Fourth suspect charged over failed UK plot
A fourth person, Mohammed Jamil Asha, 26, was remanded in custody on Friday in relation to the failed car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow. He has been charged with conspiracy to cause explosions.
As a London court delivers its verdicts on the 21/7 bombers, toD looks at the UK's recent history of terrorism trials.
How can saviours of life become takers? In the wake of the al-Qaida terror plot involving British-based health professionals, Michel Thieren explores the history and idea of the "evil doctor" on openDemocracy.
Two men have been arrested in Bristol under the Terrorism Act 2006, after two large containers marked ‘hydrogen peroxide’, were seized during a drugs-related search. To receive our daily security briefings, click here.
Asylum offered to Danes’ Iraqi aides
Two hundred Iraqi civilians who worked as aides and translators for the Danish army in the southern region of Basra, have been airlifted to Denmark and offered asylum there, ahead of the country’s withdrawal of its 480-strong force from Iraq next month. It was feared that the Iraqis would have been targeted by insurgents for having aided the Danish force.
Iraq’s main Sunni political bloc, the National Accordance Front, has ended its boycott of the Shia-dominant parliament.
Para-trafficker hybrids emergent in Colombia
The Organization of American States (OAS) has expressed serious concern at the delays in strengthening the institutions carrying out the processes of demobilisation and reintegration of paramilitaries in Colombia. Both the operational capacity and coverage of the program is also flawed. With a weak integration process, there is a huge risk that demobilised personnel will join new illegal units cropping up across the country, predominantly comprising “hybrids of former paramilitaries and current drug traffickers”. Read more about this story along with other news about Colombia on the Plan Colombia and Beyond blog.
Luis Hernando Gomez Bustamante, the alleged head of Colombia’s largest drug cartel, Norte del Valle, has been extradited to the United States on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering.
16 Koreans kidnapped in Afghanistan
At least 16 South Koreans have been abducted in Afghanistan, whilst en route from Kandahar city to the capital, Kabul. Two Germans kidnapped on Wednesday are yet to be traced.
No timetable for dismantling arms programme
Prior to setting any timetable for disclosing and disbanding North Korea’s nuclear facilities, working groups will meet to discuss the technical details of said process, the Beijing six-party talks have concluded. The six countries involved in the talks are due to meet again in September in order to iron out proposals further. Pyongyang has vowed to “earnestly implement its commitments” vis-à-vis declaring and disabling all its nuclear facilities, however.
Musharraf dealt blow as Chaudhry reinstated
Suspended Pakistani chief justice Muhammad Chaudhry has been reinstated by the country’s Supreme Court. The move will come as a huge blow to President Pervez Musharraf, who suspended Chaudhry some four months ago.
A number of military developments are again making apparent the pivotal character of Pakistan in the war on terror, argues Paul Rogers on openDemocracy.
256 Palestinian prisoners released by Israel
Israel has released 256 Palestinian prisoners in an effort to bolster support for Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in his power struggle with opposition party Hamas.
Self-determination vs. state-centric world order
Kosovo’s parliament should declare independence from Belgrade, Prime Minister Agim Ceku has said. The Serbian province has been vying for independence through United Nations (UN) channels for years, yet has made little progress due to Russian objections.
Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, has elected a separatist and former security chief as president. Azerbaijan has dismissed the vote.
The post-Soviet states still practice forms of political manipulation that are more radical, more pervasive and more corrosive of real democracy than anything attempted by spin-doctors or K-Street consultants in the West, says Andrew Wilson on openDemocracy.
Three charged with war crimes in Sierra Leone
Three former commanders of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) in Sierra Leone – who forged an alliance with the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) to overthrow President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah in 1997 – have been convicted on 12 out of 14 counts of war crimes by a UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone.
Entente cordiale pushes for Darfur deployment
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have said that they will pressure the UN Security Council for the rapid deployment of a 26,000-strong proposed hybrid UN-African Union (AU) troop and police force for Darfur.
