CONFLICT & TERR0R 12/29

Children taken hostage by Pakistani militants Posted on Monday, January 28, 2008 at 8:23am

A group of militants on Monday took hostage dozens of school children and teachers in the the western Pakistani town of Bannu following a gunfire clash with local police, officials said. About seven terrorists have taken the school children hostage. There about 200 to 250 children, Hamid Nawaz, interior minister, told Agence France-Presse. Full Story

Clashes erupt in renewed Kenya violence Posted on Monday, January 28, 2008 at 8:24am

Several thousand pro-opposition demonstrators took to the streets on Monday after dozens were killed in ethnic violence over the weekend. Protestors and armed groups clashed in the Rift Valley, and police fired teargas and bullets in the air in the western town of Kisumu. Full Story

China allows U.S. warship to dock in Hong Kong Posted on Monday, January 28, 2008 at 8:25am

China on Monday allowed a U.S. warship to make a port call in Hong Kong, two months after it turned away a U.S. aircraft carrier battle group and set off a diplomatic dispute between the two countries. The Blue Ridge, the flagship of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, and its 700 crew members were expected to stay in Hong Kong for a few days, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong. Full Story

Bangladesh plans house-to-house bird flu search Posted on Monday, January 28, 2008 at 8:28am

Bangladeshi authorities are to start house-to-house surveillance in their latest effort to stem a worsening outbreak of bird flu, an official said Monday. The country's emergency government said the spread of avian flu, which has hit half the country, has become "alarming." Full Story

Iraq's Sadrists seek to end cease-fire Posted on Monday, January 28, 2008 at 8:31am

Influential members of Muqtada al-Sadr's movement have urged the anti-U.S. Shiite cleric not to extend a cease-fire when it expires next month, officials said Monday, a move that could jeopardize recent security gains. The Iraqi Red Crescent organization, meanwhile, gave a higher death toll than Iraqi officials from last week's devastating house explosion in the northern city of Mosul. Full Story

Eight years in jail for French aid workers convicted in Chad Posted on Monday, January 28, 2008 at 8:40am

French court on Monday sentenced six charity workers to eight years in prison, after they were convicted in Chad of trying to abduct more than 100 children from the border with war-torn Darfur. The founder and five members of French charity Zoe's Ark were sentenced to eight years hard labour in Chad last month on charges of attempted kidnapping, but were later repatriated to France where no such penalty exists. Full Story

Protests as Pakistan's Musharraf meets Brown Posted on Monday, January 28, 2008 at 9:56am

Demonstrators staged noisy protests Monday as Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf held talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, amid criticism over human rights and concern over elections. Some 400 anti-Musharraf protestors including opposition leader Imran Khan and his ex-wife Jemima booed and waved their fists as the Pakistani president arrived for the Downing Street talks, according to an AFP correspondent. Full Story

Most Olympic tickets unsold in China's second lottery Posted on Monday, January 28, 2008 at 10:08am

About 75 per cent of tickets offered in China's second lottery for this year's Olympic games remained unsold despite a flood of applications, organizers said on Monday. The Beijing organizing committee (BOCOG) said it received more than 4.5 million applications for some 1.8 million tickets but was only able to allocate 450,000 tickets, apparently because most people applied for a similar range of popular events. Full Story

5 convicted over UK's biggest heist Posted on Monday, January 28, 2008 at 10:58am

Five men were convicted Monday of robbery, kidnapping and firearms charges for carrying out Britain's largest cash robbery: the theft of $100 million from a security company depot two years ago. Gang members dressed as police officers abducted manager Colin Dixon and his family at gunpoint while robbing the depot of Securitas Cash Management Ltd. in Tonbridge, about 30 miles southeast of London, in February 2006. Full Story

Thailand's New Prime Minister Brings Little Hope for Stability Posted on Monday, January 28, 2008 at 3:44pm

With the naming of Samak Sundaravej as prime minister Monday, Thailand has completed a transition from military rule back to democracy. But analysts predict that the bumpy ride is not over for Thai politics: Samak's tenure is likely to be tempestuous and his government fragile. Full Story

U.S. Diplomat to Visit North Korea this Week Posted on Monday, January 28, 2008 at 3:46pm

A U.S. diplomat will visit Pyongyang this week to try to advance a stalled deal under which North Korea promised to disclose all its nuclear programs and eventually abandon them, a U.S. official said on Monday. The U.S. official, who asked not to be named, said Sung Kim, the director of the State Department's Office of Korean Affairs, was expected to make stops in Seoul on Tuesday and in Beijing on Wednesday before visiting Pyongyang on Thursday. Full Story

Indonesia: H5N1 toll hits 100 Posted on Monday, January 28, 2008 at 3:50pm

A 23-year-old Indonesian woman from East Jakarta has died from bird flu, taking the country's death toll to 100, according to a report from Indonesia's bird flu information centre on Monday. The woman died on Sunday and two separate laboratory tests confirmed she contracted H5N1, the report said. Full Story

Courtesy the Terrorism Research Center, Inc.