Hamas storm Fatah security HQ
Hamas gunmen stormed the Gaza City headquarters of Fatah-dominated national security forces on Tuesday, after issuing a deadline for their rivals to quit key strongholds. Fatah's Central Committee are scheduled to meet at 8 p.m. (1700 GMT) to discuss whether or not to remain in the unity government with Hamas, formed in March in an effort to stem the factional violence and ease Western sanctions.
The Gaza residence of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya of Hamas was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade earlier on Tuesday, but Haniya was unharmed. A Hamas spokesperson had said that the gunmen, thought to be Fatah militants, will be punished "without mercy".
Two Palestinians and a baby were killed amid renewed factional fighting on Tuesday, taking the death toll to 18 people within the last 24 hours.
Palestinian Presidential Guards stormed the offices of Hamas-run al-Aqsa Television in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday, seizing equipment.
Israel launches spy satellite
Israel has launched a spy satellite, described by a senior defence ministry official as a possible means of monitoring nuclear activity in Iran.
Jemaah Islamiah leader arrested
Indonesia's most wanted man, Abu Dujana, the head of the military wing of the Jemaah Islamiah group, was arrested by a Detachment 88 anti-terror team at the weekend, during a series of raids across central Java. Dujana's right-hand man, Mahfud, was also detained.
CIA recruits Sudanese infiltrators
United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) personnel have taken to recruiting Arab-speaking Sudanese nationals to infiltrate radical groups in the Middle East, in order to tackle the movement of jihadists via Sudan into Iraq. A network of informants has been developed in Sudan despite US condemnation of, and sanctions against, the Khartoum government for the killings in Darfur.
US must free ‘enemy combatant'
A US appeals court has ruled that Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, an alleged al-Qaida member and a legal US resident, cannot be detained without charge, and has ordered his release. He may still be brought before a civilian court on criminal charges, however.
Former US secretary of state, Colin Powell, has said that the army detention facility in Guantánamo Bay is a "major problem" for the country's international image, and must be shut down immediately.
US forces clash with Afghan police
A US convoy has purportedly engaged with and killed seven Afghan police officers and wounded four others at a remote checkpoint in Nangarhar province. US-led coalition forces have said that they were fired upon while conducting a raid against a "suspected Taliban safe house", while police say that they were fired upon first. A government spokesperson has described the incident as "a tragic accident".
Iran scorns US for detention of nationals
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said that Tehran will make the United States "regret their ugly and illegal action" of detaining five Iranians at their consulate in Arbil, Iraq in January. Iran alleges "clear discrimination" in the United Nations (UN) for its tardiness in raising the issue, which it says contravenes international law. Tehran has said that those detained are diplomats, while the US accuses the individuals of assisting militants inside Iraq.
US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte has called upon Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to press ahead with reforms, during a visit to Baghdad on Tuesday. Among topics discussed were increasing efforts toward national reconciliation between the country's Shia majority, Sunnis and Kurds, the performance of national security forces, along with a law to share oil revenues.
Ankara urged to show restraint
NATO has urged Ankara to show restraint in combating Kurdish guerrillas, after recent calls from military personnel in Turkey to pursue the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Iraq. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan announced on Tuesday that he thought it prudent to first tackle the PKK at home rather than abroad. 4,000 PKK fighters are thought to reside in northern Iraq, from where they launch operations into Turkey.
Iraqi Shia radical Muqtada al-Sadr has warned Ankara to stop shelling Kurdish targets in northern Iraq, and has vowed to defend the people of Kurdistan. On Thursday, Ankara's General Staff imposed a three-month martial law on the border region with Iraq, while clashes between heavily armed PKK fighters and the Turkish army have been reported.
Serb rebel charged with war crimes
Former dissident leader of the self-declared Krajina Serb republic, Milan Martic, has been sentenced to 35 years in jail for war crimes by The Hague. He was found guilty of targeting non-Serbs in ethnic cleansing. Serbian leaders had sought to annex ethnic Serb territories within Bosnia and Croatia in order to establish an envisaged "Greater Serbia".
Azerbaijan to discuss anti-missile defence shield
Azerbaijan has expressed interest in meeting with Russia and the US to discuss the joint use of a national radar station as an anti-missile defence shield, amid demands that Azerbaijani interests must be taken into account by Moscow and Washington.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin allowed opposition demonstrators to protest in the centre of Moscow on Monday, marking a sea-change in government policy toward anti-Putin rallies. Around 2,000 protestors from the opposition coalition group The Other Russia were present.
Foreign hostages released in Niger Delta
Twelve foreign hostages have been released by militants in the oil-rich Bayelsa state in southern Nigeria. 20 hostages are still held. More than 180 foreign workers have been kidnapped in the Niger Delta since January 2006. The militants demand more equitable distribution of oil revenues from the region among local communities. The government has vowed to address under-development in the Delta.
The United Nations (UN) Office of Internal Oversight is investigating claims that its peacekeepers beat and killed prisoners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in reprisal for an ambush in eastern Congo in 2005.
Execution-style killings condemned in Kenya
Amnesty International has called for an independent inquiry into last week's police crackdown in Kenya on the outlawed Mungiki sect. Police have been accused of execution-style killings.
Bogotá ordered to pay millions for massacre
More than $5 million in damages are to be paid out in Colombia to the relatives of 12 investigators murdered by army-backed right-wing paramilitaries in the northern hamlet of La Rochela in 1989. "Paras" were organised during the 1980s to combat left-wing insurgents, though later became embroiled in the multimillion-dollar narcotics trade.
Follow events in Colombia, specifically vis-à-vis US policy toward Colombia and Latin America, at Plan Colombia and Beyond.
Comoros island defies federal election order
The Comorian island of Anjouan has defied a federal government one-week delay and held elections for its presidency, despite African Union (AU) security concerns. The AU has said it will not recognise the election, while locals are reportedly refusing to vote amid claims that it is "a pretend election".
Meanwhile, one person has been killed and two others injured in Pakistan-administered Kashmir after an angry mob set fire to a hospital constructed by Islamist group, Jamat-ud Dawa, after Dawa activists initiated construction on disputed land near the premises.
