More evidence that, whatever the hubristic schemes of the neocons three years ago, Washington is terrified of losing control of Iraq, having over-played the divide-and-conquer card. From the Irish Examiner, April 8:

SUICIDE attackers wearing women's robes blew themselves up yesterday in a Shi'ite mosque in northern Baghdad, killing at least 79 people and wounding 164.

From AFP, April 6:

TWO British grandmothers are facing up to a year in prison after being arrested under new anti-terrorism legislation that outlaws protests at military bases, The Independent newspaper said today.

LONDON, April 5 (Reuters) - Anti-terrorism detectives escorted a man from a plane after a taxi driver had earlier become suspicious when he started singing along to a track by punk band The Clash, police said on Wednesday.

Police in Nepal opened fire to break up anti-King protestors. Separately an attack by Maoist rebels last night left 22 people dead. Opposition parties said authorities detained dozens of protest leaders in Kathmandu. The four-day protest was called against the seizure of power by King Gyanendra about a year ago. The main rally will take place on Saturday. The strike left roads deserted with business and schools closing down. Police in armoured vehicles stood guard over empty streets where only protestors could be seen setting fire to tyres. (NDTV, India, April 7)

Yeah, y'all. From NY1, April 4:

An angry mob of Hasidic Jews confronted police outside a Brooklyn station house Tuesday night after officers arrested an elderly Hasidic man.

Our contributor Mahmood Ketabchi writes:

The cartoons of Muhammad created much discussion and debate within the progressive movement. I wrote two articles regarding the cartoon crisis and posted both of them on the NYC Indymedia. On March 1st, I posted my second article "US Left-Nationalists Join the Islamists Against Freedom." In this article, I criticized the section of the US left which supported the Islamists' campaign against freedom of speech and the right to blasphemy. The article generated some pro and con debate among people who read the it. Two days later, to my astonishment, I noticed that the article was removed from the website.

A school textbook used in India's western Rajasthan state compares housewives with donkeys and says the animals are more loyal and make better companions, The Times of India reported. The book was approved by the state's governing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and has set off protests by the party's women. (Reuters, April 5)

Seventy-six members of the Nukak-Makú, the last nomadic indigenous group in Colombia, including 27 children, arrived March 6 at the town of San José de Guaviare, on the edge of the Amazon rainforest. They arrived naked, exhausted and frightened, fleeing their home region of Tomachipán, some nine hours away by fast launch on the Rio Inírida. It is estimated they marched two months through the forest.