IRAN

• Austrian prosecutors are investigating whether 'president' Ahmadinejad was invovled in the murder of a Kurdish dissident in Vienna in 1989. Or maybe not - they're denying there is such an investigation.

• Iran's 40,000 martyrs-to-be.

• North Korea is helping Iran in their quest for nukes.

• Iran and Iraq are resuming military talks.

• The EU is showing some spine. France's foreign minister, no less, says 'the Europeans will never accept a resumption of the Iranian military nuclear activities'.

THE MIDDLE EAST

• Hezbollah are offering $100k for Israeli soldiers captured alive.

• Hamas has decided to stay out of the PA.

• Barghouti may find himself out of prison for terrorist murders, and in charge of the PLO.

• Days after being released, Zarqawi's spritual mentor has been re-arrested by Jordanian authorities.

• Jordan is hosting a conference of religious leaders who are going to ban violence.

• Three Egyptians are on trial for the Sinai bombings.

• General Aoun has again refused to join the Lebanese government.

IRAQ AND THE GULF

• Syria is thought to be stepping up assistance to jihadis going to Iraq.

• The Carnival of the Liberated. Regime change in Syria, more on the Da'awa party and reactions to the flypaper strategy.

• Al-Qaeda's budget in the Gulf may be as much as $500 million.

• Five Americans have been captured, separately, in Iraq, believed to have been involved in terrorist activity.

• StrategyPage says kidnapping diplomats has divided terrorists. (Time-sensitive link.)

• Cordseman on Iraq, parts four and five.

• Bill Roggio: al Qaeda Strategory: More of the Same and Profiles of Saudi Terrorists.

THE AMERICAS

• People-smuggling across the Mexican border has been a hot-topic on Winds of War. News of Hezbollah sympathisers, fundraisers and employees being smuggled across shouldn't come as a surprise.

• President Bush has predicted the rise of hydrogen-powered cars, and said the U.S. must move away from the use of fossil fuels.

• How the Visa System Failed to Flag Lodi Imam.

• CSIS believes that at least 50 terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda, are operating in Canada.

EUROPE

• MSNBC had an article by Dana Priest about France's help in covert anti-terror operations. The cached link is here, the original link - which MSNBC's site says is missing, is here. Failing those, there's an extract at Jihad Watch.

• Abu Hamza's trial begins.

• Imad Yarkas 'categorically' condemns terrorism...

• Belgium's air force is to mount its first operation outside of Europe, when it sends six F-16s to Afghanistan. Spain is sending a battalion of 500 soldiers.

• The Dutch are drafting a law to monitor the sermons given by imams. The sermons would be broadcast at random.

• Basayev says that, if Russia won their bid to hold the Olympics in 2012, the safety of Russian athletes could not be guaranteed.

WEST ASIA AND THE 'STANS

• Jihadis in J&K recruiting children.

• Lashkar-e-Toiba as a successor to al-Qaeda?

• Azerbaijani police have broken up what they're calling an A-Q connected criminal group which was planning a series of bombings. The group, led by Afghans, also consisted of British, Jordanian and Russian members.

• A police station and a truck full of soldiers have been blown up, and a politican shot dead, in Dagestan.

• More killings in Chechnya - one policeman and one soldier.

AUSTRALASIA AND THE ORIENT

• The situation in Thailand has detoriarted to the point where teachers will be allowed to carry guns. Another policeman has been beheaded by jihadists. The Fourth Rail has a great round-up.

• Indonesian police have arrested 17 who they believe were plotting to bomb the Jakarta police HQ.

• Are Abu Sayyaf and MILF parting ways? Abu Sayyaf's leader has been kicked out of the MILF's camp on Mindanao.

AFRICA

• Two men have been sentenced to death in Morocco for murder, specifically the Casablanca bombings.

• Algerian forces and the GSPC have clashed north of Mali - twelve dead.

• The ratline to Iraq begins in north Africa.

• Sudan's government and Darfur rebels have signed an accord.

Finishing on a lighter note:

• A great letter from a Kurdish translator working with the Army Rangers.

• Saudi Arabian lingerie stores are being ordered to replace their male staff with females.

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