‘The American people insist on it, and my administration will insist on it,’ Obama told reporters at a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

He was responding to a reporter’s question about media reports that Mohammed will be tried in a federal court in New York, instead of by a military commission.”

(Source: Obama: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, alleged 9/11 leader, to face justice – CNN.com)

The Hong-Kong-flagged oil tanker suffered an attack from Somali pirates firing rocket-propelled grenades 400 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles and 1,000 nautical miles east of Mogadishu, Somalia.

‘This was the longest range of a pirate attack off the Somali coast ever,’ the European Union Naval Force (EU Navfor) says. ‘The attack on the BW Lion was launched by pirates in two fast attack skiffs. Automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades were fired. With increasing speed and evasive manoeuvres the master managed to evade the attack. No casualties were reported,’ EU Navfor confirms. “

(Tank Storage Magazine – Industry News)

The suspects were apprehended between Wednesday and Thursday in Italy and abroad, Milan Prosecutor Armando Spataro said.

Police in Milan said that six of the suspects were in Italy. It said that anti-terror units from Algeria, Austria, Britain, France, Spain and Switzerland were co-operating in the investigation.”

(Italy arrests 17 in terrorism investigation – thestar.com)

In 1995, John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt coined the term “netwar” to describe the Mexican Zapatistas, a local guerrilla group that utilized emerging technologies and globalization to draw foreign human rights groups, non-governmental organizations, and activist groups into their ultimately successful struggle. Four years later, a decentralized collective of networked activists utilizing creative street tactics caught the Seattle police by surprise in the 1999 “Battle of Seattle.” Since then, many have overestimated the power of networked social movements, especially social media-enabled groups struggling against repressive regimes. Arquilla and Ronfeldt understood what some contemporary tech-boosters did not: information-age struggles share many principles of industrial-era action.

To use a military analogy, even Twittering activists still must observe time-honored principles such as mass, main effort, and unity of command. A poorly chosen center of gravity or a lack of sufficient power massed at the decisive point can doom even the most well-organized endeavor. The Mexican Zapatistas, for example, understood that Mexico’s center of gravity was the prestige of the ruling administration, and applied pressure accordingly in the right places. The Iran protests’ center of gravity was political-military regime elites and clerics.  Clerics beginning to tire of the regime’s mismanagement constituted the decisive point. Unfortunately, not enough dissident Iranian clerics rallied to the side of the protesters, allowing the regime to eventually crush the demonstrators.

The chief challenge of any networked organization is to transform information into real-world power. Many take the trite phrase “information is power” as an article of faith, but information alone is insufficient to create material or political power. A green Twitter profile with hundreds of thousands of foreign followers is not the stuff of revolution. Lenin’s dexterous political maneuvering and ruthlessness created the Russian Revolution, not the favorable press of foreign journalists such as John Reed.  Failure to effectively transform information into power enables centralized opponents to gather enough material might together to stall, suffocate, or outright eliminate embryonic social movements. Decentralization can give networked movements an initial tactical advantage against slow-moving centralized forces but it takes discipline, organization, and sequencing to exploit tactical successes. The ephemeral quality of “flash mobs” can work against networked movements as well, as digital assemblages can disintegrate as hastily as they emerge.

Networked social movements are still in a immature stage. But as information campaigners grow more experienced, skilled, and above all else pragmatic the quality of digital campaigns is sure to improve. Perhaps tyrants will come to fear Twitter. But until then we should take a realistic view of networked social movements’ mobilizing power. Social media adds another dimension to political conflicts and activism, but not a necessarily decisive one.

The attack by about 200 grenade-throwing guerrillas showed that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) can still mount offensive operations despite President Alvaro Uribe’s U.S.-backed military campaign to crush the 45-year-old insurgency.

The battle took place in the town of Corinto, located in the mountainous province of Cauca. Most inhabitants of the town are members of indigenous groups hard hit by Colombia’s war.”

(Source: Surprising rebel attack kills 9 Colombian soldiers | Reuters)

Leaders of one of the world’s most effective jihadist organizations, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), have written a new ‘code’ for jihad. The LIFG says it now views the armed struggle it waged against Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s regime for two decades as illegal under Islamic law.

The new code, a 417-page religious document entitled ‘Corrective Studies’ is the result of more than two years of intense and secret talks between the leaders of the LIFG and Libyan security officials.

The code’s most direct challenge to al Qaeda is this: ‘Jihad has ethics and morals because it is for God. That means it is forbidden to kill women, children, elderly people, priests, messengers, traders and the like. Betrayal is prohibited and it is vital to keep promises and treat prisoners of war in a good way. Standing by those ethics is what distinguishes Muslims’ jihad from the wars of other nations.’”

(Source: New jihad code threatens al Qaeda – CNN.com)

The changes in the terror group’s training operations – often hidden inside walled compounds deep in Pakistan’s mountains – have made them increasingly difficult to target by U.S. intelligence forces as they have stepped up drone attacks over the past year.

While the training still includes forays into deserted hillsides to practice planting and detonating explosives, al-Qaida trainers are now also taking their instruction on the road, moving temporary training operations from compound to compound, where fellow insurgents welcome them.”

(Source: The Canadian Press: Al-Qaida’s training camps are smaller and more mobile, harder for US drones to detect)

(Source: Fort Hood Shooter Tried to Contact al Qaeda Terrorists, Officials Say – ABC News)

Mr. Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, had opened fire Thursday at a soldier processing center at Fort Hood, Tex., killing 13 and wounding 29 in the worst mass shooting on a military facility in the U.S.”

(Source: Lieberman Suggests Army Shooter Was ‘Home-Grown Terrorist’ – WSJ.com)

The ground effort to rout the Pakistani Taliban was launched three weeks ago, involving some 30,000 troops and backed by fighter jets and helicopters. Entering the weekend, troops were moving into Ladha, Sararogha and Mekeen — hometown of Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed August 5 by a US drone. Pakistan’s The Nation reports that the army is making progress.”

(Source: Peshawar Pakistan car bomb kills 12 amid signs of Taliban dissension | csmonitor.com)

Police have identified the suspect as Jason Rodriguez, 40, a former employee of one of the businesses in the building. They said he drives a silver 2002 Nissan SUV with license plates D119UX, but said they do not yet know if he is still in the building or has left the scene. “

(Source: Multiple people shot at Orlando office building; suspect at large – washingtonpost.com)

Deputy Police Commissioner Monirul Islam said Bangladeshi authorities were given intelligence reports concerning the men’s whereabouts following the arrest of two other suspected militants in the United States last month.

‘We raided a madrassa in Chittagong and arrested three Bangladeshi men late Thursday evening,’ he told AFP.”

(Source: AFP: Bangladesh arrest three for US attack plot: police)

‘The situation with Georgia remains tense because the current Georgian authorities do not only refuse to recognize the sovereignty of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but are sparing no efforts to return these countries, which have already become independent, to their jurisdiction,’ he told Itar-Tass news agency.”

(Source: Civil.Ge | Russia’s Military Intelligence Chief Warns of New War)

One of the shooters has been apprehended, Fort Hood spokesman Sgt. Maj. Jamie Posten told CNN.

‘At this point we’re looking for the other shooter,’ Posten said. Asked for a description, he said, ‘we’re trying to develop that information.’ “

(7 killed in shootings at Fort Hood, Pentagon says – CNN.com)

Foreign media have been banned from covering street protests since the demonstrations over the disputed June presidential vote, which the opposition says was rigged to secure President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election.

‘Farhad Pouladi was covering the rally when he was stopped and taken away by three security agents, two in uniform and one in plainclothes,’ acting Tehran bureau chief Jay Deshmukh said.”

(Iran security forces arrest AFP journalist -agency | Reuters)

The U.N. said its decision is ‘ in light of the 28 October attack against U.N. staff in Kabul as well as further ongoing threats. … It is expected that they will involve short-term relocations for some staff while additional security is being put in place.’”

(Citing Security Concerns, U.N. Relocating Half Its Foreign Staff In Afghanistan – The Two-Way – Breaking News, Analysis Blog : NPR)

The practice of ‘extraordinary rendition’ became common for the CIA after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US, with hundreds of alleged militants abducted in Europe and Central Asia and elsewhere, and delivered to states like Algeria, Egypt, and Syria, where torture is often used against presumed enemies of the state. The US says it received assurances that torture would not be used. But the practice has been especially controversial in Europe, where roughly 100 Muslim men have been abducted.”

(Source: Italian court sentences 23 CIA agents in attack on rendition | csmonitor.com)

Authorities reached the historic 100-person mark with the shipment north of 11 crime fugitives on Sunday, the eve of a visit by Mexican Attorney General Arturo Chavez to Washington. Previously, the most suspects sent from Mexico to the U.S. in a year was 95, the number extradited in 2008.”

(Source: Mexico reaches record 100 extraditions to US » Naples Daily News)

Unidentified gunmen entered the Amadeus club in the border city across from El Paso, Texas, just after midnight and fatally shot six men, Chihuahua state attorney general’s office spokesman Arturo Sandoval said.”

(Source: U.S. serviceman dies in shooting at Mexican strip club – CNN.com)

A municipal court in Chongqing convicted Xie Caiping — sister-in-law of the former head of the city’s judiciary, Wen Qiang — of a series of crimes linked to the gambling syndicate, said the verdict, posted on the court’s website.

She was also fined 1.02 million yuan (150,000 dollars).

Xie, 46, allegedly ran 20 illegal gambling dens in Chongqing hotels, night clubs and tea houses, was involved in illegal detention and drug activity, and bribed police to turn a blind eye to her crimes, earlier press reports said.”

(AFP: Female crime boss jailed for 18 years in China)

‘State intelligence agencies had no knowledge of the blast in the commercial town, which clearly indicates the failure,’ Naik told a local media channel during a television show, last night.

‘Sanatan Saunstha was under police scanner after Thane and Panvel blasts in Maharashtra but despite this they had no inkling of what is being conspired by its members,’ he said.”

(news.outlookindia.com | Margao Blast Indicates Intelligence Failure: Ravi Naik)

Vladimir Antuna was grabbed around 10:00 a.m. by three people who apparently shoved him in a car and drove away with him.

The incident took place in Durango city, capital of the likenamed state, where drug cartels and other criminal organizations are very active.”

(Latin American Herald Tribune – Reporter Kidnapped in Mexico)

Measures by the kingdom, including stricter monitoring of bank transactions and a ban on transferring charitable funds abroad without government approval, were noted as significant steps, in a report by the US Government Accounting Office (GAO).

The Saudi government has also been increasing its efforts to prosecute people accused of funding militants, the GAO report noted. More than 40 people were arrested in 2007 for financially supporting terrorists, and 56 were detained in 2008, of whom 20 were prosecuted. “

(Source: Saudi slows terrorism’s money taps – The National Newspaper)