Another Lebanese assassination
Continuing a depressingly familiar pattern, another car bomb claimed the life of an anti-Syrian Lebanese MP. Antoine Ghanim, a member of the Maronite Phalange party, was killed along with six others when his car blew up in a Christian quarter of east Beirut. Leaders of the anti-Syrian ruling coalition were swift to blame Damascus for orchestrating the attack. Syria denies any involvement.
Lebanese leaders pledged that the attack would not defer upcoming presidential elections.
Writing on the conservative Counterterrorism blog, Walid Phares argues that the United Nations should intervene to "save Lebanon's democratic process".
John Bolton explains the worldKeep up to date with the latest developments and sharpest perspectives in a world of strife and struggle.
Sign up to receive toD's daily security briefings via email by clicking here
In Foreign Policy magazine, John Bolton speaks gruffly about Iran, North Korea and Israel's "secret" raid on Syria.
The media war on Islam
Seumas Milne argues in the Guardian that Britain's indelicate focus on the Islamist threat builds a climate of fear that "risks turning into a racist witch-hunt".
Bin Laden promises revenge against Musharraf
In videos released around the 9/11 anniversary, both Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri called Pakistanis to take action against President Pervez Musharraf and avenge the death of the cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi, one of the prominent figures involved in the controversial siege of radical Islamabad mosque, the Lal Masjid.
Gunmen in the restive northwest of Pakistan raided an army camp and kidnapped seven soldiers. Two hundred sixty soldiers remain in captivity in South Waziristan.
To be or not to be a Turk
As debates about the country's constitution heat up, Today's Zaman weighs the merits of equating "citizenship" with "Turkishness".
Matthew Levitt profiles the rise of Islamist forces in Turkey, examining in detail the Islamist group Hizbullah in Turkey.
Uzbekistan's divide-and-rule policy
In its battle against Islamist extremism, Uzbekistan's government is actively promoting policies that seek to divide moderate practicing Muslims from their more radical co-religionists.
Violence in Ingushetia
In the restive Russian republic of Ingushetia, a police officer was killed and several servicemen injured in two separate attacks by suspected Islamist separatist militants. Elsewhere, protesters gathered in Nazran, Ingushetia's principal city, to voice their outrage over the frequent abductions of Ingush men after recent kidnappings in neighbouring Chechnya.
Thailand's southern discomfort
Army rangers and rebels exchanged gunfire in the restive southern Thai province of Pattani, leaving three people dead, including one suspected militant.
The army's ideological weapons?
Conservative commentator Douglas Farah argues that the US military - not civilian leadership and institutions - have been instrumental in combating the ideological sway of radical Islamist ideas, particularly by working with young detainees.
Ahmadinejad denied Manhattan tourism
New York City police have rejected a request from Iranian officials to permit President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from visiting ground zero during his upcoming visit to New York. Police spokesmen cited security concerns in turning down the request. A number of leading US politicians, including presidential candidates Hilary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani, voiced their outrage that Ahmadinejad's request was even considered by the police.
American soldiers detained an Iranian who was part of a commercial delegation in northern Iraq. Tensions are high between Washington and Iran over the repeated detention of Iranian citizens in Iraq.
