CONFLICT & TERROR 06/13

Ireland in crunch EU treaty votePosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 7:44amPeople in the Irish Republic are voting in a referendum on whether to ratify the European Union reform treaty, in a poll anxiously watched across the EU. All other 26 member states have left the issue to their parliaments, but Ireland is obliged to hold a popular vote on changes to its constitution. Full Story

Portugal drivers end fuel strikePosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 7:46amPortuguese lorry drivers have ended their strike against rising fuel prices, after a union reached a deal with the government. The distribution of food and fuel is expected to resume in the country within the next few days. Full Story

Brown wins crunch vote on 42 daysPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 7:51amPrime Minister Gordon Brown has narrowly won a House of Commons vote on extending the maximum time police can hold terror suspects to 42 days. Thirty-six Labour MPs joined forces with Conservatives and Lib Dems to vote against the proposals. Full Story

Lords reject EU referendum callPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 7:53amThe House of Lords has voted against holding a referendum on the EU Treaty - a day before the Irish Republic's national ballot on the agreement. Peers dismissed a Conservative proposal by a margin of 62 votes. Full Story

Afghanistan seeks US$50b at aid conferencePosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 8:35amAfghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday sought 50 billion dollars to rebuild his country at an international aid conference expected to raise more than 15 billion dollars to launch his campaign. The United States has already said it will donate more than 10 billion dollars. Full Story

Top Conservative quits over gov't anti-terror plansPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 9:14amThe home affairs spokesman for the Conservative Party resigned Thursday in an unprecedented move to trigger a by-election over controversial government anti-terrorism plans. David Davis said he would fight for re-election in his Howden and Haltemprice constituency in northern England on a single issue: opposition to moves to detain suspected extremists for up to six weeks without charge. Full Story

1 Lebanese killed, 1 Syrian injured in land mine explosionPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 9:24amThe mine, left over from the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, went off as the 35-year-old Hisham Ghosein was plowing his field with a bulldozer in his home village of Qantara, the officials said. Full Story

US military blames Shiite militias for bombPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 9:27amThe U.S. military on Thursday blamed Shiite militia fighters for a bombing the day before that killed six Iraqi civilians and wounded nine other people, including two American soldiers in Baghdad. Full Story

U.S. Enlists And Arms Patrols in Sadr CityPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 9:31amYoung men armed and paid by the U.S. military took to the streets of the Iraqi capital's Sadr City area for the first time Wednesday to guard their neighborhoods, part of a new strategy designed to recruit former Shiite militiamen to American-created security groups, U.S. officials said. Full Story

Lawyer slain in Tel Aviv blastPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 9:40amA car bomb blast in central Tel Aviv Wednesday killed a prominent Israeli lawyer, police said, in what they called a criminal bombing and not an attack by Palestinian militants. Full Story

Blast flattens house of Hamas commander, killing 3Posted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 9:41amA blast flattened the house of a militant commander in the Gaza Strip Thursday, killing three people, wounding 40 and burying an unknown number of others, Palestinian officials said. Full Story

Moderate quake strikes Greek island; no damagePosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 9:54amAn earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.5 has struck the southern Greek island of Crete, but no injuries or damage have been reported. The Athens Geodynamic Institute says quake struck at 3:20 a.m. Thursday. It was centered in the Zakrou area of eastern Crete about 240 miles southeast of Athens. Full Story

British official suspended after documents foundPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 9:55amThe British government says a senior intelligence official in the Cabinet office has been suspended after secret government documents were left on a commuter train. The documents on al-Qaida and Iraq were found by a passenger on a London commuter train Tuesday. The passenger gave the documents to the British Broadcasting Corp. Full Story

Bush says US wants partnership with EuropePosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 9:57amPresident Bush is urging Europe to more aggressively partner with the United States to look beyond trans-Atlantic issues and focus on global problems such as Mideast peace, curtailing the rise of radical Islamic terrorists and keeping regimes such as Iran in check. "Instead of dwelling on our differences, we are increasingly united in our interests and ideals," Bush was to say in a speech Friday in Paris. "In leaders like Berlusconi and Brown, Merkel and Sarkozy, I see a commitment to a powerful and purposeful Europe that advances the values of liberty within its borders, and beyond." Full Story

3 sentenced in terrorism plotPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 10:02amJordan's military court on Thursday sentenced three Hamas operatives to between five and 15 years in jail for conspiring to attack Israeli businessmen, Jordanian intelligence officers and other targets across Jordan. Full Story

Al Qaeda assessment left on UK trainPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 10:42amScotland Yard and Downing Street both said Wednesday they have launched investigations into how top-secret British intelligence documents on al Qaeda and Iraq came to be left on a commuter train by a senior civil servant in the UK's Cabinet Office. "It's a serious breach of Cabinet Office procedures -- a member of staff took the papers out of the office when they should not have and left them on a train," Cabinet Office spokesman James O'Sullivan told CNN. Full Story

Pakistan lawyers march on capitalPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 11:01amThousands of Pakistani lawyers and political activists are preparing to continue their "long march" from Lahore to Islamabad to call for the reinstatement of judges sacked by Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistan president. Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the deposed chief justice, was due to lead Thursday's procession from the eastern city to the capital. Full Story

US military releases Pakistan airstrike videoPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 11:06amThe U.S. military released video from an unmanned drone that it says shows airstrikes along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border targeted fighters engaged with coalition forces. Pakistan accuses the American military of killing 11 of its paramilitary forces in the Tuesday airstrike which Islamabad called a "completely unprovoked and cowardly act." Full Story

"Zero tolerance" for violent Spain truck picketsPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 11:29amSpain promised "zero tolerance" for violence by striking truckers after police cleared picket lines blocking highways during a fuel protest. The government said deliveries of food and other goods were returning to normal on Thursday after an agreement with most of the strikers on Wednesday although food distribution centers reported shortages and car factories remained at a standstill. Full Story

Derailed train in Colorado no accidentPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 11:32amInvestigators say someone purposely sabotaged the railroad tracks that caused a freight train derailment in Westminster. The railroad company is offering a $10,000 reward for information in the case. Full Story

Security tightened as fuel protests turn violentPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 12:36pmSpain and Malaysia tightened security on Thursday to stop strikes against soaring global fuel prices turning violent, as well as snarling road networks and slowing deliveries of food and raw materials. Spain promised "zero tolerance" for violence by striking truckers after a string of incidents including an arson attack on a strike-breaking truck that left the driver with burns to 25 percent of his body. Full Story

Beijing Olympics broadcasts at riskPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 12:38pmOLYMPIC host broadcasters, who have paid billions for the right to televise the Beijing Games starting in eight weeks, are furious with China's oppressive security measures, endless red tape and unexplained delays they claim are jeopardising their coverage. Full Story

Tight security a month from quakePosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 12:43pmA month on from the Sichuan earthquake, Chinese officials have imposed tight security in some of the damaged areas, apparently to prevent protests. Police in the city of Dujianyan stopped parents from holding a memorial ceremony at the rubble of a collapsed school where their children died. Full Story

Nine extremists were killed in gun battle in BangladeshPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 12:47pmA raging gun battle between an elite security force and communist extremists in northern Bangladesh left at least nine people dead and four other injured Thursday, officials said. All the victims were suspected extremists belonging to a faction of the banned Sarbahara Party, said a local police officer who cannot be named. Full Story

Lankan military launches operation to capture PrabhakaranPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 12:48pmSri Lankan military has launched a major offensive to capture "alive" the elusive LTTE supremo, Velupillai Prabhakaran, believed to be hiding in a bunker in the rebel stronghold of Mullaitivu, the army chief said. Full Story

Hizbul Mujahideen militant arrested in J&KPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 12:48pmA Hizbul Mujahideen militant has been arrested along with a pistol in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir. Full Story

Afghans uncover 260 tonnes of drugsPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 12:48pmAfghan counternarcotics officials said they uncovered 260 tonnes of hashish hidden in 2-meter-deep trenches in southern Afghanistan in what one official said appears to be the largest-ever drug bust. Full Story

Nepal's former rebels pull out of governmentPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 12:49pmNepal's former communist rebels quit the country's interim government Thursday in an effort to force the current prime minister out and allow them to form a new administration. Full Story

Pakistani lawyers gather for anti-Musharraf marchPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 12:49pmThousands of Pakistani lawyers and activists gathered for a "long march" from Lahore to Islamabad Thursday to demand the restoration of judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf. Full Story

Failed London bomber's wife jailed for 15 yearsPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 1:00pmThe wife of one of the failed 2005 London suicide bombers was jailed for 15 years Thursday, after being found guilty of failing to tell the police about the terrorist plot. Yeshi Girma, 32, knew her husband Hussain Osman was planning to unleash carnage in the failed July 21, 2005 attacks and could have stopped the attempted bombings, England's Old Bailey central criminal court heard. Full Story

High prices trigger major protests in ThailandPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 4:02pmTens of thousands of heavy trucks are threatening to cause havoc in the Thai capital while fishermen have begun burning their boats in nationwide protests against soaring prices of fuel and other essentials, protesters said Thursday. Full Story

Troops battle NPA in known hideout of rebel spokesman RosalPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 4:02pmArmy troops clashed with suspected New People's Army (NPA) guerrillas in Kalayaan town, Laguna province, a known hideout of communist rebel spokesman Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal," a regional military commander said. Full Story

Alleged MILF rebels holding 2 Marines in BasilanPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 4:02pmAlleged Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels are holding two Marines soldiers hostage as a "bargaining chip" to press for the release of a suspect in the beheading of Marines in Basilan last year, officials said. Full Story

Japan firms raided in nuclear rowPosted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 4:03pmPolice in Japan have raided two companies after vacuum pumps they manufactured and sold were found in a North Korean nuclear facility. Full Story

Courtesy Terrorism Research Center, Inc.