Baghlan bloodbath

Huge bomb attack in Afghanistan

At least forty people have been killed after a suicide bomb attack in a sugar factory in the province of Baghlan in northern Afghanistan. A delegation of parliamentarians was visiting the factory at the time of the blast, which killed six MPs, including the prominent opposition politician Mustafa Kazimi. President Hamid Karzai described the attack as "a heinous act of terrorism against Islam and humanity".

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Writing in the Nation, Juan Cole argues that one of the best ways for the Democrats to strike a new course in the "war on terrorism" is by toning down rhetoric that goes after "Islamo-fascism", "radical Islam" and the like. Such terms are only counterproductive to understanding the complicated political rise of violence in west Asia and elsewhere.

In over-culturalising the debate about terrorism, real politics and causes risk being ignored, says Kanishk Tharoor on toD.

Bush saved Iran's neocons

In Foreign Policy, Barbara Slavin writes that the Bush administration has done more than anybody else to strengthen the hand of Iran's hardliners.

Mass uprising in Pakistan?

Speaking from Dubai, former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif has called for a mass uprising to oppose Pervez Musharraf's assumption of emergency powers in the country.

An op-ed in The Frontier Post, published in Quetta, details the curbs on the media that are being imposed under the new martial law.

Worse than Gonzales

John Nichols argues that Michael Mukasey, the Bush administration nominee to replace disgraced former attorney general Alberto Gonzales, is "much worse" than his predecessor. Democrats should not make their peace with his nomination and should continue to resist it.

Ulfa leader arrested

Som Deb, a key leader in the United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa), an active rebel group in the northeastern province of Assam, has been detained along with his wife, who is also an Ulfa militant.

IAI hits out at al-Qaida

The Islamic Army in Iraq, one of the main Sunni Islamist insurgent groups, has issued another pointed attack at al-Qaida. Divisions within the Sunni insurgency are growing, with local fighters taking issue with al-Qaida's often brutal tactics. Read English translations of IAI's communique.

An Iraqi judge has ruled that two Shia health ministry officials can be tried in relation to the methodical killings and abductions of hundreds of Sunnis.

A first for Iraqi Catholicism

Cardinal Emanuel III Dely, head of the Baghdad-based Chaldean church, is the first cardinal to be selected by the Vatican from Iraq, even though the Christian community there is two millennia old.

Egyptian officers guilty of torture

Two Egyptian police officers have been sentence to three years in jail for torturing a 22 year-old bus driver when in detention. Torture is thought to be a systematic practice in Egyptian prisons.

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