3-year-old Briton kidnapped in Nigeria
The three-year-old daughter of a British expatriate worker has reportedly been kidnapped in the restive southern oil region of Nigeria. She was apparently abducted as she was being taken to school in the city of Port Harcourt. Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials are "seeking further information" about the incident.
Australian energy demands behind Iraq policy?
Australian Prime Minister John Howard has denied claims that either himself or Defence Minister Brendan Nelson had admitted that oil security was behind their decision to keep Australian troops in Iraq. Nelson told ABC Radio on Thursday that the Middle East comprised a major oil supplier, and that Australians should consider the implications of withdrawing troops; Howard once commented that energy demand was a motivation for establishing a stable, democratic Iraq.
PM Howard has said that the bombings throughout the world, underlined by the recent thwarted London attacks - with a possible connection with Australia, "remind us that all communities that stand for moderation and tolerance are at risk". Western nations should, he said, support moderate Islamic communities, leaders and governments in their effort to stem this threat.
Police in Australia are working against the clock interviewing 27-year-old Mahomed Haneef, an Indian doctor detained in Queensland earlier this week in connection with the foiled bomb plot in London. Authorities have until tonight to question him, when a court order for detention without charge is due to expire.
Indonesia accused of abuses in Papua
US-based Human Rights Watch has accused the Indonesian security forces of acts of violence, rape and murder during anti-separatist operations in the Papua province. Abuses are exacerbating mistrust of national government, and threaten to heighten separatist tensions in the isolated region. Indonesia's police chief has described the situation as having improved in Papua since it was granted more power under autonomy laws. Last year International Crisis Group noted that while this might be true, however, serious violations still occurred.
Earlier this week, the Indonesian foreign ministry refuted claims that United States Congressman Eni Faleomavaega was prevented from visiting the province in an effort to stem international exposure to human rights abuses in Papua.
Read about the disappearing culture of Indonesia's Papua province in a special report by al-Jazeera.
Nightclub blast kills 25 in China
An explosion at a nightclub in Benxi county in China killed 25 people and injured scores of others on Wednesday night. The cause of the blast in unknown at present.
Russia considers missile re-configuration
Deputy Russian Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov cautioned on Wednesday that were the US to rebuff recent entreaties by President Vladimir Putin for cooperation on missile defence, then Russia will "respond" by positioning its rockets near the border with Poland in an effort to "parry the threats that will arise from the [US] missile defence system".
Russia's prosecutor general has refused to sanction the extradition of businessman and former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi to Britain, over his suspected involvement in the fatal poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko.
Zawahiri calls for holy war against West
Al Qaida deputy chief Ayman al-Zawahiri has released a video tape on the internet calling for the world's Muslims to unite in a holy war against the West, condemning Egyptian and Saudi Arabian support of the US in the Middle East, and urging greater support for the Islamic State of Iraq. Zawahiri's eighth such appearance also critiqued Hamas for "abandoning Sharia [law]", confronting Fatah and agreeing to democracy.
Suicide bomber kills 5 Afghan policemen
A suicide bomber has killed five Afghan policemen and wounded 11 others. He had been sitting alongside the men, dressed in a police uniform, in the southeastern town of Spin Boldak.
A soldier with the NATO-led force has been killed and two others wounded after their vehicle was struck by a bomb in southeastern Afghanistan on Thursday. Yesterday, six Canadian soldiers and their Afghan interpreter were killed in the southern province of Kandahar when a bomb exploded under their vehicle.
A German businessman kidnapped a week ago in Afghanistan has reportedly been released along with his interpreter, after a $40,000 ransom was paid.
Pakistani army convoy hit by suicide bomber
At least five Pakistani soldiers have been killed near the Afghan border, after a suicide bomber drove his vehicle into an army convoy near the Gurbaz area in North Waziristan.
Security forces heighten pressure at Red Mosque
Explosions and sporadic gunfire have been heard at Islamabad's Red Mosque, or Lal Masjid, as Pakistani security forces fire "warning blasts" at the compound in an effort to heighten pressure on the students holed-up inside. More than 1,000 people are said to have surrendered on Wednesday, while the mosque's senior cleric was arrested upon trying to escape the compound.
An interview with the cleric, Abdul Aziz Ghazi, revealed that some 850 people remain inside the compound, 600 of whom are women and girls. However, he insists that they are not being used as human shields, as some reports claim. He has urged the remaining students to surrender or flee, as Pakistani troops seem set to dislodge them by force.
Follow events at the All Things Pakistan blog.
More positive image, but precious support
Despite having obtained positive news coverage, Western and Israeli security officials announced on Wednesday that the role of Hamas in securing the release of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston is not sufficient to merit immediate international recognition, nor support for the group.
Johnston talks of his release in The Independent.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayad has pledged to crack down on armed militias and install law and order in Palestine. However, he has cautioned against Israeli action during this process of disarmament.
At least six Palestinian militants were killed on Thursday when Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) clashed with fighters in central Gaza, which was followed by an Israel Air Force strike close to the Bureij refugee camp.
A 15 -year-old Palestinian boy was reportedly shot dead carrying a toy gun in Hebron by IDF soldiers yesterday. Read about this story and more at the International Solidarity Movement's blog.
Ethiopian forces condemned over human rights abuse
Human Rights Watch have criticised Ethiopia's government for having forced thousands of civilians from their homes amid a campaign against ethnic Somali separatist group, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), in the south-east of the country. ONLF have been fighting for the secession of the Somali region, also known as the Ogaden, since the 1990s.
Partisan war crimes tribunal in Uganda?
Uganda is to establish a special tribunal for war crimes, though it is to limit charges to abuses committed by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) alone, as opposed to the national forces. The LRA has condemned the move as breaching a deal signed on Saturday which aimed at ending the 20-year conflict in the country, during which tens of thousands of people have been killed and almost two million more displaced from their homes.
Eight armed Kenyan bandits and one soldier have been killed during a gun battle on the border of the two countries, after cattle raiders attacked two Ugandan army positions on Tuesday.
Rwandan charged with death of 10 peacekeepers
A former Rwandan army major was found guilty yesterday of the murder of ten Belgian peacekeepers, as well as an unidentified number of civilians, during the opening days of the 1994 genocide in the African Republic.
Yemen detains suspects over Spanish tourist bomb
Dozens of people with suspected links to al-Qaida have been arrested in Yemen in connection with the suicide bombing two days ago, which killed seven Spanish tourists, security sources have announced.
Attempted ‘assassination' of local governor in Algeria
A bomb exploded near the car of the governor of the Tizi Ouzou region in Algeria on Thursday, in an apparent assassination attempt. A policeman was wounded in the blast.
Five PKK insurgents killed in E. Turkey
Five Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) combatants, including two women, have been killed by Turkish soldiers amid clashes in the mountainous Tunceli province, eastern Turkey.
Nuclear power will heighten terror risks
A leading European think tank, Oxford Research Group, has described the notion that nuclear power can somehow provide a cheap and clean alternative to greenhouse gas-emitting energy-yielding techniques as a "myth", and will have "serious consequences for the spread of nuclear weapons" and risk nuclear terror attacks.
