, 11.5% rejecting it, 7.1% casting invalid ballots and 3.3% leaving their ballots blank. The firm said the poll had a 2% margin of error. About seven million of the country's 9.1 million eligible voters participated.

Late at night on April 5, a permenant protest vigil (plantón) outside the government palace in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, was attacked without warning and borken up by the state police. The vigil, organized by the San Luis Potosí State Front of Social Movements and Organizations (FEMOS) had been ongoing for several days to demand a halt of mining operations by the company Mineria San Xavier. Pedro Rebolloso and several other protest leaders were arrested on what the organizers call false charges. (Colectivo Nuevo Huachichil via Enlace Zapatista, April 11; La Jornada San Luis, April 6) On April 15, some 30 organizations joined for a "mega-march" in the state capital to demand the release of the prisoners and a halt to the mining operations. (La Jornada San Luis, April 16)

On April 14, a group of gunmen opened fire with small arms on Rufino Juarez Hernandez, director of the Triqui Region Social Welfare Union (UBISORT) in Putla de Guerrero, Oaxaca. Hospitalized with a leg wound, Juarez named as intellectual author of the attack Heriberto Pazos Ortiz, director of the rival Triqui Movement for Unification and Struggle (MULT). MULT is linked to the Popular Unity Party (PUP), while UBISORT is linked to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). (La Jornada, April 15)