TERROR NEWS NOV 19

Criminal justice overhaul for SA
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 7:25am
South Africa's criminal justice system is in for a series of far-reaching changes after the Cabinet last week approved a turnaround strategy that goes to the heart of the problems with the country's anti-crime methods and structures. Full Story

French arrest 5 suspected radical Islamists
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 8:08am
French police have arrested five suspected radical Islamists in the eastern city of Besancon and seized a number of weapons, including pistols and a Kalashnikov assault rifle, a police source said on Friday. The suspects, all French citizens of Bosnian descent, were planning a "holy war" but had not finalized their plans, the source added.Full Story

India's communists give nod to talks with IAEA
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 9:38am
India's communist parties allowed the government on Friday to start crucial talks with a U.N. watchdog needed to clinch a nuclear deal with the United States, reviving hope over the fate of the controversial pact. "The government will proceed with the talks and the outcome will be presented to the committee for its consideration before it finalises its findings," a statement issued by a joint panel of communist and ruling coalition leaders said. Full Story

Greenpeace blockades palm oil ship in Indonesia
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 9:46am
Greenpeace blockaded an Indonesian tanker carrying palm oil for export on Friday as it tried to leave port on Sumatra for a second day, an activist said. "What we've done is we've anchored off the ship which is at berth and there's not enough room for it to be able to leave its berth," said Sue Connor, Greenpeace's international forest campaigner. Full Story

Assassinating the Head of the North Hillah Awakening Council
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 11:09am
A terrorist group assassinated today Sheikh Emad al-Girtani, the head of the North al-Hillah Awakening Council, according to an authorized security source.The terrorist group attacked the Sheikhs car in the city and fired it with machineguns, which resulted in killing him immediately. The terrorists ran into an unknown place, as the source announced to our website.

Explosive Weapons on Wane in Iraq, U.S. Says
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 11:11am
The number of roadside bombs and other explosive devices found in Iraq has fallen to its lowest level in two years, in part because of Iranian efforts to stop the weapons from flowing into the country, a top U.S. military official said Thursday. Maj. Gen. James E. Simmons said 1,560 bombs were found last month across Iraq, a steep drop from the 3,239 found in March and about the same amount reported in September 2005. Full Story

Report Raises New Doubts on Iran Nuclear Program
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 11:13am
The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report on Thursday that Iran had made new but incomplete disclosures about its past nuclear activities, missing a critical deadline under an agreement with the agency and virtually assuring a new push by the United States to impose stricter international sanctions.

In the report, the agency confirmed for the first time that Iran had reached the major milestone of 3,000 operating centrifuges, a tenfold increase from just a year ago. In theory, that means that it could produce enough uranium to make a nuclear weapon within a year to 18 months. Full Story

Lebanons Presidential Front-Runners
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 11:15am
The 128 members of Lebanons Parliament have until Nov. 23 to choose a president. Under a power-sharing pact made by religious leaders in 1943, the president must be a member of the Maronite Christian faith. Tensions have risen in Lebanon as the government, led by a Western-backed coalition known as the March 14 movement, has been stalled by political allies of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah. These are the eight most likely contenders for the post:...

Jordans Islamists Seek Offices Their Allies Scorn
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 11:16am
This crammed slum of four-story concrete housing blocs has given Jordan some of its biggest headaches: it is a stronghold of the opposition Islamic Action Front and the hometown of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who rose from here to the helm of the Iraqi insurgent group Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. Jordans political Islamists wield their most concentrated power here in this industrial city of 834,000 just a quarter-hours drive from the capital, Amman. Full Story

UN debate: More anti-Iran measures?
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 11:17am
The stage was set for the next round in the global confrontation with Iran when the UN's nuclear-energy agency found in a report issued Thursday that Tehran has been partially cooperative, but has still not answered crucial questions about its nuclear program. The glass-half-full conclusion was in a report by Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), for the agency's Board of Governors. It's likely to confound an international community that is united on stopping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon but is divided over what steps to take. Full Story

Lawsuit prompts LBC to cancel Geagea interview
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 11:19am
The Lebanese Broadcasting Station (LBC) television decided to call off an interview with Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea after he filed a lawsuit against the station and its general director Pierre Daher, accusing him of fraud. "The decision to cancel the interview is an irresponsible, unprofessional and illegal one and constitutes a direct breach to the freedom of speech," a statement from the LF said Thursday. Full Story

Security forces dismiss reports of plot to assassinate Nasrallah
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 11:20am
Lebanese security forces uncovered a plot to assassination Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, according to a report in the local daily As-Safir. The plot was uncovered during the course of ongoing investigations into a terror cell arrested over the summer in the Sunni-dominated Iqlim al-Kharroub area, the daily said. Full Story

Top US envoy arrives for tough Pakistan visit
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 11:36am
Top US diplomat John Negroponte flew into Pakistan Friday to press for an end to President Pervez Musharraf's emergency rule and to establish contact with former premier Benazir Bhutto. Negroponte, number two to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, is the highest ranking US official to come here since President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency on November 3. Full Story

Algerian army kills leader of Maghreb branch of al-Qaeda network
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 11:43am
The Algerian army has killed a leader in the so-called "the Maghreb branch of the al-Qaeda network". An Algerian security source said Thursday the leader was ambushed in Tizi Ouzou area, some 110 kilometers east of the capital, but declined to say when. Full Story

Italy detains six suspected Egyptian people traffickers
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 11:45am
Italian authorities have detained seven men - six Egyptians and one Palestinian - suspected of attempting to smuggle by sea over 90 would-be immigrants into Italy earlier this month. Full Story

Saudi builds security force of 35,000 to guard oil
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 11:48am
Saudi Arabia is building up a special 35,000-strong rapid reaction force to protect its energy installations from attacks by militants targeting the world's largest oil exporter. Full Story

Algeria to attract 11 million tourists by 2025
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 12:01pm
Algeria expects about 2.5 million tourists by 2015, and targets 11 million by 2025, Minister for Town Planning, Environment and Tourism Cherif Rahmani said at a press conference Monday (November 12th). Rahmani said a national strategy is needed to encourage the emergence of "Destination Algeria" by 2025. Full Story

Algerian, Tunisian suspects arrested in anti-terror raids in Europe
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 12:09pm
Twenty Algerians and Tunisians were arrested in an anti-terror swoop in Italy, Britain, France and Portugal on Tuesday (November 6th). The operation was ordered by Milan anti-terrorist police, who claim the suspects were setting up militant cells to recruit suicide bombers for Iraq and Afghanistan. The suspects are also accused of hiding terrorists, facilitating illegal immigration and falsifying identity documents. Full Story

Clashes reported in Palestinian refugee camp near Beirut
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 12:13pm
Gunmen clashed in a Palestinian refugee camp on the southern edges of the Lebanese capital on Friday, security officials said, and three people were wounded amid sketchy reports about exactly what happened. Palestinian refugees gather around journalists, to explain to them about the fighting between Palestinian factions, at the Palestinian refugee camp of Bourj el-Barajneh, south of Beirut, Friday.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press, said they had no details what had caused the incident, which involved a shootout with automatic rifles Friday morning in the Bourj el-Barajneh camp, south of Beirut. Full Story

German rail strike causes chaos for second day
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 2:14pm
Germany's worst rail strike ever on Friday left commuters stranded and freight transport at a near standstill for a second day, forcing the country's steel industry to slow production. The government urged talks to end the wage dispute that caused a walkout by 5,300 train drivers, while economists said the freight snarl would deal a blow to Europe's biggest economy if exports failed to reach the country's ports. Full Story

Unions to extend French transport strike
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 2:16pm
Transport workers voted Friday to keep a national strike going through the weekend over President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to strip away generous pension benefits, union officials said. But the impact of the strike diminished as nearly 68 percent of drivers for the national rail network ignored it and went to work, up from 40 percent on Wednesday, the first full day of the strike. Full Story

German neo-Nazis charged over racist attack on Africans
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 2:29pm
Five suspected neo-Nazis have been charged over a racist attack that put a Sudanese man in hospital and left an Egyptian injured, prosecutors said Wednesday. The group, whose ages range from 17 to 29, has been charged with causing grievous bodily harm to their victims at a summer festival in the West German town of Guntersblum. Full Story

Nearly 30 killed in Afghan violence
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007 at 3:21pm
Afghan forces backed by U.S. troops killed 25 Taliban militants in clashes in the south of the country, police said on Friday, but a roadside bomb also killed four police officers. Taliban rebels are engaged in a guerrilla war backed by suicide bombings to sap the will of Western public opinion to keep the 50,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan without which the pro-Western Afghan government would be severely weakened. Full Story

US, Iraqi troops, citizens engage in anti-Qaeda operation in Anbar
Posted on Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 8:45am
Operation Marne Courageous began Friday in a joint effort of coalition forces, the Iraqi Army and concerned local citizens near the border of Anbar province to drive out Al-Qaeda in Iraq, said the Multi-National Force (MNF) in a statement on Saturday. Full Story

Rebels attack Ugandan troop camp in Mogadishu: African Union
Posted on Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 10:14am
Rebels launched an overnight attack on a camp of Ugandan troops in Mogadishu, triggering heavy fighting that left one insurgent dead, African Union peacekeepers said Saturday. Full Story

Ahmadinejad says ready to act if attacked
Posted on Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 1:08pm
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday Iran was ready to respond if attacked, but played down the prospect of war with the United States. Full Story

Kurdish rally dispersed in Turkey
Posted on Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 1:25pm
Turkish police have clashed with hundreds of supporters of a pro-Kurdish party in the south-eastern city of Van. Tear gas was used to break up the rally by the Democratic Society Party when activists chanted in favour of jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan. Full Story

China pulls out of talks aimed at tightening sanctions against Iran
Posted on Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 3:27pm
China has dealt a blow to Western efforts to increase pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme by dropping out of a meeting to discuss tougher sanctions against Tehran. Full Story

Police find link between Abu Sayyaf and Philippine Congress blast
Posted on Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 6:28pm
Philippine police said Friday they had found strong links between a group of alleged Muslim militants and the deadly bombing in the House of Representatives which killed a legislator and three others. Full Story

U.S. secretly aids Pakistan in guarding nuclear arms
Posted on Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 6:29pm
Over the past six years, the Bush administration has spent almost $100 million so far on a highly classified program to help General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, secure his country's nuclear weapons, according to current and former senior administration officials. Full Story

Iran appears to have halted bomb shipments to Iraq
Posted on Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 6:32pm
Iran appears to have stopped shipping the deadliest type of weapons used against U.S. troops in Iraq after a European government confronted Tehran with proof that the weapons came from Iranian factories and Iraqi officials warned their neighbor that instability in Iraq affects the entire region, U.S., Western and Iraqi officials said. Full Story

Afghan bomb kills Nato Canadians
Posted on Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 6:33pm
Two Canadian soldiers of the Nato-led force in Afghanistan have been killed by a roadside bomb in the south of the country, military officials say. An interpreter was also killed in the incident while three other soldiers were wounded. Full Story

Bombs kill 4 in Iraq
Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007 at 9:03am
Bombs planted along Iraq's roads and in a parked car killed at least four people in separate attacks Sunday, police said. Explosives hidden in a parked car went off around 11 a.m. near an Iraqi police patrol in Mosul, killing three civilian bystanders and wounding at least 16 people, according to police Brig. Mohammed al-Wagga. Full Story

Gas pipeline explosion kills 28 in Saudi Arabia
Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007 at 9:04am
An explosion set a gas pipeline ablaze and killed 28 workers in eastern Saudi Arabia, the Saudi national oil company Aramco said Sunday. Full Story

Zimbabwe accuses UK of plotting to kill Mugabe
Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007 at 9:05am
Zimbabwe's government on Sunday accused Britain of plotting to invade the southern African state and to kill President Robert Mugabe and some of his associates. Full Story

Opec pledges reliable oil supply
Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007 at 10:55am
Opec leaders have pledged to provide the world with reliable supplies of oil and fight global warming, at the end of a rare summit meeting. The group's final statement made no mention of calls by oil-consuming countries such as the US to raise production to ease sky-high prices. Full Story

Report: U.S. Is Secretly Helping Pakistan Guard Nuclear Arms
Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007 at 11:07am
The New York Times is reporting that over the past six years, the Bush administration has spent almost $100 million on a highly classified program to help Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf secure his countrys nuclear weapons. Full Story

Iran helps stem flow of weapons, Iraq says
Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007 at 11:08am
The Iraqi government has credited Iran with helping to rein in Shiite militias and stemming the flow of weapons into Iraq, helping to improve the security situation noticeably. Full Story

U.S. Anti-Drug Plan Would Recast Legal System in Mexico
Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007 at 11:10am
The Bush administration's proposed counternarcotics aid package for Mexico would set in motion a vast reengineering of the country's justice system, revamping the legal education process, creating a network of court clerks and helping to write new laws, according to two summaries obtained by The Washington Post. Full Story

Deepening China-Iran Ties Weaken Bid to Isolate Iran
Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007 at 11:11am
The rapidly growing relationship between Iran and China has begun to undermine international efforts to ensure that Iran cannot convert a peaceful energy program to develop a nuclear arsenal, U.S. and European officials say. Full Story

Iraq attacks down 55% since surge, U.S. says
Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007 at 11:13am
Violence is down 55% in Iraq since the U.S. troop buildup began this summer, but it is unclear what role Iran played in the downturn, U.S. officials said Sunday, tempering recent optimism about Tehran's waning support for militants with warnings that more needs to be done. Full Story

Taliban torture, execute 5 Afghan police
Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007 at 11:15am
Taliban militants tortured five abducted policemen in southern Afghanistan and then hung their mutilated bodies from trees in a warning to villagers against working with the government, officials said Sunday. Full Story

Seven Colombian soldiers killed by rebel landmines
Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007 at 2:27pm
Seven Colombian soldiers were killed by landmines and four guerrillas died in a subsequent gun battle over control of a long-time rebel stronghold near the center of the country, the army said on Sunday. Full Story

Canadian troops push into Taliban Afghan heartland
Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007 at 2:55pm
Canadian and Afghan troops pushed into a Taliban heartland in southern Afghanistan, fought off fierce counter-attacks and fortified an outpost on Sunday to stay in the area. Full Story

Ex-Kosovo Fighter Claims Victory
Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007 at 4:25pm
A party led by a former Kosovo Albanian guerrilla leader has won the breakaway province's parliamentary election, according to unofficial results. Hashim Thaci has promised to declare formal independence from Serbia after 10 December - the UN deadline for Albanians and Serbs to reach a deal. Full Story

Methane Blast Kills at least 63 coal miners in Ukraine
Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007 at 4:33pm
A methane blast ripped through a coal mine in eastern Ukraine early Sunday, killing at least 63 miners in the former Soviet nation's worst mining accident in years, emergency officials said. More than 360 miners were rescued but 37 others remained trapped inside the mine - one of Ukraine's largest and deepest - with a raging fire hampering efforts to save them, officials said. Full Story

Turks Move to Ban Pro-Kurdish Party
Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007 at 4:36pm
The Turkish authorities took steps Friday to ban the country's leading pro-Kurdish political party and expel several of its lawmakers from Parliament on charges of separatism. The Democratic Society Party, which won 20 seats in Parliament in July, called last week for autonomy for Kurds living in the country's southeast. The call came amid tension over how to deal with separatist Kurdish rebels, with the military preparing for a possible cross-border offensive against their bases in northern Iraq. Full Story

Fears rise cyclone death toll could soar
Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2007 at 4:41pm
Bangladesh's death toll from Cyclone Sidr has reached an estimated 2,000 people, officials said Sunday, amid fears that it could skyrocket to five times that number. Full Story

French rail commuters face sixth day of transport mayhem
Posted on Monday, November 19, 2007 at 12:44am
French commuters faced Monday a sixth day of hardship after rail unions agreed to press on with a strike over pension reform for 24 more hours, but talks were due later in the week to resolve the impasse. Six of the seven unions who launched the protest late last Tuesday agreed to issue the extension call, ignoring pleas from the government of President Nicolas Sarkozy for an early resumption of work. Full Story

Afghan army bus bomber foiled: ministry
Posted on Monday, November 19, 2007 at 12:46am
Alert Afghan soldiers foiled an attempted bus bombing in Kabul early Monday, preventing a would-be suicide bomber detonating his explosives-laden waistcoat, the defence ministry said. The soldiers became wary when a man they did not recognise tried to get on an Afghan army commuter bus, ministry spokesman General Zahir Azimi told AFP. Full Story

Myanmar army hits Indian rebels: officials
Posted on Monday, November 19, 2007 at 1:40am
Myanmar troops have launched a crackdown against Indian separatists, raiding several rebel bases, officials and militant leaders said on Monday. An Indian defence official said camps belonging to the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) had been smashed in northern Myanmar's Sagaing division. Full Story

Election in Pakistan to be held on Jan. 8: Musharraf
Posted on Monday, November 19, 2007 at 1:40am
President Pervez Musharraf said he wants a national election to be held in Pakistan on January 8, but despite pressure from the United States over the weekend he did not say whether emergency rule would be revoked beforehand. "Inshallah (God willing), the general elections in the country would be held on January 8," the official Associated Press of Pakistan news agency quoted Musharraf as saying late on Sunday. The report said he had recommended the date to the Election Commission. Full Story

Afghan governor says suicide blast kills seven including son
Posted on Monday, November 19, 2007 at 1:41am
A suicide attack outside the office of the governor of Afghanistan's southwestern Nimroz province on Monday killed one of his sons and six of his bodyguards, the governor told AFP. The blast took place at the gate of the provincial headquarters in Zaranj city soon after the governor entered. Nimroz is a relatively peaceful province sharing a long border with Iran. Full Story

Ten Tamil rebels shot dead: Sri Lankan defence ministry
Posted on Monday, November 19, 2007 at 2:14am
Sri Lankan security forces killed at least 10 Tamil Tiger rebels, the defence ministry said Monday. Troops shot dead the 10 members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in separate clashes in the north of the island during the 24 hours ending Monday morning, the ministry said in a statement. Full Story

Six die in Nigeria voting clashes
Posted on Monday, November 19, 2007 at 2:17am
Police in Nigeria say six people have been killed in clashes linked to local governmental elections in the northern state of Kano. Kano police commissioner Mohammed Aminu Yesafu said his officers had arrested dozens of people and recovered weapons including guns and machetes. Full Story

Three men face murder charges in Manila bomb probe
Posted on Monday, November 19, 2007 at 2:46am
Philippine police have sought murder charges against three men for last week's suspected assassination of a Muslim lamaker in a bomb attack at the Congress building, officials said on Monday. State lawyers will question police and the three men late next week and then decide whether there is sufficient evidence to bring them to trial. Full Story

Pakistan court dismisses most election challenges: official
Posted on Monday, November 19, 2007 at 4:16am
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday threw out five major challenges to President Pervez Musharraf's re-election, leaving one to be heard later in the week, the attorney general told AFP. "There were five petitions, they have all been dismissed. There is only one left and that will be heard on Thursday," attorney general Malik Mohammad Qayyum told AFP. Full Story

Courtesy Terrorism Research Center, Inc.