• U.S. working closely with U.K. to secure 2012 Olympics

    Yesterday U.S. and U.K. officials met in Washington, D.C. to discuss security plans for the upcoming 2012 Olympic Games in London; the United States will have more than 500 federal agents on hand at the event and is working closely with British authorities

  • Rumor of war: Is Israel about to attack Iran?

    There is an increasingly heated debate in Israel, accompanied by leaks from high ups in the government, about a coming Israeli military attack on Iran; four developments have created a climate more hospitable to an Israeli military action: the progress Iran has made in its effort to build nuclear weapons — and the exposure of this progress in an IAEA report due out this week; changes at the top of the Israeli national security establishment — changes which saw individuals more favorable to an attack on Iran replace individuals who were adamantly opposed to military action; growing understanding between Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan; and the coming elections in the United States; these developments have convinced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense minister Ehud Barak — both proponents of an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities — that a window has been opened for an Israeli military action against Iran

  • EU and U.S. hold joint cybersecurity drill

    On Thursday, the United States and the European Union held their first joint cybersecurity exercise in Brussels, Belgium; the exercise, dubbed “Cyber Atlantic 2011,” was aimed at strengthening efforts to protect international critical infrastructures

  • Terrorism in Africa: Kenyan troops invade Somalia

    On Wednesday, Kenya sent its troops some 100 miles inside Somalia to take the battle to the Islamic Al Shabaab organization, killing some 75 militants; yesterday, AU troops stormed a stronghold of Al Shabaab militant group on the outskirts of Mogadishu, while a militia backed by Kenyan troops simultaneously attacked another Shabaab stronghold along the Kenya-Somalia border, taking it over and forcing Shabab fighters to flee; Somalia’s nominal government relies on Ethiopian and Kenyan troops to fight Islamic terrorists in Somalia

  • Qaddafi killed – 42-year rule over

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    There are reports from Libya that Col. Muamar Qaddafi was killed while trying to escape his besieged hometown of Sirte; NATO says that a convoy of several vehicles was attacked as it was trying to make its way out of the city, and that when rebel forces approached the destroyed cars, they found Col Qaddafi in one of the vehicles; there are conflicting reports about whether he was killed by NATO airstrike on the convoy, or killed by rebel forces which pulled him out of his car

  • Arab Spring is different thing for different people

    New research shows true picture of what and who is behind the political uprisings; although the idea of the “Arab Spring” is accepted by a large proportion of people in Arab countries, the reasons they are aligning themselves with it are very different and have grown more diverse the longer it has gone on

  • Fences make good neighbors

    Often, peace depends on boundaries — well chosen, not arbitrarily set — that separate groups; boundaries that give groups some amount of autonomy can serve to mitigate conflict where people naturally seek to live near others of their own group

  • Israel-Hamas prisoner exchange goes through

    Earlier today, the initial phase of prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas has taken place; Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas operatives more than five years ago and held incommunicado since — even the Red Cross was not allowed to visit him — returned to Israel in exchange for 450 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails; in total, 1,027 Palestinian (1,000 men and twenty-seven women) will be released in the exchange; the deal was reached after both Israel and Hamas agreed to major compromises; analysts say that one of the main reasons prompting Israel to show more flexibility was the desire to “clean the table” of troublesome and divisive issues in preparation for a possible Israeli military attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities

  • The Israel-Hamas prisoner exchange

    If everything goes according to plan, then this coming Tuesday will see Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas operatives more than five years ago and held incommunicado since – even the Red Cross was not allowed to visit him — return to Israel in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails (1,000 men and twenty-seven women); the deal was reached after both Israel and Hamas agreed to major compromises; analysts say that one of the main reasons prompting Israel to show more flexibility was the desire to “clean the table” of troublesome and divisive issues in preparation for a possible Israeli military attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities

  • Concordia Summit: sustaining "at risk" communities long-term

    The high-level Concordia Summit, which gathered heads of state, business leaders, government officials, and counter-terrorism experts to find solutions focusing on public-private partnerships, announces its key findings

  • U.S.-Canada reach border agreement

    The U.S.-Canada border security pact reached earlier this year by President Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper is nearing completion

  • NATO: 10,000 Libyan shoulder-fired missiles unaccounted for

    Senior NATO officials said that at least 10,000 shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles are unaccounted for in Libya, and that at least some of them may have fallen in the hands of al Qaeda operatives; the missiles are known as SAM-7 by NATO designation and 9K32 Strela-2 in Russia, and typically have a range of about four kilometers and an infra-red guidance system; more than forty civilian aircraft have been hit by these portable surface-to-air missiles since 1975, causing about twenty-eight crashes and more than 800 deaths around the world

  • New Libyan regime to cooperate in Lockerbie investigation

    Libya’s new government said that it will cooperate with Scottish prosecutors in their ongoing investigation of the Lockerbie bombing; so far only one man has been convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland which resulted in the deaths of 270 people; Scottish prosecutors are seeking assistance from Libya’s National Transitional Council to gain evidence that could lead to the conviction of others involved in the atrocity; Libya’s interim justice minister Mohammed al-Alagi recently said, “The case is closed,” but later retracted his statement; Scottish authorities said, “The police investigation into the Lockerbie bombing remains open, and the Police should follow the evidence wherever it leads them”

  • Pakistan seeks to improve relations with Saudi Arabia, China, as U.S. relations sour

    As U.S.- Pakistan relations continue to deteriorate following the clandestine raid that killed Osama bin Laden, Pakistan has sought to improve relations with Saudi Arabia and China to offset the United States rising anger; Pakistan promised China it would root out any Uighur militants hiding out in its territory and promised to hold war games with Saudi Arabia; analysts believe Pakistan is hedging against a potential downgrade in its relationship with the United States; China has long been a close Pakistani ally and the two share a wariness of India and a desire to curb growing U.S. influence in the region

  • China teams up with Ukraine to fight terrorism

    Last week, top Chinese and Ukrainian security officials agreed to strengthen law enforcement cooperation between the two countries to combat terrorism, drug trafficking, illegal immigration, and trans-national crime; Ukrainian officials said it would work with China to combat cybercrime and other forms of trans-national organized crimes as well as the “three forces of evil” — terrorism, extremism, and separatism; Ukraine also pledged to provide more convenience for Chinese citizens entering and exiting its border; during China’s minister of public security Meng Jianzhu’s visit, the two countries signed cooperation documents