Brown reassures as bomb hunt turns to London 26 Dec 2009 The prime minister sought to reassure the public today after it was revealed a student based in the UK is suspected of trying to bomb a passenger jet. Gordon Brown spoke as the Metropolitan Police searched the home of Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, who studied engineering at University College London. The Nigerian has been named by US authorities as the man responsible for trying to blow up a plane carrying 278 passengers as it landed in Detroit on Christmas Day. Brown said the incident had posed a "serious potential threat" and the government was prepared to take "whatever action necessary" to safeguard the public from further attacks.
Terror attack on US flight to Detroit investigated in London 26 Dec 2009 Searches are being carried out at a mansion flat in central London after a man with suspected links to al-Qaida [al-CIAduh] allegedly tried to blow up a transatlantic plane, Scotland Yard said today... Security has been stepped up at UK airports for passengers flying to the US, the Department for Transport said. Gordon Brown said the UK would take "whatever action was necessary" to protect passengers. UK airport operator BAA said searches on flights to the US would increase. A statement on the British Airways website said Washington had revised its security arrangements for all travellers to the US and they would only be allowed one piece of hand luggage.
Police search London addresses after plane attack 26 Dec 2009 Police have been searching premises in London today after a Nigerian man tried to ignite an explosive device on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Britain had been working closely with US authorities and investigating the incident since it had happened. "Because of the serious potential threat posed by the incident, I have spoken to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan police, whose offices have been carrying out searches of properties in London," Brown said in a statement.
Investigators: Northwest Bomb Plot Planned by al-Qaeda in Yemen --Officials Say Bomb Materials Sewn Into Suspect's Underwear by Top Terror Bomb Maker 26 Dec 2009 The plot to blow up an American passenger jet over Detroit was organized and launched by al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh] leaders in Yemen who apparently sewed bomb materials into the suspect's underwear before sending him on his mission, federal authorities tell ABC News. Investigators say the suspect had more than 80 grams of PETN, a compound related to nitro-glycerin used by the military. The so-called shoe bomber, Richard Reid, had only about 50 grams kin his failed attempt in 2001 to blow up a U.S.-bound jet.
Man held over US plane bomb bid 26 Dec 2009 A Nigerian man believed to be linked to al Qaeda militants was in custody today after he tried to ignite an explosive device on a US passenger plane as it approached Detroit. The suspect, who suffered extensive burns, was overpowered by passengers and crew on the Christmas Day flight from Amsterdam. The passengers, two of whom suffered minor injuries
Officials say explosion on US plane was terror attack 26 Dec 2009 US authorities believe an incident involving a small explosion aboard a Delta-Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit on Friday was an attempted act of terrorism, a White House official said. The Transportation Security Administration said the person responsible for the incident was taken into custody and the plane, which departed from Amsterdam, had landed safely in Detroit. "We believe this was an attempted act of terrorism," a White House official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Airports Tighten Security After Failed Bomb Plot 25 Dec 2009 The Transportation Security Administration is enhancing security at airports around the country after a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said someone tried, but failed, to blow up a Delta/Northwest Airlines Flight 253 passenger plane. U.S officials say the passenger, Abdul Mudallad, a Nigerian citizen, claims he was acting on behalf of Al-Qaeda when he tried to blow up a flight Friday as it landed in Detroit from Amsterdam.
Police lose battle over evidence of 'British 9/11' plot --Scotland Yard must reveal whether it had CIA intelligence 26 Dec 2009 Scotland Yard has been ordered to reveal whether it has any evidence to support America’s claim that Britain was saved from a 9/11-style disaster by the CIA’s secret foreign interrogation centres. The Times has won a case under the Freedom of Information Act forcing British police to say whether the US stopped a plot to fly planes into Canary Wharf and Heathrow. The claim was made by President [sic] Bush when he first acknowledged the existence of a clandestine CIA prison network created to fight his War on of Terror. Scotland Yard has been given 35 days to comply or appeal. If it admits that there is no such intelligence, it would undermine any political defence for America’s strong-arm tactics in fighting terrorism.
Software fraudster 'fooled CIA' into terror alert --Spooks 'f*cking livid' 24 Dec 2009 A con man fooled US spooks into grounding international flights by selling them "technology" to decode al-Qaeda messages hidden in TV broadcasts, it's claimed. A long and highly entertaining Playboy article explains that in 2003, Dennis Montgomery was chief technology officer at Reno, Nevada-based eTreppid Technologies. Montgomery reportedly convinced the CIA that he had software that could detect and decrypt "barcodes" in broadcasts by Al Jazeera, the Qatari news station.
Friend of Fort Hood gunman 'killed in attack on Yemen hideout' 26 Dec 2009 An American-born radical Islamist, believed to have links to the Fort Hood gunman accused of killing 13 colleagues last month, may have been among 30 militant leaders killed when Yemeni aircraft bombed suspected al-Qaeda hideouts. Anwar al-Awlaki, who reportedly corresponded by e-mail with Major Nidal Malik Hasan before the shooting at the Texan base, was thought to have been attending an al-Qaeda meeting in Rafadh when the airstrikes took place on Thursday. At least 34 [alleged] members of the terror organisation were killed, according to the Yemeni Embassy in Washington. A similar number were killed in a raid last week.
Obusha opens new war front; lamestream media focuses on bogus terror incidents to provide popular support for 'war on terror:' U.S.-aided attack in Yemen thought to have killed Aulaqi, 2 al-Qaeda leaders 25 Dec 2009 Yemeni forces, backed by the United States, launched a major attack Thursday on a meeting of senior al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh] operatives thought to include the Yemeni American cleric linked to the suspect in the Fort Hood shootings [?!?], U.S. and Yemeni officials said. U.S. officials believe that the cleric, Anwar al-Aulaqi, was probably killed in the assault, as were two al-Qaeda leaders, according to a senior Obama administration official. One of those leaders was the head of the terrorist network's operations on the Arabian Peninsula and once served as Osama bin Laden's personal secretary; the other was a Saudi national and former detainee at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Yemeni officials, tribal leaders and eyewitnesses said it was not clear whether Aulaqi and the al-Qaeda leaders were killed or wounded in the strike [so they can be re-killed another day].
In Pakistan, militants blow up three more schools 25 Dec 2009 'Pakistani militants' have reduced three state-run schools to ruins across the country's volatile northwest, where the government has launched a major counterinsurgency operation. The bomb attacks targeted two schools in the Khyber tribal district near the border with Afghanistan, a Press TV correspondent reported. "Militants blew up a government boys' high school and a middle school with explosives around 3.00 am (2100 GMT)," tribal administration official Rehan Gul Khattak said. [Blowing up schools? That's (exclusively) a Blackwater-US drone-CIA black ops thing.]
Afghanistan another Vietnam, says captive US soldier 25 Dec 2009 An American trooper in Taliban captivity says that the United States has lost its grip on the Afghan war, urging the American people to help stop the 'nonsense.' "I'm afraid to tell you that this war has slipped from our fingers and it's just going to be our next Vietnam unless the American people stand up and stop all this nonsense," said US soldier Bowe Robert Bergdahl in a video released by the militants on Friday, the AFP news agency reported... Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP that the soldier "is not being tortured or tormented" by the militants [unlike how the US treats its captives].
Saudi would have nuked Houthis: Yemeni MP 25 Dec 2009 Yemeni lawmaker Yahya al-Houthi says Saudi Arabian warplanes are engaged in the relentless bombardment of civilian positions in Yemen's war-torn north. In an interview with Press TV on Friday, the Yemeni lawmaker accused the Saudi army of using internationally banned weapons in its attacks on villages in the northern province of Sa'ada, regretting the high civilian toll from the raids. If Riyadh had nuclear weapons, it would have used them against the Houthi fighters, the lawmaker charged.
In fresh Iraq violence, 18 people killed 25 Dec 2009 More than a dozen people have died as a fresh wave of violence hits Iraq despite tightened security measures for Christmas and the Shia occasion of Ashura. Six people were killed and 26 others wounded in a bomb explosion in Baghdad's eastern district of Sadr City on Friday when a roadside bomb struck a procession to mark the anniversary of the third Shia Imam's martyrdom...
Two dozen killed in blasts across Iraq 24 Dec 2009 Over two dozen people have been killed and more than 150 others have been wounded in a string of bomb attacks across Iraq ahead of Christmas and Ashura. In the worst Thursday attack in the central Iraqi town of Hilla in Babil Province, twin car bombs killed 15 people, including the provincial councilor, Naama al-Bakri, a senior member of the ruling Dawaa Party, and injured 70 others.
Probe confirms CIA black jails in Lithuania 26 Dec 2009 After the unexpected resignation of Lithuania's intelligence chief, a controversial parliamentary probe confirms the existence of CIA-run black jails in the Baltic state. The parliamentary panel report caused considerable consternation after confirming that the CIA ran at least two black prisons in Lithuania where 'terror suspects' may have been held.
Iran: US nukes biggest threat to global security 24 Dec 2009 Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili says the US should be relieved of its veto power and disarmed over the use of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. "The least penalty for the United States is its disarmament and disqualifying its veto power," said Jalili during his visit to Hiroshima. "Unfortunately not only was not the US condemned for Hiroshima massacre but it was also awarded with veto power in the (UN) Security Council," he said.
Israeli soldiers shoot dead six Palestinians 26 Dec 2009 Israeli soldiers have shot dead six Palestinians and left a fourth one wounded in separate incidents in the West Bank and the north of the Gaza Strip. According to a Palestinian medical source, three Palestinians were killed in northern Gaza as they were on their way to cross over a wall to work in Israel on Saturday.
Barak cracks down on army 'mutineers' 24 Dec 2009 Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Israel's most decorated soldier, is targeting army-linked seminaries that produce many of the country's combat troops because the young soldiers are refusing to move against Jewish settlers in the West Bank. Barak's action has incensed Israel's right wing, which supports the settlers and has vowed to oppose the 10-month freeze on settlement building announced by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, under pressure from Washington, in late November.
Their lukewarm pandemic was the dry-run. School vaccinations could expand as byproduct of swine flu pandemic 25 Dec 2009 Top public health officials see this year's swine flu vaccination efforts as an opportunity to consider large-scale immunization campaigns at the nation's schools. Local and state health departments were charged with administering the estimated 259 million doses the federal government bought to 'fight' the H1N1 influenza virus. A total of 34 states incorporated public and private schools into their campaigns. [See: Baxter working on vaccine to stop swine flu, though admitted sending live pandemic flu viruses to subcontractor 26 Apr 2009 and Killer flu recreated in the lab 07 Oct 2004.]
Cook County sheriff set to hire hundreds 24 Dec 2009 (IL) The Cook County Sheriff's Department says it is set to make hundreds of hires in coming months. Sheriff Tom Dart said Wednesday that his department is prepared to hire more than 500 correctional officers next year. The first class of recruits is to come in January. The sheriff's office says the jobs are available because of a federal mandate that more officers be added at the Cook County Jail.
Cellphone Searches (The New York Times) 26 Dec 2009 The Ohio Supreme Court has struck an important blow for privacy rights, ruling that the police need a warrant to search a cellphone. The court rightly recognized that cellphones today are a lot more than just telephones, that they hold a wealth of personal information and that the privacy interest in them is considerable. This was the first such ruling from a state supreme court. It is a model for other courts to follow.
U.S. promises unlimited financial assistance to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac 25 Dec 2009 The Obama administration pledged Thursday to provide unlimited financial assistance to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, an eleventh-hour move that allows the government to exceed the current $400 billion cap on emergency aid without seeking permission from a bailout-weary Congress. The Christmas Eve announcement by the Treasury Department means that it can continue to run the companies, which were seized last year, as arms of the government for the rest of President Obama's current term. But even as the administration was making this open-ended financial commitment, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac disclosed that they had received approval from their federal regulator to pay $42 million in Wall Street-style compensation packages to 12 top executives for 2009.
Previous lead stories: 'Good' Taliban destroy Afghan Army base 20 Dec 2009 Forces under the command of a leader considered to be one of the "good Taliban" by the Pakistani military destroyed an Afghan Army camp. Taliban forces commanded by Mullah Nazir blew up an the Afghan Army base, which was just across the border from the Angoor Adda region in Pakistan. The region is under the control of Nazir, a Pakistani Taliban commander. "Sources said the Taliban planted explosives all over the base and blew it up, destroying bunkers and installations," Dawn reported. The based was destroyed after "a contingent stationed there moved out of the fortified compound." The Taliban and "a group of tribesmen" then looted the base. [See: Rep.: US may be 'funding the very insurgents we are trying to fight' --Congress investigating charges of 'protection racket' by Afghanistan contractors 17 Dec 2009.]
US anti-drug effort in Afghanistan criticized 23 Dec 2009 The State Department's internal watchdog on Wednesday criticized the agency's nearly $2 billion anti-drug effort in Afghanistan for poor oversight and lack of a long-term strategy. The department's inspector general said the Afghanistan counter-narcotics program is hampered by too few personnel and rampant corruption among Afghan officials. [The US mission in Afghanistan is to keep the gas and opium pipelines flowing. See: Trail of Afghanistan's drug money exposed By Julien Mercille 16 Dec 2009 The total revenue generated by opiates within Afghanistan is about $3.4 billion per year. Of this figure, according to UNODC, the Taliban get only 4% of the sum... The remaining 75% is captured by government officials, the police, local and regional power brokers and traffickers - in short, many of the groups now supported (or tolerated) by the United States and NATO are important actors in the drug trade.]
