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Hamas seeks to win credit from Johnston release
PALESTINE: Hamas sought yesterday to extract
maximum political leverage from its role in securing Alan
Johnston's release, projecting itself as a force for law and order
on the turbulent streets of Gaza. p
Terror threat to UK reduced to severe by Smith
UK: The UK's terror threat assessment has been downgraded from "critical" to "severe", home secretary Jacqui Smith announced last night. This reflects the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre's assessment that while further attacks may be expected none is considered "imminent". p
Democrat funding outstrips opponents by 50%
US: Democratic presidential candidates have raised 50 per cent more than their Republican counterparts in campaign contributions since the beginning of 2007, taking in $20 million more than Republicans during the past three months alone. p
Other World Stories
Half of Poles in Ireland say they intend to stay
POLAND: Nearly half of the estimated 200,000 Poles living in Ireland today say they do not intend to return home, according to a new survey. pKey figure seized in disguise as he fled siege of Pakistani mosque
PAKISTAN: The leader of a pro-Taliban mosque was captured hiding under a burka last night as he tried to escape a siege while hundreds of his followers were reportedly surrendering to the Pakistani government. p'If they enter Lal Masjid, we will fight them to the last man'
PAKISTAN: Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the brother of a cleric arrested leaving the siege of the Red Mosque in Islamabad, is still inside. Last summer, Political Correspondent Mary Fitzgerald met him pGaza's criminal clans fear wrath of Hamas
PALESTINE: The Doghmash clan faction, Army of Islam, thought they could use Alan Johnston to save them from Hamas, writes Michael Jansen pBBC man likens captivity ordeal to being buried alive
PALESTINE: Freed BBC journalist Alan Johnston yesterday likened his four months of captivity in Gaza to a feeling of being "buried alive," and said a radio that picked up BBC programmes, including ones issuing calls for his release, had helped sustain him through "waves of depression". pEthiopian fight against rebels cited for abuses
ETHIOPIA: Ethiopia's military machine has forced thousands of civilians from their homes in the country's eastern Somali region as it escalates its campaign against separatist rebels, according to a report by Human Rights Watch. pS Korea agrees to ship oil north
NORTH KOREA: South Korea will start shipping oil to North Korea next week, an official said yesterday, a day after UN nuclear inspectors said that the reclusive state had agreed to steps verifying a shutdown of its nuclear programme. pQuarantined patient has less dangerous form of TB
US: The American lawyer who sparked an international health scare when he crossed the Atlantic while infected with tuberculosis has a less severe form of the illness than US authorities claimed, according to the Denver hospital that is treating him. p'Rape of Nanking' film to reopen war scars
CHINA: A movie on 1937 Japanese atrocities in China could revive old tensions,writes Clifford Coonan in Beijing pQuality winemakers see red over EU root-and-branch reform plan
EU: The European Union unveiled plans yesterday to boost its wine industry and drain its so-called wine lakes, offering its least competitive vineyards subsidies to quit in the face of mounting New World competition. pForeign lecturers determined to get equal pay
Letter from Rome: The spirit of Bleak House is alive and well and still practising law, at least in Italy. We all know that justice moves slowly. pIn Short
A round-up of today's other stories in brief p
