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Foreign Office Minister Tobias Ellwood is being hailed as a hero after trying to save the life of the police officer stabbed in the Westminster terror attack. Mr Ellwood, a former soldier, ran to the officer when he was stabbed just inside the gates of Parliament. He gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and stemmed the blood flow, before waiting with him until the air ambulance landed in Parliament Square. The police officer sadly died at the scene. He was later pictured with blood on his face as he spoke to emergency services. Mr Ellwood has been a Minister in the Foreign...

Once more the spoiler. Despite the earnest persuasion of the White House to preserve a useful weapon in the war against the terrorists, the New York Times has revealed the workings of a covert surveillance program, indisputably within the law, to use administrative subpoenas to examine, through a Belgian financial consortium known by the acronym SWIFT, the financing of international terrorism. Once the story was out, the Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal covered it as well. Now the program is damaged, perhaps severely so, and the financing of terror is harder to track. This is another unnecessary leak,...

INDEONESIAN President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has confirmed that Dulmatin, a mastermind of the Bali bombings, has been killed in a police raid near Jakarta.

Tributes are left for those killed in the hotel attacks Indonesian officials say there are "strong indications" a key wanted fugitive was behind Friday's deadly attacks on two hotels in Jakarta. Noordin Mohamed Top is wanted for plotting the Bali bombings of 2002 and 2005 and other Indonesian attacks. Nine people, including two suicide bombers, died in the attacks on the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott. At least four of Friday's victims are said to be foreigners but have not all been formally identified. See map of area Police in the Indonesian capital are studying DNA and other evidence to...

Bali bombing cleric attacks western tourists By Nick Squires in Sydney Last Updated: 1:56am GMT 25/03/2008 Western tourists in Indonesia are "maggots, snakes and worms" who should be beaten up, the alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings has told hardline Islamic followers. Abu Bakar Bashir, the cleric who was convicted of conspiracy over the Bali bombings but later cleared and released from prison after 26 months, said the island resort had been overrun by scantily-clad tourists who deserved to be attacked for their immorality. "Worms, snakes, maggots... those are animals that crawl. Take a look at Bali... those infidel...

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Stephen Smith has heightened speculation the Bali bombers will be executed overnight, issuing a special terror warning to school leavers. All signs are pointing to the execution early Australian time tomorrow of Islamic militants Amrozi, his brother Mukhlas and Imam Samudra. "The Government is particularly aware that in mid to late November and early December, a large number of Australian school graduates may well travel to Indonesia, particularly Bali for what has become known as schoolies week,'' Mr Smith said. "We ask those young graduates and their parents to very carefully bear in mind the travel advice...

Hundreds of people are gathered in Sydney's east to mark the sixth anniversary of the Bali bombings. The crowd including the local member and federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett. NSW Premier Nathan Rees watched solemnly as a singer began the ceremony with a tribute to those lost in the 2002 attacks. The ceremony is taking place at the memorial headland known as Dolphin's Point, which was unveiled on the first anniversary of the bombings. Hannah Singer lost her brother Tom as a result of injuries he sustained in the bomb blast. "I couldn't understand and still don't know now how...

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Three militants awaiting execution for the 2002 Bali bombings plan to challenge the legality of death by firing squad, but it was unclear if the move would lead to a last-minute stay, their lawyer said Tuesday. Imam Samudra, one of three militants sentenced to death over the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings. Mahendradatta, who goes by a single name, said he would file a petition next week at the Constitutional Court arguing that convicts who go before a firing squad sometimes do not die immediately, causing unnecessary suffering. "We're seeking an execution without pain," said the lawyer,...

INDONESIAN prosecutors have scouted possible sites for the impending executions of the three death row Bali bombers. Islamic militants Amrozi, his brother Mukhlas and Imam Samudra could be executed at any time over the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people including 88 Australians. Indonesia's Attorney-General Hendarman Supandji has said authorities want the trio put before a firing squad "as soon as possible" and before the start of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan in early September. Indonesia carries out executions by firing squad, but does not disclose the time or place.

THREE death-row Bali bombers will be executed "as soon as possible," Indonesia's attorney general said today after the Islamic militants declined to seek clemency from the President. Hendarman Supandji said he hoped that so-called "smiling assassin" Amrozi, his brother Mukhlas and Imam Samudra would be executed before the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan in September. The three bombers face death by firing squad for their roles in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians and three New Zealanders. "We want it as soon as possible," Mr Supandji he said. "Legally they can be executed because they...

Three Bali bombers have exhausted their appeals and will soon be executed by firing squad, according to Indonesia's attorney general.Imam Samudra and the brothers Amrozi and Ali Ghufron have never shown any remorse for the 2002 bombings and have repeatedly said that they embrace death and wish to be martyrs. Indonesia's attorney general Henderman Supanji, in announcing that no further legal avenues are available to the condemned men, said, "the process would not be drawn out". The bombers' lawyer, Fahmi Bachmid, said afterwards: "All of them have repeatedly said they will only ask pardon from God, not the president. This...

(Updated 8:30 a.m.) A body believed to be that of Indonesian terrorist leader Dulmatin, wanted for the October 2002 Bali bombings, was recovered Monday afternoon by a joint military team in Tawi-Tawi province. Intelligence reports said the body was found 1:30 p.m. at the vicinity of Sitio Salisit in Balimbing village, Panglima Sugala town in Tawi-Tawi. "(The) said corpse was jointly identified by informants with notable wounds in the head, chest and right foot to include clothing in physical characteristics matched with previous revelations," the report said. The body was exhumed for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing for confirmation. Reached for...

In a decision likely to anger Australia and other countries that lost citizens in the 2002 Bali bombings, two of the Islamic militants jailed for the attack will be freed tomorrow to mark the end of the Islamic fasting month. Ten other militants jailed for the bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, will have their sentences reduced, officials said. Indonesia traditionally marks national holidays by cutting prison terms for inmates who exhibit good behaviour - usually by several months. But the decision is likely to anger countries that lost citizens in the 2002 attacks on two crowded nightclubs....

Indonesia will not meet a request by three Islamic militants sentenced to death over the 2002 Bali bombings to be executed by decapitation rather than firing squad, a police spokesman said today. Lawyers of Amrozi, Ali Ghufron alias Mukhlas and Imam Samudra said last week that if the executions were to proceed, the trio wished to be beheaded. "We have to follow our law, and our law does not recognise decapitation," national police spokesman Paulus Purwoko told reporters. Amrozi ... says execution by gunshot is torture. Executions in Indonesia are carried out by firing squad, typically at a secret time...

Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir claims America's top spy agency was involved in the devastating 2002 Bali bombings. Bashir, who was convicted and imprisoned for having prior knowledge of the attacks which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, is also appealing for the lives of three convicted bombers to be spared. Bashir, the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah (JI), was released from prison in June after serving nearly two years. Amrozi, Ali Ghufron - also known as Mukhlas - and Imam Samudra are awaiting execution for their part in the plot. In an interview tonight on ABC television's Foreign...

Jakarta, 17 Nov. (AKI) - Britain, Italy, Australia and America have been warned "you will be the target of our next attack", in a video found in Indonesia featuring a masked man believed to be a key leader from the group accused of organising the Bali bombings. The video, which Indonesia's top police chief said appeared, from the man's accent, to show Noordin Mohamad Top from the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah group, was found, along with several other tapes, during a raid on a recently-abandoned hideout in the central Java province. "As long as you keep your troops in Iraq and...

Planned Bashir jail cut 'disappointing' 27oct05 AUSTRALIANS would find plans to reduce the sentence of the radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir disappointing, Acting Prime Minister Mark Vaile said today. Bashir, who was jailed over his part in the 2002 Bali bombings, may receive a 30-day reduction to his sentence to mark the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan next week. If granted, Bashir could be free by May next year. In August, his 30-month sentence was reduced by more than four months to mark Indonesian Independence Day. "I'm sure that many Australians would find that disappointing given the...

BALI, Indonesia Investigators have arrested a man who shared a rented house with the Bali suicide bombers in what could be the first major breakthrough in this month's deadly attacks on three crowded restaurants, police said Tuesday. The arrest Sunday of a 45-year-old construction worker, identified only as Hasan, was the first since the Oct. 1 attacks that killed 23 people, including the bombers. The man had been living with the three bombers on the outskirts of the Bali capital Denpasar for about a month, but disappeared days before the blasts, said national police spokesman Brig. Gen. Sunarko Artanto. "We...

I've never done this before and forgive me if I get it wrong. We found out a couple of hours ago that our elder daughter went to Bali with friends without telling us. We haven't heard from her since the bombings (or at all, for that matter). Logically, objectively, we know the odds are immensely against her being caught up in this. But logic and objectivity only go so far. And it's driving me crazy. And my wife. And our other kids.

JAKARTA, Oct. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Saturday night's bomb blasts in Bali could have link with fuel oil price hikes which were felt by the people as a very heavy burden, the official news agency Antara quoted a political observer as saying. "I think groups who are unsatisfied with the fuel oil price hike have been behind the explosions, not those who want to shift attention on fuel oil issues," Professor Budiatna, a political observer at the University of Indonesia, said here on Saturday night. According to Budiatna, the unsatisfied groups thought protests in the form of demonstrations were no longer...