Daily Intel Report 04-13-09
1. Virginia Physicist Sentenced to 51 Months in Prison for Illegally Exporting Space Launch Data to China and Offering Bribes to Chinese Officials
US Department of Justice Tuesday, April 7, 2009
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/April/09-nsd-317.html
WASHINGTON – A physicist in Newport News, Va., was sentenced to 51 months in prison today for illegally exporting space launch technical data and defense services to the People's Republic of China (PRC) and offering bribes to Chinese government officials… Shu Quan-Sheng (Shu), 68, a native of China, naturalized U.S. citizen and Ph.D. physicist, was sentenced by Judge Henry C. Morgan, Jr. in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk Division. Shu has already forfeited $386,740 to the federal government in connection with the case. Shu is the President, Secretary and Treasurer of AMAC International Inc. (AMAC), a high-tech company that is based in Newport News and has offices in Beijing. AMAC performs research through grants funded by the Small Business Research program on behalf of the Department of Energy and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)…
2. Six Former Executives of California Valve Company Charged in $46 Million Foreign Bribery Conspiracy
US Department of Justice Wednesday, April 8, 2009
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/April/09-crm-322.html
WASHINGTON – Six former executives of an Orange County, Calif.-based valve company were charged today in connection with a conspiracy to secure contracts by paying bribes to officials of foreign state-owned companies as well as officers and employees of foreign and domestic private companies... The contracts resulted in net profits to the company of approximately $46.5 million. According to the indictment…from 2003 through 2007, the defendants caused the valve company to pay approximately $4.9 million in bribes, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), to officials of foreign state-owned companies and approximately $1.95 million in bribes, in violation of the Travel Act, to officers and employees of foreign and domestic privately owned companies. The alleged corrupt payments were made to foreign officials at state-owned entities including Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corp. (China), Guohua Electric Power (China), China Petroleum Materials and Equipment Corp., PetroChina, Dongfang Electric Corporation (China), China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, Petronas (Malaysia), and National Petroleum Construction Company (United Arab Emirates). According to court documents, the valve company designs and manufactures service control valves for use in the nuclear, oil and gas, and power generation industries worldwide…
3. Mental exam ordered for spy suspect
The man, arrested on Maui, is accused of selling B-2 bomber secrets to the Chinese
Honolulu Star-Bulletin POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Apr 10, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3141
A federal judge has ordered a mental fitness exam for a Maui man accused of selling secrets about the B-2 stealth bomber to China. Noshir Gowadia, 65, was supposed to stand trial next month on charges of helping the Chinese government design a cruise missile that can evade infrared detection, trying to sell military secrets to other countries, making false statements and money laundering. Even if government experts determine Gowadia is mentally competent, the trial will be delayed four to five months, said Ken Sorenson, the assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case. He said that puts the government at a disadvantage...
Espionage trial postponed for mental competency evaluation
Maui man accused of selling military secrets to be examined in Illinois
Honolulu Advertiser Staff Writer Posted on: Friday, April 10, 2009
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090410/NEWS20/904100339/1001
… The trial was scheduled to begin May 5 in federal court but U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor yesterday ordered Gowadia sent to a federal prison facility in Springfield, Ill., to undergo testing of his mental competency to assist in his own defense. The order came after a defense expert, Dr. Pablo Stewart, raised questions about the 68-year-old's mental state in a report filed under seal with the court... Gowadia is an aerospace engineer who helped develop B-2 stealth aircraft technology while working for Northrop Grumman Corp., according to court papers...
4. EXPORTER CHARGED WITH SALE OF SENSITIVE TECHNOLOGY TO CHINA
Former Cupertino Man Allegedly Sold Restricted Microwave Amplifier Technology to the People's Republic of China Without a License
US Department of Justice, US Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello, N.D. of California April 8, 2009
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/can/press/2009/2009_04_08_lu.charged.press.htm...
http://www.bis.doc.gov/news/2009/doj04092009.htm
SAN JOSE, CA—A federal grand jury in San Jose indicted Fu-Tain Lu, formerly of Cupertino, Calif., as well as two companies Lu founded, on charges that they conspired to violate United States export regulations, United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced. The indictment also charges Lu with lying to federal agents who were investigating his conduct. According to the indictment, Lu, 61, along with two companies he founded – Fushine Technology, Inc. ("Fushine") of Cupertino, Calif, and Everjet Science and Technology Corporation ("Everjet"), based in the People's Republic of China ("the PRC") – conspired to export sensitive microwave amplifier technology to the PRC without obtaining the required licenses or other approvals from the United States Department of Commerce. The indictment alleges that the items Fushine shipped and attempted to ship were restricted for export to China for reasons of national security…
5. Fed contractor, cell phone maker sold spy system to Iran
Eli Lake Washington Times Monday, April 13, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3142
Two European companies — a major contractor to the U.S. government and a top cell-phone equipment maker — last year installed an electronic surveillance system for Iran that human rights advocates and intelligence experts say can help Iran target dissidents. Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), a joint venture between the Finnish cell-phone giant Nokia and German powerhouse Siemens, delivered what is known as a monitoring center to Irantelecom, Iran's state-owned telephone company. A spokesman for NSN said the servers were sold for "lawful intercept functionality," a technical term used by the cell-phone industry to refer to law enforcement's ability to tap phones, read e-mails and surveil electronic data on communications networks. In Iran, a country that frequently jails dissidents and where regime opponents rely heavily on Web-based communication with the outside world, a monitoring center that can archive these intercepts could provide a valuable tool to intensify repression...
6. American captain rescued, pirates killed, U.S. official says
CNN April 12, 2009
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/04/12/somalia.pirates/index.html
(CNN) -- The captain of the Maersk Alabama was freed Sunday after being held captive since Wednesday by pirates off the coast of Somalia, a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the situation told CNN. The official said Capt. Richard Phillips is uninjured and in good condition, and that three of the four pirates were killed. The fourth pirate is in custody. Phillips was taken aboard the USS Bainbridge, a nearby naval warship…
UPDATE 1-Somali pirates vow revenge over comrades' killings
Sun Apr 12, 2009 9:51pm BST Reuters By Abdiqani Hassan
http://uk.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUKLC34335620090412
BOSASSO, Somalia, April 12 (Reuters) - Somali pirates threatened revenge on Sunday after two separate hostage-rescue raids by foreign forces killed at least five comrades, raising fears of future bloodshed on the high seas. The latest raid by U.S. forces on Sunday that saved an American hostage and one by France last week have upped the stakes in shipping lanes off the anarchic Horn of Africa nation where buccaneers have defied foreign naval patrols...
How SEALs Carried Out Their Mission
By Ann Scott Tyson Washington Post Monday, April 13, 2009; A09
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3143
The operation to rescue Capt. Richard Phillips involved dozens of Navy SEALs, who parachuted from an aircraft into the scene near dark Saturday, landing in the ocean. The SEALs were part of a group of Special Operations forces involved in the effort, according to military officials. The SEALs set up operations on the USS Bainbridge, which had been communicating with the four pirates via radio and had used smaller boats to make deliveries of food and water to their lifeboat. Yet the pirates were growing increasingly agitated, the officials said. At one point Saturday, the pirates opened fire on one of the smaller U.S. Navy craft that approached. As the seas grew rougher, the Bainbridge offered to tow the lifeboat to calmer waters, and the pirates agreed, linking up the lifeboat to the destroyer with a towing cable that left 75 to 80 feet between the two vessels. Phillips at the time was tied up in the lifeboat, having been bound -- and occasionally beaten -- by the pirates ever since he had attempted to escape by jumping into the water on Friday, the officials said. Meanwhile, one of the pirates, estimated to be between 16 and 20 years old, asked to come aboard the Bainbridge to make a phone call. He had been stabbed in the hand during an altercation with the crew of the Maersk Alabama and needed medical care. "He effectively gave himself up," a senior military official said. The Navy then allowed that pirate to speak with the others in hopes that he could persuade them to give up. The three other pirates, however, showed signs of growing irritation, as the Bainbridge, 18 miles from shore, towed the lifeboat further out to sea, the senior military official said. "They had no promise of money, clearly no passage. The one ticket they had was the captain," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter on the record. "In the last discussion, they said, 'If we don't get what we want, we will kill the captain,' " the official said…
FBI Begins Building Criminal Case Against Somali Pirates
Saturday, April 11, 2009 Associated Press
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,514556,00.html
WASHINGTON — FBI agents planned to interview the crew of a U.S. cargo ship Saturday as the bureau began building a criminal case against Somali pirates who attacked the ship and took the captain hostage…
Somali pirate in custody, could face life sentence
By MATT APUZZO – Associated Press April 12, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3144
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Somali pirate captured during a hostage standoff in the Indian Ocean was in military custody Sunday and could face life in a U.S. prison. "He's in military custody right now," FBI spokesman John Miller said. "That will change as this becomes more of a criminal issue than a military issue." Both piracy and hostage-taking carry life sentences under U.S. law…
7. Obama Team Mulls Aims Of Somali Extremists
Seeing Potential Terror Threat, Officials Debate Their Options
By Greg Jaffe and Karen DeYoung Washington Post Saturday, April 11, 2009; A01
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3145
Senior Obama administration officials are debating how to address a potential terrorist threat to U.S. interests from a Somali extremist group, with some in the military advocating strikes against its training camps. But many officials maintain that uncertainty about the intentions of the al-Shabab organization dictates a more patient, nonmilitary approach. Al-Shabab, whose fighters have battled Ethiopian occupiers and the tenuous Somali government, poses a dilemma for the administration, according to several senior national security officials who outlined the debate only on the condition of anonymity. The organization's rapid expansion, ties between its leaders and al-Qaeda, and the presence of Americans and Europeans in its camps have raised the question of whether a preemptive strike is warranted. Yet the group's objectives have thus far been domestic, and officials say that U.S. intelligence has no evidence it is planning attacks outside Somalia. An attack against al-Shabab camps in southern Somalia would mark the administration's first military strike outside the Iraq and Afghanistan-Pakistan war zones. The White House discussions highlight the challenges facing the Obama team as it attempts to distance itself from the Bush administration, which conducted at least five military strikes in Somalia. The new administration is still defining its rationale for undertaking sensitive operations in countries where the United States is not at war…
8. Months after terror convictions, local trio still await sentencing
Toledo Blade April 13, 2009 By ERICA BLAKE
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3146
A year ago this month, three local men were led into a federal courtroom in Toledo to face terrorism-related charges - allegations that led to convictions after a more than two-month jury trial. Today, Mohammad Amawi, Marwan El-Hindi, and Wassim Mazloum still have not been sentenced for their crimes. In the months since their June 13 conviction, the three have been in a federal prison awaiting sentencing. Their attorneys have filed post-conviction motions and their co-defendants have been brought through court, causing the court to hold off setting sentencing dates. And more work remains before those dates can be set… Amawi, El-Hindi, and Mazloum were convicted on two counts each of conspiring to kill or injure people in the Middle East - including U.S. soldiers in Iraq - and of providing support and resources to terrorists overseas. Amawi and El-Hindi also were found guilty on two counts of distributing information regarding explosives…
9. Khawaja to appeal terror convictions
By Andrew Duffy, The Ottawa Citizen April 10, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3147
OTTAWA — Ottawa's Momin Khawaja has launched an appeal of his six terrorism-related convictions and the 10 1/2-year sentence imposed for those crimes. Khawaja's sentence came in addition to the five years he had already spent in custody. In a notice of appeal filed Thursday, defence lawyer Lawrence Greenspon argues that the trial judge came to an "unreasonable verdict" because there was not enough evidence to find that Khawaja knew he was involved with terrorists. During last year's 27-day trial, Greenspon suggested Khawaja's jihadist activities were consistent with his plan to fight with Muslim insurgents in Afghanistan. Such combat, he said, is lawfully exempted under an "armed conflict" provision in Canada's anti-terrorism laws. That provision, Greenspon argues in his appeal, should rightfully apply to Khawaja... Greenspon terms the 10 1/2-year sentence "manifestly unfit" since it was in keeping with those imposed on members of a British plot to detonate a fertilizer bomb in Britain. Yet there was no evidence that Khawaja was aware that the explosive device he built would be used in the British plot, Greenspon argues. Khawaja, a 29-year-old Ottawa computer specialist, was found guilty on Oct. 29 of participating in, contributing to, financing and facilitating a group of British Islamist extremists…
10. 3rd Circuit Rejects Muslim Cop's Bid to Wear Religious Scarf
Shannon P. Duffy The Legal Intelligencer April 8, 2009
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202429736190
IPT NOTE: The court's April 7, 2009 opinion is posted at http://abajournal.com/files/073081p.pdf
A Muslim woman who works as a Philadelphia police officer has lost her court battle to wear a religious head scarf on the job now that the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that forcing the department to accommodate her would compromise the city's interest in maintaining "religious neutrality" in its police force. In Webb v. City of Philadelphia, a unanimous three-judge panel upheld a lower court's decision that said the police department's blanket policy forbidding officers from wearing any religious garb did not violate plaintiff Kimberlie Webb's religious-freedom rights… The ruling upholds a June 2007 decision by Chief U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III that said the city's policy "reflects the fact that the police force is a paramilitary organization in which personal preferences must be subordinated to the overall policing mission which requires the utmost cooperation among all officers."…
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
11. AT&T boosts reward to $250K in phone service sabotage
By Mark Gomez San Jose Mercury News Posted: 04/10/2009 11:03:32 AM PDT
http://www.mercurynews.com/centralcoast/ci_12116695
AT&T has increased its reward to $250,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for cutting fiber-optics lines at four locations early Thursday morning in South San Jose and San Carlos. The sabotage lead to widespread disruption of phone service — including land lands, some cell service, Internet access and 911 emergency service -- in southern Santa Clara County as well as in Santa Cruz and San Benito counties. Service was completely restored by the wee hours Friday morning… Police today are continuing their investigation into who deliberately cut fiber-optic cables in two underground locations in San Jose and two more in San Carlos around 1:30 a.m. Thursday in an apparent coordinated act of sabotage. The FBI is helping with the investigation…
Fiber Cable Sabotage Underscores Physical Security Vulnerabilities in Security
DATE: 2009-04-10 By Lawrence Walsh
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3148
The disruption of voice and data telecom services to Silicon Valley by vandals cutting through four fiber optic cables in the wake of reports of foreign operatives compromising the U.S. power grid shows the vulnerability of the critical infrastructure to attacks and disruption. The slicing of four fiber optic lines in Silicon Valley yesterday, along with the recent revelations of hacks against the U.S. electric grid, underscore the interconnectivity of the digital and physical worlds and the potential to disrupt daily life through coordinated attacks...
12. Just how vulnerable is the electrical grid?
by Elinor Mills April 10, 2009 4:00 AM PDT
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10216702-83.html
Smarter is not always better--at least when it comes to utilities. More than a decade after initial reports said critical infrastructure in the U.S. is vulnerable to cyberattack, the situation has only worsened as utilities move their control systems closer to the Internet and install smart-grid technology, according to security experts. Questions about the security of infrastructure in the United States arose this week following a Wall Street Journal report that said the nation's electricity grid has been compromised by foreign hackers. And several experts said in interviews this week that some energy systems have, in fact, gotten less secure as they have modernized. The Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) control systems used by the energy industry used to be segregated from public networks. But they have increasingly become more dependent on Internet protocol-based systems, the experts said. At the same time, their security precautions are inefficient, they said…
Financing, identity theft, money laundering
13. Danbury arrest causes terror scare
By John Pirro Danbury News-Times (CT) Updated: 04/07/2009 10:05:20 PM EDT
http://www.newstimes.com/ci_12092116?source=most_viewed
DANBURY -- The business he claimed to run closed two years earlier. Its owner was dead. And one of the aliases he gave the police officers who were trying to establish his identify was an exact match for a man arrested on terrorism charges in London in 2004. In reality, according to his attorney, Syed Rameez Khalid is a 20-year-old college student from Queens, N.Y., with no prior criminal record. But when Khalid allegedly tried to scam the AT&T store at the Danbury Fair mall out of nearly $9,600 worth of iPhones last Thursday, he briefly caused a stir among federal anti-terrorism investigators… The scheme Khalid employed is one that has been used to defraud a number of AT&T stores of the pricey cell phones, regional manager Kenneth Freundt told Danbury police when they arrived at the mall just before 9 p.m. last Thursday. It's also similar to one that anti-terrorism investigators believe has been employed by suspected terrorists to raise money, according to Lt. Matthew McNally, the Homeland Security intelligence officer for the Danbury Police Department…
14. FBI raids 3 Minneapolis money-transfer shops
By LORA PABST and RICHARD MERYHEW, Minneapolis Star Tribune April 9, 2009 -
http://www.startribune.com/local/42695652.html?
Federal agents raided three Minneapolis money transfer businesses that mainly serve the Somali community Wednesday, seeking records of financial transactions to several African and Middle East countries. E.K. Wilson, a special agent for the FBI in Minneapolis, confirmed that agents searched the businesses on the city's south side to track money transactions, but wouldn't disclose any further details. The businesses are Qaran Express and Aaran Financial, both in the Karmel Mall, near W. Lake Street and Pillsbury Avenue S., and North American Money Transfer Inc., also known as Mustaqbal Express, at the Village Market Mall, at E. 24th Street and Chicago Avenue S. While it's not clear that the raid was directly connected to a continuing federal investigation into the possible link between terrorist groups and the disappearances of seven to 20 young Somali men in the Twin Cities over the past two years, it appears to be part of an effort since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to crack down on financial connections to terrorist networks and operations overseas...
15. RCMP targets Tamil funding
By Graeme Hamilton and Stewart Bell, April 8, 2009 National Post
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1475039
A non-profit organization shut down last year for financing terrorism paid three fundraisers in Montreal to collect money for the Tamil Tigers guerrillas, according to newly released RCMP documents. The alleged role played by the "paid activists" is revealed in thousands of pages of documents, photos and video filed in Federal Court this week as part of an effort by counter-terrorism officials to dismantle the World Tamil Movement. The RCMP says the World Tamil Movement is the Canadian fundraising and propaganda arm of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, a banned Sri Lankan terrorist group known for its suicide bombings and assassinations. In an affidavit released by the Federal Court in Montreal, Corporal Steve Dubreuil wrote that the investigation had "revealed that the World Tamil Movement and the LTTE have been demonstrated to utilize pressure tactics to elicit funds and donations as well as to participate in veiled threats." The stack of evidence filed by Crown prosecutors fills a dozen binders and provides the most detailed picture to date of Project Crible, a national security investigation launched in 2003 into the Quebec fundraising activities of the Tamil Tigers...
16. Al-Arian's "Extraordinary" Claim Unproven
IPT News April 8, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/1020/al-arians-extraordinary-claim-u...
To hear Sami Al-Arian and his defense attorneys tell it, his 2006 plea negotiations with federal prosecutors hinged on one overarching issue - his desire to "end all of the Department of Justice's dealings" with him. In their view, subpoenas compelling his testimony before a Virginia grand jury investigating terror financing after entering his plea violate that wish. His attorneys have moved to dismiss a June 2008 indictment for criminal contempt, saying "the uncontroverted evidence" shows the government made such a promise and has reneged on it. "Uncontroverted" seems to mean "because they say so." There is no reference to such a pledge in the plea agreement, during the April 2006 hearing in which the guilty plea was accepted, or during his sentencing. At both hearings, the presiding judges asked whether the government made any other inducements to secure the plea. Neither Al-Arian nor his attorneys mentioned the issue that now is described as the most vital element. In the plea, Al-Arian admitted he conspired to provide goods and services to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad after the group was designated a foreign terrorist organization...
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
17. Mexican Drug Cartels Leave a Bloody Trail on YouTube
By Manuel Roig-Franzia Washington Post Monday, April 9, 2007; A01
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3149
MEXICO CITY -- Bloody bodies -- slumped at steering wheels, stacked in pickup trucks, crumpled on sidewalks -- clog nearly every frame of the music video that shook Mexico's criminal underworld. Posted on YouTube and countless Mexican Web sites last year, the video opens with blaring horns and accordions. Valentín Elizalde, a singer known as the "Golden Rooster," croons over images of an open-mouthed shooting victim. "I'm singing this song to all my enemies," he belts out. Elizalde's narcocorrido, or drug trafficker's ballad, sparked what is believed to be an unprecedented cyberspace drug war. Chat rooms filled with accusations that he was promoting the Sinaloa cartel and mocking its rival, the Gulf cartel. Drug lords flooded the Internet with images of beheadings, execution-style shootings and torture. Within months, Elizalde was dead, shot 20 times after a November concert. His enemies exacted their final revenge by posting a video of his autopsy, the camera panning from Elizalde's personalized cowboy boots to his bloodied naked body. Elizalde's narco-ballad video and its aftermath highlight a new surge of Internet activity by Mexican drug cartels, whose mastery of technology gives them a huge advantage over law enforcement agencies. Following the model of terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda, the cartels have discovered the Web as a powerful means of transmitting threats, recruiting members and glorifying the narco-trafficker lifestyle of big money, big guns and big thrills…
18. CBP Import Specialists Bag Counterfeits at Los Angeles Airport
(Thursday, April 09, 2009) US Customs & Border Protection News Release
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/04092009_4.xml
Los Angeles — U.S. Customs and Border Protection import specialists yesterday seized two shipments of counterfeit handbags and backpacks with an estimated manufacturer's suggested retail price of $1.1 million and a domestic value of $89,236. CBP import specialists at Los Angeles International airport seized an air shipment of 1,300 handbags and backpacks which arrived from China containing counterfeit Coach and Gucci trademarks. A similar shipment containing 1,328 counterfeit handbags and backpacks was seized April 2… CBP officers and import specialists are aggressively working together to intercept shipments containing counterfeit and pirated items…
Other items
19. Prosecutors: Aunt beat niece with spoon, stick, shoes
April 7, 2009 FROM STNG WIRE REPORTS Chicago Sun-Times
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3150
A woman was ordered held without bond Tuesday for allegedly beating her 2-year-old niece so severely -- with a wooden spoon, a stick and shoes -- that the toddler died. Prosecutors claim Nour Hadid, 26, beat her niece, Bhia, so severely she was literally covered in bruises from head to toe. Hadid, of the 9000 block of West 140th Place in Orland Park, was ordered held without bond by Cook County Judge William Kunkle, according Cook County State's Attorney's office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton. An April 30 preliminary hearing has been set for Hadid, who is charged with first-degree murder…
Alleged Child Killer's Mug Called Insult to Islam
Nour Hadid Was Photographed With Skimpy Top, No Headscarf
ORLAND PARK, Ill. (STNG) ―Apr 10, 2009 9:23 am US/Central
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/mugshot.religion.controversy.2.981753.html
The police booking photo of alleged child killer Nour Hadid released Tuesday is an "insult against our religion," says Hadid's husband, Alaeddin. Orland Park police detectives say the 26-year-old Muslim woman was treated as any other suspect in a murder probe would be, and they did not intend to humiliate her when they photographed her Sunday without her headscarf and wearing only a skimpy top… The headscarf later was taken from her after she made suicide threats, he said…
Accused Orland child killer asks for Quran behind bars, lawyer says
April 11, 2009 BY KIM JANSSEN Daily Southtown
http://www.southtownstar.com/news/1522160,041109hadid.article
Accused child killer Nour Hadid asked for a Quran in jail and was provided with one Friday, according to her new attorney, Joel Brodsky... Brodsky, best known lately for being Drew Peterson's attorney, said he believed Orland Park police had "deliberately" humiliated Hadid with the photo as part of "an illegal interrogation." He suggested he'd try to have the confession removed from evidence...
20. North Korea sued for aiding Hizbullah
Apr. 10, 2009 Dan Izenberg, THE JERUSALEM POST
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3151
Thirty Israelis who were hurt during the Second Lebanon War filed suit on Friday against North Korea and Hizbullah for more than $100 million in Washington District Court, one of their lawyers, Nitzana Darshan-Leitner of the Israel Law Center, said Friday. The plaintiffs, all of whom hold US citizenship, charged that North Korea trained senior Hizbullah officers and built a series of bunkers in south Lebanon to store Katyushas and other rockets that the Hizbullah used against Israel during the 2006 war, thwarting IAF efforts to locate launching pads. Forty-three Israeli civilians were killed and over 4,000 were wounded during the war. This is the first time Israeli Hizbullah victims have sued North Korea for its role in the war - support of a terror organization. The petitioners are represented by Darshan-Leitner in Israel, and by Attorney Robert Tulchi in the US. In the lawsuit, the complainants cite a congressional memorandum from May 8, 2008 that was passed on to the State Department, which describes one of the structures built by North Korea as "a 25-kilometer underground tunnel that Hizbullah used for moving its fighters." The memorandum states that "Hizbullah's underground structures significantly improved its ability to fight against Israel during the Second Lebanon War in 2006." Darshan-Leitner said that North Korea had become a central player in providing support for Middle East terror groups like Hizbullah…
Hezbollah-hit Americans sue North Korea
April 11, 2009 Agence France Presse
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3152
… An Israeli air raid in 2007 destroyed a facility in Syria -- a key Hezbollah backer -- which the United States said was a secret nuclear reactor built with North Korea's help. Both Damascus and Pyongyang denied the allegations. However, the United States last year removed North Korea from a list of state sponsors of terrorism, saying it was not involved in terrorism in the previous six months. The step came amid a US-led drive to provide North Korea incentives to end its nuclear program.
MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA
21. Bomb in Mosul Kills Five U.S. Troops, 2 Iraqis
By Ernesto Londoño Washington Post Friday, April 10, 2009; 10:44 AM
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3153
BAGHDAD, April 10 -- Five U.S. soldiers were killed Friday morning in a suicide bombing in the northern city of Mosul, the deadliest attack on U.S. troops since March 2008, the military said. Two Iraqi National Police officers were also killed. Two American soldiers and 20 Iraqi National Police officers were wounded in the attack at the Iraqi National Police headquarters, located in southwestern Mosul. The military said two men suspected of involvement in the attack have been detained. An Iraqi police official said the explosives were loaded in a truck that managed to drive into the main gate of the station about 10:30 a.m. local time...
DoD Identifies Army Casualties
U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release No. 236-09 April 12, 2009
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12603
The Department of Defense announced today the death of five soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died April 10th when their military vehicle was struck by a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device in Mosul, Iraq. They were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo. Killed were: Staff Sgt. Gary L. Woods Jr., 24, of Lebanon Junction, Ky.; Staff Sgt. Bryan E. Hall, 32, of Elk Grove, Calif.; Sgt. Edward W. Forrest Jr., 25, of St. Louis, Mo.; Cpl. Jason G. Pautsch, 20, of Davenport, Iowa.; PV2 Bryce E. Gautier, 22, of Cypress, Calif…
DoD Identifies Marine Casualty
U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release No. 228-09 April 08, 2009
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12597
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Lance Cpl. Stephen F. Dearmon, 21, of Crossville, Tenn., died April 3 as a result of a non-hostile incident in Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. The incident is under investigation…
22. SPIEGEL INTERVIEW WITH IRANIAN PRESIDENT AHMADINEJAD
'We Are Neither Obstinate nor Gullible'
SPIEGEL ONLINE 04/10/2009 05:59 PM
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,618559,00.html#ref=nlin...
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke with SPIEGEL about what he expects from US President Barack Obama, why America's new Afghanistan strategy is wrong and why Iran should have a spot on the UN Security Council…
23. Egyptian radio condemns Hezbollah's plan to recruit "terrorist" cell
BBC Monitoring Middle East – Political Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring
April 9, 2009 Thursday Copyright 2009 British Broadcasting Corporation
Source: Arab Republic of Egypt Radio, Cairo, in Arabic 1245 gmt 9 Apr 09
http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk/index.htm subscription req'd, available on NEXIS/Westlaw
An Egyptian radio commentary on 9 April tackled the authorities' arrest of about 49 Egyptian, Lebanese and Palestinian nationals over attempts to reportedly form a Hezbollah cell. The commentary was read by Mahmud Izzat Musa and was titled "Egypt's role, position and conspiracies of little people" The radio commentary said: "What the [Egyptian] public prosecutor has revealed yesterday - about aborting a terrorist plot by [Lebanese] Hezbollah to recruit a terrorist cell of 49 persons to carry out sabotage operations in tourist installations and several places in Egypt - was not surprising at all. It drew firm condemnations from and came as a shock to Egyptian society, the Arab and Muslim worlds."…
Egypt: Major Hezbollah attack in Sinai thwarted
By Yoav Stern and Avi Issacharoff Ha'aretz April 10, 2009
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1077629.html
Egypt is holding 49 nationals of various Arab countries on suspicion of being members of a terrorist network on behalf of Hezbollah. The accused have allegedly planned to carry out attacks inside Egypt, including tourist sites frequented by Israelis. On Tuesday, the Egyptian authorities announced that an underground organization had been uncovered; yesterday they remanded the suspects in custody for a further 15 days. Legal sources in Egypt said the group had received orders to operate in a televised address by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. Most of those arrested are Egyptians; however, among them are Palestinians, Sudanese, Syrians and at least one Lebanese national. The suspects were allegedly trained abroad to use explosives and entered Egypt with forged documents. According to the Egyptian authorities, the accused were ordered to rent homes overlooking the Suez Canal, as well as tourist sites in Sinai. One of the key suspects is Sami Shihab, a Lebanese national whom the daily Al-Hayat says had smuggled arms into the Gaza Strip with two Palestinians. The paper says they received arms with the help of the Sudanese and passed them on to Gaza via Bedouin in Sinai…
Egypt foils plot and arrests 49 'Hizbollah suspects'
Egypt has risked deepening a rift with Iran and some Arab countries by accusing Hizbollah of recruiting terrorist cells inside its borders.
By Richard Spencer in Dubai ]The Sunday Telegraph (London) Last Updated: 3:12PM BST 12 Apr 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3154
… Although based in southern Lebanon, Hizbollah is armed and funded by Iran and Syria. The radical Shia movement, which fought Israel to a standstill in the war of 2006, denied Egypt's claims. Hassan Nasrallah, the Hizbollah leader, made a rare television broadcast to confirm that one of those arrested, Sami Chehab, was an operative in the movement. But he said that Mr Chehab posed no threat to Egypt and was only helping the Palestinians to fight Israel… But despite attempts at reconciliation, Syria still backs Hizbollah and remains Iran's only real ally in the region. Mr Nasrallah himself has become a popular figurehead for many Arabs, who admire his stance against Israel and America...
24. Dreaded Somali terrorist group taps into sugar racket
By KEN OPALA April 11, 2009 The Daily Nation (Kenya)
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3155
Truckloads of sugar smuggled in daily from Somalia are enriching warlords who control the lawless country. So rampant is the illegal trade that a kilo of sugar retails at between Sh40 and Sh50 – almost half of what it costs elsewhere in the country. Among the kingpins of the illegal trade is a man described by American intelligence as the key sponsor of Somalia's main militia group, Al Shabaab... Today the Saturday Nation reveals how truckloads of sugar smuggled in daily from Somalia are enriching warlords who control the lawless country. The massive racket in not just sugar but cheap electronics, fake designer clothes, rice, pasta and even maize is documented in week-long interviews with the local
25. Yemen unearths al-Qaeda-terrorist plots
Saba News (Yemen) [10 April 2009]
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news180593.htm
SANA'A, April 10 (Saba) - Security authorities have revealed and foiled a number of terrorist plots al-Qaeda has planed to carry out in Yemen, Interior Ministry said on Friday. The Ministry said that the hunting campaign for al-Qaeda terrorist elements, their photos circulated in the security guide throughout the country, resulted in capturing a number of wanted elements. The security authorities have also seized some significant documents contain designs for terrorist acts, names and phone numbers in addition to weapons and other tools were to be used in suicide attacks, Interior Ministry said…
26. Kingdom arrests 11 Al-Qaeda suspects
Samir Al-Saadi | Arab News Wednesday 8 April 2009 (12 Rabi' al-Thani 1430)
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=121337&d=8&m=4&y=2009
JEDDAH: Saudi security forces have arrested 11 Al-Qaeda suspects who were planning to carry out terrorist attacks inside the Kingdom and kidnap security officers and other "useful" individua
