Return of Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay is suspended 05 Jan 2010 The Obama administration said Tuesday that it is suspending the repatriation of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay to Yemen, where a deteriorating security situation driven by a branch of al-Qaeda has stoked fears that detainees could join -- or rejoin -- the terrorist organization if released. The decision means that at least 30 Yemenis who were cleared for release by a Justice Department-led inter-agency review could face many more months in detention.
US spy effort in Afghanistan 'ignorant'- US report --U.S. military official says U.S. intelligence 'hazy' --Report says spies too focused on killing insurgents 05 Jan 2010 The U.S. military's intelligence chief in Afghanistan sharply criticized the work of U.S. spy agencies there on Monday, calling them ignorant and out of touch with the Afghan people. In a report issued by the Center for New American Security think tank, Major General Michael Flynn, deputy chief of staff for intelligence in Afghanistan for the U.S. military and its NATO allies, offered a bleak assessment of the intelligence community's role in the 8-year-old war.
Germany knows nothing of alleged CIA murder plot 05 Jan 2010 The German government said on Monday it knew nothing about a magazine report that the CIA had planned a secret operation to kill a German-Syrian in Hamburg linked to the September 11 attacks on U.S. targets. The U.S. magazine Vanity Fair had reported that the CIA had in 2004 sent a team from the private security firm terrorist group Blackwater, now Xe, to Hamburg to kill Mamoun Darkazanli, who was investigated for years by German authorities on suspicion of links to al Qaeda. January's edition of the magazine cited a source familiar with the program as saying the mission had been kept secret from the German government.
Iraq to sue Blackwater on behalf of victims 05 Jan 2010 Iraq said Tuesday it will seek justice against Blackwater on behalf of the families of those who were killed at Baghdad shooting in 2007. Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the cabinet has decided to open new case against five Blackwater guards who opened fire at Iraqi civilians, killing 17 at a Baghdad traffic circle in 2007.
Judge Weighs Misconduct Finding in Blackwater Case --Judge weighs misconduct finding for Blackwater prosecutors accused of withholding evidence 04 Jan 2010 Prosecutors who mishandled the investigation into a deadly 2007 Blackwater Worldwide shooting face a possible misconduct citation from a judge who says they withheld evidence and violated the guards' constitutional rights. U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina admonished the Justice Department last week for its "reckless" handling of the investigation into a shooting that left 17 Iraqis dead. He threw out manslaughter and weapons charges against five security guards mercenaries and, in a footnote, said he was also considering whether the repeated government missteps amounted to misconduct.
Bomber who hit CIA base was triple agent: militants 04 Jan 2010 A suicide bomber who killed eight people at a CIA base in Afghanistan was an Al-Qaeda triple agent who duped Western intelligence services for months before turning on his handlers, jihadist websites boasted on Tuesday. The Jordanian intelligence services, believing the bomber to be their double agent, brought him to eastern Afghanistan with the mission of finding Al-Qaeda number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the websites and Western intelligence agents cited by US media said. But instead he blew himself up at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost province near the Pakistani border, killing seven CIA agents and his Jordanian handler, a top intelligence officer and member of the royal family.
Bomber at C.I.A. Base Had Ties to Jordan Spy Agency 05 Jan 2010 The suicide bomber who killed seven C.I.A. officers and one Jordanian intelligence officer last week in southeastern Afghanistan was an asset of the Jordanian intelligence service who had been brought to Afghanistan to help hunt top members of the 'Qaeda' network, according to a Western official briefed on the matter. The bomber had been arrested in Jordan and recruited by that country’s intelligence service -- which believed that it had turned him into an ally -- and then brought to Afghanistan to infiltrate the Qaeda organization by posing as a foreign jihadi.
Tensions grow as US heightens role in Yemen 05 Jan 2010 Friction emerged Tuesday in the growing alliance with the Yemeni government as the U.S. Embassy ended a two-day closure triggered by a terror threat from al-Qaida [al-CIAduh]. The Yemen government, which sent thousand of troops this week to remote provinces where al-Qaida has set up strongholds, has been angered by suggestions the state is too weakened to handle the fight against terrorists.
US warns of global Yemen threat 05 Jan 2010 The US secretary of state, has warned that Yemen poses a global threat and has offered US support in the Yemeni government's fight against al-Qaeda. Hillary Clinton's comments came ahead of news on Tuesday that the US had reopened its embassy in Sanaa, Yemen's capital, closed days earlier in response to what it said were al-Qaeda threats.
Obama Says Government Knew of "Other Red Flags" in Terror Threat 06 Jan 2010 President Obama said Tuesday that the United States government had sufficient information to uncover the terror plot to bring down an airplane on Christmas Day, but intelligence officials "failed to connect those dots" that would have prevented the young Nigerian man from boarding the plane in Amsterdam. "This was not a failure to collect intelligence, it was a failure to integrate and understand the intelligence that we already had," Mr. Obama said after a two-hour meeting with his national security team at the White House.
Obama: U.S. Intelligence Should Have 'Uncovered' Christmas Day Plot 05 Jan 2010 President Obama said Tuesday that U.S. intelligence had enough information to uncover the terrorist plot to bomb a Northwest Airlines flight but "failed" to piece it all together before the suspect boarded a plane for Detroit armed with explosives. The president, who spoke after meeting with top officials to discuss internal reviews of the attempted bombing Christmas Day, said the suspect's name should have been added to the no-fly list based on information available about him. He said the government will quickly make changes to ensure future attempts are thwarted.
New airport scanners break child porn laws 04 Jan 2010 The rapid introduction of full body scanners at British airports threatens to breach child protection laws which ban the creation of indecent images of children, the Guardian has learned. Privacy campaigners claim the images created by the machines are so graphic they amount to "virtual strip-searching" and have called for safeguards to protect the privacy of passengers involved. Ministers now face having to exempt under 18s from the scans or face the delays of introducing new legislation to ensure airport security staff do not commit offences under child pornography laws. [Oops! Looks like scanner pimp Michael Chertoff has a problem. The 'real' al-Qaeda must be laughing its ass off!]
Ex-Homeland Security chief head said to abuse public trust by touting body scanners 01 Jan 2010 Since the attempted bombing of a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day, former Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff has given dozens of media interviews touting the need for the federal government to buy more full-body scanners for airports. What he has made little mention of is that the Chertoff Group, his security consulting agency, includes a client that manufactures the machines. An airport passengers' rights group on Thursday criticized Chertoff, who left office less than a year ago, for using his former government credentials to advocate for a product that benefits his clients.
Dozens of Names Shifted to No-Fly List 05 Jan 2010 The Obama administration has transferred dozens of names from a broad terrorism database to watch lists that are more closely monitored in an effort to plug security holes revealed by the Christmas Day airline-bombing attempt. President Barack Obama met Monday with White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan, National Security Adviser James Jones and Deputy National Security Adviser Tom Donilon ahead of a broader security team meeting Tuesday.
U.S. adds dozens to terrorist watch, no-fly lists 04 Jan 2010 The government has added dozens of people to the lists of suspected terrorists and those barred from U.S.-bound flights. The addition of more names to the government’s terrorist watch and no-fly lists came after U.S. officials closely scrutinized a larger database of suspected terrorists, an intelligence official said Monday. People on the watch list get additional checking before they are allowed to enter this country; those on the no-fly list are barred from boarding aircraft in or headed for the United States.
Nigeria says US enhanced screening list 'unfair' 04 Jan 2010 The Nigerian government has said that the West African country's inclusion on the US enhanced screening-list released on Monday is "unfair." The fourteen nations listed on the enhanced watch-list are Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria along with what the US calls "countries of interest," Afghanistan, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. The remaining countries are Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Lebanon and Iraq, though these four have not been officially confirmed.
UK airports to introduce new bomb detection equipment 05 Jan 2010 Body scanners are to be introduced at Heathrow Airport in about three weeks, Home Secretary Alan Johnson has said. He also told the House of Commons that all UK airports must have new "explosion trace detection equipment" by the end of the year. His comments follow an attempt to blow up a US airliner on Christmas Day.
Attorney General Baroness Scotland may block Israeli war crimes warrants 05 Jan 2010 The Attorney General could be given a veto over arrest warrants for foreign leaders in an attempt to placate Israeli ministers who fear war crimes prosecutions if they visit Britain. Baroness Scotland of Asthal, who is in Jerusalem, discussed an amendment to British law that would give her office the power to review arrest warrants in private prosecutions against political figures, according to Foreign Ministry sources.
British government will fight legal attempts to indict Israeli leaders in UK --Baroness Scotland announces plans to alter laws after attempts to obtain warrants against Israeli generals for war crimes 05 Jan 2010 The government is determined to protect high-ranking Israeli officials from arrest in the UK, the attorney general said, as it emerged that a further visit by the Israeli military had been cancelled. Speaking at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem today, Baroness Scotland said Israeli leaders should not face arrest for war crimes under the law of "universal jurisdiction", following attempts by British lawyers last month to obtain a warrant for the former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni.
Arrest warrants keep Israeli team away from UK 05 Jan 2010 Israel canceled a delegation of senior military officers to Britain last week after the UK failed to guarantee that they would not be arrested over alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip. Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs appealed to the British government to ensure that the officers, including a colonel, lieutenant colonel and a major, would be able to stay in the country without arrest fear.
Rights group slams planned 'Israelis only' highway in West Bank 05 Jan 2010 Less than a week after Israel's highest court ordered the state to lift its ban on Palestinian motorists from a highway that stretches into the West Bank, left-wing activists are denouncing new plans on Tuesday to build a road on West Bank land which they claim is intended for use by Israelis only. According to an Army Radio report, planning officials are diligently laying the groundwork for Highway 20, an artery which will connect Highway 443 with the northern neighborhoods of Jerusalem, including Pisgat Ze'ev.
Iran bans contact with groups involved in soft war 05 Jan 2010 Iran has banned Iranian citizens from cooperating with 60 international institutions and a number of media outlets due to their involvement in the post-election unrest. Iran's deputy intelligence minister for foreign affairs announced on Monday that 60 European and US foundations and institutions played a role in inciting post-election violence in the Islamic Republic.
KBR Awarded Construction Contract for U.S. Federal Building and Courthouse 04 Jan 2010 KBR today announced that its Building Group, has been awarded a $46.96 million contract by the U.S. General Services Administration to provide construction management services for a new United States Federal Building and Courthouse in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The building, designed to achieve LEED® Silver certification, replaces an outdated existing facility.
U.S. Feared Spectacular Terror Attack at Obama's Inauguration 05 Jan 2010 Security officials are said to have been highly concerned that extremists were traveling from Somalia to set off explosives as Barack Obama took the oath of office. As millions converged on Washington last year to witness the inauguration of President Barack Obama, security officials were concerned that among them were extremists traveling from Somalia to set off explosives as Obama took the oath of office. A report in The New York Times, to coincide with the first anniversary of Obama's inauguration, says that for 72 hours before the new president was sworn in intelligence agencies worked around the clock trying to figure out whether the threat was real and what, if anything, should be done if a terrorist struck while millions watched on the Mall and tens of millions more saw the ceremony on television.
Was Swine Flu a False Pandemic? 04 Jan 2010 That’s the contention by more than a dozen members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which reportedly plans to conduct an inquiry into the influence that drugmakers may have had on the World Health Organization, scientists and governments. A resolution was introduced last month by Wolfgang Wodarg, a member of Germany’s Social Democratic Party who chairs the PACE health committee, and it reads: "In order to promote their patented drugs and vaccines against flu, pharmaceutical companies have influenced scientists and official agencies, responsible for public health standards, to alarm governments worldwide. They have made them squander tight health care resources for inefficient vaccine strategies and needlessly exposed millions of healthy people to the risk of unknown side-effects of insufficiently tested vaccines... The definition of an alarming pandemic must not be under the influence of drugsellers."
Europe seeks to offload flu vaccines 05 Jan 2010 Western European countries, including Switzerland, are queuing up to shift surplus stocks of the [deadly] H1N1 flu vaccine after low public demand. Amid controversy over its costly swine flu vaccine campaign, France said on Monday it wanted to cancel 50 million of the 94 million doses it had ordered because of over-supply. These latest moves could hit drugmakers' profits, say analysts.
France cancels orders for 50 mln A/H1N1 flu vaccine doses 05 Jan 2010 Amid the controversy over the costly A/H1N1 flu vaccination campaign in France, the Health Ministry on Monday announced the cancellation of 50 million doses of vaccine against the epidemic, more than half of what the government had initially ordered. "I have cancelled 50 million doses," French Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot said on TF1 television, adding that those doses had not been paid or delivered.
Mega barf alert! Insect Cells Provide the Key to Alternative Swine Flu Vaccination 04 Jan 2010 Scientists in Vienna have developed a new technique for producing vaccines for H1N1 -- so-called swine flu -- based on insect cells. The research, published in the Biotechnology Journal, reveals how influenza vaccines can be produced faster than through the traditional method of egg-based production, revealing a new strategy for the fight against influenza pandemics.
Scientists warn of rise in diseases spread from animals to humans 04 Jan 2010 Climate change and environmental disruption are spawning a host of new diseases being passed from animals pharmaterrorists to humans, scientists have warned. At least 45 such diseases have been reported to UN agencies over the past two decades and more are expected to be identified in coming years. Experts at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Washington claim that the world is braced for an increase in outbreaks due to global warming and changes in land use and farming practices.
US House Leaders Back Off Public Health Insurance Option 05 Jan 2010 U.S. House leaders signaled Tuesday they are willing to agree to a final health overhaul bill without a government-run health insurance option if other parts of the bill would fulfill the same goals. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said after meeting with senior House Democrats that the bill must meet the test of "holding insurance companies accountable," whether or not it includes a public option.
Secret Service confirms third crasher at White House state dinner 05 Jan 2010 Another uninvited guest made it into the White House state dinner made famous by gate-crashers Tareq and Michaele Salahi, the Secret Service announced Monday -- exposing more holes in the security perimeter around President Obama. Many of the key details have not been officially released: the man's name [Carlos Allen, a D.C. party promoter], how he came to be with the group of diplomats and how close he got to the president and first lady.
Two Killed in Las Vegas Courthouse 05 Jan 2010 A gunman in a black trench coat opened fire Monday morning in the lobby of the Federal Courthouse in downtown Las Vegas, killing a court security officer and wounding a deputy United States marshal before fleeing. He was then shot in the head and killed nearby. The building is a huge structure that houses federal courts as well as other agencies, including the offices of Senators Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader, and John Ensign, a Republican.
Courthouse gunman lost Social Security case, official says 05 Jan 2010 A man who lost a recent Social Security claim opened fire with a shotgun in a federal courthouse Monday, killing a court security officer and injuring a deputy U.S. marshal, authorities said. Law enforcement officials speaking on condition of anonymity identified the man as Johnny Wicks, a Las Vegas resident. The FBI said the black-clad man walked into the lobby of the Las Vegas federal courthouse, pulled a shotgun from underneath his jacket and began shooting.
Keepers Discover Newborn Cub Inside Toledo Zoo's Polar Bear Den 05 Jan 2010 The Toledo Zoo is pleased to announce the birth of a polar bear cub on Thursday, December 3. Eleven-year-old mother Crystal is caring for the cub in a den area off-exhibit, and the Zoo’s animal care staff is continuously monitoring the cub’s progress. The cub was one of two born that day; the other cub only survived for a few days.
Previous lead stories: Six trucks of explosives 'disappear' in Yemen 04 Jan 2010 Fears of a terrorist strike against Western embassies in Yemen have grown amid claims a convoy of lorries laden with explosives had been smuggled into the country's capital city, Sana'a. In an apparently botched surveillance operation, militants [?] driving six trucks filled with weapons and ordnance succeeded in giving security forces the slip as they entered the city, according to local media. The revelations came as western diplomatic missions in Sana'a went into lockdown following threats from al-Qaeda's Yemeni affiliate, which has taken responsibility for a failed attempt to blow up an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day.
Yemen seizes 'Israel-linked' cell 07 Oct 2008 Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has said the security forces have arrested a group of alleged Islamist militants linked to Israeli intelligence. Mr Saleh did not say what evidence had been found to show the group's links with Israel, a regional enemy of Yemen. The arrests were connected with an attack on the US embassy in Sanaa last month which killed at least 18 people, official sources were quoted saying. [Hmm. Guess they didn't get the whole cell.]
US tightens security for air passengers from 'terror sponsor' countries 03 Jan 2010 US authorities on Sunday tightened security measures for all US-bound airline passengers, including enhanced mandatory screening of travellers from 14 countries believed to have links to terrorism. Travellers from countries the US classifies as "state sponsors of terrorism" - Syria, Iran, Sudan, and Cuba [Oops! They forgot the US and Israel] - plus passengers from other "countries of interest" - Nigeria, Pakistan, Yemen - will be subjected to pat-down body searches and have carry-on baggage searched. Afghanistan, Libya and Somalia are also covered by the new directive, but a complete list of countries was not released.
