The writing is on the wall.
Anticipating Iraq leak headaches - soon.
"The writing is on the wall."
Yep.
A flag of convenience ship carrying volatile ammonium nitrate is being towed back to Newcastle after its engine room caught fire. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said the engine or wiring of the Bahamas flagged Baltimar Boreas had caught fire, disabling the ship, after it left the Newcastle Port on Thursday night. The fire had been extinguished and a tug had been sent to tow the ship back to Newcastle, where it was expected to arrive on Friday evening, an ATSB spokesman said.
Dean Summer, an Australian spokesman for the International Transport Workers Federation, said the federal government had to explain what the ship was doing plying the eastern coast of Australia with such a dangerous cargo. "This foreign vessel with a mix of foreign crew has been trading up and down the east coast since January 4," Mr Summer said. "It's visited six Australian ports over the past five weeks and it can't do that without some sort of permit from the federal government.
"We want the government to come clean. We want to know why a foreign vessel is allowed to carry such high-risk cargo on the Australian coast, putting Australian port communities, our national security and the environment at risk. "If this ship went up in smoke in Newcastle harbour it could take out the whole city. We want the government to tell the Australian people what is going on.
"Ammonium nitrate is used as an explosive in mining operations, as a fertiliser and is the weapon of choice for terrorists. It was ammonium nitrate that was used during the Bali bombings."
Mr Summers said the vessel was expected to arrive back in Newcastle on Friday evening. The ATSB spokesman said the ship had been heading for Port Moresby with its cargo of ammonium nitrate. He said two investigating officers had been sent to meet the ship on its return to Newcastle to establish the circumstances of the incident.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=173778
NYC beefs up water system patrols after bombs found in California
Thu, Feb. 08, 2007
NEW YORK - Authorities beefed up patrols and surveillance Thursday at critical points in the city's water system after pipe bombs were found in a portion of the California Aqueduct.
"It's strictly a precautionary measure," said Ian Michaels, a spokesman for the city's Department of Environmental Protection. The DEP is charged with protecting the vast water system that supplies the city's 8 million residents.
Three pipe bombs were discovered Tuesday near a valve in a portion of the California Aqueduct, which had been partially drained as part of a routine check for submerged objects. The California Highway Patrol said that if the bombs had been triggered, they could have opened the valve and released water. A bomb unit detonated them in a safe area.
It wasn't known if the bombs were placed in the aqueduct to intentionally disrupt California's water supplies, but Michaels said New York City wasn't taking any chances. "A potential threat to a major water supply in other parts of the country gets our attention," he said. Michaels said the added security would last "indefinitely," and DEP officers hadn't discovered anything suspicious. The DEP has approximately 175 officers to protect the system, Michaels said. New York City has the largest unfiltered surface water supply in the world. Every day, some 1.3 billions gallons of water from this vast system is delivered to residents, according to the DEP's Web site.
Excerpted
Mystery notes, bombs threaten US financial firms
Thu Feb 8, 2007
KANSAS CITY, Mo.- Pipe bombs sent to U.S. asset management firms in Kansas City and Chicago last week appear linked to an individual known as "The Bishop" who has authored an escalating series of threats to firms over the last 18 months, a corporate counter-terrorism expert said on Thursday.
American Century Investment Management Inc. in Kansas City received a threatening letter along with a "functional pipe bomb" on Jan. 31, FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza said. The bomb was dismantled without incident, Lanza said. A day later, a similar note and bomb were received at the Chicago financial services firm of Perkins, Wolf, McDonnell and Co. The device had originally been mailed to the Janus Capital Group in Denver, but then was forwarded to Perkins, which is a subadviser to Janus, Janus spokeswoman Shelly Peterson said.
"We're taking this very seriously. Obviously the issue for Janus is of the utmost importance," Peterson said. "It is concerning," said Fred Burton, vice president of counter terrorism for Stratfor, a global private intelligence firm which has had several clients receive similar threats since 2005. Stratfor warned its clients in an advisory on Wednesday that the threats made to U.S. financial services firms appeared to be escalating.
Excerpted
http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN0825101420070208