The Somali government says al-Qaeda has appointed a young militant as its commander of the resistance forces in Mogadishu. Deputy Defense Minister Salad Ali Jelle told a news conference the insurgency is being directed by Aden Hashi Ayro, an Afghanistan-trained fighter in his 30s. "The government is being targeted by those who used to work with terrorists, the so-called Islamic Courts," Jelle said. "And after they had a long consultation with al-Qaeda, they named Aden Hashi Ayro as head of (al Qaeda) operations in Mogadishu."

From the British computer trade journal The Register, March 22:

US Marines in Iraq staged an elaborate fake gunfight to foil an overhead surveillance drone and cover up a murder, according to court testimony.

From the St. Petersburg Times, March 20:

Al-Arian's gaunt condition stuns his family
Sami Al-Arian has been on a hunger strike for 58 days to protest being held beyond his prison sentence. On a water-only diet, he has lost 53 pounds. The former University of South Florida professor can no longer walk, speaks in a whisper and trembles constantly because of low body temperature, said family members who visited him last weekend at a federal medical prison in Butner, N.C.

In a military trial at Fort Campbell, KY, Pfc. Bryan Howard, 19, pleaded guilty to being an accessory to the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the slaying of her family. He also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice by lying to his superior officers about the attack last year in Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad. Howard agreed to five years in prison under a plea deal but will not serve more than 27 months if he follows conditions of the agreement. Under the agreement, his rank will be reduced to private and he will be dishonorably discharged. He will also have to testify against others charged in the case.

The Euro-bashers are already having a field day with Italy's admitted capitulation to Taliban hostage-takers. But isn't it interesting that most stateside media accounts—while baiting the Italians as spineless, effeminate Euro-boys—fail to even mention that the Taliban captives were held by Afghanistan, not Italy. Even the New York Times front-page headline was utterly misleading: "Italy Swapped 5 Jailed Taliban for a Hostage." Worse, even the NYT story's text failed to note that the captives were actually freed by Afghanistan—as the below account from the Pakistan Times makes clear:

Police in Nepal are searching sugarcane fields in the southeast for bodies after clashes between Maoists and the Madhesi People's Rights Forum left at least 27 dead. The clash in the town of Gaur, on the Indian border, was the deadliest this year. Gaur and neighboring Kalaiya were both placed under curfew. At least 58 have been killed since January in protests by Madhesi activists seeking more government jobs and parliament seats for their people, who live in the Terai region bordering India.

European Union election observers won't be sent to Nigeria's delta region during next month's landmark elections due to the ongoing attacks and kidnappings which have prompted thousands of foreigners to flee the oil heartland in the past year. "We are not going to deploy in Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa because in these states, the environment for international observers is not conducive," said Max van den Berg, leader of the EU Election Observation Mission. "It is painful that we cannot observe in these three states, but it is more important to stay alive." The EU will send 66 observers to Nigeria's other 33 states. The elections are to mark the first civilian-to-civilian transition in the world's eighth biggest oil exporter since Nigeria gained independence from Britain in 1960. (Reuters, March 21)

Muslim pupils at a secondary school in northeastern Nigeria's Gombe state beat a teacher to death March 21 after accusing her of desecrating the Koran, police and witnesses said. Oluwatoyin Olusase, a Christian, was apparently overseeing an "Islamic Religious Knowledge" when the incident occurred. "We have received information that a female teacher has been lynched by her students," Gombe state police commissioner Joseph Ibi said. "We are investigating the report."