Defense class begs for airline crews

…Federal officials have canceled other classes in Northern Virginia and elsewhere in recent months because of low turnout. The free program offered by the Transportation Security Administration has trained 1,750 flight-crew members, most of them flight attendants, since it began three years ago. The graduates represent less than 1 percent of the 120,000 flight attendants and nearly 100,000 pilots who are eligible to take the course…..(Washington Post, 28 Apr 07)

Arrest made in bomb left at women's clinic
Authorities said today a 27-year-old man has been arrested in connection with an explosive device found earlier this week at an Austin clinic that performs abortions. Paul Ross Evans is in federal custody. He has been charged with use of weapons of mass destruction and the manufacture of explosive material…..(KSWO, 28 Apr 07)

Saudis Say They Broke Up Suicide Plots
…Saudi officials said some of the suspects had trained next door in Iraq and had returned to the kingdom to plot the attacks. Also among the targets were high-ranking members of the royal family and the Saudi security forces….(Washington Post, 28 Apr 07)

American Drone Launches Missile Strike on Terrorist Training Camp in Pakistan

Four people were killed and three others wounded when missiles fired from Afghanistan struck a seminary in Saidgi area of North Waziristan on Friday, residents and officials said….(India-defence, 28 Apr 07)

Iran On Guard Over U.S. Funds
The Bush administration's $75 million program to promote democracy in Iran has undermined the kind of organizations and activists it was designed to help, with U.S. aid becoming a top issue in a broader crackdown on leading democracy advocates over the past year, according to a wide range of Iranian activists and human rights groups…..(Washington Post, 28 Apr 07)

Women bear brunt of Tehran's crackdown

…at the gates of Evin prison, they were blindfolded and forced to wear all-enveloping chadors, and then were interrogated through the night. All 31 were women — activists accused of receiving foreign funds to stir up dissent in Iran. But their real crime, says Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, was gathering peacefully outside Tehran's Revolutionary Court in support of five fellow activists on trial for demanding changes in laws that discriminate against women….(AP, 28 Apr 07)

Taliban Release French Aid Worker

A French aid worker tearfully thanked the Taliban for releasing her Saturday after more than three weeks in captivity, and pleaded for the freedom of four colleagues still held in southern Afghanistan…..(AP, 28 Apr 07)

CIA Held Al-Qaeda Suspect Secretly

An Iraqi man accused of being a key aide to Osama bin Laden and a top leader of al-Qaeda was arrested late last year on his way to Iraq and handed over to the CIA, the Pentagon announced yesterday, in what became the first secret overseas detention since President Bush acknowledged the existence of such a program last September. The disclosure revealed that the Bush administration reopened its detention program within three months of announcing that no secret prisoners remained in the CIA's custody…..(Washington Post, 28 Apr 07)

Man 'told his web work for al-Qaeda was inspirational'

A young al-Qaeda follower who helped publish terrorist propaganda online had been told to imagine all the suicide bombers his work was inspiring to join insurgents in Iraq, a court heard yesterday. Younes Tsouli, 23, is one of three men accused of helping distribute films of beheadings, bomb-making instructions and terrorist handbooks to spread their jihadist ideology…..(Scotsman, 27 Apr 07)

Sunnis, Shiites Split on U.S. Troop Bill

Many Sunnis on Friday welcomed a U.S. congressional push to begin withdrawing U.S. troops by Oct. 1, but one Shiite grocery store owner expressed fear the move would "leave Iraq in the hands of al-Qaida." Iraqis appeared divided along sectarian lines over Thursday's Senate approval of House-passed legislation calling for U.S. troops to begin leaving Iraq by Oct. 1…..(AP, 27 Apr 07)

Annual terrorism report will show 29% rise in attacks
A State Department report on terrorism due out next week will show a nearly 30 percent increase in terrorist attacks worldwide in 2006 to more than 14,000, almost all of the boost due to growing violence in Iraq and Afghanistan….(McClatchy Newspapers, 27 Apr 07)

Kuwaiti Cleric Hamid al-Ali: The Bridge Between Ideology and Action

Hamid bin Abdallah al-Ali is an influential Salafi cleric in Kuwait. He is designated by the U.S. government as a global terrorism financier and supporter, yet his website is registered in Vancouver in Washington state. Figures such as al-Ali are critical to the education and doctrine of Salafis—especially those that join the armed resistance of the jihadi movement—yet they often fall under the radar while they continue to radicalize thousands of followers…..(Global Terrorism Analysis, 27 Apr 07)

Dressed in Black: A Look at Pakistan's Radical Women

Radical women in Pakistan are increasingly being used by male jihadi groups and extremists, including religious political parties, to serve their interests and promote their cause. This year's protests by women clad in black burqas of the Jamia Hafsa seminary in front of the Lal Masjid, in the capital city of Islamabad, is proof of a trend that is becoming more alarming, threatening and unprecedented in Pakistan's history…..(Global Terrorism Analysis, 27 Apr 07)

Egyptian Islamic Scholars Debate Whether Women May Serve As Heads of State

The following are excerpts from a televised debate between Egyptian Islamic scholars on whether women are permitted to be heads of state. The debate aired on Al-Arabiya TV on January 28, 2007…..(MEMRI, 27 Apr 07)

Changing meanings of jihad
Jihad is a foundational concept in Islamic religious and socio-political thought. It appears in numerous verses of the Quran and with varying connotations, but no one interpretation can claim primacy. Consequently in Islamic history, competing meanings of jihad have vied for authenticity and legitimacy…..(Jane’s, 27 Apr 07)

Islam cartoon student apologizes for offence

A Cambridge University student who sparked a huge row when he published anti-Islamic material has issued a groveling apology. The 19-year-old second-year Clare College student went into hiding after he printed a cartoon and material satirizing religion in college magazine Clarification…..(Muslim Weekly, 27 Apr 07)

Islamic Jihad vows to continue rocket attacks on Israel

The Islamic Jihad (Holy War) movement on Thursday denied reports of committing to ceasefire with Israel, vowing to continue resistance as long as Israel keeps up military operations in the Palestinian territories…..(Xinhua, 26 Apr 07)

Taliban video of boy executioner causes anger

A Taliban video of a 12-year-old boy beheading a man accused of spying has angered many Afghans, drawing condemnation from tribal and religious leaders. "It's very wrong for the Taliban to use a small boy to behead a man," religious teacher Mullah Attullah told Reuters…..(Reuters, 26 Apr 07)

Lal Masjid denies breakthrough in talks

Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML), declared on Wednesday that the stand-off with Lal Masjid in the capital had been “amicably resolved”, but the mosque’s administration denied there had been a breakthrough in talks, saying several issues were yet to be resolved…..(Daily Times, 26 Apr 07)

Public Debate in Saudi Arabia Over Forcing Divorce When Status Of Wife's Family Is Superior to That of Husband's Family
A public and religious debate is currently underway in Saudi Arabia over the question of divorce forced upon couples because of incompatible status – that is, when the status of the wife's family is considered superior to that of her husband's family. The debate arose following a precedent-setting court ruling that ended the marriage of Fatimah and Mansour Al-Taimani for this reason…..(MEMRI, 26 Apr 07)

U.N. Criticizes Kurdish Authorities

The United Nations has rebuked Kurdish authorities over their treatment of journalists and detainees in a rare critical assessment of the human rights situation in the oil-rich northern autonomous region that has been hailed as a success story in Iraq…..(AP, 26 Apr 07)

U.N. Report on Human Rights in Iraq Draws U.S. Denunciation

A new human rights report by the United Nations mission in Iraq described high levels of ongoing violence, an unfair and potentially abusive detainee system and a country suffering a "breakdown in law and order." The report upset the U.S. Embassy here, which characterized it as inaccurate and not credible…..(Washington Post, 26 Apr 07)

Federal Judge Withdraws Ruling Against Bush Terror Designations

…Reconsidering the issue at the government's request, Judge Audrey Collins of Los Angeles concluded that American supporters of Kurdish and Tamil separatist groups lack standing to challenge the terrorist designations, which applied to Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda, and others linked to militant Islam. "Plaintiffs have pointed to no instance of their being issued a specific threat or warning that …they would be designated,"…(New York Sun, 26 Apr 07)

French hostages are well, Taliban say

Two French aid workers held by the Taliban in Afghanistan are well, the Islamist movement said, a day ahead of an apparent deadline for demands to be met for their freedom. The Taliban, which has beheaded several of its captives, said April 20 French troops must be withdrawn from Afghanistan and Kabul must release Taliban prisoners within a week…..(Agence France-Presse, 26 Apr 07)

Red Crescent chief calls on U.S. to push for aid

With more than 850,000 people displaced and on the move within its borders, Iraq is in the midst of a major refugee crisis and the United States has an obligation to help resolve it, the head of the Iraqi Red Crescent Organization said yesterday…..(Washington Times, 26 Apr 07)

Feds Raid Alabama Militia Group, Uncover Small Weapons Arsenal

Federal and state agents swooped down Thursday morning on a group calling itself "The Free Militia" and uncovered a small arsenal of home-made weapons that included a rocket launcher, 130 hand grenades and 70 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) similiar to the kind used by insurgents against American GIs in Iraq. Agents also recovered enough live ammo to fill a U-Haul trailer….(Fox/AP, 26 Apr 07)

Was Tehran Behind an Iraq Raid?

When unknown gunmen abducted and killed five American soldiers from a joint U.S.-Iraqi base in Karbala in January, suspicion immediately fell on an elite Iranian paramilitary outfit called the Quds Force….(Time Magazine, 26 Apr 07)

Baghdad's Fissures and Mistrust Keep Political Goals Out of Reach

…But in pressuring the Iraqis to speed up, U.S. officials are encountering a variety of hurdles: The parliament is riven by personality and sect, and some politicians are abandoning Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government. There is deep mistrust of U.S. intentions, especially among Shiites who see American efforts to bring Sunnis into the political process as an attempt to weaken the Shiites' grip on power…..(Washington Post, 26 Apr 07)

Sri Lankan monks praise France for nabbing alleged fund raisers for Tamil rebels

Dozens of Buddhist monks and their supporters rallied Thursday in Sri Lanka's capital, praising France for arresting more than a dozen people suspected of funneling millions of euros (dollars) to the Tamil rebels. "The French government, which has set an example to the whole world in combating terrorism, is owed the appreciation of the Sri Lankan people," ….(AP, 26 Apr 07)

British Antiterrorism Chief Warns of More Severe Qaeda Attacks

In a somber and wide-ranging assessment of the threat facing Britain, its top counterterrorism police officer, Peter Clarke, said Tuesday night that Al Qaeda had survived “a prolonged multinational assault” and that its supporters had established “an inexorable trend towards more ambitious and more destructive attack planning.”….(New York Times, 26 Apr 07)

Terrorism Police Arrest 6 in London-Area Raids

The British counterterrorism police raided homes around dawn on Tuesday, arresting six men, including one said to be a well-known advocate of radical Islam who once called the London bombings of 2005 “praiseworthy.”….(New York Times, 25 Apr 07)

Somali Islamists claim attacks on Ethiopians: Web site

An Islamist militant group on Wednesday claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing and a car bomb attack on Ethiopian forces in Somalia. The group, calling itself the Young Mujahideen Movement in Somalia, also said in an Internet statement that its fighters detonated a car bomb near an Ethiopian military convoy in the Somali capital, destroying two trucks….(Reuters, 25 Apr 07)

British Court Orders 9/11 Suspect Freed

A Moroccan man arrested two years ago as an alleged conspirator in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks was ordered released Wednesday by a British court that said his detention was arbitrary and unjustified.  Farid Hilali was arrested in June 2004 on a European warrant after he was named with 34 others as an alleged conspirator in the attacks. He has been held in British prisons while fighting extradition to Spain….(AP, 25 Apr 07)

Suicide bomber kills 4 policemen in Iraq

A suicide bomber wearing a hidden belt of explosives attacked a police station in Iraq's volatile province of Diyala on Wednesday, killing at least four policeman just days after a double suicide bombing in the same province left nine U.S. soldiers dead….(AP, 25 Apr 07)

Three killed in Pakistan attack

Sunni Muslim militants shot dead three people Wednesday in a targeted sectarian shooting in northwest Pakistan…The assailants sprayed bullets from a Kalashnikov rifle on a vehicle in which two brothers from a prominent Shiite Muslim family and their Sunni employee were traveling in Dera Ismail Khan district…..(Agence France-Presse, 25 Apr 07)

Attacks kill 19 in Afghanistan

Fresh attacks in Afghanistan killed 19 people, including six soldiers in a roadside bombing, officials said Wednesday, as the Taliban stepped up its campaign against the government. The bomb struck an Afghan army vehicle on Wednesday in Paktika province, which is on the border with Pakistan….(Agence France-Presse, 25 Apr 07)

Don's driver who turned 'terrorist'

Till November 26, 2006, Sohrabuddin Shaikh, 35, employed earlier as the driver of slain underworld don Abdul Latif, was wanted for murder, extortion, kidnapping, drug peddling and a host of other crimes in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, but not terrorism. That day the Anti-Terrorist Squad killed him on Ahmedabad’s outskirts and branded him a “terrorist”….(Times of India, 25 Apr 07)

Alleged terrorists asks Canada for review of his case after accuser recants

An alleged Al-Qaeda sleeper agent who was detained in Canada demanded Wednesday a review of his case by Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, after his accuser apparently recanted. Canadian media reported last week that convicted terrorist Ahmed Ressam said he made up incriminating statements about fellow Montrealer Adil Charkaoui, a landed immigrant from Morocco who was arrested in May 2003…..(Agence France-Press, 25 Apr 07)

Florida doctor accused of being al-Qaeda volunteer

A Florida doctor accused of swearing allegiance to al Qaeda and agreeing to treat wounded militants has been unfairly ensnared in the scheme of a longtime friend…Rafiq Abdus Sabir, 52, was arrested in May 2005 and later charged in a four-person conspiracy to provide material support to al Qaeda and another group listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department…..(Reuters, 25 Apr 07)

Canadian Detainee Charged in '02 Death of U.S. Soldier

…Omar Khadr, 20, is accused of killing a U.S. soldier with a grenade and injuring another during a firefight at an alleged al-Qaeda compound in Afghanistan in 2002. He was charged with murder and attempted murder in violation of the law of war, as well as conspiracy, spying and providing material support for terrorism, according to charging documents….(Washington Post, 25 Apr 07)

Canada to Get Access to Afghan Detainees

Canada has reached an agreement with Afghan officials to check on the status of detainees amid allegations they are being tortured after Canadian troops hand them over, Defense Minister Gordon O'Connor said Wednesday. O'Connor said Canadian officials will be allowed to enter detention facilities any time they want….(AP, 25 Apr 07)

Iraqi Jihad Group Establishes New Political Framework Called 'Hamas-Iraq'

The Iraqi jihad group Kataib Thawrat Al-Ishrin - one of the Sunni organizations that have not joined the Al-Qaeda-founded Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) - recently split, for unclear reasons, into two factions called Faylaq Al-Jihad Al-Islami and Faylaq Al-Fath Al-Islami. The latter group has announced the establishment of a new political framework called "The Iraqi Resistance Movement - Hamas-Iraq," presumably in response to Al-Qaeda's establishment of the ISI.…(MEMRI, 25 Apr 07)

Nato dumps Afghan opium adverts

Nato forces in Afghanistan say that they have withdrawn paid adverts on a radio station which implied it was acceptable to grow opium poppies. A Nato spokesman told the BBC that the advert was "ambiguously worded". The decision followed complaints from the Afghan government and the UN that the alliance was appearing to condone the illicit crop….(BBC, 25 Apr 07)

An Opium Market Mystery

Something strange is going on in the global opium market, and it could spell trouble… Drug traffickers have a symbiotic relationship with insurgents and terrorist groups such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Instability makes opium cultivation possible; opium buys protection and pays for weapons and foot soldiers, and these in turn create an environment in which drug lords, insurgents and terrorists can operate with impunity. Opium is the glue that holds this murky relationship together. If profits fall, these sinister forces have the most to lose…..(Washington Post, 25 Apr 07)

Nations Balk at Compact For Iraq

…Kuwait, Russia, China, Iran and other governments are concerned about signing a proposed resolution that calls for 100 percent debt relief for oil-rich Iraq, given the tens of billions of dollars each country is owed in debt or in war compensation by Baghdad….(Washington Post, 25 Apr 07)

Basra splits between warring Shi'ites

…Basra, the second-largest city in Iraq, with a population of 2.6 million, is the capital of Basra province and Iraq's main port. The largest explored oil reserves in the country lie within the province. A group led by anti-occupation Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who recently ordered his politicians to quit the Iraqi government in adefiance of the US-led occupation, has said his group will not accept Basra Governor Mohammad al-Wai'ili because he is a member of the Shi'ite Fadhila Party….(Asia Times, 25 Apr 07)

Crackdown on Intellectuals

As the international community, alarmed over an allegedly suspicious nuclear program, is stepping up pressures on Iran through United Nations sanctions, the Islamic Republic in return has accelerated its pressures on Iranian intellectuals that it accuses of "conspiracy against the system."….(World Press, 25 Apr 07)

Syrian agrees to Rice meeting

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said yesterday he would "gladly" meet Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at an upcoming Iraq conference, one of several steps Syria indicated it would take to soothe tensions in the Middle East. "Of course I'll meet her, if she wants to meet me," …..(Washington Times, 25 Apr 07)

N. Korea making nukes, will test again, general says

…"Unless the six-party talks process prevails, we expect North Korea to continue nuclear weapons research and development to perpetuate its strategy of intimidation," Army Gen. Burwell B. Bell told the Senate Armed Services Committee. North Korea is continuing to produce plutonium from a reactor at Yongbyon and now has produced up to 110 pounds of the radioactive material, enough for several weapons…..(Washington Times, 25 Apr 07)

Canadian faces spy, murder charges

The Pentagon yesterday charged a 20-year-old Canadian with murder and other war crimes for his alleged role in fighting US forces in Afghanistan, including a 2002 grenade attack that killed a US Army medic. Omar Ahmed Khadr was 15 at the time of the clash between invading US forces and Al Qaeda-backed Taliban militants in which Sergeant First Class Christopher Speer was fatally wounded, two Afghan militiamen killed, and several US soldiers injured…(Los Angeles Times, 25 Apr 07)

US to make history trying alleged child war criminal

A human rights group today attacked a US decision to file murder charges against a Canadian national and alleged Taliban fighter who was captured in Afghanistan when he was 15. Omar Khadr was wounded by US soldiers during a battle near Khost, Afghanistan, and taken into US custody in July 2002.….(Guardian, 25 Apr 07)

Moroccan wins UK fight against extradition to Spain

A Moroccan accused by Spain of terrorist offences linked to the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 won a legal fight on Wednesday against extradition from Britain. Lawyers for Farid Hilali, who is suspected by Spain of links with a Syrian-born al Qaeda cell leader and who has been prison in Britain for more than three years, were granted a court order which could soon allow him to be released….(Reuters, 25 Apr 07)

U.N. raps Iraq for withholding civilian toll

The United Nations criticized Iraq's government on Wednesday for not disclosing politically sensitive civilian casualty figures and said the humanitarian crisis there was rapidly worsening. Violence continued as a suicide attacker walked into the police station in the volatile Diyala province and detonated a bomb, killing nine and wounding 16….(Reuters, 25 Apr 07)

Ethiopia hunts for kidnapped Chinese oil workers

Ethiopian troops searched on Wednesday for seven Chinese and Ethiopian workers kidnapped in a rebel attack on an oilfield that killed 74 people in a remote and barren southeastern region. The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), ethnic Somalis fighting for independence since 1984, claimed responsibility….(Reuters, 25 Apr 07)

Dutch government says terrorist threat level has fallen

The threat of a terrorist attack by Islamic fundamentalists in the Netherlands has fallen since mid-2006, the country's anti-terrorism coordinator said in a letter to Parliament Wednesday, citing secret service information. The country's four-stage system of rating threat levels has been lowered from 'substantial' to 'limited' as a result…..(AP, 25 Apr 07)