David Blair's Blog, page 108

China and the US are struggling to defuse the Chen Guangcheng diplomatic time-bomb

In diplomacy, the best laid plans can go awry with alarming speed. Hillary Clinton and Timothy Geithner are due in Beijing on Thursday for talks with their Chinese counterparts designed to reduce tensions. Instead, the fate of a blind Chinese dissident has triggered a row that will almost certainly overshadow...

The Hunt for Bin Laden, ITV1, review

David Blair found ITV1's documentary The Hunt for Bin Laden absorbing, but lacking the drama of its subject.

Syria: nine members of same family killed by Assad regime troops

Syria's conflict claimed another 23 lives on Tuesday, including nine members of a single family who were killed by the regime's army.

Al-Qaeda gravely weakened by the loss of key figures

Long before US special forces launched the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, his terrorist movement had been gravely weakened by the loss of key figures.

Charles Taylor commentary: conviction brings brutal era of impunity to an end

Charles Taylor behaved with the swagger of a natural showman and the cruelty of a bloodstained warlord during his heyday in Liberia. Anything seemed possible during that surreal era – except the idea that, one day, he would face justice.

Iran 'has not yet decided' whether to build nuclear weapon

The commander of Israel's armed forces offered a measured appraisal of Iran's nuclear ambitions on Wednesday, saying that Tehran had "not yet decided" whether to build a nuclear weapon.

Anders Behring Breivik trial: Six days in the company of a mass murderer

As Anders Breivik tried to justify his killing of more than 70 people to an Oslo court, David Blair was sitting a few rows behind him. It was a chilling experience.

Anders Behring Breivik's Norway shooting spree relived in chilling detail

Anders Behring Breivik described in pitiless detail on Friday how he massacred 67 Norwegians on Utoya island, shooting some who begged for their lives and others who feigned death.

Anders Breivik 'planned to behead former Norwegian prime minister'

Anders Behring Breivik planned to behead Gro Harlem Brundtland, a former prime minister of Norway, and kill every one of the 500 youths attending the summer camp on Utoya island, the killer disclosed on Thursday.

Anders Breivik's Norway massacre partly inspired by 'English mentor', trial hears

Anders Behring Breivik's massacre in Norway was partly inspired by an "English mentor" who ranked among the most "brilliant political and military tacticians" in Europe, the killer declared yesterday.