CONFLICT & TERROR 01/14

3 killed in central Mexican shooting
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 5:38am
Gunmen shot dead two federal agents and a civilian Thursday in the central state of Michoacan, prosecutors said, the latest in a series of deadly shootings involving police and soldiers in Mexico. The agents were traveling on a road in the Michoacan town of La Paloma when they were intercepted and shot, said Magdalena Guzman, a spokeswoman for the state attorney general's office. Full Story

30 killed in renewed fighting in Yemen
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 5:40am
Government soldiers and Shiite rebels are fighting again in northern Yemen, breaking a 6-month-old cease-fire with clashes that have killed more than 30 people, government officials and rebels said Thursday. Yemen, a poor country at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, has struggled with a three-year insurgency that has killed thousands on both sides. Full Story

China blogger beaten to death
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 5:42am
Authorities have fired an official in central China after city inspectors reportedly beat to death a man who filmed their confrontation with villagers, China's Xinhua news agency reports. The killing has sparked outrage in China, with thousands expressing outrage in Chinese Internet chat rooms, often the only outlet for public criticism of the government. Full Story

Bird flu spread from son to father
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 5:48am
A Chinese man became infected with avian influenza through contact with his son, health officials said Thursday.

Investigators were unsure how the son contracted the disease, Xinhua, the official government news agency, reported. Neither man was known to have had contact with poultry. Full Story

Utah gun owners go armed at airport
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 5:54am
Utah gun-owners say they have a right to carry their weapons at the Salt Lake City International Airport as long as they stay out of secured areas. Full Story

New rules for driver's licenses
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 6:00am
Americans born after Dec. 1, 1964, will have to get more secure driver's licenses in the next six years under ambitious post-9/11 security rules to be unveiled Friday by federal officials.

The Homeland Security Department has spent years crafting the final regulations for the REAL ID Act, a law designed to make it harder for terrorists, illegal immigrants and con artists to get government-issued identification. Full Story

Investment in Thailand breaks record despite political uncertainty
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 8:31am
Investment applications in Thailand hit a record 644.8 billion baht (19.5 billion dollars) in 2007, up 32 per cent on the previous year, even in the face of great political uncertainty, the Bangkok Post reported Friday. The Board of Investment also approved - gave tax breaks - to a 744.5 billion baht in investments, almost double the year previously. Full Story

Nepal sets April 10 date for key polls
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 8:51am
Nepal's main political parties and former Maoist rebels have agreed to hold key polls on the Himalayan nation's political future on April 10, a minister said Friday. The elections, leading to the formation of a body that will write a new constitution, had been postponed twice due to disputes following the November 2006 signing of a landmark peace deal. Full Story

France raises bird flu risk level
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 9:57am
France's agriculture ministry raised the level of risk for bird flu to moderate from low on Friday after Britain discovered the deadly H5N1 strain in three wild swans. France, Europe's biggest poultry producer, last adjusted its risk levels for birdflu on Oct. 12 after no new cases of the H5N1 virus were detected in wild birds in the country for an extended period. Full Story

US would 'regret' Pakistan operation
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 10:00am
President Pervez Musharraf said in an interview published Friday that U.S. troops would be regarded as invaders if they crossed into Pakistan to hunt al-Qaida militants. He also said he would resign if opposition parties tried to impeach him after next month's elections. Full Story

Lebanon presidential vote set for another delay
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 10:18am
Lebanon's presidential election is set for a 12th delay despite efforts by the Arab League chief to get rival Lebanese leaders to agree an Arab plan to end the country's crisis, a senior political source said on Friday.

Parliament had been scheduled to meet on Saturday to confirm army commander General Michel Suleiman as head of state but no vote can take place without a deal between the Western-backed majority and the Hezbollah-led opposition.

The expected delay will follow three days of intense talks by Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa with rival leaders in Beirut on the Arab plan that calls for the election of Suleiman, formation of a national unity government and drafting a new law for parliamentary election that is due next year. Full Story

US plan Anbar security handover
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 10:19am
Security responsibility for Anbar province - once Iraq's most dangerous - could transfer to Iraqi forces by March, a senior US general said. Maj Gen Walter Gaskin of the US Marines said a fall in violence had paved the way for handing Anbar to Iraqi control. In Washington, the visiting Iraqi defence minister said Iraqi forces may be ready to take responsibility for all remaining areas of the country by 2009. Full Story

Detained Suu Kyi meets Myanmar junta minister
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 10:35am
Myanmar's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi met a senior junta official on Friday, state media said, but it was not known what they discussed. MRTV showed footage from the fourth meeting between the Nobel laureate and ruling junta member Aung Kyi since he was appointed as a go-between after last September's crackdown on pro-democracy protests triggered world outrage. Full Story

Bush pledges to return to Mideast in MayPosted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 10:45amU.S. President George W. Bush said Friday that he would return to the Mideast in May to continue pushing the Israelis and Palestinians toward a peace treaty and celebrate Israel's 60th anniversary.

"There's a good chance for peace and I want to help you," Bush told Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Israeli President Shimon Peres at the airport here, where he boarded Air Force One, ending his visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories. "Mr. Prime Minister and Mr. President, thank you very much for your invitation to come back. I'm accepting it now," Bush said on the tarmac. Full Story

Bush Outlines Mideast Peace Plan
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 10:49am
President Bush outlined Thursday in the clearest terms so far the shape of a two-state peace treaty he is hoping to broker between Israel and the Palestinians by the end of his term. He called for redrawing borders and compensating Palestinians and their descendants for homes they left in what is now Israel. Speaking after two days of meetings with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, Mr. Bush said, 

I believe that any peace agreement between them will require mutually agreed adjustments to the armistice lines of 1949 to reflect current realities and to ensure that the Palestinian state is viable and contiguous. Full Story

Iranian Boats May Not Have Made Radio Threat, Pentagon Says
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 10:59am
The Pentagon said yesterday that the apparent radio threat to bomb U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf last weekend may not have come from the five Iranian Revolutionary Guard speedboats that approached them -- and may not even have been intended against U.S. targets.

The communication Sunday was made on radio channel 16, a common marine frequency used by ships and others in the region. "It could have been a threat aimed at some other nation or a myriad of other things," said Rear Adm. Frank Thorp IV, a spokesman for the Navy. In the radio message recorded by the Navy, a heavily accented voice said: "I am coming to you. You will explode after a few minutes." But Farsi speakers and Iranians told The Washington Post that the accent did not sound Iranian. Full Story

Tokyo to look for terrorist suspects in 3-D: official
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 2:53pm
Tokyo plans to set up three-dimensional cameras across the city in the world's most advanced system yet to pinpoint terrorist suspects, a local official said Friday. Full Story

Militant threat on Eiffel Tower intercepted: source
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 2:54pm
Portuguese air traffic authorities have intercepted a message describing a militant threat against the Eiffel Tower and have passed it to French authorities, a Portuguese source said on Friday. Full Story

Chavez defends Colombia's leftist rebels
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 2:55pm
President Hugo Chavez defended Colombia's leftist rebels as armies  not terrorists  on Friday, a day after triumphantly mediating the release of two of their hundreds of hostages. Full Story

Mexico shootout suspects tied to cartel
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 3:38pm
Three U.S. residents and seven others linked to the powerful Gulf drug cartel were arrested following a deadly shootout just across the border from Texas, Mexican officials said Tuesday. Full Story

Yemenis now biggest group at Guantanamo
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 4:07pm
The number of men held at Guantanamo Bay is declining rapidly, but there is no way out for most of the Yemeni detainees because their homeland's government and Washington are mired in a diplomatic impasse over security concerns. Full Story

Mauritanians arrested in tourist deaths
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 5:08pm
Two Mauritanians suspected of involvement in the killings of four French tourists were arrested Friday and officials said they are believed to belong to an Algerian-based terror cell affiliated with al-Qaida. Full Story

Iraqi parliament approves bill to rehabilitate Baathists
Posted on Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 9:29amS
hiite and Sunni members of Iraq's parliament buried their differences on Saturday to pass a controversial bill allowing former officials of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to return to public life. Full Story

'Al-Qaeda militants' ransack Gaza school: director
Posted on Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 10:10am
Militants from a hitherto unknown group linked to Al-Qaeda ransacked a private school in the northern Gaza Strip, its director said Saturday. Full Story

Pakistan kills over 50 militants near Afghan border: officials
Posted on Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 11:21am
Pakistani troops killed more than 50 Taliban militants after fighting off an attack on a military fort in a troubled tribal region bordering Afghanistan, security officials said Saturday. Full Story

Macedonia crash kills 11 soldiers
Posted on Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 1:11pm
A military helicopter from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia taking soldiers home from Bosnia has crashed, killing all 11 people on board. Full Story

Fears of terror attack in Germany
Posted on Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 1:12pm
Lebanese authorities have warned of terrorist attacks being planned on targets within Germany, prompting the Justice Ministry in Berlin to increase its security measures, authorities said Saturday. Full Story

Croatian parliament approves PM Sanader's cabinet
Posted on Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 3:43pm
Croatia's new parliament approved on Saturday a centre-right coalition cabinet proposed by Prime Minister-designate Ivo Sanader and dominated by his conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). Full Story

Khamenei: U.S. won't bring Iran to its knees
Posted on Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 3:44pm
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday the United States would not be able to bring Iran to its knees in a row over sensitive nuclear work the West suspects is aimed at making bombs. Full Story

Poll: Many Pakistanis believe government killed BhuttoPosted on Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 10:47amNearly half of Pakistanis suspect that government agencies or government-linked politicians killed Benazir Bhutto, an opinion poll showed, highlighting the popular mistrust of the country's U.S.-allied president ahead of elections next month. Full Story

West supports Mush's Bhutto assassination theory
Posted on Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 10:49am
Benazir Bhutto was killed by al-Qaida militants, after all, according to British officials who say evidence collected by Scotland Yard detective's points to the theory advertised by Presient Musharraf's regime. Full Story

Thousands rally in Georgia against Saakashvili
Posted on Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 10:50am
Tens of thousands of opposition protesters in Georgia rallied against presidential poll winner Mikheil Saakashvili on Sunday, alleging vote fraud and demanding a second round of the election. Full Story

Sri Lankan Donors Voice Concerns Over Ending of Peace Accord
Posted on Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 10:51am
Sri Lankan donors expressed ``strong concerns'' over the termination of a cease-fire accord with Tamil rebels as Japan's peace envoy arrived in the South Asian nation. Full Story

Israel-Palestinian final status talks start Monday
Posted on Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 1:47pm
Senior Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will open talks on Monday on the most sensitive issues such as the future of Jerusalem as part of a U.S.-led push for a peace deal this year, officials said. Full Story

Report: Al Qaeda Is Building a White Army of Terror
Posted on Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 3:16pm
According to a source at MI5  the British equivalent of the CIA  1,500 white Britons are believed to have converted to Islam with the purpose of funding, planning, and carrying out surprise terror attacks, the newspaper reported. Full Story

Kenya police used 'lethal force'
Posted on Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 3:56pm
Kenyan police have used lethal force, including gunfire, to break up anti-government protests, the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said. Full Story

Dutch soldiers kill 2 of their own in Afghanistan
Posted on Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 4:52pm
Dutch soldiers in Afghanistan killed two of their own men during a nighttime battle and separately two allied Afghan soldiers they mistook for enemies, the Dutch Defense Ministry said Sunday. Full Story

Israel to get "smarter" U.S.-made bombs than Saudis
Posted on Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 5:03pm
The United States has agreed in principle to provide Israel with better "smart bombs" than those it plans to sell Saudi Arabia under a regional defense package, senior Israeli security sources said on Sunday. Full Story

South African police chief quits as Interpol president
Posted on Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 5:05pm
South African police chief Jackie Selebi has resigned as president of Interpol to fight corruption allegations, the world police organization said on Sunday. Full Story

Taliban kill 10 policemen in Afghan attack
Posted on Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 5:07pm
Taliban guerrillas killed 10 policemen on Sunday in a raid in southern Afghanistan, provincial officials said. Full Story

Deadly Mexican gunbattles spark fears of Texas spillover
Posted on Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 5:28pm
Deadly gunbattles in two Mexican border cities last week left their sister communities in the Rio Grande Valley hoping that the brutal cross-border violence plaguing Nuevo Laredo for years had not spread downstream permanently. Full Story

Japan in Sri Lanka peace bid: officials
Posted on Monday, January 14, 2008 at 2:02am
A Japanese peace envoy opened talks with Sri Lankan leaders Monday as the international community stepped up pressure over Colombo's decision to abandon a truce with the Tamil Tiger rebels. Japan, the biggest bilateral donor to Sri Lanka, has hinted that foreign aid could be withheld if violence continues to escalate in the island's long-running ethnic conflict that has already claimed thousands of lives. Full Story

Bomb in southern Thailand kills 8 troops
Posted on Monday, January 14, 2008 at 2:03am
Suspected Muslim insurgents killed eight soldiers Monday in a bombing and shooting attack in one of Thailand's restive southern provinces, the army spokesman said.

The soldiers were on a routine morning patrol in the Chanae district of Narathiwat province when a bomb hidden on the road exploded as their vehicle passed, said the spokesman, Col. Akara Thiprote. Full Story

Concern over rising sex attacks in India's tourist hotspots
Posted on Monday, January 14, 2008 at 3:10am
Authorities in India's popular tourist destinations are boosting security after a spate of sexual attacks against foreigners, officials said. The federal government has called top tourism officials from all states for a meeting in capital New Delhi this month to review security measures after the highly publicised incidents. Full Story

Courtesy Terrorism Research Center, Inc.