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Anti-terror stops surge in London
Anti-terror stop and searches in London have increased five-fold in the wake of the attempted June car bomb attacks. Metropolitan Police chiefs said officers were making more use of special powers to 'deter, disrupt and prevent terrorist activity'. Provisional figures reveal there were almost 11,000 stops in July - five times more than the monthly average. Under the controversial law, officers can stop and search people without needing to suspect them of a crime.

BAA wins right to block Heathrow protest
Heathrow operator BAA today won its High Court bid for an injunction aimed at preventing unlawful conduct at an environmental protest at the airport. The order was granted by Mrs Justice Swift, sitting in London. BAA denied that it was seeking to prevent five million people using roads and public transport near the west London airport - the injunction was only aimed at "protesters" acting unlawfully. The company said its legal action over the Camp for Climate Action, planned for August 14 to 21, was aimed at protecting the airport and the safety of passengers and staff 'against the planned direct action by environmental activists'.

190,000 weapons 'missing in Iraq'
The US military cannot account for 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols given to the Iraqi security forces, an official US report says. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) says the Pentagon cannot track about 30% of the weapons distributed in Iraq over the past three years. The Pentagon did not dispute the figures, but said it was reviewing arms deliveries procedures. About $19.2bn has been spent by the US since 2003 on Iraqi security forces.

Unpaid fines may stop people leaving UK
Tens of thousands of people who have failed to pay court fines amounting to more than £487m would be banned from leaving the country under new powers outlined by the Home Office. Ministers are also looking at ways of using the new £1.2bn "e-borders" programme to collect more than £9m owed in health treatment charges by foreign nationals who have left the country without paying. The programme, to be phased in from October next year, will also allow the creation of a centralised "no-fly" list of air-rage or disruptive passengers which can be circulated to airlines.

Armed Robots on Patrol in Iraq
Many will recall the ominous opening sequence in Robocop when reading this story. A robot of the sort commonly used for bomb disposal has been retooled to act as an armed patrol unit. Three such units have been deployed, and the military wants more (of course). They wield M249 rifles and are remotely controlled by a soldier through a terminal. An eye-popping video of the robot in action is found on the Wired blog.

The calamity of disregard
In the run-up to war, senior British security and intelligence officials as well as diplomats made it clear that they were strongly opposed to the invasion of Iraq - though not clear enough. Why now, why Iraq, they asked; it would merely increase the terrorist threat, as the joint intelligence committee warned ministers less than a month before British troops and bombers joined the US attack on the country. Concern in Whitehall was shared by some perspicacious Americans, including General Tony Zinni, the former head of US central command, which is responsible for operations throughout the Middle East. He called it the wrong war, fought in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

In Iraq, a Perilous Alliance With Former Enemies
Inside a brightly lit room, the walls adorned with memorials to 23 dead American soldiers, Lt. Col. Robert Balcavage stared at the three Sunni tribal leaders he wanted to recruit. Their fighters had battled U.S. troops. Balcavage suspected they might have attacked some of his own men. The trio accused another sheik of having links to the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq. That sheik, four days earlier, had promised the U.S. military to fight al-Qaeda in Iraq and protect a strategic road.

A person added to DNA database every 45 seconds
A person is added to the National DNA Database in the United Kingdom every 45 seconds, an opposition MP warned amidst reports that the Home Office has been urged to allow police to take DNA samples for offences such as dropping litter. In an answer to a Parliamentary Question by Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Nick Clegg MP, the Government admitted that 722,464 profiles were added to the DNA database during 2006, and that further 154,496 were added this year.

Human error may have led to outbreak
Government officials believe human error at the private pharmaceutical firm Merial Animal Health is the most likely source for the return of foot and mouth disease, it emerged last night. As health and safety inspectors began examining the firm's laboratories at Pirbright, Surrey, Whitehall sources suggested the potential biosecurity lapse would amount to a breach of procedures rather than negligence, which could give rise to criminal charges.

Republican hopefuls wade into terrorist strike debate
Republican presidential contenders waded into a Democratic foreign policy row on Sunday, and argued over how far the United States should go in striking terrorist targets abroad. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, running for the Democratic presidential nomination, said last week he would be willing to launch strikes against al Qaeda targets in Pakistan if Islamabad took no action.

Rudolph Giuliani would be 'terrible' president
The former top antiterrorism aide to Rudolph Giuliani has launched a stinging critique of the former New York mayor over the September 11 atrocity, attacking a key pillar of his challenge for the White House. Rudolph Giuliani's nomination campaign owes much to his role on September 11. Jerome Hauer, New York's emergency management director from 1996 to 2000, said Mr Giuliani was closely involved in locating the city's crisis control room in the World Trade Centre complex, even though it was a known terrorist target after the 1993 truck bomb attack which killed six people at the site.

Robert Fisk: Mistrust fuels cycle of violence in Lebanon
When, oh when, will the Lebanese Christians stop destroying each other? General Michel Aoun's Free Democratic Party (colour them bright orange) stood yesterday, along with their pro-Syrian allies, against the Phalangist candidate Amin Gemayel, former president and father of the assassinated incumbent MP, Pierre, murdered - by Syrians? By rival Christians? You name it - last year.

U.S. says kills mastermind of pivotal Iraq attack
U.S. forces in Iraq said on Sunday they had killed the mastermind of an attack on a gold-domed Shi'ite shrine last year that triggered the worst phase of the country's spiral into sectarian violence. The U.S. military described Haitham al-Badri as the top al Qaeda leader in Salahuddin province and blamed him for the pivotal 2006 attack on Samarra's al-Askari mosque.

Luxury cars to be charged £25 tax under Britain's first pollution tax
Owners of "gas guzzling" cars are to be hit by Britain's first pollution charge, with a tax of £25 a day to drive in to city centres. Already, drivers of vehicles with higher carbon emissions pay more for their vehicle excise duty tax disc. But now people carriers, luxury saloons and 4x4s are to be targeted with an emissions-based charge. Smaller cars and hybrid electric-petrol vehicles such as the Toyota Prius, which emit 120 grams of less of carbon dioxide per kilometre, will be exempt.

Secret Brotherhood trial resumes
The Egyptian authorities have barred human rights groups from attending the secret military trial of 40 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's most powerful opposition group. A Brotherhood source said observers from Amnesty International and the Arab Commission for Human Rights, based in France, were stopped from attending the trial. The media and 60 defence lawyers were also prevented from attending the proceedings on Sunday.

Foot and Mouth Virus Released From Government Lab
The strain of foot and mouth disease that has put Britain on high alert has been identified as originating from a government laboratory which is shared with an American pharmaceutical company, mirroring the deadly outbreak of 2001 and potentially signaling a new wave of agraterrorism intended to cripple the farming community. New Prime Minister Gordon Brown has chaired two Cobra emergency meetings and farmers nationwide have been ordered to halt movements of all livestock in response to the situation after after foot-and-mouth was confirmed at Wolford farm, near Guildford, on Friday night.

Israel faces Holocaust protests
Hundreds of protesters in Israel have marched outside Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office to demand more state support for Holocaust survivors. A government offer of a monthly stipend of $20 (£10) was labelled "insulting" by the survivor groups that organised Sunday's demonstration in Jerusalem. Joining the rally were a few dozen elderly survivors, who say they can barely afford medical treatment.

Sort out Afghanistan for me, Brown asks Ashdown
Gordon Brown is lining up Paddy Ashdown for a role coordinating international efforts to bring stability to Afghanistan. The former leader of the Liberal Democrats is understood to have held talks about the job with Foreign Secretary David Miliband last month. It is the second time the Prime Minister has tried to bring Lord Ashdown into his 'government of all the talents'.