A petition from the Organization of Women's Liberation in Iran (OWLI):

To: all progressive organizations and all freedom-loving people
Your help is urgently needed to release 36 women activists in Tehran!

4th March 2007, a gathering of women activists in front of the Engelab Court, Tehran, was brutally attacked and 36 women were arrested. The gathering was called to protest against the arrest and trial of 5 women activists who were jailed in connection with protests on 22 Xordad [last June] in Haft Tir Square. Their “crime” was to stage a gathering “against the country’s security.” The 5 arrested women activists are Parvin Ardalan, Susan Tahmasbi, Shahla Entesari, and Fariba Davoodi Mohajer.

A statement from the Organization of Women's Liberation in Iran (OWLI):

Azar Majedi in a round table discussion with BBC Radio Scotland:
Military attack on Iran is a human and environmental tragedy in the region!

On 25 February 2007, Azar Majedi, the Chairperson of Organisation for Women’s Liberation, took part in a round table discussion with BBC Radio Scotland Sunday Live programme, about the possible military attack on Iran by USA. The other participant was Mr. Douglas Mary, supporter of New Conservatism and Mr. Bush.

A statement from the international women's rights group MADRE:

On February 26, 2007, Houzan Mahmoud, an international representative of MADRE's sister organization, the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq, received an e-mail signed by Ansar al-Islam, the notoriously brutal jihadist group based in Kurdistan/Iraq.

Australian "peacekeeping" troops killed four in a raid on rebels in East Timor March 4, but their leader Alfredo Reinado escaped. Reinado, who deserted the army last year and is wanted for his alleged role in deadly clashes that brought down the government, stole more than 20 automatic weapons in a raid on a police post, prompting President Xanana Gusmao to request his arrest by Australian forces. The exchange of fire followed a tense stand-off in the town of Same, where tank and helicopter movements were reported. (AP, The Australian, March 4)

Increasing violence between guerillas and government forces in Central African Republic (CAR) has displaced an estimated 220,000 people, including 150,000 "internally displaced persons" (IDPs) and 66,000 refugees who have fled to Chad and Cameroon. In December, France sent special forces backed by helicopters and fighter jets to dislodge rebel fighters from Birao and others towns in the north of the country, and has maintained a contingent there since. Rebel forces were reported to have re-entered Birao March 3, but government soldiers and a detachment of French troops remained in the town, with the situation tense.

The potential for Iraqi Kurdistan to be the flashpoint for a wider regional conflict is becoming increasingly clear. On March 1, a former member of the Turkish National Security Council (MGK) weighed in on the brewing crisis in Kirkuk, which is coveted as a capital by Iraq's Kurdish regional government. Former MGK Secretary-General Gen. Tuncer Kilinc said Turkey ceded the Kirkuk region to a united Iraq in the 1920s, and if Iraq is divided then Turkey has territorial rights there.

Pakistan's daily Dawn reports March 2 that the country's security forces have captured Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, deputy to the elusive Taliban chief, Mullah Mohammad Omar. The newspaper cited a government official in Quetta, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Mullah Obaidullah, supposedly arrested Feb. 27, is the most senior Taliban figure captured since the ouster of the militia from power in Afghanistan in November 2001. He served as defense minister in the Taliban regime, and there is a $1 million price on his head. He is on the US "most wanted" list and a member of the 10-man Taliban Leadership Council announced by the Taliban supreme leader in June 2003. His arrest came the day US Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Islamabad, but the official said the action which led to his arrest had been planned in advance. He said that two others captured with Obaidullah "could be" Amir Khan Haqqani, a Taliban commander in Zabul, and Abdul Bari, the former governor of Helmand province.

Authorities in Somalia's autonomous Puntland region arrested four men Feb. 27 in connection with the Feb. 25 hijacking of a ship delivering relief food. But four other hijackers are still holding the ship and 12-member crew. World Food Program (WFP) spokesperson Stephanie Savariaud says the men were arrested when they went ashore to get supplies. Gunmen seized the MV Rozen in the waters off the northern coast of Somalia shortly after the ship unloaded 1,800 tons of food aid at two ports. The Kenyan-owned ship, contracted by the WFP to deliver food aid, was sailing back to Kenya when the incident occurred. The pirates anchored the MV Rozen in the waters near the town of Bargal. Media reports indicate that Puntland authorities are negotiating with the pirates.