“On Christmas Day, a passenger on a Northwest Airlines flight bound for Detroit tried to blow up the plane with plastic explosives in his underwear. He failed, yet the very attempt shook the U.S. government, set federal agencies against each other and triggered months of political second-guessing.

In fact, short of mass casualties, the attack allegedly attempted by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had exactly the kind of reaction that al-Qaida is after. And, it appears, that lesson is resonating with the terror network’s leadership.

For the first time, the group that carried out the Sept. 11 attacks and has prided itself on its ideological purism seems to be eyeing a more pragmatic and arguably more dangerous shift in tactics. The emerging message appears to be: Big successes are great, but sometimes simply trying can be just as good.

“Thailand’s seemingly unending political crisis is likely to reach another moment of tension this weekend with huge opposition rallies that organizers say they hope will paralyze the city and bring down the government.

While pledging nonviolence, protest leaders say they will gather hundreds of thousands of mostly rural supporters for mass rallies and blockades of government offices, starting on Friday and building over the following days.

“Six Pakistani employees of the American Christian charity World Vision were gunned down Wednesday, and seven others were wounded in an attack on the aid group’s offices in a remote village in northern Pakistan. “

Pakistani authorities said about a dozen masked militants stormed the building at about 9:30 a.m., pulled the staff members out of their offices and herded them into a single room, then started shooting indiscriminately. The attackers set off a bomb as they left, destroying the offices, which are located in North-West Frontier Province, in the village of Oghi, near the disputed region of Kashmir.

“The French navy has captured 35 piracy suspects off Somalia’s coast – hailing it as the most successful mission since EU operations began in 2008.

French officials said four mother ships and six smaller boats had been seized in four operations since last Friday.

EU forces used helicopters and fired warning shots to capture the pirates, France’s defence ministry said.

The EU launched its anti-piracy mission in December 2008, but the pirates have since attacked ships in a wider area.

“Urgent warnings have been circulated throughout Nato and the European Union for secret intelligence material to be protected from a recent surge in cyberwar attacks originating in China.

The attacks have also hit government and military institutions in the United States, where analysts said that the West had no effective response and that EU systems were especially vulnerable because most cyber security efforts were left to member states.

Nato diplomatic sources told The Times: ‘Everyone has been made aware that the Chinese have become very active with cyber-attacks and we’re now getting regular warnings from the office for internal security.’ The sources said that the number of attacks had increased significantly over the past 12 months, with China among the most active players.