blog:
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/12/swiss_government_reportedly_dr.php
“Swiss Prosecutor Drops Investigation of Yassin Al-Qadi”
By Andrew Cochran
(December 24, 2007)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3486408,00.html
“6 Qassams fired at western Negev; no injuries reported”
SNIPPET: “Rockets land outside Sderot, south of Ashkelon and near Gaza security fence; Islamic Jihad claims responsibility for attacks”
Shmulik Hadad
Published: 12.25.07, 08:51 / Israel News
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Six Qassams fired by Palestinians from northern Gaza on Tuesday landed in the western Negev, but caused no injuries or damage.
Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, the al-Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility for the attacks.”
Starting in March, the National Immigration Institute will distribute cards containing electronic chips. Those items will record every arrival and departure of so-called temporary workers and visitors, mostly from Guatemala.
Why are scientists fleeing the US-Mexico border area?
Scientists along the U.S.-Mexico border are fleeing the region, saying their work — and their lives — are increasingly threatened. Tighter border security has pushed drug traffickers into the most remote areas where the scientists say they do most of their work.
Some national parks have now stopped issuing research permits and have even forced scientists to sign statements saying the Park Service cannot guarantee their safety from persons entering the country from Mexico.
One scientist who uses night-vision goggles to study rare bats in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument says that on a nightly basis she sees men with guns and huge backpacks trudging through the desert. The scientists say huge swaths of the region are now off limits due to armed drug smugglers. As one botanist put it, "I got kind of allergic to pistols being held to my forehead."
Bhutto wanted ties with Israel - sought help from Mossad
Israeli media reports on Friday revealed that slain Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto intended to establish official relations with the Jewish state if elected, and was seeking Mossad protection in the interim.
A story on the Israel Today web site reported that in speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert grieved over Bhutto's assassination following an election rally on Thursday.
Olmert said that upon her return to Pakistan in October after years of exile, Bhutto told him through a mutual acquaintance that she wanted close ties between Israel and Pakistan.
Israel Today also reported that the Hebrew daily newspaper Ma'ariv further revealed that Bhutto had asked Israel's Mossad spy agency, along with the CIA and Britain's Scotland Yard, to help protect her in the run-up to Pakistan's January 8 election.
Bhutto complained that current Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was trying to make her an easy target for assassination by now allowing her to use adequate protective measures.