IRAN

• Iran will aid Syria against challenges and threats.

• An explosion 100 miles away from a nuclear reactor has set off fears of an attack, says the Associated Press.

• A leader of Iranian Hezbollah says that, without them, the Islamic Revolution will collapse from within. Let's hope.

• Jack Straw says Iran can be talked out of nukes.

• See? Straw's right! Iran wants serious nuclear talks with EU.

• Don't worry, Iran turning down a key EU deal won't stop this charade.

• It'll help pad out the Iran section for a long time. Probably even after six months from now, when the Israelis think Iran will know how to build nuclear weapons.

THE MIDDLE EAST

• Democratically elected moderate anti-terrorist reformist Mahmoud Abbas has authorised death sentences for so-called collaborators.

• The IAF is denying a report from the Reform Party of Syria that they shot down two Syrian MiG-29s last September.

• To help build up Abbas's credibility so he can fight terrorism, the PLO want Israel to release all terrorists.

• Israel's chief-of-staff won't stay on for another year, as is customary.

• Ariel Sharon says that Putin told him he was going to sell missiles to Syria.

• Hezbollah is now paying $100,000 for a successful suicide bombing in Israel.

• At least 350 terrorists will join the PLO. Hmm, best re-phrase that... Fugitives to join PA security forces.

• The IAEA says Egypt's nuclear program has ended, and was no threat.

• The Egyptian army is ready to deploy three battalions along their border with Gaza.

• U.S. troops will be allowed to kill terrorists in Syria. There will also be more air and ground forces in the area to protect Iraq from infiltrators from Syria.

• Syria is preparing to withdraw troops from Lebanon. Diplomats say Syria is prepared to withdraw entirely if "all UN resolutions concerning the Palestinian-Israeli conflict are implemented."

THE GULF

• The Carnival of the Liberated is up.

• Kuwaiti authorities are holding seven men for questioning about the shoot-outs last month.

• Oh, that terrorist who died in custody? Heart attack.

• Lest we forget, the Saudis aren't the only ones who've dabbled with jihadis. Yeah, you, Kuwait.

• The municipal elections in Saudi Arabia saw victory for Islamists and defeat for liberals.

• The Saudis don't want an international investigation in to Hariri's murder, which is odd given the international coalition against terrorism they just built last week.

• A Yemeni al-Qaeda member has confessed to planning attacks against Western embassies.

THE AMERICAS

• FBI director Robert Mueller says they aren't sure whether al-Qaeda intended to attack during the U.S. election, but an attack may have been disrupted.

• American will move to freeze the assets of a Kuwaiti whose cash funds attacks in Iraq, and helped pay for the attack on a French oil tanker in 2002.

• U.S. intelligence on Iran and North Korea isn't what it should be, say two top members of the Senate intelligence committee.

• In a Brooklyn couty, a Yemeni teacher describes terror-funding defendants as pacifists.

• Two former terror-suspects, wanted for insurance fraud, want freedom. Denied.

• The retired basketball player whose donations went to a terrorist-financing mosque says his donations didn't aid jihadists, but refuses to condemn militant Islam.

EUROPE

• The new leader of Finsbury Park mosque is a former Hamas terrorist commander. Apparently a career in Jew-killing doesn't bother the trustees (including a Labour MP), nor the Metropolitan police or Charity Commission, who were involved in the selection process. Here's the Met superintendent who monitored the choice: “I am aware of the background, but if I took the view that I’m not working with this or that person I’d end up spending my whole life in my office.”

• A Hindu temple is under assault by 'Moroccan youths', presumably of an Islamic persuasion.

• The Guardian looks at the aftermath of Beslan. Let's just say questions remain.

• One of Basayev's aides has been nabbed in Chechnya.

• ETA planned to kill Spain's King Juan Carlos. The sniper was caught in the sweep after the ETA bomb in Madrid last week.

• A Spanish judge says the men suspected of attacking Madrid will be tried within the year.

• An Algerian suspected of involvement in the Madrid train bombings has been (I still can't quite believe this) released on bail.

ASIA

• The Pakistanis are calling the CIA's report on Pakistan's possible/probable descent in to chaos as baseless.

• Police in Pakistan think they've averted 'imminent attacks' by arresting seven terrorists.

• Jack Straw says Pakistan is more than capable of handling an inquiry in to the activities of AQ Khan.

• Pakistan has decided to buy loyalty from tribes fighting for al-Qaeda.

• A member of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has been sentenced to death.

AUSTRALASIA

• After three bombs killed 11 people in Manila, police are warning of plots to bomb other locations in the city.

• The Philipino government believes that a coaliton of Abu Sayyaf, Jemaah Islamiyah and the Moro National Liberation Front carried out the Valentine's Day bombings.

• Philipino police are on alert for JI sleeper cells.

• The U.S. is looking at possible links between JI and Thai Muslim terrorists.

• Indonesian police think they've found JI's constitution.

AFRICA

• The UN says al-Qaeda has camps in Nigeria, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda.

• The biggest Islamist party in Algeria is backing government plans for an amnesty for terrorists.

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