CONFLICT & TERROR 03/04

Police fired on in Paris suburb Posted on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 8:28am

Four police officers were wounded when masked youths fired shotguns at them in a southern suburb of Paris on Sunday, the French interior minister has said. Michele Alliot-Marie said about 30 people ambushed the officers after they were called to Grigny when a local bakery was vandalised.Three officers were treated at the scene after being hit by lead shots. A fourth was admitted to hospital. Full Story

Israeli Gaza operation 'not over' Posted on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 9:34am

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has warned that the withdrawal of troops from Gaza does not mean Israel's military operation there is over. Israeli forces pulled out overnight, several days after entering Gaza to try to suppress rocket fire. The operation ended with more than 100 people dead. Full Story

Top Iraqi police officer shot dead in Basra ambush Posted on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 9:39am

Gunmen ambushed the convoy of a top Iraqi provincial police chief while he was in the southern city of Basra on Monday and shot him dead along with his three bodyguards, police said. Full Story

UN chopper in Nepal goes missing in bad weather Posted on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 10:52am

A helicopter carrying United Nations officials was reported missing over a hilly terrain near Nepal's capital on Monday, officials said. There was no word yet on the number of people on board or if the chopper had crashed. Full Story

US base in Afghanistan attacked Posted on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 11:33am

A suicide car bomber attacked a U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan Monday, collapsing a guard post with American soldiers inside, an Afghan official said. Three NATO soldiers were wounded in the attack, a military official said. Full Story

China dust storm hits East Asia Posted on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 11:50am

A huge cloud of choking dust is passing over South Korea as the first sand storm of the year blows in from China. South Korea has ordered schools to close and drivers in south-west Japan have been warned about low visibility from the dust clouds. Full Story

Magnitude 6.9 quake off Philippine coast Posted on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 12:48pm

A strong earthquake of 6.9 magnitude struck in the ocean off the east coast of the Philippines on Monday night, but so far there have been no reports of damage, officials said. Full Story

Trial of young couple suspected of al-Qaida links starts in Austria Posted on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 1:23pm

A young married couple suspected of links to al-Qaida went on trial in Vienna Monday on terrorism charges stemming from the March 2007 online posting of a video threatening Austria and Germany with attacks. The pair  both Austrian citizens of Arab origin  were arrested in September in connection with the video, which threatened the two countries with terrorist strikes if they did not withdraw military personnel from Afghanistan. Full Story

Macedonia's name dispute with Greece could scuttle NATO aspirations Posted on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 1:26pm

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the NATO secretary-general, said Monday that Macedonia's bid to join the military alliance could be blocked if it failed to resolve a long-standing name dispute with Greece, a longtime NATO member. Macedonia, the former Yugoslav republic, hopes to win NATO's invitation to join the 26-member alliance at a summit in Bucharest, Romania, next month. Full Story

Armenia clamps down after a deadly protest Posted on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 1:27pm

Tanks blocked central streets in the capital of this tiny mountain country Sunday, a day after the Armenian authorities clashed with demonstrators in a violent confrontation that left at least eight dead and more than 130 wounded. The government imposed a state of emergency here Saturday, and for the first day since a contested Feb. 19 presidential election, the streets and central squares in this ancient capital city were empty of the crowds that had become a daily fixture. Full Story

UK mulling fuel poverty voucher Posted on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 2:34pm

The government is considering a voucher scheme to help the poorest people pay their gas and electricity bills, the BBC has learned. Treasury ministers raised the idea in a meeting with executives from some of the biggest UK energy firms on Monday. Full Story

Muslim protest at Paris book fair Posted on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 2:35pm

A book fair in Paris has become the subject of controversy with several Muslim countries announcing boycotts because the guest of honor is Israeli. Saudi Arabia has become the latest to withdraw, following Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria. The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Isesco) has also urged its 50 members to pull out from the fair, which starts on 14 March. Full Story

Court bans veiled terror suspect Posted on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 2:39pm

An Austrian court has excluded a young Muslim woman from the start of her trial on terrorism charges because she refused to remove her full-face veil. The suspect, identified as Mona S, is charged, along with her husband Mohamed M, with links to al-Qaeda and posting a threatening video on the internet. The presiding judge ordered the woman to be escorted from the court, arguing the jury could not judge her without seeing her face. Full Story

Danish guest asks Bush to back climate treaty Posted on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 2:42pm

With less than a year to go in office, President George W. Bush has begun offering valedictory courtesies to favored foreign leaders, including a much coveted ranch visit this weekend to the Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Rasmussen, who has been one of Bush's most stalwart defenders on Iraq, has sharply reduced his country's contingent there but still has 600 troops in Afghanistan. Full Story

Serbia 'retakes' Kosovo rail line Posted on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 3:13pm

Serbia has retaken control of a stretch of railway line in northern Kosovo, a senior Serb official has said. Branislav Ristivojevic, who heads Serbia's state-run railway company, said Belgrade had restored control over the 50km (30-mile) Lesak-Zvecan line. Earlier, Serb rail workers stopped a train on the line, saying they would not work for Kosovo's rail firms. Full Story

Police fire tear gas to disperse protesting Pakistani lawyers Posted on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 3:38pm

Pakistani police fired tear gas Monday at scores of demonstrating lawyers who were demanding that President Pervez Musharraf reinstate the deposed supreme court chief justice. Helmeted police in riot gear fired several tear gas canisters at about 200 lawyers and other demonstrators, who were shouting slogans outside the residence of ousted Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry. Full Story

Colombia: Chavez funding FARC rebels Posted on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 8:41pm

Venezuela and Ecuador sought Monday to make Colombia pay a high diplomatic and economic price for killing a leftist rebel leader in the Ecuadorean jungle  expelling its diplomats, ordering troops to the border and largely halting trade at key points along the frontier. Full Story

Luxury homes burn in apparent eco-attack Posted on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 9:29pm

Three seven-figure dream homes went up in flames early Monday in a Seattle suburb, apparently set by eco-terrorists who left a sign mocking the builders' claims that the 4,000-plus-square-foot houses were environmentally friendly. The sign  a sheet marked with spray paint  bore the initials ELF, for Earth Liberation Front, a loose collection of radical environmentalists that has claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks since the 1990s. Full Story

Courtesy Terrorism Research Center, Inc.