Buena friend: Trip to Mecca changed alleged terrorist (Daily Journal) BUENA — Roman Castro wasn’t completely shocked to hear his once close friend from high school is suspected of being an al-Qaida terrorist in the Middle East.
Leonard Peltier: Statement of solidarity with Mumia Abu-Jamal (San Francisco Bay View) Whether or not you approve of [...]

Serbia wants ‘neutral’ Kosovo status at Balkans-EU summit (AFP via Yahoo! News) Serbia on Wednesday said the status of Kosovo, which broke free from Belgrade in 2008, should be presented in a neutral way at international meets such as the EU-Balkans summit this weekend.
Kosovo in, Serbia out of EU Balkans Summit in Slovenia (Novinite.com) [...]

Somali rebels join forces in cyberspace – UN report (TVNZ) Armed rebel groups in Somalia are using the internet for fundraising and recruitment, and they achieve better results through the web than they do on the ground
Turkey offers Somalia anti-piracy help (Press TV) Turkey has called on Somalia to carry out a more serious [...]

Former UN Afghan envoy reveals contacts with Taliban (EARTHtimes.org) London – The UN’s former top envoy to Afghanistan revealed for the first time that secret contacts were held with Taliban leaders in Afghanistan….
Pakistan arrests halt U.N. contacts with Taliban (The Washington Times) KABUL (AP) — The arrests of top Taliban figures in Pakistan abruptly [...]

PAPUA NEW GUINEA LNG PROCEEDS TO FULL EXECUTION (Bernama via Yahoo! Malaysia News) MELBOURNE, March 15 (Bernama) — The massive Papua New Guinea liquefied natural gas (LNG) project has reached financial close and the project now is proceeding in full, the Australian Associated Press (AAP) reports.
Cyclone Ului damages buildings in Solomon Islands (People’s Daily) [...]

Bulgaria, Greece Launch One-Stop Border Control (Novinite.com) Bulgaria and Greece opened Friday a cross-border Contact Center initiating one-stop border control on their major border crossing point.
Israel IAF Planes Passed over Bulgaria, Reached Hungary (Novinite.com) The planes were reportedly laden with state-of-the-art surveillance equipment, and the mission was connected to the assassination of a Syrian [...]

The Proposed Iran-Pakistan-India Gas Pipeline: An Unacceptable Risk to Regional Security (Heritage Foundation) The foreign policies of India and Pakistan are driven increasingly by energy security. To sustain their booming economies and growing populations amid tight oil and gas markets, Indian and Pakistani policymakers are turning to energy deals with unsa vory regimes, such as [...]

Myanmar credits US ties for freeing American (AP via Yahoo! News) Myanmar’s ruling military junta decided to release a naturalized American citizen from prison because of its friendship with the U.S. government, state media said Friday.
Indonesia scratched from World Cup host candidates – FIFA (Reuters via Yahoo! Sports) Soccer’s world governing body FIFA has [...]

Myanmar deports jailed Burmese-American activist (Reuters via Yahoo!7 News) BANGKOK (Reuters) – Army-ruled Myanmar deported a Burmese-American activist on Thursday after sentencing him last month to three years in prison for forgery and immigration offences, United States embassy officials said.
Vietnam s market share in Cambodia up (Nh n D n) [...]

Iraqi soldier, policeman beheaded, gunmen shoot two in Mosul – Summary (EARTHtimes.org) Baghdad – Armed men stopped two off-duty Iraqi security officers north of Baghdad, abducted them, and beheaded them, police told the German Press Agency dpa on Thursday. The two were among at least five people killed in fresh violence across Iraq Thu…
Chaos [...]