Australian police detain London bomber contact
Australian police have detained two individuals, one explicitly in connection with the failed car bombings in London and Glasgow. Mohammed Haneef, 27, was arrested at Brisbane airport at the behest of British authorities. He reportedly was in possession of a one-way ticket to his native India, where he trained as a doctor. Haneef is thought to have been in phone contact with individuals suspected of involvement in the bomb plots in Britain. Seven other individuals are been questioned in the UK.
East Timor: state on the edge?
Having been an independent nation for just five years, the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste's (East Timor) one million citizens voted in parliamentary elections on Saturday. With a simple majority unlikely, as well as a bitterly divided political elite, however, not to mention an increasing dependence on international food aid and safety, and an economy in tatters, the pressures afflicting Asia's newest nation are increasing. The Jakarta Post asks whether East Timor is on the path to state failure.
United States Congressmen Eni Faleomavaega has been informed that he will not be able to visit the Indonesian province of Papua during his scheduled trip to Jakarta, owing to concerns that certain groups might exploit his presence to instigate riots in the region. A Indonesian foreign ministry spokesperson has refuted claims that the step was taken to prevent granting international exposure to human rights abuses in the territory.
Sri Lankan military forces clashed with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters in the northern Jaffna peninsula overnight, killing four Tamil combatants. In a separate incident, three soldiers were killed when a fragmentation mine exploded in the northern town of Vavuniya.
Rape "integral part" of violence in Darfur
A new report by humanitarian group Refugees International has described rape as "an integral part of the pattern of violence" inflicted by the government-backed Janjaweed militiamen in the Darfur region of Sudan. National laws also apparently discriminate against female victims, who upon trying to report such offences, face intimidation and harassment at local police stations.
You can follow this story and other developments in the region at the Daily Darfur blog.
Niger Delta militants abandon ceasefire
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), a militant group in Nigeria, has said that it will not extend its month-long ceasefire. This decision has been taken in response to the group having been sidelined during recent government-led talks concerning the future of the oil-rich region of the Niger Delta. MEND have also condemned the recent military crackdown in the region, during which civilians were killed.
A second MEND faction in Warri appears to want to persist with the ceasefire, reports BBC correspondent Abdullahi Kaura.
Taylor submits to war crimes trial
Former Liberian President Charles Taylor has appeared at a war crimes tribunal in The Hague for the first time. The trial will be delayed until 20 August, while a new defence team is appointed, however, after Taylor sacked his previous lawyer. Taylor had hitherto been boycotting the trial.
Follow up-to-date news on proceedings at The Trial of Charles Taylor blog.
African federal government scheme faces first hurdle
A three-day African Union (AU) summit has revealed fractures in recent advocacy of uniting the continent under one federal government. Most of the 53 nations have said that, while they favour economic integration and eventual unity, the process should be incremental. A more radical group led by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Senegal's Abdoulaye Wade have sought the immediate implementation of the scheme.
Security bolstered in Yemen
Security around foreign interests and government buildings has been stepped-up in Yemen, after a suicide bomber drove a car packed with explosives into a tourist convoy at a temple in Marib on Monday, killing nine people. Seven Spanish tourists were among the dead.
Draft Iraqi oil wealth law approved
A draft law on the distribution of the country's oil wealth has been approved by the Iraqi government. Details of the bill are yet to be made public.
Iranian complicity in Iraq violence
A United States military spokesperson in Iraq, Brigadier General Kevin J. Bergner, has issued the most specific accusation yet of Iranian complicity in insurgent action in the wartorn country. An elite unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards reportedly trained, armed and planned attacks by Shia militants in Iraq by proxy, using veterans of the Lebanese Islamic group Hezbollah. One such incident was an attack in the Shia holy city of Karbala in January, which left five American soldiers dead.
Iran has launched a 24-hour English-language satellite television channel called Press TV, sponsored by the national state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. Intent on competing with the likes of the BBC, CNN and al-Jazeera, Press TV aims to "break the global media stranglehold of Western outlets", the channel's Web site says.
Bloodshed outside Islamabad's Red Mosque
Pakistani security forces have clashed with students at Islamabad's Red Mosque, or Lal Majid, after students armed with batons attacked police units who had been taking up positions outside. Police then fired teargas, upon which a gun battle erupted. Later, students set fire to two government buildings. Eight students and a paramilitary soldier were killed in the clashes.
In January, the mosque's students took control of a government-run children's library in the area, while last month, amid a proclaimed anti-vice drive, students kidnapped seven Chinese nationals from an acupuncture clinic, said to have been operating as a brothel.
Supreme court condemns covert surveillance
Pakistani supreme court judges have rejected a dossier containing transcripts from purportedly bugged conversations, as well as surveillance photos from the home of suspended chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Intelligence agents are also to be banned from future hearings of the superior courts, while in addition the court has suspended the legal licence of one government lawyer and demanded the removal of any surveillance equipment from the homes of supreme court judges within one week.
India is to call upon Pakistan to bolster its efforts in combating militant incursions into its territories, during two-day talks between top interior ministry bureaucrats. These are the first such talks in little over a year.
Sleeper cells and disunion in Palestine
Security officials from Palestine and Israel met on Monday to "talk about how to move forward with security cooperation", including discussion on the movement of Palestinian forces, as well as guarantees of safety for West Bank security installations during Israel Defence Force (IDF) operations. Security contacts had been cut off between the two countries in the wake of the Hamas election victory in early 2006.
Fatah security forces have arrested dozens of members of Hamas and confiscated a large amount of weapons in recent days, in a bid to quash the parties' strength in the West Bank. Hamas had purportedly been establishing sleeper cells in the territory, with a command chain, weapons and training in place, which Fatah aims to dismantle.
Hamas gunmen took up positions around the stronghold of the Army of Islam in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, in an effort to increase pressure on the group to release BBC reporter Alan Johnston - held captive by the group for nearly four months now. One Palestinian civilian was killed when Hamas fighters exchanged gunfire with Army of Islam combatants, who are lead by the Doghmush clan.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has called for public protests, after Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas refused to pay the salaries of Hamas-hired personnel in the Gaza Strip.
If you can't take a terrorist to the law, bring the law to them
Senior advisors to US President George W. Bush are exploring whether a new legal category for certain foreign terrorism detainees might be drawn up in agreement with Congress, so as to enable the long-term detention of Guantánamo Bay prisoners on American soil. The measure would essentially comprise of three prisoner categories: indefinite detention in military brigs on US soil, trial by military court, and releasing other prisoners to their home nations.
Putin's innovation in missile defence
US President Bush has described a new proposal for expanded co-operation on missile defence by Russian President Vladimir Putin as "innovative", during talks aimed at reducing tensions between the two nations.
