Police and supporters of deposed Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed clashed Feb. 8, leading to the death of at least two who were protesting Nasheed's removal from power a day earlier in what is being called a coup d'etat. Clashes have spread beyond the capital of Male to several outlying islands, where protesters are reported to have seized several police stations. The Maldives had its first-ever democratic elections in 2008, bringing former political prisoner Nasheed to power and ending 30 years of rule under President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Nasheed now charges Gayoom and his supporters instigated street protests that preceded his removal. He said some 20 police and army rebels forced him at gunpoint to resign, which he later did live on TV. The weeks of protests were ostensibly over the detainment of senior criminal court Judge Abdulla Mohamed, who was arrested last month for corruption. But Mohamed was arrested by the military—an unprecedented move—following his ruling to release a government critic. Local media reported hours after Nasheed's removal that Mohamed had been released .

Molajula Koteswar Rao AKA "Kishenji," most-wanted leader of India's Naxalite guerillas, was killed in a gun battle with security forces in the Burisole jungle region of West Midnapore district, West Bengal, authorities said Nov. 24. Sympathizers of the Maoist rebel movement as well as human rights groups immediately questioned the government's version of events, and charged that Kishenji had been illegally executed. Varavara Rao of the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committeeo called the slaying a "political murder." The New Power website said, "These fake encounters mask a campaign of targeted assassination." (PTI, Nov. 27; NewPower.org, Nov. 26)

A court in the Indian state of Gujarat on Nov. 10 convicted 31 people of crimes committed during the 2002 Gujarat riots. The accused were convicted of murder, arson and rioting. Charges of criminal conspiracy were dropped by the court. All 31 of the convicted were sentenced to life in prison and required to pay a fine. The court acquitted 42 other defendants. The riots stemmed from anger over the death of 60 Hindus in a fire aboard a train. Violence targeting Muslims lasted three days, leaving more than 1,000 dead. Teesta Setalvad, an activist working on behalf of the riot victims said she welcomed the sentences but expressed disappointment that the investigation team look into a possible conspiracy behind the riots.

At least 11 were killed and 91 injured in a bomb blast outside the Delhi High Court on the morning of Sept. 7. The militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI) reportedly claimed responsibility in an e-mail. HUJI leader Ilyas Kashmiri, apparently based in Pakistan's tribal areas where he also headed al-Qaeda's "313 Brigade," repeatedly issued terror threats against India over the past year—but was reported killed in a drone strike in June. US citizen David Headley, who pleaded guilty in a Chicago federal court last year to involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, is reported to have told the FBI that Kashmiri introduced him to top contacts in the ISI, the Pakistani intelligence service. (IBN, Sept. 8; Times of India, Sept. 7)

Mumbai was hit by three coordinated bomb blasts during the evening rush hour on July 13, killing at least 21 people and injuring over 100, including businessmen from the city's thriving gold and jewellery trade. No organization has claimed responsibility, but authorities say they suspect the Indian Mujahedeen, a terrorist group sworn to avenge the 2002 massacre of hundreds of Muslims in the neighboring state of Gujarat (which has claimed recent attacks in New Delhi, Jaipur and elsewhere). The anniversary of the 2006 Mumbai train blasts that killed more than 180 commuters also fell this week, on July 11.

For more than a month now, large parts of Nepal have been periodically shut down by a series of bandhs, or civil strikes, called by indigenous groups, regional autonomists and former Maoist rebels. In the town of Hetauda, Makwanpur district, a group led by local businessmen on May 31 held a motorcycle rally to protest the protest campaigns which have demanded a halt to all business and traffic. Local bandhs were called there several days in succession by the Matrika Yadav faction of the CPN-Maoist, and the Sanghiya Loktantrik Party and Tamsaling Autonomous Council, two groups demanding greater autonomy for the Tamsaling region. (Himalayan Times, May 25) Two weeks earlier, a coalition of minority ethnicities and indigenous groups staged a coordinated nationwide bandh, shutting roads and markets across the country to demand greater rights as a new constitution is prepared. (Hindustan Times, May 13)

Pakistan's Supreme Court on April 21 upheld the acquittal of five of the six men accused in the gang rape of Mukhtar Mai—the woman whose refusal to remain silent about the crime committed in 2002 won international acclaim for her courage. The three-member bench of the high court freed all but one of the six men. Abdul Khaliq will continue to serve a life term, which in Pakistani practice would likely be no more than 25 years. The ruling stunned the victim, who also goes by Mukhtar Bibi. "I'm very sad," she said from her home in the southern Punjab village of Meerwala. "Why was I made to wait five years if this was the decision to be given?"

At least one was killed as police fired on protesters April 18 near Jaitapur, site of a proposed nuclear plant in Ratnagiri district of India's Maharashtra state. Authorities said officers opened fire after some 700 protesters set ablaze a police station and vehicles at Sakhrinate village. Villagers apparently took the opportunity to overrun the police station when most of the officers were mobilized to the Jaitapur project site where a demonstration was underway. (India Today, April 18)