Russia’s security services last night claimed they had uncovered a plot to assassinate President Vladimir Putin during his trip this week to Iran.
Suicide bombers were planning to blow up Mr Putin, Interfax news agency said, citing a source in Russia’s security agencies. Terrorists had been trained to kill the president, the source added.
The Kremlin last night confirmed that Mr Putin, who was on his way to Germany to meet chancellor Angela Merkel, had been informed of the alleged plot.
– The Guardian
Iraqi drivers sitting in stationary traffic in Baghdad glare at a British private security convoy as it pushes past them, waved on by a wary policeman.
Sounding an emergency siren and flashing a set of small red and blue lights, the security team navigates its three armoured vehicles around the queue, keen to keep its one British and two American passengers safe.
“As we are going along we are not aggressive, unlike some of the security firms. We operate under military rules of engagement,” said Steven Lloyd, the team leader for the convoy run by Aegis Defence Services, the largest British private security contractor in Iraq.
The status of such companies is under review after a shootout by guards working for Blackwater, a US company, last month, which left 17 Iraqis dead. Adding fuel to the fire, last week two women were shot dead by guards working for Unity Resources Group, a security company based in Dubai. The review could spell sweeping changes for an industry that has boomed because of demand for hired guns after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But tighter regulation could drive many companies away.
– The Times
Gordon Brown has come under attack from the president of the European Commission ahead of a key summit over Britain’s attempts to opt out of parts of the new European Union treaty.
Jose Manuel Barroso accused the Prime Minister of putting at risk the international community’s drive to tackle terrorism.
He has been angered by Mr Brown’s insistence that Britain will not sign up to the part of the EU Reform Treaty that deals with security.
– The Telegraph