Today's Terrorist News
· Pilot's Missing Laptop Causes Airport Security Scare. A pilot's laptop, filled with top secret security information was reported missing at Dulles Airport and the ripple effects were felt across the country. The Mesa Airlines employee couldn't find the personal laptop he brought with him while co-piloting a United Express flight from Birmingham, Alabama to Dulles International Airport. 17 airports were forced to make emergency changes to access codes at Dulles, Atlanta, Phoenix, Chicago's O'Hare and San Antonio. 
· Afghan president escapes deadly Taliban attack. Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other dignitaries quickly scrambled toward safety when the sound of gunfire and explosions in the distance interrupted a military ceremony they were attending in Kabul Sunday morning.
· Man gets prison for paintball terror training. A former teacher at a Muslim school in Maryland was again sentenced to 15 years in prison Friday for providing support to a Pakistani terrorist group.
· Oklahomans Pause To Remember Victims Of 1995 Bombing. Oklahomans paused Saturday morning at the Oklahoma City National Memorial to remember the 168 people who died 13 years ago in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The attack on April 19, 1995, remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history.
· Man arrested in Las Vegas ricin case. A man at the center of a mysterious case of exposure to the deadly biological agent ricin has been arrested, FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said Wednesday. Roger Bergendorff was taken into custody Wednesday morning in Las Vegas, Nevada, Kolko said.
· What TSA Says Are The Latest Terrorists' Threat. The Transportation Security Administration says terrorists' latest tactics to bypass airport security include hiding explosive materials in common items such as watches, electric toothbrushes and braces.
· Passenger Detained At Orlando Airport Had Bomb Materials In Bag. A man behavior specialists spotted acting suspiciously was detained after components used to make pipe bombs were found in his luggage at Orlando International Airport. "He looked rather crazy," a passenger said. "He was rocking left and right and up and down. He looked a little wacko."
· FBI Focusing on 'About Four' Suspects in 2001 Anthrax Attacks. The FBI has narrowed its focus to "about four" suspects in the 6 1/2-year investigation of the deadly anthrax attacks of 2001, and at least three of those suspects are linked to the Army’s bioweapons research facility at Fort Detrick in Maryland, FOX News has learned. Among the pool of suspects are three scientists — a former deputy commander, a leading anthrax scientist and a microbiologist — linked to the research facility.
· Bin Laden warns EU over Prophet cartoons. Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden threatened the European Union with grave punishment on Wednesday for publication of cartoons mocking Islam's Prophet Mohammad. In an audio recording posted on the Internet coinciding with the birthday of Islam's founder, bin Laden said the drawings, considered offensive by Muslims, were part of a "new crusade" in which Pope Benedict was involved. "It's only ominous when he says 'don't listen to our words, watch for our actions' ... that means they clearly are intending to attack in Europe."
· 'Suspicious liquids' used in plane crash attempt. Passengers carrying suspicious liquids on board a Chinese airliner were involved in what officials have called an attempted terror attack last week, the national aviation authority saidMonday. A government official from the Muslim-dominated region of Xinjiang had said the flight crew had foiled Friday's alleged attempt to deliberately crash a plane flying from the region's capital of Urumqi to Beijing.
· Police investigate Times Square blast. An explosive device caused minor damage to an empty military recruiting station in Times Square early Thursday, shaking guests in hotel rooms high above "the crossroads of the world."
· $2 million homes burn on 'Street of Dreams.' Five luxury homes burned today north of Seattle in what could be a case of ecoterrorism, officials said. A sign with the letters "ELF" was found in the "Street of Dreams" development. ELF may stand for Earth Liberation Front, which the FBI has called an ecoterrorist group.
· Update: Man in critical condition after deadly toxin ricin found in his Las Vegas motel room. Police say a man is in critical condition after the deadly toxin ricin was found in his Las Vegas motel room. Las Vegas police Lt. Lewis Roberts says the man has been in a coma since he was found in his room at the Extended Stay America Motel on Thursday. He's one of seven people hospitalized after the ricin was discovered.
· Deadly toxin found at Las Vegas hotel. Police in Las Vegas, Nevada, are investigating the discovery of ricin at a hotel room on Thursday. Authorities were called to an Extended Stay America hotel around 3 p.m. after a man brought a bag holding a small container to the manager's office. The man said he found it while retrieving items from a hotel room. It's "100 percent ricin," said Capt. Joe Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
· Airline Passenger Had Box Cutter In Hollowed-Out Book. A 21-year-old Clearwater man was arrested at Tampa International Airport this weekend after security personnel found a box cutter in a hollowed-out book, authorities said. Officers also found books in the man's backpack titled "Muhammad in the Bible," "The Prophet's Prayer" and "The Noble Qur'an."
· Amtrak will screen passengers' bags. Amtrak will start randomly screening passengers' carry-on bags this week in a new security push that includes officers with automatic weapons and bomb-sniffing dogs patrolling platforms and trains.
· Super Bowl evades mass shooting. A would-be bar owner angry at being denied a liquor license threatened to shoot people at the Super Bowl and drove to within sight of the stadium with an AR-15 assault-style rifle and 200 rounds of ammunition before changing his mind, federal authorities said. Kurt William Havelock, who ultimately turned himself in, had vowed to "shed the blood of the innocent" in a manifesto mailed Sunday to media outlets, according to court documents.
· Flight instructor gets $5 million for catching '20th' hijacker. A Minnesota flight instructor who notified his bosses of student Zacarias Moussaoui's suspicious behavior received a $5 million reward Thursday from the State Department, two government officials told CNN. Clarence "Clancy" Prevost was an instructor at the Pan Am International Flight Academy in Eagan, Minnesota, when Moussaoui was a student there.
· Teenager arrested in suicide hijacking plot. Authorities have charged a teenage boy who said he planned to hijack a commercial jetliner in an attempt to commit suicide, an FBI spokesman told CNN late Thursday. The teen wanted to crash the plane into a Hannah Montana concert in Lafayette, Louisiana.
· Jose Padilla is sentenced to 17 years. Jose Padilla, once accused of plotting with al-Qaida to blow up a radioactive "dirty bomb," was sentenced Tuesday to 17 years and four months on terrorism conspiracy charges that don't mention those initial allegations. The sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke marks another step in the extraordinary personal and legal odyssey for the 37-year-old Muslim convert, a U.S. citizen who was held for 3 1/2 years as an enemy combatant after his 2002 arrest amid the "dirty bomb" allegations.
· Ugly Bride Was Iraqi Insurgent in Disguise. Suspicious Iraqi soldiers thwarted terror suspects disguised as a bride and groom trying to pass through a checkpoint along with their "wedding procession" outside the Iraqi capital, the Iraqi Defense Ministry said Monday.
· Bomb parts smuggled past airport security. Investigators with bomb-making components in their luggage and on their person were able to pass through security checkpoints at 19 U.S. airports without detection, according to the Government Accountability Office.
· FBI warns of uncorroborated threat to malls. In what one FBI spokesman described as "almost an annual ritual," the bureau has obtained uncorroborated intelligence indicating al Qaeda would like to strike shopping malls during the holiday shopping season, two law enforcement sources said. Those sources confirmed there is intelligence dating back to August that al Qaeda would like to attack malls in Los Angeles, California, and Chicago, Illinois.
· 23 charged in O'Hare immigration bust. Nearly two dozen illegal immigrants were arrested, accused of using fake security badges to work in critical areas of O'Hare International Airport, including the tarmac. The 23 illegal workers were employed by Ideal Staffing Solutions Inc., whose corporate secretary and office manager also were arrested after an eight-month investigation that involved federal, state and Chicago authorities.
· Nuclear plant employee stopped with explosive device. A contract employee of an Arizona nuclear plant was stopped at a plant entrance Friday with an explosive device in his truck, officials told CNN. There was no threat to the public, said Jim McDonald, spokesman for Arizona Public Service Company, which owns the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Wintersberg, Arizona, 34 miles west of Phoenix. The employee works for the plant -- the largest nuclear plant in the nation.
· TSA Exposed Own Undercover Operation. The Transportation Security Administration touts its programs to ensure security by using undercover operatives to test its airport screeners. In one instance, however, the agency thwarted such a test by alerting screeners across the country that it was under way, even providing descriptions of the undercover agents.
· Renewed Shoe Bombing Threat? The FBI is issuing a new warning about shoe bombs. The alert follows the discovery of a pair of hollowed out shoes with bomb detonators inside on a bus in Europe last month. Intelligence analysts say the shoes were being used to smuggle blasting caps across a border.
· Justice Department 'dismayed' over release of USS Cole bombing leader. U.S. law enforcement officials Friday blasted Yemen's release of one of the leaders of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 U.S. soldiers. "We have communicated our displeasure to Yemeni officials," a Justice Department statement said. The statement pointedly referred to al-Badawi as one of the FBI's most wanted terrorists and noted prosecutors in New York City want to get their hands on him.
· U.S. terror 'watch list' may be getting too long. A new government report says there are now more than three quarters of a million names on the U.S. government's terrorist "watch list," raising concerns the list may be becoming too large. A Government Accountability Office study out Wednesday said the Terrorist Screening Center's watch list contained approximately 755,000 names.
· Screeners miss 75% of fake bombs at LAX. Security screeners at two of the nation's busiest airports failed to find fake bombs hidden on undercover agents posing as passengers in more than 60% of tests last year, according to a classified report obtained by USA TODAY. Screeners at Los Angeles International Airport missed about 75% of simulated explosives and bomb parts that Transportation Security Administration testers hid under their clothes or in carry-on bags at checkpoints, the TSA report shows.
· Questions Raised Over Terror Exercise. The nation is preparing for its biggest terrorism exercise ever next week when three fictional "dirty bombs" go off and cripple transportation arteries in two major U.S. cities, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press. Yet even as this drill begins, details from the previous national exercise held in 2005 have yet to be publicly released - information that's supposed to help officials prepare for the next real attack.
· Airport screeners scrutinizing remote-controlled toys. Airport screeners are giving additional scrutiny to remote-controlled toys because terrorists could use them to trigger explosive devices, the Transportation Security Administration said Monday. The TSA stopped short of banning the toys in carry-on bags but suggested travelers place them in checked luggage.
· Crossing U.S. Border as Easy as a Stroll. The Government Accountability Office, the congressional watchdog group, will release a scathing report on border security today. "In three out of four locations on the U.S.-Canada border, investigators crossed into the United States from Canada … to simulate the cross-border movement of radioactive materials," states the report.
· Video Shows Hacker Hit on Power Grid. A government video shows the potential destruction caused by hackers seizing control of a crucial part of the U.S. electrical grid: an industrial turbine spinning wildly out of control until it becomes a smoking hulk and power shuts down. The video, produced for the Homeland Security Department and obtained by The AP on Wednesday, was marked "Official Use Only." It shows commands quietly triggered by simulated hackers having such a violent reaction that the enormous turbine shudders as pieces fly apart and it belches black-and-white smoke.
· Nuclear Plant Guards Asleep On The Job. A three-month investigation into security issues at our nation's nuclear power plants found something disturbing at Peach Bottom nuclear facility outside of Philadelphia - security guards charged with protecting the plant sleeping on the job. And not just one of them. Several were caught on tape snoozing during their shifts.
· New York Drops Citizenship Proof For Driver's Licenses. They were celebrating outside the New York governor's office Friday as Eliot Spitzer handed a landmark victory to a half-million illegal immigrants. The state will no longer require proof of citizenship for driver's licenses.
· Bin Laden Wants 'Caravan' of Martyrs. Osama bin Laden urged sympathizers to join the "caravan" of martyrs as he praised one of the Sept. 11 suicide hijackers in a new video that emerged Tuesday to mark the sixth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Al-Qaida traditionally issues a video every year on the anniversary, with the last testament of one of the 19 hijackers involved in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. This year's video showed hijacker Waleed al-Shehri addressing the camera and warning the U.S.: "We shall come at you from your front and back, your right and left."
· Justice Department report tells of flaws in terrorist watch list. Twenty known or suspected terrorists were not correctly listed on the government's consolidated watch list, preventing their records from being available to the nation's front-line screening agents, according to a U.S. Justice Department report.
· Bin Laden Plans Video on 9/11. Terror mastermind Osama bin Laden plans a new video addressing the American people regarding the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, terror monitoring groups said.
· NY hikes security on dirty bomb Internet chatter. New York police stepped up security throughout Manhattan and at bridges and tunnels on Friday in response to an Internet report - which authorities said they could not verify - that al Qaeda might be plotting to detonate a dirty bomb in the city.
· TSA to police: Look out for possible terrorist attack 'dry runs.' Police should be on the lookout for possible "dry runs" for a terror attack, the TSA advised after series of suspicious incidents at U.S. airports. In one case, a couple checked a plastic bag with a block of cheese taped to a bag with a cell phone charger.
· Serious Security Questions at Sky Harbor Airport. ABC News discovered a 4.5 hour time frame each night when virtually anything can be brought into the secure side of Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. There's no metal detector, no X-ray machine, and it's apparently not a problem.
· Bogus company got license for nuke materials. Government investigators created a bogus company to obtain a license for radioactive materials that could have been used to build a dirty bomb.
· U.S. Intel Warns al-Qaida Has Rebuilt. U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded al-Qaida has rebuilt its operating capability to a level not seen since just before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, The Associated Press has learned. The conclusion suggests that the network that launched the most devastating terror attack on the United States has been able to regroup along the Afghan-Pakistani border despite nearly six years of bombings, war and other tactics aimed at crippling it.
· Fake bomb eludes airport test. TSA inspectors hid the components of a fake bomb in carry-on luggage that also contained a bottle of water. Passengers are prohibited from carrying containers holding more than three ounces of liquids, gels or aerosols through airport checkpoints. The screeners at Albany International confiscated the water bottle but missed the bomb.
· Militant: 'Those who cure you will kill you.' An Iraqi militant said to be close to al Qaeda allegedly warned a British cleric: "Those who cure you will kill you." The warning - or threat - is now taking on new meaning after last week's UK terror plot, believed to have been hatched by health professionals.
· Jordanian doctor held in UK bombing probe. A Jordanian medical doctor, Mohammed Jamil Abdelqader Asha, has been identified as a suspect in the U.K. terror plot, according to British police sources.
· Secret Document: U.S. Fears Terror 'Spectacular' Planned. A secret U.S. law enforcement report, prepared for the Department of Homeland Security, warns that al Qaeda is planning a terror "spectacular" this summer, according to a senior official with access to the document. "This is reminiscent of the warnings and intelligence we were getting in the summer of 2001," the official told ABCNews.com.
· U.S. terrorism trial ponders meaning of "eggplant". Since the start of accused American "dirty bomber" Jose Padilla's trial in May, onlookers have heard about conspiracies to maim and kill, but also picnics, eggplants and lazy Miami postal workers. Prosecutors say some of those seemingly innocuous terms are actually code words for violent "jihad," or "holy war," and acts of terrorism.
· Britain on 'Critical' Terror Alert Level. Police searched several houses near Glasgow International Airport on Sunday in connection with a fiery attack on its main terminal and a foiled car bomb plot in London. In a nationally televised interview, Britain's new prime minister, Gordon Brown, said the country was clearly dealing with terrorists associated with al-Qaida.
· Flaming Car Rams U.K. Airport; 2 Arrests. Two men rammed a flaming sport utility vehicle into the main terminal of Glasgow airport Saturday, crashing into the glass doors at the entrance and sparking a fire, witnesses said. Police said two suspects were arrested.
· London Surveillance Caught Terror Suspect On Tape. One day after authorities prevented two car bombs from exploding near Piccadilly Circus, London police turning their attention to a terror suspect caught on tape. Scotland Yard reportedly has a crystal clear picture from a surveillance camera of a man running from one of the cars filled with gas canisters and nails.
· Explosive material found in second car on London street. As authorities were investigating an explosives-packed car discovered outside a nightclub near Piccadilly Circus on Friday, a second vehicle was found in London that had similar explosive material inside, security sources said. Inside the first car near Piccadilly Circus, a device was found to be loaded with fuel, gas cylinders and nails, said security sources, and it was set up for remote detonation.
· London police investigate suspected bomb. Police defused an explosive device found in a parked car in central London on Friday, and the new government called an emergency meeting of senior security chiefs to investigate what many feared could have been a planned terror attack. Police said the car — parked near busy Piccadilly Circus — contained a "potentially viable explosive device" but would not give further details.
· Lockerbie "Bomber" Could Go Free. Only one person has been convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 which crashed over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. Now a three-year investigation into that conviction will reportedly say he did not have a fair trial and should be released. CBS News correspondent Larry Miller reports that the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission is expected to say Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi may not have planted the bomb that brought down the 747, killing 259 people on board and 11 more on the ground when debris rained down upon the Scottish countryside.
· 4 charged in plot to blow up NYC airport. Federal authorities said a plot by a suspected Muslim terrorist cell to blow up John F. Kennedy International Airport, its fuel tanks and a jet fuel artery could have caused "unthinkable" devastation.
· Edwards: Move Past 'War on Terror.' Democrat John Edwards Wednesday repudiated the notion that there is a "global war on terror," calling it an ideological doctrine advanced by the Bush administration that has strained American military resources and emboldened terrorists.
· Pizza shop suffers terror arrest backlash. The father of one of the six men charged with plotting to massacre soldiers at Fort Dix says the business that he's nurtured near the base for years is all but ruined since his son's arrest. Muslim Tatar, who has owned Super Mario's Pizza for five years, said his lunchtime crowd from nearby McGuire Air Force Base and Fort Dix has largely disappeared, replaced by empty tables and nasty words from passing motorists. "Now I am a target," Tatar, 52, said, adding that his business is "99 percent dead."
· Teachers stage fake gunman attack on sixth graders. Staff members of an elementary school staged a fictitious gun attack on students during a class trip, telling them it was not a drill as the children cried and hid under tables.
· Severed head greets new troops in Mexico drug war. Drug cartel hitmen dumped a severed head outside a military base in the Mexican port of Veracruz to warn newly arrived troops of more violence in an escalating war on drug traffickers, authorities said on Saturday.
· U.S., Germans Fear Imminent Terror Attack. U.S. and German officials fear terrorists are in the advanced planning stages of an attack on U.S. military personnel or tourists in Germany. Law enforcement officials tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com that U.S. air marshals have been diverted to provide expanded protection of flights between Germany and the United States. "The information behind the threat is very real," a senior U.S. official told ABC News.
· Store clerk tip key to Fort Dix plot. One drove a cab, three were roofers. Another worked at a 7-Eleven and a sixth at a supermarket. Their alleged plot to attack Fort Dix was foiled by another blue-collar worker: a video store clerk. The unidentified clerk is being credited with tipping off authorities in January 2006 after one of the suspects asked him to transfer a video to DVD that showed 10 men shooting weapons at a firing range and calling for jihad, prosecutors said.
· Terror Suspects Arrested In N.J. After FBI Foils Fort Dix Attack. A tip helped authorities arrest six men in New Jersey in connection to an apparent terror cell. Five of them were arrested in Cherry Hill, according to reports. Investigators said the men planned to use AK-47s to storm Fort Dix and open fire on soldiers and civilians stationed at the New Jersey base, noting that other military locations were scouted by the terrorist cell.
· U.S. says terrorist in Jill Carroll kidnapping killed. A U.S. military commander said Thursday that an al Qaeda in Iraq militant believed to be involved in last year's kidnapping of journalist Jill Carroll has been killed. He is Muharib Abdul Latif al-Jubouri and was identified as the senior minister of information for al Qaeda in Iraq, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said.
· Report says terror attacks up sharply. Terrorist attacks worldwide shot up 25 percent last year, particularly in Iraq where extremists used chemical weapons and suicide bombers to target crowds, according to a new State Department report. In its annual global survey of terrorism, the State Department says about 14,000 attacks took place in 2006, mainly in Iraq and Afghanistan. These strikes claimed more than 20,000 lives - two-thirds in Iraq. That is 3,000 more attacks than in 2005 and 5,800 more deaths.
· Five guilty in UK bomb plot. Five Britons have been found guilty of plotting to carry out al Qaeda-inspired bomb attacks across Britain on targets ranging from a nightclub to a shopping mall. The gang planned to use 600 kg (1,300 lb) of ammonium nitrate fertilizer to make explosives to be used in bombings in revenge for Britain's support the United States in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, prosecutors said.
· Saudi Arabia arrests 172 in anti-terror sweep. Police have arrested 172 militants who were plotting to attack Saudi Arabia’s oil fields, storm its prisons to free the inmates and use aircraft in their attacks, the Interior Ministry said Friday. The militants planned to carry out suicide attacks against “public figures, oil facilities, refineries ... and military zones,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement, adding that some of the military targets were outside the kingdom, but it did not elaborate
· Boy beheads blindfolded man in Pakistan video. The boy with the knife looks barely 12. In a high-pitched voice, he denounces the bound, blindfolded man before him as an American spy. Then he hacks off the captive's head to cries of "God is great!" and hoists it in triumph by the hair.
· Jailed preacher of hate in court battle to stay in Britain. A hate preacher blamed for indoctrinating one of the July 7 bombers is using human rights law to fight deportation from Britain, it emerged today. Sheikh Abdullah El-Faisal - a Jamaican-born Muslim convert who urged followers to kill Jews, Hindus and Americans - is due to be freed from prison within weeks after serving two thirds of a seven-year sentence for inciting murder. The Home Office has begun legal moves to deport the fanatic, who Ministers say is a continuing threat to national security.
· U.S. man accused of plot to bomb resorts. A federal grand jury indicted a U.S. citizen on charges of joining al-Qaida and conspiring to bomb European tourist resorts and U.S. government facilities and military bases overseas, officials said Thursday.
· Taliban behead Afghan translator. The kidnapped translator for an Italian journalist was beheaded in southern Afghanistan, Afghan authorities and a purported spokesman for the Taliban said. Ajmal Naqshbandi, a freelance journalist and translator, was kidnapped along with a driver and Daniele Mastrogiacomo of the Italian daily La Repubblica, in southern Helmand province on March 5. The driver, Sayed Agha, was beheaded, and Mastrogiacomo was released March 19 in a much criticized swap for five Taliban militants.
· American Taliban Seeks Reduced Sentence. The lawyer and parents of American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh asked President Bush on Wednesday to commute his 20-year prison term, citing the case of an Australian man who was sentenced to less than a year for aiding terrorism. Lindh, 26, was captured in Afghanistan in November 2001 by American forces sent to topple the Taliban after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
· Tot pushed to be like bomber mom. The next wave of Palestinian suicide bombers could include little girls with ribbons in their hair. Three years after Reem Saleh al-Riyashi blasted into infamy as the first Palestinian mother to launch a suicide bomb attack, her 4-year-old daughter is being primed to follow in her fanatical footsteps. And in an apparent bid to sell another generation on mad martyrdom, a shocking new music video that depicts little Duha Riyashi serenading her mommy while she suits up for her suicide mission is being aired repeatedly on Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV - the official station of the new Palestinian prime minister.
· Mastermind of USS Cole attack confesses. A Yemeni portrayed as an al-Qaida operative and a member of a terrorist family confessed to plotting the bombings of the USS Cole and two U.S. embassies in Africa, killing hundreds, according to a Pentagon transcript of a Guantanamo Bay hearing.
· FBI: Foreign extremists sign up to drive school buses. Members of extremist groups have signed up as school bus drivers in the United States, counterterror officials said Friday, in a cautionary bulletin to police. An FBI spokesman said "parents and children have nothing to fear."
· Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confesses 9/11 role. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, admitted to those attacks and numerous others during a U.S. military hearing on Saturday, according to an edited transcript released by the Pentagon. In a statement from him, read by a U.S. military representative, Mohammed said, "I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z."
· Chiquita Charged in Terror Investigation. Banana company Chiquita Brands International was charged Wednesday with doing business with a terrorist organization. Federal prosecutors said the company and several unnamed high-ranking corporate officers did business with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. The company also did business with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, according to prosecutors.
· Judge rules against Sudan in bombing. A federal judge said Wednesday that Sudan is responsible for the bombing of the USS Cole but he needs more time to determine damages for the families of the 17 sailors killed when terrorists bombed the ship in 2000.
· Insurgent Leader Nabbed in Iraq Raid. The leader of the al-Qaida-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq has been captured in a raid west of Baghdad, an Iraqi military spokesman said Friday. Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was captured Friday in a raid in Abu Ghraib on the western outskirts of Baghdad, said Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, spokesman of the Baghdad security operation. U.S. officials had no confirmation of the capture.
· If alive, Osama bin Laden turns 50. Osama bin Laden, if he's alive, celebrated his 50th birthday, and his friends in the Taliban prayed for his long life. The al Qaeda leader's long silence has fueled speculation that the world's most-wanted fugitive may have died, though many in the international intelligence community reckon Islamist militant Web sites would circulate word of his death. "He is alive. I am 100 percent sure," Taliban spokesman Mullah Hayatullah Khan told Reuters, adding that senior leaders were in touch with bin Laden, reinforcing a widely held view that he is hiding near the rugged Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
· Mosque Leaders Sentenced in Terror Sting. Two leaders of an Albany mosque who were snared in an FBI sting involving a fictional terror strike were sentenced Thursday to 15 years in federal prison. The former imam, Yassin Aref, professed innocence before his sentencing and criticized the government's treatment of Muslims.
· Plane diverted due to wire, magnet concealed in Iraqi's rectum. An Iraqi immigrant with a suspicious device lodged in a body cavity was detained Tuesday at Los Angeles International Airport, authorities said. A jetliner bound for Philadelphia, meanwhile, was diverted to Las Vegas because while the man was detained, they forgot to pull his luggage from the plane.
· Former sailor arrested on terror charges. Police in Arizona arrested a former U.S. Navy sailor on charges of spying and providing material support to terrorists, authorities said on Wednesday. The U.S. Attorney's office in Connecticut said Hassan Abujihaad, formerly known as Paul Hall, 31, was arrested on a federal criminal complaint in Phoenix. He is suspected of providing classified information to a London-based organization called Azzam Publications and knowing that it was to be used in a conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens. Azzam was part of a conspiracy to provide material support and communications links to people engaged in terrorism, prosecutors said.
· Senate: Airport screeners can unionize. The Senate voted Tuesday to give 45,000 airport screeners the same union rights as border patrol, customs and immigration agents, despite a veto threat from the White House. "It's absolutely absurd," said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C. "Terrorists don't go on strike. Terrorists don't call their union to negotiate before they attack."
· Cheney unhurt in blast outside Afghan base. A suicide bomber attacked the entrance to the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan Tuesday during a visit by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, killing up to 23 people and wounding 20 more. The Taliban claimed responsibility and said Cheney was the target.
· Cleric loses deportation appeal in UK. Radical Islamic cleric Abu Qatada has lost his appeal against a UK move to deport him to Jordan. The home secretary welcomed the ruling, seen as the first test of a policy that seeks assurances deportees in terror cases will not be abused on return. The alleged al-Qaeda figure's lawyers said he could face torture at home.
· Iraqi lawmaker is embassy bomber. A man sentenced to death in Kuwait for the 1983 bombings of the U.S. and French embassies now sits in Iraq's parliament.
· Letter Bomb Explodes In London. A letter bomb has exploded at the London HQ of congestion charge firm Capita, according to reports. A female employee at the office in Victoria Street was slightly injured - she is understood to have opened the envelope.
· Radicals vs. moderates: British Muslims at crossroads. At a recent debate over the battle for Islamic ideals in England, a British-born Muslim stood before the crowd and said Prophet Mohammed's message to nonbelievers is: "I come to slaughter all of you." "We are the Muslims," said Omar Brooks, an extremist also known as Abu Izzadeen. "We drink the blood of the enemy, and we can face them anywhere. That is Islam and that is jihad."
· Judge Dismisses Anthrax Libel Case. A federal judge on Friday dismissed a libel lawsuit filed against The New York Times by a former Army scientist once identified as a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks. U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton in Alexandria dismissed the case a week after lawyers for the Times argued that Steven Hatfill should be considered a public figure under libel law, which makes it much more difficult for a public figure to win a judgment than a private citizen.
· Scientists prepare to move Doomsday Clock forward. The keepers of the "Doomsday Clock" plan to move its hands forward next Wednesday to reflect what they call worsening nuclear and climate threats to the world. The symbolic clock, maintained by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, currently is set at seven minutes to midnight, with midnight marking global catastrophe. The group did not say in which direction the hands would move. But in a news release previewing an event next Wednesday, they said the change was based on "worsening nuclear, climate threats" to the world.
· Blast at U.S. Embassy in Greece Called 'Terrorism.' A rocket struck the U.S. Embassy early Friday, exploding inside the modern, glass-fronted building and shattering hopes that Greece's leftist anti-American militant networks had been dismantled. Greek authorities said the attack, which caused no injuries, was probably carried out by a domestic terrorist group.
· U.S. Hits Al Qaeda In Somalia. Two U.S. airstrikes in Somalia killed large numbers of Islamic extremists, government officials and witnesses said. A U.S. Air Force AC-130 gunship conducted the strikes against suspected members of al Qaeda.
· Mystery smell settles over Manhattan. New York officials evacuated a number of buildings and shut down some trains after a mysterious gaslike odor was reported Monday. A New York Police Department spokesman said an air quality test determined that the air is not hazardous, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said there is no indication terrorism was involved.
· Port of Miami on Heightened Alert. The Port of Miami on Sunday was in a heightened state of security after police discovered two men hiding in a cargo truck and a bomb squad was summoned to the scene.
· Congress Rebukes Okla. City Probe. The FBI failed to fully investigate information suggesting other suspects may have helped Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols with the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, allowing questions to linger more than a decade after the deadly attack, a congressional inquiry concludes.
· Records detail missing TSA badges, uniforms. More than 3,700 identification badges and uniform items have been reported lost or stolen from Transportation Security Administration employees since 2003.
· French film raises fresh fears over airport safety. A French television reporter managed to smuggle explosive material and knives onto American and French passenger planes apparently revealing serious flaws in security at French airports.
· Florida professor admits he was Cuban spy. A Florida professor admitted Tuesday he had been a Cuban spy for nearly 30 years, and his wife - also a professor - admitted she knew of his conduct, authorities said. Authorities said U.S. agents eavesdropped as Alvarez received sophisticated communications equipment from Cuban intelligence designed to keep his activities secret.
· Freedom Tower takes root with steel beams and iron will. Two 25-ton steel columns - one bearing signatures of American steelworkers who helped make it - rose at ground zero Tuesday, a milestone in the prolonged effort to build the skyscraper that will replace the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
· Britain: Christmas terror attempt highly likely. An attempted terrorist attack in Britain in the run-up to Christmas is "highly likely", the home secretary, John Reid, warned yesterday. "The threat in this country is very high indeed. It is at the second highest level and people now know that publicly, because we publish it on the web. And that means that it is highly likely that there'll be a terrorist attempt," Mr Reid said.
· Feds bust truck trainee who balks at back up. A truck-driving student is in custody in Boston after raising suspicions when he wasn’t interested in learning how to back up his rig. WLVI-TV reported last night that the would-be trucker is a 28-year-old Muslim from India and had overstayed his visa. An investigation is under way to see whether there is any connection between his unusual behavior and a terrorism plot.
· Man charged with shopping mall bomb plot. A man was arrested Friday by federal agents on charges of planning to set off hand grenades in garbage cans at a shopping mall. Derrick Shareef, 22, of Rockford, was arrested when he met with an undercover agent in a parking lot to trade a set of stereo speakers for four hand grenades and a handgun.
· Phoenix Airport to Test X-Ray Screening. Sky Harbor International Airport here will test a new federal screening system that takes X-rays of passenger's bodies to detect concealed explosives and other weapons. The TSA said it has found a way to refine the machine's images so that the normally graphic pictures can be blurred in certain areas while still being effective in detecting bombs and other threats.
· Airport Arrest Turns Up Nuclear Info. A man was arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after officials say they found him carrying more than $78,000 in cash and a laptop computer containing information about nuclear materials and cyanide.
· Immigrants May Be Held Indefinitely. Immigrants arrested in the United States may be held indefinitely on suspicion of terrorism and may not challenge their imprisonment in civilian courts, the Bush administration said Monday, opening a new legal front in the fight over the rights of detainees.
· Hamas to Call for Attacks Against U.S. Hamas' military wing called Wednesday on Muslims around the world to attack American targets and abandoned their truce with Israel following reports that an Israeli tank strike killed 18 people in the Gaza Strip.
· Al Qaeda Briton 'plotted to kill thousands.' Al Qaeda terrorists planned to use "dirty bombs" to blow up the Heathrow Express or a Tube train passing under the Thames, a court heard today.
· Iran ready to share missile systems with others. Iran is ready to share its missile systems with friends and neighbors, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards said, after he showed off missiles including some he said had cluster warheads.
· Saddam Hussein sentenced to death by hanging. The Iraqi High Tribunal on Sunday sentenced a combative Saddam Hussein and two other defendants to death by hanging for a brutal crackdown in 1982 in the Shiite town of Dujail. Iraqis under a curfew in Baghdad spilled out into the streets in celebration of the verdict. But protests were held in Saddam Hussein's hometown.
· Texas puts 'virtual border watch' online. Texas has started broadcasting live images of the U.S. border on the Internet in a security program that asks the public to report signs of illegal immigration or drug crimes. A test Web site went live Thursday at texasborderwatch.com with views from eight cameras and ways for viewers to e-mail reports of suspicious activity.
· Nuclear Lab Breach Could Be 'Devastating.' The recent security breach at Los Alamos National Laboratory was very serious, with sensitive materials being taken out of the facility — possibly including information on how to deactivate locks on nuclear weapons, officials said.
· 'Al Qaeda school' attack: 80 dead. Pakistani troops backed by missile-firing helicopters on Monday struck a religious school purportedly being used as an al Qaeda training center, killing 80 people in what appeared to be the country's deadliest-ever attack against suspected militants.
· Drug Bust Leads To Los Alamos Docs. Authorities in northern New Mexico have stumbled onto what appears to be classified information from Los Alamos National Laboratory while arresting a man suspected of domestic violence and dealing methamphetamine from his mobile home.
· New searches planned after remains found at WTC. Human remains, possibly belonging to victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, have been found at the World Trade Center site. The Medical Examiner's office said 18 pieces of human remains were found Sunday, days after other remains were found in lower Manhattan. Searchers will burrow into at least 12 subterranean areas in coming days.
· Muslims takes on travel scrutiny. A New Jersey Muslim group is launching a nationwide effort to record complaints about Muslims being wrongfully detained or questioned at airports. The group has received several complaints from Muslims using airports in New Jersey and New York that they were detained and questioned for hours when attempting to return to the country from abroad.
· Baggage handlers at Paris airport lose clearance. Authorities rescinded the security clearance of 43 baggage handlers at France’s main international airport due to suspicions they were connected with radical organizations, a top government minister said Saturday.
· The Un-Holy Month Of Ramadan. Fasting from sunrise to sunset is a struggle for Muslims during this month of Ramadan. The month will present a more dangerous struggle for non-Muslims in Iraq, against whom Islamic terrorists promise increased violence.
· 2nd warning for Muslims to leave U.S. before attack. Another Pakistani journalist is reporting receiving another threat – this one from a senior Taliban leader – warning all Muslims to leave the U.S. in anticipation of a major terrorist attack before the end of Ramadan. The head of the Islamabad-based al-Quds Center reported receiving an audio message from Mullah Masoom Afghani urging U.S. Muslims to get out of the country "because Allah's punishment would fall on America in the month of Ramadan." Muslims are observing Ramadan this year Sept. 24 to Oct. 23.
· North Korea Threatens War Against U.S. North Korea stoked regional tensions Wednesday, threatening more nuclear tests and saying additional sanctions imposed on it would be considered an act of war, as nervous neighbors raced to bolster defenses and punish Pyongyang.
· Unlikely Terrorists On No-Fly List. The former FBI agent, Jack Cloonan, knew the list that was hastily assembled after 9/11, would be bungled. The "data dump" of names from the files of several government agencies, including the CIA, fed into the computer compiling the list contained many unlikely terrorists. These include Saddam Hussein, who is under arrest, Nabih Berri, Lebanon's parliamentary speaker, and Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia. It also includes the names of 14 of the 19 dead 9/11 hijackers.
· NYPD: Beware the tiny six-shooter. Police and other law enforcement agencies have been told to be on the lookout for two new gadgets -- a tiny gun that looks like a key chain trinket and easily could be smuggled onto a plane, and a plastic handcuff key that looks like a pendant.
· Fatah militants set Palestinian parliament building on fire. Militants from the opposition Fatah Party set the Palestinian Cabinet building on fire Sunday to protest the Hamas-led government. The torching of the building in the West Bank city of Ramallah came after Hamas militiamen fought running gunbattles with Fatah-allied security forces in Gaza City in violence that killed three people.
· Atta martyrdom tape images. NBC News has obtained exclusive new images of Sept. 11 hijackers Mohammed Atta and Ziad Jarrah delivering what is apparently their last will and testament in Afghanistan on Jan. 18, 2000, as well as images of a rogue's gallery of other terrorists and senior al-Qaida leaders listening to a speech days earlier by bin Laden at his Tarnak Farms compound in Afghanistan on Jan. 8, 2000.
· 'Idiot' barb gets passenger detained. A Wisconsin man who wrote "Kip Hawley is an Idiot" on a plastic bag containing toiletries said he was detained at an airport security checkpoint for about 25 minutes before authorities concluded the statement was not a threat. Ryan Bird, 31, said he wrote the comment about Hawley - head of the Transportation Security Administration - as a political statement. He said he feels the TSA is imposing unreasonable rules on passengers while ignoring bigger threats.
· Iraq Terrorist Calls Scientists to Jihad. In a new audio message Thursday, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq called for explosives experts and nuclear scientists to join his group's holy war against the West. "We are in dire need of you," said the man, who identified himself as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir - also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri - the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. "The field of jihad (holy war) can satisfy your scientific ambitions, and the large American bases (in Iraq) are good places to test your unconventional weapons, whether biological or dirty, as they call them."
· Intelligence analysts puzzled over NIE release. National Intelligence Estimates are notorious for being watered down, partly because analysts spread across 16 different spy agencies often have difficulty settling on just the right words. That’s what makes the tough language in this week’s terrorism analysis all the more striking. And it has left many puzzling over why the White House decided to release it. To almost any reader, the assessment of trends in global terror for the next five years looks grim. It warns that most jihadist groups “will use improvised explosive devices and suicide attacks” on “soft targets.” It cautions that extremists still seek chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons. And it contemplates whether other types of leftist or separatist groups, such as anti-globalism factions, could adopt terrorist methods.
· After 5 years, mystery of anthrax attacks widens. Five years after the still-unsolved anthrax mail attacks killed five people and panicked the nation, the mystery is widening instead of narrowing. Scientists now say the anthrax wasn't "weaponized" after all - meaning the substance was less sophisticated than first believed and, thus, could have been concocted by a much broader pool of suspects.
· Rules relaxed for carry-on liquids. The government is partially lifting its ban against carrying liquids and gels onto airliners, instituted after a plot to bomb jets flying into the United States was foiled, officials said today. "We now know enough to say that a total ban is no longer needed from a security point of view," said Kip Hawley, head of the Transportation Security Administration.
· Abbas says unity effort 'back to zero.' Efforts to form a Palestinian government acceptable to the West have gone "back to zero," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday, a day after Hamas said a coalition government that recognizes Israel is unacceptable.
· Bill Clinton: I got closer to killing bin Laden. In a contentious taped interview that aired on "Fox News Sunday," former president Bill Clinton vigorously defended his efforts as president to capture and kill al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
· France to probe bin Laden death report leak. France's Defense Ministry said on Saturday it could not confirm a newspaper report quoting French secret services as saying al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had died but would launch an inquiry into the leak of secret papers. The Defense Ministry issued the statement after the French regional newspaper L'Est Republicain said Saudi Arabia was convinced bin Laden had died of typhoid in Pakistan last month.
· FedEx to equip aircraft with anti-missile technology. A FedEx MD-10 freighter, equipped with Northrop Grumman's Guardian infrared laser jammer, is slated to become the first wide-body commercial aircraft in scheduled service flying with technology to counter terrorist missile attacks. Eventually, FedEx plans to fly 11 MD-10s with the directed infrared countermeasures (DIRCM) technology over the next 18 months, testing whether the equipment - developed for the military - is cost-effective and reliable for commercial aircraft operations.
· Muslim general takes control of Thailand in overnight coup. Thailand's army commander staged a coup Tuesday night and ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra while he was in New York at the U.N. General Assembly, circling his offices with tanks, declaring martial law and revoking the constitution. Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin is a Muslim in this Buddhist-dominated nation.
· Al-Qaida to pope: Islam will take over the world. Al-Qaida warned Pope Benedict XVI on Monday that its war against Christianity and the West will go on until Islam takes over the world, and Iran's supreme leader called for more protests over the pontiff's remarks on Islam. Ansar al-Sunna challenged "sleeping Muslims" to prove their manhood by doing something other than "issuing statements or holding demonstrations."
· Fish is used to detect terror attacks. A type of fish so common that practically every American kid who ever dropped a fishing line and a bobber into a pond has probably caught one is being enlisted in the fight against terrorism. San Francisco, New York, Washington and other big cities are using bluegill — also known as sunfish or bream — as a sort of canary in a coal mine to safeguard their drinking water. Small numbers of the fish are kept in tanks constantly replenished with water from the municipal supply, and sensors in each tank work around the clock to register changes in the breathing, heartbeat and swimming patterns of the bluegill that occur in the presence of toxins.
· Jet passenger tries to open door in midair. A man wearing military fatigues and throwing punches into the air tried to open the exit door of a jet during a cross-country flight on Tuesday night, airline officials and passengers said.
· U.S. lauds Syrian forces in embassy attack. U.S. officials praised Syrian security forces for thwarting Tuesday's attack on the U.S. Embassy in Damascus despite the usually tense relationship with the Middle Eastern country. The Syrians killed three attackers and apprehended a suspect outside the embassy after a car exploded near the walls of the American compound, the Syrian Information Ministry said.
· Al-Zawahri: Gulf, Israel Next Targets. Osama bin Laden's deputy warned that Persian Gulf countries and Israel would be al-Qaida's next targets, according to a new videotape aired by Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera on Monday, the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Ayman al-Zawahri also accused the governments of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia of supporting Israel's war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
· Nation reflects, mourns on 9/11 anniversary. Five years after the terror attacks of September 11, the nation is observing a solemn anniversary with plans for silent reflection and fresh mourning for the nearly 3,000 lives lost. On the 16-acre New York City expanse where the World Trade Center once stood, four moments of silence were planned Monday for 8:46, 9:03, 9:59 and 10:29 a.m., the times when jetliners struck each of the twin towers, and when each tower fell. Spouses and partners of the 2,749 people who died at the trade center were to read the names of the victims as families of the victims descend to roam the site and lay flowers.
· Video shows Osama and killers. In its own sinister commemoration of 9/11, Al Qaeda released a celebratory video yesterday purporting to show Osama Bin Laden mingling with two of the hijackers in an Afghan terror camp before the attacks. The video, aired by the Al Jazeera satellite channel, also shows Bin Laden with 9/11 tactician Ramzi Binalshibh. This comes a day after President Bush announced that Binalshibh had been transferred from a secret CIA prison to the Guantanamo Bay prison for eventual trial.
· Islamic Militant Gets 8-Year Sentence for 2005 Bali Blasts. Judges sentenced an Islamic militant to eight years in prison Tuesday for harboring the alleged mastermind of last year's homicide bombings on Indonesia's resort island of Bali — the first verdict in the terrorist attack. Twenty people were killed in near-simultaneous strikes on three crowded restaurants, and nearly 200 others wounded.
· Missile fired at McCain escort helicopter during European visit. A missile was fired at a helicopter escorting Sen. John McCain during a visit to the Republic of Georgia last week. A statement from that nation’s interior ministry says the surface-to-air missile was aimed at a chopper involved in a visit of a U.S. Senate delegation to the former Soviet republic. McCain was mentioned as the leader of the group.
· TSA pulls plug on explosives detectors. The Transportation Security Administration is suspending installation of the only airport checkpoint device that automatically screens passengers for hidden explosives due to problems with the system’s reliability, The New York Times reported in Sunday editions. “We are seeing some issues that we did not anticipate” with the devices known as “puffers,” the Times quoted Randy Null, the agency’s chief technology officer as saying.
· Top al-Qaida in Iraq leader arrested. Iraqi authorities have arrested the second most senior figure in al-Qaida in Iraq, the national security adviser said Sunday. Hamed Jumaa Farid al-Saeedi, known as Abu Humam or Abu Rana, was arrested a few days ago, Mouwaffak al-Rubaie said. He was the No. 2 in al-Qaida in Iraq after slain leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Rubaie said.
· Police Searching For Semi Possibly Packed With Explosives. Police across Florida are searching for a semi after receiving a tip that the vehicle may be on its way to Central Florida packed with explosives. Authorities said a man called a crisis center in Georgia and said the tractor-trailer is traveling to Orlando. He told a worker that it is a brown 18-wheeler with an eagle on its side, the report said.
· 14 Arrested in U.K. Anti-Terrorism Raids. Fourteen people were arrested in London overnight on suspicion they were involved in training and recruiting for acts of terrorism, police said Saturday. Police said the arrests were not linked to last month's alleged plot to bomb U.S.-bound passenger jets or to the July 2005 attacks on London's transport network. Twelve suspects were arrested at a Chinese restaurant in south London that caters to Muslims, the British Broadcasting Corp. said.
· Brutal Ugandan rebels to stop fighting. leaders of a shadowy rebel movement that has terrorized Ugandans for nearly two decades went on local radio with a special announcement: As of Tuesday, their war is over — the Lord's Resistance Army will stop fighting. The rebels, notorious for cutting off the tongues and lips of innocent civilians, enslaving tens of thousands of children and driving nearly 2 million people from their homes, have agreed to end one of the most brutal, but least known conflicts in the world.
· Report: U.S. Secretly Negotiated with Gaza Kidnappers. The U.S. secretly agreed to the "real demands" set by the group behind the August 14 kidnapping of two Fox News journalists in Gaza, according to a report in the pan-Arab newspaper al Hayat.
· Student With Dynamite on Plane Released. A college student who packed a stick of dynamite on a flight to Houston from Argentina was granted bond Monday on a federal charge of carrying an explosive aboard an aircraft. Howard MacFarland Fish had been in federal custody since early Friday when agents found a stick of dynamite — as well as a black powder-based fuse and a blasting cap — in his checked luggage upon his arrival to Houston on a Continental Airlines flight that originated in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
· Kidnapped Fox journalists released. Two Fox journalists kidnapped two weeks ago in Gaza were released Sunday and appeared to be in good health, video from the Palestinian news service Ramattan TV showed. Fox reporter Steve Centanni and photographer Olaf Wiig were released shortly after noon and dropped off at the Beach Hotel in Gaza City, where they were greeted by a swarm of people offering hugs, video from Ramattan showed. The hotel is a popular place for journalists.
· Dynamite traces found in bag at Bush airport. A college student's checked luggage on a Continental Airlines flight from Argentina to Houston contained traces of dynamite, authorities said, in one of six security incidents today involving U.S. flights.
· Iran Opens Nuclear Reactor, Defying U.N. Iran's hard-line president on Saturday inaugurated a heavy-water production plant, a facility the West fears will be used to develop a nuclear bomb, as Tehran remained defiant ahead of a U.N. deadline that could lead to sanctions. The U.N. has called on Tehran to stop the separate process of uranium enrichment - which also can be used to create nuclear weapons - by Thursday or face economic and political sanctions.
· Video Discloses Alleged Plot To Target Sears Tower. Undercover video acquired by CBS 2's Miami sister station, WFOR-TV CBS 4, reveals an inside look at a suspected terror group leader accused in a plot to target U.S. landmarks, including the Sears Tower. The suspected group was based in Miami and was allegedly led by a former Chicagoan.
· New rules let air marshals dress how they want. Air marshals were told Thursday they will be allowed to dress the way they want and choose their own hotels in order to protect their anonymity while on missions. Air marshals had complained that Brown's predecessor, Thomas Quinn, insisted on a too-formal dress code that allowed people to pick them out. The marshals said, for example, that being forced to wear a jacket and collared shirt made them stand out. Air marshals also won an agreement from Brown to let them choose their own hotels "within economic and related guidelines" to help keep their identities secret.
· Syria opposes U.N. force on its border. Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has expressed strong opposition to the deployment of U.N. troops along his country's border with Lebanon, saying such a move would be "hostile" to Syria and create problems between the two nations. "This negates the sovereignty of Lebanon," Al-Assad said in an interview Wednesday with Dubai TV. "No country in the world accepts having soldiers of another nationality patrolling its border."
· 12 Arrested After Northwest Jet Diverted. A dozen passengers were under arrest Wednesday after their flight got a fighter jet escort back to the Amsterdam airport. Dutch police said 12 people are in custody, although it was not immediately clear what the charges are. A police spokesman also declined to release the nationalities of the suspects.
· State Department Rejects Demands by Journalists' Kidnappers. The State Department rejected on Wednesday demands by a Palestinian group for the release of all Muslim prisoners in U.S. prisons in exchange for the release of two kidnapped Fox News journalists.
· Video of Kidnapped Journalists Released. A previously unknown Palestinian group released video Wednesday of two kidnapped Fox News journalists and demanded that Muslim prisoners in U.S. jails be released within 72 hours in exchange for the men, a Palestinian news agency broadcast by Al-Jazeera reported. The video was the first sign of American correspondent Steve Centanni, 60, of the San Francisco area, and cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand, since they were kidnapped Aug. 14.
· Charges Over Terror Plot. Eleven suspects in the alleged UK airport terror plot have been charged, it has been revealed. Police said eight people were charged with conspiracy to murder and preparing acts of terrorism. The three other suspects have been charged with other offences under the anti-terrorism Act. One of these is a 17-year-old. One woman has been released without charge and eleven others are still in custody.
· Terrorists uses Michael Moore film to mock Bush. An Iraqi militant group has produced an elaborate video of what it said were attacks on U.S. troops, in the latest example of the increasingly sophisticated propaganda war being waged by Iraqi insurgents.
· UK cops find martyr tapes. Several martyr videos were reportedly discovered on at least six laptops owned by some of the 23 suspects being questioned in the foiled terror plot to bomb as many as 10 jetliners bound for the United States. The British Broadcasting Corp., citing an unofficial police source, said Friday that several videos of the type that suicide bombers sometimes leave had been found as part of the intense investigation into the alleged plot.
· Israeli Troops Criticize Army, Equipment. Israeli soldiers returning from the war in Lebanon say the army was slow to rescue wounded comrades and suffered from a lack of supplies so dire that they had to drink water from the canteens of dead Hezbollah guerrillas. "We fought for nothing. We cleared houses that will be reoccupied in no time," said Ilia Marshak, a 22-year-old infantryman who spent a week in Lebanon.
· Letter threatens to blow up Taj Mahal. Police in northern India have heightened security around the Taj Mahal after receiving a letter threatening to blow up the monument, officials said Friday. Sandbag bunkers have been set up outside the towering entrance gates leading to the 17th century monument and soldiers belonging to an anti-terrorist squad have been posted on 24-hour duty, said Ashok Kumar, a senior government official in Uttar Pradesh state where the Taj Mahal is located.
· Hizbollah hands out cash to Lebanese. Hizbollah handed out bundles of cash from Iran on Friday to people whose homes were wrecked by Israeli bombing, consolidating the Iranian-backed group's support among Lebanon's Shi'ites and embarrassing the Beirut government. "This is a very, very reasonable amount. It is not small," said Ayman Jaber, 27, holding a wad he had just picked up from Hizbollah of $12,000 in banknotes wrapped in tissue.
· Explosives Detected In Passenger's Bottle. A West Virginia airport terminal was evacuated Thursday afternoon after a bomb-sniffing dog reacted to a bottle filled with a liquid in a passenger's luggage, an airport official said. The Transportation Security Administration said the contents of the water bottle have twice tested positive for explosives. Agency spokeswoman Amy von Walter said security checkpoint screeners got a positive test on a machine that uses swabs to find traces of explosives. A canine team then got a positive hit for explosives as well.
· Mystery 9/11 rescuer reveals himself. For years, authorities wondered about the identity of a U.S. Marine who appeared at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, helped find a pair of police officers buried in the rubble, then vanished. Even the producers of the new film chronicling the rescue, "World Trade Center," couldn't locate the mystery serviceman, who had given his name only as Sgt. Thomas.
· FBI: No Indication of Terror Ties for Muslim Men in Cell Phone Arrest. The FBI said Monday it had no information to indicate that the three Texas men arrested with about 1,000 cell phones in their van had any direct connection to known terrorist groups.
· Jet evacuated at LAX after toy spooks crew. An Alaska Airlines flight was evacuated on landing at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday after the flight crew became suspicious of a toy found on board. Alaska Airlines Flight 281 from Guadalajara, Mexico, landed normally at LAX but taxied to a remote part of the airport, where passengers were quickly taken off while police using bomb-sniffing dogs investigated, an FBI spokesman said. The device was identified as a type of toy transmitter and a thorough search of the plane and cargo hold for explosives came up negative.
· Gunmen kidnap Fox News journalists in Gaza. Palestinian gunmen kidnapped two foreign journalists working for the Fox News Channel in Gaza on Monday, a witness and the U.S. television network said. A Fox spokeswoman in New York named the two journalists as correspondent Steve Centanni, an American, and cameraman Olaf Wiig, from New Zealand.
· Hezbollah still firing - on Lebanon. After a tenuous cease-fire ended 34 days of vicious combat between Israel and Hezbollah overnight, Hezbollah guerrillas fired at least 10 Katyusha rockets that landed in southern Lebanon early Tuesday, the Israeli army said, adding that nobody was injured. The army said that none of the rockets, which were fired over a two-hour period, had crossed the border and so it had not responded.
· Mich., Texas airports see disturbances. Customs area at a Detroit airport was briefly shut down Saturday after a passenger claimed he had contaminated everyone on a flight with a biological agent, officials said. At Detroit Metropolitan Airport, a man got of a Northwest Airlines flight and implied to the crew he had a biological agent of some sort and had contaminated the flight. Airport emergency medical technicians examined the man and decided that he did not pose a health risk. He was allowed to leave, U.S. Customs agent Ron Smith said.
· Hezbollah leader agrees to cease-fire, with reservations. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Saturday that his militia will agree to a U.N. call for a cease-fire with Israel once a deal on timing is reached. But he said the Security Council resolution passed Friday is biased toward Israel, neglecting to blame it for what he described as "massacres" and "war crimes" during the month-long conflict.
· Judge: Unabomber Items to Be Sold Online. A federal judge has ordered personal items seized in 1996 from Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski's Montana cabin to be sold online. U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell Jr. ruled Thursday that items belonging to Kaczynski - including books, tools, clothing and two checkbooks - should be sold at a "reasonably advertised Internet auction." The auction will not include 100 items the government considers to be bomb-making materials.
· Security Council OKs Mideast Peace Deal. The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution seeking a "full cessation" of violence between Israel and Hezbollah, offering the region its best chance yet for peace after a month of fighting that has killed more than 800 people and inflamed Mideast tensions. The resolution, adopted unanimously, authorizes 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers to help Lebanese troops take control of south Lebanon as Israeli forces that have occupied the area withdraw.
· Suspected London Plane Terrorists Have Al Qaeda Connection. Police arrested 40 people in cities throughout Italy in raids on Muslim gathering places in a security crackdown after Britain thwarted an alleged terror plot, the Interior Ministry said Friday, as Pakistani intelligence agents claimed there was an Al Qaeda connection with ties to Afghanistan to the group of suspected terrorists arrested Thursday. The arrests in Italy were made Rome, Milan, Venice, Florence, Naples and other cities on Thursday and Friday "as part of an extraordinary operation that followed the British anti-terrorist operation," the ministry said in a statement.
· Bush's 'Islamic fascist' remark upsets Muslim groups. President George Bush's remark blaming "Islamic fascists" for the plot in London to blow up US-bound flights has caused an uproar among American Muslim groups. In a letter to Bush, Parvez Ahmed, board chairman of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, wrote, "The use of ill-defined hot button terms such as 'Islamic fascists,' 'militant jihadism,' 'Islamic radicalism,' or 'totalitarian Islamic empire,' harms our nation's image and interests worldwide, particularly in the Islamic world."
· Mike Wallace gushes over Iranian president. CBS let Mike Wallace humanize Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in an interview that clearly left the "60 Minutes" star awestruck. Veteran TV questioner Mike Wallace, now 88 years of age, could hardly contain himself talking about his hour-and-a-half meeting with Iran's Islamofascist leader, excerpts of which were telecast Thursday night with the full interview set to be shown Sunday. "He's an impressive fellow, this guy," Wallace said. "He's obviously smart as hell."
· Undercover UK Agent Infiltrated Suspected Terror Cell That Plotted to Blow Up 10 Jetliners. America may have been just days away from another Sept. 11, Department of Homeland Security officials said. That dire assessment came hours after British police swooped in and arrested 24 people in London Thursday, busting up an alleged terrorist plot to blow 10 packed U.S.-bound jetliners out of the sky over the Atlantic.
» ‘World Trade Center’ ads may be scaled back. Following the news early Thursday of a terrorist plot to blow up in-flight passenger airplanes, executives at Paramount Pictures considered scaling back advertising for the new Oliver Stone film, “World Trade Center,” which opened nationwide Wednesday.
» Bank Of England Releases List Of 19 Terror Suspects. The Bank of England froze the assets of 19 people early Friday, naming them as people arrested Thursday in connection with an alleged terror plot to bomb British passenger jets. The oldest person on the list, Shamin Mohammed Uddin, is 35. The youngest, Abdul Muneem Patel, is 17.
· TSA: Failures OK. The Transportation Security Administration recently announced it is changing the way it grades airport screeners on performance tests. While the TSA will still give annual tests to screeners, it will not fire screeners for failing.
· Terrorists planned to stage dry run within two days. The terrorist attack foiled by British authorities on Thursday was aimed at blowing up as many as 10 airplanes on trans-Atlantic flights, and plotters hoped to stage a dry run within two days, according to U.S. intelligence officials. The actual attack would have followed within days.
· Three Alleged Ringleaders ID'd - Explosives planned in sports drink. Three of the alleged ringleaders of the foiled airplane bomb plot have been identified by Western intelligence agencies involved in unraveling the plot. Sources identify the three, who are now in custody, as: Rashid Rauf, Mohammed al-Ghandra, and Ahmed al Khan. The suspected terror plotters arrested in Britain had planned to conceal their liquid or gel explosives inside a modified sports beverage drink container and trigger the device with the flash from a disposable camera.
· Michigan men held on terror charges. Two men were charged Wednesday with money laundering in support of terrorism after authorities said they found airplane passenger lists and information on airport security checkpoints in their car. Deputies stopped Osama Sabhi Abulhassan, 20, and Ali Houssaiky, 20, both of Dearborn, Michigan, on a traffic violation Tuesday. They found the flight documents along with $11,000 cash and 12 phones in the car. Abulhassan and Houssaiky admitted buying about 600 phones in recent months.
· Bomb plot causes worldwide airline chaos. Air travel to and from Britain has been plunged into chaos in the wake of the discovery of a plot to blow up airlines on transatlantic flights. Many airlines said they were cancelling all flights to Britain and to the epicentre of the threat, London Heathrow, one of the world's busiest airports.
· Plot had "footprint to Al Qaeda." A senior U.S. counterterrorism official said authorities believe dozens of people — possibly as many as 50 — were involved in the plot, which "had a footprint to Al Qaeda back to it." Another U.S. source in Washington said the plot had a "serious Al Qaeda connection." The terrorists were targeting United, American, and Continental airlines, two U.S. officials said.
· UK foils "mass murder on an unimaginable scale." British police say they have arrested 21 people in connection with a terrorist plot to blow up aircraft flying from the United Kingdom to the United States. Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson said the plot was "intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale," and the UK's threat warning level was raised to "critical" - meaning "an attack is expected imminently."
· Terrorists planned to blow up planes headed for U.S. A plot to blow up planes in flight from the UK to the US and commit "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" has been disrupted, Scotland Yard has said. It is thought the plan was to detonate explosive devices smuggled in hand luggage on to as many as 10 aircraft. According to MI5's website, critical threat level - the highest - means "an attack is expected imminently and indicates an extremely high level of threat to the UK."
· “Liquid chemical” explosive device planned for multiple planes. British police thwarted on Thursday what they said was a plot to blow up aircraft in mid-flight between Britain and the United States and arrested more than 15 people. Both countries stepped up security, causing severe delays at airports following the revelation of the plot, which a police source said was believed to involve a “liquid chemical” device.
· US raises air security alert to "RED" or "Severe" for first time. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it was taking an unprecedented step by raising the threat level for commercial flights originating in the United Kingdom to "severe," or red. The threat level for all other commercial aircraft operating in or destined for the United States would be raised to "high," or orange, from "elevated," or yellow, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a statement. The threat level for the country as a whole remained at yellow, according to the department's Web site.
· Suicide Bomber Dies in Pakistan When Belt Explodes Prematurely. A suicide bomber was killed early Sunday in southwestern Pakistan when the explosives belt he was wearing exploded prematurely, police said. "This man was riding a cycle. He had strapped explosives to his body for a suicide attack and they exploded," police said of the blast in Hub's Zehri Street neighborhood.
· Iran: We supplied long-range Zelzal-2 missiles to Hizbullah. Iran admitted for the first time on Friday that it did indeed supply long-range Zelzal-2 missiles to Hizbullah. Secretary-general of the "Intifada conference" Mohtashami Pur told an Iranian newspaper that Iran transferred the missiles so that they could be used to defend Lebanon.
· Big Break In Phoenix Shootings. Authorities arrested two men Friday in their investigation of a series of shootings that have terrorized people throughout the Phoenix area, according to police. The so-called "Serial Shooter" has held Phoenix in a grip of fear for months, with six people killed and 18 wounded.
· Investigation: U.S. borders perilously porous. Along the northern and southern borders, undercover federal investigators tried to enter the United States using fake driver’s licenses and fake birth certificates. The results? Staggering. At all nine border crossings tested, investigators got in easily. Not a single border agent detected the phony IDs. In fact, at two crossings, agents didn't even check any IDs at all. "Well, this is totally unacceptable,” says Thomas Kean, former chairman of the 9/11 commission.
· Man Straps Device To Woman's Body, Demands Pills. Police in Daytona Beach, Fla., are searching for a man who ambushed a woman outside a pharmacy, strapped an apparent explosive device to her body, and demanded pills from inside the store.
· Court posts 9/11 trial exhibits online. Exhibits from the trial of convicted terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, including photographs of September 11 carnage and tape-recorded final phone calls from World Trade Center victims, were posted Monday by a federal court. The U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, said it is the first criminal case for which a federal court has provided access to all exhibits online. The videos, photographs and taped phone calls on the court's Web site were graphic in some cases, leading the court to mark 18 of the 1,202 exhibits "discretion advised."
· Muslim man shoots six women at Seattle Jewish center. One woman was killed and five others were wounded, three critically, in a shooting at the Jewish Federation in downtown Seattle. Police have detained Naveed Afzal Haq who is a U.S. citizen of Pakistani descent. All of the shooting victims - including the one killed - were women. The Seattle Times reports that one of the victims is described as 17 weeks pregnant.
· Al-Zawahri calls for holy war on Israel. Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader issued a worldwide call Thursday for Muslims to rise up in a holy war against Israel and join the fighting in Lebanon and Gaza u
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