AFP - Indonesia's parliament passed a draft law granting tsunami-lashed Aceh wide-ranging autonomy as part of a peace deal signed last year with separatist rebels, a lawmaker said.

AP - Indonesia passed a law Tuesday granting Aceh greater autonomy and paving the way for elections this year, fulfilling a key promise in a 2005 peace accord with rebels in the tsunami-ravaged province.

AP - A proposal that would give Indonesia's tsunami-ravaged Aceh province greater autonomy and control of most of its oil and natural gas revenues has met opposition from rebels who fought for decades to win independence.

AP - The fractious outcome of a vote on autonomy for Bolivia's states and the government's apparent failure to win enough backing to rewrite the constitution could dampened the leftist agenda of President Evo Morales.

AP - Thousands chanted slogans and marched through Hong Kong's streets in a pro-democracy protest Saturday, while a pro-Beijing parade also drew a big crowd to mark the ninth anniversary of the former British colony's return to Chinese rule.

AP - Bolivians vote July 2 for a national assembly that will rewrite this poor Andean nation's constitution. They will also vote "yes" or "no" on a ballot question on whether to offer the country's nine states greater autonomy in political and financial affairs.

AP - About 150,000 people demanded autonomy for Bolivia's wealthiest state late Wednesday in one of the nation's largest demonstrations ever just four days before a national referendum on the issue.

Reuters - Italy held a second day of voting on Monday in a referendum that could rewrite the constitution to strengthen the prime minister's powers and give regions greater autonomy.

AFP - Catalonians voted in favour of greater autonomy for their region by a large majority in a referendum, according to an exit poll by Spanish television.

AFP - Catalans began voting in a referendum on giving their region increased autonomy in a crucial political test for Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spain's left wing prime minister, as he seeks to gather support for talks with Basque separatists ETA.

Catalonia in Spain is poised to hold a referendum which could make it one of Europe's most independent regions.

AP - Catalonians will vote Sunday in a referendum on granting broad new powers to this wealthy region that calls itself a nation within a nation and accounts for 20 percent of Spain's economy.

AP - Spain abounds in humorous stereotypes: party-loving southerners, street-smart Madrid people and dour, workaholic Catalans. Here, the joke goes, a man asking an attractive woman passerby for the time actually wants to know. But things get serious Sunday when semiautonomous Catalonia votes in a referendum offering it even greater autonomy — something conservatives fear will gravely wound the Spanish state.

Reuters - Paula Kerger's mission as the new chief of the Public Broadcasting Service is to give the endearing and endangered institution financial autonomy in a digital media world that desperately needs what PBS has to offer.

AFP - Sri Lanka has moved closer to granting more autonomy to minority Tamils under a new initiative backed by the opposition, as the United States warned against a return to full-scale war on the island.

- In a new initiative to bring peace to Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced that he is planning to discuss autonomy and self-rule for the state. He also expressed his government's willingness to talk to militants if...

Reuters - Envoys of the Dalai Lama have raised demands on Tibetan autonomy and on the region's borders which China cannot accept, a Chinese government official said on Friday in comments that shed light on secretive talks.

Reuters - Tribal militants fighting for more autonomy blew up a natural gas pipeline in Pakistan's troubled southwest on Wednesday, killing a girl and wounding her mother and another relative, officials said.

Disability advocates say that the Texas 'futile care' statute is a violation of patients' rights and autonomy. They suggest the law should be 'euthanized­9; and replaced by legislation that protects the rights and lives of patients in the health care system.

Reuters - Negotiations on the future of Kosovo appeared to founder on Monday as United Nations' mediators struggled to overcome Serb demands for autonomy within the majority Albanian territory.