SINCE Georgia’s November 2003 Rose Revolution against Eduard Schvardnadze’s government, a series of other former Soviet governments have fallen after popular revolutions, often with the backing of the US and other Western nations.

The Al-Qaida terror network spent less than €44,600 on each of its major attacks except the September 11 suicide hijackings and one of its hallmarks is using readily-available items like mobile phones and knives as weapons, a new United Nations report says.