CONFLICT & TERR0R 11/29

Musharraf retires as Pakistan army chief
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 7:19am
Pervez Musharraf stepped down as Pakistan's military commander Wednesday, fulfilling a key opposition demand a day before he was to be sworn in as a civilian president. Full Story

Suicide bomb targets Sri Lanka officialPosted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 7:21amA female suicide bomber blew herself up in the heart of Colombo on Wednesday, killing one person in an attempt to assassinate a government minister, the military said. Full Story

Final Kosovo Talks End in Failure
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 8:29am
Serbs and ethnic Albanians have failed to resolve the future status of Kosovo at a final round of internationally-brokered talks. The UN had set a 10 December deadline for a negotiated settlement on Kosovo. The province's ethnic Albanians demand independence from Serbia but Belgrade has consistently rejected this. Although both sides say they will avoid a return to violence, the US envoy to Kosovo has warned the "peace of the Balkans is very much at stake". Full Story

French president vows to punish gun-toting rioters
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 8:53am
French President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed Wednesday that rioters who shot at police during a flare-up of Paris suburban unrest would be severely punished, as authorities struggled to contain the violence. Full Story

Bomb kills 16 near Sri Lankan capital
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 9:25am
A bomb exploded Wednesday evening outside a clothing store in a busy Colombo suburb, killing at least 16 people and wounding more than 20 others, the military said. The blast occurred in the town of Nugegoda when a security guard outside a popular store became suspicious about a parcel and tried to open it, a defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Full Story

Georgian Opposition Leader Held
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 9:26am
Georgian opposition leader Irakli Okruashvili has been arrested in Germany on an Interpol warrant issued by Tbilisi, German prosecutors say. Mr Okruashvili, 34, a former defence minister, was first arrested in Georgia in September after accusing President Mikhail Saakashvili of corruption. Full Story

Dutch quell school hours protest
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 9:26am
Twenty-eight school students will face public order charges in Amsterdam, following violent street protests, Dutch police say. Police clashed with about 1,000 teenagers in Amsterdam on Monday, using water cannon to disperse the crowd after being pelted with eggs and cans. Police spokesman Arnout Aben said 28 were briefly detained and would face charges for public order offences. Full Story

Beijing plans "biggest" revamp of ancient lanes
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 9:27am
Beijing is planning its largest ever revamp of the city's imperial-era neighborhoods in an effort to preserve cultural relics ahead of the Olympic Games next year, local media said on Wednesday. Renovation work would see 1,474 courtyard properties spruced up in 40 Beijing "hutong," or alleyways, in four inner city districts, the Beijing News said. Full Story

Pakistan's Musharraf wants to lift emergency rule before polls
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 9:29am
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who resigned as army chief on Wednesday, wants to lift emergency rule before elections in January but is still weighing his options, a senior official said. The comment came as Dawn News television, quoting unidentified sources, reported that Musharraf was set to end the November 3 state of emergency within 48 hours. Full Story

Russian Election Insider Outlines Fraud
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 9:31am
Election officials have been ordered to make sure that United Russia collects double the number of votes it is expected to win in State Duma elections on Sunday -- even if they have to falsify the results, a senior election official said. The Central Elections Commission strongly denied the allegation. But accounts from other people familiar with the issue -- including opposition politicians and state-paid workers, who spoke of mounting pressure to round up votes for United Russia -- appeared to confirm the election official's remarks. Full Story

Lavrov Says Any New Nuclear Reduction Pacts with the US Must Lower WMD Limits
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 9:46am
A treaty to replace a major nuclear arms reduction agreement between Russia and the U.S. must set lower ceilings for nuclear arsenals and limit the development of new nuclear weapons, Russia's foreign minister said on Wednesday. "We insist that any document replacing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty [START-I] should set lower ceilings not only for the number of nuclear warheads, but also for their delivery vehicles," Sergei Lavrov said on his way back from Tuesday's Mideast peace conference in the U.S. Full Story

Typhoon death toll rises as floods sweep Philippines
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 9:51am
The death toll from Typhoon Mitag climbed to 19 on Wednesday after more people were drowned by flooding in the northern Philippines, disaster officials said. Mitag, which ripped through the archipelago earlier this week, weakened to a tropical depression and has bypassed Taiwan en route back to the Pacific Ocean. Full Story

Babacan: No Satisfacotry Measures Against PKK From Iraqi Kurds
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 9:55am
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan has expressed dissatisfaction over steps taken by Iraq's regional Kurdish administration against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which use Iraq's mountainous north as a launch pad for attacks on southern Turkey. Babacan spoke with Turkish reporters late on Monday when he arrived in Washington to participate in a key Middle East peace summit in Annapolis, Maryland. Full Story

Japan's upper house passes bill to end Iraq mission
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 9:57am
Japan's opposition-ruled upper house voted Wednesday to end the country's air mission to Iraq, but the bill was expected to be overridden by the lower chamber of the divided parliament. Adding to the political heat, prosecutors arrested the former top bureaucrat of the defence ministry on bribery allegations in a growing scandal which has touched a minister in Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's two-month-old cabinet. Full Story

Scores charged over Hindu rally
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 11:01am
At least 80 ethnic Indians have been charged with illegal assembly in Malaysia, after a weekend of protests in the capital, Kuala Lumpur. Activists appeared in several courts around the country to deny the charges, and many were freed on bail. Full Story

Army Encourages PKK Members to Surrender
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 11:23am
Turkey's military has recently launched a campaign to encourage members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to surrender and benefit from an existing amnesty program. In recent weeks, Turkey has also moved more soldiers and artillery units to the border with Iraq for a possible cross-border incursion against the PKK bases in northern Iraq. Full Story

Inflation surges in Vietnam's red-hot economy
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 11:31am
Inflation in Vietnam surged to 9.45 per cent in the first 11 months of 2007, driven by rising food prices and a recent hike in the cost of gasoline, local media reported Wednesday. The official Vietnam News cited Le Duc Thang, deputy director of the government's General Statistics Office, as blaming flood damage to agriculture in central Vietnam for the rise in food prices. FullStory

Key OSCE Gathering Set for US-Russia Clash Over Democracy
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 11:32am
Russia and the United States look set to clash over human rights and democracy this week when OSCE foreign ministers meet in Spain to assess competing visions for the future of the worlds largest regional security organization. Russia, which strongly opposes the OSCE's flagship role as a bulwark for human rights and democracy across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, will see its controversial bid to overhaul the Vienna-based organization under fierce debate during the ministerial council in Madrid on November 29-30. Full Story

Slovakia Arrests 3 in Nuclear Material Case
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 1:01pm
Police said Wednesday three people have been arrested for attempting to sell a small amount of an unspecified nuclear material. Police spokesman Martin Korch said specialists were examining the radioactive material seized in Slovakia. He said the three allegedly planned a deal to sell the material, which weighs a kilo, or 2.2 pounds, for $1 million. Two of the suspects were arrested in eastern Slovakia, the other in Hungary. Full Story

NATO's new Afghan battleground: YouTube
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 4:00pm
NATO is acknowledging YouTube as its new battleground in the six-year war on Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, as the military alliance posts formerly secret surveillance and attack video. Full Story

Saudis: 208 arrested in different plots
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 4:41pm
More than 200 al-Qaida-linked suspects involved in different plots against the kingdom have been arrested in recent months in Saudi Arabia's largest anti-terrorism sweep to date, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday. Full Story

Kosovo talks resume with no deal in sight
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 5:08am
Serbia pushed for an extension of talks with Kosovo Albanians in a bid to head off a threatened declaration of independence on a second day of negotiations on the future of the Serbian province. Counting on Western support, Kosovo's 90-percent Albanian majority says it will declare independence from Serbia after a U.N.-set December deadline, probably in January or February. Serbia refuses to let the province go. Full Story

Dozens injured in Paris rampage
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 7:51am
Nearly 80 French police officers have been injured, six seriously, during a second night of riots by youths in the suburbs of Paris, police unions say. The police say some officers suffered bullet wounds, while others were hurt by stones, fireworks and petrol bombs thrown at them in Villiers-le-Bel. The youths said they were avenging the two teenagers killed when their motorcycle hit a police car on Sunday. Full Story

Bin Laden message 'to be aired'
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 7:52am
Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden is to address the people of Europe in a new message, according to the terror network's media production arm. The claim was made in an advertisement posted on an Islamic militant website on Monday, featuring Bin Laden's image. As-Sahab did not say when the message would be aired or whether it would be a video or audio recording. Full Story

Peace with Sri Lanka govt impossible: Tamil Tiger chief
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 8:33amThe leader of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels declared in an annual speech Tuesday that peace with the island's "genocidal" government was impossible. Full Story

Azerbaijan defense minister hints at war
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 8:34am
The long-standing dispute over the Armenian-controlled territory of Nagorno-Karabakh could spark a new war if it remains unresolved, Azerbaijan's defense minister said Tuesday. Full Story
Saudi Arabia Releases 1,500 Redeemed Prisoners
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 8:37am
Saudi Arabia has released 1,500 extremists from its jails after they received intensive psychological and religious counseling. Full Story

Strong quake shakes Philippine capital
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 9:02am
A 6.0-magnitude earthquake shook the Philippine capital Tuesday sending office workers into the streets in panic as buildings swayed, but officials said there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. The quake struck Luzon island at 12:27pm (0427 GMT) and was centred 195 kilometres (120 miles) northwest of Manila at a depth of 62.5 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said. Full Story

EU to pressure China on currency
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 9:18am
The European Union (EU) is expected to pressure China to allow its currency to strengthen more quickly at a bilateral summit in China this week. The weak yuan has buoyed exports to Europe, which has seen its trade deficit with China soar. Full Story

High tide disrupts flights and thousands to flee Indonesia's capital
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 9:27am
Indonesia's environment minister said Tuesday global warming was to blame after parts of the capital were flooded with sea water, forcing thousands of people to flee inundated homes and cutting off a highway leading to the international airport. Authorities used pumps to lower water levels, which reached up to 1.7 meters (23 feet) in the worst-hit areas and washed 2 kilometers (more than a mile) inland, said Iskandar, an official at Jakarta's flood crisis center. Full Story

Siniora plans to walk softly until presidential seat is filled
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 9:31am
Lebanon's prime minister said Monday his government would not make any "provocative," moves in a sign that he would try to contain a political crisis in the divided country. Premier Fouad Siniora's Cabinet assumed the powers of head of state Saturday after the term of former President Emile Lahoud ended with no agreement on his successor. The opposition, backed by Syria and led by Hizbullah, disputes the legitimacy of the anti-Syrian government and says it has no right to assume the powers of president. Full Story

Iraq seeks UN troop mandate's end
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 9:33am
Baghdad will ask the UN to renew the mandate of US-led forces in Iraq for a final time until the end of 2008, Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki has said. He said the mandate should be replaced by a new pact between Iraq and the US. The Security Council has been renewing the troops' mandate annually since the US-led invasion into Iraq in 2003. Full Story

Syria's role at U.S. talks may help Lebanon
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 9:34am
Syria's presence at the Annapolis peace conference Tuesday could help ease tensions in Lebanon, which has entered a leadership vacuum after rival factions reached deadlock over the election of a new president, analysts say. Syria, which exerts powerful influence over the Lebanese opposition to the Western-backed government in Beirut, is attending the Annapolis conference after US officials agreed that the fate of the Golan Heights Syrian territory occupied by Israel since 1967 could be discussed. The presence at Annapolis of Syria, a close ally of Iran and a staunch foe of Israel, may herald the beginning of a thaw in the icy relations between Damascus and Washington, which some analysts believe could help stabilize Lebanon and weaken Syria's relationship with Iran. Full Story

Bush, Maliki Sign Pact on Iraq's Future
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 9:35am
President Bush reached a deal yesterday that is intended to lead to a more normalized, long-term relationship between the United States and Iraq by the time he leaves office, but it left unsettled the question of how many and how long U.S. forces would remain. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki signed the declaration of principles during a secure videoconference as part of an effort to move forward 4 1/2 years after a U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq and toppled Saddam Hussein. The declaration calls for the current U.N. mandate to be extended one year, then replaced at the end of 2008 by a bilateral pact governing the economic, political and security aspects of the relationship. Full Story

Three Gazans die in Israel strike
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 9:37am
Reports from the Gaza Strip say three people have been killed in two separate attacks by Israeli forces. The militant group Hamas said two of its members were killed in an Israeli air strike near the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza. Full Story

New Australian leader prepares to ratify Kyoto
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 10:19am
Australia's new leader Kevin Rudd can expect a rock star's welcome to the world stage at crucial UN climate change talks in Bali next month but faces some headaches first, analysts said Tuesday. Prime minister-elect Rudd will be hailed for pledging to reverse Australia's past policy and ratify the Kyoto Protocol on curbing emissions of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. Full Story

Dalai Lama rankles China with succession warning
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 12:01pm
The Dalai Lama stepped up a war of succession with China on Tuesday, warning that Tibet's next Buddhist spiritual leader will be chosen abroad if he dies in exile. The 72-year-old said he was looking at "different methods or ways" of selecting a successor after nearly five decades in exile, drawing a sharp rebuke from Beijing. Full Story

Mayor urges calm after violence in Paris suburb
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 5:34am
A French mayor called for calm on Monday in his Paris suburb, where dozens of youths clashed with police overnight after two teenagers were killed in a crash with a police car. The violence brought back memories of the 2005 riots in Paris suburbs, when thousands of cars were torched after two teenagers were electrocuted and killed in an electricity sub-station after apparently fleeing police. Full Story

Sharif registers as Pakistani candidate
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 6:58am
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, fresh from a triumphant return from exile, registered Monday as a candidate for Pakistan's crucial parliamentary elections. Full Story

Bombs kills 8 in Afghanistan
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 8:35am
A roadside bomb struck an Afghan army vehicle in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, killing four soldiers and wounding two others, an official said. Four civilians were killed in another blast near the capital. Full Story

After cyclone, Bangladesh faces political storm
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 9:03am
The political storm that preceded nature's latest assault on this country still swirls overhead. Nearly a year into an army-backed state of emergency, basic freedoms remain suspended, a sweeping anti-corruption drive has stuffed the jails with some of Bangladesh's most influential business leaders and politicians and a fragile economy is tottering under the pressure of floods at home and rising oil prices abroad. Full Story

Malaysian gov't will not bow to political pressure from protesters
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 9:27am
The Malaysian government said it would not bow to pressure after thousands of ethnic Indians took to the streets on Sunday in a rare mass protest. The protesters demanded equal rights and criticised preferential treatment for the bumiputras or Muslim Malays who form the majority in the multiracial country. Full Story

Score this round for March 14
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 9:31am
Lebanon is looking into the abyss; it is in the throes of a political crisis that everyone has announced might bring on catastrophe. March 14 is on its final feet, wracked by division. If you think all this is true then here's a less apocalyptic account of what has just happened on the presidency. March 14 has won this round. Senior leaders of the majority coalition had peddled the idea that a presidential vacuum was what Syria desired the most. As one politician put it to me last week, Syria fooled several gullible French envoys to ensure that no president would be elected, thus leaving a hole at the top that Damascus hoped to exploit to make the security situation more volatile. Indeed, when the official Syrian daily Tishrin last week threatened chaos in Lebanon because of the election, you knew the Assad regime was itching to raise the heat through the instability card. Full Story

Behind Mideast summit the Iran factor
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 9:36am
When the Bush administration holds a meeting this week to formally relaunch the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, one uninvited guest will be looming large over everyone's shoulder: Iran. Tuesday's meeting in Annapolis, Md., was once envisioned as a three-day conference to kick off the negotiation of final-status issues. It's now an incredibly shrinking 24-hour gathering, but its occurrence at all is in no small measure a result of the rise of Iran and its brand of radical Islam in the Middle East. Full Story

Car Bomb Kills 9 in Baghdad
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 9:38am
A car bomb killed nine people near Baghdads medical district on Sunday. It was the second major bomb in the Iraqi capital in three days, after a recent lull in violence. The police said that the dead were all civilians, with two Iraqi soldiers among 31 people wounded by the blast during the morning rush hour in Bab al Muadham, close to the Health Ministry and the central morgue. Another person was killed by a roadside bomb elsewhere in the city. Full Story

Japan hit by moderate quake, no damage reported
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 10:02am
A moderate earthquake hit northeast Japan on Monday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The Japanese Meteorological Agency said the quake had a magnitude of 5.9 and was centered 40 km (25 miles) deep under the sea off the coast of Fukushima, a prefecture around 240 km (149 miles) northeast of the capital, Tokyo. Full Story

Thai security forces detains insurgents in south
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 10:04am
A combined security force on Monday raided a village in the southernmost province of Narathiwat, detaining 25 suspected separatists. More than 400 policemen and soldiers surrounded a village in Tak Bai district following a tip-off from locals that suspected militants had been hiding out in the area, local newspaper Bangkok Post reported on its website. Full Story

Pakistan's Musharraf 'to become civilian ruler Thursday'
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 10:14am
Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf will take an oath of office as civilian president Thursday after quitting as army chief, his spokesman said in the first official schedule for the end of military rule. Full Story

Powerful typhoon slams into northeastern Philippines, killing 10
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 10:24am
Typhoon Mitag slammed into the northeastern Philippines after killing at least 10 people in other parts of the country, while a deadly storm that blew away days earlier headed back Monday, complicating emergency preparations. Most of the fatalities drowned over the weekend in the eastern provinces of Camarines Sur and Camarines Norte, before Mitag changed course and roared into the coastal town of Palanan, further north in Isabela province. Full Story

Hong Kong, Seoul soar to lead Asian rally
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 10:27am
Stocks listed in Hong Kong soared Monday for the second straight session, as buoyant regional markets and bargain-buying after a string of recent losses lifted China-related issues such as China Mobile Ltd. Japanese stocks advanced behind banks such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, encouraged by a higher close on Wall Street, while Australian stocks generally bucked four straight days of weakness in the wake of the Labor Party's triumph in national elections. Full Story

Kasparov's appeal denied in Russia
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 12:49pm
A judge ruled Monday that former world chess champion Garry Kasparov has to serve out the five-day jail sentence he received after leading a protest of President Vladimir Putin that ended in clashes with police. Kasparov was convicted of organizing an unsanctioned procession, chanting anti-government slogans, and resisting arrest Saturday, eight days before parliamentary elections. Full Story

Grant seen helping to wipe out polio
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 12:51pm
The global campaign to eradicate polio received a $200 million (97 million pounds) grant on Monday, a needed cash infusion health officials say will help fund the final push to wipe out the disease. A world effort to beat polio has succeeded in slashing the number of cases by 99 percent over the past two decades but the virus that causes the disease still persists, mainly in Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan. Full Story

British Teacher Faces 40 Lashes for Naming Class Teddy Bear 'Muhammad'
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 12:53pm
A British primary school teacher arrested in Sudan faces up to 40 lashes for blasphemy after letting her class of 7-year-olds name a teddy bear Muhammad. Gillian Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool, was arrested at at Khartoum's Unity High School yesterday, and accused of insulting the Prophet of Islam. Full Story

IAEA checks Russian nuclear fuel bound for Iran
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 12:55pm
Inspectors from the U.N nuclear watchdog on Monday began examining uranium fuel that Russia is likely to send to Iran's first atomic power station, a Russian nuclear official said. A spokesman for Russia's state nuclear fuel producer said International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors had arrived at a Siberian plant that was preparing fuel for Iran's Bushehr station that Russia is building. Full Story

Sarkozy urges calm after violence in Paris suburb
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 12:57pm
French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for calm on Monday in a Paris suburb where two teenagers died after being involved in a crash with police, sparking a night of violence that revived memories of 2005 riots. Police launched an investigation into the deaths which will focus on whether the two officers helped the dying youths, amid complaints from locals on the estate that they fled the scene after the incident. Full Story

Putin says US behind poll boycott
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 2:21pm
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the United States of pushing Western observers into boycotting Russian elections. Mr Putin said the goal was to discredit the parliamentary election to be held on 2 December. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has categorically rejected the allegations. Full Story

Close finish in Croatia election
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 2:24pm
Croatia's ruling conservative party, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), has a narrow lead with most votes counted after the general election. The electoral commission said the HDZ would have 61 MPs - five more than the opposition Social Democrat Party (SDP). Both parties said they had begun talks with potential coalition partners to secure the parliamentary majority of 77 seats necessary to govern. Full Story

MoD probes 'friendly fire' claim
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 2:26pm
The Ministry of Defence is probing claims that British forces killed two Danish soldiers in Afghanistan in a "friendly fire" incident. The soldiers died when heat-seeking missiles were fired at a Danish military unit on 26 September. A spokesman for the MoD said it is working alongside the Danish government to try to find out what happened. Full Story

Philippine House rejects impeachment
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 3:26pm
The Philippine House of Representatives, dominated by allies of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, dealt a final blow Monday to a bid to impeach her. Earlier this month, the House Justice Committee threw out the complaint against Arroyo over alleged corruption and betrayal of public trust and vowed to stick to a one-year ban on other such attempts. Full Story

Sri Lanka vows to kill Tamil Tiger leader
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 11:42pm
Sri Lanka's government has marked the birthday of Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran with a vow to kill him. The island's powerful defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, said Colombo now had the upper hand in the long-running conflict, with the elusive guerrilla chief limited in both his movements and ability to score strategic victories. Full Story

Israeli troops kill two Hamas militants in Gaza
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 1:00am
Israeli troops killed two Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip overnight, the Hamas movement and the Israeli army said on Tuesday. Hamas, which seized control of the coastal territory in June, said the two were killed near the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza. An Israeli army spokeswoman said troops shot two Palestinians trying to plant an explosive near the border fence. Full Story

Suicide blast in Kabul kills 2 civilians
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 1:15am
A suicide car bomber triggered a huge blast Tuesday near two armored vehicles used by U.S.-led coalition troops in Kabul, killing at least two civilians and destroying the wall of a nearby house, witnesses and officials said. The bomber damaged the armored vehicles, but none of the troops was injured, said Lt. Col. David Johnson, a coalition spokesman. Full Story

Chic to sleaze, as Champs-Elysees suffers crime wave
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 1:54am
The area around the Champs-Elysees in central Paris has seen an alarming increase in violent crime, according to new figures Monday which appear to confirm the declining reputation of the world's most famous avenue. In its latest annual report, France's National Crime Observatory (OND) says that the number of personal assaults in the eighth arrondissement (district) of the capital, which includes the Champs-Elysees, increased by 32 percent in 2006 to more than 1,500. Full Story

Pakistani troops seize Swat peak, shut radio: officials
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 2:25am
Pakistani troops have re-captured a strategic mountain from pro-Taliban militants in the northwest Swat valley and shut down their pirate radio station, officials and residents said Tuesday. The provincial government said security forces had secured more towns and seized Najia Top, the highest peak in a district that has been a stronghold of hardline cleric Maulana Fazlullah. Full Story

Iran says it has built new long-range missile
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 2:26am
Iran has built a new missile able to hit targets 2,000 kilometres away, the Iranian defence minister said on Tuesday. The new Ashoura missile matches the range of another missile in Iran's arsenal, the Shahab-3, which could reach Israel and had been previously viewed as Iran's longest range weapon. Full Story

Defense chiefs of Koreas begin talks
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 2:44am
Defense chiefs of North and South Korea began a rare meeting Tuesday aimed at easing tension across their countries' disputed sea border, pool reports said. South Korean Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo arrived in Pyongyang on a direct flight earlier Tuesday for three days of talks with his North Korean counterpart Kim Il Chol  the first defense ministerial talks between the Koreas in seven years. Full Story

War hits Sri Lanka tourism arrivals
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 3:12am
Sri Lanka said Tuesday that tourist arrivals had fallen sharply amid the tropical island's intensifying ethnic conflict. Tourist arrivals had dropped 20 percent over the 10 months to October to 387,790 compared with the same period last year, Sri Lanka Tourism said. Full Story

About 60 French police hurt in Paris clashes
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 3:40am
The number of police officers injured in clashes in Paris suburbs overnight reached about 60, police said on Tuesday, after a second night of violence. Police officers were hit with stones, petrol bombs and firecrackers that exploded over their heads during hours of skirmishes with rioters in the northern suburb of Villiers-le-Bel and nearby areas. Full Story

Malaysia may use harsh security law on protests: PM
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 4:38am
Malaysia threatened on Tuesday to use its Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows for years of detention without trial, against street protesters. "The ISA is a preventive measure to spare the nation from untoward incidents that can harm the prevailing peace and harmony and create all sorts of adverse things," official news agency Bernama quoted Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as saying. Full Story

Six killed in attack on Iraq police HQ - police
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 4:39am
Six people were killed when a suicide bomber attacked provincial police headquarters in Baquba north of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said. The bomber detonated a suicide vest packed with explosives at the back gate of the Diyala provincial police headquarters in ethnically and religiously mixed Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad. Full Story

Courtesy of Terrorism Research Center, Inc.