CONFLICT & TERROR 07/17

Malaysia's Anwar Ibrahim arrestedPosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 8:02amMalaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has been arrested over allegations of sodomy, police and his lawyer say. Armed police surrounded his car early on Wednesday and took him into custody, his lawyer said. Full Story

U.S. troops abandon Afghan outpost following attackPosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 8:12amU.S. troops have pulled out of a remote outpost in northeastern Afghanistan, NATO-led security force said on Wednesday, three days after Taliban militants tried to overrun the base and killed nine U.S. soldiers. Full Story

Thailand uses 're-education' to fight Muslim separatistsPosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 8:22amThailand's army is increasingly using controversial "re-education" camps to indoctrinate young Muslim men in the hope of stopping them from joining a bloody insurgency, officials and activists say. Full Story

Sri Lanka military captures key northern town-govtPosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 8:27amSri Lankan troops have captured a strategically important coastal town from the Tamil Tigers, the defence ministry said on Wednesday, as government forces continue their push against the rebels' northern stronghold. Full Story

Karzai ousts presidential rivalPosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 8:29amPresident Hamid Karzai ousted Afghanistan's top prosecutor on Wednesday, a day after the official announced he would run in next year's presidential election. Karzai's office said Attorney General Abdul Jabar Sabet's plan to contest the election amounted to a resignation. Full Story

Rallies split Argentina before tax votePosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 8:38amTens of thousands of Argentine farmers and government supporters staged dueling protests Tuesday ahead of a Senate vote on a package of grain-export taxes that generated months of bitter farm strikes. The strikes and road blockades by farmers led to food shortages, cut grain exports and have eroded President Cristina Fernandez's popularity. Full Story

Bicycle bomb wounds 11 in southwest PakistanPosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 8:39amA bomb planted on a bicycle wounded 11 people, including five paramilitary soldiers, in a southwest Pakistani town where separatist rebels have long been active. Full Story

Mexico sends 1,260 troops Sinaloa statePosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 8:39amMexico has deployed 1,260 more federal police to a gang-plagued northern state where shooting sprees have killed at least 19 people in the past week. The Public Safety Department said Tuesday the deployment brings the number of federal agents in Sinaloa to 2,000. Full Story

Haiti cops tear gas unruly march for AristidePosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 8:41amHaitian police fired tear gas to disperse protesters who had stormed past barricades near the National Palace during a rally marking the 55th birthday of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Police had erected barricades at the Champs de Mars, the central plaza of Port-au-Prince, to prevent demonstrators from reaching the National Palace about two blocks away. Full Story

Irish unfazed over 'second vote'Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 8:51amThe Irish government has reacted coolly to the French president's remark that the Republic of Ireland should hold a new referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Prime Minister Brian Cowen said there were "many views across Europe about the problems we face" after the Irish rejection of the EU treaty on 12 June. But some Irish politicians sharply criticised President Nicolas Sarkozy. Full Story

French minister denounces burqaPosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 9:06amA Muslim member of the French government has backed a court's decision to deny citizenship to a Moroccan woman who wears the burqa. Urban Affairs Minister Fadela Amara said she hoped last month's ruling would "dissuade certain fanatics from imposing the burqa on their wives". Full Story

Bid to rescue Belgian governmentPosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 9:08amBelgium's King Albert II is holding emergency discussions with lawmakers following the resignation of the country's prime minister. The king has not yet formally accepted Yves Leterme's resignation, so he remains a caretaker prime minister. Full Story

Spanish Senate adopts EU treatyPosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 9:10amSpain's Senate has voted overwhelmingly to adopt the European Union's Lisbon Treaty, one month after it was rejected by Irish voters in a referendum. King Juan Carlos must still sign the treaty, at which point Spain will become the 23rd EU state to ratify it. Full Story

Brown defends fuel duty decisionPosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 9:36amGordon Brown has defended a decision to postpone a 2p rise in fuel duty after David Cameron suggested it was timed to coincide with next week's by-election. The prime minister said the move, which comes as oil prices continue to hit new peaks, would help people facing high food and fuel bills. Full Story

Risk of measles rises in many European countriesPosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 9:44amHoliday makers should not underestimate the risk of contracting measles during the summer travel season. Doctors report that the highly infectious virus is spreading through certain European countries, namely Switzerland, Austria, Ireland and England, and now also Italy, warned Germany's professional association for paediatricians in Cologne. Full Story

Jailed Yukos boss in release pleaPosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 9:46amLawyers acting for former Yukos chief executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky have requested his early release. Mr Khodorkovsky, Russia's richest man when arrested in 2003, was found guilty of tax evasion in 2005. Full Story

Turkish operation 'kills 22 PKK'Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 9:51amTurkish troops have killed 22 Kurdish guerrillas over the last five days in an operation in south-east Turkey, the Turkish military says. There has been no confirmation from the PKK guerrilla group. On Monday the military said two Turkish troops and three PKK fighters were killed in clashes in the same Sirnak province, near the Iraqi border. Full Story

Turkey charges 86 for 'coup plot'Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 9:56amA top Turkish prosecutor has brought charges against 86 people allegedly involved in a coup plot. Aykut Cengiz Engin said those charged included leading figures from the army, business and the secular press. The charges follow speculation about a shadowy group of hardline nationalists determined to act in what they see as defence of Turkey's secular values. Full Story

Russia vows to react to U.S. missile shieldPosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 10:03amPresident Dmitri Medvedev of Russia echoed his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, in a gritty foreign policy speech Tuesday, vowing to respond if Washington places missiles in Central Europe. He also promoted an idea he already has made a hallmark of his two-month-old presidency: calling for a new European security treaty he claims would remove the divisions Russia says that NATO has created. Full Story

Russia denies that politics lie behind halted oil deliveriesPosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 10:06amRussia has denied that political motives are behind a sudden reduction in oil deliveries to the Czech Republic that began a day after Prague annoyed the Kremlin by signing a missile-shield agreement with the United States. Although they mentioned "technical reasons" for the cut, Russian diplomats in Prague did not say when full supplies would be resumed, Czech officials said Monday. Full Story

Indictment says gang older than the RepublicPosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 10:11amAs the country grapples with the fact that senior generals, politicians and businessmen can be jailed on suspicions of planning of a coup and face terrorism charges, leaks in the indictment show there is more shock in store for Turkey with Ergenekon's ties to a mythical secret group among the many surprises. Full Story

PKK rivalry behind kidnapping of GermansPosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 10:15amAn ongoing internal power struggle within the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) appears to be the cause of the kidnapping of three German mountaineers in eastern Turkey, according to Turkish security sources.

Three Germans in a group of 13 mountaineers -- Helmut H. (65), Martin S. (47) and Lars R. (33) -- were kidnapped by the PKK last Tuesday on Mt. Ağrı (Ararat), and PKK members said they would not be released until Germany changes its "hostile" policies toward the group, designated as terrorist by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. The remaining 10 mountaineers returned to Germany over the weekend. Full Story

UK jobless level increases againPosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 10:20amUnemployment in the UK rose by 12,000 to 1.62 million in the three months to May, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said. The rate of unemployment was 5.2%, unchanged on the previous quarter. The number claiming unemployment benefit rose by 15,500 in June to 840,100 - the biggest jump since December 1992. Full Story

Convenient 'Suicide' Removes Key Witness In Kazakh ScandalPosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 10:23amGeneral Zhomart Mazhrenov spent more than 25 years in the service of the Soviet KGB, then Kazakhstan's National Security Committee (KNB). But on July 8, after a few weeks in a prison cell, the general decided to end it all -- and hang himself. Mazhrenov, it seems, had become ensnared in a power struggle between Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev and his disgraced former son-in-law, Rakhat Aliev. Full Story

Belarusian Police Disperse Protest Over DetentionsPosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 10:27amPolice in Belarus dispersed a protest by dozens of opposition activists denouncing what they said was the detention of comrades after a bomb blast at a concert attended by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

Riot police moved into the capital, Minsk's, main October Square on July 14 and pushed out about 30 demonstrators carrying portraits of opposition figures they said were being held after the July 4 explosion, which wounded more than 50 people. Full Story

Immigration 'harming communities'Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 10:36amRapid immigration has damaged community relations in parts of England, a report by the Commons communities and local government committee says. In three areas with high immigration - Peterborough, Burnley, and Barking and Dagenham - community cohesion is among the lowest in the country, the MPs say. Full Story

British government workers start two-day strikePosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 1:21pmThousands of British local government employees began a two-day strike over pay on Wednesday. Unions said they expected more than half a million workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to join the walkout that began at a minute past midnight (2301GMT Tuesday), closing museums, libraries, civic offices and some schools. Full Story

Belgium in crisis again as prime minister offers to quitPosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 1:24pmAfter an interlude of just four months, the crisis that prompted fears that Belgium would split returned with a vengeance Tuesday when the prime minister offered to quit after failing to broker a deal between the country's two main linguistic groups. Yves Leterme, a Flemish Christian Democrat, took office in March after the country had been without a permanent prime minister for nine months. Full Story

Irish reaction mixed on treaty commentPosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 1:30pmA call by French President Nicolas Sarkozy for a second Lisbon Treaty referendum was met with mixed reactions Wednesday in Ireland. The country was the only one of the 27-member European Union to have a public vote to ratify the proposed treaty, which would streamline the EU's governance structures to accommodate its expansion. Irish voters defeated it last month and Sarkozy commented Tuesday that they would "have to vote again," the BBC reported. Full Story

Croatia clings to optimism about EU accessionPosted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 1:32pmCroatian leaders, including president Stjepan Mesic and foreign minister Gordan Jandrokovic, are insisting that the country will be ready in 2009 to join the European Union in spite of the institutional crisis in the wake of Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. This emerges from interviews in recent days, including statements by Mesic to French daily Le Figaro published on July 15 and by Jandrokovic to Financial Times Deutschland on July 11. Full Story

President Nicolas Sarkozy 'turning France into monocracy'Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 1:39pmPresident Nicolas Sarkozy of France has been accused of wanting to turn the country into a "monocracy" as he scrambles to win last-minute backing for a constitutional reform bill, which he argues will strengthen parliament. The opposition Socialist party is calling for a No vote on the bill, which has split the ruling UMP party, and it is uncertain whether Mr Sarkozy can secure the required three-fifths majority in the upper and lower houses of parliament to push it through. Full Story

Courtesy Terrorism Research Center, Inc.