British Islamists jailed for plotting terror attacks
Thursday, 09 February 2012
A British court on Thursday jailed nine Islamists inspired by slain al-Qaeda lynchpin Anwar al-Awlaki for planning terror attacks on targets including the London Stock Exchange. The nine men, who are all Britons of Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage, had pleaded guilty to a variety of terror-related offences at ... Read More
Amnesty International decries attacks by Maldives police
Thursday, 09 February 2012
Amnesty International said Thursday that security forces in the Maldives attacked supporters of ex-president Mohamed Nasheed, failed to protect them from counterdemonstrators and detained five members of parliament. The rights group called on the government of President Mohammed Waheed Hassan, who took over ... Read More
Afghan forces will be ‘good enough’ to take over: U.S.
Wednesday, 08 February 2012
Afghanistan’s forces will be “good enough” to take over its security by the end of 2014, even though only a small number of them now operate independently from NATO-led troops, a top U.S. general said Wednesday. Lieutenant General Curtis Scaparrotti, deputy commander of U.S. forces and the head of the NATO-led ... Read More
Syria sanctions have wide backing in EU, says diplomat
Wednesday, 08 February 2012
European Union governments have reached an agreement in principle to impose sanctions on the Syrian central bank this month as part of new measures intended to force President Bashar al-Assad out of power, a senior EU diplomat said on Wednesday. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the diplomat said details of the new ... Read More
London tackles gangs six months after UK riots
Wednesday, 08 February 2012
Six months after Britain was struck by five nights of rioting, London police launched a major crackdown on streets gangs which politicians blamed for the country’s worst disorder for decades. London’s new police chief, installed in the job in the wake of last August’s riots, said a new police unit was carrying out raids on ... Read More
Top U.S. envoy met Taliban leaders in Qatar, Afghan official says
Wednesday, 08 February 2012
Washington’s chief envoy to Afghanistan met Taliban leaders in Qatar as part of U.S. efforts to bring the insurgents to the negotiating table, a senior Afghan official said on Wednesday. The talks between the Taliban and Marc Grossman came in late January, after he met Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, ... Read More
Maldives mob smashes Buddhist statues in national museum
Wednesday, 08 February 2012
Police said Wednesday a mob had stormed the Maldives national museum and smashed Buddhist statues, an act of vandalism which former president Mohamed Nasheed blamed on Islamic radicals. “A mob entered the museum yesterday (Tuesday). They smashed many statues. This included some statues of Buddha,” police ... Read More
Santorum sweeps Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri
Wednesday, 08 February 2012
A resurgent Rick Santorum won Republican presidential caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado on Tuesday night, a stunning sweep that raised fresh questions about front-runner Mitt Romney’s ability to appeal to the ardent conservatives at the core of the party's political base. Santorum, a former Pennsylvania ... Read More
Russia’s U.N. envoy denies reports he threatened to annihilate Qatar
Wednesday, 08 February 2012
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador on Tuesday denounced as lies a report that he had threatened Qatar with annihilation during an argument with the Gulf state’s prime minister over a draft Security Council resolution on Syria that was vetoed by Moscow. “There is a lie, there is a blatant lie. One has to come up with some different, ... Read More
U.S. mulls providing humanitarian aid, not arms, to Syrians suffering crackdown
Tuesday, 07 February 2012
The United States said Tuesday it was working with friends to discuss how to provide humanitarian aid to the Syrian people caught in the government crackdown and said it was not considering providing arms to Syrian opposition groups. “We are exploring the possibility of providing humanitarian aid to Syrians,” ... Read More
French MPs storm out after opposition lawmaker compared interior minister to a Nazi
Tuesday, 07 February 2012
Members of France’s ruling UMP party stormed out of parliament in protest on Wednesday after an opposition legislator appeared to compare Interior Minister Claude Gueant to a Nazi for remarks he made that not all civilisations were equal . Serge Letchimy, a Socialist ally representing the Caribbean island of Martinique, ... Read More
Two arrested in Germany suspected of spying for Syria
Tuesday, 07 February 2012
German police arrested two men in Berlin Tuesday accused of spying on opponents of the Syrian regime in raids involving some 70 officers, federal prosecutors said. The suspects were identified only as 47-year-old German-Lebanese citizen Mahmoud El A. and 34-year-old Syrian national Akram O., the federal prosecutor's ... Read More
‘Baseless accusations’ jail ex-Guantanamo detainee in Algeria
Tuesday, 07 February 2012
Concerns over the deteriorating health of ex-Guantanamo detainee Abdul Aziz Naji have angered groups fighting for his freedom after he was jailed again this week in his native Algeria for what they deem to be “baseless accusations.” Naji, who is currently on hunger strike and enduring the pains of a prosthetic leg that ... Read More
Maldives president under army guard at home after resigning
Tuesday, 07 February 2012
Hours after his dramatic resignation, Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed was hunkered in his family home Tuesday, with armed soldiers surrounding the residence, family members and sources told AFP. The president’s brother, Nazim Sattar, said the situation was very tense as it was unclear whose orders the soldiers were acting ... Read More
Philippines quake rescuers dig for survivors; death toll rises to 15
Tuesday, 07 February 2012
Rescuers digging for survivors among dozens of people buried by earthquake-triggered landslides on a central Philippine island have found only bodies. The death toll climbed to 15 on Tuesday, and at least 73 people were still missing. Monday’s 6.9-magnitude earthquake also collapsed bridges and damaged roads on ... Read More
Gingrich derides trial of Egypt NGO workers; army cancels meet with U.S. officials
Tuesday, 07 February 2012
White House hopeful Newt Gingrich likened Cairo’s apparent plans to put 19 Americans on trial over charges of illegal funding of aid groups to the Iran hostage crisis, as an Egyptian military delegation abruptly cancelled its scheduled meetings with U.S. lawmakers in Washington. “The Obama administration is ... Read More
France inaugurates first official Muslim cemetery
Monday, 06 February 2012
France inaugurated its first municipal Muslim cemetery in the city of Strasbourg on Monday, a move hailed by Islamic leaders as a step in recognizing one of the country’s largest minority groups. Local officials and Muslim leaders attended a ceremony in the northeastern French city to launch the cemetery, which has space for ... Read More
UK court releases ‘Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man’ on bail
Monday, 06 February 2012
A radical Islamic preacher Britain believes poses a threat to its national security was granted bail on Monday, despite attempts by the Home Office to keep him in prison. Abu Qatada, a Jordanian once described as “Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe,” is expected to be released shortly into a tightly controlled form ... Read More
Norway gunman asks for immediate release, says massacre was ‘preventive against traitors’
Monday, 06 February 2012
The Norway gunman who killed 77 people in twin attacks in July asked an Oslo court on Monday to release him immediately, saying his massacre was a “preventive attack against state traitors.” “I do not accept imprisonment. I demand to be immediately released,” Anders Behring Breivik, a 32-year-old right-wing extremist, told ... Read More
British lawmakers urge Internet service providers to tackle violent extremism
Monday, 06 February 2012
British Internet service providers should clamp down on websites used by violent extremists, both Islamists and increasingly the far right, lawmakers said in a report Monday. The Internet is a more significant vehicle for promoting radicalism than prisons, universities or places of worship, and is involved in almost all ... Read More