CONFLICT & TERROR 05/06

Clan fight displaces hundreds in Philippine south

Hundreds of people fled their homes on a remote southern Philippine island on Monday after fighting broke out between two rival political families, local and police officials said. Julasirim Kasim, police chief on Jolo island, said sporadic gunfire could be heard around Luuk town even after Marine troops were sent to prevent the violence from escalating. Full Story

Police and army officers tied to attempt on Karzai's life

Afghanistan's defense minister confirmed Sunday that a police captain was connected with the group behind the assassination attempt on President Hamid Karzai a week earlier and that an army officer supplied the weapons and ammunition used in the attack. Full Story

China virus toll continues rise

The toll from an intestinal virus that has affected thousands of children in central China is continuing to rise, as officials work to rein in the outbreak. A child died in Zhejiang province, bringing the number of deaths from Enterovirus 71 to 26. Full Story

Dozens of Indian officials quit after Maoist threat

At least 64 district politicians in one of India's poorest states have resigned en masse, citing threats from Maoist insurgents, officials said on Monday. Officials from the National Democratic Alliance in the eastern state of Bihar quit their party posts on Sunday after 37 of them were kidnapped and then released last week by insurgents, who accused them of failing to check police abuses on local inhabitants. Full Story

Police official killed by suspected communist rebels in Philippines

A police official was killed Monday in an attack by suspected communist hitmen outside his house in an eastern Philippine city, officials said. Superintendent Narciso Guarin, a regional deputy chief for human resources, was gunned down as he stepped out of his house in Legazpi City, Albay province, 330 kilometres south of Manila. Full Story

Indonesian police arrest alleged Bali bomb plotter

Indonesian police said Monday they had arrested a key member of radical Islamist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) who allegedly helped plot a suicide bombing on the resort island of Bali in 2005. Faiz Fauzan, 28, who was paraded before the media at a press conference, was a close aide to the group's fugitive alleged terror mastermind, Malaysian national Noordin Muhammad Top, a police spokesman said. Full Story

Chopper hit by rebel fire in Afghanistan

A civilian helicopter was hit by insurgent gunfire in mountainous eastern Afghanistan on Monday, forcing it to make an emergency landing at a NATO military base, the alliance force said. No one was injured in the incident in Kunar province, which borders Pakistan, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. Full Story

Hundreds stage anti-pollution march in China

Hundreds of people marched in a western provincial capital over the weekend to protest environmental risks they say are associated with the construction of a petrochemical factory and oil refinery, witnesses said Monday. It was the latest in a series of rare but increasingly ambitious grass-roots movements in Chinese cities aimed at derailing government-backed industrial projects that could damage the environment and people's health. Full Story

Ministers rallying round Brown

Labour ministers are rallying round Gordon Brown following a disastrous showing in the local elections. The prime minister is under attack from some backbenchers after huge losses. Full Story

German police say they stopped May Day deaths

The May Day clashes between left- and rightwing demonstrators in Hamburg would have resulted in deaths without police intervention, a spokesman said Friday. Surveying the wreckage in the northern German port a day after the riot, Peter Born, who heads a police special team, said one clash between around 100 extremely violent demonstrators on each side had been particularly unnerving. Full Story

Man briefly holds three Jews captive in Warsaw

A man claiming he had a bomb held three Jewish teenagers captive briefly Monday in their hotel room in Warsaw, where they were staying for Holocaust commemoration ceremonies, police said. The 23-year-old man identified only as Mohammad A. pulled the three Brazilian youths into a sixth-floor room of Warsaw's Holiday Inn after 9 a.m., said police spokesman Mariusz Sokolowski. Full Story

Austrian police: Suspect's dungeon plans date back to 1978

An Austrian man came up with the idea for a windowless warren under his apartment building years before locking his daughter in a cell secured by sophisticated electronics, locks and a half-ton door, authorities said Monday. Full Story

UN and NGOs rush to ready aid for Myanmar cyclone victims

U.N. agencies and independent humanitarian groups rushed Monday to prepare assistance for victims of a devastating cyclone in Myanmar, while awaiting a formal go-ahead from the military regime in the Southeast Asian nation. Full Story

Cruise ship evacuated off Latvian coast

Latvia's coast guard on Monday removed more than 650 people from a stranded cruise ship after tugboats failed to pull the luxury liner off an underwater sand bank in the Baltic Sea. In a five-hour operation, 651 passengers  most of them elderly Germans  and 11 crew members were transferred from the 201-meter-long (660-foot-long) Mona Lisa onto two naval ships, coast guard officials said. Full Story

EU drops plans to limit cabin-baggage size

Airlines across the European Union will continue to be allowed to set the size of carry-on baggage they accept after the EU's executive body dropped plans to bring in EU-wide laws on Monday. Full Story

Murdered French aid worker flown home from Chad

The body of a French aid worker shot dead by highwaymen in war-stricken eastern Chad was flown home Sunday to Paris, where his family and colleagues held a closed-door memorial service in his honour. Full Story

Lebanon looking into alleged Hezbollah cameras at airport

Lebanon began an investigation Monday into allegations that the militant Hezbollah group set up surveillance cameras near the Beirut airport to monitor the comings and goings of anti-Syria Lebanese politicians and foreign dignitaries. Full Story

Haiti riot instigators set deadline to install PM

Slum leaders in the southern town of Les Cayes who started Haiti's recent food riots handed lawmakers an ultimatum on Monday to install a new government within a week or face more protests. Full Story

Neo-Nazi killing puts spotlight on Italian militants

The death on Monday of a man attacked by neo-Nazis threw the spotlight on political militancy in Italy, prompting the opposition to ask if a right-wing sweep at an April election had fed a climate of intolerance. Full Story

Courtesy Terrorism Research Center, Inc.