Philippines Nov 24

Death Toll Rises in Philippine Massacre
The death toll in one of the Philippines' worst cases of election violence rose to at least 46 people, and President Arroyo declared a state of emergency to give security forces a freer hand in tracking down the gunmen...The southern Philippines has been a hot-bed of violence for decades and has served as a staging and training ground for al-Qaeda-linked terrorists in the region. It's also home to long-running Muslim and Communist insurgencies, and the few large cities there are separated by large tracts of land where clan leaders intermittently battle each other for political power. The national government in Manila has long run programs to help organize clan leaders to limit the Muslim and Communist rebels and it has also allowed local governments and police forces to tap militias to contain the insurgencies, in some cases providing arms.