CONFLICT & TERR0R

Pakistan blames Islamist militants for bombs

The Pakistan government blamed Islamist militants for twin explosions early on Friday that killed more than 130 supporters of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto during her homecoming parade in the early hours of Friday morning. Full Story

Air Force's future lies in cyberspace

Recent pronouncements by U.S. Air Force officials about their view of cyberspace as a "war-fighting domain" have attracted little attention, but the questions they raise for U.S. military policy and doctrine are profound. Full Story

Chad rebels battle army in east

There has been heavy fighting in eastern Chad along the border with Sudan two days after a state of emergency was declared in the region. Full Story

'Ethnic cleansing' may follow Iraq pullout

U.S. officials in Baghdad fear that violence between Sunnis and Shi'ites in some areas will erupt into "ethnic cleansing" with the departure of U.S. forces, a government watchdog said yesterday. Full Story

Sudanese forces shelling Darfur refugee camp: rebel chief

An exiled Darfur rebel chief said on Friday that Sudanese government forces were shelling the largest refugee camp in Darfur. Full Story

Pakistan plans all-out war on militants

An all-out battle for control of Pakistan's restive North and South Waziristan is about to commence between the Pakistani military and the Taliban and al-Qaeda adherents who have made these tribal areas their own. Full Story

Four Naxals killed in encounter in Andhra Pradesh

Four Naxalites were killed in an encounter with police in Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh on Friday, police said. Full Story

Syria's Assad backs Turkey over Kurds

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has backed neighboring Turkey's tough stance over Kurdish rebels operating out of northern Iraq. "Without a doubt, we support the decisions taken by the Turkish government against terrorism and we accept them as a legitimate right of Turkey," Assad told a joint news conference with Turkish President Abdullah Gul on Wednesday. Full Story

Bomb explodes under pulpit of anti-al-Qaida Sunni preacher during Friday prayers

A bomb exploded under the pulpit of an anti-al-Qaida Sunni preacher during Friday prayers, wounding the imam and six worshippers, police and witnesses said. Full Story

Bombings by Taliban soar

Afghanistan's Defence Minister has asked for more money and equipment to fight rising Taliban violence as his US counterpart, Robert Gates, criticised NATO allies for failing to deliver promised aid. Full Story

Chechen authorities say 59 militants killed since January

Fifty-nine militants including six warlords have been killed in special operations in Chechnya since the beginning of the year, the republic's interior minister said Friday. Ruslan Alkhanov said police in the troubled North Caucasus republic detained 291 suspected militants during the period, and that 127 gunmen voluntarily turned themselves in. Full Story

Bolivia airport row turns violent

Bolivian security forces have taken control of the nation's busiest airport as a dispute over landing fees takes on a wider political significance. The troops were sent in after staff at Santa Cruz airport detained a US plane to demand that fees be paid locally rather than to the federal authorities. Full Story

US to build "strategic partnership" with Lebanese army

A senior Pentagon official said Thursday the US military would like to see a "strategic partnership" with Lebanon's army to strengthen the country's forces so that Hezbollah would have no excuse to bear arms. Full Story

US websites 'hijacked' by Chinese hackers

American websites have come under attack in China since President George W. Bush met the Dalai Lama in Washington this week. Popular search engines are said to have been "hijacked" by computer hackers who had managed to redirect users to a Chinese website. Full Story

Nigerian militants preparing oil attacks: U.S.

Militant group MEND is preparing attacks on Nigerian oil facilities that could be preceded by hostage-taking, the U.S. embassy said in a security notice on Friday. Full Story

Bhutto: Suicide squads plotted attack

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, her return from exile shattered by a suicide attack that killed up to 136 people, blamed militants Friday for trying to kill her and said she would not "surrender our great nation" to them. Full Story

Army, locals clash over Bolivia airport

Residents of Bolivia's wealthiest province marched by the thousands Friday to the country's busiest airport, heeding their governor's call to retake it from troops sent in by President Evo Morales. Soldiers retreated to a section of the airport, but a clash appeared imminent. Full Story

Oil Breaks Through $90 to New All-Time High

Oil surged beyond $90 to a new peak on Friday as tight fuel stocks ahead of winter and a softening dollar spurred investor buying. Full Story

UN nuclear agency examines Syria images

U.N. experts have begun analyzing satellite imagery of the Syrian site struck last month by Israeli warplanes, looking for any signs it was a secret nuclear facility, diplomats said Friday. Full Story

Rebels in Mexican pipeline bombs make new threat

A Mexican rebel group behind a spate of fuel pipeline bombings this year repeated a threat to carry out more attacks unless two missing activists it says the government is holding are returned. The Marxist-inspired Popular Revolutionary Army, or EPR, said if it were not taken seriously, it would step up its campaign. Full Story

Iran's top nuclear negotiator resigns

The Iranian government announced Saturday that its top nuclear negotiator had resigned, a move seen as a victory for hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that could bring about an even tougher stance in ongoing talks. Full Story

Two Palestinians killed in internal Gaza violence

At least two Palestinians were killed and up to 20 wounded in Gaza City on Saturday in clashes between Hamas Islamists and a clan loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, hospital officials said. Full Story

Bomb blast in south-west Pakistan

At least seven people have died in a bomb blast in south-western Pakistan, and six are injured, police in the region say. The explosion took place in the town of Dera Bugti in Balochistan province. Full Story

Explosives in US embassy bomb attempt were not live: ministry

Explosives found after an alleged bomb attempt against the US embassy in Vienna earlier this month could not have detonated, an interior ministry spokesman said Friday. "They would have had to be assembled before they could have exploded," spokesman Rudolf Gollia said. Full Story

Iran says it can fire 11,000 rockets in a minute

Iran is capable of firing 11,000 rockets into enemy bases within the first minute after any possible attack, state-run television quoted a top Revolutionary Guards Corps commander as saying Saturday. Full Story

Local leader of biggest Shiite party gunned down in Iskandariyah

In the latest of a series of attacks on Iraq's most powerful Shiite political party, one linked with the country's supreme Shiite cleric, gunmen killed the organization's leader in city south of Baghdad on Friday, police said. Full Story

Myanmar lifts curfew, ban on assembly

Myanmar announced Saturday that it was lifting a curfew imposed following a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters and ending a ban on assembly, the latest sign that the government believes it has extinguished the largest demonstrations in two decades. Full Story

Thousands flee fresh violence in eastern DR Congo

Thousands of civilians fled intense fighting Saturday in eastern DR Congo between local militias and rebels loyal to renegade general Laurent Nkunda, the UN and the Congolese army said. Full Story

India condemns Karachi attack

India on Friday condemned the loss of lives in blasts that targeted the convoy of former premier Benazir Bhutto. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, immediately after returning to New Delhi from South Africa, conveyed his condolences in letters written to President General Pervez Musharraf and PPP Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto. Full Story

Journalists march in Niger to protest arrests

Around 200 journalists and human rights activists marched in Niger's capital on Saturday to protest against the detention of two journalists and restrictions on media covering a Tuareg uprising in the north. Full Story

Top Kurdish Leader in Northern Iraq Calls for Dialogue With Turkey

The president of the Kurdish region in northern Iraq says the region will defend itself from any aggression, following Turkey's approval of cross-border incursions into northern Iraq to fight Kurdish rebels. Full Story

Piracy Flourishes in Africa

Piracy is up 14 percent for the first nine months of this year. Nearly all of the increase comes as a result of increased activity off Somalia and Nigeria. There were 26 acts of piracy in Nigeria, up from nine last year, and 26 off Somalia, up from eight last year. Full Story

Tajik killed by gang in southwest Moscow

Two Tajik nationals were attacked by a group of unidentified youths on a street in southwest Moscow on Saturday afternoon, and one died from his injuries, police said. Full Story

ULFA appoints new commander

The outlawed ULFA has appointed hardcore leader Jiten Dutta, responsible for masterminding the killing of Hindi-speaking people in Assam, as the commander of its strike force 28th battalion following the arrest of commander Prabal Neog last month. Full Story

Sri Lanka says kills 17 rebels in northern clashes

Sri Lankan troops killed at least 17 Tamil Tiger rebels in clashes on Saturday, the military said, with the north of the island becoming the focus of a new chapter in a two decade civil war. Full Story

Turkey expects U.S. steps against Kurdish rebels in Iraq

Turkey expects the U.S. to act against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq but will take its own measures if it sees no results in the fight, the prime minister said. In northern Iraq Saturday, thousands of Kurds packed the streets of a border city to protest a threatened Turkish incursion and to warn they would defend their territory. Full Story

Report: Israel Had Man on Inside of Syrian Nuclear Facility

The latest in the string of foreign press reports regarding the September 6 strike in Syria claims Israel had a mole inside a Syrian nuclear facility. Full Story

FBI working to bolster Al Qaeda cases

The FBI is quietly reconstructing the cases against Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and 14 other accused Al Qaeda leaders being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, spurred in part by U.S. concerns that years of CIA interrogation have yielded evidence that is inadmissible or too controversial to present at their upcoming war crimes tribunals, government officials familiar with the probes said. Full Story

SAS raiders enter Iran to kill gunrunners

British special forces have crossed into Iran several times in recent months as part of a secret border war against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Al-Quds special forces, defence sources have disclosed. Full Story

US: Raid of Baghdad's Sadr City kills 49

U.S. forces backed by airstrikes raided Sadr City, Baghdad's main Shiite district, killing 49 militants on Sunday as they targeted a militia leader accused in high-profile kidnappings, the military said. Iraqi officials said at least 13 people were killed, including women and children. Full Story

Helicopter crashes in Russia, killing four

A helicopter crashed on Sunday in the Kemerovo region of Siberia killing four people, Itar-Tass news agency reported, citing rescue workers. Full Story

Global crises still to play out in Russia: Kudrin

The global credit crisis and volatility across developed financial markets could yet hurt Russia and hinder long-term investment, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said late on Saturday. Full Story

Iraqi president refuses to deliver rebel leaders to Turkey

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Sunday refused to hand over top Kurdish rebels to Turkey. "The handing over of PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) leaders to Turkey is a dream that will never be realised," Talabani told a news conference in the northern Kurdish city of Arbil. Full Story
China Vice President out of new Party lineup

Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong retired from the Communists' upper ranks on Sunday, bolstering Party boss Hu Jintao's grip on power and clearing the way for a younger generation of potential successors. Full Story

Kurd rebels take Turkish soldiers hostage: report

Kurdish rebels have taken several Turkish soldiers hostage in southeastern Turkey, the pro-Kurdish news agency Firat reported Sunday, quoting a separatist group. The report from the Belgium-based agency follows a rebel attack on a military unit near Turkey's border with Iraq, which killed 12 soldiers and injured 16 others. Full Story

Iraq and neighbours to boost intelligence exchange: Kuwait

Senior security officials from Iraq and its neighbours agreed on Sunday to exchange more intelligence in a bid to help quell the insurgency in war-ravaged Iraq, a senior Kuwaiti official said. Full Story

Poland vote touches on US defense plan

Poles began voting Sunday in elections pitting the prime minister's nationalists against a pro-business party that wants to bring the country's 900 troops home from Iraq and get more in return for hosting a U.S. missile defense base. Full Story

Cubans vote in municipal election

Cuba is holding elections to choose more than 15,000 municipal council members. It is the beginning of a process that will culminate in delegates electing a new National Assembly next March. Full Story

U.S. pins Kosovo force on NATO's Afghan commitment

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will consider shifting U.S. troops from Kosovo to Afghanistan next year if NATO allies do not fulfill their commitments, U.S. government officials said. Full Story

Terrorists who say no to terror

They were considered to be among the world's worst terrorists. Between them they have been responsible for hundreds of horrific deaths, including those of dozens of Australians. Full Story

Report: Taliban appoint new regional chief in Afghanistan

The Taliban's fugitive chief Mullah Mohammad Omar has appointed his close aide Mawlawi Abdul Kabir as new commander of his loyalists in Afghanistan's eastern region, a local newspaper reported Sunday. Full Story

LeT smuggling in narcotics for financing militancy in J&K

In the first ever case of narco-terrorism in the country, money-starved Lashker-e-Toiba miltiants are smuggling in high quality narcotics particularly heroin from Afghanistan and Pakistan to fund their activities in Jammu and Kashmir. Full Story

Turkey says will crush rebels at whatever cost

Turkey is ready to pay whatever price is needed to defeat Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq, the president's office said on Sunday. Full Story

Polish PM admits election defeat

Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has admitted defeat in Poland's general election, after exit polls predicted victory for the Civic Platform party. Full Story

Israeli air strike injures four Hamas gunmen

An Israeli air strike injured at least four Hamas gunmen in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, medical workers said. Hamas initially said one its members had been killed, but medical workers said he was still alive. Full Story

Hezbollah warns US not to set up base

Hezbollah's deputy leader warned the U.S. on Sunday against setting up a military base in Lebanon, saying the guerrilla group would consider such a move "a hostile act." Sheik Naim Kassem's warning came days after a senior Pentagon official said the U.S. military would like to see a "strategic partnership" with Lebanon's army to strengthen the country's forces so that Hezbollah would have no excuse to bear arms. Full Story

NKorean meets with Syrian premier

A high-level North Korean official held talks Sunday with Syria's Prime Minister Naji Otari on ways to improve cooperation between the two countries, state media said. The visit by Choe Thae Bok, the speaker of North Korea's parliament, comes amid lingering suspicions that North Korea may be providing nuclear assistance to Syria. Full Story

Polish liberals vow break with Kaczynski era after poll rout

Poland on Monday looked headed for a new pro-business, Europe-friendly government after the opposition liberals trounced the Kaczynski twins' ruling conservative alliance in a snap election. Opposition leader Donald Tusk's Civic Platform (PO) won a projected 227 seats in parliament, routing the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his identical twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski, with just 158. Full Story

Military: Tamil Tigers bomb airport

The Tamil Tigers launched a ground and air assault on an air force base in northern Sri Lanka early Monday, military officials said, in one of the most brazen rebel attacks on a military target here in months. The attack on the Anuradhapura air base wounded eight airmen and damaged two helicopters on the ground, the military said. However, officials in the local morgue reported that the bodies of at least two airmen were brought there after the attack. Full Story

Kyrgyz leader dissolves parliament

This Central Asian nation's leader signed a decree dissolving parliament on Monday after voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum a day earlier calling for sweeping constitutional changes. President Kurmanbek Bakiyev acted after the country's electorate approved the sweeping constitutional changes mandated in Sunday's ballot. According to the Central Election Commission, 74.5 percent of voters supported the referendum, which calls for Parliament to be elected by party lists instead of a direct election. Full Story

Bhutto's party slams proposed ban on rallies

The party of former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto vowed Monday to defy a planned ban on political rallies in the run-up to general elections seen as a key step to restoring civilian rule here. The government plans to ban street marches in the wake of last week's suicide bombing that ripped through Bhutto's homecoming parade in Karachi, killing 139 people. Full Story

Pressure mounts on Turkish govt to launch offensive

Turkey's government was under intense public pressure on Monday to launch a major cross-border operation to crush Kurdish guerrillas operating from northern Iraq after they killed 17 Turkish soldiers. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said he had agreed to give the United States, which is anxious to avert any Turkish military strikes in northern Iraq, a few days in which to make a decision. Full Story

FBI, Australian experts help probe Philippines blast

FBI and Australian investigators were Monday helping Philippine detectives investigate a bomb attack on a Manila shopping mall which left 11 dead, police said. Other international forensic experts have also been called in to assist with the probe of Friday's bombing of the Glorietta mall in the Makati financial district, Manila police chief Director Geary Barias said. Full Story

Courtesy Terrorism Research Center, Inc.