world
briefs
casualty attack in England. Six were men arrested under counter-terrorism laws and a woman was arrested on charges of failing to disclose information. The plot is believed to be linked to al-Qaeda, though police have released no details yet. They have not raised the UK's terrorist threat level yet, which has been sitting at "substantial" (an improvement on the previous "severe") since July. Martin McGuiness (Reuters)
PALESTINE Sometimes global politics is enough to drive you to drink. Israel has an unlikely ally in its opposition to Palestine's bid for statehood: its archenemy Hamas. Admittedly, it's for very different reasons to Israel. Hamas worries that Palestine will sacrifice "fundamental Palestinian rights" by only seeking recognition for the state that existed before the 1967 Six Day War. Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya said that Hamas rejects the kind of concessions Palestine is willing to make. They have said they will not disrupt the bid, however. Hamas wants the UN to strip Israel of statehood, but because they won't acknowledge Israel by name, they have to resort to circumlocutions like "the entity that took the decision to establish itself on the land of another".
MOROCCO Morocco is back on the protest wagon. On Sunday thousands of Moroccans took to the streets of Casablanca to protest against government corruption. Influenced by the Arab Spring, Morocco first experienced pro-democracy protests in February, but momentum has been lost in recent months, partly because King Mohammed VI has made certain cosmetic reforms that appeased some quarters. Activists say nothing meaningful has changed however. "Head of the army, it's too much; head of the religion, it's too much," the crowd chanted on Sunday.
IRELAND Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness is running for president – of the Republic of Ireland. He will have to gain the approval of the Sinn Fein executive, but this is unlikely to present problems. The nomination has raised eyebrows because McGuiness was once an IRA commander and a witness in the Bloody Sunday Tribunal. The BBC suggested McGuiness was "the personification of republicanism's transition from violent paramilitarism to constitutional politics". McGuinness said that if elected, he would work for the reunification of Ireland.
UK Police have arrested seven people in Birmingham under suspicion of planning a mass-
CHINA China has called on regional powers to revive nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea.
tuesdAY - 20 september 2011