The following are editorial opinions from newspapers from around the world which may be of interest to Royal Gazette readers.

The Boston Globe, –on the Christmas terrorism attempt

The attempted attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 was the third act of international terrorism in this decade to be disrupted by passengers and crew. It confirms an essential truth about the age of terrorism: Average citizens are the last line of defence, and in many ways the most important.

Quick decisions turn would-be victims into heroes, and undermine the goal of terrorism, which is to disempower people through fear. The realisation that citizens can protect themselves is in some ways more reassuring than disrupting plots through intelligence or electronic surveillance — it proves that average people aren't just pawns. It gives them a role to play, and a reason to summon the strength to stand up to threats.

Of course, it shouldn't come to this. There were failures in both intelligence and screening that allowed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to get aboard Flight 253. But the painful reality is that lapses can occur in any system, and so the best defence is multiple layers of defence. That's where would-be victims come in: the final pairs of eyes, watching the match get lit or the suspicious bag be loaded. ...

Much the same thing happened in December 2001, when shoe-bomber Richard Reid tried to blow up an American Airlines jet. And a more dramatic example occurred three months earlier, on 9/11, when passengers on United Flight 93 took the fight to their hijackers, crashing their plane rather than allow it to be pointed at the White House or Capitol.

The passengers of Flight 93 are honoured at the site of their deaths in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Thankfully, there is no memorial necessary for those who protected Flight 253. Many people share a sense of relief — and even exhilaration — at their success in bringing down their attacker.

The Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, on North Korea weapons trafficking

Part of international weapons trafficking originating from North Korea has come to light.

In mid-December, a cargo plane taking off from Pyongyang landed in Bangkok for refuelling. When Thai authorities checked the cargo declared as "oil-drilling equipment," they found a large quantity of North Korean-made weapons. They included 35 tons of anti-tank rocket launchers and surface-to-air missiles worth more than 1 billion yen.

The ownership of the cargo plane has frequently changed and it now belongs to a Georgian company. It was also revealed that the plane had travelled to and from North Korea several times in the past. The crew were Belarusians and Kazakhs.

Although the destination of the plane was unclear, it planned to unload the cargo in Iran after stopping in Sri Lanka and Ukraine, according to flight plan information obtained by US and European non-governmental organisations that monitor weapon transfers.

The incident revealed the proliferation of weapons from North Korea and the presence of a weapons trafficking network involving arms traders of the former Soviet Union.

In response to the second nuclear test that Pyongyang conducted in May in defiance of international criticism, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution to strengthen sanctions against North Korea. As a result, all weapons exports from North Korea were banned.

The incident this time clearly violates the resolution. Furthermore, it occurred around the time US special envoy Stephen Bosworth visited Pyongyang to encourage North Korea to return to the six-party talks over its nuclear program. Pyongyang's behaviour derides international society. ...

It is important to further strengthen international cooperation and enhance the effectiveness of Security Council resolutions. Ground, maritime and air surveillance must be firmly established. ...