Brown announces fresh anti-terrorist measures
In a speech delivered at parliament yesterday, British prime minister Gordon Brown announced a raft of new security initiatives aimed at countering domestic terrorist threats. These included baggage and passenger screenings at rail stations, dedicated regional counter-terrorism units, more money for Home Office programs for combating radicalisation, tighter immigration controls, and new inter-faith and education schemes to win "Muslim hearts and minds".
A further Downing Street plan - to extend the pre-trial period of detention without charge from 28 to 58 days - has met with resistance from both the Labour and Conservative camps. In the Guardian, Timothy Garton Ash notes that the heavy emphasis on security - and the concurrent slashing of freedoms - is a counter-productive reaction to the threat, perhaps placing the UK more, not less, at risk.
Gaming propaganda
In the New York Sun, V. Subrahmanian and Aaron Mannes argue that video games should be used to combat radicalism and militancy in west Asia. Hizbullah has already designed a game around last year's war with Israel, and the American market is flooded with shoot-em-up games that follow the US army in its fictional (and not-so-ficitonal) travails around the world. Yet, no games exist that seek to defuse violent and radical passions in the region. The authors write that "the best propaganda doesn't look like propaganda".
Common ground with Syria Keep 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
Council on Foreign Relations fellow Mohamad Bazzi argues that though Syria risks turning from "school-yard bully" into "rogue state", Washington can find fruitful ways of engaging with Damascus. By pressuring Israel on negotiating about the Golan Heights, the US can help cut off one of Hizbullah's main sources of support. And by roping Syria more closely into discussions about the future of Iraq, Washington will bolster its desire to see a strong, centralised government in Baghdad, a desire that Damascus shares.
Maldive militants Indian ties
In the wake of the first ever terrorist blast in the Maldives, investigators have found ties between a local Islamist cell and Indian operatives of the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group. The Maldivian Islamists used a bomb of similar make to the ones recently used in Hyderabad and Ajmer.
Poles held over Afghan killings
Seven Polish soldiers in Afghanistan have been detained on suspicion of breaking international law and violating the Geneva Conventions in connection with the killings of civilians in the eastern reaches of the country in August. Twelve hundred Poles serve with the Nato force in Afghanistan. American and British troops have killed numerous civilians in the country without facing such charges.
Caretaker government to be announced in Pakistan
General Pervez Musharraf will announce a caretaker government today that will shephard the country till elections currently scheduled for January. Parliament's five-year mandate expires this week, as does Musharraf's presidential mandate. He has extended the latter by implementing emergency rule in Pakistan.
In an interview with Sky TV, Musharraf promised to quit his post after turmoil in Pakistan had died down.
Police have arrested the opposition politician and ex-cricket star Imran Khan after he emerged at a student rally.
The Frontier Post suggests that Benazir Bhutto - now forced into confrontation with Musharraf - will be left to "nurse her woes" as the political situation in the country turns against her.
Turkey attacks "abandoned villages"
Turkish military aircraft bombed four abandoned villages across the border in Iraq in an apparent statement of purpose in its campaign against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Four Turkish soldiers were killed in southeast Turkey in fighting with the PKK.
Iran gives IAEA controversial document
Tehran has handed over a document to the International Atomic Energy Association that details how to "cast uranium metal into hemispheres to form the core of an atom bomb". Iran has been issued a deadline by the IAEA to clear up its track-record of silence and secrecy on its nuclear dealings.
Iran has responded angrily to accusations of its involvement in the 1994 bombings of Jewish centres in Buenos Aires by summoning five leading Argentinean figures in the case to be tried in Tehran.
Camp Delta doc leaked to internet
A military manual which details daily operations in Guantanamo Bay has been leaked to the internet site Wikileaks.org. The American Civil Liberties Union has been trying, without success, to force Washington to release the document, which is marked "unclassified".
Tajikistan violence
A bomb in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, has left one security guard dead. The blast occurred near the presidential palace and outside a building where the country's prime minister was due to speak. A bloody civil war split the country through much of the 1990s, pitting Moscow-backed secularists against Islamists.
Murky motive behind Manila blast
Police in the Philippines are unsure as to whether a bomb blast outside the country's legislature, which killed three lawmakers including Muslim congressman Wahab Akbar, was actually motivated by "revenge" against the ex-Abu Sayyaf militant.
