MADRID, Spain -- Police arrested three Algerian men early Thursday in the northern Basque city of Vitoria on suspicion of promoting radical ideology among the Muslim community, the Basque regional government said in a statement.
The three were not immediately identified but police said they were each around 30 years old and had prior police records for petty crimes. Police in this case suspect them of distributing CDs and MP3 files obtained from the Internet, with calls for an Islamic "jihad," the statement said.
Basque regional police began the investigation last December and located two sites where the alleged distribution of material took place: an apartment and a telephone store, where people without fixed telephone phones often go to make calls or use the Internet, the statement said.
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http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/02/14/soain.terror/
Bush expands sanctions on Syria
Thursday, 14 February 2008
US President George W Bush has ordered expanded economic sanctions against senior Syrian officials and their associates, the White House has said. The US assets will be frozen of those responsible for actions that "undermine efforts to stabilise Iraq" or to have benefited from public corruption.
Mr Bush also reasserted US allegations that Syria was seeking to undermine democracy in neighbouring Lebanon. Damascus has repeatedly denied the claims by Washington. Mr Bush announced his decision in an executive order and a message to the US Congress. He did not state which officials would be affected.
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MANILA — Philippines security officials said Thursday they had uncovered a plot by Islamic militants linked to the Al-Qaeda network to assassinate President Gloria Arroyo and target foreign embassies here.
Her security chief, Brigadier General Romeo Prestoza, said Arroyo had been informed of the threat, which forced her to cancel a scheduled trip Friday to the northern resort city of Baguio. The announcement came a day ahead of a major rally by Arroyo's political opponents to demand her resignation over allegations of corruption linking the first family. Security forces in the Philippines were placed on full alert, with Prestoza saying the plot was hatched by "extremists Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and the Abu Sayyaf," referring to Muslim militant groups with reported links to Al-Qaeda.
"It is not just the president, there are other targets," he told reporters. "A number of embassies in Manila have also been targeted for attack," Prestoza said, without naming the embassies. "The only event we have cancelled is the President's trip to the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio as it is wide open and difficult to secure."
Excerpted
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hThBcDeTAum_N0ioxTQy7WjMupxA