04-15-09 Intel Report
1. N. Korea Says It Will Boycott Nuclear Talks, Restart Weapons Plant
By Blaine Harden Washington Post Foreign Service Tuesday, April 14, 2009; 2:31 PM
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3174
TOKYO, April 14 -- Fuming at the U.N. Security Council for condemning its recent missile launch, North Korea said Tuesday it will restart its plutonium factory, junk all its disarmament agreements and "never participate" again in six-country nuclear negotiations. In response, the White House called on North Korea Tuesday to "cease its provocative threats" and honor its commitments. North Korea had warned before launching a long-range missile on April 5 that it would tolerate no U.N. criticism of what it insisted was a peaceful attempt to put a satellite into orbit. When the 15-member Security Council unanimously condemned that launch on Monday and demanded a halt to all future missile launches, the North's reaction was swift, vitriolic and surprisingly substantive...
North Korea Expels Nuclear Inspectors After Leaving Six-Party Talks
Wall Street Journal ASIA NEWS APRIL 14, 2009, 5:49 P.M. ET
By DAVID CRAWFORD and EVAN RAMSTAD
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123968011495616255.html
North Korea ordered International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors out of the country Tuesday. The decision ends international monitoring of a research reactor at Yongbyon and in theory could allow reprocessing of fuel rods to produce plutonium. The on-again, off-again inspections at the 5-megawatt Experimental Nuclear Reactor Plant and the Nuclear Fuel Fabrication Plant at Yongbyon resumed in October, soon after the U.S. announced it would remove North Korea from the State Department list of countries that sponsor terrorism…
U.S. failed to use best radar for N. Korea missile
Bill Gertz Washington Times Wednesday, April 15, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3175
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates denied permission for the U.S. Northern Command to use the Pentagon's most powerful sea-based radar to monitor North Korea's recent missile launch, precluding officials from collecting finely detailed launch data or testing the radar in a real-time crisis, current and former defense officials said. Jamie Graybeal, Northcom public affairs director, confirmed to The Washington Times that Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, the Northcom commander, requested the radar's use but referred all other questions to the Pentagon. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Mr. Gates' decision not to use the $900 million radar, known as SBX, was "based on the fact that there were numerous ground- and sea-based radars and sensors in the region to support the operational requirements for this launch." SBX, deployed in 2005, can track and identify warheads, decoys and debris in space with very high precision. Officials said the radar is so powerful it could detect a baseball hit out of a ballpark from more than 3,000 miles away, and that other radars used by the U.S. would not be able to provide the same level of detail about North Korea's missile capabilities. Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, who until recently headed the Missile Defense Agency, said the SBX would have gathered data other U.S. systems could not…
2. Legion objects to vets as terror risk
Audrey Hudson and Eli Lake Wednesday, April 15, 2009 Washington Times
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/15/legion-objects-to-vets-as-te...
The American Legion on Tuesday criticized a new Homeland Security report as unfairly stereotyping veterans by suggesting that some soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan could be recruited by right-wing extremists to participate in violent actions. "I think it is important for all of us to remember that Americans are not the enemy. The terrorists are," David K. Rehbein, national commander of the veterans organization, said in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano about a security assessment titled "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence and Recruitment." The report, which prompted a storm of outrage Tuesday from conservatives, cited the example of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in warning that the return of disgruntled military veterans could lead to "terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks." Mr. Rehbein also challenged the department on that score, speaking on behalf of the legion's 2.6 million members. "To continue to use McVeigh as an example of the stereotypical 'disgruntled military veteran' is as unfair as using Osama bin Laden as the sole example of Islam," he said. Homeland Security spokeswoman Sara Kuban said the department also has warned about the dangers from "leftwing extremists" in occasional reports to federal, state, local and tribal counterterrorism and law enforcement officials. The Washington Times independently obtained and verified such a report from Jan. 26 titled, "Leftwing Extremists Likely to Increase Use of Cyber Attacks over the Coming Decade." Ms. Kuban said work on the "Rightwing Extremism" report, which was reported Tuesday by The Times, began more than a year ago, during the Bush administration. However key findings in the report, which cited the economic downturn and the election of President Obama, indicate that much of the work was done in the past few months...
3. More foreign spies targeting Canada: report
Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:12pm EDT By David Ljunggren Reuters
http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE53D4W320090414
IPT NOTE: The CSIS annual report for 2007-08 is posted at http://www.csis-scrs.gc.ca/pblctns/nnlrprt/2007/PublicReport0708_Eng.pdf [PDF] and http://www.csis-scrs.gc.ca/pblctns/nnlrprt/2007/rprt2007-eng.asp [HTML]. Previous annual reports are found at http://www.csis-scrs.gc.ca/pblctns/nnlrprt/index-eng.asp
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Foreign nations have stepped up their efforts to infiltrate Canada and steal valuable industrial, military and commercial secrets, the Canadian spy agency says in its latest annual report. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) also expressed concern about foreign interference in the country's domestic affairs, given Canada's multicultural makeup and large immigrant communities. The report for the year 2007-2008 was quietly posted on the agency's website earlier this month with no publicity. No one at the agency was immediately available for comment. "Foreign espionage -- the primary preoccupation of intelligence agencies right up until the 1990s -- continued unabated after (the) 9/11 (attacks on the United States). It is in fact growing and becoming even more sophisticated and aggressive through the application of new technologies," the report said. Foreign spies are interested in sectors such as agriculture, biotechnology, communications, oil exploitation, mining, aerospace and control systems engineering, it said. CSIS also noted that Canada -- as a member of NATO and the signatory to numerous defense agreements -- had access to military technologies through its allies…
4. Gates Proposes Massive Spending Shift
Aviation Week April 13, 2009 By Amy Butler
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3176
IPT NOTE: Secretary Gates' budget recommendation statement is posted at http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1341
Some aerospace contractors have dubbed Apr. 6 "Black Monday," because of Defense Secretary Robert Gates's announcement that he plans to scale back or terminate dozens of Pentagon programs in order to reshape the U.S. military. Nevertheless, the outlook for Pentagon aviation may not be as dark as it seems: Programs are being killed and some jobs will be lost, but Congress won't approve the plan without a fight. Although contractors are bemoaning the cuts that Gates has handed down, his strategy includes a 4% increase to the Fiscal 2010 budget - the change is in priorities. Gates is planning to rein in war supplemental funding and provide a more complete baseline spending road map. While the total projection goes up, the allocation for procurement is feeling the squeeze. Fixed-wing aviation will see line closures soon, and the helicopter market is being hit hard with the termination of the Air Force Combat Search-and-Rescue (CSAR-X) system and the Navy-led Marine One efforts. But, according to Gates and Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, there may be a silver lining. They say contractors can expect the Pentagon to be a more stable buyer and reduce the fitful changes in funding and requirements… CHART: ….
Defense Budget Recommendation Statement (Arlington, VA)
As Prepared for Delivery by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Arlington, VA, Monday, April 06, 2009
U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1341
Media contact: +1 (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public contact: http://www.defenselink.mil/faq/comment.html or +1 (703) 428-0711 +1
5. U.S.: No sites chosen for Guantánamo detainees
BY CAROL ROSENBERG Miami Herald Posted on Mon, Apr. 13, 2009
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/story/997763.html
The Obama administration said Monday it has made no decisions on how many of the 240 or so Guantánamo detainees will be moved to U.S. soil, and whether they will be scattered around lockups throughout the United States or concentrated in one place. Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd also declined to say whether any sites had been ruled out as possible lockups for the men from 30 nations, many of whom have been held at the remote U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba for seven-plus years.
Al Jazeera: Guantánamo captive called us to protest guards' treatment
BY CAROL ROSENBERG Miami Herald Apr 14, 2009
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/story/999950.html
A Guantánamo detainee used his prison camp telephone privileges to ring up a reporter with the Middle Eastern news network al Jazeera and complain that he had been abused by prison camp guards, the U.S. military and network said Tuesday. Mohammed el Gharani, whose attorneys say he was captured at age 14, in Pakistan, got the phone privileges in Camp Iguana, a transitional holding site for detainees awaiting release. He is a citizen of Chad who reportedly grew up in Saudi Arabia and was in Pakistan studying at the time he was captured by security forces, and turned over to the United States for interrogation…
6. Spain asks U.S. about location of 9/11 suspect
BY DANIEL WOOLLS Associated Press Posted on Tue, Apr. 14, 2009
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/story/998941.html
A Spanish judge has asked the United States, Britain and three other countries about the whereabouts of an alleged senior al Qaeda member who was captured in Pakistan in 2005, a court official said Tuesday.
Judge Baltasar Garzon of the National Court wants to find Mustafa Setmarian Nasar, a Syrian-born Spaniard who was indicted on terrorism charges in Spain in 2003, said the official, who spoke anonymously in keeping with court rules. Setmarian Nasar is considered a jihadist ideologue and writer. U.S. officials have confirmed he was seized in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta in November 2005, and Pakistani officials said he was flown out of the country…
7. Swedish man accused of terrorism faces New York trial
Mon Apr 13, 2009 3:42pm EDT Reuters By Christine Kearney
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE53C50920090413
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Jury selection began on Monday in the trial of a Lebanese-born Swedish man accused of helping set up a militant training camp in rural Oregon and operating websites showing how to assemble bombs. Oussama Abdullah Kassir, 43, who was extradited from the Czech Republic to New York in 2007, faces multiple charges, including supporting terrorism and al Qaeda, by attempting to set up the camp in Bly, Oregon from 1999 to early 2000. Prosecutors say Kassir and two others involved in the case were followers of Egyptian-born Abu Hamza al-Masri, a one-armed Muslim cleric who is serving a seven-year sentence in Britain for inciting his followers to murder nonbelievers. James Ujaama, a former community activist in Seattle, has pleaded guilty to trying to help al Qaeda militants and may testify at the trial in Manhattan federal court as part of a plea agreement. The other suspect in the case, Haroon Rashid Aswat, one of Masri's chief aides, is appealing against extradition to the United States. Prosecutors say in late 1999 Kassir and Aswat flew from London to New York and then traveled to Oregon to assess the suitability of a property for the camp…
8. American Al Qaeda Operative Says Western Countries' Economies 'On The Brink Of Failure'
Posted by CBS News Investigates April 13, 2009 2:54 PM
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/04/13/monitor/entry4941369.shtml
American al Qaeda figure Adam Gadahn called on Muslims to support jihad with "men and money," while claiming that the West was now on the verge of collapse under the strikes of the militants. Gadahn's comments came in a one-hour and 30-minute video produced by al Qaeda's media wing As Sahab and released on the Internet on Monday… He dismissed efforts by U.S. President Barack Obama to improve relations with the Muslim world, saying that his predecessors had all made the same claim but all, including President Obama himself, have maintained the same policies and the same approach towards Muslims…
Air, rail, port, health & communication infrastructure security
IPT NOTE: For more infrastructure news, see Dep't of Homeland Security Daily Open Source Infrastructure Reports http://www.dhs.gov/xinfoshare/programs/editorial_0542.shtm; Public Safety Canada Daily Infrastructure Report http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/dir/index-eng.aspx; TSA Press Releases http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/index.shtm
9. Two new methods for ricin detection
Laura Cassiday Anal. Chem., Article ASAP DOI: 10.1021/ac900458v
Publication Date (Web): March 20, 2009 Copyright © 2009 American Chemical Society
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/ac900458v
Ricin, a protein extracted from the castor bean, is one of nature's most potent toxins. A single castor bean contains sufficient ricin to kill >1000 people if the purified toxin is injected or inhaled. Therefore, ricin is considered a major bioterrorism threat. That's why two groups of researchers, Suzanne Kalb and John Barr at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Matthew Sturm and Vern Schramm at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, independently developed assays for the sensitive detection of ricin's enzymatic activity. Their results are reported in two new AC papers (DOI 10.1021/ac802769s http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ac802769s and 10.1021/ac8026433 http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ac8026433)...
Bioterrorism: Fast And Sensitive Way To Detect Ricin
ScienceDaily (Apr. 13, 2009) —
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090408104538.htm
10. Ports brace for headaches with new ID program
By Laura Elder The Daily News (Galveston) Published April 14, 2009
http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=3308e5c3fde30c9e
Officials, labor leaders and industry executives are bracing for glitches, logjams and the possibility of having to turn away some waterfront workers today as the federal government launches a program requiring biometric identification from anyone needing unescorted access to secure port areas. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has begun the first phase of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential Program to assess the security threat of workers moving in and out of the nation's ports. The new federal ID requirements, born out of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, affect thousands of longshoremen, truckers, vessel crew members, dockworkers, security guards, rail employees and anyone else who needs unescorted access to ports in Galveston and Texas City. Anyone without the biometric card, which recognizes people based on unique characteristics such as fingerprints, either will be turned away or must wait for a port escort…
Port prepares to test TWIC readers
By Leischen Stelter - 04.14.2009
http://www.securitydirectornews.com/?p=article&id=sd2009046BWR8j
LOS ANGELES--While the Port of Los Angeles will be one of the last ports in the country to implement the Transportation Worker Identification Card program today, it will be one of the first to test and evaluate the biometric element of TWIC…
11. Massachusetts CST trains on Soviet naval ship
By Army Sgt. James Lally Massachusetts National Guard April 11, 2009
http://www.ngb.army.mil/news/archives/2009/04/041309-Massachusetts.aspx
FALL RIVER, Mass. (4/11/09) - A Weapons of Mass Destruction team from the Massachusetts National Guard recently swept a former Soviet naval ship for radioactive material here at the Battle Ship Cove naval ship display. The 1st Civil Support Team (CST) used the ship to conduct a radioactive material training exercise. Prior to the exercise, the CST conducted a two-day course about rapid radiological assessments. The purpose of the exercise was to train the team through all stages of an alert with an emphasis on dealing with a radiation hazard and to build upon their previous maritime operations training...
12. Biometrics brings greater confidence to airport security
By Leischen Stelter - 04.14.2009
http://www.securitydirectornews.com/?p=article&id=sd200904wJ0dBP
NEW YORK--A security breach in April at the Toronto Pearson International Airport in which two government officials were able to enter a secure area without proper identification, brings to light the challenge airports face in ensuring proper access privileges. In an effort to maintain greater certainty over access control, more and more airports are considering adopting biometric technology… Jeanne Olivier, general manager, aviation security and technology for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is one of the leaders of the Biometric Airport Security Identification Consortium, a pilot program started last year to test and analyze various biometric technologies at airports nationwide. The consortium, which began in 2008, has grown from six participating airports to 32, said Carter Morris, senior vice president of transportation security policy at the American Association of Airline Executives…
13. Private aircraft fly under the radar
Updated at 4:45 pm By Rhianna Daniels - 04.14.2009
http://www.securitydirectornews.com/?p=article&id=sd200904VU0gz9
ELLSINORE, Mo.--Last week when a man stole a small plane that led federal authorities on a chase from Canada to Missouri, the incident reinvigorated the debate over security regulations for private planes. Student pilot Adam Dylan Leon told authorities he was trying to commit suicide by persuading U.S. authorities to shoot him down, flying a Cessna 172 from Thunder Bay, Canada, through three states last Monday. The plane was tracked by U.S. military, border protection and aviation authorities until the pilot landed on a road here. Since the 9/11 attacks, federal aviation authorities and airports have struggled with how general security aviation airports and small plane operators, including private business fleets, should be regulated when it comes to security. Ann Davis, a spokesperson with the Transportation Security Administration, said a notice published in the federal register in October 2008 suggested rules that would "ultimately require private aircraft in excess of 12,500 pounds" to vet all passengers against the terrorist watch list, and conduct background checks for pilots and crew members. But today, "the private aircraft industry is largely unregulated by TSA," with the exception of charter aircraft, she said…
14. Border agroterrorism workshop heads to tribal land
By MELANIE DABOVICH Associated Press April 13, 2009, 5:18PM
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6371790.html
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Laguna Pueblo officials hope an agricultural terrorism course being held at the pueblo this week will help create a way for tribes to coordinate their emergency preparedness plans for livestock and crops with the state's plan. The course, "Preparedness and Response to Agricultural Terrorism," focuses on preparing the agricultural industry in case of a major attack, but also provides a framework for dealing with more common threats, including animal and plant diseases. It will be the first course of its kind on pueblo land and geared specifically toward pueblo farmers and ranchers. "This is the most comprehensive class available to teach how to recognize and deal with issues that might affect agriculture whether from accidental, natural or criminal cause," said Billy Dictson, co-director of the Southwest Border Food Safety and Defense Center and director of New Mexico State University's Office of Biosecurity in Las Cruces...
Financing, identity theft, money laundering
15. Deal under way for former terror suspect to get probation
BY DAVID ASHENFELTER • DETROIT FREE PRESS April 14, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3177
Federal prosecutors and a lawyer for a former terrorism suspect are negotiating an agreement that would result in probation and eventual expunging of his criminal record, according to documents filed today in U.S. District Court in Detroit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Straus telegraphed his office's intentions in a document which said he and the lawyer for Karim Koubriti, 30, a Moroccan immigrant who lives in Southfield, were delaying Koubriti's trial until May 6 so they could enter into a pretrial diversion agreement… Koubriti's lawyer, Deputy Federal Defender Richard Helfrick, said … the diversion agreement likely would require Koubriti to serve 6-12 months of probation. Upon successful completion, the charges against him would be removed from his criminal record and he wouldn't be deported, Helfrick said… Koubriti and another man were convicted in Detroit in 2003 of conspiring to support terrorism. A third man was convicted of document fraud. But the convictions were overturned the next year at the request of the U.S. Attorney's Office because prosecutors withheld key evidence from the defendants. ater that year, prosecutors charged Koubriti and the third man for allegedly trying to defraud an insurance company for bogus injuries in a traffic accident. The company discovered the scheme and refused to pay any money…
Border security, immigration, customs
IPT NOTE: For more details, see US Customs and Border Protection releases at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/ ; US Immigration and Customs Enforcement http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/2754 , and Canada Border Services Agency http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/menu-eng.html
16. CBP Officers Seize $1 Million in Undeclared Outbound Currency from FAST Driver at World Trade Bridge
(Monday, April 13, 2009) US Customs and Border Protection Press Release
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/04132009_9.xml
Laredo, Texas – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Laredo port of entry conducting outbound operations this Easter weekend and seized $1 million in undeclared currency from a driver enrolled in a trusted shipper program. The seizure occurred about 2 p.m. on April 11, at World Trade Bridge. CBP officers conducting outbound (southbound) inspections referred a 1999 Freightliner tractor hauling a shipment of appliances driven by Jose Luis Martinez Gonzalez, a 26-year-old Mexican citizen from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico for a secondary examination…
MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA
17. Sunni Insurgents Claim Blast That Killed 5 U.S. Troops
Group Also Says It Was Behind Slaying of 8 'Sons of Iraq'
By Ernesto Londoño Washington Post Foreign Service Tuesday, April 14, 2009; A07
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3178
BAGHDAD, April 13 -- The Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group for extremist organizations including al-Qaeda in Iraq, asserted responsibility Monday for a bombing that killed five U.S. soldiers last week in the deadliest attack on American troops in Iraq in more than a year. The group also said it carried out a suicide bombing that killed at least eight Sunni Muslim armed guards as they were waiting outside an Iraqi army station south of Baghdad to collect their salaries. U.S. officials say al-Qaeda in Iraq and other Sunni extremist groups have lost the widespread support and financial backing they had in years past. But the recent spate of bombings that bear the trademarks of the group have raised concerns about a possible resurgence of violence as the U.S. military begins to close small outposts and prepares to once again operate almost exclusively out of large bases...
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release No. 239-09 April 13, 2009
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12605
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Spc. Michael J. Anaya, 23, of Crestview, Fla., died April 12 in Bayji, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii…
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release No. 241-09 April 14, 2009
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12606
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. Raul Moncada, 29, of Madera, Calif., died April 13 near Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to the 563rd Military Police Company, 91st Military Police Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y…
18. N.J. Congressman Donald Payne speaks after attack in Mogadishu
by Ralph R. Ortega and Rudy Larini/The Newark Star-Ledger Monday April 13, 2009, 9:32 PM
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3179
The plane carrying a New Jersey congressman on a fact-finding mission to war-torn Somalia was fired on by errant mortars as it took off from Mogadishu airport but arrived safely in Nairobi, Kenya. U.S. Rep. Donald Payne (D-10th Dist.) said in a telephone interview from Kenya that he did not learn of the attack until landing in Nairobi… Nineteen Somali civilians were injured the mortars landed in residential areas near the airport. None of the six shells landed in the airport. The Islamic extremist group al-Shabab later claimed responsibility for the mortar barrage in a statement posted on a militant Web site…
Somali pirates defy warning from President Obama to seize more ships
Rob Crilly in Nairobi From The Times (London) April 15, 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article6094240.ece
Hours after President Obama promised to halt the rise of piracy off the Horn of Africa, Somali gunmen gave their response, hijacking two more vessels and opening fire on a third yesterday. It also emerged that they had seized two Egyptian fishing boats a day earlier, making a total of four vessels and more than sixty crew captured in little more than 24 hours of plunder. A flotilla of warships patrolling busy shipping lanes has repelled several attacks but has not been able to prevent 18 successful hijacks this year...
19. Hizbullah terror cell reportedly plans 3 attacks against Israelis in Sinai
By JPOST.COM STAFF April 14, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3180
A Hizbullah terror cell in operating in Egypt planned to carry out three simultaneous terror attacks on Israeli tourists in the Sinai Peninsula, the Egyptian paper Al Ahram reported Tuesday. According to the report, which was based on the interrogation of terror suspect Sami Shihab, Hizbullah was not planning to transfer weapons to Hamas in the Gaza Strip via Sinai, but rather to use them to carry out attacks within Egypt. The newspaper reported earlier in the week that terror cell members had acquired a house in Cairo and numerous villas in Sinai as part of the plot to perpetrate terror attacks in the area.
Israeli defence source says Hezbollah network in Egypt planned to hit Israel
BBC Monitoring Middle East – Political Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring
April 12, 2009 Sunday Copyright 2009 British Broadcasting Corporation
Excerpt from report by Israeli public radio station Voice of Israel Network B on 12 April
http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk/index.htm subscription req'd, available on NEXIS/Westlaw
A defence source has said that the terrorist network operated by Hezbollah in Egypt was about to attack Israeli targets as well. He noted that Israel was not surprised by the network's exposure, because it had repeatedly warned that Hezbollah and Iran were directly involved in the smuggling of weapons and warfare materiel to the Gaza Strip. The source added that Hezbollah sought to embarrass Egypt and tarnish its reputation, and Nasrallah's statement to the effect that his organization had meant to assist Hamas against Israel was a lie. The defence source told our army affairs correspondent Karmela Menashe that Hezbollah is part of the Iranian conspiracy aiming to topple all the moderate regimes in the Middle East and would use any means towards that end. He added that by exposing the terrorist network, Cairo displayed an impressive capability. [passage omitted on foreign media reports]…
Lebanese Hezbollah chief denies accusations of planning attacks against Egypt
BBC Monitoring Middle East – Political Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring
April 12, 2009 Sunday Copyright 2009 British Broadcasting Corporation
Text of report by Lebanese Hezbollah Al-Manar TV on 10 April
[Speech by Hasan Nasrallah, secretary general of Lebanon's Hezbollah, in which he comments on recent Egyptian "accusations" that Hezbollah was "plotting to carry out attacks" in Egypt, carried on television, place not given - live.]
http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk/index.htm subscription req'd, available on NEXIS/Westlaw
… I will go directly into the subject connected with the accusations made by the Egyptian authorities, against me and Hezbollah. I have divided my talk into: first the facts, second the accusations, and third the comments…
Gaza boat explodes near Israel Navy vessel in attempted terror attack
By Haaretz Correspondent and AP, By Anshel Pfeffer April 14, 2009
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1078390.html
A booby-trapped fishing boat yesterday exploded near an Israel Navy vessel off the northern Gaza coast, in a failed terror attack. No one was wounded in the blast, which occurred about 300 meters from the Gaza coast, near the Israeli border. At about 6 A.M. Israel Navy vessels on a routine patrol off the Gaza coast saw several fishing boats leaving the area permitted for fishing. An unmanned fishing boat moved toward an Israeli patrol vessel in a suspicious manner, but the navy boats kept their distance and did not fire at it, military sources said. The Palestinian vessel exploded a few hundred meters away from the Israeli vessel. It was estimated to be carrying hundreds of kilograms of explosives on board…
20. Saudi Arabia to regulate girls' marriages
Tue Apr 14, 2009 5:26am EDT Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE53D1W220090414
RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia plans to regulate the marriages of young girls, its justice minister was quoted as saying on Tuesday, after a court refused to nullify the marriage of an 8-year-old to a man 50 years her senior. The justice ministry aims "to put an end to arbitrariness by parents and guardians in marrying off minor girls," Justice Minister Mohamed al-Issa told al-Watan newspaper, partially owned by members of the royal family… A court in the Saudi town of Unaiza upheld for the second time last week the marriage of the Saudi girl to a man who is about 50 years her senior…
ASIA / PACIFIC
21. 'Dynamic' woman who embraced life on last trip home
Blais remembered as brave soldier
By Matthew Fisher and Phil Couvrette, Canwest News Service April 14, 2009 4:02 PM
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3181
KABUL — As Canada's latest soldier to die in Afghanistan started her final trip home, a family in a small town in eastern Quebec was deep in grief Tuesday after learning of the loss of their daughter. Mario Blais, the godfather of Trooper Karine Blais, 21, who died in roadside bomb explosion northwest of Kandahar City on Monday, said the family was devastated by the news of her death, which has touched the entire community of Les Mechins in Quebec's Gaspe region…
22. Pakistani Peace Deal Gives New Clout to Taliban Rebels
By ZAHID HUSSAIN and MATTHEW ROSENBERG
ASIA NEWS APRIL 14, 2009 Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123963706622913745.html
MINGORA, Pakistan -- Thousands of Islamist militants are pouring into Pakistan's Swat Valley and setting up training camps here, quickly making it one of the main bases for Taliban fighters and raising their threat to the government in the wake of a controversial peace deal. President Asif Ali Zardari effectively ratified the government's deal with the Taliban Monday by signing a bill that imposes Islamic law in Swat, a key plank of the accord, hours after legislators overwhelmingly approved a resolution urging it. Pakistani officials have touted the deal, reached in February, as a way to restore peaceful order in the bloodied region -- which lies just a few hours' drive from the capital -- and halt the Taliban's advance. Yet a visit to the Taliban-controlled valley here found mounting evidence that the deal already is strengthening the militants as a base for war. U.S. officials contend the pact has given the Taliban and its allies in al Qaeda and other Islamist groups an advantage in their long-running battle against Pakistan's military. The number of militants in the valley swelled in the months before the deal with the Taliban was struck, and they continue to move in, say Pakistani and U.S. officials. They now estimate there are between 6,000 and 8,000 fighters in Swat, nearly double the number at the end of last year. Taliban leaders here make no secret of their ultimate aim. "Our objective is to drive out Americans and their lackeys" from Pakistan and Afghanistan, said Muslim Khan, a spokesman for the group, in an interview here. "They are not Muslims and we have to throw them out." Militant training camps are springing up across the valley's thickly forested mountainsides. "Young men with no prospect of employment and lack of education facilities are joining the militants," said Abdur Rehman, a schoolteacher in Swat…
"We are all frightened by this brutality. No one can dare to challenge them," said Fazle Rabbi, who owns a cloth shop in Mingora, Swat's main town. The shop sits on a square that has become known among residents as "Slaughter Square" because the Taliban have begun using it to dump bodies after executions. Since the new peace deal was made, the militants are beginning to push into neighboring areas. Last week they overpowered a village militia in the adjacent Buner district. The attack was a violation of the peace accord. But the Taliban faction that controls Swat says it has no intention of withdrawing. "We want Islamic sharia [law] also to be enforced in Buner," said Mr. Khan. "No one can force us out from any part of the province." Many of the longer-term jihadist fighters are loyal to groups with ties to al Qaeda, such as Jaish-e-Mohammed. They have been hardened on battlefields in neighboring Afghanistan and the Kashmir region claimed by India and Pakistan -- underlining the growing confluence between the various Islamist groups fighting on either side of the Afghan-Pakistani border, the officials say… At barbershops, notices warn men not to shave their beards. Women are no longer allowed to leave their homes without their husbands or male blood relatives. Girls' schools have been reopened after initially being closed but the students must be covered from head to toe, and Taliban officials routinely inspect classrooms for violators… The Taliban were already imposing their own version of sharia, which has been interpreted with wide variations by Islamic scholars for centuries. Pakistani television stations recently broadcast a video of a woman being flogged by black-turbaned Taliban in Swat. Most official accounts say she was alleged to have left her house without a male blood relative…
Terrorists rally in Swat, march through region
By Bill Roggio April 14, 2009 2:13 PM Long War Journal
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3182
The Pakistani government's peace agreement with the Swat Taliban and the subsequent approval of the sharia regulation have bolstered Islamist terrorists in northwestern Pakistan and created a new safe haven for al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. The peace agreement, known as the Malakand Accord, was implemented in the Malakand Division in mid-February. It has provided a victory for the Taliban. The agreement calls for the withdrawal of the Pakistani Army from Swat, the release all Taliban prisoners, the withdrawal of any criminal cases against Taliban leaders and fighters, and the imposition of sharia. The Malakand Division is an administrative region that encompasses more than one-third of the Northwest Frontier Province and includes the districts of Malakand, Swat, Shangla, Buner, Dir, Chitral, and Kohistan. President Asif Ali Zardari, the leader of the secular Pakistani Peoples Party, signed the sharia bill into law yesterday following the military's failure to restore the government's writ in Swat after three attempts since 2007. Zardari previously had said he would not sign the bill until peace was restored to Swat, but he relented in the face of political pressure, Taliban threats, and a lightning Taliban advance into Buner…
EUROPE
23. Jailbust rant by fanatic
By SIMON HUGHES The Sun (UK) Published: Today
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2375670.ece
HATE preacher Anjem Choudary has called on fellow fanatics to free Muslim prisoners held in British and foreign jails. On a secret recording obtained by The Sun, he rants that it is "only a matter of time" before the flag of Islam flies over Downing Street, the White House and the Kremlin in Moscow. But he warns that in the struggle: "Some of our brothers will become martyred, some will become injured, others will be captured and tortured." Former lawyer Choudary, 47, who lives on state benefits, tells his followers they have "a fahad" — an obligation — to free Muslims from jail. He cites the "sisters" held in London's Belmarsh and Holloway prisons. Then, during a speech to a conference entitled Innocent Until Proven Muslim, he names the blind sheik Abdullah Rahman, jailed for life in the United States for plotting a terrorist bombing campaign in New York…
24. Student visa scam allowing terror suspects into Britain
Andrew Norfolk and Richard Kerbaj The Times (London) April 14, 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6088249.ece
A suspected terrorist linked to an alleged al-Qaeda plot to attack Manchester was a student at a bogus college that sold places on fake courses to hundreds of Pakistanis seeking entry to Britain. Manchester College of Professional Studies acted as a gateway to Britain for foreigners willing to pay £50 for the letter of admission that earned them a student visa. Abdul Wahab Khan, 26, one of ten Pakistani nationals still in detention after terror raids last week in the North West, was registered at the college as an English-language student. A former employee has told The Times that more than a hundred young Pakistani men, most from the country's troubled North West Frontier Province, came to Britain after being enrolled as students at the college. He said that no classes were taught at the college. It had only two classrooms, no genuine teachers and sat among a cluster of Asian businesses on a busy suburban road. The college, which operated for two years, shut down last July after a Home Office raid prompted by "concerns about irregularities", according to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. The Times has learnt that the two men who ran the college are closely linked to a new institution, Bradford College of Professional Studies, which has "campuses" in Bradford and Manchester. A fortnight ago it was listed — alongside Eton, Cambridge and Oxford — on the Government's register of approved education and training providers…
Bogus foreign students free to flout new laws
Home Office fails to vet hundreds of colleges
Richard Ford and Andrew Norfolk The Times (London) April 15, 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article6094661...
Thousands of bogus students remain free to enter Britain despite new laws aimed at tightening controls on immigration. The Times has learnt that hundreds of colleges recently approved by the Home Office to accept non-EU students have not been inspected by its officers. Weaknesses in the student visa system have emerged following the arrest of 12 terror suspects last week. Ten of the men entered this country from Pakistan on student visas. It has also emerged that the vast majority of non-EU students will not be interviewed by the Home Office but admitted on the basis of written applications and evidence of sponsorship, educational qualifications and bank statements...
Father of terror suspect accuses Britain of discrimination
The father of a suspect in the alleged Easter bomb plot to blow up shopping centres claimed his son is a victim of discrimination in Britain.
By Nick Allen, Duncan Gardham and Isambard Wilkinson 14 Apr 2009 The Daily Telegraph (London)
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3183
Abid Naseer, 23, is among 11 men still being questioned after a series of police raids in Manchester and Liverpool last week. Ten of the suspects are Pakistani nationals. His father Nasrullah Jan Khattak said: "My son prays five times a day and his only fault is that he has a beard. His only sin is that he is Muslim and Pakistani...
