World Terrorism: News, History and Research Of A Changing World #9 Security Watch

BERNAMA ^ | June 19, 2007 | BERNAMA

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

Saudi King Says Middle East Crisis Will Affect The World

DUBAI, June 19 (Bernama) -- The Saudi king has warned of an impending "explosion" in the Middle East, saying that it will not only affect the region but will spread all over the world, the English daily Gulf News reports.

"The Middle East region suffers from the longest conflict in our contemporary history which is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and Israel's occupation of Arab lands," King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, said in an interview with the Spanish El Pas newspaper which was published simultaneously in Al Riyadh newspaper yesterday.

"At this point in time we are exerting efforts to solve this conflict, but we are witnessing an expansion of the crisis to include other countries like Iraq and Lebanon," he said.

"This makes the region replete with troubles that pose grave concerns for us. My fears are the fears of all reasonable men that the explosive situation will not be confined to the region but will extend to the whole world," he added.

The Saudi monarch yesterday began a five-nation trip that will take him to Spain, France, Poland, Egypt and Jordan.

King Abdullah also underlined the importance of solving the problem of Iran's nuclear programme peacefully in a way that guarantees all countries in the region to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in accordance with the standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news_lite.php?id=268361

[nw_arizona_granny]

[I do not understand why China and Russia poison the children?]

http://russophobe.blogspot.com/2007/08/in-resurgent-russia-food-poisoning-runs.html

Monday, August 20, 2007
In “Resurgent” Russia, Food Poisoning Runs Rampant

RIA Novosti reports:

A total of 123 children have fallen ill in a case of mass food poisoning that has hit kindergartens throughout the Stavropol Territory, southern Russia, the local emergencies service said Friday. Since the poisoning outbreak, 44 children aged two to seven have been admitted to hospital along with one adult, while 39 are receiving out-patient treatment. A preliminary probe revealed that a single businessman supplied food to all the kindergartens affected, but it is unclear whether his products were the source of the poisoning.

The incident follows a number of mass food poisoning cases at children’s camps throughout Russia this summer.

In northwest Russia’s Novgorod Region about 120 children and adults were infected with an intestinal bug earlier this week. In late June in the Sverdlovsk Region, in the Urals, about 40 people, including 33 children, were hospitalized with acute intestinal infection. In the same month, dysentery led to the hospitalization of 93 children and two adults at two summer camps in the Moscow Region.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Monday, August 20, 2007
The Horror of Racism on Putin’s Russia Further Revealed

Blogger and journalist Mark MacKinnon documents the horror of racism in Russia first hand:

I still remember him. Tolessa was a young Ethiopian student attending Moscow’s famous People’s Friendship University, and one of the few I could find who would talk to a newspaper reporter about what it was like living as a foreigner - a black foreigner - in a time of rising Russian racism and xenophobia. It was a life of violence and fear that he told me about. He and the other African students on campus were so terrified of Russia’s notorious skinheads that they were afraid to leave their dorm rooms. When they did go out into the city around them, they went in groups.

Even at on-campus cafeteria, Tolessa was nervous and asked to sit at a table in the corner furthest from the windows. In the weeks before he and I had lunch, there had been eight arson attempts and several bomb threats directed at the dormitory where most of the African students were staying. “We stay on the campus and, if we want to go anywhere, we have to organize a group. Maybe in a group they won’t attack us,” he told me. “This group, the skinheads, they are not small in number. In fact, I sometimes feel as though they are half the population of Moscow. People tell us to leave this country, that Russia is only for the Russians.”

Russia for the Russians. It’s a phrase that I hear more and more often. One of my friends - as white as the Russian snow - was punched out for speaking English in Moscow. My wife and I were physically threatened by a group of skinheads on the metro who drunkenly told us “Yankees go home.” The fact that Canada is a separate state was lost on him, so we got off at the next station even though it was nowhere near from our destination.

The Moscow police, Tolessa told me, were open admirers of the “Russia for the Russians” crowd. When an African student who was attacked called for help, the police would just as often join the beating as stop it. It wasn’t just Africans. Anyone from the former Soviet republics of the Caucasus and Central Asia was liable to be targeted as chorniyy, or “black.”

For too long, the Kremlin tolerated and manipulated the ultranationalist crowd, allowing people like Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Dmitry Rogozin to spew hatred because it suited their political aims. If the West was truly worried that a Zhirinovsky or a Rogozin might come to power, it would let up in its calls for more openness and democracy and perhaps come to see someone like Vladimir Putin as a least-bad option. The strategy worked like a charm from a political point of view, but the monsters it created are now out of even the Kremlin’s control. Take the grisly execution video that was first posted on the Russian Internet community livejournal last week.

The killing of two men - one identified in a caption as an ethnic Tajik, the other as a Dagestani - was horrifying and disturbing. One was beheaded, the other shot, while their murderers shouted “Glory to Russia!” and displayed a Nazi flag. The video is titled “Operation of the National-Socialist Party of Russia to arrest and execute two colonists from Dagestan and Tajikistan.”

In a poorly attended press conference back in May, Alexander Brod of the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights warned that, in the past two years alone, the number of skinheads in Russia had risen from 50,000 to 70,000. “Nowadays, they could be found in each regional center, they are emerging even in small towns and villages. In big cities, the attacks happen nearly each day and murders [are committed] weekly,” he said. In other words, the only thing truly remarkable about the livejournal video is that the perpetrators bothered to film it.

http://russophobe.blogspot.com/2007/08/horror-of-racism-on-putins-russia.html

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://russophobe.blogspot.com/2007/08/in-neo-soviet-russia-writing-novels-is.html

Monday, August 20, 2007
In Neo-Soviet Russia, Writing Novels is Once Again a Criminal Offense

Radio Free Europe reports:

Russia’s modern literary history might soon open a new chapter — an author facing libel charges for characterizations contained in a work of fiction. Moscow city prosecutors have already questioned Pavel Astakhov about his novel, “Raider,” and are now deciding whether to open a criminal case. The head of the city police’s main investigative directorate, Ivan Glukhov, initiated the investigation by asking prosecutors to open a criminal case against Astakhov and his publishing company.

According to Glukhov, the novel “contains numerous insulting and libelous deliberations” about the directorate, and defames the reputation of Russian police in general. In his letter to prosecutors, Glukhov acknowledges that the novel is “literary-fictional,” but argues that, because the text refers to a police unit that actually exists, readers are being led to believe that events depicted in the story are true.

‘Recognized Problem’

The author’s lawyer, Mikhail Burmistrov, strongly disagrees. He tells RFE/RL’s Russian Service that the issue of police corruption is nothing new — and is even openly addressed by high-ranking officials in Russia. Therefore, Burmistrov says, his client’s book is simply touching on a recognized problem. “He [Astakhov] is not saying anything new, just highlighting some problems more clearly,” Burmistrov says. “And, what’s most important from a legal perspective, he does not mention a single concrete individual. This is really a work of fiction. And fictional work is that is created by author’s imagination.”

“Raider,” which can be described as a crime thriller, follows a plot centered on mergers and acquisitions among companies. The protagonist, a businessman, bribes officers from the investigative directorate, who raid companies and open criminal cases to his benefit. But in the story, a young lawyer confronts the corruption. The possibility that a criminal case could be opened against Astakhov has surprised many. The genre of crime thrillers is very popular in Russia, and the wrongdoings of law-enforcement agencies are often addressed in works of fiction.

Crackdown On Freedom

Some analysts believe that there are deeper motives behind this case — that it is intended to serve as a warning to authors by holding the threat of prosecution for what they write over their heads. The author of the hugely popular “Day Watch” and “Night Watch” series and arguably the most popular science-fiction writer in Russia today, Sergei Lukyanenko, is among those who feel this way. “Of course this worries me,” he says. “Because it’s easy to cross the line between observing the law, which is an essential part of any civilized country, and abusing the rights of ordinary citizens, abusing freedom of speech, and so on. This is a very difficult thing — and in the struggle to protect these laws it would be easy to overstep the mark and start to limit a person’s right to express himself freely.”

To some commentators, the possible case against Astakhov also represents part of an ongoing crackdown on independence within the country’s legal system. Apart from being a writer, Astakhov is a successful lawyer. And at various times he has represented Russia’s formerly independent television company, NTV — now owned by the state-controlled gas monopoly, Gazprom — and Yukos, against which the government led a politically charged campaign. Some believe that such activities of an independent lawyer may have angered the authorities. Prosecutors are expected to decide within a week whether to move forward with charges against Astakhov.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Thanks to Milford421 for this report:

Discovered in a stolen van in Orange County: a rocket-propelled grenade.CA

RPG Found in Stolen Van in Orange County
Sat, Aug 18, 2007 at 9:53:00 am PST

Discovered in a stolen van in Orange County: a rocket-propelled
grenade.

LAGUNA NIGUEL - A military-style rocket-propelled grenade found in a
customized van was disarmed and hauled off to the Orange County
Sheriff’s headquarters in Santa Ana.

The sheriff’s bomb squad called the Marines’ Explosive Ordnance
Detail from Camp Pendleton to disarm the weapon. Marines detonated
the device found in the recently stolen and recovered 2005 Ford E350
van with three explosives before taking the van from the scene was
declared safe.

Sheriff’s deputies were called to the 24000 block of Via Portola at
about 12:45 p.m. when Ernie Adkins, the van’s owner, found the
grenade stashed in the overhead rack.

Adkins’ reported his van stolen a few weeks ago. Upland police
returned to him.

UPDATE at 8/18/07 12:08:40 pm:

And in an oddly related story, cops in Orlando asked citizens to
turn in guns for bonuses, and received a surface-to-air missile
launcher.

Orlando emptied its bureau drawers and closets Friday of more than
300 unwanted guns — and one surface-to-air missile launcher.

The shoulder-fired weapon showed about 6 p.m. when an Ocoee man
drove to the Florida Citrus Bowl to trade the 4-foot-long launcher
for size-3 Reebok sneakers for his daughter.

“I didn’t know what to do with it, so I brought it here,” explained
the man, who said he found the missile in a shed he tore down last
week. “I took it to three dumps to try to get rid of it, and they
told me to get lost.”

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=26708_RPG_Found_in_Stolen_Van_in_Orange_County&only

To visit Milford421’s group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/under-investigation/

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://www.abc3340.com/news/stories/0807/448383.html

Hot Weather Forces Shutdown of Alabama Nuke Plant
Friday August 17, 2007 4:46pm

Birmingham (AP) - One reactor at a north Alabama nuclear plant remains off line today and two others are operating at reduced power because of the record-breaking heat wave.

The Tennessee Valley Authority said it shut down the Unit 2 reactor at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant and scaled back operations 25 percent at the plant’s other two reactors because of overheated water in the Tennessee River, which is used to cool the plant.

continues..........

http://www.abc3340.com/news/stories/0807/448385.html

Browns Ferry Sends Radioactive Canister to Valley Recycling
Friday August 17, 2007 4:48pm

Decatur (AP) - A 4-ounce can of radioactive material from the Browns Ferry Nuclear plant set off truck-monitor alarms at Tennessee Valley Recycling.

Browns Ferry spokesman Jason Huffine said the radiation level was extremely low and posed no health threat following Tuesday’s incident.
continued........

http://www.abc3340.com/news/stories/0807/448389.html

Trooper Seizes $244,000 in Traffic Stop
Friday August 17, 2007 4:54pm

Tuscaloosa (AP) - A traffic enforcement blitz across Alabama also resulted in the seizure of almost $245,000 in cash.

The money was confiscated yesterday during a traffic stop on Interstate 20/59 in Tuscaloosa County. Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Martha Earnhardt said the driver was cited for impeding traffic. She said the trooper got the driver’s permission to search the vehicle and found the money stashed in a hidden compartment.

The motorist, who was not charged or identified, denied knowing anything about the cash.

continued.............

[AP] ALABAMA - Anniston Depot Reported Stolen Radioactive Devices

“The Anniston Army Depot reported the theft of two telescopes
containing radioactive material days before reporting a small warehouse

fire involving the same material”

http://beta.abc3340.com/news/stories/0807/447123.html

[nw_arizona_granny]

Truck driver shot at East Side store

Thanks to Mark Taylor and Milford421.

Truck driver shot at East Side store
Web Posted: 08/15/2007 11:48 PM CDT
Express-News
An out-of-state truck driver was approached by three people and shot
in the chest when he stopped at an East Side store for a bathroom
break early Wednesday morning, a police report said.

Metin Perezic, 29, was taken to Brooke Army Medical Center and was
in satisfactory condition Wednesday, a hospital official said.
Perezic told police that when he went to use the restroom at 4:30
a.m. in the 3400 block of Interstate 10, he was confronted by three
people who pulled out a gun and demanded money, a police report
said. Perezic took off running, but not before a bullet struck him
in the chest. He managed to get back into his 18-wheeler and head
west on the Interstate 10 access road, where police later found him.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA081607.shooting.EN.3aecc6d3.html

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://aussie_news_views.typepad.com/aussie_news_views/

Aussie News & Views

Index 19 8 2007

Kevin Rudd typical Labor Socialist grub Scores in New York, courtesy of the Australian taxpayer. + VideoRudd’s image tarnished By Glenn MilneNews.com.auAugust 19, 2007 12:00am THE political danger for Kevin Rudd, as he contemplates his moment of New York madness, is that it gives the lie to the persona he has so far successfully sold to...
Publisher: Aussie News posted at Sunday, 19 August 2007 23:28:04

Battle of Long Tan remembered. Australia’s finest “Lest We Forget” +Video
Battle of Long Tan remembered. Presidental Unit Citation. Delta Company 6 Battalion Royal Australian Regiment By virtue of the authority invested in me as the President of the United States and as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United...
Publisher: Aussie News posted at Sunday, 19 August 2007 22:37:16

Mohammed Alahmad : Murdered in Sydney’s Occupied Territories. +Video
News from Sydney’s Occupied Territories. Did spurned gangster shoot his rival in love?...who knows who cares. Riot Police called to subdue grieving Muslim relatives whilst Police try and preserve crime scene integrity, obviously an alien concept for the followers of...
Publisher: Aussie News posted at Sunday, 19 August 2007 22:33:57

Australians killed by Michael Moore’s Minutemen in Iraq. +Video
Michael Moore’s Minutemen kill two Australians in Iraq. Michael Moore’s hero’s, those Godless savages he describes as Minutemen have struck again, slaughtering 175 Iraqi’s in suicide bombings and injuring 200 others, see story below. Video tells of three Australian security...
Publisher: Aussie News posted at Wednesday, 15 August 2007 23:44:45

Aussie News & Views

“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy; its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.” -Winston Churchill

[nw_arizona_granny]

Thanks to Milford421 for this report:

Kids Get Mysterious Rash at Long Island Park

http://www.1010wins.com/pages/825939.php?
contentType=4&contentId=812517

Posted: Saturday, 18 August 2007 8:12AM

Kids Get Mysterious Rash at Long Island Park

KINGS PARK, N.Y. (1010 WINS) — State parks officials say they’re
not sure what caused a mysterious rash that broke out on more than a
dozen children on a trip to a Long Island park.

continued.........it is around the kids eyes, they used binoculars that were supplied by the group?

[nw_arizona_granny]

Thanks to Milford421 for this report:

Identity theft. Mortgage fraud. Money Laundering. Pakistan.”

www.michellemalkin.com

Identity theft. Mortgage fraud. Money Laundering. Pakistan.”
By Michelle Malkin • August 17, 2007 02:00 PM Varifrank highlights
a mortgage fraud story with national security implications:

What began with an identity theft investigation eventually led the
FBI to an alleged mortgage fraud scheme involving subprime lenders
and dozens of homes in Stockton.

The FBI says Iftikhar Ahmad, 36, made millions by buying and selling
more than 100 houses over the past eleven years.

According to a complaint and supporting affidavit filed in federal
court, many of the transactions involved a quick turnaround with a
dramatic price increase.

One example is the sale of a house at 2228 E. Stadium Drive by Ahmad
for $330,000 in March 2006 to one of his three brothers. Ahmad
purchased the property just 18 months earlier for $99,000.

In another series of transactions, a house appreciated in value more
than tenfold over an eight-year period.

Ahmad purchased the home at 327 N. Pilgrim Street in 1997 for
$22,000. Investigators say Ahmad bought and sold the same property
twice before ultimately selling it a third time in 2005 for $236,000.

Many of the mortgages came from subprime lenders and in some cases
the buyers used stolen identities, according to the FBI.
Ahmad also faces money-laundering charges. Here’s the eyebrow-raiser:

Investigators have been unable to determine the exact losses to
lenders, but said bank statements from just one three-year period
showed Ahmad deposited $8.6 million from escrow closings.

The FBI believes Ahmad sent at least $484,000 of the money to his
native Pakistan.

Federal agents searched Ahmad’s home on Barbados Circle in Stockton
and the office of the El Camino Motel on East Mariposa Road, owned
by his family.

Investigators believe at least 14 people engaged in the scheme,
although the complaint names just two other alleged participants.
More: “According to the court documents, the FBI suspects a number
of real estate professionals of possible complicity in the scheme.
Among those questioned or investigated by the FBI are a mortgage
broker, loan officer, escrow officer, notary, and two appraisers.”

Maybe the money went towards Ahmad’s personal enrichment. But maybe
not. We’ve seen several fraud schemes carried out here by jihad
sympathizers. There was the Hezbollah cigarette-smuggling ring aided
by sham marriages between Americans and Middle Eastern operatives.
And there was the nationwide theft ring trafficking in black-market
baby formula to finance terror.

With the feds closing in on Muslim charities operating as jihad
front groups over the past several years (see here for the latest on
the Holy Land Foundation trial), it seems likely operatives would
turn to these kinds of criminal conspiracies to raise quick cash.

Worth keeping an eye on.

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://payvand.com/news/

Kurds flee homes as Iran shells villages in Iraq - Iraqi Kurdish officials expressed deepening concern yesterday at an upsurge in fierce clashes between Kurdish guerrillas and Iranian forces in the remote border area of north-east Iraq, where Tehran has recently deployed thousands of Revolutionary Guards. The Guardian 8/20/07

When Not to Intervene - Large-scale military intervention is often counterproductive to fighting terrorism. U.S. interventionism has prompted Iran and North Korea to accelerate their nuclear programs to deter attacks against their countries. Meanwhile, the estimated 2 million Iraqis who have fled the killings and sectarian bloodshed can legitimately question how the war has advanced the cause of human rights. WP 8/20/07

Iran government dismisses top cleric’s criticism - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government has shrugged off unprecedented criticism from the head of the judiciary, telling the high-ranking cleric not to interfere, media reported on Sunday. - AFP 8/20/07

Ahmadinejad may visit Iraq: report - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accepted an invitation to visit neighboring Iraq, Iran’s foreign minister said on Sunday, a move that would be unlikely to be welcomed by the United States. - Reuters 8/20/07

Iranian agents training militias in Iraq: U.S. general - U.S. intelligence reports indicate there are about 50 members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards training Shi’ite militias in how to use mortars and rockets in southern Iraq, a U.S. general said on Sunday - Reuters 8/19/07

Gunmen take 30 hostage in southeast Iran: reports - Gunmen took as many as 30 people hostage in southeast Iran on Sunday after burning vehicles and shooting at passengers, news agencies said, an incident blamed on Sunni Muslim rebels Tehran has previously linked to al Qaeda - Reuters 8/19/07

Iran hangs 30 over ‘US plots’ - Iran has hanged up to 30 people in the past month amid a clampdown prompted by alleged US-backed plots to topple the regime, The Observer can reveal. -The Observer 8/19/07

CNN Explores Religious Fundamentalism - Christiane Amanpour’s work on the documentary series “God’s Warriors” took her directly to intersections of extreme religious and secular thinking. - WP 8/19/07

Iran and Iraq has signed 65 agreements since Saddam fall - He pointed to the completion of a pipeline project which carries 350,000 barrels of oil from the Iraqi port city of Basra to Abadan in southern Iran per day - Mehr 8/19/07

Backlash Over Book on Policy for Israel - “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy” is not even in bookstores, but already anxieties have surfaced about the backlash it is stirring, with several institutions backing away from holding events with the authors. - NYT 8/19/07

Amirkhani criticizes officials for neglecting art and culture - “Countries such as Qatar and Dubai are seeking to make history as well as to nurture great talents, while we who possess such an ancient and profound culture and great artistic abilities have fallen short in our capacity to showcase the reality of this treasury to the world.” - Mehr 8/19/07

Featured Video

Dinah Shore Sings An Iranian Love Song

Bam families hope to break world painting record - “The painting, which measures 3,842.9 meters in length, was drawn on a 5000-meter canvas on Thursday and we hope it will be registered in the Guinness World Records,” he added - mehr 8/19/07

Sacked Iran minister warns of energy ‘catastrophe’ - “If we do not find a solution to the energy problem in the next 15 years, the country will face a catastrophe,” Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh was quoted as saying at his farewell ceremony late on Saturday by the ISNA student news agency. - AFP 8/19/07

CLOSE UP ON SHOHREH AGHDASHLOO - Strangely enough it was a hair raiser for me too! It was an out of body experience for me. I have been working for 30 years and I have been to many places, many occasions, events- but this one was incredible! Watching Nativity with 7000 people who believe in spirituality and their energy was incredible! - Parisa Defaie & Darius KADIVAR 8/18/07

[nw_arizona_granny]

[update]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2152282,00.html

Airport bomber’s email to relative said he wanted to die for Allah

· Message from engineer who died from burns
· Phone found in burnt-out Jeep yields new evidence
Vikram Dodd
Monday August 20, 2007

Guardian
Detectives investigating the attempted car bombing of Glasgow airport have recovered a “claim of responsibility” written by Kafeel Ahmed, who died from burns he suffered in the attack, the Guardian has learned. Ahmed, 27, suffered more than 90% burns after he drove a Jeep laden with improvised explosives into the airport terminal, in Britain’s first attempted suicide car bombing.

Evidence recovered pointing to his role in June’s attempted attacks in London and Glasgow includes an email message sent just before the Glasgow attempted bombing, talking of martyrdom; CCTV footage from one of the failed car bombings in London showing a man relatives say is Ahmed, running away; evidence from a computer he used, showing visits to bomb-making websites; and his mobile phone from the smouldering Jeep.

The attack on Glasgow on June 30 came a day after two car bombs failed to go off near a crowded nightclub in the West End of London. On June 30, Ahmed sent a text message to a relative just after 1.30pm which contained a link to an email and a password to access it. Two hours later the engineer, who was born in Bangalore, crashed the Jeep into the terminal. Those who have seen the email regard it as Ahmed claiming responsibility for the attempted attacks on London and the one he was about to stage in Glasgow. According to a source, Ahmed says his actions were carried out in the name of Allah. Ahmed writes that his relative would be shocked to read what he is about to tell him about his involvement in terrorism, praises God, and says he wants martyrdom.

Initial evidence points to the relative opening the email at 4.50pm on the Saturday, 90 minutes after Ahmed had rammed the airport. From the email, the source said, it was clear he was expecting to die.

The flames that engulfed the vehicle were quickly put out, allowing Ahmed’s mobile to be recovered. He is believed to have used the mobile to send either the text message or the email to his relative.

A Whitehall source said it was believed that Ahmed decided to attack Glasgow after fearing police would soon hunt him down, which meant that the planning was rushed. The Guardian understands that police have CCTV images that show Ahmed apparently running away from the scene of the first London attack, and scurrying away from a car the terrorists meant to explode. Relatives shown the images are said to be nearly certain it is him.

Police have also seized his computer and found evidence it had been used to scour websites on the construction of bombs and explosives. Ahmed died at Glasgow Royal Infirmary on August 2.

A member of Ahmed’s medical team said the suspect was in a coma during his entire time in hospital. “This was one of the worst cases of burns I have ever seen,” he said. “It was very traumatic for everyone involved in his care. I was surprised he survived this long.”

The other man in the Jeep, the Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdullah, has been charged with conspiring to set off explosions “of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury”. Two other people have been charged over the attacks. A Jordanian doctor, Mohammed Jamil Asha, is charged with conspiring to cause explosions. Ahmed’s brother, Sabeel Ahmed, 26, is charged with withholding information that could prevent an act of terrorism.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007

[nw_arizona_granny]

Russia’s space exploration: its future lies with bold new projects

17/08/2007 17:03 Interview with Nikolai Sevastyanov, a former president of the Energia Space and Rocket Corporation

“Space exploration is no longer just a proud fetish for Russia and other world powers. Venturing out into near-Earth space and using it nowadays is a valuable resource for national development and improvement in the quality of life,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said early this year, defining the role of space research.

Space activities are becoming part of the economic, military and political development of a country.

Nikolai Sevastyanov, a former president of the Energia Space and Rocket Corporation, the flagship company of Russia’s space industry, describes the present state of and future prospects for Russia’s space industry in an exclusive interview with RIA Novosti commentator Andrei Kislyakov.

Question: What characterizes Russian space activities today?

Answer: If we take a look at Russia’s space situation, we will see three distinct programs: a manned program, a program for launch vehicles, and a program for unmanned spacecraft. Current manned systems date from the 1960s. The Soyuz space vehicle, for example, first blasted off in 1967. There were modernizations, of course, but the basic philosophy has remained unchanged - these are all one-off craft.

But the worst thing is that this equipment is manufactured by outdated methods and uses old analogue systems. If we want to keep ahead in manned flights, we should adopt new technologies.

As far as rockets are concerned, the situation is no better. The Soyuz and Proton launch vehicles, our pride, were developed in the 1950s and 1960s. And already today we have to limit payloads orbited by them. The Proton, moreover, poses an environmental risk. As for the Soyuz, it has a problem of cost. The multiple-stage principle on which it is built requires a large number of engines, which account for most of the price. Here, too, we should move to new technologies.

As regards unmanned spacecraft, things have slightly improved in this field since the 2000s, if we refer to communications satellites. Two major programs are currently under way: one is the fully innovatory Yamal program (Nikolai Sevastyanov was one of the developers of this now successfully running program - A. K.) and a program to develop the Express family of upgraded satellites.

But we have practically no Earth observation or remote-sensing satellites. Nor do we have any research satellite in orbit.

In other words, we are exploiting space equipment manufactured with old technologies. And this has a serious impact on the industry’s future. Why? It is not only that we will soon find ourselves non-competitive in performance and cost-benefit characteristics. There is also the problem of personnel. Young workers do not want to produce antiquated models on antiquated equipment. The industry is ageing fast without an injection of fresh blood.

There is another headache. We are lacking a civilian space center of our own. Any country planning to increase its share of the international space market must have its own non-military launching center. Baikonur is, of course, a good facility, but existing legal restrictions stand in the way of investments. Russia and Kazakhstan are on good terms, but there are recurrent bans on Russian rocket launches from Baikonur.

Russia has a space center in the Far East called Svobodny. It could form a good companion to Baikonur, adding to Russia’s capability to launch spacecraft. Investments in new technologies would improve the performance and cost-benefit outlook for space hardware.

Q: What must be done to pursue the three space activities you mentioned?

A: A must is a program based on bold new projects rather than on previous developments. It could provide the occasion not only to retain Russia’s place in the space services market but also to regain its former leadership, attract young people into the industry, and promote related activities.

Last year, the corporation formulated a concept for a manned flight program and set out guidelines for Russia’s space effort till 2050. The corporation’s research council and an Academy of Sciences meeting endorsed them. In 2007, we presented them at academic readings dedicated to the 100th birth anniversary of Sergei Korolyov. The Russian Space Agency, however, has not yet supported them.

The program has four main aspects.

The first deals with a transport system. Today it is of fundamental importance. New developments must be more effective economically than old ones. We have suggested that an integral space transport system be established and, in addition to the Kliper vehicle, a new modern launch rocket developed, also capable of placing satellites in orbit. We have further proposed a space center of our own, as I have said before. The problem of space transport was thus addressed on an integrated basis, not piecemeal.

The second aspect is concerned with the commercial use of near-Earth space. The actual process is already under way. Modern communications satellites offer society exactly a commercially marketable service. This ensures a refund on investments made in communications satellites.

The next stage is Earth observation satellites. In the era of rapid industrial development and exploration of new territories, it is practically impossible to do without remote sensing.

It is also hard to overestimate the role of space navigation. The Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) is being successfully implemented. To know more about Universe, we must have our own scientific satellites.

I would like to stress particularly the manned part of near-Earth activities, and above all the International Space Station (ISS) as an international space port for at least the Russian segment of the station. Semiconductors and biopreparations are today the rage all over the world. Their manufacture can be successfully organized in orbit, using a high vacuum and the absence of gravity.

The third aspect deals with lunar studies. The program to explore the Moon will have an invigorating effect on our science, industry and education, and help combine fundamental research with hands-on activities in different branches.

But it is also necessary to consider the Moon as a source of minerals. This line has many followers and opponents nowadays, and needs careful examination. This brings to mind the way polar aviation came into being. While in the 1930s it could be described as a fashionable sport, today no one doubts that the polar territories cannot be tapped without such aviation. I believe that space, too, will be a well of new resources.

The fourth aspect features the Martian project we developed last year. I am referring to its manned part.

To sum up, we must today go over to new projects with new technical characteristics to obtain a greater economic effect. We should start with the development of a space transport system and a national space center.

Q: How do you assess Energia’s activities?

A: In 2002-2004, the corporation was in a near-bankrupt state. Its revenue was falling, its losses building up.

In 2005, I was asked to return to the company and pull it out of its deep financial crisis. In the same year the company managed to get back into the black. The corporation made its first earnings: revenue grew by 17% on 2004, and profits by 159 million rubles ($6.18 million). In 2006, revenue rose by 38% and profits amounted to 509 million rubles ($19.77 million). The company was able not only to cover the losses of previous years, but also to form its own funds for innovatory development.

Today we have a marketing development plan. The board of directors last December approved a program for development in 2007 and examined a similar program until 2015. The most important thing is that new initiatives were approved: the Kliper in the manned section, and the Yamal-300 satellite in the unmanned part.

In the past two years our engineers have also drawn up a program for the creation of a space transport system of a new generation, called Kliper.

I hope that Energia will carry on with these projects and make them part of a new innovatory program of Russia’s space exploration.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

© 2005 RIA Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20070817/72126740.html

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://www.arminfo.info/index.php?show=archive&number=20070804_211800_eng_3225

2007-08-04 21:18:00 Azerbaijani citizen taken captive because of dreaminess

Azerbaijani citizen Anar Aliev was taken captive because of dreaminess. “I was walking along the riverbank. Suddenly I met soldiers. They took me to their place. I am all right. They had a talk with me today. They promised me to inform my relatives that I am here. Maybe, I’ll return with help of the Red
Cross organization. Don’t worry about me. Anar”, says the letter of Anar Maarif oglu Aliev, the resident of Terter town, to his relatives, APA Office in Karabakh reports. Anar Aliev was taken captive on August 2. The Azerbaijani representation of the International Committee of the Red Cross passed the letter to the captive’s brother Elshan Aliev. To note, the representatives of ICRC Office in Nagorno-Karabakh met the Azerbaijani captive on Saturday. The captive’s father Maarif Aliev said that his son had emotional
stress over the past year. “Recently, he liked loneliness. He has reacted to the simplest things nervously and even rebelliously. We learnt about his captivity from the press,” Anar’s father said.

Anar Aliev was born in 1978, has higher education, served in the army. He is not married. On August 2 he was taken captive on the contact line of the Azervaijani and NKR armed forces.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Four in hospital after Taiwanese plane blast in Japan

20/08/2007 09:41 TOKYO, August 20 (RIA Novosti) - Four people were admitted to hospital after the successful evacuation of passengers from a Taiwanese jet that burst into flames on landing on a Japanese island Monday, police and firefighters in Okinawa said.

All 157 passengers and eight crewmembers were evacuated on emergency inflatable chutes, minutes before the China Airlines Boeing 737 exploded.

Local police said one crewmember and one Naha Airport worker were in hospital but the degree of their injuries was not yet clear.

The local fire department said two passengers, a 57-year-old man and a seven-year-old girl, were in hospital suffering shock, but were not injured.

After landing at 10:27 a.m. local time (1:27 a.m. GMT) on Okinawa Island, a popular tourist resort halfway between Taiwan and the Japanese mainland, one of the airliner’s engines caught fire. Investigators cited leaking fuel as a likely cause of the explosion on the plane, which had flown in from Taipei.

Taiwan-based China Airlines has a patchy safety record, with several fatal accidents since the early 1990s.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20070820/72461044.html

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/nunavut/70817_414.html

August 17, 2007
It’s official: Nanisivik new port site
Resolute Bay to get new Arctic military training centre

CHRIS WINDEYER

Ending more than a year of speculation, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Aug. 10 that Nanisivik will be home to a deep-water port, while Resolute Bay will be the site of a new Arctic military training centre.

Harper capped a whirlwind tour of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories with quick stops in Resolute Bay and Nanisivik. He also announced plans to re-equip and expand the Canadian Rangers from 4,100 to 5,000 personnel.

“Taken together, the creation of the Canadian Forces Arctic Training Centre, the expansion and modernization of the Canadian Rangers and the development of Port Nanisivik will significantly strengthen Canada’s sovereignty over the Arctic,” Harper said during a stop in Resolute Bay. “These initiatives will also benefit communities throughout the region by creating jobs and opportunities and enhancing the safety and security of the people who live here.”

The total cost of last week’s announcements adds up to $584 million over 20 years.

A government backgrounder put the cost of upgrading the existing dock at Nanisivik at $100 million. Construction would begin in 2010, with the site fully operational by 2015.

“With its sheltered harbour, nearby jet-capable airstrip, and proximity to the Northwest Passage, Nanisivik offers an ideal location for the docking and refuelling facility,” the backgrounder states.

Hugo Clement, owner of Volco Northern Terminal Inc., the company that operates the 14-million-litre fuel tank farm at Nanisivik wondered if the government even needs to spend $100 million to upgrade the port.

“They can use it as is,” he said, though he added he’s unfamiliar with the military’s exact plans for the site.

“[But] that’s a very economic decision for the government to use that place,” Clement said.

The decision to use Nanisivik as the port location is a blow for Iqaluit, which lobbied for years to be the home for a deep-water port. The city had even gone as far as to commission a consultant’s report pegging the cost of building a single-berth dock in the capital at under $50 million.

The Canadian Forces Arctic Training Centre in Resolute Bay will serve as a training base and staging area for southern military and Canadian Rangers. It also gives the forces the ability to conduct patrols in the High Arctic year-round.

With a start-up cost of $4 million, the centre will cost about $2 million per year to run. Twelve military staff, two based in Resolute Bay, will run the centre, which will have capacity for 100 personnel at peak use.

Susan Salluviniq, mayor of Resolute Bay, skipped the prime minister’s announcement because of a prior engagement, but said the training centre is good news for her hamlet of 300 people. Salluviniq said she’s not worried about her community being swamped by soldiers when the centre is fully staffed.

“We get a lot of tourists here,” she said. “It shouldn’t have such a big impact for this community.”

Ottawa also plans to spend $45 million to add 900 Canadian Rangers and upgrade their weapons and uniforms. Many Rangers currently use Lee-Enfield rifles, which have been in production since 1907.

The government backgrounder also said the Rangers will also see an “enhancement of transportation capabilities,” though it didn’t provide any further details.

Harper’s announcement came just weeks after Russia planted a flag on the ocean floor under the North Pole, kicking off what some are calling a land rush to claim sovereignty over the Arctic Ocean. U.S. officials speculate as much as 25 per cent of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas reserves lie under the Arctic.

Russia claims more than half of the Arctic Ocean as an undersea extension of its territory, though Canada, Denmark and the United States dispute this.

But the Reuters news agency reported last week that Russia pledges to observe international law. Russia must make its submission to the United Nations agency governing the Law of the Sea Convention by the end of 2007.

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://www.free-syria.com/en/loadarticle.php?articleid=21216

2007-08-12 (News Headlines)

Hezbollah seen buying up future battlegrounds

LONDON SUNDAY TELEGRAPH - CHBAIL, Lebanon - Hezbollah is buying up large tracts of land owned by Christians and non-Shi’ite Muslims in southern Lebanon as the militant group rebuilds its defenses in preparation for a new war with Israel, local and national officials say.

The land grab is thought to be driven by the Iranian-backed guerrillas’ efforts to rearm themselves and fortify the strategically important ravines north of the Litani River, just north of the front line in last year’s 34-day conflict with its Jewish neighbor.

Here, Hezbollah has been free to press forward without harassment from the 13,000 U.N. peacekeepers and 20,000 Lebanese army troops who were deployed south of the Litani as part of the cease-fire agreement that ended the conflict.

Just south of the Litani, the U.N. force is conducting hundreds of patrols each day in a bid to keep Hezbollah out of the area, but the peacekeepers’ mandate ends at the river. The Lebanese army, meanwhile, is about 50 percent Shi’ite and seems to be turning a blind eye to Hezbollah’s activities north of the river.

In these rugged gorges, the group appears to be readying for Round 2 with Israel, and many fear it is not far off after the inconclusive end to last year’s war and reports of Hezbollah rearming.

The area’s forested wadis, or valleys, make ideal terrain for Hezbollah’s brand of guerrilla warfare and, just 10 miles from the border, are within rocket range of Israeli cities.

The Shi’ite encroachment into a mixed area of Christians, Shi’ites and Druse Muslims threatens to disrupt Lebanon’s delicate sectarian balance, which is already teetering after three years of political tumult.

“Christians and Druse are selling land and moving out, while the Shias are moving in. There is an extraordinary demographic shift taking place,” said Edmund Rizk, a Christian member of parliament for the area until 1992.

On a scenic, sparsely populated ridge, the farming village of Chbail was once Christian. Today, the land belongs to a wealthy Shi’ite businessman with purported ties to Hezbollah. Its new residents are recent Shi’ite transplants from the Hezbollah-controlled south.

Entry to the village is forbidden to outsiders - not by the Lebanese army that technically holds sway here, but by the “chabab,” the plain-clothed, bearded youths who act as lookouts in Hezbollah territory.

“The village is closed for security reasons,” said a youth who recently moved from a Hezbollah-controlled area near the regional capital, Tyre.

On the western edge of Chbail, a metal sign strung across an unmarked dirt track warns in Arabic: “Entry forbidden. Hezbollah area.” The closure is manned by a pair of teenage gunmen in olive green fatigues, armed with walkie-talkies and AK-47 assault rifles.

The buy-up of land in Chbail and half a dozen Druse and Christian villages is said to be the work of a wealthy Shi’ite businessman, Ali Tajeddine, who made his fortune trading diamonds in Sierra Leone before returning to Lebanon and starting a successful construction company.

Mr. Tajeddine, who keeps a Hezbollah charity box in the waiting room of his Tyre office, is seen as a major player in Hezbollah’s massive reconstruction program called Jihad al Bina, or the Building Jihad.

During an interview, Mr. Tajeddine denied any connection with Hezbollah and said his projects at Chbail represent just a fraction of the dozens of developments he is building throughout Lebanon.

But his distinctive arc of land-buys around Hezbollah’s new stronghold triggered alarm among the district’s Christian and Druse leaders, who say he is using Iranian funds to buy land from destitute villagers at up to four times the going rate. Druse sheiks responded by forbidding the sale of land to Shi’ites, and wealthy Christians were asked to buy property in the area to stem the Shi’ite tide.

In Chbail and two neighboring Christian villages, Mr. Tajeddine already bought 200-300 acres of land, according to the mayor, Kamil Fares. In the Druse village of Al Sreiri, the mayor, Hafed Kiwane, told a similar story. “We have nothing here, so it was good to see money coming into the area, but now we fear there are suspicious motives,” he said.

Among the Hezbollah settlements is the fledgling village of Ahmediyya, where a billboard in Hebrew warns Israeli invaders: “Do not enter.” Dozens of housing units were built there in the past year. A supermarket is open for business, and 10 Shi’ite families have moved in so far.

Critics fear that Ahmediyya will further stretch the Shi’ite reach to the northeast, as part of a grand scheme to create a strip of Shi’ite-controlled land connecting the south to Hezbollah’s other power center in Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley.

“It is part of Hezbollah’s plan to create a state within a state,” said Walid Jumblatt, a Druse leader. He also pointed to the four-lane road being built to connect the Hezbollah stronghold of Nabatieh in the south to the western Bekaa.

Banners openly proclaim the source of the road’s funding: “510 km of new roads paid for by the Iranian Organization for Sharing in the Building of Lebanon.”

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://www.free-syria.com/en/loadarticle.php?articleid=21408

2007-08-19 (News Headlines)

Would Iran’s Guards Strike U.S. Targets in Lebanon?

The Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Gen. Rahim Safawi, who met Hizbullah’s deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem at a religious conference in Tehran, has threatened the United States with “Stronger Punches” and an Iranian dissident expected the group to strike in Lebanon.
Safawi made the remarks in an interview with the Iranian daily Keyhan stressing that “America will receive stronger strikes and punches from the Revolutionary Guards in the future.”

“We will not remain silent in the face of American pressure and we will use all the force we have to confront the Americans. The Revolutionary Guard Corps has a tremendous power … and we have sophisticated weapons,” he said.

Meanwhile, Iranian dissident Mohsen Sazghar, who was one the Revolutionary Guards founders, said the guards would escalate attacks against U.S. targets in “Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon” is retaliation for labeling the group a terrorist organization.

In a related development, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday described Israel as “the flag of Satan” and said the Jewish state was destined to fall apart.

“The Zionist regime is the flag bearer of violation and occupation and this regime is the flag of Satan,” Ahmadinejad told an international religious conference in Tehran, which was attended by Qassem and other religious figures.

“It is not unlikely that this regime be on the path to dissolution and deterioration when the philosophy behind its creation and survival is invalid,” he said.

His comments came in the wake of a 30-billion-dollar arms deal between Israel and the United States which explicitly mentioned the threat of a “resurgent” Iran.

Washington and Israel, which is widely considered to be the Middle East’s sole if undeclared nuclear power, are increasingly alarmed by Iran’s nuclear program, which they suspect is a cover to develop atomic weapons.

Tehran insists the program is for peaceful, civilian energy purposes.

“The United States understands that Israel lives in an increasingly dangerous region... where Iran is resurgent, where Iran is seeking a nuclear capability, where it is seeking to expand its conventional power,” U.S. Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said before signing the memorandum of understanding for the aid package in Jerusalem on Thursday.

“There is now a nexus of cooperation between Iran, Syria, Hizbullah... and other groups that are responsible for conflict in this region,” including the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Burns said.

With current U.S. defense aid to Israel standing at 2.4 billion dollars a year, the new package will raise the value of assistance by 600 million dollars annually on average, officials said.

Iran also is the ostensible reason for Washington’s controversial plans to install a missile defense system in Eastern Europe, a move which has sparked fierce condemnation from Russia.

The U.S. military wants to build a radar station in the Czech Republic and a launching site in Poland with 10 long-range interceptors capable of shooting down missiles.

It claims the system would defend Europe against attacks from limited missile strikes by smaller military powers such as Iran.

Ahmadinejad claimed on Thursday that if deployed, the U.S. system would threaten all of Asia.

“Such a plan goes beyond threatening one country. It concerns most of the continent, Asia,” he said at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), according to a translation by organizers.

Iran has observer status at the SCO, which comprises China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Iran consistently refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist in the Middle East, and Ahmadinejad sparked outrage in the international community when he said Israel should be “wiped off the map” shortly after coming to power in 2005.

In June he said a “countdown” had begun that would end with Lebanese and Palestinian militants destroying Israel. His government last year hosted a conference on the Holocaust, questioning the German Nazi genocide of the Jews during World War II

AFP

[nw_arizona_granny]

I was sent a copy of the Washington Times article, it is well worth reading, there are several here to check out:

http://www.google.com/search?q=New+port+for+Russia&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Also several here that need reading:

http://news.google.com/news?q=New+port+for+Russia&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wn

A very detailed article on Iran and its nuclear plans, at the end there is a statement, supporting Iran’s goals and it is written by the Socialist Voice...........who are they???

http://www.payvand.com/news/07/aug/1135.html

[nw_arizona_granny]

August 19, 2007 Anti-Terrorism News

(Iraq) Mortar shells hit shoppers; 15 kidnapped in Baghdad.
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070820/NEWS03/708200373/1013

(Iraq) Shiite militia expands grip in Baghdad
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070819/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_mahdi_s_turf;_ylt=Ah.Rj5iV6ixgkJ8yQx7ijUys0NUE

(Iraq) Britain faces Iraq rout says US
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article2284257.ece

(Iraq) A U.S.-backed plan for Sunni neighborhood guards is tested
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/19/africa/19security.php

(Iraq) Falluja’s calm is seen as fragile if U.S. leaves
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/19/africa/19falluja.php

(Iraq) 12 killed in Baghdad mortar attack - Over 30 injured during clashes between US and Shiite terrorists
http://khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2007/August/focusoniraq_August113.xml&section=focusoniraq

(Iraq) A Deadly Clash at Donkey Island - Wash Post account of major Ramadi battle on June 30
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/18/AR2007081801270.html

(Iran) Analyst: Iranian Force Gaining Power
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/08/18/ap/government/main3181735.shtml

Iranian Guards amass secret fortunes
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/19/wiran119.xml

(Iran) Gunmen take 30 hostage in southeast Iran: reports
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070819/ts_nm/iran_hostages_dc

(Iran/Iraq) Kurds flee homes as Iran shells villages in Iraq.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2152324,00.html

(Iran/Iraq) U.S. forces tracking Iranians in Iraq
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070819/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=Au.YuH3OJSMisNL_QjG_hIKs0NUE

(Iran/Iraq) Kurds flee homes as Iran shells villages in Iraq. Kurdish guerrillas in clashes with Revolutionary Guards
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2152324,00.html

(Afghanistan) Anti-terror efforts junked: Afghans block special ops after killings
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/2007/08/19/2007-08-19_antiterror_efforts_junked_.html

(Afghanistan) German captive freed in Afghanistan (updated) - Aid worker freed in Kabul and kidnappers arrested
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070819/ap_on_re_as/afghanistan;_ylt=AlTlLGNNq5XUvnVgM6CdaPqs0NUE

(Afghanistan) Taliban kidnaps 4 Afghan engineers
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-08/18/content_6559932.htm

(Pakistan) Attack on targets in N. Waziristan: Conflicting claims about casualties
http://www.dawn.com/2007/08/20/top1.htm

Pakistan gunship attack kills 15 militants: army
http://khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2007/August/subcontinent_August758.xml&section=subcontinent

(Philippines) Troops bag 5 Abu Sayyaf men in Sulu
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=89086

Philippines overruns base of Abu Sayyaf militants
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/19/asia/phils.1-117772.php

(US & UK) Hamza may go free as witness backs down - Abu Hamza al-Masri, British Islamist wanted in US, might go free if
James Ujaama doesn’t testify
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article2284368.ece

(UK) Muslim terror suspect allowed to stay in UK - Hani al-Sibai publicly praises Iraq & Afghanistan terrorists
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/19/nterr119.xml
- see MEMRI video
http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1513.htm

(Gaza) Egypt discovers large explosives cache near Gaza border
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/19/africa/ME-GEN-Egypt-Explosives.php

Palestinian leader fires dozens of Hamas civil servants
http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0WTTkhAwcdGN40AFRPQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTBjdmNoOTVjBHBvcwMyBHNlYwNzcg—/SIG=12fubcm6p/EXP=1187582656/**http%3a//www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/19/africa/19mideast.php

(Somalia) Armed clan feud kills 16
http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Armed-clan-feud-in-Somalia-kills-16/2007/08/19/1187462055734.html

[nw_arizona_granny]

Arrest Made In Shore Drive Suspicious Package
WTKR Your NewsChannel 3 - Norfolk,VA,USA
The 7900 block of Shore Drive had to be closed in both directions after
police and firefighters were called to investigate a suspicious
package.
...
http://www.wtkr.com/Global/story.asp?S=6916951&nav=menu78_3_9
See all stories on this topic:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ncl=http://www.wtkr.com/Global/story.asp%3FS%3D6916951%26nav%3Dmenu78_3_9

Suspicious Package Detonated on Univ. of Iowa Campus
KTTC - Rochester,MN,USA
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Two buildings on the University of Iowa campus
were
evacuated this afternoon after a suspicious package was found. ...
http://www.kttc.com/News/index.php?ID=17570
See all stories on this topic:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ncl=http://www.kttc.com/News/index.php%3FID%3D17570

Suspicious Package in Winthrop
My Fox Boston - Boston,MA,USA
A suspicious package was discovered in Winthrop on Friday morning. The
package was found at 35 Revere Street next to a retail building.
http://www.myfoxboston.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=4094287&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
See all stories on this topic:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ncl=http://www.myfoxboston.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail%3FcontentId%3D4094287%26version%3D1%26locale%3DEN-US%26layoutCode%3DTSTY%26pageId%3D3.2.1

Strange package found outside doughnut shop
Kansas City Star - MO,USA
Overland Park Police were called to a strip mall in the 8600 block of
College Boulevard at 8:30 am today to investigate a suspicious package
near
a doughnut ...
http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/235985.html
See all stories on this topic:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ncl=http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/235985.html

Back to Portsmouth and the Bomb Scare
Once we got to the Naval base we were all ready to get our photo with a
statue of Henry VIII when a security guard told us to move on because
there was a suspicious package left outside one of the buildings. ...
http://cid-e8b5b1fe017e314d.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!E8B5B1FE017E314D!282.entry
Fletcher’s Family and The Great...
http://cid-e8b5b1fe017e314d.spaces.live.com/

Chrysler Proving Grounds Evacuated (WDIV ClickOnDetroit.com via ...
The Chrysler Proving Grounds in Chelsea has been evacuated after a
suspicious package was found.
http://blog.timberlinedealerships.com/news/2007/08/17/chrysler-proving-grounds-evacuated-wdiv-clickondetroitcom-via-yahoo-news/
Timberline Chrysler Dodge Jeep...
http://blog.timberlinedealerships.com/news