Iran

• Iran's ambassador to Russia says that a referral to the UNSC will prompt Iran to cease co-operation with the IAEA. He also said: 'Any referral of Iran's case to the Security Council will result in adverse consequences for the region'.

• Both Egypt and Saudi Arabia have expressed concern about the prospect of Iranian nuclear weapons.

• The Iranian Central Bank has confirmed that the mullahs are shifting their money from European banks to banks in Asia.

• China looks to be the permanent member least favourable to a UNSC resolution against Iran. I'd venture that has something to do with the $100 billion energy deal in the works.

• Iran looks to be trying to get the old 'Non-Aligned' bloc going again. They are looking for Arab, African and Asian support against the West.

The Middle East

• A witness who told UN investigators how he had monitored political figures on behalf of Lebanon has told a Lebanese TV station that he was coerced to testify by Lebanese ministers. The relevant ministers are denying it, with one of them expressing 'pity for [Syrian intelligence's] silly attempts at misleading the world'.

• A Lebanese council in south Beirut has demanded the Lebanese government remove a PFLP-GC base, following the shooting of two municipal workers by terrorists belonging to that organisation.

• The U.S. has halted trade talks with Egypt to protest the imprisonment dissident Ayman Nour and for the 'highly flawed' Egyptian elections.

• Hamas is working to build up its network in the territories, in order to resume attacks against Israeli targets following the January 25th 'elections'. The Israelis have had several successes in breaking up terror cells of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

• Shimon Peres told reporters that a Kadima government would enter final status talks with the PA after Israel's elections in March.

• A suicide bomber has blown himself up in a Tel Aviv restaurant, wounding 20 Israelis. A witness said he fled police, detonating five minutes later in a restaurant bathroom. Ha'aretz reports: Bomber from Al-Aqsa Martyrs` Brigades, not Jihad, carried out TA attack, referring to a claim of repsonsibility from Islamic Jihad.

• PA minister Jibril Rajoub has told al-Jazeera that Fatah is in favour of 'resistance' against Israel, that there was never a disagreement about it with Hamas, and that the al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades was founded by Marwan Barghouti on orders from Yasser Arafat.

Iraq and the Gulf

• The little-known group that kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll is demanding that all female prisoners held by the coalition be released by Friday, echoing demands made by openly jihadist groops. The Iraqi ministry of justice has said that six of the eight women being held are to be released early, due to a lack of evidence against them.

• Al-Qaeda in Iraq has started to assassinate Iraqi non-jihadist insurgent leaders, and has fought pitched battles against such groups. This, and the continued targeting of Iraqi civilians, may have caused a rift between 'al-Qaeda Centre' (Zawahiri) and al-Qaeda in Iraq (Zarqawi).

• Power Line has a translation from the Arabic Dar Alhayat newspaper, which says that U.S. troops in the Anbar province are to be replaced with local forces.

• American helicopter crews now face aerial improvised explosive devices. Insurgents are also ambushing medevac helicopters, by detonating an IED next to a convoy and then detonating IEDs placed at likely landing points when the helicopter arrives to evacuate the wounded.

• Saudi police have raided a jihadi hideout in Riyadh, arresting five and discovering a bomb lab, hand grenades and plans to carry out attacks in Saudi Arabia.

The Americas

• Wiretaps introduced in the al-Arian trial have unearthed another 'alleged' Islamic Jihad associated professor. The wiretaps demonstrate that Brandeis professor Khalil Shikaki was distributing money in Judea and Samaria on behalf of other 'alleged' Islamic Jihad members. Islamic Jihad murdered a Brandeis student named Alisa Flatow in 1995.

• Canadian police discovered a bomb and four handguns in a car at the U.S.-Canada border. It isn't clear from this article whether the car was heading north or south, but well-done to the police who stopped the guy.

• Mexican military forces have been sighted repeatedly on the U.S. side of the border, prompting a warning to the Border Patrol to keep a low profile and avoid contact. The Border Patrol was quick to add that the incursiosn were made in areas not sign-posted or otherwise marked, and that the U.S. miltiary has made similar errors.

• Castro's Cuba is reaching out to Iran, and vice versa. The relationship includes research in to biological and chemical weapons, the use of Cuban jamming equipment to interfere with U.S. pro-democracy broadcasts in to Iran and the development of EMP weapons.

• Three 'fire-crackers on steroids' have been found on a Cincinnati bus seat - police are stumped.

Europe

• The mayor of Amsterdam has called for action against 'unrest' committed in part by Moroccan-Dutch youths in the southern Pijp district. A Jewish resident was threatened and his home attacked with a firework, and a gay couple are reporting regular harassment. 39 cars had their windows smashed on New Year's, and youths stoned a police station following the death of a 17 year-old apparently fleeing police.

• French President Jacques Chirac has threatened a nuclear response to a state-sponsored terrorist attack on French soil.

• The French have arrested six people in and around Montpellier for involvement in a network sending jihadi recruits to Iraq.

• This is good. Italian prosecutors want the U.S. to help down the American soldier they believe fired on an Italian secret service vehicle that sped towards a checkpoint in Iraq.

• The Spanish foreign minister has told the PA that they will continue to fund it even if the overtly terrorists Hamas wins in the coming 'elections'.

• The Brits have arrested a man for involvement in the botched London bombings of July 21st, 2005.

Central and Western Asia

• Jamestown always has a lot of good stuff on the jihadist insurgency in the Caucasus, but this week is particularly good. Shamil Basayev says he will 'cross the Volga' in summer 2006; the commander of the attack on Nalchik gloats about their 'victory' there; a Dagestani group has admitted several killings and promised more.

• Following estimates by a senior Russian general that there are 750 terrorists active in Chechnya, the acting prime minister of the republic has said there are no more than 250.

• NATO is due to takeover from the U.S. in southern Afghanistan, and the U.S. envoy to NATO is warning that the British-led force must be ready to combat a resurgent Taliban. The Dutch have delayed the deployment of 1,200 troops due to join the NATO force due to the increase in attacks in recent months. The Dutch armed forces chief says that the U.S. has had no effect on the insurgency in southern Afghanistan, and said that Dutch forces would not 'roar through the streets in tanks with closed turrets', or search women or children for arms.

• The UN office for refugees in Baluchistan was threatened with attack by an anonymous caller claiming to represent al-Qaeda. Baluchistan, by the way, borders southern Afghanistan.

• The Indians have made several Lashkar-e-Taiba related arrests and breakthroughs. Bangalore police say arrests they've made prevented an attack on a nuclear power plant; a Deobandi imam who sheltered LeT terrorists also had a bank account with 50,000 Rupees (his salary was 6,000 Rupees); an LeT man who was also a councillor planned to kill the former Jammu and Kashmir Minister - and was sheltered by his daughter, in her house; an escaped LeT terrorists in J&K jumped off a train, but was caught by local villagers and handed over to police;

South East Asia

• Kim Il Jong has turned up in Beijing, after he slipped across the border in his private train for an unofficial meeting with the Chinese government to discuss the nuclear situation. Immediately after the talks, American and North Korean envoys met in Beijing.

• The U.S. and Japan will integrate their missile defence information networks.

• A MILF terrorist involved in five bombings in the Philippines in 2000 may prove the link between MILF, Abu Sayyaf, Jemaah Islamiyah and al-Qaeda. Ustadz Abdulgani Pagao was arrested by Philippine authorities on Mindanao.

• The U.S. is taking a greater role in fighting al-Qaeda in Mindanao. U.S. troops are handing out bottled water with photographs of known Abu Sayyaf jihadis, courtesy of U.S. Charge d’Affaires Paul Jones. Jones also paid a $100,000 reward to a informant whose information led to the capture of an Abu Sayyaf terrorist who kidnapped American citizens. The Filipino army says that Abu Sayyaf have fled Sulu due to the imminent arrival of U.S. special forces tasked with a humanitarian mission. Abu Sayyaf probably fear a repeat of the Balikatan exercise of 2002, during which U.S. forces provided assistance to the military's hunt for Abu Sayyaf.

• Asia Times looks at Abu Sayyaf and their involvement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

• Police in Jakarta have arrested an aide to Noordin Mohammad Top, a senior leader in Jemaah Islamiyah.

Africa

• The Algerian Plague looks at the threat posed by the GSPC, and its roots in the GIA.

• The United Nations, true to form, has abandoned one of its bases in Ivory Coast after three days of anti-UN protests. UPI has more.

• Nigerian 'militants' have claimed responsibility for attacks on oil facilities and the kidnapping of four foreign workers. The group is demanding a share of oil profits for the local Ijaw people, and demanded the release of the leader of the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force, Mujahid Dokubu-Asari.

• Mauritanian police have arrested two Moroccans driving a car carrying large amounts of explosives, a state-of-the-art computer and an unspecified amount of euros. They were travelling close to the Moroccan border.

• The Sudanese Army has committed a major breach of the ceasefire in the south of the country. 1,200 troops entered SPLM territory and threatened to expel them.

• Somalia - Africa's Horn of Anarchy - a good brief on al-Qaeda's disposition there.

The Global War

• Tangled Webs - Terrorist and Organized Crime Groups - how Islamic terror groups have sustained themselves through crime, and the links between them and non-Islamic criminal groups.

• The U.S. Army will recieve new body armour to protect the sides of soldier's torsos next month.

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