Reuters 12/01/2010

A remote-controlled bomb killed a Tehran University nuclear scientist on Tuesday, media reported, in an attack which the state broadcaster blamed on "anti-revolutionary" elements linked to Iran's foreign foes.

The blast which killed professor Massoud Ali-Mohammadi occurred at a time of heightened tension in the Islamic Republic, seven months after a disputed presidential election plunged the major oil producer into turmoil.

In a sign that the authorities may accuse opponents both at home and abroad of involvement in the killing, state broadcaster IRIB said on its website, without giving a source:

"Mr Massoud Mohammadi, a committed and revolutionary Tehran University professor, was martyred this morning in a terrorist act by anti-revolutionary and arrogant powers' elements."

Iran usually refers to its Western foes as "the global arrogance," while hardliners accuse the pro-reform opposition of seeking to topple the Islamic system of government.

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Canwest News Service (Canada) 12/01/2010

BRAMPTON, Ont. — Shareef Abdelhaleem initially objected to details of the "Toronto 18" terrorism plot, but when he figured there was money to be made from the endeavour, his attitude shifted, a judge heard Monday.

On the first day of Abdelhaleem's trial in Brampton Superior Court, star Crown witness Shaher Elsohemy described a series of conversations between himself and Abdelhaleem in the spring of 2006, just months before police swooped in to arrest members of the Toronto 18 for allegedly planning to detonate truck bombs in southern Ontario.

Abdelhaleem, 34, is charged with participating in a terrorist group and intending to cause an explosion. He pleaded not guilty to both counts.

Abdelhaleem was initially unsure as to whether Canadian targets were appropriate for the terrorist plot, but became energized when he realized the opportunity to profit from an attack on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Elsohemy told the court.

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Sunday Mercury (UK) 11/01/2010

DEEP in the plush Worcestershire countryside lies a silent threat to our national security.

Amid the forests and foliage of leafy Littleton sits the forbidding fortress of HMP Long Lartin, where some of the world’s most dangerous Islamic extremists swap stories, prayers and even plots.

New research from inside the lock-up’s specialist terror suspect unit suggests that regular inmates are being converted to radical Islam by the dangerous militants who are allowed to mix with other lags – and even lead prayers.

Fanatics inside the Worcestershire prison include Mohammed Hamid, 51, dubbed Osama Bin London, who encouraged teenagers to become suicide bombers during camping trips in the Lake District.

Among his cellmates are Adel Abdel Bary, an Egyptian linked to Al Qaeda’s deputy leader Ayman Al-Zawihiri, who is fighting extradition to the US for the 1998 African embassy bombings which killed more than 200 people.

And the unit has regularly housed notorious hate preacher Abu Qatada, described by a judge as “Osama Bin Laden’s right hand man in Europe” whose sermons influenced the masterminds of the 9/11 atrocity.

For committed Islamists like these, life is initially tough inside the special segregation unit at Long Lartin.

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Irish Examiner 11/01/2010

Yemen’s president said he was ready to talk to al-Qaida members who renounced violence.

Ali Abdullah Saleh’s comments suggested he could show them the same kind of leniency he had granted militants in the past, despite US pressure to crack down on the terror group.

Yemen is moving cautiously in the fight against al-Qaida, worried over a potential backlash in a country where anger at the US and extremism are widespread.

Thousands of Yemenis are battle-hardened veterans of past “holy wars” in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya and Iraq, and though most are not engaged in violence now they preserve a diehard al-Qaida ideology.

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