11-04 Daily Update

1. Pentagon warns Europe about Iran missiles
Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:09:32 GMT Press TV (Iran)
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=74061&sectionid=3510203
Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency says Iran is close to using its missile capabilities against Washington and its European allies. In a recent address in Prague, head of Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, Henry A. Obering III stepped up efforts to persuade the Czech Parliament to ratify the deployment of a US missile defense shield in the country's territory. "There's an urgency to getting the schedule on," Obering said. Washington has strived to gain Czech approval to build a defense shield southwest of Prague, claiming it would protect the United States and Europe from the so-called 'rogue states'…

2. Iranian Group Recruits Iranian Volunteers for Anti-U.S. Martyrdom [Suicide] Operations to be Carried Out by Hizbullah
Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
Special Dispatch Series - No. 2101 November 3, 2008
http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD210108

On November 1, 2008, the Iranian website Tabnak, which is identified with Expediency Council Secretary and former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezai, reported that flyers have recently been circulated in Iran calling on the public, especially young people, to sign up for martyrdom operations to be carried out by the Lebanese Hizbullah. The flyer promises registrants that they will become "fighters in the worldwide front against the Global Arrogance [i.e. the U.S.]." Following is a translation of the Tabnak report: [1] …

3. Saudi official: 2003 terror plot against US foiled
By DONNA ABU-NASR, Associated Press Sun Nov 2, 5:17 pm ET
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/02/terror/main4564028.shtml

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia foiled a 2003 terror plot by militants who planned to hijack a plane and blow it up over a densely populated American city, a Saudi official said Sunday. The official said the plan, first reported Sunday in government-guided Al-Watan newspaper, was for the attackers to transit through the U.S. to another destination so they could avoid applying for hard-to-get American visas required for Saudis. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the militants were preparing to execute the alleged plot when it was halted… The Saudi official said the alleged hijacking plan was one of 160 terror plots the kingdom announced last month that it had foiled. At the time, authorities provided no details about any of the alleged plots and it was unclear why Saudi authorities never publicly revealed the 2003 plan previously. The official would not provide more details about the alleged plot such as what city was targeted and whether any arrests were made…

4. Detainee Convicted of Terrorism Charge At Military Commission Trial
U.S. Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release No. 926-08 Nov 03, 2008
Media contact: +1 (703) 697-5131/697-5132

Public contact: http://www.defenselink.mil/faq/comment.html or +1 (703) 428-0711 +1
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12329

A military commission today found Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al Bahlul of Yemen guilty of conspiracy with Usama Bin Laden and others to commit murder of protected persons, attacking civilians and other crimes. He was also found guilty of solicitation to commit murder of protected persons, to attack civilian objects, and to commit acts of terrorism. In addition, the commission found him guilty of providing material support for terrorism by supporting al Qaeda through meeting with the highest ranking members of the organization and creating al Qaeda propaganda including the widely-distributed propaganda video, “The Destruction of the American Destroyer U.S.S. Cole.” All offenses were in violation of the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Now that al Bahlul has been found guilty of these offenses, the commission must conduct a separate hearing to determine an appropriate sentence. Based on the crimes for which he has been convicted he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison… A link to al Bahlul’s list of charges can be viewed on the Military Commission Web site at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Feb2008/d20080226bahlul.pdf .

Jury's terror-trial verdict sealed until Monday
A jury deliberated less than four hours and returned a still-secret verdict in the terror trial of Osama bin Laden's alleged media secretary.

BY CAROL ROSENBERG Miami Herald Nov 1, 2008
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/story/751041.html

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- A military jury reached a swift verdict in the terror trial of an alleged al Qaeda propagandist Friday, just hours after a prosecutor emotionally accused the man of inciting suicide bombers to kill Americans. Guards had already returned the accused terrorist to the barbed-wire ringed prison camp elsewhere on the base. So the judge, Air Force Col. Ronald Gregory, ordered the verdict sealed, and told the jury to return on Monday to announce it… Bahlul, about 40, is charged with three war crimes covering 23 counts -- conspiracy, solicitation to murder and providing material support for terror for allegedly serving as Osama bin Laden's media secretary from 1999 until his capture in Afghanistan in 2001...

5. Fort Dix plot case will hear more secret recordings
by The Associated Press Monday November 03, 2008, 9:43 AM

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/11/fort_dix_plot_case_will_hear_m....

More secret recordings are next for the jury in the Fort Dix trial. For the fourth consecutive day of testimony today, government prosecutors are expected to play more pieces of conversation involving the five men accused of planning an attack on soldiers on Fort Dix, an Army installation in New Jersey. The men -- all foreign-born Muslims in their 20s who lived for years in Cherry Hill -- could face life in prison if they're convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder… In recordings played last week, jurors heard one of the men suggest several targets for an attack including a U.S. Coast Guard building in Philadelphia.

6. Judge dismisses parts of man's suit against Energy Department
By The Tribune-Review (Pittsburgh) Saturday, November 1, 2008

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_596285.ht...

A federal judge Friday dismissed parts of a lawsuit filed by a Highland Park nuclear physicist who accused the U.S. Department of Energy of revoking his national security clearance in December after he publicly criticized the Iraq war and the FBI's treatment of Muslims. Moniem El-Ganayni, 57, claims the action denied his constitutional rights to defend himself, to free speech and to not be discriminated against for his ethnicity or religion. El-Ganayni is an Egyptian-born U.S. citizen and a Muslim. U.S. District Judge Terrence McVerry dismissed two constitutional claims, saying he would have to second-guess an executive branch decision to revoke the security clearance. McVerry took El-Ganayni's claim that the Energy Department violated procedures for revoking a security clearance under advisement…

7. Soldiers get bomb scene training at Fort Huachuca
A soldier gathers visual evidence as part of training in the Joint Weapons Intelligence Course at Fort Huachuca last month.
November 02, 2008, 9:14 p.m.The Associated Press
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/fromcomments/101430.php

SIERRA VISTA - Some soldiers, sailors and airmen at Fort Huachuca have been learning to go through a crime scene, but not a neat TV scene with actors, klieg lights, mike booms and cameras rolling. No, 99 soldiers attending the 52-day Joint Weapons Intelligence Course at the Intelligence Center are faced with reality, and don't take that to mean a hyped TV reality show such as "Survivor."… Army Maj. Christopher Britt, the course manager, said the instruction brings in people from different fields, such as security, intelligence and explosive ordnance disposal. The training also brings them together to create a special forensics-gathering team, where they are taught aspects of many jobs with the goal of identifying an individual or a "cell of three or four people" who make and use bombs to kill people in Iraq... The course incorporates biometrics, forensics and other important, but left unsaid, disciplines that will make the graduates of the instruction intelligence experts in one of many arenas needed to be successful in combating terrorism, the general said…

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. Perpetrator of B.C. blast likely from area, police say
The Canadian Press November 1, 2008 at 8:00 PM EST

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1463

DAWSON CREEK, B.C. — Investigators from the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team renewed their call for the public's help Saturday as they continued to probe a third deliberate explosion targeting natural gas pipelines in northeastern B.C. Crews from oil and gas giant EnCana, whose pipelines have been the target of all three blasts, were still at the scene near Dawson Creek at midday, trying to stop the flow of gas. Police investigators have numerous leads but continue to believe whoever was responsible for the explosion has extensive local knowledge and may be from the area, RCMP spokesman Sergeant Tim Shields told a news conference...

Third blast rocks B.C. pipeline
WENDY STUECK Globe and Mail Update October 31, 2008 at 10:11 PM EST

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1464

VANCOUVER — A third attack has been discovered on a pipeline in the Dawson Creek area of northeastern British Columbia. The target was a natural gas wellhead about 12 kilometres northwest of Tomslake, a small town near Dawson Creek. A small amount of gas leaked, but the public is not in danger, the RCMP said in a statement. EnCana engineers were containing the leak, and the blast was in a rural, isolated area. The blast site was discovered about 12:30 p.m. PT Friday…

9. Sea-Tac shuts down security gates after scare

06:51 PM PDT on Saturday, November 1, 2008 By ERIC SCHUDISKE / KING 5 News

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1465

SEATAC, Wash. – Hundreds of travelers were left waiting this afternoon when Sea-Tac Airport shut down all four security gates. The incident was triggered by a female passenger, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). It happened at roughly 1 p.m. TSA officials say the woman passed through the first line of security, but was selected for a secondary screening. She left before completing the secondary screening, TSA spokesperson Carrie Harmon said. Security couldn't find her, so they shut down the gates. The woman was eventually located and security reopened the gates less than an hour after the shutdown. Flights in and out of Sea-Tac were not significantly affected. This is the second time this week there's been a security breach at Sea-Tac…

Airport security report lightweight?

Oct 31, 2008 By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2008-10-30-screeners_N.htm

WASHINGTON — The Homeland Security Department is keeping secret the results of an investigation into whether airport security screeners have been tipped off in advance about tests in which undercover agents try to slip weapons by them. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said a report on the investigation released Oct. 24 is useless because it omits findings and recommended improvements. He is urging the department to make them public… A six-page unclassified portion of the report by Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner said his investigation found "some areas of concern" and recommended 12 ways to improve aviation security. No specific recommendations were cited in the public portion of the report…

10. Melamine fears spread to tainted animal feed
CARLY WEEKS From Friday's Globe and Mail October 31, 2008 at 9:06 AM EST

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1466

Reports that Chinese producers regularly add melamine to animal feed are sparking new fears that more Canadian products could be contaminated with the industrial chemical. The revelation, prompted by the discovery of melamine-tainted eggs in Hong Kong this past weekend, is the latest in a growing scandal in China that has so far included dairy, chocolate and pet food. Only a modest amount of Canada's meat products - just under $200,000 worth, according to Statistics Canada - came from China in 2007. But last year, Canada imported nearly $15-million worth of protein substances and other ingredients primarily used to make animal feed from China. The worry over potential melamine contamination prompted the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to create new rules earlier this month requiring importers to prove feed ingredients are melamine-free. However, many in Canada's meat and animal-feed industry say they have been taking extra measures to guard against melamine since last year's pet-food scandal…

11. Partnering for Cyberspace Security

By Walter Pincus Monday, November 3, 2008; A19 Washington Post

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1467

In two recent speeches that have attracted little notice, Donald Kerr, principal deputy director of national intelligence, has called for a radical new relationship between government and the private sector to counter what he called the "malicious activity in cyberspace [that] is a growing threat to everyone." Kerr said the most serious challenge to the nation's economy and security is protecting the intellectual property of government and the private sector that is the basis for advancements in science and technology…

CACI Awarded $29 Million Contract to Support Network Infrastructure Upgrade for U.S. Marine Corps
Company to Provide Turnkey Services for Microwave Relay Towers to Enhance Training

Last update: 8:35 a.m. EST Nov. 3, 2008 Press Release

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1468

ARLINGTON, Va., Nov 03, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- CACI International Inc (CAI:CACI International Inc announced today that it has been awarded a task order with a ceiling value of $29 million (one five-month base period, with optional contract line items for additional towers and support structures, as authorized) by the U.S. Marine Corps under the U.S. General Services Administration's CONNECTIONS contract vehicle. This new work involves initially providing wide area network infrastructure design, fabrication, installation, and validation of five microwave relay towers for the Naval Surface Warfare Center's Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command…

Financing, identity theft, money laundering

12. Prosecution rests in Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing retrial

01:56 PM CDT on Friday, October 31, 2008 By JASON TRAHAN Dallas Morning News
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1461

Prosecutors in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing retrial rested their case Friday against five charity organizers they contend used the former Richardson-based group as a front for Palestinian terrorists. The defendants are accused of using the foundation — once the largest Muslim charity in the U.S. — to funnel more than $12 million to Hamas after the U.S. designated it a terrorist organization in 1995. Defense attorneys say the foundation was a legitimate charity run by men with a passion for helping Palestinians suffering under Israeli occupation. The defense called its first witness, former Dallas congressman and lawyer John Bryant, about 11 a.m. He told jurors that when he represented Holy Land in the late 1990s, after it had been accused in the press of being tied to Hamas, neither the FBI nor State Department would tell him or the defendants whether the foundation was under investigation. He testified that U.S. government officials also refused to offer Holy Land any guidance on new federal anti-terrorism laws. He took the stand just minutes after the government finished with its final witness, “Avi,” a counterterrorism lawyer with the Israeli Security Agency who testified under a fake name for security reasons. Avi spent this week giving jurors details about Hamas’ control of a series of Palestinian charity groups, known as zakat committees, which Holy Land is accused of funding...

Holy Land Foundation defense begins rebutting prosecution

Monday, November 3, 2008 By JASON TRAHAN The Dallas Morning News
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1469

Last year, prosecutors in the Holy Land Foundation case told jurors during closing arguments, "Don't get hung up on the names." For the retrial, following a hung jury in the first case, the government has tweaked its message. Prosecutors are taking great pains to make sure jurors absorb all the details – including the blizzard of unfamiliar Arabic names – central to their allegations that five charity workers used the former Richardson-based foundation to funnel money to Hamas after it was banned by the U.S. in 1995. Among the changes:…

13. Guilty verdict in Venezuelan suitcase trial
BY JAY WEAVER Miami Herald Nov 3, 2008
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/breaking-news/story/754224.ht...

IPT NOTE: The gov’t’s press release is posted at http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2008/November/08-nsd-976.html

Franklin Durán on Monday afternoon was found guilty of conspiracy and acting as an unregistered government agent for Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. The verdict came in Miami federal court on the seventh day of deliberations by a 12-member jury in the trial dubbed "Suitcase-gate." The case has drawn keen interest in Latin America. Jurors agreed with federal prosecutors that Durán came to South Florida last year on behalf of the Venezuelan government to silence a business associate about a cash-filled suitcase intended for an Argentine politician. Durán, 41, faces up to 15 years in prison if he is convicted. The investigation that led to Durán's arrest came after the business associate, Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, returned to Miami in the days after the cash was discovered. He went to the FBI and agreed to wear a wire…

Venezuelan National Convicted of Operating as Illegal Agent of Venezuelan Government in the United States

Department of Justice FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, November 3, 2008
NSD (202) 514-2007 TDD (202) 514-1888

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2008/November/08-nsd-976.html

14. Terrorism Financing Blacklists At Risk
Global System Faces Multiple Challenges

By Craig Whitlock Washington Post Sunday, November 2, 2008; A01

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1470

BRUSSELS -- The global blacklisting system for financiers of al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups is at risk of collapse, undermined by legal challenges and waning political support in many countries, according to counterterrorism officials in Europe and the United States. In September, the European Court of Justice threw the future of the United Nations' sanctions program against al-Qaeda and the Taliban into doubt when it declared the blacklist violated the "fundamental rights" of those targeted. The Luxembourg-based court said the list lacked accountability and made it almost impossible for people to challenge their inclusion. Courts in Britain and France have also questioned whether European countries can enforce the U.N. sanctions and other blacklists without violating local laws, including a defendant's right to see evidence. The United Nations keeps such evidence secret. The U.N. blacklist is the backbone of an international effort to prevent al-Qaeda supporters from raising or transferring money. All U.N. members are required to impose a travel ban and asset freeze against the 503 individuals, businesses and groups on the list. About $85 million in al-Qaeda and Taliban assets is frozen worldwide. Enforcement, however, is inconsistent; some countries have quietly permitted alleged supporters of al-Qaeda to travel and to access their bank accounts. Moreover, the U.N. program is just one of several terrorism-financing blacklists sponsored by the United States, the European Union and Britain. Although each is intended to prevent terrorism, they overlap and sometimes clash with one another, leading to confusion over whose assets, besides al-Qaeda's, should be frozen, and under whose authority. Hezbollah, for instance, is included on the U.S. and British blacklists. But it is not considered a terrorist group by the European Union...

15. Missouri man indicted for trying to circumvent tobacco tax
Published: Monday, November 3, 2008 10:32 AM CST Associated Press

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1471
TULSA, Okla. (AP) - A Missouri man faces a federal indictment charging him with using multiple companies and bank accounts in an attempt to circumvent Oklahoma's tobacco tax. The indictment also charges that 66-year-old Gary L. Hall of Joplin, Mo., skimmed $25 million from tax revenues intended to go into the coffers of Oklahoma's state government and American Indian tribes. In a 43-count federal indictment filed on Oct. 15 in U.S. District Court in Kansas, Hall and seven other defendants are charged with conspiracy to divert cigarettes, money laundering, mail fraud, wire fraud, false reports and violation of the Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act...

16. RCMP, OPP and CBSA Joint Operations Lead to the Seizure of Contraband Tobacco Products

Oct 31, 2008 Press Release

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1472

CORNWALL, ON, Oct. 31 /CNW/ - Two Cornwall residents and two residents from the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory are facing charges under the Excise Act 2001 for possession of a tobacco product not properly stamped as a result of a joint operation between the Cornwall RCMP Detachment, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)…

Border security, immigration, customs

17. Border War: Southern Arizona Security Alert

Posted: Oct 30, 2008 11:56 PM EDT Updated: Oct 31, 2008 09:57 PM EDT

By Som Lisaius

http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=9270728&nav=14RWMstZ

The numbers are staggering. The images, horrifying. The explanation, chillingly clear. "It's kind of bad over there," says Nogales, Arizona resident Carlos Santa Cruz, referring to his community's sister city on the other side of the border. "They're fighting for territory over Nogales, Sonora. Been a lot of killings in Mexico, you know...almost every day now." More so than ever before, Mexico is the battleground for a bloody drug war. Though in some cases, the bullets are hitting too close to home. "It's vicious, it's very competitive,' says Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada. In Mexico, the fight is for territory and power. But the biggest prize is control over the coveted, but shrinking routes into the United States. "Unfortunately we're a country that's addicted to a lot of drugs," Sheriff Estrada says. "The demand here is tremendous, so the supply is tremendous and the competition will be tremendous." So much that people are dying at an unprecedented rate. In just three days last week, at least twenty one people were killed in northern Mexico. Ten of them, in a shootout with police in Nogales, Sonora, about an hour south of Tucson…

Other items

18. Cyber Security Conference
Wednesday, November 05, 2008 - Thursday, November 06, 2008
• Lac Leamy Hilton Hotel , Gatineau, Quebec
http://www.conferenceboard.ca/conf/08-0198/default.aspx
Lauri Almann, Undersecretary of Defence of the Republic of Estonia, will be providing an in-depth and candid discussion about the evolution of cyber warfare and cyber attacks. The Undersecretary will share the experience of his country in countering an aggressive cyber attack and describe the trajectory that Estonia is taking to protect itself in the future. This presentation will form the foundation of a broader, interactive discussion about how cyber warfare is evolving and how organizations need to position themselves to prepare for future attacks…

19. San Bernardino County agrees to jail headscarves
By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press Article Launched: 11/03/2008 11:19:27 AM PST

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10887927?nclick_check=1

ORANGE, Calif.—San Bernardino County will allow jailed Muslim women to wear headscarves after settling a lawsuit with a woman who alleged her religious freedoms were violated when she was forced to remove her hijab during a 12-hour jail stay, her attorney said Monday. The county, which did not admit wrongdoing, will also pay $45,000 in damages, according to a settlement agreement signed by the county last week and released Monday. Plaintiff Jameelah Medina will get $10,000 after subtracting attorney fees, said Hector Villagra, director of the Orange County office of the American Civil Liberties Union. The settlement specifies that Muslim women must be provided a private area to remove their headscarves after arrest and must be provided with county-issued headscarves to cover themselves when they are in the presence of men…

San Bernardino County sheriff, Muslim woman reach settlement

10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, October 21, 2008 By JOHN F. BERRY The Press-Enterprise

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1473

… Jameelah Medina, 30, filed a federal lawsuit in 2007 contending her freedom of religion had been violated. She sought unlimited damages. Her lawsuit, filed with the help of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, sought to change jailhouse policy to accommodate women who wear a Muslim headscarf, known as a "hijab."… Sheriff's officials said in response that head coverings of all types are security risks that interfere with booking mugs…

MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

20. Troops Capture Two Dozen Terrorist Suspects in Iraq
American Forces Press Service Nov 3, 2008
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=51767
WASHINGTON, Nov. 3, 2008 – Coalition forces in Iraq captured 24 suspected terrorist operatives in three days of operations, military officials reported today. The operations targeted al-Qaida in Iraq in the central and northern regions of the country, mostly today and yesterday, officials said. In a series of coordinated operations in Mosul today, coalition troops degraded al-Qaida in Iraq's bomb network, capturing a man who intelligence reports suggest oversees the movement of bomb-making materials into the city, officials said. The suspect is believed to deal directly with senior bomb-making leaders in the region. Eleven others suspects were detained during the operations. Also today, troops captured a man believed to have connections to multiple al-Qaida in Iraq contacts in the region, officials said. Four additional suspects believed to be his associates were detained for further questioning. Troops discovered multiple rifles and magazines along with bomb-making materials at the site…

21. Repercussions of the release of the 2 Austrian nationals
Austria denies paying a ransom to Al-Qaeda
Nov 2, 2008 By A.K/Translation Section El Khabar (Algeria)
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1474

The release of the Austrian hostages, who have been abducted by Al-Qaeda wing in the Maghreb, for 8 months, has raised several comments related to the deal of their release. While Austria has denied officially the news saying that a ransom has been paid for the terrorist group led by Abu Amar, some sources alleged that Austria has paid a ransom, without unveiling its sum. French Press Agency, AFP, has quoted the recently released hostage named Wolfgang Ebner, saying: “it was very hard for us, but we have not been maltreated.” This latter has refused giving further details about his abduction likely under instruction from the Austrian Government. Meanwhile, the Austrian Government has not given details about the nature of the deal concluded with Al-Qaeda, denying, however, paying any ransom…

Austrian hostages released by terror group
updated 11:52 a.m. EDT, Fri October 31, 2008
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/10/31/austria.hostages/

(CNN) -- Two hostages held by an al Qaeda group in Tunisia since February have been released, the Austrian Foreign Ministry said Friday… Ebner and Kloiber were last heard from in February while they were on a vacation in southern Tunisia. In March, the Austrian government received an audio message via the Internet from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claiming to have kidnapped the pair...

ASIA / PACIFIC

22. Taliban's New Super-Bombs Threaten U.S. Troops, Even in Pricey MRAPs
By Anna Mulrine US News & World Report Posted October 31, 2008

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1462

GHAZNI, Afghanistan—Throughout Afghanistan, roadside bombs are increasing not only in number but also in size, with devastating consequences for U.S. troops and beleaguered Afghan truck drivers alike. Culverts that run under the road to help drain and irrigate surrounding fields in the rural country now regularly conceal these powerful improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, with increasingly large charges. Roadside bombs that once weighed 10 to 20 pounds have morphed into multigallon drums packed with 200 to 500 pounds of explosives, which insurgents roll into culverts with wheelbarrows. The enhanced bombs have in some cases proved effective in destroying the U.S. military's expensive new Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles—the product of a multibillion dollar investment by the Pentagon that features a V-shaped hull to absorb and disperse the impact of roadside bombs. The vehicles were not built, however, to withstand 200-pounds worth of explosives. "They've flipped MRAPs 15 feet in the air sometimes," says one U.S. officer in Afghanistan. "And they break them in half." U.S. troops inside the overturned vehicles have been crushed and seriously injured by falling equipment. The Taliban's latest IED offensive has turned Highway 1, the paved artery that links Kabul to Kandahar, from a once powerful symbol of progress in Afghanistan into a deadly stretch littered with burned-out bridges and smoldering trucks…

23. Afghan bomb makers turn to fertilizer
Fewer Soviet-era munitions seen, experts say

Tom Blackwell, National Post Published: Monday, November 03, 2008

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/afghanistan/story.html?id=927371

They were once ubiquitous in Afghanistan: ageing shells, mines and other lethal leftovers from the Soviet war, often cobbled together into roadside bombs. But Canadian explosives experts say they are seeing fewer of the ancient munitions, as insurgent bomb makers turn to a more pedestrian, and more widely available, ingredient --fertilizer. A growing percentage of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted in southern Afghanistan are homemade using the fertilizer ammonium nitrate, said one military engineer yesterday. The chemical, which can be turned into a weapon when mixed with an accelerant such as gasoline, is often packed into plastic cans and pots, making the bombs impossible to locate with metal detectors...

24. Senior al Qaeda leader thought killed in North Waziristan strike
By Bill Roggio The Long War Journal November 1, 2008 3:18 PM
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/11/senior_al_qaeda_lead_2.ph...
Reports from Pakistan indicate a senior al Qaeda leader was killed in yesterday's airstrike in North Waziristan. Mohammad Khalil Hasan al Hakaymah, who is better known as Abu Jihad al Masri, is thought to have been killed in an airstrike that targeted a vehicle outside of Mir Ali in North Waziristan, AFP reported. "The strike was aimed at a vehicle carrying Abu Jihad and two others," senior Pakistani security official told AFP. "The target was successfully hit and all three people were killed." US intelligence has yet to confirm Abu Jihad's death. Abu Kasha, an al Qaeda operative who facilitates the group's external operations against the West, is also thought to have been killed in a separate attack that targeted a compound operated by a low-level Taliban operative in North Waziristan. Reports indicate Abu Kasha may have escaped the attack…

25. Cache of bombs seized in Kandahar detonated by military
Canwest News Service Published: Sunday, November 02, 2008

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1480

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Military explosives experts oversaw a mass detonation Sunday of more than 680 kilograms of bombs and other explosive devices seized over the past several months, Canadian forces officials said. A member of the Canadian improvised explosive devices (IED) team, who could not be identified for security reasons, said "we can actually be two steps ahead of the bomber," largely due to greater cooperation from locals reporting the bombs. About 100 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were blown up Sunday. The team said nearly 90 per cent of suicide bombs and IEDs are found and disposed of prior to detonation largely because locals are reporting finding them more often…

French aid worker kidnapped in Kabul

Tom Coghlan in Kabul From Times Online (London) November 3, 2008

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5071360.ece

A French aid worker was kidnapped this morning in Kabul, apparently the latest of a string of abductions by criminal gangs seeking to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in ransom. Dany Egreteau, 32, a French national on his first visit to the Afghan capital, was on his way to a meeting at the education ministry. An Afghan intelligence officer who tried to prevent the kidnap was reported shot dead during the incident. "At around 9am armed people stopped the car of the foreigners who work for our Education Ministry," Zmarai Bashiry, spokesman forthe Interior Ministry, told The Times, "one foreigner managed to run away." An internal security assessment put out later by the UN reported that two vehicles boxed in the marked international NGO vehicle, believed to be from the aid group Amitie Afghan Francais (AFRANE), and abducted Mr Egreteau. Colleagues said that he was usually based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and is an education specialist…

EUROPE

26. Terrorists try to infiltrate UK's top labs
The security services have intercepted up to 100 suspects posing as postgraduate students who aim to acquire weapons material and expertise
Mark Townsend, defence correspondent The Observer (UK) Sunday November 2 2008
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/1475

Dozens of suspected terrorists have attempted to infiltrate Britain's top laboratories in order to develop weapons of mass destruction, such as biological and nuclear devices, during the past year. The security services, MI5 and MI6, have intercepted up to 100 potential terrorists posing as postgraduate students who they believe tried accessing laboratories to gain the materials and expertise needed to create chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons, the government has confirmed. It follows warnings from MI5 to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office that al-Qaeda's terror network is actively seeking to recruit scientists and university students with access to laboratories containing deadly viruses and weapons technology. Extensive background checks from the security services, using a new vetting scheme, have led to the rejection of overseas students who were believed to be intent on developing weapons of mass destruction. A Foreign Office spokesman said the students had been denied clearance to study in the UK under powers 'to stop the spread of knowledge and skills that could be used in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery'…. The findings raise questions over how many terrorist suspects may have already infiltrated the UK's laboratory network. Rihab Taha, dubbed 'Dr Germ', who worked on Saddam Hussein's biological weapons programme, studied for her PhD in plant toxins at East Anglia University's School of Biological Sciences in Norwich. In addition, a number of well-educated Iraqi scientists - funded by Baghdad - infiltrated several British microbiology laboratories in the run-up to the Gulf war of 1990-91. Britain has about 800 laboratories in hospitals, universities and private firms where staff have access to lethal viruses such as Ebola, polio and avian flu or could acquire the technology and expertise to develop deadly weapons. Whitehall sources remain concerned about the number of countries intent on acquiring the materials and knowledge to develop a nuclear or biological warfare capability...