On Monday September 8 at WoolwichCrown Court in south London,three Muslims were found guilty of conspiracy to murder. The three men had beenamong eight individuals who had been on trial since April 3 this year.

The charges against the eight menconcerned an alleged plot to blow seven US-bound planes out of the sky over theAtlantic. This plot had been monitored bypolice and MI5 for about a year before arrests were made in August 2006. Thesurveillance operation was code-named "Operation Overt". In August2006 thirteen people had faced various charges related to thealleged plane-bombing plot, but only eight eventually faced trial.

Though the recent trial hasresulted in some convictions, there was disappointment that the jury failed tobe satisfied that the plot to blow up planes was adequately proved in court.

The three men who were convictedof conspiracy on Monday were Abdulla Ahmed Ali, Assad Sarwar and TanvirHussain. On July 14 the same individuals had admittedconspiring to cause explosions, even though they had denied intending to setoff explosions on planes. Ali, Sarwar, Hussain and two other defendants,Ibrahim Savant and Umar Islam, had additionally admitted in July to conspiringto cause a public nuisance. This "public nuisance" would have beenthe release of videos that they had made, in which they appeared to be makingfarewell speeches prior to setting off bombs.

The police who had placed the suspects undersurveillance prior to their arrests in August 2006, and also the prosecution,make no secrets of their disappointment at the results. The combined costs ofthe investigation, which involved US and Pakistani intelligence, and the trialhave come to 10 million pounds ($ million).

Andy Hayman was the MetropolitanPolice's assistant commissioner for special operations until he resigned inDecember 2007. He said: "This was one of our strongest cases - there willhave to be an intensive debrief. But now is not the time for that, now is thetime to prepare for retrials."

Police in the north-eastern Indian state ofMeghalaya say they have arrested five people on charges of smuggling uraniumore.

Only one packet of unprocessed uranium wasfound on them, but the police say the gang could have stolen more.

It is not clear how much ore the group had,or what it planned to do with it.

The arrests are at an embarrassing time forIndia,just days after the Nuclear Suppliers Group ended a ban on civilian nucleartrade with the country.

Indian officials had worked hard topersuade members of the group, which governs global trade in nuclearcomponents, that its nuclear industry was in safe hands.

Uranium is the basic fuel for nuclearweapons, but it has to go through complex processes before it it issufficiently enriched for use.

'Stolen'

Police are not sure whether those detainedwere part of an organised global enterprise, or simply some amateurs, trying tomake some quick money.

The seizure was made in the village of Mairang on Monday when police detainedfour people, including a village headman, for stealing a quantity of uranium.

A fifth man surrendered to the police onTuesday after police carried out a search of the area.

"We seized a packet, just one packet,containing uranium ore from a village headman. It has the seal of India's AtomicMinerals Division, so we are taking this very seriously," said MKharkrang, police superintendent of West Khasi Hills district in Meghalaya.

Mr Khakrang said they were looking for the sonof an employee of the Atomic Minerals Division - , which looks after thecountry's uranium mines - who is alleged to have stolen the packet fromDomiosiat.

"The young man is stillabsconding," he said.

In May this year, police in Meghalaya arrested five people for stealing uranium ore.

Others have been arrested in the past for trying to smuggle uranium out of the state.

"But we don't know yet whether this is an organised racket. It could well be and we may have not yet found the kingpins," Mr Khakrang said.