Protesters shouted “Shame on You!” as baton-wielding police empowered by Pakistan’s state of emergency violently broke up a rally today and rounded up hundreds of opposition activists nationwide. The government said parliamentary elections could be delayed by up to a year, as it tries to stamp out a growing Islamic militant threat.

TESTS have cleared a hotel kitchen of food poisoning after ten Tottenham Hotspur players were taken ill before the final game of the Premiership season against West Ham at Upton Park.

A car bombing possibly launched by a suicide attacker killed four people, including an American diplomat, and wounded 49 outside the US consulate and a luxury hotel in Karachi today.

Islamic militants in Indonesia are taking advantage of the devastation caused by the December 26 earthquake and tsunami by stealing relief funds and extending their networks, an expert on terrorism said today.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern was upbeat when he addressed the IMI conference yesterday in Druids Glen.

TRANSPORT Minister Martin Cullen said he favoured a majority sell-off of Aer Lingus which would put an end to speculation about the future of the airline.

Foreign competition, new laws and changing tastes of Irish consumers are changing the face of Irish retailing, a leading retail representative declared today.

AN INDONESIAN court sentenced a Malaysian militant to three years in jail yesterday in connection with the 2002 Bali bombings and an attack last year on Jakarta’s Marriott Hotel.

The Bali nightclub bombings were supposed to take place on the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks, a key suspect told an Indonesian court today.

Police publicly identified nine suspects today in the August 5 attack on the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta that killed 12 people and wounded nearly 150.

The US warned that extremists may be planning more terrorist attacks against its interests in Indonesia, as the Southeast Asian country’s defence minister said he was now “extremely sure” that the al-Qaida-linked group Jemaah Islamiyah was behind this week’s hotel bombing in Jakarta.

Defence lawyers were today considering an appeal against the death sentence for the Islamic militant convicted in last year’s deadly Bali terrorist attacks, even though their client has repeatedly said he wants to become a martyr.

A tightly guarded Indonesian court today is expected to deliver its verdict in last year’s deadly nightclub bombings on the island of Bali, just days after a copycat blast ripped through a hotel in the capital Jakarta.

Jakarta police seized documents last month showing terrorists were planning an attack in the area around the Marriott Hotel, where 14 people died yesterday in suicide car bombing.

At least 10 people were killed today when a suspected suicide bomber blew up a car in a huge explosion outside a luxury hotel popular with foreigners in the Indonesian capital Jakarta.