The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) has issued a statement condemning "in the strongest possible terms" attacks on Mogadishu radio stations by the armed forces of the Transitional Federal Government. The statement said government troops raided the offices of the independent Radio Simba on March 2, taking away computers, audio recorders, digital cameras and other equipment. Reporter Abdiaziz Hussein Hassan was beaten in the raid. One day earlier, a rocket hit Radio Simba, destroying the station's archive. A few minutes after the raid on Simba, soldiers broke down the doors of Shabelle Radio, again confiscating equipment, and detaining station director Shabele Muktar Mohamed Hirabe. Security forces also visited the offices of Horn Afrik Radio and ordered them to stop broadcasting. (NUSOJ, March 3 via AaaAfrica)

As Venezuela and Ecuador order troops to their borders with Colombia, the Colombian National Police chief Gen. Oscar Naranjo announced that documents recovered from the computer of slain guerilla leader Raul Reyes reveal financial ties between Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and the FARC—including a Feb. 14 message that mentions US$300 million in Venezuelan support for the rebel organization.

A tense strike and occupation at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) in the southeast of Mexico City entered its 31st day March 2—despite the picket line being attacked by hostile students. Students—themselves divided by pro-strike and anti-strike factions—have also interrupted negotiations between union leaders and the university authorities. The most recent round of negotiations was abandoned Feb. 28, when there were clashes following the forced entrance of a group of students into the meeting room, supposedly attempting to submit a document about the strike to the UAM secretary general.

Some 1,000 experts from 52 nations are expected to attend a world economic conference hosted by Cuba this week. Sponsored by Cuba's National Economists Association and dubbed the "International Economists Meeting on Globalization and Development," the conference will cover topics including the subprime mortgage crisis in the US, regional integration in South America and the Doha round of world trade negotiations. It will feature some 300 presentations by experts from around the world, with one headliner being Canada's Robert Mundell, a 1999 Nobel Prize winner. (Xinhua, March 2) Mundell's bio on the Nobel Prize website identifies him as "the co-founder of supply-side economics."

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad received what the United Arab Emirates' Gulf News called a "hero's welcome" in Baghdad, where Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the Islamic Republic's recent approach towards his country has been "extremely helpful." He described his discussions with Ahmadinejad as "friendly, positive and full of trust," adding that his landmark visit to Baghdad sends a positive message to neighboring countries to reinforce their ties with Iraq. He also pledged to crack down on Iranian guerillas operating from Iraqi territory, including the Mujahedeen Khalq Organization (MKO) and the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK). Slogans on the walls of houses and public markets in Baghdad's Sadr City welcomed Ahmadinejad and hailed him as a hero. Signs in Sunni neighborhoods condemned him as a villain and architect of Iraq's sectarian violence. (Gulf News, UAE, March 3; Press TV, Iran, March 2)

At last two are dead and 12 wounded in an ambush 130 kilometers south of Kirkuk on a bus carrying Shiite pilgrims returning from the Arbaeen celebrations in Karbala March 1. "Two people, including a woman, were killed and 12 others injured in an attack by unidentified gunmen on a bus carrying civilians returning from the Arbaeen pilgrimage near Soliman Pak area, south of Kirkuk, on Saturday morning," a medic at Kirkuk's hospital told Aswat al-Iraq/Voices of Iraq news agency. (VOI, March 1)

Unknown gunmen kidnapped Chaldean Archbishop Faraj Rahho in Mosul after killing two of his bodyguards and his driver soon after he left Mass in the northern Iraqi city's Safina Church. Pope Benedict XVI regretted the kidnapping and said he is praying for Iraq to reach the path of reconciliation and peace. For the past year, Mosul's Christians have been targeted in a wave of attacks that have damaged several churches and seriously wounded four parishioners—as well as leaving a priest dead in June 2007. In October, two priests from Mosul were abducted and held for nine days. A Syriac archbishop was kidnapped in Mosul in January 2005. (Al-Sumariia TV, March 1)

Eight people are reported killed in overnight clashes between police and opposition protesters in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, March 2. The protesters, who have rallied in the capital for 12 days, accuse the government of rigging last month’s presidential election. Troops and armored vehicles are now patrolling the main streets of Yerevan, and President Robert Kocharian has declared a 20-day state of emergency. Police and Interior Ministry troops used truncheons, tear gas, and electric stun guns to disperse opposition supporters from a central Yerevan square March 1, but thousands who regrouped later. Riot police fired tracer bullets into the air and again used tear gas to disperse the crowd of 15,000. Some protesters hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at police. Several vehicles were set fire. Human Rights Watch charges Armenian authorities with using "excessive force and violence" against the protesters.