Suspicion surrounds chemical explosion
Snip: Neighbors, however were suspicious. Several of them said that what they witnessed was no accident, and said they have offered official statements to police, alleging that the explosion was caused intentionally.
Hunt for super snipers who use US tactics
Snip: The video says the brigade's main weapon is the Tabuk sniper rifle, which was produced in Iraq from a Yugoslav design. It uses standard Kalashnikov rounds and probably has a range of between 500 metres and 600 metres. It is also described as being more of a marksman's rifle than a sniper's rifle. The latter are generally designed to be accurate beyond 800 metres.
Should people be tested for mad cow disease?
Snip: Would you want to know if you were carrying human mad cow disease? Maybe not, but what if you'd given blood and maybe passed vCJD on to other people. Should they be tested?
Snip: An al-Qaeda strategist has warned Canada to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan or face terrorist attacks similar to 9/11, Madrid and the London transit bombings. The threat, attributed to a member of the al-Qaeda information and strategy committee, condemns Prime Minister Stephen Harper for refusing to pull out of Afghanistan.
It also refers to Canada's "fanatic adherence to Christianity" as well as its purported attempts to "damage the Muslims" and its support for the "Christian Crusade" against al-Qaeda.
Snip: He declined to say when the capture occurred or give al-Hayani's nationality, saying that could hinder future operations against terrorists. He said videotapes and documents were found in al-Hayani's possession but did not describe their contents.
3 police killed, 1 decapitated outside Acapulco
Snip: The two commanders and an agent with the state's Ministerial Investigative Police were kidnapped Friday in Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero state. Their remains were found the next morning in a vehicle abandoned near a highway linking Acapulco and Mexico City, 180 miles to the north, said Jorge Valdez, a spokesman for the state public safety secretary.
No arrests have been made in connection to the killings.
Computer doctoral student condemns airline security
Snip: A computer security student says terrorists would have no trouble getting around the government's No-Fly List. And to prove it, he set up a Web site that prints fake Northwest Airlines boarding passes.
He puts Osama Bin Laden's name on the fake boarding pass, but travelers can put in their own name - or a fake one - and change the flight information, too.
FBI raids security researcher's home
Snip: The FBI has raided the home of Christopher Soghoian, the grad student who created the NWA boarding pass site. Details can be found on his blog including a scanned copy of the warrant. The bad news is that he really did break the law. The good news is that Senator Charles Schumer did it first, 19 months ago, on an official government website no less. The outcome of this trial should be at least academically interesting. At best, it could result in nullifying some portion of the law(s) that the TSA operates under."
Unarmed hijack makes mockery of airline security measures
Snip: SERIOUS concerns were raised in Italy yesterday over the ease with which a lone, unarmed Turkish man managed to gain access to the cockpit of an airliner and hijack it.
All 107 passengers and six crew on the Turkish Airlines Boeing 737 were unharmed in the hijack, which ended with the arrest at Brindisi airport in southern Italy late on Tuesday of 27-year-old Hakan Ekinci.
Newark airport screeners failed 20 of 22 tests
Snip: They missed an array of concealed bombs and guns at checkpoints throughout the major air hub's three terminals, according to federal security officials familiar with the results.
The tests, conducted Oct. 19 by U.S. Transportation Security Administration "Red Team" agents, also revealed significant failures by screeners to follow standard operating procedures while checking passengers and their baggage for prohibited items, said the officials.
Great assortment MamaDearest.
Updates on the chemical explosion are appreciated.