Glasgow bomber succumbs to burns
One of the two men detained over the Glasgow Airport attack has died in hospital of the burns he sustained during the incident. Kafeel Ahmed, 27, from Bangalore, India, suffered burns to 90% of his body, when he and Iraqi doctor Bilal Talal Samad Abdullah - since charged with conspiracy to cause explosions - drove a Jeep into the terminal building which caught ablaze.
To receive our daily security briefings, click hereFranco-Libyan arms deals
Libya has signed contracts with French firms worth a total of $402m for the procurement of military equipment. These are the first of such deals signed by Tripoli since an international weapons embargo on the country was lifted in 2004.To receive our daily security briefings, click here
Sudanese factions to discuss single position
Dissident Sudanese factions are meeting in Tanzania to work out a single negotiating position ahead of peace talks with the Khartoum government, expected in the next two months. Around a dozen groups have been engaged in the four-year conflict in western Sudan.
Homegrown bomber killed Spanish tourists
Yemeni officials have identified the suicide bomber who killed eight Spanish tourists and two nationals last month as a Yemeni citizen. Authorities are still looking for nine people suspected of involvement in the attack, including a Saudi citizen.
In Yemen, "mosques serve as a buffer-zone between individuals... and the state bureaucracy", and imams the "protector[s]" of religion and community. The notion of ‘appointed' imams, as evidenced at Lal Masjid, therefore runs contrary to logic, notes the DukeEngage Yemen blog, and serves to "destroy the cohesiveness of a community by alienating them... from the congregation and the local community".
Trilateral committee talks on Iraq
Iran, the United States and Iraq are to hold expert level talks next week in order to define the work of a trilateral committee on security concerns, and the framework in which it will discuss such issues. Iran and the US agreed to set up the committee on 24 July, during the second round of bilateral talks in Baghdad. Concerns to be raised by the committee include support for militias and al-Qaida in Iraq.
NATO bombing kills scores of civilians
Scores of civilians are reported to have been killed in what was described as a "precision" air raid against two "notorious Taliban commanders" in the Baghran district of Afghanistan on Thursday. Afghan authorities are investigating the reports.
Only last week, NATO forces said they were to reduce the size of bombs used by their planes and would increasingly leave house-to-house searches to the Afghan army, in a bid to "reduce collateral damage" in operations.
Researchers in the UK have suggested that "overstretched" personnel serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are 20-50% more likely to have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In a study of 5,500 regular troops, 20% of personnel were on tour for longer than recommended under the Ministry of Defence's "harmony guidelines".
The Afghanistan Blog discusses the difficulty of shedding military training, such as "offensive/defensive" driving techniques, when home on leave. Whether en route to pick up the children from pre-school, or stopping at Best Buy, off-duty troops remain on the look-out for improvised explosive devices (IEDs), car bombs, suicide bombers and ambushes.
Nuclear deal threatens regional security
Pakistan's National Command Authority has warned that the US-India civil nuclear energy deal may ignite an arms race. Strategic stability in South Asia would have been better served, they note, by a "package" approach for both India and Pakistan.
Rather than taking unilateral military action against al-Qaida and the Taliban inside Pakistani territories, the US should help to improve the situation along the border with Afghanistan through peace initiatives, development, and assisting the central government in expanding and exercising its writ over the borderlands, reflects Rasul Bakhsh Rais, Professor of Political Science at the Lahore University of Management Sciences.
Twenty-four injured in marketplace blast, Kashmir
Twenty-four people, including five policemen, were wounded on Friday when a suspected separatist militant threw a grenade into a crowded marketplace in Indian Kashmir.
Bangladeshi Islamists arrested with 10kg bomb
Rapid Action Battalion forces in Bangladesh yesterday seized a 10kg bomb along with books on jihad, and arrested four suspected members of banned Islamist group Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), in a series of raids.
Philippines in the balance
As the marines hunt those guilty of mutilating their comrades during an ambush on 10 July, tensions run high in the Philippines. Whether protracted combat is on the cards, or the four-year-old ceasefire can be resuscitated, government forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are digging in for a long war. The outcome very much rests in the balance, notes al-Jazeera.
Two crude bombs exploded at a bus terminal in Koronadal City in the southern Philippines on Friday, killing one and wounding an undetermined number.
Non-proliferation without disarmament?!
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda rebuffed US nuclear non-proliferation proposals on Thursday, during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum in Manila. While Jakarta favours taking steps to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction, it should only be done in parallel with nuclear disarmament, he critiqued.
N. Korea frets over US military exercise
Pyongyang has described the joint US-South Korean annual Ulchi Focus Lens military drill scheduled for 20 to 31 August, as "an unacceptable provocation", viewing the exercise as possible preparation for an invasion of North Korea. Washington and Seoul have repeatedly described these manoeuvres as "purely defensive".
Paras, not political candidates
The Supreme Court in Colombia has stood by its decision to prevent former right-wing paramilitaries from holding public office. President Alvaro Uribe has advocated pardons and political rights for "paras", in a bid to secure the peace process.
