A MESSAGE posted on the internet and purporting to be from the fugitive terrorist Noordin Mohammed Top has claimed responsibility for the twin hotel bombings in Jakarta, justifying the mass murders as an attack on American interests and labelling the Manchester United football team that was due to book into one of the hotels as ‘‘Crusaders’’ click here for more
The warning over the president’s defiance highlights the rift among Iran’s conservatives. Meanwhile, the government says Mousavi supporters can’t gather at a mosque Thursday to honor protest victims. for more click here
A Sudanese court has adjourned the case of a woman journalist facing 40 lashes for wearing “indecent” trousers, with 10 women already whipped for similar offences against Islamic law. for more click here
Reporting from Baghdad — You wake up in the morning to find your nostrils clogged. Houses and trees have vanished beneath a choking brown smog. A hot wind blasts fine particles through doors and windows, coating everything in sight and imparting an eerie orange glow. for more click here
Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan — U.S. military leaders have concluded that their war effort in Afghanistan has been too focused on hunting Al Qaeda, and have begun to shift Predator drone aircraft to the fight against the Taliban and other militants in order to prevent the country from slipping deeper into anarchy. for more click here
Nigeria: Churches destroyed and police stations attacked by Islamic militants in four states over two days
Coordinated attacks by Islamic militants in four states of Northern Nigeria on Sunday and Monday left an estimated 80 people dead, including two pastors. At least seven churches are reported destroyed, with other targets including four police stations, a prison and a customs post.
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After six months in office, Barack Obama’s presidency reveals striking parallels not only to Bill Clinton’s troubled first term, but to Jimmy Carter’s only term. And, how those dangers are reappearing show that the Democrats and American progressives have learned little over the past 30 years. for more click here
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — A Gaza man is being held on suspicion he bludgeoned his daughter with an iron chain, cracking her skull in a particularly brutal family “honor killing,” two human rights groups said Wednesday, citing police and forensics reports. for more click here
Last May at the National Archives, President Barack Obama warned that “more mistakes would occur” if Congress continued to politicize terrorist detention policy and the closure of Guantanamo Bay. “[I]f we refuse to deal with those issues today,” he predicted, “then I guarantee you, they will be an albatross around our efforts to combat terrorism in the future.” for more click here
Updated | 4:29 p.m. Federal agents arrested seven men in North Carolina on Monday and charged them with plotting to wage “violent jihad” outside the United States, according to an indictment unsealed in federal court in Raleigh, N.C. The full text of the indictment is embedded below. for more click here