Congress ponders limits on interrogation
Members of House and Senate intelligence committees are mulling over placing limits on the interrogation techniques at the disposal of CIA interrogators. These would include a ban on extreme measures - labelled torture by some - like "waterboarding", and other practices not detailed in the Army Field Manual. George W. Bush issued an executive order last year allowing CIA investigators to use "enhanced interrogation techniques" when dealing with terrorism suspects.
In 2005, the CIA destroyed video tapes of severe interrogations conducted in 2002, fearing that the footage would have legal consequences for the agency.
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Supreme Court justices seemed narrowly divided during a potentially pivotal hearing on the right of habeas corpus in Guantanamo Bay. Antonin Scalia insisted that the Guantanamo facility was not on US territory, and that there was no precedent for the granting of habeas corpus rights to non-citizens detained on foreign soil. Other justices, including Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, expressed concern at the delays in legally processing Guantanamo inmates. Anthony Kennedy is thought to be the swing vote in this case.
Bush may still bomb Iran
In The Progressive magazine, Matthew Rothschild warns that despite recent revelations that Iran froze its weapons program in 2003, the Bush administration will still go ahead with its original plan to escalate confrontation with Iran.
Philippines convicts 14 militants
A Filipino court has sentenced fourteen Muslim militants to life-terms in prison in connection with the abduction of twenty people from the Dos Palmas resort on Pulawan island in 2001. A US-backed military offensive since the incident led to the deaths of many high-profile leaders of the al-Qaida-linked militant group Abu Sayyaf.
India Malay terror link
A group of Malaysian lawyers and activists called the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) is suing police and legal officials for suggesting that the activist group was linked with terrorist organisations. Indians in Malaysia recently staged a large protest demanding affirmative action within a state that treats Muslims preferentially. Unaccustomed to protest, Kuala Lumpur has cracked down hard on Hindraf and other Indian protesters.
Blast in Sri Lanka
A road-side bomb struck a state-run passenger bus in the district of Anuradhapura, killing fifteen people. The rebel Tamil Tigers were linked to the attack.
Peshmerga attacked in Iraq
Eight Kurdish peshmerga fighters were killed in clashes on the border of the restive Diyala province and the Kurdish autonomous region when their post was attacked by suspected Sunni al-Qaida-linked gunmen.
Thanks to the US "surge" in Baghdad, many insurgents have shifted further north, pushing through Diyala province and placing greater strain on the Kurdish region, which was long thought to be an island of stability in Iraq.
Parcel bomb in Paris
A parcel addressed to a lawyer exploded when opened, killing a legal secretary and injuring the lawyer.
Success in Swat
Pakistani troops have recaptured two towns in the Swat valley from the pro-Taliban forces of Maulana Fazlullah. The extension of the Islamist insurgency in Pakistan to the touristic Swat valley was one of the alleged reasons for President Pervez Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule.
Hundreds of civilians are fleeing from parts of Helmand province in Afghanistan, after NATO and Afghan forces launched a new offensive to drive out Taliban forces from the region.
Second policeman dies after ETA attack
Fernando Trapero, the second Spanish police officer shot by suspected Basque rebels while on a routine anti-terrorist surveillance operation in France on Saturday, has died of his wounds in hospital. French authorities have arrested a man and a woman in connection with the shooting.
