Snip: During the operation, the police busted prostitution houses, illegal maid networks, forged ID document rackets, alcohol manufacturers and distributors, and illegal international call cabin operators. Drugs were confiscated from a number of homes. “Security forces will continue performing operations till they clean out our cities from crime,” the officer told Arab News.
Snip: Customs officials argue that's why they started the Container Security Initiative. Now operational at some 40 foreign ports, the program "pushes the borders out" by stationing Customs inspectors at foreign seaports to target and oversee the inspection of high-risk cargo before it sets sail for the U.S.
That's just more eyewash. What officials don't tell you is that those U.S. inspectors have to rely on locals to inspect the containers they flag as high risk. And many times the locals refuse to look. Between the start of the CSI program in January 2002 and September 2004, foreign inspectors refused Customs' requests to inspect 4,013 containers. That's 28% of the total referred to them within this period of inspection. Feel safer?
And few foreign partners inspect containers for nukes. Only two foreign ports in the CSI program even have the unreliable radiation portal monitors. Feel safer now?
Snip: New Jersey officers patrolling the harbor - as well as trains and ferries that go back and forth between the states - lose authority under current law when they cross into New York.
During emergencies, Gov. George Pataki has had to sign executive orders allowing New Jersey law enforcement to make arrests in New York, and homeland security officials in both states agree the system is inefficient.
Muslim cleric says Islam will finally win
Snip: Speaking to the Oslo newspaper, Mullah Krekar, who came from Iraq, said: 'We`re the ones who will change you. Just look at the development within Europe, where the number of Muslims is expanding like mosquitoes. 'Every western woman in the (European Union) is producing an average of 1.4 children. Every Muslim woman in the same countries (is) producing 3.5 children. By 2050, 30 percent of the population in Europe will be Muslim.'
Feds announce Bay Area Latino gang arrests
Snippets: At least one man is believed to belong to the notorious El Salvadorean gang MS-13, while others are members of the Norteno, Sureno and Sur-13 gangs, Holman said.
Three of the men arrested were U.S. citizens and the remainder foreign nationals in the United States illegally, one from El Salvador and 11 from Mexico.
Note: The following post is a quote:
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1595904/posts
Top al-Qaida figure lived in Lodi(CA), witness says
The Sacramento Bee ^ | 13 Mar 06 | Denny Walsh
Posted on 03/13/2006 6:02:08 PM PST by Diver Dave
An FBI informant testified Monday in Sacramento federal court that al-Qaida’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, lived in Lodi during parts of 1998 and 1999. Naseem Khan, who is a critical prosecution witness in the trials of two Lodi men charged with having terrorist ties, testified he was living in Lodi in 1998 and 1999 and "every time I would go to the mosque (al-Zawahri) would be coming or going" from the mosque.
Khan said al-Zawahri, known to the FBI as Osama bin Laden’s personal physician and top adviser, "disappeared" sometime in 1999.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
DP World: No Plan to Sell Miami Port Ops
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/03/13/D8GB0HJGC.html
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Arab central banks move assets out of dollar
~Spittleypooh!
Middle Eastern anger over the decision by the US to block a Dubai company from buying five of its ports hit the dollar yesterday as a number of central banks said they were considering switching reserves into euros.
The United Arab Emirates, which includes Dubai, said it was looking to move one-tenth of its dollar reserves into euros, while the governor of the Saudi Arabian central bank condemned the US move as "discrimination".
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article351127.ece