CONFLICT & TERROR 06/10

Spanish hauliers on fuel strike
Posted on Monday, June 9, 2008 at 7:41am
Tens of thousands of Spanish lorry drivers have begun an indefinite strike over the soaring price of diesel, which has risen by 20% this year. After stopping work at midnight, many disrupted traffic at one of the border crossings between Spain and France. Full Story

Brown in tribute to Afghan dead
Posted on Monday, June 9, 2008 at 7:42am
The prime minister has paid tribute to the courage of British troops in Afghanistan, as the number to have died there since 2001 reached 100. Gordon Brown said: "They have paid the ultimate price, but they have achieved something of lasting value." Full Story

Robust trade aids German economy
Posted on Monday, June 9, 2008 at 7:44am
Strong export growth has helped Germany boost its trade surplus but analysts have warned of weaker economic conditions affecting future prospects. Its surplus rose to an above-forecast 18.7bn euros ($27.6bn; #14.1bn) in April from 16.6bn euros the month before, according to official figures. Full Story

Greek earthquake aftershock warning
Posted on Monday, June 9, 2008 at 7:47am
Seismologists warned Monday that a strong aftershock was expected in southwestern Greece a day after a powerful earthquake killed two people and injured nearly 150. The quake, which had a preliminary magnitude of 6.5, struck Sunday afternoon near the western port city of Patras, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) west of Athens, the Athens Geodynamic Institute said. Full Story

Protest truckers plan to bring Spain to halt
Posted on Monday, June 9, 2008 at 7:50am
Tens of thousands of truckers went on strike Monday over soaring fuel costs, stalling their big rigs in "snail protests" that snarled traffic around Madrid and Barcelona. Spanish truckers. More than 90,000 drivers have been summoned to take part in the strike -- one of a number of Europe-wide protests against rising fuel prices. Full Story

Police: About 100 hooligans detained
Posted on Monday, June 9, 2008 at 7:56am
Police detained about 100 hooligans for shouting anti-Semitic slogans during Germany's European Championship match against Poland. Police on Sunday at first detained about 60 people, then a second group of 40 was taken into custody later, authorities said. Full Story

Thousands of European truckers join fuel protests
Posted on Monday, June 9, 2008 at 8:15am
Tens of thousands of truckers in Spain, France and Portugal on Monday stepped up protests against rising fuel prices, causing mayhem on highways and blocking border crossings. Huge tailbacks built up around major cities and on the French-Spanish border as French fishermen in Mediterranean ports ended their three-week strike over the spiralling cost of fuel. Full Story

Indonesia restricts minority sect but stops short of ban
Posted on Monday, June 9, 2008 at 8:58am
The Indonesian government announced tough restrictions against a minority Muslim sect on Monday as thousands of angry hardliners called for jihad, or holy war, against the group. The government move, which stopped short of a total ban demanded by hardliners, comes amid a raging debate over religious freedom as the mainly Muslim archipelago wrestles with its Islamic identity. Full Story

Aftershocks hit brimming China quake lake
Posted on Monday, June 9, 2008 at 9:01am
Chinese troops are carving a third drainage channel into the unstable dam holding back a big "quake lake," as water levels rise and aftershocks send more debris tumbling into the water, state media reported on Monday. Full Story

Bird-Flu Concerns Resurface
Posted on Monday, June 9, 2008 at 9:28am
Authorities here slaughtered 2,700 birds and banned live poultry imports from mainland China for as long as 21 days after a routine inspection Saturday found chickens in one of the city's poultry markets infected with the dangerous H5N1 bird-flu virus. Full Story

Pak govt scraps peace deal with Taliban
Posted on Monday, June 9, 2008 at 11:00am
Rattled by a fresh wave of suicide attacks, Pakistan government on Monday scrapped a deal signed last month with the Taliban that had been bitterly opposed by the United States and Afghanistan. Full Story

2 boys killed when a bomb they found explodes in the Philippines
Posted on Monday, June 9, 2008 at 11:00am
Police in the Philippines say two boys died and another was injured when a bomb they found behind a hospital exploded while they were playing with it. Full Story

Man denies city trip was for 7/7
Posted on Monday, June 9, 2008 at 2:00pm
A man who visited London months before the 7 July 2005 attacks has denied the trip was to find possible targets. Sadeer Saleem said there had been nothing untoward about his visit with two of the future suicide bombers. Full Story

Irish PM Cowen: We will win EU treaty vote
Posted on Monday, June 9, 2008 at 2:20pm
Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen predicted that Irish voters would say "Yes" in Thursday's referendum on the European Union reform treaty, after two opinion polls pointed to a close race. Ireland votes on June 12 in the only referendum on the treaty in an EU state, meaning that a country accounting for less than 1 percent of the bloc's 490 million population could derail a pact designed to reform how it is run. Full Story

Spanish gas stations begin to run out amid protest
Posted on Monday, June 9, 2008 at 2:53pm
Gas stations in Madrid and the northeastern Catalonia region began running out of fuel Monday as an indefinite strike by truckers began to bite. Antonio Onieva, president of Madrid's station owners organization, told reporters that by 5:30 p.m., 15 percent of the capital's outlets had run out of fuel. Manuel Amado, president of Catalonia's owners' federation, said 40 percent of Catalonia's 1,714 stations had sold out. Full Story

Greece orders villages evacuated in quake-hit area
Posted on Monday, June 9, 2008 at 4:27pm
Authorities evacuated three villages in southwestern Greece on Monday after seismologists warned that a strong aftershock was expected in areas where a powerful earthquake killed two people and injured more than 200. The quake, which had a preliminary magnitude of 6.5, struck Sunday afternoon near the western port city of Patras, about 120 miles west of Athens. Full Story

Rwandan suspects to be extradited
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 8:27am
Magistrates in London have upheld a request to extradite four men to Rwanda to face mass murder charges. They are wanted in connection with the genocide in 1994 in which 800,000 people were killed in 100 days. Full Story

Minister attacks Major on 42 days
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 8:32am
Claims by former prime minister Sir John Major that holding suspects for up to 42 days would increase terrorism have been rejected by the government. Home Office Minister Tony McNulty urged MPs to trust the police on the issue rather than Sir John who has been "out of the loop" for the past decade. Full Story

NI ministers meet PM on first day
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 8:38am
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been meeting Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness in Downing Street on their first day in office together. Mr Brown had promised to host the talks after Sinn Fein apparently threatened to derail Mr Robinson's elevation as first minister. Full Story

EU to work closer on anti-terrorism measures
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 10:36am
European Union governments agreed Thursday to work closer together to protect sensitive targets from a possible terrorist attack. In Luxembourg, EU interior ministers also approved a series of technical measures designed to make it easier to share information about criminals, including their DNA profiles. Full Story

French unemployment falls to its lowest level
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 11:24am
The French jobless rate fell to 7.2 percent of the working population in the first quarter of 2008, its lowest level since the early 1980s, according to official figures released Thursday. The unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points compared to the last quarter of 2007 and 1.2 points over a year, according to the figures from the INSEE statistics institute. Full Story

No camp 'gains' in Irish EU vote
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 12:39pm
Irish and EU officials say they are confident the EU reform treaty will pass an Irish referendum despite a poll suggesting the No vote is surging. A survey published by the Irish Times on Friday suggested 35% of people would vote No - more than twice the figure polled two weeks ago - against 30% Yes. Full Story

Call for EU to build its own army
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 12:59pm
An influential Polish member of the European parliament has called for the EU to develop "hard power" and spend more money to build a European army. Foreign affairs committee chairman Jacek Saryusz-Wolski also wants the European parliament to have the final say on deployments under the EU flag. Full Story

Official: Roadside bomb kills 6 Algerian soldiers
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 4:20pm
An Algerian security official says a roadside bomb killed six soldiers in a region where Islamic extremists remain active. Full Story

Turkish PM holds emergency meeting after headscarf defeat
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 4:29pm
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will hold an emergency meeting with senior aides Friday after Turkey's top court upheld a ban on the Islamic headscarf in universities, dampening his party's hopes of surviving a pending closure case. Erdogan cancelled his programmes in Istanbul and was to return to Ankara to chair the meeting of his Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) at 3 p.m. He also scrapped a trip to Switzerland on Saturday where he was to have watched Turkey's first Euro 2008 match against Portugal. Full Story

Medvedev warns against Nato entry
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 4:32pm
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned Georgia and Ukraine of serious consequences if they press ahead with plans to join Nato. Mr Medvedev and his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Georgia's president that joining the alliance would lead to a "spiral of confrontation". Full Story

Ukraine coalition loses majority
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 4:35pm
Ukraine's governing pro-Western coalition has lost its parliamentary majority after two members quit. One was from PM Yulia Tymoshenko's bloc, the other from President Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party. The coalition that first came to power after 2004's Orange Revolution now has 225 seats - exactly half of parliament. Full Story

Russia and Georgia take a softer tone
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 4:38pm
Meeting at a palace outside St. Petersburg on Friday, President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia and the Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, said their two countries could work out their differences, including a longstanding conflict over the separatist region of Abkhazia, without international assistance. Full Story

Military says working with Iran on PKK strikes
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 4:45pm
Turkey's military is cooperating with Iran by sharing information and coordinating strikes against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) based in northern Iraq, a senior Turkish general said on Thursday. Full Story

Venezuela fires missiles in exercises
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 5:21pm
Venezuela fired live missiles from fighter jets and ships Friday during exercises intended to demonstrate the firepower of President Hugo Chavez's military. Full Story

Russia: China chemical leak not a threat
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 5:22pm
A chemical leak in China's northeast killed three people, but the accident was contained and did not pose an environmental threat, Russian authorities said Friday. Eight people were also sickened when the phosgene gas leaked Thursday from a canister that was being dismantled at a plant in Qiqihaer, about 250 miles from the Russian border, Russia's Foreign Ministry said. Full Story

Some Somali Security Forces Reportedly Joining Pirates for Money
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 5:40pm
The mayor of a coastal town in Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland reports that poorly-paid government security force members are joining forces with local pirates, who are earning millions of dollars from ransom payments. Puntland officials acknowledge that huge ransoms from ship owners are encouraging more and more people to view piracy as a quick way to make money. Full Story

Israel to attack Iran unless enrichment stops: minister
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 6:11pm
An Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites looks "unavoidable" given the apparent failure of sanctions to deny Tehran technology with bomb-making potential, one of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's deputies said on Friday. Full Story

Ecuador, Colombia Reported to Restore Diplomatic Ties
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 6:11pm
The U.S.-based Carter Center says Colombia and Ecuador have agreed to restore some diplomatic ties following mediation efforts by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Full Story

Assailants attack police head in Russia's Chechnya
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 6:24pm
An explosion ripped apart a car carrying a district police chief in Chechnya on Friday and gunmen then shot at the burning vehicle, a source at the law enforcement agencies told Interfax news agency. Full Story

Pakistan seeks UN Bhutto inquiry
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 8:28pm
Pakistan's new government has asked the United Nations to investigate the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in December. A UN spokeswoman said the request was contained in a letter from Pakistan's Foreign Minister sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Full Story

Crackdown deals crushing blow to Mexican drug gangs
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 8:29pm
The Mexican government's 18-month campaign against the country's organized-drug gangs has cost the gangsters who lead them some $5.5 billion and all but shut down one of the largest smuggling operations, officials said on Friday. Full Story

Conviction upheld for Houston-born terrorist
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 8:30pm
A federal appeals court upheld the conviction Friday of a Virginia man convicted of joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate President Bush, but said that he must be re-sentenced. Full Story

Group urges recall of Venezuela diplomat
Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 9:18pm
A leading anti-Semitism watchdog group wants Venezuela's ambassador to Russia recalled. The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center says Ambassador Alexis Navarro made anti-Semitic comments. Full Story

Pak PM for early and peaceful solution of Kashmir issue
Posted on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 4:35am
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that an early, just and peaceful settlement of the Kashmir issue as per the wishes of the Kashmiris would help Pakistan and India to achieve harmony in the Valley. Gilani said this while talking to veteran Indian journalist and parliamentarian Kuldip Nayar. Full Story

Top militant among six killed in Thailand's restive south
Posted on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 4:36am
A man wanted over the killing of two Thai marines died in a gunfight during a bloody night that claimed five more lives in Thailand's Muslim-majority south, police said Saturday. Full Story

Pakistan defends talks with Taliban
Posted on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 4:37am
Pakistan's foreign minister said in Afghanistan yesterday that his government was not in talks with "terrorists" but only with "peace-loving" elements as part of a multi pronged strategy to fight extremism. Full Story

Israelis, Palestinians to start writing peace pact
Posted on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 4:37am
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have agreed to start drafting elements of a proposed peace accord, the chief Palestinian negotiator said Friday. Full Story

Top Hezbollah Commander Captured In Iraq
Posted on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 4:38am
The U.S. military in Iraq has captured the deputy military chief of the Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah, coalition officials said.Iraqi sources said the U.S. Army has arrested the No. 2 figure in Hezbollahs military wing. Full Story

Armed Attackers Ambush Home of Kosovo's Prime Minister
Posted on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 4:39am
Police say armed assailants have attacked the home of Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci.They say Thaci's security guards exchanged fire with the assailants, injuring at least one assailant. Full Story

IEA calls for $45trn global revolution in energy technology
Posted on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 4:40am
Governments around the world must spend $45 trillion (#23trn) if they are to halve carbon emissions by 2050, according to a leading energy watchdog, as it called for an "energy revolution". If current policies are maintained, CO2 emissions will more than double, The International Energy Agency (IEA) warned. Full Story

U.S. not seeking permanent Iraq bases, ambassador says
Posted on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 4:42am
The United States ambassador to Iraq dismissed any suggestion on Thursday that the Bush administration was maneuvering to set up permanent military bases in Iraq. "I'm very comfortable saying to you, to the Iraqis, to anyone who asks, that, no indeed, we are not seeking permanent bases, either explicitly or implicitly," the ambassador, Ryan C. Crocker, said at a State
Department news briefing. Full Story

Palestinian leader urges talks with Hamas
Posted on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 4:43am
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, called unexpectedly late Wednesday for a resumption of dialogue with the Islamic militant group Hamas, a move that could herald a breakdown of his peace talks with Israel. Full Story

Kremlin denies reports on strengthening of Russia's
Security Council
Posted on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 4:45am
The Kremlin chief of staff, Sergei Naryshkin, denied on Saturday reports that Russia's Security Council would be reformed and its powers increased.Reports in the Russian media on Friday said that a bill, supposedly to be submitted to the State Duma this fall, would give the Security Council the power to issue instructions to the government and to assume the functions of the presidential administration in personnel policy. Full Story

Bangladesh party rejects unity offer from rival
Posted on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 4:50am
A call for national unity by the party of detained former Bangladesh prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia was immediately rebuffed on Friday by its main rival in a sign the country's political cracks are as wide as ever. Full Story

Asian powers, US warn oil shock to hit global economy
Posted on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 4:51am
The United States and Asia's four largest powers voiced concern on Saturday after a record spike in oil price as worries grew that energy costs may derail the global economy. Oil prices, which have soared five-fold since 2003, posted their highest ever one-day gain of 10.75 dollars to close at a new record of 138.54 dollars in New York after hawkish remarks by an Israeli official on oil producer Iran. Full Story

Kosovo prime minister's home attacked
Posted on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 5:10pm
Armed assailants trying to break into the home of Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci exchanged fire with guards, but the leader was away and his family was not hurt, police said Saturday. Full Story

Al Qaedas North African Safe Haven
Posted on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 8:40pm
Afghanistan may not be the safe haven for Islamist terrorists it once was. Yes, its still a haven for terroristsits just no longer as safe for them, thanks to forces from America, Germany, Britain, France, Canada and several other nations keeping al Qaeda on the run. Considering the difficulty al Qaeda is now having in keeping its operations consolidated in the face of this military threat, it is only natural it would consider moving its center of operations. Full Story

G-8 Energy Chiefs Meet as Oil Soars
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 4:15am
Japan's energy chief launched a meeting of ministers from the world's top industrialized nations Sunday by warning that soaring oil prices could trigger a global recession if they're not checked. Full Story

At least 37 missing after Ukrainian mine blast
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 4:16am
An underground gas explosion at a colliery in Ukraine's Donbass coalfield injured at least three miners with a further 37 missing, officials said on Sunday. The blast occurred at about 5 a.m. local time, about 1 km underground at the Karl Marx pit in the Donetsk region, the heart of the coalfield. Full Story

India, China jostle for influence in Indian Ocean
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 4:17am
This battered harbor town on Sri Lanka's southern tip, with its scrawny men selling even scrawnier fish, seems an unlikely focus for an emerging international competition over energy supply routes that fuel much of the global economy. Full Story

Iraqi leader says security deal won't harm Iran
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 4:18am
Iraq's prime minister sought to ease Iranian fears over a proposed security deal with the U.S. Sunday, saying his government will not allow Iraq to become a launching pad for an attack on its neighbor. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during a two-day visit to Tehran that was expected to focus on the security pact, which Washington and Baghdad hope to finish by mid-summer. Full Story

Explosion at Basque newspaper, no injuries
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 4:19am
An explosion damaged the printing facilities of a Basque newspaper in northern Spain as people worked inside early Sunday but no one was injured, the Interior Ministry said. An apparent bomb detonated at the presses of El Correo near the port city of Bilbao at about 3 a.m. Sunday, a regional ministry spokesman said on condition of anonymity in keeping with government rules. Full Story

Pakistan to ask Saudi Arabia to defer oil payments
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 4:19am
Pakistan is to ask Saudi Arabia if it can defer paying for oil imports worth two billion dollars as it grapples with a deteriorating economic situation fuelled by rise in global crude prices. Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani is in the desert kingdom to perform umrah (a pilgrimage to Mecca). Full Story

Russian President Warns West
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 4:20am
Medvedev said Thursday in his first major foreign policy speech that if NATO moves to expand further east it would seriously undermine relations between Russia and the West. Full Story

Israeli troops kill Gaza militant
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 4:21am
A Palestinian medical official says Israeli troops have killed a Hamas militant on the Gaza-Israel border. Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Gaza Health Ministry says an Israeli tank killed the militant near Gaza City. Hamas confirms the man was a member of the group and says two of his comrades were wounded. Full Story

Three guerrillas killed in Philippines
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 4:23am
Pro-government militiamen have killed three communist guerrillas when the rebels attacked their outpost in the northern Philippines, a military official says. One militiaman was also wounded in the clash with the communist New People's Army (NPA) in Sallapadan town before dawn on Satuday, said military spokesman Major Rosendo Armas. Full Story

US military arrests 2 suspected militiamen in Iraq
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 4:24am
U.S. soldiers in Baghdad captured an Iraqi arms dealer and "assassination squad" leader responsible for trafficking Shiite extremists in and out of neighboring Iran for training, the military said Sunday. The arrest reinforced long-standing U.S. allegations that Iran arms, trains and funds Shiite Muslim militiamen inside Iraq  charges that Tehran denies. The arrest also coincided with a two-day visit to Iran by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, his second such trip in a year. Full Story

South Korean Protesters Clash With Police in Anti-U.S. Beef Rallies
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 4:24am
South Korean protesters fought with police, tried to overturn riot-control buses and smashed their windows Sunday amid a deepening political crisis over U.S. beef imports, hours after their president appealed to Washington for help to ease growing public anger. Full Story

Ruling Pakistan party says to cut Musharraf's power
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 4:25am
Pakistan's ruling party has said it is determined to curtail the powers of the presidency in favor of parliament, whether President Pervez Musharraf likes it or not. Staunch U.S. ally Musharraf, facing a chorus of calls to resign, told journalists on Saturday, in his first meeting with the media for weeks, that he had no plan to quit. Full Story

Fatah, Hamas emissaries meet in Dakar under Senegalese mediation
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 4:26am
The Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, at loggerheads since the Islamist Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip last year, have sent emissaries to Dakar to engage in a "process of fraternal dialogue" mediated by Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, a statement said Saturday. Full Story

Iraqi leader says security deal won't harm Iran
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 4:28am
Iraq's prime minister sought to ease Iranian fears over a proposed security deal with the U.S. Sunday, saying his government will not allow Iraq to become a launching pad for an attack on its neighbor. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during a two-day visit to Tehran that was expected to focus on the security pact, which Washington and Baghdad hope to finish by mid-summer. Full Story

Turkish warplanes strike Kurdish rebels in Iraq: army
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 4:29am
Turkish warplanes bombed separatist Kurdish rebels in neighboring northern Iraq late Saturday, the Turkish army said in a statement. The raid against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) began at 10:30 pm (1930 GMT) and targeted the Zap area, close to Turkey's border with Iraq, said the brief statement on the general staff's Internet site. Full Story

Taliban Rebels Kill District Governor, Several Others in Afghanistan
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 2:43pm
Officials in Afghanistan say Taliban rebels killed a district governor and at least two others during an ambush in the country's east Sunday. Full Story

Bombs kill 13 in Algeria
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 3:52pm
Two bombs exploded Sunday at a train station in Algeria, killing 13 people and wounding several others, a security official in the North African nation said. Full Story

Chavez urges Farc to free hostages
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 4:43pm
Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, has urged Colombian rebels to lay down their weapons, free all their hostages and put an end to a decades-long armed struggle against the Bogota government. Full Story

Militants attack convoy, kill 11 Afghan police
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 4:48pm
Insurgents attacked a police convoy in central Afghanistan on Sunday, killing 11 police and wounding one, an official said. Militants in the east attacked and killed four men, including a local government official. Full Story

Thousands clash with police in Egyptian bread riot
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 5:46pm
Thousands of demonstrators fought with police after a protest over flour rations in a town on Egypt's Mediterranean coast, a security official and state media said Sunday. Full Story

British Afghanistan death toll hits 100
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 6:28pm
Three British paratroopers were killed in the southern Afghan province of Helmand on Sunday in a suicide bomb attack, bringing total British military deaths in Afghanistan since 2001 to 100. Full Story

Al Qaeda threat has analysts split into 2 opposing camps
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 6:29pm
A bitter personal struggle between two powerful figures in the world of terrorism has broken out, forcing their followers to choose sides. This battle is not being fought in the rugged no man's land on the Pakistani-Afghan border. It is a contest reverberating inside the Beltway between two of America's leading theorists on terrorism and how to fight it, two men who hold opposing views on the very nature of the threat. Full Story

Former Saddam figures moved to Iraqi control
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 6:30pmEight former members of Saddam Hussein's regime have been transferred from U.S. to Iraqi control, Iraqi officials said Sunday. Full Story

Gazprom Wants to Build Pipeline From Alaska
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 6:32pm
Gazprom wants to join a gas pipeline project in Alaska and has already made a proposal to BP and ConocoPhillips, its chief executive Alexei Miller said Saturday. Full Story

Bahrain to name ambassador to Iraq
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 7:18pm
Bahrain's Foreign Minister Khaled bin Ahmad al-Khalifa said on Sunday the country is to appoint an ambassador to Iraq, days after US-ally the United Arab Emirates announced a similar move. Full Story

Military Supercomputer Sets Record
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 7:44pm
An American military supercomputer, assembled from components originally designed for video game machines, has reached a long-sought-after computing milestone by processing more than 1.026 quadrillion calculations per second. Full Story

Irish Opposition to EU Treaty Rises, Poll Shows
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 7:47pm
Opposition among Irish voters to the new European Union treaty increased, according to an opinion poll commissioned by the Sunday Business Post. Full Story

Cuba rejects US human trafficking list
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 9:03pm
Cuba on Sunday rejected U.S. claims that it does not do enough to combat human trafficking, saying that Washington "has a lot to learn" about life on the island. Full Story

Farm crisis spooks Argentine economy
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 9:28pm
Argentina, one of the world's biggest breadbaskets, should be rolling in cash as world food prices soar. Full Story

Indian Police probes into parcel offices smuggling goods for LTTE
Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 9:34pm
"With security tightened in the coastal belts, persons supplying explosives and essential commodities to the LTTE are using services of parcel offices to smuggle the contraband", Indian News sources reported citing a top Indian Police official yesterday (June 8). Full Story

Courtesy Terrorism Research Center, Inc.

CONFLICT & TERROR 06/07

Arrests cripple another of New York's five Mafia families

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 6:37am

US federal prosecutors said they arrested nine members of the Colombo clan, one of the powerful alleged organized crime families of New York city, including the group's acting boss. Full Story


Report: Iran, Turkey coordinate Iraq strikes

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 6:38am

A Turkish TV station is quoting a senior military commander as saying that Turkey and Iran have carried out coordinated strikes against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. Full Story


Philippine Maoist rebels raid port, burn trucks

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 6:38am

About 50 heavily armed communist rebels, some wearing ski masks, raided a port in the central Philippines and burned trucks and robbed workers of money and jewellery, police said on Thursday. Full Story


Power plant in Slovenia shut down after water leak

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 7:02am

A reactor at Slovenia's only nuclear power plant was shut down Wednesday after a water leak, but there was no danger to people or the environment, the country's nuclear watchdog said. Full Story


Brown makes pledge on forces' pay

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 11:07am

The prime minister says the government will do "everything in our power" to help members of the armed forces, after criticism of how much they get paid. Mr Brown said a White Paper would set out the help available to troops in areas such as healthcare and education. Full Story


China quake zone gets 184 aftershocks in 24 hours

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 11:13am

In the 24 hours ending Wednesday noon, 184 aftershocks were monitored in southwest China's quake zone, according to the China Seismological Bureau. Full Story


Fresh fighting in Sri Lanka kills dozens -military

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 11:13am

Sri Lankan troops killed 39 Tamil Tiger rebels during clashes in the island's far north, the military said on Thursday. Full Story


Nepal Maoists give up claim to presidency

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 11:14am

Nepal's Maoist former rebels gave up their claim to the post of the first president of a new republic on Thursday and said they would back a non-political candidate for the ceremonial post. Full Story


Danes working with Pakistanis investigating blast

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 11:14am

A Danish team has arrived in Pakistan to work with agents investigating a suicide car-bomb attack on Denmark's embassy which al Qaeda said it carried out in revenge for the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. Full Story


Police in Tibet arrest 16 monks as bombing suspects

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 11:14am

Police in Tibet said they have arrested 16 Buddhist monks and are seeking another three who were allegedly involved in three separatist bomb attacks and plots. Full Story


Manila to buy 10 military helicopters from Singapore

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 11:15am

The Philippines is negotiating to buy 10 second-hand combat helicopters from Singapore to beef up the military's efforts to defeat Muslim and communist rebels, a senior general said on Wednesday. Full Story


Robinson is new NI first minister

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 11:53am

Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness have been appointed first and deputy first ministers of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Mr Robinson was nominated by former DUP leader Ian Paisley and Mr McGuinness by Sinn Fiin president Gerry Adams. Full Story


Blair says Brown 'not to blame'

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 11:56am

Gordon Brown is not to blame for Britain's economic woes, former prime minister Tony Blair has said. Mr Blair said all world leaders were facing "tough times" as a result of things - the credit crunch and high oil prices - which were not their fault. Full Story


Man targets Dundonians for attack

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 12:10pm\A man knocked a stranger unconscious in the street - because he thought he was from Dundee, a court has heard. Peter Cameron, 36, had been hunting for Dundonians in the minutes leading up to the attack on Alexander Duncan in Pitlochry on Valentine's Day. Full Story


Spanish judge charges 11 with plotting suicide attack in Barcelona

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 12:29pm

A Spanish judge charged 11 suspected Islamic extremists Thursday with plotting suicide attacks against the public transport network in Barcelona. The indictment says the cell had planned to carry out several bombings in Spain's second-largest city in January of this year. Full Story


British bird flu scare hits Netherlands

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 12:42pm

Following an outbreak of bird flu at a British farm on Tuesday, the Dutch agriculture minister is calling for extra vigilance among the local poultry sector. Dutch Agriculture Minister Gerda Verburg has ordered all vehicles used for the transport of British poultry or eggs to be disinfected. She has called on the Dutch poultry sector to be extra vigilant and for private poultry keepers to vaccinate their birds. Full Story


Bomb on Pakistani rail track kills two children

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 1:00pm

Militants blew up a railway track in an attack that killed two children in Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan on Thursday, police said. Full Story


Philippines to send 100 more peacekeepers to Sudan

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 1:00pm

The Philippines is sending 100 more peacekeepers to Sudans war-ravaged Darfur, where about 200,000 people have died from the combined effects of war and famine, the Philippine Mission to the United Nations said Thursday. Full Story


'Situation critical at quake-lake'

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 1:00pm

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Thursday said the situation in the swollen Tangjiashan 'quake-lake' in south west China was at a "critical juncture" even as a fresh tremor complicated efforts to empty it. Full Story


Afghan borders concern NATO force leader

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 1:00pm

As the new commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan expressed fresh concern over rising activity by militants in Pakistan's tribal areas, two powerful suicide bombs killed two people and wounded several others near the Pakistani border on Wednesday. Full Story


Nearly 12,000 are arrested in roundup in Bangladesh

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 1:01pm

The army-backed caretaker government in Bangladesh that has netted hundreds of politicians and businesspeople in a yearlong anticorruption drive has now rounded up nearly 12,000 people in what it calls a crusade against crime. Full Story


New trafficking law for Thailand

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 1:01pm

The law, which strengthens protection for victims of trafficking, will be accompanied by a day of campaigning to raise public awareness of the problem. Full Story


More than 10 Taliban killed in Afghanistan

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 4:03pm

Attacks by coalition and Afghan forces have killed more than 10 Taliban in Afghanistan. Faridullah Khan, deputy provincial police chief of the southern province of Zabul, says nine Taliban were killed in airstrikes after militants launched an early morning attack on an army convoy. Full Story



Canadians scare off pirate attack near Somalia

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 6:24am

Canadian troops conducting anti-terrorism operations in the waters near Somalia appear to have scared off a pirate attack on a

commercial vessel. Full Story


Video shop bombing kills 3 in Pakistan

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 6:25am

A bomb explosion ripped through a video shop in a business center of northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, killing three people and wounding three, police said. Full Story


Sri Lanka commuters hit by bomb

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 6:31am

A packed commuter train in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, has been hit by a bomb, the military says. At least 17 people were injured. The bomb exploded seconds after the last carriage of the train had passed by, according to the army website. Full Story


Japan suspends imports of British poultry due to bird flu

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 6:35am

Japan said Wednesday that it was suspending imports of poultry from Britain after a bird flu outbreak on a farm there. Full Story


French, Italian fishermen take fuel protest to EU

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 6:35am

Police sealed off parts of the European Union district of Brussels on Wednesday as hundreds of fishermen demonstrated against the soaring price of fuel. Full Story


Detentions over Indonesia clashes

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 6:36am

Indonesian have detained 57 members of a hard-line Muslim group following violence at a rally for religious tolerance, officials say. Police rounded up members of the Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI) at the group's headquarters in Jakarta. Full Story


China warning to Olympic visitors

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 6:39am

Organisers of the Beijing Olympics have warned foreign visitors against political activism during the Games. The official website advises them not to shout or display political or religious slogans at the event. Full Story


Parts of Indonesian capital swamped by tidal wave

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 7:51am

A tidal wave of over 2 metres flooded parts of Jakarta overnight as the city government and citizens raced to hold the water back with emergency embankments, a government official said on Wednesday. The height of the water was far greater than earlier predicted. Full Story


Militants blow up video shops in north-west Pakistan

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 8:03am

At least three people were injured Wednesday when suspected Islamic militants blew up about two dozen music and video shops in two blasts in north-western Pakistan, officials and witnesses said. The injuries occurred when a bomb planted inside a music shop in the Kohat district of North-West Frontier Province exploded, damaging the building. Full Story


Four killed in Thai south, police

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 8:10am

Four people have been killed in attacks by suspected separatists across Thailand's far south, police say, including one woman who died when a bomb ripped through a fair. Last night's bomb hit an annual event organised by the Thai Red Cross in Yala province. A 24-year-old Buddhist women was killed, while four people were seriously injured, Yala police said. Full Story


Bangladesh police detain over 10,000

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 8:25am

Authorities say police have detained more than 10,000 people in a nationwide anti-crime drive over the past week in Bangladesh. Full Story


Israel closes Gaza fuel crossing

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 8:27am

The Israeli army says it has closed the Gaza fuel crossing after an errant rocket fired by militants wounded a Palestinian worker at the terminal. Full Story


Irish farmers support EU treaty

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 8:32am

The influential Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) has thrown its support behind the EU's Lisbon Treaty ahead of a key referendum on 12 June. Ireland is the only one of the 27 EU member countries to try to ratify the treaty through a referendum rather than a parliamentary vote. Full Story


Air plot accused 'expects prison'

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 8:41am

The alleged leader of a terrorist plot to blow up passenger planes has told a jury he does not expect to return home at the end of his trial. Abdullah Ahmed Ali's comments follow his admission that he planned an explosion at Heathrow's Terminal Three. Full Story


Brown attacked over road tax plan

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 9:08am

David Cameron has told Gordon Brown he will be ousted if he does not drop his "deeply unpopular" plans for higher road tax on more polluting cars. In angry question time exchanges, he challenged Mr Brown: "Don't you understand that if you don't get rid of it, they will get rid of you?" Full Story


Islambad: emboldened militants' head-on attack on the West

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 10:40am

Yesterdays car bomb outside the Danish Embassy in Islamabad should not be dismissed as just another attack, of a kind that still remains rare in Pakistans cities. It is a sign that Islamic militants have been encouraged by the Governments turmoil and are turning it to their advantage. Full Story


European fishermen protest outside EU building

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 10:42am

Fishermen from France, Italy, Spain and Portugal gathered outside the European Union's headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday to demand cheaper petrol. About 200 protesters were being kept at a safe distance from the European Commission's building by anti-riot police, ready to fire water cannons should temper flare. Full Story


Poland aims for high-speed rail service by 2020

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 10:45am

Poland, where rail travel is notoriously sluggish, is hoping to have its first high-speed train service up and running by 2020, Infrastructure Minister Cezary Grabarczyk announced on Tuesday. Laying a new line capable of handling high-speed trains between Warsaw and the western cities of Poznan and Wroclaw could in theory slash journey times by more than half. Full Story


Bomb scare at French finance ministry

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 10:48am

Several thousand people were evacuated from the French finance ministry in Paris on Tuesday following a bomb scare, ministry officials and police said. The ministry said it received an anonymous telephone call warning that an explosion would occur at 10:00 am. Full Story


Belgian police clash with fishermen protesting fuel prices

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 12:23pm

Riot police armed with shields and batons charged hundreds of protesting fishermen outside European Union headquarters Wednesday after a demonstration over high fuel prices turned violent. Protesters hurled flares, firecrackers and rocks at police beyond razor-wire barricades. They also fired flare guns at the EU headquarters building.



As they retreated down the main boulevard through Brussels' European Union district, protesters broke into some EU buildings, smashing windows and dragging out flags and other material to light bonfires in the street. Full Story


Impact of earthquake on the Chinese economy is seen as minimal

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 1:29pm

The powerful earthquake that hit southwestern China three weeks ago has been devastating for people in the affected region but seems to have had a limited effect on China's economy. Only 1 percent of China's population lived in the quake-affected area, in northern Sichuan Province. They produced an even smaller share of China's economic output because many of them were impoverished farmers. Full Story


Gorbachev calls for purge museum

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 1:30pm

The Soviet Union's last leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, has signed a petition for a museum to commemorate the millions of victims of communist repression. Mr Gorbachev said the special museum should be set up inside what was one of the most notorious Soviet detention centres, the Butyrka prison in Moscow. Full Story


Medvedev replaces chief of Russia's armed forces

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 1:33pm

President Dmitri Medvedev dismissed the chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces Tuesday, moving to tighten the Kremlin's grip on the massive military and its purse strings. Medvedev announced the removal of General Yuri Baluyevsky, who was loyal to the Kremlin but had become an obstacle to a campaign launched by former President Vladimir Putin to tighten control over military spending. >
Monitors in Macedonia insist on partial revotePosted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 1:36pmMacedonia's election breached international standards and a decision on the legitimacy of the vote can be made only after voting is repeated in Albanian areas where violence occurred, a leading election monitoring group said Monday.The conservative prime minister, Nikola Gruevski, overwhelmingly won the election Sunday in a vote seen as a test of the country's preparedness for joining the European Union and NATO. But rather than proving its Western credentials, the elections were overshadowed by infighting between rival ethnic Albanian parties in which one person was killed and several were wounded. Full Story


AKP focuses on top court's final word on headscarf amendments

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 1:41pm

The top court's verdict on a constitutional amendment to allow the headscarf in universities will likely shape the ruling party's written defense in the closure case against it, party officials told the Turkish Daily News yesterday.The Justice and Development Party (AKP) will submit its written defense as early as possible but only after seeing the verdict, the officials said. Full Story


T\SIAD supports AK Party closure, says former ambassador

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 1:44pm

Former Swedish Ambassador to Turkey Ann Dismorr has stated that many members of the Turkish Industrialists and Business-men's Association (T\SIAD) support the closure of the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party) by Turkey's top court. Full Story


Tajikistan: Plot Thickens Around Banker's Disappearance

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 1:53pm

A month after the suspicious disappearance of wealthy banker Hasan Sadulloev -- the brother-in-law of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon -- Tajik state television claims to have aired recent footage of the missing man.



During a report covering Rahmon's trip to the eastern town of Roghun over the weekend, the television channel broadcast a video of a man it identified as Sadulloev, the 40-year-old head of Orienbank, apparently listening to Rahmon's speech. Under normal circumstances, it would have been the usual footage of an important bank director accompanying the president on a domestic trip, as Sadulloev often did. Full Story


Turkey: Religious Officials Criticized For Stance On Women

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 1:56pm

"Women have to be more careful, since they possess stimulants," and they "have to be covered properly so as not to show their ornaments and figures to strangers." Those are two of the controversial "dos" and "don'ts" given to Turkish women in the "Sexual Life" article that appeared last week on the website of Turkey's Directorate on Religious Affairs, the Diyanet.



It added that if women have to communicate to the opposite sex they "should speak in a manner that will not arouse suspicion in one's heart and in such seriousness and dignity that they will not let the opposite party misunderstand them." Full Story


Alert issued over Slovenia nuclear plant incident

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 3:17pm

A reactor at Slovenia's only nuclear power plant was being shut down Wednesday after a water leak, but there was no danger to people or the environment, the country's nuclear watchdog said. A statement from the Nuclear Safety Administration said the reactor at the Krsko power plant was being shut down as a precaution so that technicians can inspect the cause of the problem. Full Story


Sri Lanka rebels blast rail track, 27 wounded

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 4:12pm

Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels blew up a rail track near the Sri Lankan capital on Wednesday, wounding at least 27 people, the military said, the second attack on the rail network in just over a week. Full Story


Suicide attack on NATO kills 2 Afghan children

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 4:12pm

A suspected Taliban suicide car bomber rammed a convoy of NATO-led forces in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing two Afghan children and wounding three alliance soldiers, police officers said. Full Story


Maoist rebels kill 3 soldiers in Philippines

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 4:13pm

Maoist-led guerrillas killed three soldiers in an ambush on Wednesday in the Philippines' central Bicol region, an army commander said. Full Story


Militants blow up video, music shops in Pakistan

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 4:13pm

Militants blew up two dozen video and music stalls on Wednesday in a Pakistani region on the Afghan border where supporters of al Qaeda and the Taliban have tried to enforce strict Muslim rule, witnesses said. Full Story



China Lists Dos and Donts for Olympics-Bound Foreigners

Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 8:14am

Do not bring any printed materials critical of China. Do not plan on holding any rallies or demonstrations in China. Do not think that you are guaranteed an entry visa even if you hold tickets to an Olympic event. And do not even think about smuggling opium into China. Full Story


Myanmar Rulers Still Impeding Access

Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 8:15am

One month after a powerful cyclone struck Myanmar and 10 days after the ruling juntas leader promised full access to the hardest-hit areas, relief agencies said Monday that they were still having difficulty reaching hundreds of thousands of survivors in urgent need of assistance. Full Story


Six civilians killed by mine in northern Sri Lanka

Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 8:25am

Six civilians including two children were killed and four others were injured in a claymore mine explosion in a rebel- controlled area in northern Sri Lanka, local media said Tuesday.



The civilians were traveling for a Hindu religious festival in Maangakulam area when their van was caught in the claymore blast in Poothur, 280 kilometres north of the capital on Monday night, the survivors said. Full Story


Tiananmen security tight for China massacre anniversary

Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 8:31am

Security was tight in Beijing's central Tiananmen Square on Tuesday ahead of the 19th anniversary of the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests that left hundreds, possibly thousands, dead. Police vans were circling on and around the square, the focus of major bloodshed nearly a generation ago, as tourists were arriving in numbers on a grey, rainy day. Full Story


Five killed in Thai south as death toll rises to 3,300: police

Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 8:42am

Suspected separatists killed five people in Thailand's Muslim-majority south, police said Tuesday, as the death toll in the region soared to 3,300 in more than four years of violence. A spree of shootings hit the far south on Monday evening, with two Muslim men in their 50s and a teenager killed in separate attacks across Narathiwat province, local police said. Full Story
Denmark: Al-Qaida likely behind bomb in Pakistan

Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 8:57am

Denmark's intelligence service cast blame on al-Qaida for an attack near its embassy in Pakistan, saying the terror network or one of its affiliates was likely behind the car bomb that killed six people.



No one had claimed responsibility by Tuesday, a day after the explosion, which came just weeks after the terrorist group threatened Denmark over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad reprinted earlier this year in newspapers in that country. Full Story


Fishermen hold fuel price protest outside ministry

Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 9:00am

Hundreds of fishermen protested in London on Tuesday against high diesel prices which they say threatens to drive them out of business, in the latest of a series of European fuel protests. The fishermen, mainly from Cornwall and supported by some of their French counterparts, gathered outside the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to urge the government to provide an aid package to help them survive. Full Story


UN sets out food crisis measures

Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 9:21am

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged nations to seize an "historic opportunity to revitalise agriculture" as a way of tackling the food crisis. Mr Ban told a UN-sponsored summit in Rome that food production would have to rise by 50% by 2030 to meet demand.Full Story


Deadly Pakistan embassy bomb raises security fears

Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 9:23am

A day after a bomb attack outside the Danish embassy, Pakistani investigators questioned residents and tested the residue of the explosives used, while suspicion for the blast fell on al Qaeda or its allies.



Monday's suicide car bombing in the capital, Islamabad, followed a relative lull in militant attacks since a new government made up of parties opposed to President Pervez Musharraf came to power after February elections. Full Story


UK terror suspect says bombs were stunt

Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 9:28am

A man accused of planning to bomb North America-bound airliners said Monday that he was planning a publicity stunt, not mass murder. Abdulla Ahmed Ali, one of eight British Muslims charged with plotting to detonate liquid explosives aboard passenger jets, denied ever thinking about blowing up an airplane.



He told Woolwich Crown Court he wanted to give Londoners a jolt  and attract attention for a movie he was making  by placing a small bomb at London's Houses of Parliament. Full Story


Technical problems plague Nordic markets

Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 9:43am

Technical problems played havoc on Nasdaq OMX stock exchanges across the Nordic region Tuesday, postponing market openings in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and the Baltic countries for up to seven hours. "We're frantically working to solve the problem," Nasdaq OMX spokesman Carl Norell said. Full Story


Austria tightens border for Euros

Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 9:50am

Austria has re-imposed border controls as part of a major security operation for the European football Championship, which starts on Saturday. Co-hosts Austria and Switzerland are expecting an invasion of five million fans for the tournament. Full Story


Norway court acquits 3 men in embassy bomb plots

Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 10:07am

Three Norwegians were acquitted Tuesday of plotting attacks against Israeli and U.S. embassies in 2006, but one was convicted of a shooting at an Oslo synagogue. The Oslo District Court said there was insufficient evidence against Arfan Bhatti and two other suspects in Norway's first terrorism trial since anti-terror laws were strengthened after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Full Story


Air accused 'targeted Terminal 3'

Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 10:10am

A man accused of leading a plot to blow up passenger planes has admitted planning to set off an explosive device at an airport. Abdullah Ahmed Ali, 27, told Woolwich Crown Court he had initially wanted to target Parliament, but abandoned the idea because security was too tight. Full Story


Runway at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport closed after World War II bomb unearthed

Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 10:24am

Schiphol airport has closed one of its five runways after a World War II bomb was unearthed during excavations nearby. Army explosives experts say the 500-pound (226-kilogram) bomb must remain still for 54 hours because it was moved during its discovery. Full Story


Moderate quake hits Indonesia's Sumatra

Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 11:13am

A moderate 5.2-magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia's Sumatra island on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said. The quake hit at 1015 GMT, 185 kilometres southwest of the city of Sibolga in North Sumatra province, the USGS said. Full Story


Coal mine flood leaves 13 missing in northeast China

Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 11:13am

Thirteen miners remain missing after a coal mine flood last week in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, local authorities said Tuesday. Full Story


US Army Gen. David D. McKiernan takes over NATO command in Afghanistan

Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 11:14am

The American general who led the ground invasion of Iraq took command of the 40-nation NATO-led campaign in Afghanistan on Tuesday. Full Story


Abducted Davao Oriental police chief found dead -- sources

Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 11:15am

A provincial police chief was found dead Tuesday shortly after he and his aide were abducted by suspected communist guerrillas in the southern Philippines, police sources said. Full Story



UK's Brown defends terrorism plans, rebellion brews



Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 6:23amBritish Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday he would stick to his principles over plans to detain terrorism suspects for longer prior to being charged despite the prospect of a humiliating defeat in parliament. Full Story


Blast kills four outside Danish embassy in Pakistan

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 6:26am

At least four people were killed and dozens injured today in a large bomb blast outside the Danish embassy in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. Dawn News TV aired footage from the scene showing wrecked cars caught in the explosion and a large crater in the ground. Full Story


Taliban leader flaunts power inside Pakistan

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 6:27am

With great fanfare, the Pakistani Army flew journalists to a rugged corner of the nation's lawless tribal areas in May to show how decisively it had destroyed the lairs of the Taliban, including a school for suicide bombers, in fighting early this year. Full Story


Nuclear inspectors to visit Syria

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 6:51am

The UN nuclear agency has said that Syria is to allow inspectors to visit the country to investigate allegations that it was building a nuclear reactor. The International Atomic Energy Agency says its inspectors are due in Syria between the 22 and 24 June. Full Story


Missile fired at house in NW Pakistan-residents

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 7:57am

At least one missile was fired at a house next to a mosque in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, almost completely destroying the building but killing no one, a resident of the area said. Security officials said they had no information about any blasts in a village in the North Waziristan region, a militant hotbed on the Afghan border. Full Story


Dengue kills 114 in the Philippines since start of year

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 8:18am

At least 114 people have died from dengue fever in the Philippines since the start of the year, the health department said Monday. The death toll through May 3 was up 24 per cent from 90 fatalities during the same period in 2007. Full Story


Aviation boss criticises Heathrow

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 8:55am

Service levels at Heathrow Airport are "a national embarrassment", Giovanni Bisignani, head of International Air Transport Association (Iata) has said. He also criticized the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), saying it was allowing Heathrow to increase charges by 86% over the next five years. Full Story


Bomb hits Pakistan Danish embassy

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 8:56am

At least eight people have been killed in a car bomb attack near the Danish embassy in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, according to reports. About 30 people were wounded. An embassy worker was among the dead and three were hurt, but no Danish citizens died, Danish officials said. Full Story


Brown 'will stick to' terror plan

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 9:09am

Gordon Brown says he is determined to stick to his principles over plans to allow police to detain terror suspects for 42 days without charge. The prime minister says the extension from 28-days is needed because the security services are pursuing around 2,000 terrorists and 30 plots. Full Story


Bombing wounds 3 in Basque Country in Spain

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 9:36am

A bomb exploded early Sunday in the city of Zarautz in Spain's Basque country, slightly injuring three people, a government official said. Police, acting on an anonymous phone tip, were inspecting the area near the Amenabar company's offices east of the city when the bomb went off at about 2:30 a.m., a regional Interior Ministry spokesman said. Full Story


Bombing sparks evacuation of embassy in Pakistan

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 9:38am

Norway's embassy in Islamabad was evacuated on Monday after the nearby Danish embassy was hit by a massive car bomb. The foreign ministry also issued a warning against travel to Pakistan. "We're closing the embassy, and moving out all personnel," Aud Marit Wiig, Norway's ambassador to Pakistan, told Aftenposten.no. Full Story


PM 'lacks Blair way with people'

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 9:53am

Gordon Brown does not have the ability to win people over that his predecessor had, former Labour fund-raiser Lord Levy has said. The prime minister cannot "sell and project himself" like Tony Blair, he said at the Hay Festival in Powys. Full Story


European bloc at standstill pending a vote in Ireland

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 9:54am

Never famous for speedy decision making, the European Union is working more slowly than ever  and it is all the fault of the Irish. Ireland, with a population of 4.2 million, votes June 12 in a referendum that will decide whether the European Union finally gets a full-time president and a single, more powerful, foreign policy chief. Full Story


China quake death toll rises to 69,019

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 10:37am

The death toll in China's major earthquake increased by three to 69,019 as of Monday noon, the Information Office of the State Council said. Full Story


China, Vietnam agree to further boost economic ties

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 10:37am

China and Vietnam vowed to expand trade and cooperation in various fields in a joint statement issued in Beijing on Sunday. Full Story


New round of climate talks opens in Germany

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 12:01pm

Some 2,000 delegates from 162 countries and dozens of specialist agencies opened a two-week conference Monday to start tackling the details of a new global warming agreement slated to take effect after 2012.



The meeting builds on a landmark accord reached last December on the Indonesian island of Bali. For the first time, the United States, China and India indicated they would join a coordinated effort to control the carbon emissions blamed for global warming. Full Story


Indian Maoist rebels destroy railway tracks, buildings

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 12:44pm

Maoist insurgents blew up railway tracks and three government buildings in eastern India on Monday, police said. Full Story


Indonesian Muslim hard-liner urges followers to prepare for war against minority

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 12:44pm

An Indonesian Muslim hardliner is urging his followers to "prepare for war" against a minority Islamic sect. Habib Rizhiq also says he would not surrender to police any of his followers involved in a violent attack on members of the Ahmadiyah sect and their supporters Sunday. Full Story


Arroyo orders energy, fuel conservation in govt

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 12:45pm

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has dangled rice and transportation subsidies for government workers to get the bureaucracy into energy conservation and efficient fuel use. Full Story


Bomb explodes outside Danish embassy in Pakistan

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 2:40pm

A huge car bomb exploded outside the Danish Embassy on Monday, killing at least six people just weeks after an al-Qaida leader urged attacks against Denmark for newspaper caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.



The blast echoed through the Pakistani capital, wounded dozens of people and left a crater more than three feet deep in the road outside the embassy's main gate. People, some bloodied, ran away in a state of panic. Full Story


Girl, 15, stabbed to death in British knife crime epidemic

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 2:46pm

A 15-year-old girl was stabbed to death in London on Monday, police said, becoming the 16th teenager to die violently in the capital this year. The teenager was discovered with multiple stab wounds in a lift inside a block of flats near Waterloo railway station, the Metropolitan Police said. Full Story


Chinese citizen killed in Thailand's restive south

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 2:56pm

A Chinese citizen who sold carpets in Thailand's restive deep south was killed on Sunday in the insurgent-violence-torn province Narathiwat, Chinese Consulate-general based in Thai south confirmed with Xinhua on Monday. Full Story


Afghanistan disbands 300 illegal armed groups in three years: officials

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 2:56pm

Afghanistan has disbanded 300 illegal armed groups over the past three years under an internationally backed scheme, but some 2,000 more are yet to be dissolved, officials said Monday. Full Story


Sri Lanka flash floods kill 16, displace thousands

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 3:00pm

Floods triggered by torrential rain have killed at least 16 and forced thousands of people from their homes in Sri Lanka, with some taking shelter in schools and temples, officials said today.



Heavy torrential rains struck the Indian Ocean nation's western districts of Colombo, Gampaha and Kaluthara, the southern districts of Galle and Mathara, and the Gem mining district of Rathnapura. Full Story


Courtesy Terrorism Research Center, Inc.

AL QAEDA CHIEF DIES IN MISSILE STRIKE

Al-Qaeda chief dies in missile air strike
The death of a senior militant in a controversial hit has led to claims of the terror group's defeat

Jason Burke
The Observer,
Sunday June 1 2008


An al-Qaeda trainer and explosives specialist involved in a range of European terrorist networks has been killed in Pakistan, the latest senior militant to die in a spate of controversial American missile strikes.

The death two weeks ago of Abu Suleiman al-Jazairi, a highly experienced Algerian militant, has been confirmed only in the last few days, intelligence sources in Pakistan and Western Europe told The Observer.

Al-Jazairi, thought to have been 45, died along with at least 15 others when the house in which he was staying in Pakistan's Bajaur tribal district was hit by a missile fired from a Predator, an American pilotless drone.

Details are only now emerging about the strike on Damadola, a village near the Afghan-Pakistan border hit twice in the past. The house targeted and destroyed by the drone is believed to belong to a former Afghan Taliban defence minister, Maulvi Obaidullah, members of whose family, including women and children, are thought to have died.

The surrounding area is in the hands of militants linked to the Pakistan Taliban militant group who have been blamed for the killing of Benazir Bhutto last year.

The death of al-Jazairi, thought to have been director of external operations for al-Qaeda and thus responsible for running the terrorist group's European and British networks, was cited by CIA chief Michael Hayden last week as one of the reasons for the 'strategic defeat' of al-Qaeda.

Another top militant, Abu Laith al-Libi, was killed in February.

'The ability to kill and capture key members of al-Qaeda continues, and keeps them off balance - even in their best safe haven along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border,' Hayden said.

Hayden added that al-Qaeda had been defeated in Saudi Arabia, was losing the battle for hearts and minds in the Islamic world and was now unable to exploit the Iraq war to draw in new recruits.

However, the CIA chief's upbeat assessment contrasts with collective thinking in the intelligence community in America and elsewhere.

Senior counter-terrorist officials in Europe, the Middle East and South Asia in recent weeks revealed profound concern about the potential use of weapons of mass destruction by militants and the continued attraction of the al-Qaeda ideology for second or third generation immigrants and converts in the West.

Britain, with its close links to Pakistan, is in a particularly vulnerable position.

'It is certain that mainstream hardcore al-Qaeda have suffered considerable setbacks - in Iraq certainly and elsewhere - but I think generally there is a lot more caution,' said Nigel Inkster, recently retired deputy head of MI6.

'It would only take a couple of attacks for the positive perception to radically change.'

Bruce Hoffman, terrorism expert at Georgetown University, said Hayden's comments needed to be seen in the context of American domestic politics.

'In an election year with a two term administration that is very sensitive to its historical record this is not unexpected,' he told The Observer.

'Al-Qaeda may not have had a successful attack in three years but it is too early to declare victory.'

Hoffman said that the danger this year was in fact high. 'People do not join a terrorist group to sit on their hands and if [al-Qaeda] are going to retain their relevance it is now or never.'

Yet senior figures within American intelligence have also been struck by the failure of al-Qaeda to mobilise broad support in the Islamic world, and have begun to think more optimistically about the future.

Security services have closely followed disputes and defections in recent months.

Vicious feuding has led some analysts to conclude that the Islamic militant movement is turning in on itself with al-Qaeda leaders Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri increasingly isolated.

Postings by al-Zawahiri in a question and answer session on the internet a month ago had a defensive tone, seeking to justify civilian casualties in militant attacks. The strategy is seen as a failure by many militants outside al-Qaeda and by some within the group.

Alan note: a fly in the ointment comes from Iran's recent high level talks, in Iran, with Al Qaeda senior members they have sheltered/kept on ice for eventual use/barter inside Iran, including a couple of Bin Laden's sons.

Reports in the past have indicated one of the sons, who had lived in high style in Northern Iran, Caspian Sea region, was sent to Syria to help out with Al Qaeda activities there. Possibly in the villa shown below.

RASHT VACATION HOME click here

This article appeared in the Observer on Sunday June 01 2008 on p33 of the World news section. It was last updated at 00:00 on June 01 2008.