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British Intelligence: Al-Qaida Expanding -Full Story- British intelligence officials said they believe that al-Qaida has a secure base in Pakistan's Waziristan region and is planning terrorist operations.The group is reaching out to Muslims in North Africa, The Telegraph reported. Last year, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, an Algerian terrorist group, merged itself into al-Qaida, a move announced by Osama bin Laden's chief lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a tape promising action against the "apostates" in the Algerian government and "the treacherous sons of France."Al-Qaida is also believed to be planning expansion into Lebanon and Syria, the newspaper report...

The FBI is asking the nation's scuba instructors to watch for potential terrorist threats. The agency's Joint Terrorism Task Force recently alerted dive shops around the country to look out for divers seeking advanced training, including diving in murky water and in sewer pipes. FBI spokesman Richard Kolko described the advisory as routine and said it was not prompted by any threat. The advisory asked instructors to be aware of "odd inquiries that are inconsistent with recreational diving." That includes advanced navigation techniques, deep diving and the use of underwater vehicles. "It would definitely stand out," said Ken Loyst, who...

Washington, D.C. (Jun 22, 2007 16:51 EST) The purpose of this advisory is to provide situational awareness to the scuba industry regarding behavior that may indicate an individual(s) is involved in nefarious activity. The following threat indicators, taken in isolation, generally reflect legitimate recreational and commercial activities. In combination with other information, they can indicate possible links to criminal behavior. Please note, the below indicators are not an all inclusive list, these indicators represent a baseline that could possibly indicate suspicious behavior. Training Indicators Requests for specialty training, including odd inquiries that are inconsistent with recreational diving. These may include:...

KEY LARGO -- Three divers died on Friday while diving on the Spiegel Grove ship wreck, the Monroe County Sheriff's office said. In an e-mailed statement, Becky Herrin, spokeswoman for MSO, said the three men were part of a four-man team that was diving on the popular wreck from the commercial dive boat Scuba-do. All were reportedly advanced certified divers and planned a penetration dive into the sunken wreck. That's when something apparently went wrong. ``These wrecks can be very confusing inside,'' Herrin said. ``There's a lot of places to go wrong. None of the four divers were immediately identified...

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Cave divers in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula have discovered what may be the world's longest underground river, connecting two cave systems with a waterway at least 95 miles long. A group of foreign divers exploring the area near the Caribbean beach resort of Playa del Carmen have yet to name the stretch, but believe it could be connected to two other major systems, adding more than 125 miles to its length. "It's a bit of the Star Trek syndrome: the thrill of exploration, to go where no one has gone before," said diver Steve Bogaerts, who helped...

BOGOR, Indonesia: Nearly 150 people rallied Wednesday in support of U.S. President George W. Bush's planned visit to the world's most populous Muslim nation — a rare sight amid rising anger over the U.S.-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. "Welcome Mr. Bush, president of the world's most powerful country!" said a banner carried by 100 demonstrators in the city of Bogor, where the American leader is scheduled to meet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday. Supporters also turned out by the dozens in the Sulawesi town of Manado. Small, peaceful demonstrations against Bush's trip have taken place in cities across...

He made history as the first African American US Navy Master Diver. Tuesday afternoon, 75-year-old Carl Brashear died at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, His story was told in the 2000 film “Men of Honor,” and he was portrayed by actor Cuba Gooding, Jr. Brashear joined the United States Navy in 1948 at the age of 17. He became the only amputee deep-sea diver to reach the status of Master Diver and was the only black man to ever become Master Diver of the United States Navy, a position he held from 1975 to 1977, according to the Navy. He retired...

A MYSTERIOUS settlement that sank beneath the waves at least 1,200 years ago has been discovered by divers off the south-east coast of India.Granite blocks and walls that lie 20ft below the surface may be the remains of six "lost temples" that form part of local mythology.The ruins came to light after the controversial amateur archaeologist and best-selling author Graham Hancock interviewed fisherman for a recent television series.After hearing accounts of the myth of a submerged city, he and two dozen divers searched the sea bed last week.India's National Institute of Oceanography, which was involved in the discovery, believes the...

SHOULD have brought a life vest and snorkel, Teddy. Sen. Ted Kennedy was having a ball reading to a captive roomful of New York City third-graders yesterday when suddenly a dangerous question spewed out of the mouths of babes. "When was your most embarrassing moment with Splash?" a pint-sized jokester from PS 11 in Chelsea asked Ted. The kid was asking about Splash - Teddy's black Portuguese water dog who, at that very moment, sat quietly at Ted's feet, along with another pooch named Sunny. But the adults in the room could not help but think about "splash." As in...

A kittycat that goes scubadiving with it's best friend, a dog: http://youtube.com/watch?v=oO7OYrAB70A

DEEP-WATER DIVERS have always been the daredevils of the diving community, pushing far into the dark labyrinths of water-filled holes and extreme ocean depths. It's a small global fraternity—there are no more than a dozen members—and in the history of recreational diving, only six people other than Shaw have ever pulled off successful dives below 820 feet. (More people have walked on the moon, Don Shirley likes to point out.) At least three ran into serious trouble in the process (including Nuno Gomes, who got stuck in the mud on the bottom of Bushman's Hole for two minutes before escaping)....

Breathing Underwater Without Oxygen Tanks IsraCast is a Jerusalem-based multimedia network and one of its reporters just wrote an article about a dream come true, "Like a Fish: Revolutionary Underwater Breathing System." An Israeli inventor, Alan-Izhar Bodner, "has developed a breathing apparatus that will allow breathing underwater without the assistance of oxygen tanks." This invention is based on how fish are breathing, picking the air which is dissolved in the water. Right now, a prototype has been built which uses rechargeable batteries and which will allow for one hour of diving time. But don't run to your diving store...

SECURITY chiefs fear Al-Qaeda terrorists trained as scuba divers could mount attacks against a royal review of the fleet being held to mark the 200th anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar. A senior Ministry of Defence (MoD) police officer has disclosed that militants using techniques learnt in western diving schools to attack Royal Navy ships are considered the main threat to the event. Officials fear Al-Qaeda divers could attach bombs to the hulls of the ships, detonate explosives strapped to their bodies in suicide attacks or even board vessels and kill some of those on board. The Queen, in her...

AN Australian port could be attacked or a ferry hijacked by terrorists to transport weapons of mass destruction, because of gaps in the maritime border security net. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has found a lack of awareness from states and the federal Government about the specific threats posed from the sea. "A determined and expert terrorist is still likely to have little difficulty in entering Australia by sea, and will probably only be defeated by advance intelligence of his movements," the institute says in a report titled Future unknown: the terrorist threat to Australian maritime security. "We have high...

'If something goes wrong, leave me down there. I want my final resting place to be in Boesmansgat." The meaning of world-record diver Dave Shaw's instructions to his team on Friday night was clear: he knew there was a real chance that he would not survive his attempt to recover the remains of another diver from the 271m-deep Boesmansgat cave near Dani‘lskuil in the Northern Cape, the world's third-deepest freshwater cave. Shaw also said specifically that should he not return, no divers should follow his example and risk their lives in trying to recover his body. Tragically, Saturday's meticulously planned...

A recreational diver forgotten at sea by a boat crew drifted five hours in the ocean and prayed "God, I don't want to die" before a teenager aboard a century-old tall ship spotted him and fellow Boy Scouts pulled him aboard. Dan Carlock, 45, was left in the ocean by his scuba diving group Sunday and drifted for hours about seven miles offshore. He noted the time of day on his small, waterproof writing slate and took photographs of himself to document that he'd made it to the surface. And he worried about how his parents would react to his...

JEDDAH, 6 December 2003 — Saudi authorities have detained two expatriates for questioning. The two continue to be held in a jail in Jeddah for as yet unspecified reasons, Arab News has learned. David Heaton, a British national and convert to Islam, and Abdullatif Ibrahim Bilal, a US national, were taken into custody for questioning last Thursday. “We confirm that David Heaton is currently being detained,” Barry Peach, a spokesman for the British Embassy, told Arab News. “The embassy has requested a counselor to assist Heaton and has been in touch with his next of kin, but up to now...

Of all the bright and talented students in my high school graduating class, the most gifted of all was probably my good friend Tom Baker. Quick thinking, creative and enormously self-disciplined, Tom excelled in every subject - particularly the sciences. Tom was far and away our best student in physics and chemistry, and he put countless hours into his favorite area of research, oceanography. Before school, during lunch break and after school (at least, when there wasn't swim practice) - there was Tom in the lab, always dreaming up some new experiment, always excited about his latest discoveries. It was...

FBI seeking information on scuba training in hunt for terrorists The FBI is looking at information from scuba shops and organisations across the US in the hunt for suspected terrorists. The country's three largest organisations which certify divers have turned over millions of names of students who have passed scuba diving courses in the last three years. The FBI is checking the names against its files for potential terrorists. Agents are also asking in more than 1,000 of the country's scuba shops about people who enrolled in diving classes but withdrew before their names could be added to a list...