Monday morning roundup

Gregg Carlstrom | July 20, 2009 7:27 AM | 0 | recommend (0) |   |      

At least three people were killed by a car bomb in Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's Anbar province. The bomb was inside a parked car near the local government offices on Ramadi's main street. Two of the victims were police officers.

It's the second attack on Ramadi in a week: A suicide bomber drove a minibus into a police checkpoint on Wednesday, killing six people.

The sole surviving suspect in last November's Mumbai terror attacks has pleaded guilty in an Indian court. Mohammad Ajmal Kasab accepted 86 charges of murder and "waging war" against India. He pleaded not guilty to those same charges in May; Indian police say they're not sure why he changed his mind.

The November 26 attacks killed 166 people in Mumbai, India's financial capital.

The U.S. military wants to revamp its Afghan prison system, according to the New York Times. Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, sent a report to senior military officials that outlines a plan for building new prisons. The plan calls for separating "extremist militants" from more moderate detainees, and offering vocational skills and classes to the latter group.

The NYT reports that the prison overhaul is a response to concerns that the Taliban is using Afghan prisons as a recruiting ground.

A poet sentenced to jail for insulting Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was acquitted on appeal Saturday. The appeals court ruled that the poet, Mounir Saied Hanna, "had no intention of offending the president," and that the poems were never meant to be published.

Mounir Saied Hanna was arrested in May; in June, he was sentenced to three years in prison and a LE100,000 ($17,940) fine. The court's decision was appealed, though, because Hanna did not have a lawyer during the investigation.

For updates throughout the day, follow us on Twitter, Facebook or RSS!

Categories: Afghanistan, Egypt, Life and Culture, News Roundups, Pakistan, Regional News, War and Terrorism, War in Afghanistan, War in Iraq

Tags: Afghanistan, Anbar province, Hosni Mubarak, insurgency, Mumbai bombings, Pakistan, poetry, Taliban

No Comments

Post a Comment

Abu Risha and the threat of sectarianism

Ahmed Abu Risha, a key Sunni Awakening militia leader in Anbar province, says the simmering insurgency in his province isn't motivated by a desire to restart sectarian warfare.

Anbar province under curfew

Anbar province is under an indefinite curfew, according to the Aswat al-Iraq wire service, and also a vehicle ban.

B'Tselem: Settlements occupy 42 percent of West Bank

Ben-Eliezer makes "secret trip" to Turkey: Israeli TV

CENTCOM talking sense on Hamas and Hizballah

Al-Akhbar: Our weekly brief

Peace Processing

Talking about direct talks: Netanyahu returns to the White House

Gregg Carlstrom | July 6, 2010 4:00 AM | 0 | recommend (0)
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivering a statement in Jerusalem on July 1, 2010. (Photo: AFP)
US president Barack Obama will use a White House meeting with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to push for an extended West Bank settlement freeze. If Netanyahu doesn't offer one - and the domestic politics are quite difficult for him - it's hard to see any possibility of direct talks with the Palestinian Authority later this year.

The Afghan Surge

Obama's southern strategy

Gregg Carlstrom | June 24, 2010 6:09 AM | 1 | recommend (0)
Gen. David Petraeus testifying on Capitol Hill. (Photo: Reuters)
The president's decision to nominate Gen. David Petraeus as the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan won't mean a major change in strategy. But there are mounting reasons for pessimism about current policy, particularly the relentless focus on southern Afghanistan. The deployment of tens of thousands of additional troops to Kandahar and Helmand serves few NATO objectives.

Freedom Flotilla Killings

Anticlimax: How much did the flotilla raid really change regional politics?

Gregg Carlstrom | June 17, 2010 7:35 AM | 4 | recommend (2)
A demonstration in London against the Israeli attack on the Gaza-bound flotilla. (Photo: AFP)
It has accelerated Israel's isolation from several of its neighbors and allies; it has sharpened divisions within Turkish domestic politics; it has deepened perceptions that the Obama administration as too close to Israel. And it seems to have had a remarkably minor impact on Palestinian domestic politics.

Bloggers

The "MSM"