Today's other stories in brief
Muslim cleric held over alleged coup
JAKARTA – Indonesian anti-terrorism police have detained radical Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir in a crackdown on a network found making bombs and planning to attack the country’s president.
The detention yesterday of Mr Bashir, considered a driving force for radical Islamic movements in Indonesia, shows Jakarta is stepping up a fight against a relatively new network plotting a coup to form a sharia state. – (Reuters)
Mosque with 9/11 link closed in Germany
HAMBURG – German police have shut down a mosque in Hamburg that was once connected to the September 11th, 2001, attacks on the United States, saying it had links with armed Islamist groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Taiba Mosque in the port city, previously known as the Al-Quds Mosque, was once frequented by Mohammed Atta, the leader of the group that carried out the attack on the World Trade Center in New York for al-Qaeda. – (Reuters)
Time to colonise space - Hawking
LONDON – The human race must colonise space within the next two centuries or it will become extinct, Stephen Hawking has warned. The renowned astrophysicist said he feared mankind was in great danger and its future “must be in space” if it was to survive.
In an interview with website Big Think, he said threats to the existence of the human race were likely to increase and plans to handle them must be put in place now. – (PA)