CONFLICT & TERROR 01/11

New nuclear deadline for N Korea
Posted on Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 8:47am
North Korea needs to complete the disabling of its nuclear facilities by the end of next month, US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill has said. Speaking in South Korea, Mr Hill said he wanted the process finished by the time the South's incoming President Lee Myung-bak takes office on 25 February. Full Story

Philippines to charge 15 in mall blast
Posted on Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 11:02am
Philippine police are set to file charges against 15 people, including employees of one of the country's top property developers, in connection with a mall blast that killed 11 people, officials said Thursday.

In their final report released Thursday, investigators ruled out terrorism as the cause of the blast at the Glorietta 2 mall in Manila's Makati financial district last October, sticking to initial findings that methane and diesel vapor triggered the explosion that also injured more than 100 people. Full Story

2 soldiers injured in school bomb attack in Thai South
Posted on Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 11:05am
Insurgents detonated a bomb inside a school in Southern Thailand's province of Narathiwat Thursday morning, injuring two soldiers and terrifying about 140 students there. Local police were quoted by local newspaper The Nation's website as saying that the explosion occurred at 9:45 am (0245 GMT) inside the Ban Pase School in Rangae district. Full Story

Hong Kong on the march - again
Posted on Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 11:09am
Hong Kong people will be on the march again on Sunday to protest the spurious democracy advancement package handed down by the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee in Beijing last month.

But neither Beijing nor the organizers, the Civil Human Rights Front, is keeping their fingers crossed. The Front has officially told the police to expect a 20,000 turnout, a very far cry from the half million who marched in 2003 to protest Article 23 (a Draconian Beijing-backed anti-sedition law), express dissatisfaction with former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa and call for universal suffrage. Full Story

Scout: Islamic militant attacked prez
Posted on Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 12:00pm
The 15-year-old Boy Scout who saved the president of this Indian Ocean archipelago from a knife-wielding attacker said Thursday the assailant shouted "God is Great" before the assault. Mohammed Jaisham Ibrahim's account matches stories filtering out of the remote island where the incident took place and is likely to heighten concerns about rising Islamic militancy in the country best known for high-end resorts and stunning coral reefs. Full Story

Tamil Tigers urge Norway to maintain peace efforts
Posted on Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 12:02pm
Tamil Tiger rebels said on Thursday they were ready to revive a dying ceasefire abandoned by Sri Lanka's government and urged Norway to maintain its peace efforts despite escalating fighting. In its first public reaction to the government's withdrawal from the 2002 truce earlier this month, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) expressed willingness to salvage the ceasefire, the basis of a moribund peace process. Full Story

ECB, Bank of England holds rates steady
Posted on Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 1:47pm
The European Central Bank and the Bank of England kept their benchmark interest rates on hold Thursday, both torn between the opposing challenges of higher inflation and worries about economic growth.

Those two factors could put the central banks on different paths in the coming months, with the ECB striking a hawkish note in the face of strong euro-zone inflation while the Bank of England is widely expected to deliver a cut next month to restore shaky consumer confidence. Full Story

Blair takes advisory post with JP Morgan
Posted on Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 1:48pm
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair took a job as an adviser to JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Thursday, a part-time post that will not affect his role as a Mideast peace envoy, his spokeswoman said. Blair will give JPMorgan's senior management team "strategic advice and provide insights on global issues," said Ruti Winterstein, a Blair spokeswoman in Israel. Full Story

More passengers for Eurostar
Posted on Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 1:53pm
Rail service that connects Brussels and Paris with London attracted 5% more passengers last year. The rail service that connects Brussels and Paris with London attracted 5% more passengers last year. For the first time ever passenger numbers exceeded 8 million in 2007. Full Story

Protection zone set up as deadly bird flu found at swan reserve
Posted on Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 10:35pm
Three dead swans that were found in a bird sanctuary in Dorset had the deadly avian flu virus H5N1, it was confirmed yesterday.

The virus had been circulating in British birds for more than two weeks and may already be endemic in the wild bird population, experts have said. Tests are under way at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Weybridge, Surrey, to establish just how long the virus has been present in the mute swans from Abbotsbury. Full Story

Bid to resolve Kenya crisis fails
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 12:00am
Efforts to resolve Kenya's disputed presidential election faltered Thursday as diplomats from the United States and African Union left the country without forging an agreement. Full Story

Japan Prepares to Pass Anti-Terror Bill
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 12:02am
Japan's upper house of parliament rejected a bill Friday to revive a naval mission to support U.S.-led forces in the Indian Ocean, but the ruling party was expected to push the measure into law in the lower chamber. Parliament's upper house, controlled by a resurgent opposition, voted to reject legislation that would revive a limited version of Japan's six-year-long mission to provide fuel and other resources to U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan.

India's Singh Rejects U.S. Security Talks to `Contain China'
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 12:05am
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said his country isn't involved in security talks with the U.S., Japan and Australia to ``contain China'' and wants to forge closer ties between the world's two most populous nations. Singh, who makes his first visit as prime minister to the communist nation at the weekend, said engagement with the government in Beijing is a ``priority,'' state-run broadcaster Doordarshan reported on its Web site. Full Story

U.S. pounds al-Qaida havens with 40,000 pounds of bombs
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 12:11am
U.S. bombers and jet fighters unleashed 40,000 pounds of explosives during a 10-minute airstrike today, flattening what the military called havens for al-Qaida in Iraq on the southern outskirts of the capital. Full Story

UNM is busy counting chemicals for Homeland Security
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 12:13am
Researchers and other staff members at the University of New Mexico are busy counting all their jars and vials of potentially dangerous substances under an order from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The university has less than two weeks to report the number, quantity and location of every chemical in its possession that appears on the agency's list of chemicals of interest. The count is required by federal anti-terrorism standards for chemical facilities. Full Story

Beslan protest group to stand trial
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 12:27am
Russian prosecutors have laid extremism charges against campaigners who claim that senior security officials bungled a 2004 school hostage rescue attempt in which 333 children and adults died, the campaign group said. Islamists seized more than 1,000 people in Beslan, southern Russia, starting a three-day siege that ended in carnage. Half the dead were children. Full Story

Medical pot rule up in smoke
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 12:29am
A Federal Court judge has struck down a government regulation which prevents medical marijuana growers from producing the drug for more than one patient. The decision by Judge Barry Strayer essentially grants medical marijuana users more freedom in picking their own grower, rather than relying on the government as a supplier.

Medical marijuana patients had argued that the restriction was unfair and prevented seriously ill Canadians from obtaining the drug they needed to treat their debilitating illnesses. Full Story

U.S. labels Kurdish PKK affiliate terrorist group
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 12:31am
The United States said on Thursday it had designated the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), a group linked to PKK Kurdish militants, a terrorist group, subjecting it to U.S. financial sanctions. Full Story

Sri Lanka rejects Tiger offer to abide by scrapped trucePosted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 2:18amSri Lanka's government on Friday rejected a Tamil Tiger offer to abide by the terms of a newly-scrapped 6-year ceasefire, and vowed to push on with a military campaign to crush the rebels. Full Story

CourtesyTerrorism Research Center, Inc.