Jose Padilla, once accused of plotting with al Qaeda to blow up a radioactive “dirty bomb,” was sentenced Tuesday to 17 years and four months on terrorism conspiracy charges that don’t mention those initial allegations.

U.S. marshals escort Jose Padilla from a helicopter in Miami, Florida, in January 2006.

1 of 2 The sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke marks another step in the extraordinary personal and legal odyssey for the 37-year-old Muslim convert, a U.S. citizen who was held for 3½ years as an enemy combatant after his 2002 arrest amid the “dirty bomb” allegations. He had faced up to life in prison.

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Ever since the Hamas military takeover of Gaza in June, the territory has been subjected to an economic siege. Israel labelled the Hamas-controlled Gaza a “hostile entity”.

The Islamist movement refuses to recognise Israel arguing that it is an illegitimate state.

Israel intensified the siege last week, saying the move was in response to heavy rocket fire from Gaza into Israel.

Nowadays, Gaza is a territory where the economy has collapsed, power shortages are a daily occurrence, and Israeli air strikes are common.

But how is Hamas faring under this pressure?

One of its leaders, Mahmoud Zahhar, insists that Hamas - which won the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006 - does not need to change its course.

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Some of the toughest criticism of Pakistan’s pro-democracy movement comes from an unlikely source: the 25-year-old niece of Benazir Bhutto, who says Pakistani party politics do nothing but support military rule. It’s an environment, she said, her late aunt is partly responsible for.

Fatima Bhutto says she’s not interested in “perpetuating a really ineffectual form of politics … because of my name.”

“At this stage, we are in a state in Pakistan where so-called democratic forces are only interested in coming into office. So ultimately, they only prop up dictatorships,” she told CNN from her home in Karachi.

She raised her voice as she described what she feels is the core of Pakistan’s political problems: the lack of a true democratic culture. Instead, she said, the country is run by power grabbers.

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Militants have attacked a Pakistani security force fort in the troubled South Waziristan region on the Afghan border, killing five soldiers.
Militants attacked the Ladha fort and an observation post at 0100 (2000GMT Monday), military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said.

At least seven soldiers have been wounded, he said.

Last Thursday, hundreds of pro-Taleban militants overran the Sararogha fort in the same district.

A day later, Pakistani troops abandoned a fort at Sipla Toi military post (a remote tribal area in South Waziristan) fearing an attack by the militants.

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Judging by hundreds of questions submitted online to al Qaeda’s No. 2 leader, it seems the terror network’s self-proclaimed supporters are as much in the dark about its operations and plans as Western analysts and intelligence agencies.

Al Qaeda’s No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri, seen here in a 2001, was supposedly taking questions via the Internet.

Among their concerns: Where will it strike next? Does it control small militant groups in the Mideast and Europe? Why hasn’t it hit America again?

Al Qaeda’s media arm, Al-Sahab, announced last month that Osama bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, would take questions from the public in an “online interview.”

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Less than a month before key elections in Pakistan, embattled President Pervez Musharraf on Monday began an eight-day visit to Europe to shore up international support for his country, wracked by political turmoil and a strengthening Islamic insurgency.

Anti-Musharraf ptotesters staged a rally while the Pakistan president met with European officials.

Following “very frank and sincere” talks with the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, in Brussels on Monday, Musharraf said he wants more EU involvement in Pakistan.

“Pakistan understands the significance of the European Union, the significance of its role in the future, especially in the political disputes around the world,” he told reporters.

“And that is why I urged the secretary-general (Solana) to play his role and the EU’s role more actively.”

Musharraf also praised Solana for being “extremely well-informed” about the complicated situation in Pakistan. “It is always a pleasure to come here and meet Mr. Solana … because we have a total unanimity of views,” he said.

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Carrying explosives in a box of candy, a suicide bomber detonated in a town in Iraq’s Anbar province Sunday, killing six people, including a sheikh whom the United States had recently freed, and wounded four others, an Interior Ministry official said.

The bomber was targeting Sheikh Aeifan al-Issawi and other members of the Anbar Awakening Council who were celebrating Sheikh Hadi’s release from U.S. custody, the official said.

Hadi had been in U.S. custody for about five days, al-Issawi said. He said al Qaeda in Iraq had planted a bomb near Hadi’s house and made it appear that the sheikh was dealing with insurgents.

The bomber handed the box of candies to Hadi, and it exploded, killing him and five others, including two guards, the Interior Ministry official said. Four others were wounded in the attack, which occurred in the Albu Aeifan area, which is about 9.3 miles (15 kilometers) west of Falluja.

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A messianic Shiite cult’s battles with police and attacks on religious holiday pilgrims have left 75 dead across Iraq in two days, officials say.

Iraqi security officers inspect debris Saturday after a gunbattle during a Shiite commemoration in Basra.

1 of 3 Millions of pilgrims were walking in the streets throughout the country Saturday in observance of Ashura, a four-day commemoration of an early Shiite martyr, a grandson of Mohammed.

Seven people were killed and 17 wounded Saturday afternoon when a Katyusha rocket slammed into an Ashura gathering in Tal Afar in northern Iraq, said the city’s mayor, Najim Abdullah.

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When we retrace our steps in history perhaps we can learn some lessons from the unfortunate situation Pakistan is in today.

After partition Pakistan’s population had 15 percent Hindus and 2 percent Christians. If Pakistan had promoted diversity then, the next generation would have grown up in a multi-cultural, multi-religious society and exercised more tolerance.

General Zia-ul-Haq during his tenure as President systematically erased this multi-cultural heritage replacing it by radical ‘Islamicisation’ of civil society and the army. The rich Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh legacy that was common between Pakistan and India was forgotten. Had they recognised that their ancestors were also part of these traditions, they would have imbibed and kept alive some of those values and that perhaps would have made them more tolerant and less violent. When people dispose of their own heritage it makes them intolerant and fanatical.
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Security agencies in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province have arrested a teenaged boy on suspicion of involvement in the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto.

Aitezaz Shah, 15, was arrested on Thursday in Dera Ismail Khan town in the NWFP, 280 km southwest of Islamabad, security sources told Al Jazeera on Saturday.

Shah, who hails from Karachi, told investigators that he was part of a squad of five suicide bombers sent by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud to assassinate Bhutto in Rawalpindi, the sources said.

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