Major clashes broke out in Basra, Iraq's second city, March 21—apparently between Fadhila and Mahdi Army forces, two Shi'ite factions. The fighting comes only days after the withdrawal of British troops from the city, citing recent "progress" in security there. More violence is also reported from the Kurdish north, supposedly a relative haven froom Iraq's chaotic warfare. A suicide truck bomb attack on the Mosul headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), killed three and injured 20. The attack comes as Kurds celebrate the Persian new year festival of Nowruz. (Madrid11, March 22)

On March 21, Hardy and Kathy Will, parents of slain New York Indymedia journalist Bradley Roland Will, visited the Oaxaca barrio where their son was gunned down while filming street protests Oct. 27. Accompanied by dozens of supporters, they left behind a cross and flowers. Will's parents said they plan to meet with Oaxaca prosecutor Lizbeth Caña but disputed her suggestion that their son was shot by a protester. Will's family also plan to meet with the federal prosecutor general's office in Oaxaca and ask officials there to take over the investigation. Supporters intend to begin a hunger strike in support of that demand. (AP, March 21)

In the early morning hours of March 19, some 75 members of the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO), who had been maintaining a vigil encampment in front of the Senate building in Mexico City since early October, were dispersed by a force of over 200 Federal District riot police. Federal District authorities said it was part of a general crackdown on street merchants, but APPO called it an act of political repression and held a protest later that day in Oaxaca City. APPO is demanding that federal authorities formally revoke the powers of Oaxaca governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, who they charge with corruption and brutality.

The Colombian government says that it will seek the extradition of eight unnamed people affiliated with the US banana giant Chiquita Brands International for their alleged involvement in the company's payments to illegal right-wing paramilitary groups. The Chicago Tribune reports March 22 that Colombia's chief prosecutor, Mario Iguaran, has formally requested from the US Justice Department documents relating to Chiquita's payment of $1.7 million to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a group that the United States labels a terrorist organization.

Colombian prosecutors have opened a criminal probe of 20 leading political figures for signing a 2001 document with Salvatore Mancuso and other leaders of the illegal paramilitaries in a secret meeting at Mancuso's base at Santa Fe Ralito, Córdoba department. The figures include six former congressmen, five former mayors and two former governors—Jesús María López of Córdoba and Salvador Arana of Sucre, who is in hiding. The investigation extends a growing scandal that follows the arrest of eight congressional allies of President Alvaro Uribe. Fiscal General Mario Iguaran told reporters his National Anti-Terrorist Unit has "formally opened an investigation into these people for conspiring to commit a crime." (Reuters, Vanguardia Liberal, Bucaramanga, March 21; El Tiempo, Bogota, March 20)

At least three suspected Shining Path guerillas were killed March 20 in a gun battle with Peruvian solidiers in Huachocolpa, Huancavelica department. According to a statement from Peru's Defense Ministry, the confrontation occurred in the early morning hours when soldiers were patrolling the area for a group of "terrorists" from the Shining Path's "Comrade Alipio" faction who recently moved into the region and are believed to be working with cocaine traffickers. (Living in Peru, AP, March 21)

The threat of terrorism has allowed governments around the world to crackdown on the rights of ethnnic minorities, according to the latest annual report by the London-based Minority Rights Group International. The report finds that key allies of the US in its "war on terrorism," including the governments of Pakistan, Turkey and Israel, intensified repression of particular ethnic communities in 2006. Afghanistan and Pakistan are in the top 20 list, and Turkey and Israel both show major rises in the rankings this year. Somalia, where a pro-West regime has just taken power, is listed as the world's most dangerous country for minority communities. Iraq is number two.

Mamdouh Habib, a "rendition" victim and former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, is running for a state parliamentary seat in New South Wales, Australia. He was picked up in Pakistan in October 2001, transferred to Egypt where he was tortured, then shipped to Guantanamo before being released without charges in 2005—because the Bush administration did not want the torture allegations aired in court, Australian and American officials admit. Habib suffers from severe digestive problems and his doctor believes his stomach has been permanently damaged from having gas forced into it through tubes inserted into his rectum when he was tortured in Egypt. He is running in a coalition that includes Greens, socialists and communists. (NYT, March 21)