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Wednesday, February 1, 2012

4 men admit terror plot in UK


Four British citizens admitted in court Wednesday plotting to bomb the London Stock Exchange as part of a campaign of al Qaeda-inspired attacks across the British capital in the run-up to Christmas 2010. The conspiracy included plans to post bombs to the United States Embassy and the home of London Mayor Boris Johnson. Police foiled the plot at an early stage before firm dates were agreed or explosive devices assembled. The plan was to cause "terror, economic harm and disruption" rather than injury, prosecutor Andrew Edis told London s Woolwich Crown Court. However, "their chosen method meant there was a risk people would be maimed or killed," he said. The four, with five other men, admitted a range of terrorism offences after changing their pleas shortly before their trial had been due to begin, the Press Association reported. The defendants, all British nationals with Bangladeshi or Pakistani backgrounds, had been inspired by al Qaeda and the late radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, Edis said. Al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen linked to al Qaeda s Yemeni branch, was killed last year in a CIA drone strike. Undercover officers had followed two of the conspirators in November 2010 as they made observations of London landmarks including the Big Ben clocktower, parliament, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye ferris wheel. The two men, Mohammed Chowdhury, 21, and Shah Rahman, 28, both from east London, admitted preparing for acts of terrorism by planning to plant an improvised bomb in the toilets of the London Stock Exchange. Brothers Gurukanth Desai, 30, and Abdul Miah, 25, both from Cardiff in Wales also pleaded guilty to the same charge. Some of the defendants had also discussed leaving home-made bombs in the toilets of pubs in Stoke, in the English midlands. The judge told Chowdhury he could expect to receive 18-1/2 years and Rahman 17 years, although the actual time spent in jail would be shorter, around six years, taking account of time already served and parole.The five other men, one from Cardiff and four from Stoke, admitted lesser terrorism offences including attending operational meetings and fundraising. All will be sentenced next week.

At least 59 killed in Syria violence


At least 59 people, the majority of them civilians, were killed in fighting across Syria on Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Britain-based monitoring group said at least eight civilians were killed in shelling by regime forces in the restive central city of Homs while 24 were killed in fighting in the Damascus region, among them a three-year-old child and a 25-year-old woman. Five civilians also died in the southern province of Daraa and one was killed by sniper fire in Idlib, located in the northwest of the country. The Observatory said the casualties also include six rebel troops killed near the capital Damascus and 15 soldiers killed in fighting with rebel forces in the Bustan al-Diwan sector of Homs. Homs has become a flashpoint of the 10-month revolt against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, whose fierce crackdown has left more than 5,400 people dead according to the United Nations.

Cricket: Mohammad Amir released from prison


Amir, who was convicted last November for his involvement in the spot-fixing scandal, was freed from Portland Young Offenders Institution in Dorset after completing half of his six-month sentence. Amir, along with team-mates Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt, was banned for a minimum of five years by the International Cricket Council in February last year. Asif and Butt, serving one year and two and a half years respectively, both remain behind bars. The 19-year-old will spend three weeks in London before returning to Pakistan. He will hold a series of meetings with his lawyers to finalise an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the five-year ban imposed on him by the International Cricket Council. The talented left-arm bowler had taken 51 wickets in 14 Tests before his career was brought to an abrupt halt, but Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Zaka Ashraf has left the door open for him to eventually return to international cricket. "Whenever he is cleared by the International Cricket Council and serves his punishment, we think he needs intense counselling and then the selectors can decide about him," Ashraf said last month. "As far as his playing again is concerned that is for the selectors to decide because there is no doubt about his immense talent and he is still very young." Pakistan s Test team has fared well in Amir s absence, with Misbah Ul-Haq leading the squad to a series victory over England in the United Arab Emirates.

NATO sticking to 2014 pullout date for now


NATO's top official said Monday that the alliance will adhere to its plans to hand over security to local forces in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, comments that came after France said it would push NATO to speed up its timeline for the handover of combat operations by a year. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen acknowledged that the final transition phase, which involves handing over lead responsibility for provinces and districts to Afghan authorities, would start from "mid-2013." A number of areas and towns already have been handed over to the Afghan army and police since the transition started a year ago. Nonetheless, the overall NATO plan is still pegged on a 2014 pullout date, Fogh Rasmussen said after a meeting with Romanian President Traian Basescu. "We will stick to the roadmap that was outlined at the NATO summit in Lisbon in 2010, according to which we will gradually hand over lead responsibility to the Afghans, a process that has been started and hopefully will be completed by the end of 2014," Fogh Rasmussen said. Last week, French President Nicolas Sarkozy jolted NATO by announcing France would speed up its exit and ask NATO to end its combat mission in 2013. The announcement came after an Afghan soldier killed 4 French soldiers on Jan. 20. The move was seen as the latest crack in a coalition already strained by economic troubles in Europe and the United States, the Afghan government s sluggish battle against corruption, and a Taliban insurgency that remains unbeaten after more than a decade of war. It s unclear if Sarkozy s call for all foreign forces to hand security over to the Afghan forces in 2013 will have traction when is presented on Thursday and Friday at a NATO defense ministers  meeting in Brussels. Britain and Germany have already indicated they would stick to the 2014 timeline. Basescu said Romania, with a contingent of 1,900 troops, will focus on training Afghanistan s paramilitary police forces. Fogh Rasmussen said "there is nothing new" in the fact that from mid-2013 the role of coalition forces in Afghanistan will start changing from combat to a support role. NATO is speeding up the training of the Afghan security forces, which are due to gradually expand to over 350,000 members. But incidents in which Afghan soldiers have turned on NATO troops have raised fears of increased Taliban infiltration of the Afghan police and army. France, which now has about 3,600 soldiers in the coalition force, joins Britain, Germany and Italy in the top five largest troop-contributing nations. All those national contingents are dwarfed by the 90,000-strong U.S. force. Sarkozy s government has been under political pressure to withdraw French troops before the United States  pegged pullout in 2014. Polls show most French want an early pullout and such a move could affect Sarkozy s re-election prospects.

India to buy French fighter jets in $11b deal


The deal will increase the might of India’s air force and is likely to affect the balance in the region. India has become the world s biggest arms importer as an economic boom has allowed it to push modernization of its military, and major arms manufacturers are wooing the country as it replaces its obsolete Soviet-era weapons and buys new equipment. Dassault Aviation said it was honored to extend cooperation with India, which has a fleet of its older Mirage jets, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy welcomed India s decision. Dassault snapped up the €8.4 billion deal with the lower bid in a two-way competition against the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, said an Indian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters about the sensitive defense deal. India s air force has around 700 fighter aircraft and is exceeded in size by the United States, Russia and China. Growing worries about China s fast-expanding military and the decades-old unfounded mistrust of Pakistan have fueled India s impetus to add heft to its defense forces. "India needs to bolster its fighting capabilities, particularly with long-range strike aircraft," said Rahul Bedi, a defense analyst in New Delhi. "India s concern is not just Pakistan, but the longer term threat posed by an aggressive China," Bedi said. The Indian agreement is the first foreign deal for Dassault s Rafale fighter jets. Planes from Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin of the United States and from Russian and Swedish makers were dropped from consideration earlier for technical reasons. Eighteen fighter aircraft will be delivered in "fly away" condition within three years and the remaining 108 are to be built by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. through technology transfers.

Head of UK press regulator says change needed


Press Complaints Commission chief David Hunt told Britain s media ethics inquiry Tuesday that the media needs to regain public trust, but this should not be done through a "press regulation act." The judge-led inquiry was set up in the wake of a scandal about illegal phone hacking by Rupert Murdoch s now-defunct News of the World. Victims of tabloid intrusion have described the complaints commission which newspapers join voluntarily  as a toothless organization. In a witness statement, Hunt says the existing structure "is not viable" and should be replaced by a body with powers to impose sanctions on newspapers that breach ethical guidelines.