IRAN

• President Bush outlines U.S. policy on Iran's nuclear program: 'Our policy is to prevent them from having the capacity to develop - enrich - uranium to the point where they are able to make a nuclear weapon'.

• The Iranians want the E.U.'s blessing to continue enriching uranium.

• Iran has made a breakthrough in their ballistic missile program.

• Moderate-president-to-be ('pragmatic conservative', in AFP-speak) Rafsanjani says Iran needs a radical foreign policy rethink.

• A convert to Christianity has been acquitted of apostasy.

THE MIDDLE EAST

• Of the 400 prisoners Israel will release today, 170 were arrested for shooting or trying to use bombs to kill Israelis.

• Hamas promises not to attack the IDF or Israeli civilians involved in the retreat from Gaza. Speaking of Hamas, a senior PLO 'police officer' says Hamas is taking over Gaza.

• Israeli forces have thwarted a double suicide bombing.

• Outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon has said that Israel can do without the Golan Heights, so long as there is peace; that a palestinian state means war at some point; and that Israel faces a renewed terror war after the retreat from Gaza - something he says is not a done deal.

• Egypt has released 52 members of the Muslim Brotherhood on Tuesday, as well as another 77 on Saturday, so they can take exams.

• Egypt's ambassador to Israel says that his country will not police Gaza.

• A Syrian missile may have landed in the Turkish region of Hatay, a disputed province. There were no injuries or reports of damage.

• A Khaleej Times op-ed notes that the Arab League has decided to try to alleviate pressure on the Syrian regime for sponsoring terror. The entire thing is worth reading, too.

• Jordanian Islamists are holding a hunger strike to protest conditions and the solitary confinement of a particularly nasty imam.

IRAQ AND THE GULF

• What Drives Saudi Arabia to Persist in Terrorist Financing?

• Qatar has chipped in $3m on top of the Arab League's $150m for the palestinian terrorist campaign.

• Syria has handed 30 Saudi citizens trying to cross in to Iraq over to Saudi authorities.

• Two separate air crashes in Iraq have claimed nine lives. An Italian helicopter crashed southeast of Nasiriyah, killing all crew on board. A single-engined Iraqi aircraft crashed about 130km northeast of Baghdad, killing the Iraqi pilot and four Americans.

• The Carnival of the Liberated... Who's responsible for the car bombings? A few blame us, directly or indirectly. And a, frankly, heart-warming story about imported fruit.

• The OIC is getting a face-lift. More information here.

• Gunmen in KSA have wounded two police officers as they ran a roadblock.

THE AMERICAS

• The FBI has arrested two men, one in Florida, one in New York, for pledging loyalty to al-Qaeda. The one from New York has sick fantasies about slitting people's throats, and is apparently a fan of the objectively pro-fascist Ward Churchill.

• The Pakistanis are handing Abu Faraj al-Libbi over to the United States.

• The NYT reports how the U.S. moves captured terror suspects.

• An Iranian smuggling ring on the Mexican border has been broken up.

• RAND: Americans support the war on terror.

EUROPE

• Via LGF, Gateway Pundit has a post about the trial of a Beslan terrorist in Ossetia.

• Albanian authorities have moved against two individuals (one Belgian, on Lebanese) for funding terrorism, and closed down their 'charities'.

• Russia has agreed to withdraw its troops. Discarded Lies has the story, plus a cool map.

• Jihadis led by Omar Bakri Muhammad and Yassar al-Siri burned crosses outside the U.S. Embassy in London on Friday 20th May.

• Israel Insider claims the U.K. has decided to talk to Hamas. Jack Straw denies it, as does a 'senior official' on the rather amusing basis that the U.K. will not engage in talks with groups involved in terror or who do not accept Israel's existence.

• The Israelis say Hamas is capable of carrying out suicide bombings in the United Kingdom.

• An Iraqi on trial in Germany denies links to Ansar al-Islam.

• The Counterterrorism Blog on the Islamist/Neo-Nazi Connection.

• The next Euro-Mediterranean partnership (Eurabia, if you will) summit will be hosted by Spain this November.

• A Morroccan accused of involvement in 3/11 denies links to Abu Dahdah.

• There's more 3/11-related stuff from El Mundo here: the Spanish police had someone informing on the jihadi terror cell. Perhaps another coincidence, but the sister-in-law of Joaquin Almunia, Spanish prominent Socialist Politician, minister several times, now Commissioner of Economic Affairs in the European Union, was in contact with cell members.

ASIA & AUSTRALASIA

• What's going on with North Korea? Glad you asked.

• During violent protests against a local official in Afghanistan, two people were killed and 33 injured.

• The MILFs want more than autonomy. They're open to a federal system, though.

• They're also willing to hunt down other terrorists.

• Pakistani authorities are holding a man believed to have been involved in the bombings of a Shi'ite mosque. Shi'ites responded by rioting, torching a KFC and killing six workers inside

AFRICA

• The U.S. is going to expand counter-terror efforts in Africa and court Nigeria and its oil resources.

• The Sudanese government has charged the head of the Dutch wing of the MSF with 'crimes against the state' for reporting on the atrocities committed by the forces of the Khartoum government and their allies.

• Somali clans in Baidoa clash over the relocation of the new government. 15 killed, 20 wounded. People are fleeing the city fearing a return to the fighting.

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