Basque unrest
A bomb has exploded in the Basque city of Bilbo (Bilbao) in northern Spain, injuring the bodyguard of a local Socialist party politician. Though no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, authorities are likely to pin the blame on ETA, the Basque separatist organisation that officially ended its ceasefire with Madrid in August. The Basque country has been in uproar this week over the arrests of over a score of members of the Batasuna political party, thought to be the ETA's political wing.
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Taliban spokesmen have rejected the possibility of talks with the government of President Hamid Karzai as long as foreign forces remain in the country. Karzai had controversially offered to speak with the Taliban, as hopes for a clear military resolution to the insurgency fade.
Karzai's government is also refusing American demands to eradicate the country's poppy crop.
Thailand's southern discomfort
Thai security forces killed five alleged Muslim militants and arrested nineteen men and women in the restive south of the country. The three-year insurgency has killed over 2,500 people, with Buddhist priests, security forces and government schoolteachers the prime targets of rebels.
Devolution approved
Iraq's Kurdish president, Jalal Talabani has given his backing to a controversial US Congress proposal that would devolve power in Iraq to ethnically-demarcated regions, strengthening the hand of the already autonomous Kurdish north of Iraq.
The cost of the sprawling new US embassy under construction in Baghdad has risen by $144 million since original projections. The vast complex will be the largest embassy in the world, and hopes to ensure a long-term American diplomatic and political presence in the country.
Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson has demanded the withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq by next year in order to facilitate political compromises within Iraq and stabilise the region.
Private security guards have killed two women in Baghdad, just as the Iraqi government pushes Washington to drop its contract with private firm Blackwater after its guards killed seventeen Iraqis last month.
Twenty-two people have been killed in blasts in a town north of Baghdad.
Turkey to invade Iraq?
High-ranking Turkish officials have warned that Ankara could launch an attack on northern Iraq, after two deadly days of clashes with Kurdish rebels over the weekend. Kurdish separatists operate largely untroubled out of bases and hideouts in the rugged regions of northern Iraq.
Maghrebian Qaida slain
The alleged operational leader of the Algeria-based Islamist group al-Qaida in the Maghreb has been killed in fighting with Algerian soldiers. Hareg Zoheir is described by local analysts as a "big, big fish", and his death will deal a blow to the militant group. Al-Qaida in the Maghreb is behind a slew of bombings in Algeria this year that have left dozens dead.
Balaklavas in Kosovo
The emergence of a shadowy guerrilla group in Kosovo calling itself the Albanian National Army has stoked the ire of Serbian and ethnic Albanian politicians alike as the debate over Kosovo's possible independence continues.
Fleeing Pakistan's northwest
Thousands have fled from the tribal town of Mir Ali in Pakistan's restive northwest, after Pakistani jets pounded militant positions there. Hundreds are thought to have died as fighting in the rugged borderlands reaches a new pitch.
Many Pakistanis blame the United States for the instability and violence gripping their country.
