Berlin - Seeking to combat terrorism, cross-border crime and illegal migration, European member states last Thursday agreed on new plans to give each other access to their police databases. German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble hailed the decision as a major step to improve to police cooperation, security in freedom in the 27-member bloc. Germany currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
The joint decision to set up a network of national crime records to improve data exchange will give all member states access to other countries’ DNA and fingerprint data, as well as direct online access to vehicle registries. Under the new rules, police services can ask their colleagues in another country to find out whether they have data matching the profile of a suspected criminal offender. It also includes the exchange of personal information about potential terrorists and about violent offenders, such as football hooligans travelling to matches in other countries, New Europe reported.
Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and The Netherlands already adopted the rules in 2005. Germany and Austria started to share their national criminal registers in December 2006.
Since then some 1,500 DNA traces found in Germany have been matched with persons known to the Austrian criminal authorities while Austria recorded 1,400 hits in Germany. Slovenia, Italy, Finland, Portugal, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and Sweden also plan to join the system.
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n106000
Terrorism message being spread via Internet
February 18, 2007
WASHINGTON — A popular book among terrorists, "39 Ways to Serve and Participate in Jihad," explains how radical Muslims who can’t fight on the front lines can still take part. For instance, mothers can show their children violent videos to get them excited about the movement, an al-Qaida expert said, warning "39 Ways" isn’t the only reading material.
"These books are widely translated, widely circulated and read," said Jarret Brachman, director of research for the U.S Military Academy’s Combating Terrorism Center. Al-Qaida fanatics are logged on in their own virtual world and have created "distance-learning" there for young people while radical writers concoct more propaganda for the Internet and print, experts said.
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http://www.timesrecordnews.com/trn/local_news/article/0,1891,TRN_5784_5361268,00.html
INTERPOL forwarded information concerning Mohammed Jamal Khalifa to U.S. intelligence agencies just days before the alleged al Qaeda financier was killed by gunmen.
Khalifa, a brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden, was killed on about Jan. 30, 2007, in Madagascar, according to news reports. Khalifa's family said the Saudi national was killed by a group of 20 to 30 armed men who stole his computer and briefcase.
Khalifa's family said they believe the killing was political. Terrorism analysts have speculated that an international intelligence agency might have been behind the attack.
Three INTERPOL bulletins were released today to INTELWIRE in response to a Freedom of Information Act request for all documents concerning Khalifa. The release has been heavily redacted. INTERPOL also withheld additional documents pertaining to an "open investigation."
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http://intelwire.egoplex.com/2007_02_16_exclusives.html
Blast Hits Russian McDonald’s, Seven Injured
18.02.2007
An explosion in a McDonald’s restaurant in Russia’s second city of St Petersburg on Sunday injured several people, the Reuters news agency reports quoting Russian police.
A police spokesman said there had been an explosion in the restaurant on Nevsky Prospect, the city’s main thoroughfare, and that five people had been wounded. Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted emergency services as saying six were hurt with concussion, burns and shrapnel wounds. The cause of the explosion was unclear.
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