After almost five years of war, many young Iraqis, exhausted by constant firsthand exposure to the violence of religious extremism, say they have grown disillusioned with religious leaders and skeptical of the faith that they preach.

Egyptian security forces beefed up their presence along the border with the Gaza Strip on Sunday in a bid to stop Hamas operatives from crossing between the two countries amid concerns that terror groups will take advantage of the anarchy in Egypt to launch attacks against that c …

"A "Black Widow" suicide bomber planned a terrorist attack in central Moscow on New Year's Eve but was killed when an unexpected text message set off her bomb too early, according to Russian security sources.

"Israel on Wednesday indicted four Palestinian Arab men, two of whom confessed to the December 19 murder of American Christian tourist Kristine Luken and the attempted murder of her friend Israeli tour guide Kaye Wilson while the two women were hiking in a forest near Jerusalem.

"The New Year's Day suicide bombing of a church that killed 21 people has opened up a vein of fury among Egypt's Christians, built up over years of what they call government failure to address persistent discrimination and violence against their community.

"Russian president orders reform in country's security apparatus following deadly suicide attack at Moscow airport; says Israel should be taken as example. 'They have many security checkpoints, meticulous inspections that will drive you insane'

"Commandoes: Armed mob lynched us "Troops who raided Marmara testify activists beat them with rods, tried to 'gouge their eyes out'

"Major terror attacks in Russia over the past 15 years"

"Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan actively supported the flotilla to the Gaza Strip and agreed to its departure while knowing that Israel would prevent it from reaching the Hamas-controlled territory, according to new information obtained by Israel.

Following are excerpts from a TV show with Lebanese video-clip director Yahya Saadeh, which aired on Murr TV (Lebanon) on December 17, 2010. Shortly after giving this interview, Saadeh died by electrocution while directing a video-clip in Turkey.

"The main concerns revolve around the possibility that Egypt's share of the Nile waters would decrease, violence and chaos would push Sudanese refugees into Egypt, and the implementation of Sharia Law in North Sudan could promote terrorism and strengthen Egypt's internal Isla …

"Can Richard Goldstone's tarnished reputation be rehabilitated without him acknowledging that the evidence, including new information, proves he was wrong? There is a politically motivated effort underway to rehabilitate the tarnished reputation of Richard Goldstone.

"More than 100 people have died and hundreds have been wounded since Tuesday in bomb attacks that bear the hallmarks of Sunni Arab insurgents

"Egyptian newspapers on Thursday wrote of a devastated nation marred by mass killing and torture.

"Muslim Fulani herdsmen attacked four non-Muslim villages in central Nigeria on January 10 and 11, killing 18 and burning down a church and over a dozen houses. Soldiers reportedly collaborated in the attack.

Voters in the ongoing referendum in South Sudan on independence from the rest of the country have been given a very interesting choice on their ballot papers.

The popular religious program Alim Online (Scholar Online) talk show, on Pakistan's Geo TV, recently devoted an exclusive episode to the subject of jihad in Islam. The talk show featured host Dr.

"Just moments after the new year began, a bomb outside a church in Alexandria killed 21 Coptic Christians. A week later, a Pakistani governor was murdered for standing by a Christian convict. The two cases dramatically illustrate the worsening plight of Christians in the Orient.

'A White House statement issued afterward said Obama had commended Hariri for his "steadfast leadership and efforts to reach peace, stability and consensus in Lebanon under difficult circumstances."

"Security sources said the assailant had checked passengers for the green cross traditionally tatooed on the wrists of Coptic Christians in Egypt. After identifying several Copts, the culprit killed one of them and injured five others

"That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn." – Hillel the Elder, c.100 BC.

Friends of Israel have long fumed over what they felt was the human rights community's disproportionate and unfair criticism of the Jewish state: Major rights organizations typically portray Israel as among the cruelest of nations, while this planet's actual dictatorships and …

"Until Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly's explosive belt went off prematurely in Stockholm last month, Sweden was the poster child for isolationism in the war on terror.

"Algeria's government was badly shaken by al-Qaida bombings three years ago as the terrorist organisation opened a new front in north Africa and the country's "sclerotic and suspicious" security forces struggled to respond, US diplomatic cables show.

Purpose-- to see what can be learned from Israeli security methods, particularly re; flight security.

"The car explosion that went off in front of Saints Coptic Orthodox Church in Alexandria killed 21 and injured 96 parishioners who were attending a New Year's Eve Mass.

"Al-Qaeda has produced a new bomb-making manual in English with the aim of encouraging self-starting terrorists to launch their own attacks.

Sam Harris is a well known "Atheist spokesman" and usually bashes religion in general. (Here's another seed with an excellent discussion about his views on Atheism vs faith: Atheist Sam Harris: Why We Should Ditch Religion).

"Nine alleged terrorists plotted a Christmas bombing campaign targeting sites that included the London Stock Exchange and Big Ben, a court heard.

"Egyptian security forces in the Sinai Peninsula recently seized a large store of weapons and explosives that were to be smuggled into the Gaza Strip, Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported Tuesday.

"Religious leaders have advised worshippers to celebrate Christmas only with prayer out of fear for their safety. Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh reports from Baghdad."

""We tell the American President Barack Obama to embrace Islam before we come to his country," said Fuad Mohamed "Shongole" Qalaf.

German authorities hardened a crackdown on Islamic groups yesterday, raiding homes and schools that reportedly belong to adherents of fundamentalist Salafi Islam. German officials said the preemptive raids, conducted under German anti-Nazi laws of association, were aimed at unco …

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Los Angeles-based human rights organization, has taken the unusual step of issuing a travel advisory about security concerns in Sweden because of growing anti-Jewish discrimination. "We reluctantly are issuing this advisory because religious Je …

"A woman covered in a head-to-foot burqa carried out a suicide bombing that killed more than 40 people in Pakistan, government officials said on Sunday, adding to security challenges confronting the U.S. ally.

"Police believe 12 plotters planned to target shopping centers and nightclubs.

"The Philippines is predominantly Catholic, but Christians are a minority in Jolo and nearby island provinces that are majority Muslim.

"A California-based commercial pilot says the Transportation Security Administration retaliated against him after he posted videos online showing what he described as shortcomings in airport security.

"A Turkish news agency says a court has released a man whom prosecutors accuse of plotting to murder Jewish rabbis and the Istanbul-based leader of the world's Orthodox Christians.

"Airport security checks are not only intrusive, demeaning and a mind-numbing drain on our precious time. They don't actually work.

"Despite the furor its screening procedures have raised in the past two months, the TSA, it appears, routinely misses handguns and bombs, which pass through their airport scanners undetected.

"What should people there do? The government has a surprising new message: Do not flee. Get inside any stable building and don't come out till officials say it's safe. "

Time picks the top 10 world news stories of 2010.

"Iran has cut the annual budget it provides Hizbullah by over 40 percent, stirring an unprecedented crisis within the Lebanese Shi'ite guerrilla organization.

""At least 39 people were martyred after two suicide bombings targeted Shi'ite mourners in front of a mosque in the town of Chabahar," Fariborz Ayati Firouzabadi, head of the Coroner's office in the province.

Violent Islamic extremism is a threat to Sweden that shouldn't be underestimated, a report published on Wednesday by Swedish security service Säpo has found.

"The Fatah-linked website Al-Kufiyeh Faras has accused Hamas of using imports into Gaza from Egypt to conceal money laundering. In addition, Hamas has deliberately imported counterfeit money and is using it to pay its workers, the site charged.

"Denmark's government is being called upon to employ a lethal new weapon in the fight against Islamist extremism: bare breasts.

"Britain's security services were last night investigating the UK connections of the suicide bomber who struck Stockholm on Saturday night.

(Translated from the original Swedish): "Threats against the Swedes in the mail: "About ten minutes before the explosions sent an email to TT, also addressed to the Security Service, where a man turns to "Sweden and the Swedish people".

BREAKING: Suicide attack in Stockholm, bomber killed According to witnesses, "the man shouted something in Arabic" before he detonated the bombs. Well, the "backlash"- part is not reported yet.

When that provocative question appeared on the cover of Time in August, the accompanying story strained to imply, on the basis of some anecdotal evidence, that the answer might be yes.

"While American officials have publicly been relatively upbeat about their progress in disrupting terrorist financing, the internal State Department cables, obtained by WikiLeaks and made available to several news organizations, offer a more pessimistic account, with blunt assess …

"Intelligence officials say foreign fighters have been slipping back into Iraq in larger numbers recently and may have been behind some of the most devastating attacks this year, reviving a threat the U.S. military believed had been almost entirely eradicated.

Warning: This may be "NSFW" (depending, of course, upon the sort of work you do :-)

SUSPECTED Islamic militants shot dead five people in attacks across Thailand's restive south, including one Muslim man gunned down by a gang apparently dressed as soldiers, police said today.

"A US drone attack in Pakistan in October is thought to have killed a German citizen. The government of Chancellor Angela Merkel would prefer the case to simply go away, but one parliamentarian is refusing to let it be forgotten.

"This bombshell wearing just black lace, a pearl necklace and a white dog is Tammy Banovac, a retired surgeon in a wheelchair. She got down to her lingerie while going through airport security and still got a pat down. Twice.

"A Somali-born teenager plotted "a spectacular show" of terrorism for months, saying he didn't mind that children would die if he bombed a crowded Christmas tree-lighting ceremony,

"A group of al-Qaeda terrorists trained in Pakistani camps and assisted by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim are planning to storm Germany's Parliament in a Mumbai-style attack, a media report has said, prompting authorities to step up security of the building.

Why U.S. airline security is not only ineffective, but also intrusive.

"A leading Israeli airport security expert says the Canadian government has wasted millions of dollars to install "useless" imaging machines at airports across the country.

Christians in Iraq have been, and not for the first time, deliberately targeted in a major terrorist attack.

"The Nov. 3 assassination of Mohammad Namnam looked pretty much exactly like the fiery deaths of a lot of other Islamic militants in the Gaza Strip over the years.

""As soon as Obama took over, he said he would do this and that -- a lot of things. But he still hasn't met a single goal," said Saad Zaki Khalil, 56, who was selling cigarette lighters in central Cairo.

"Australia warned that terror attacks may be imminent in the Philippine capital Manila, saying it had received credible evidence that violence was brewing.

"German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere was quoted on Saturday as saying there were "serious indications" of terror attacks in preparation in Europe and the United States

"Al-Qaida's front group in Iraq has threatened more attacks on Christians after a siege on a Baghdad church that left 58 people dead".

"American intelligence officials in September intercepted several packages containing books, papers, CDs and other household items shipped to Chicago from Yemen and considered the possibility that the parcels might be a test run for a terrorist attack, two officials said Monday n …

"A suicide bomber targeted Turkish police in the heart of Istanbul on Sunday, killing himself, injuring 32, and prompting police gunfire.

"Iraqi security forces prepared to storm a Catholic church Sunday where gunmen were holding an unknown number of worshippers as hostages, police officials said.

"A suicide bomber wounded 32 people in an attack targeting Turkish police in Istanbul's main square Sunday, an area teaming with tourists and shoppers.

"Metro Transit Police Chief Michael Taborn held a news conference Wednesday to address the arrest of Farooque Ahmed, 34, of Ashburn, who is accused of conspiring with people he believed to be al-Qaeda operatives to attack the stations at Arlington National Cemetery, Pentagon City …

"Federal law enforcement authorities have arrested a Northern Virginia man in connection with a plan to attack several stations". (Photo gallery from the Washington Post

"A Pakistani-born Virginia man was arrested Wednesday and accused of casing Washington-area subway stations in what he thought was an al-Qaida plot to bomb and kill commuters.

"A US soldier who captured a deadly 2009 rampage at Fort Hood with his cell phone camera testified Friday that he was ordered to erase the video by his commanders.

"A random hit at a crowded restaurant in Washington, D.C. at lunch ... might end up knocking out a few government employees," writes one of the authors in the second edition of the group's English- language magazine,...

On Friday, a bomb blast at a crowded mosque in Afghanistan's Takhar province killed 20 people, among them Governor Mohammed Omar of neighboring Kunduz province.

"Police and intelligence services have disrupted 11 plots against New York City since the September 11, 2001, attacks destroyed the World Trade Center in Manhattan, according to the New York Police Department.

PAKISTAN'S PRIME minister yesterday hailed a scientist convicted of attempting to kill US soldiers as the "daughter of the nation" and promised intense efforts to secure her return to Pakistan.

"The Obama administration sought Friday to block a lawsuit over the scope of its targeted killing program for suspected terrorists, in a case that challenges the government to define the limits of its global battlefield against extremists.

"President Obama ripped into Iranian strongman Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Friday for his "offensive, hateful, and inexcusable" rant at the UN blaming America for the 9/11 attacks.

Both the U.S. and Thailand agree that inserting Americans into the fight could transform Thailand into the terror war's next international front. Neither country wants to attract global networks supplying cash, weapons and young ideologues willing to die.

"U.S. authorities are having a harder time detecting terrorism threats on American soil, top U.S. officials said on Wednesday, more than nine years after the Sept. 11 attacks thrust the United States into a global struggle with Islamist militancy.

" Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sought to inject urgency into Israeli-Palestinian peace talks Friday, warning the negotiations may be "the last chance for a very long time" to reach an agreement.

"The attack sends a clear message that peace talks aren't accepted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, under direction from Iran.

"Palestinian Authority security forces have vowed to arrest Hamas members and bring order to the West Bank, according to a Thursday report by London daily Asharq Al-Awsat.

"The top Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip rejected compromise with Israel in a fiery speech Wednesday, a day after gunmen killed four Israelis.

"Speaking after his talks with Mr Netanyahu, Mr Obama promised continued US support for Israel's security. "I want everybody to be very clear," he said.

"ADEN: Five Al-Qaeda members were killed in clashes with the army in south Yemen, the defence ministry's news website said on Saturday, bringing to 19 the toll from the previous day's fighting.

"MOGADISHU: Eleven insurgent militiamen were killed by their own bombs when they went off prematurely in Somalia's capital, the government said on Saturday.

"Russia says security forces have killed in Daghestan a top militant suspected of organizing the suicide bombings on the Moscow Metro in March in which dozens of people were killed.

"The Obama administration asked Friday that the only person convicted for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 be returned to a Scottish prison.

"This whole report is designed to tell people we need to start looking for internal threats, but it doesn't say what those threats are ... "

"If al-Qaida looks and sounds different as we approach 9/11's ninth anniversary, it's because it's under new American management. No fewer than four U.S. citizens and a permanent U.S. resident have risen to senior leadership posts.

"The State Department released its Country Reports on Terrorism for 2009 on Thursday. As expected, Iran "remained the most active state sponsor of terrorism" in 2009. In particular,

The United Arab Emirates said Friday that a Japanese oil tanker was hit by an explosives-laden dinghy in the Persian Gulf in what would be the first attack in the strategic waterway where millions of barrels of oil are transported each day.

"The deadly rocket attacks on Israel and Jordan's Red Sea ports were carried out by the militant Palestinian Hamas group operating from Egypt, an Egyptian official said Wednesday after days of denials.