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The Daily Update
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General security, policy
1. Russia compares conflict to US response to 9/11
Wed Aug 13, 6:14 PM ET Associated Press
http://tinyurl.com/6lp8vb
Russia's deputy prime minister said Wednesday that his country's military actions in Georgia were comparable to the U.S. response to the Sept. 11 attack on America. Sergei Ivanov told British Broadcasting Corp. he was surprised at international condemnation of Russia's offensive against its small, pro-Western neighbor. He said Georgia's attempt to regain control of the breakaway region of South Ossetia by force left Russia with no choice. "We didn't think that we annoyed anybody," Ivanov told BBC World News from Moscow. "We just reacted because we didn't have any other option. Any civilized country would act same way. I may remind you, September the 11th, the reaction was similar. American citizens were killed. You know the reaction." Ivanov also criticized British Foreign Secretary David Miliband's suggestion that the Georgia crisis showed Russia could not accept that the Soviet era was over...
2. Pakistani scientist busted, called most significant terror capture in five years
BY ALISON GENDAR, JOSE MARTINEZ and STEPHANIE GASKELL
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Published Wednesday, August 13, 2008
The targets: The Statue of Liberty, Times Square and the subway system. The suspect: a Pakistani neuroscientist with ties to Al Qaeda who had a list of New York landmarks, recipes for a witches' brew of chemical weapons and glass bottles filled with mysterious liquids in her purse. Law enforcement officials believe they have "the most significant capture" in the fight against terrorism in five years: Aafia Siddiqui, a 36-year-old MIT graduate arrested in Afghanistan last month for trying to shoot American agents and officers. The alleged Mata Hari appeared in Manhattan Federal Court in a wheelchair Monday. A judge delayed her bail hearing so she could receive medical treatment for the gunshot wound she suffered in the alleged attack on the American personnel. "She is a high security risk," Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Lloyd LaVigne told the judge. Some experts believe Siddiqui is much more than that… Siddiqui was believed to be planning a possible suicide bombing when she was nabbed July 17, according to published reports. The criminal complaint against her says a search of her bag found "documents describing the creation of explosives, chemical weapons and other weapons involving biological material and radiological agents."… Sources told the Daily News on Tuesday that Siddiqui carried with her a list of New York landmarks, including Lady Liberty and Times Square. ABC said the list also included the subway system and Plum Island, an isolated federal disease research lab off Long Island. Siddiqui, a mother of three, was once married to a nephew of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is being held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. She has also been linked to Adnan el-Shukrijumah, a pilot and suspected Al Qaeda member who once lived in Florida...
Feds: Al Qaeda Mata Hari Wanted To Poison Pres. Carter
Federal Sources: Siddique Wanted to Use Biological Agents to Contaminate Pres. Carter's Water
By RICHARD ESPOSITO and BRIAN ROSS August 13, 2008— ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5574093&page=1
Long before Aafia Siddique was arrested in Afghanistan last month, allegedly in possession of a list of New York targets and chem-bio weapons information, she had allegedly developed a plot, however improbable or amateurish, to kill Presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush and to attack the White House. Siddique plotted to use weapons that included biological agents to contaminate former president Carter's water, according to multiple federal sources. Those allegations, some contained in the federal complaint filed on July 31st by the US Attorney in Manhattan, the details expanded on by sources spoken to by ABC News, paint Siddique, 36, as a committed Al Qaeda operative, and one whose capture could hold the key to identifying other operatives and supporters both in the US and overseas. But her lawyer, activist attorney Elizabeth Fink, says the entire government case against Siddique is a lie… Fink, a protégé of now deceased firebrand William H. Kunstler, says that everything in Siddique's past points to a life completely different than the government has alleged in its criminal complaint…
3. Hotel find is cyanide, police confirm
By Felisa Cardona and Joey Bunch The Denver Post 08/13/2008 03:20:23 PM MDT
http://www.denverpost.com/nationalpolitics/ci_10190060
Denver police confirmed that a granular substance found inside an upscale Denver hotel room is sodium cyanide. A Canadian national was found dead Monday in room 408 of the Burnsley Hotel. The Denver Coroner's Office has not completed the autopsy of 29-year-old Saleman Abdirahman Dirie. Denver police spokesman John White said Dirie's death appears to be an isolated incident and is not related to the Democratic National Convention. White said no foul play is suspected. The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is assisting Denver police with the investigation…
FBI joins hotel cyanide inquiry; victim identified
By Hector Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News Wednesday, August 13, 2008
… On Tuesday, the man was identified as Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, a 29-year-old Canadian. Denver police said they believe he had been dead for several days before officers found him Monday morning… The coroner's office said it completed an autopsy Tuesday, but medical examiners can't determine the manner and cause of death until they have the results of lab tests. Foul play is not suspected… Although the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force was alerted and is helping in the investigation, Wright emphasized that agents do not have information that would lead them to believe that the victim was a "terrorist or has terrorist ties."
Cyanide death probe
FBI, Terrorism Task Force investigating dead local man
August 13, 2008 By BETH JOHNSTON, SUN MEDIA
http://ottsun.canoe.ca/News/OttawaAndRegion/2008/08/13/6433031-sun.html
… During Dirie's autopsy Monday, the coroner noticed something that indicated cyanide poisoning, leading police to cordon off streets and evacuate guests of the fourth-floor rooms as they investigated at the upscale hotel, four blocks from the state capital… Dirie was a member of Ottawa's Somali community and attended the Somali Centre for Family Services, said manager Addirizuk Karod…
Cyanide victim 'not a terrorist': family
Ottawa man with schizophrenia was in Denver on a vacation, sister says
Andrew Seymour, Andrew Duffy, Gary Dimmock and Neco
The Ottawa Citizen Thursday, August 14, 2008
OTTAWA - An Ottawa man whose mysterious death in a Denver hotel room is under investigation by the FBI was diagnosed with schizophrenia three years ago, his family revealed yesterday. Preliminary autopsy results show Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, 29, may have died from exposure to cyanide, a rapidly acting chemical described by one expert as "the ideal terrorist weapon." Denver police confirmed yesterday that the jar of white powder found in Mr. Dirie's hotel room contained sodium cyanide, the crystal form of the chemical. The incident has raised disturbing new security concerns on the eve of the Democratic National Convention, which is to open in Denver on Aug. 25… In Ottawa, Mr. Dirie's sister told the Citizen that her brother suffered from mental illness, and she angrily rejected any suggestion that he was tied to terrorism or had any intention of harming Mr. Obama... Her brother, she said, had travelled alone to Colorado for a vacation… Her brother was taking his medication regularly when he left Ottawa, she said, and was not suicidal…
Enough cyanide for trouble found at Denver hotel
The substance — a pound of which was found with a body — could kill or sicken many.
By Felisa Cardona and Joey Bunch The Denver Post 08/14/2008 06:43:57 AM MDT
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_10194730
If Saleman Abdirahman Dirie intended to do harm with the sodium cyanide found in his Denver hotel room, he could have done a lot of it. Firefighters said Wednesday that Dirie, whose body was found Monday, had a pound of the substance in Room 408 at the Burnsley All Suite Hotel in Capitol Hill, and an expert said that if it were mixed with acid, that would be plenty enough to function as a weapon…
4. Mukasey outlines new rules in anti-terror fight
The U.S. attorney general says agents will apply methods used to investigate organized crime
Thursday, August 14, 2008 ASHBEL S. GREEN The Oregonian Staff
IPT NOTE: AG Mukasey's prepared remarks are posted at http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/speeches/2008/ag-speech-080814.html
U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey told a Portland anti-terrorism conference that new rules in the works will allow federal agents to ferret out terrorists the way they aggressively go after organized crime. But Mukasey also promised to protect civil liberties and forbid the use of prejudicial investigations based on race, religion or constitutionally protected political expression. One example of change: Agents will be able to cultivate terrorism informants in the same way they use such "human assets" in Mafia cases. He said the new rules, expected to go into effect in the fall, will tear down the wall between criminal and national security investigations, an overhaul that started after the Sept. 11 attacks with the passage of the USA Patriot Act. The changes will complete the transformation of the FBI into an "elite national security organization," Mukasey said. The conference included federal and local law enforcement from Oregon and southwest Washington. Other speakers included Art Cummings, a top FBI counterterrorism official based in Washington, D.C., and Patrick Fitzgerald, a veteran terrorism prosecutor…
Remarks Prepared for Delivery by Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey at Project Safe Neighborhoods Press Availability
Denver, Colorado Thursday, August 14, 2008 - 9:30 AM MDT
http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/speeches/2008/ag-speech-080814.html
5. 'Stop the Slide,' Says New Air Force Chief
Schwartz Is Blunt About Service's Failings
By Josh White Washington Post Wednesday, August 13, 2008; A02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/12/AR200808...
Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, who began his tenure as the 19th Air Force chief of staff yesterday, has taken a frank view of the service's need to address recent failures concerning the security of the U.S. nuclear arsenal and acquisitions practices, telling senior leaders in briefings that they need to "stop the slide." In two PowerPoint documents used in recent briefings, Schwartz emphasized the need for the Air Force to recapture "top-to-bottom excellence in the nuclear mission," restore "credibility on Capitol Hill one member (and staff) at a time," and instill "a compliance culture in key disciplines" such as nuclear, aircraft and missile maintenance and acquisition. Drafts of the internal documents were obtained by The Washington Post and were verified by the Air Force yesterday. Schwartz has set his sights on restoring the service's credibility after a series of security and corruption problems that have marred its reputation in the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill…
6. Homeland Security setting up counterspy unit
Associated Press By EILEEN SULLIVAN – August 12, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) — Concerns about foreign spies and terrorists have prompted the Homeland Security Department to set up its own counterintelligence division and require strict reporting from employees about foreign travel, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press. The new directive comes as the federal government increases its counterspy efforts across all agencies and raises the awareness of intelligence vulnerabilities in the private industry as well as in protecting government secrets... Homeland Security is creating a counterintelligence system now, because there is currently no place for such a function in the department — which was formed by 22 disparate agencies — said a senior U.S. government official who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to publicly discuss intelligence…
7. Khadr’s lawyer claims U.S. government interference
David Akin, Canwest News Service Published: Wednesday, August 13, 2008
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=723626
GUANTANAMO NAVAL STATION, Cuba -- Omar Khadr's lawyers alleged in court Thursday that unnamed officials with the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush replaced the judge originally assigned to hear Mr. Khadr's case because that judge, army Col. Peter E. Brownback, made some rulings that did not favour government prosecutors. If Mr. Khadr's lawyers can convince the new judge, army Col. Patrick Parrish, that this unlawful interference occurred, they believe Col. Parrish must throw out the war crimes charges against Mr. Khadr, a 21-year-old Canadian… Col. Brownback was the first judge detailed to hear Mr. Khadr's case. Mr. Khadr, born in Toronto, was captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan when he was 15. Among other things, he is accused of the murder a U.S. soldier...
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
8. What next for fusion centers?
By Ben Bain Federal Computer Week Published on August 11, 2008
http://www.fcw.com/print/22_25/policy/153440-1.html
Editor's Note: This story has been updated Aug. 11 at 11:12 a.m. EST to correct an editing error in the name of Robert Riegle, director of the Homeland Security Department's state and local programs
The Homeland Security Department has made great strides in three years in developing relationships with state and local law enforcement authorities, said Robert Riegle, director of DHS’ state and local programs. But as the department prepares to continue under a new presidential administration — its first transition — many questions remain open. Riegle touted the progress his office has made in information sharing and building relationships with the nation’s 800,000-officer state and local law enforcement community in an article he published in the July issue of the Homeland Defense Journal. Riegle singled out the network of more than 50 state and local intelligence fusion centers that nonfederal authorities have created around the country… “Fusion centers form a critical bridge for sharing information vertically between the federal government and our partners, as well as horizontally across the states,” Charles Allen, DHS’ undersecretary for intelligence and analysis, told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee July 23. However, some questions linger. Who should pay for that bridge? What kind of data should travel over it, and in what direction? Who should oversee its construction?...
9. TRE ARROW SENTENCED TO 78 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR PAIR OF 2001 ARSONS
August 12, 2008 UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, District of Oregon
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/or/PressReleases/2008/20080812_TreArrow.html
Portland, Ore. – Tre Arrow, formerly known as Michael J. Scarpitti, 34, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge James A. Redden to 78 months in federal prison for his part in two arsons in 2001. Arrow earlier pleaded guilty, acknowledging he set fire to cement-mixing trucks at Ross Island Sand and Gravel Company in Portland on April 15, 2001, and logging trucks at Schoppert Logging Company in Eagle Creek on June 1, 2001. Arrow’s three co-defendants pled guilty in 2003 and have each completed 41-month prison terms…
10. Airline relents on troop baggage fee
VFW calls on entire industry to check third piece of luggage free
Audrey Hudson Washington Times Thursday, August 14, 2008
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/aug/14/airline-relents-on-troop...
American Airlines announced Thursday that it will eliminate fees for a third piece of checked luggage for active military personnel on their way to the war in Iraq or anywhere in the U.S. American and other airlines waived fees for first and second pieces of checked luggage for military members. Veterans of Foreign Wars, one of the country's largest veterans groups, has asked the aviation industry to eliminate all baggage fees for military personnel heading to Iraq. "We always understood that soldiers traveling on duty were reimbursed by the military for the fees on required excess baggage," said Tom R. Del Valle, senior vice president of American Airlines airport services. "However, after recently hearing of the burden the military reimbursement process put on soldiers traveling to war zones, the choice for us to forgo payment for a third checked bag from the Department of Defense was clear," Mr. Del Valle said. The Washington Times reported Tuesday that American was charging troops for extra baggage and recently had charged two soldiers from Texas $100 and $300 for their extra duffel bags...
11. TSA screener testing labeled 'a waste'
By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY August 14, 2008
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2008-08-13-tsatests_N.htm
IPT NOTE: The full GAO report, “TSA Has Developed a Risk-Based Covert Testing Program, but Could Better Mitigate Aviation Security Vulnerabilities Identified Through Covert Tests,” GAO-08-958, Aug 8, 2008, is posted at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08958.pdf [full report], and http://www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-08-958 [summary].
WASHINGTON — A government program to find gaps in airport screening is "a waste of money" because it doesn't follow up on why screeners failed to spot guns, knives and bombs on undercover agents, the head of the House Homeland Security Committee says. A Government Accountability Office report obtained by USA TODAY says Transportation Security Administration inspectors posing as passengers do not record why individual screeners failed to spot weapons. The TSA ran 20,000 covert tests at the USA's 450 commercial airports from 2002 to 2007, and the results ought to be used to improve screening, the report says. The TSA disputed the report and said it has adopted many new screening practices and technologies to close holes revealed by testing. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., plans a hearing next month to press the TSA on making better use of covert tests…
Financing, identity theft, money laundering
12. States seen as weak on cybercrime
Shaun Waterman, UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL Thursday, August 14, 2008
http://tinyurl.com/5w3twy
State authorities are not doing enough to protect consumers from online fraud and other cybercrimes, despite skyrocketing numbers of complaints from the public, according to a new survey. While identity theft and online rip-offs are getting some attention from state attorneys general, the purveyors of spyware, adware, spam and phishing e-mails are rarely prosecuted, said the survey, conducted by the Center for Democracy and Technology, an Internet advocacy group, and the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank. The authors asked all 50 states to provide information on consumer complaints. Of the 36 states that responded, 24 ranked cybercrime of one kind or another among the top 10 topics of complaints last year. Eight states said it was among the top three. The Federal Trade Commission - which compiles data for all 50 states from a variety of sources including law enforcement agencies and consumer complaint groups like the Better Business Bureau - reported 221,226 Internet-related fraud complaints last year, up almost 16,000 from 2006 and more than 24,000 from 2005...
13. Court: Saudi Arabia not liable in 9/11 attacks
By Chris Mondics Philadelphia Inquirer Aug 14, 2008
A federal appeals court today rejected lawsuits by victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks against Saudi Arabia and senior members of the Saudi royal family, alleging that they helped foster al-Qaeda and other Islamist terrorist groups. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, ruling in Manhattan, said Saudi Arabia and members of its royal family were protected from being sued because the State Department had not officially designated the desert kingdom as a supporter of terrorism. Under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, foreign governments are immune from such lawsuits unless the State Department finds in advance that they had actively supported terrorist groups. Lawyers for the kingdom argued that there was no credible evidence that senior Saudi officials had any knowledge of terrorism activities by the charities or that they intended for the charities as vehicles for funding al-Qaeda. The ruling came in an appeal filed by the Philadelphia law firm of Cozen O'Connor on behalf of several dozen insurers that paid out billions in claims to businesses at ground zero. They were joined in the legal action by law firms representing victims and survivors and various other commercial interests that suffered losses in the attacks. The appeals challenged a lower court ruling that Saudi Arabia and members of the royal family could not be sued. The decision by the second circuit essentially upheld that decision. In their lawsuits, the victims alleged that over a period of a decade or more, officials of the government of Saudi Arabia had financed Islamic charities that, in turn, had become the sources of funding for Islamic terrorists, first in Afghanistan and then later in Bosnia Herzegovina and, ultimately, in the Sept. 11 attacks. The victims offered as evidence testimony by senior U.S. Treasury and State Department officials and other U.S. government findings that the charities had become conduits for terrorist financing, beginning in the mid-1990s. U.S. officials have said that although the Saudis have taken some steps to crack down on the charities, they remained concerned that some charities continue to be sources of funding for al-Qaeda.
Border security, immigration, customs
14. U.S. to plug border 'loophole': Open seas
By Emily Bazar, USA TODAY 13 August 2008
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-08-12-gulfmigration_N.htm
Immigration officials are beefing up patrols, buying more boats and preparing for a surge in illegal water crossings as immigrants and drug smugglers are likely to chart new routes into the USA through the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Ocean. Heavier enforcement on the U.S.-Mexican land border, in the form of staffing, fencing, cameras and other detection technology, will force smugglers and migrants to look for easier entry spots, says Lloyd Easterling, assistant chief of the Border Patrol. There are about 17,000 Border Patrol agents nationwide, compared with 12,000 two years ago. The Department of Homeland Security intends to complete 670 miles of fence by year's end. "What we're doing … has been effective. Now they're having to go try different things," Easterling says. In Southern California, the San Diego Marine Task Force seized 10 human- and drug-smuggling boats last year. With nearly two months to go in this fiscal year, there have been 22 boat seizures, more than double last year's total, says Lauren Mack, spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in San Diego. "Clearly, San Diego has seen an upturn in smuggling by sea," says James Spero of ICE. "It's likely the next loophole could be the Gulf." Easterling says officials are increasing water patrols and adding boats, jet skis and helicopters. He did not provide details, citing security…
15. ICE arrests 42 illegal aliens working at Dulles International Airport
August 13, 2008 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Press Release
http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0808/080813washington.htm
WASHINGTON - This morning U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 42 men illegally present in the country at Dulles International Airport as part of a critical infrastructure protection (CIP) operation. ICE agents, with support of airport security agencies, arrested the illegal aliens just inside the airport grounds at a checkpoint established to verify the identity and immigration status of workers entering a service gate…
ICE arrests 57 illegal aliens employed by Asheville Department of Defense Contractor
August 12, 2008 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Press Release
http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0808/080812asheville.htm
ASHEVILLE, NC - Fifty-seven illegal aliens working at Mills Manufacturing Corporation (MMC) were arrested here this morning by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents. The arrests were based on an ICE critical infrastructure investigation that revealed that the illegal aliens had used fraudulent social security numbers to obtain employment. The company, located at 22 Mills Place, has been fully cooperative and is not a target of the ICE investigation. MMC is a Department of Defense contractor responsible for the manufacturing of parachutes for the U.S. military. Illegal aliens employed at sensitive facilities -- such as military bases, nuclear plants, chemical plants, airports and Department of Defense contractors -- pose a homeland security threat...
Other items
16. Wife in Montco bigamy sentenced for murder
By Kathy Boccella Philadelphia Inquirer August 14, 2008
… And for the first time, Myra Morton apologized for pumping two bullets into her husband as he slept in Whitpain Township on Aug. 5, 2007, the morning he was to fly to Morocco to meet and impregnate a woman he had taken as his second wife. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen," Morton, who is Muslim and was covered from head to toe, said in a barely audible voice. Portrayed as both an abused wife and a villain who killed her husband to keep his second wife from getting their fortune, Morton was sentenced yesterday to eight to 20 years in prison. The 48-year-old grandmother had pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in April… The hearing capped a bizarre family saga with complex issues, including religion, polygamy, a family fortune and Internet dating. The Mortons' 27-year marriage began to fall apart last year after Jereleigh Morton told his wife that he was taking a second wife, in accordance with Muslim law, in order to have a son...
Woman who plead guilty to killing husband just 'snapped'
By WENDY RUDERMAN Philadelphia Daily News April 26, 2008
…Perhaps all of the above drove her to fatally shoot her spouse of 25 years, Jereleigh Morton, a handyman from North Philadelphia who became a millionaire. Whatever the reasons, Morton just "snapped," said her attorney Brian McMonagle.
17. Ad Campaign Promoting Islam To Roll Out In New York Subways
By Victoria Cavaliere 14 August 2008 Voice of America News
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-08-14-voa3.cfm
New York - Advertisements promoting Islam will be placed in New York City subway cars for one month beginning in September. Victoria Cavaliere reports from VOA's New York Bureau that the organizers of the ad campaign say they hope the ads will clarify some misunderstandings about the Muslim religion. The subway ad campaign, sponsored by the Islamic Circle of North America, will roll out on September 15 in 1,000 subway cars through out New York City's subway system...
Azeem Khan, the Assistant Secretary General of the Islamic Circle of North America, said the promotional campaign was timed to coincide with the holy month of Ramadan… Even before its debut, the ad campaign has met with some controversy because one of its sponsors, Brooklyn imam Siraj Wahhaj, was a character witness for convicted 1993 World Trade Center bombing mastermind Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman. One New York lawmaker, U.S Representative Peter King,has urged New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority to reject the ads. Azeem dismisses criticism of the imam, who was the first Muslim to lead a prayer before the U.S. House of Representatives. "He's not controversial to the Muslim community or to anyone who knows him. He came out of the 60's era. He's one of the foremost leaders of Muslims in America… The Islamic Circle of North America is paying $48,000 for the month-long promotion. The group said a second promotional campaign is in the works.
MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA
18. Iran Builds Unmanned Sub, Radar Evading Boat
Fars News Agency - English (Iran) News numbre: 8705221374 2008-08-12 - 19:22
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8705221374
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar announced Tuesday that Iran has built a new unmanned intelligent submarine along with a boat which evades radar detection. Najjar told reporters that the intelligent submarine and the boat would enhance the Iranian Navy's defense capabilities. The announcement came a week after the defense minister announced the weapons were test fired. Last month, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) successfully test fired a home-made missile which can evade radar...
19. Lebanon bus stop bomb kills 18
Wed Aug 13, 2008 12:57pm BST By Nazih Siddiq Reuters
http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKLD7191220080813
TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - A bomb killed at least 18 people, including nine soldiers, at a bus stop in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Wednesday, security sources said. The bomb, which also wounded at least 45 people, was the deadliest attack on the army since its battle with al Qaeda-inspired Islamist militants in the north last year. It had been placed in a bag at the bus stop where soldiers usually gather, the army said in a statement, describing the attack as a "terrorist bombing" -- a phrase used in the past by the military when it suspects militant Islamist involvement. The army put the initial death toll at 11 but other medical and security sources said it had risen as casualties died from their wounds…
Lebanon bomb inquiry focuses on Islamists - source
14 Aug 2008 13:48:56 GMT Reuters
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LE78936.htm
BEIRUT, Aug 14 (Reuters) - A Lebanese army investigation into a bomb attack that killed 15 people, including 10 soldiers, is focusing on militant Sunni Islamist involvement, a security source said on Thursday. The attack in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Wednesday was the deadliest against the army since its 15-week battle with al Qaeda-inspired militants in the north last year. The bomb, which was planted at a bus stop, wounded 45 people... The army lost 170 soldiers last year while putting down an insurrection by the Fatah al-Islam militant group, which was based at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp…
20. Sudan launches major offensive in Darfur
Sudan's armed forces are reported to have launched a major military operation against rebels in a remote stretch of north Darfur where China wants to explore for oil.
By Mike Pflanz in Nairobi 13 Aug 2008 The Daily Telegraph (London)
Soldiers in a convoy of more than 200 vehicles stormed rebel strongholds close to the Sudan-Libya border in a bid to wrest control from forces opposed to the government in Khartoum, reports said. If confirmed, the attack on Tuesday would be the first in Darfur by the government since the International Criminal Court prosecutor charged President Omar al Bashir with war crimes and genocide last month. A rebel leader claimed in an interview with the Reuters news agency that the government had recently brought Chinese oil engineers to the area to join Saudi teams already searching for new oil deposits. At least seven rebels were killed in Tuesday's opening offensive, said Suleiman Marajan, a Darfur-based commander of the faction of the Sudan Liberation Army led by Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur…
21. Yemen probes suspected piracy in the Gulf of Aden
By DPA Aug 13, 2008, 17:59 GMT
Sana'a, Yemen - Yemeni officials said they were investigating reports that a British ship may have been attacked and hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden Wednesday. The officials in the southern port of Aden said coast guard authorities began contacts with warships operating in the Horn of Africa as part of international anti-terrorism task force to ascertain reports that pirates may have taken over the ship. The ship was reportedly attacked at around 100 miles from the Yemeni coasts as it sailed to the Aden port Wednesday. 'We are investigating the reported attack,' a port official told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, without giving further details…
ASIA / PACIFIC
22. Aid workers killed in Afghan ambush
AMIR SHAH The Associated Press August 13, 2008 at 8:58 AM EDT
PUL-E-ALAM, Afghanistan — Gunmen wielding assault rifles ambushed a New York-based aid organization's vehicle one province south of Kabul on Wednesday, killing a Canadian and along with a British-Canadian colleague and an American-Trinidadian aid worker, officials said. The three women worked for the International Rescue Committee and were attacked in Logar province while traveling to Kabul, said Abdullah Khan, the deputy counterterrorism director in Logar. The women's Afghan driver was also killed, said Khan. Melissa Winkler, a spokeswoman for the International Rescue Committee, said the group was in the process of alerting family members and would issue a statement soon. Ms. Winkler said the women were a dual American-Trinidadian citizen, a dual British-Canadian citizen and a Canadian citizen. Earlier, an Afghan police official had said the women were American, Canadian and Irish…
23. Musharraf expected to resign in next few days
By Jane Perlez New York Times Thursday, August 14, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/15/world/asia/15pstan.html
ISLAMABAD: Faced with desertions among his political supporters and the unsettling neutrality of the military, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, an important ally of the United States, is expected to resign in the next few days rather than face impeachment, Pakistani politicians and Western diplomats said Thursday. The details of how he would leave, and whether he would be able to stay in Pakistan - apparently his strong preference - or would seek residency abroad were under discussion, the politicians said. Musharraf was expected to resign before the coalition presented charges for impeachment to the Parliament early next week, said Nisar Ali Khan, a senior official in the Pakistani Muslim League-N, the minority partner in the coalition government. Similarly, Sheikh Mansoor Ahmed, a senior official of the Pakistan People's Party, the major party in the coalition, said Thursday that the president would probably leave in the "next 72 hours."…
24. Terror suspect Belal Khazaal compiled book, court told
Natalie O'Brien August 13, 2008 The Australian
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24174758-601,00.html
A SYDNEY man allegedly compiled a book advocating terrorist attacks including bombings, shooting down planes and assassinations of key US officials including George W Bush, a Supreme Court jury has been told. The book, entitled Provision on the Rules of Jihad, contained sections that canvassed various methods of murder and terrorist attack including letterbombs, boobytrapping cars, kidnappings and poisonings, according to crown prosecutor Peter Neil SC. Mr Neil, in his opening address in the case against Belal Khazaal, said the book listed a number of countries that were key targets for the attacks, including Australia.
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