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.

On March 22, Chad said warplanes from Sudan bombed two towns in its war-torn east, killing several people and violating a non-aggression pact signed last month. President Idriss Deby's government said two bombers have repeatedly struck the settlements of Kariari and Gregui near the eastern border with Sudan's Darfur region, causing heavy damage.

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)