The notorious Lord's Resistance Army, the rebel group run by a crazed "Christian" lunatic who kidnaps children as soldiers and sex slaves in Uganda, may be down but it's not out. Unfortunately its dispersed forces have spread to surrounding countries, including Southern Sudan. This area will go to the polls in a referendum to determine whether they'll secede from Sudan and form a new nation. Incidentally, US President Barack Obama warned Sudan's leaders Friday to let the process go along smoothly. Instability and poverty are the main problems, and the first factor is why the LRA can affect proceedings.

There's a storm brewing within India and it's been getting stronger in recent years. No, not Kashmir, but a rejuvenated Maoist Communist insurgency that has seen over 10,000 killed in the past 10 years and compelled the PM Manmohan Singh to send in 2009 "almost 100,000 new paramilitary troops and police to contain" the rebels. Read on in this Foreign Policy piece exploring this civil insurgency driven by socioeconomic inequality and resource-rich but poor areas. If nothing else, at least you'll learn of such a thing as a reporter carrying a gun, 90-year-old underground fires still burning on, and a provincial chief minister who allegedly stole US$1 billion from the state.