Disasters 2.0 Conference Addresses Social Media Use During Emergencies

The use of social media to inform communities about emergencies has taken local public information officers by storm. Recent events have outlined social media’s popularity as survivors of Haiti’s earthquake turned to Twitter and other networks to update their statuses and verify the well-being of loved ones. Its popularity with citizens worldwide has led to a bevy of questions regarding use and best practices.

About 130 public and private information officers from the emergency management, first response and business continuity communities gathered on Jan. 21 at the Midwest Disasters 2.0: Social Media and Emergency Response training session. The session’s goal was to assemble Kansas City, Kan.-area emergency communicators to learn how social media systems work and how they can be used during a disaster.

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Al Qaeda man captured wearing bomb belt in Yemen

Yemeni forces on Saturday captured an al Qaeda militant wearing an explosive belt who was planning a suicide attack on "economic facilities," a government official said. The man was detained while driving a motorbike in the Khalf area in the Hadramaut region, the Ministry of Interior official said in a statement sent to Reuters. He was named as Saleh Abdul-Habib Saleh Shawash.

"The primary interrogation of this terrorist (revealed) he was planning a suicide attack against economic facilities in Hadramaut ... the interrogation is ongoing to reveal more information about this and to see who else might be involved in the plan," the source said. Yemen has gained a reputation as a haven and a training and recruiting center for al Qaeda militants since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. Authorities stepped up operations against the group after its Yemeni wing said it was behind an attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound U.S. airliner on December 25.

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Afghanistan Condemns NATO 'Friendly Fire' Incident

A joint U.S.-Afghan force called in an airstrike on what turned out to be an Afghan army post after taking fire from there before dawn Saturday, killing four Afghan soldiers and prompting an angry demand for punishment from the country's defense ministry. Both NATO and Afghan authorities described the clash around a snow-covered outpost in Wardak province southwest of Kabul as a case of mistaken identity. NATO called the attack "unfortunate" and promised a full investigation. Nevertheless, the deadly strike threatens to strain relations between NATO and the Afghan government at a time when both sides are calling for closer partnership in the fight against the Taliban. The fighting came on the heels of several cases of bloodshed between Afghans and Americans in recent weeks.

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Cellphone Curbs May Not Decrease Car Crashes

Laws that forbid motorists from using hand-held phones or texting while driving don't appear to result in a significant decrease in vehicle crashes, according to a new study by the Highway Loss Data Institute expected to be released Friday. The study, expected to be released at a conference in Washington, D.C., Friday, comes amid stepped-up efforts by federal highway-safety regulators to ban texting while driving and curb other forms of driver distraction. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood earlier this week announced rules to forbid commercial truck and bus drivers from text messaging while driving. Mr. LaHood has said he would ban all texting while driving if he could.

The Transportation Department in a statement Friday criticized the HLDI findings, saying "it is irresponsible to suggest that laws banning cell phone use while driving have zero effect on the number of crashes on our nation's roadways. A University of Utah study shows that using a cell phone while driving can be just as dangerous and deadly as driving drunk. We know that by enacting and enforcing tough laws, states have reduced the number of crashes leading to injuries and fatalities."

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U.S. is unprepared for major bioterrorism attack

More than eight years after the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks, the United States is still unprepared to respond to the threat of large-scale bioterrorism, a congressionally appointed commission said Tuesday in a report that gave the government mixed grades overall for how it has protected Americans from weapons of mass destruction. The report, which measured the government's performance in 17 key areas, gave the White House and Congress "F" grades for not building a rapid-response capability for dealing with disease outbreaks from bioterrorism, or providing adequate oversight of security and intelligence agencies.

Within hours of the report's release, the Obama administration revealed plans to fill gaps in the nation's public health defenses with a series of initiatives to be announced in Wednesday's State of the Union address. The proposals, which administration officials said had been in the works well before the report's findings were known, will seek to speed up delivery of drugs in the event of a major attack, addressing one of the principal shortcomings identified by the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism.

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Human Predators Stalk Haiti's Vulnerable Kids

Mia Pean's heart sank last week when she saw the Toyota pickup truck cruising the debris-cluttered streets of Leogane, ground zero for the earthquake that has devastated Haiti. Each time the driver saw a child — especially a young teen — he would stick his head out of the window and shout, "Manje, manje," Creole for "eat." Pean says she watched the hungry kids, four or five at a time, hop into the back of the pickup, which then disappeared. "I saw the same man again a few days later in Carrefour," a poor suburb of Port-au-Prince, says Pean. "I asked him, 'What are you doing with all those children?' He said, 'Don't worry, we're going to put them in safe homes.' Then he drove off."

But Pean, a Haitian-American emergency consultant for the Andrew Young Foundation, doubts that altruism is the motive of the pickup driver, and others like him, who are now prowling Haiti's streets. The quake that has killed 150,000 people has left thousands of children orphaned, and vulnerable to being preyed upon by child traffickers and Haiti's shameful tradition of keeping child slaves known as restaveks. "I really fear," says Pean, "that most of the kids you see being picked up on the streets in Haiti right now are going to become restaveks or victims of sexual trafficking."

• "Traffickers targeting Haiti's children, human organs, CNN, 1/28/10.
  
• "Child Trafficking for Sexual Purposes, ECPAT, November 2008.
• ChildTrafficking.com, website.
• Child Trafficking Research Hub, UNICEF website.
• Stop Child Trafficking Now, website.
  

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Nigerian underwear bomber: 10 terror suspects held

Police last week acted quickly to forestall a serious threat to national security when they nabbed 10 terror suspects with links to international terrorist organisations. The nine foreigners and a Malaysian were also believed to be linked to a Nigerian student who attempted to blow up a US-bound flight on Christmas Day. Among the foreigners nabbed here were several Nigerians but the authorities are tight-lipped over the details. The 10 suspects were members of a religious group linked to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, the Nigerian who was arrested in the United States after he attempted to detonate explosives sewn into his underwear on board Northwest Airlines flight 253, which was bound for Detroit from Amsterdam.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said the nine foreigners had only just arrived here when they were nabbed. “They would not have had time to do much and establish themselves here, They posed a serious security threat to the country and have been detained under the Internal Security Act.” He, however, refused to reveal the nationalities of the foreign suspects and organisation they were affiliated to. He said police were tipped off by international anti-terrorism agencies and swung into action. He said terrorist threats were a serious matter regardless of whether they were directed at Malaysia.

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Building fusion centers for the next decade

When viewed in the context of policing in the modern model set forth nearly 200 years ago by Sir Robert Peel, the notion of the “Fusion Center” is still an incredibly new concept. The most well known variant of the fusion center in the United States is the JTTF — the Joint Terrorism Task Force. The first JTTF (and arguably the first fully-functional fusion center) was set up three decades ago in New York City. When al Qaeda terrorists struck this country on 9/11, there were 35 JTTFs in operation. Today there are more than 100 JTTFs up and running. But there are many other multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional information-sharing organizations in America where counterterrorism is not the primary focus — these fusion centers are in place to prevent and respond to every sort of criminal activity and they’re springing up all over the country.

For example, in May 2009, the Dallas Morning News reported that detectives in that city’s fusion center “played a critical role” in the apprehension of various criminals by “quickly analyzing and disseminating information to officers in the field. Then, in August 2009, authorities in Texas announced the opening of the Austin Regional Intelligence Center, set up to investigators broader access to confidential information about suspects or criminal organizations.

Furthermore, the Regional Information Sharing Systems (RISS), a federally-funded program to support regional law enforcement efforts in combating crimes of all types — this national network is comprised of six multistate centers designed to operate on a regional basis. There are many other examples we’ve sited in the past year — from the Colorado Information Analysis Center to the Michigan Criminal Intelligence System — where innovative new technologies are being implemented as part of rethought and reinvigorated crime-fighting strategies. The point is: fusion centers are here to stay. The fusion center concept continues to evolve, and the technology supporting that concept is hurtling light years forward on what seems to be a Moore’s Law pace.

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FBI says no terrorism link for Reston man found with weapons

A Virginia man arrested in New Jersey with a cache of weapons, a map of a U.S. military installation and a traditional Middle Eastern headdress has no apparent terrorist ties, the FBI said Tuesday. Lloyd R. Woodson, 43, of Reston, is charged with multiple weapons offenses after being arrested Monday in Branchburg, N.J. Detectives searching his hotel room found the map, the red-and-white headdress, a grenade launcher, a semiautomatic assault rifle with a defaced serial number, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, prosecutors said.

The federal Joint Terrorism Task Force was called in to investigate, but FBI Special Agent Brian Travers, a spokesman for the Newark field office, said the "preliminary assessment is that there is no terrorist link." Travers said agents based that tentative conclusion on "the fact that he has no connection to a known terrorist group and there doesn't seem to be any specific terrorist plot." Investigators said that Woodson's intentions remain unclear and that the investigation is continuing.

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Man with weapons, map of military base arrested

A man was arrested Monday after police found an arsenal of high-powered weapons and a map of a U.S. military base in his New Jersey hotel. Lloyd R. Woodson, 43, was arrested and faces multiple weapons charges after an investigation into his suspicious behavior at a store in Branchburg, New Jersey, said local prosecutor Wayne J. Forrest.

Woodson, wearing a military jacket, went to a store called Quick Chek on Monday afternoon and was acting suspiciously, Forrest said in a statement. The clerk called authorities. When officers arrived, Woodson ran into the woods. He was subdued after wrestling with officers, the statement said.

During the struggle, officers noticed that Woodson was wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying an assault rifle in his coat. Officers searched Woodson's hotel room and found another assault rifle, a grenade launcher, a police scanner, another bulletproof vest, a map of a U.S. military base, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and a Middle Eastern-style headdress.

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Al Qaeda's Pursuit of Weapons of Mass Destruction

In 1998, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden declared that acquiring and using weapons of mass destruction (WMD) was his Islamic duty -- an integral part of his jihad. Systemically, over the course of decades, he dispatched his top lieutenants to attempt to purchase or develop nuclear and biochemical WMD. He has never given up the goal; indeed, in a 2007 video, he repeated his promise to use massive weapons to upend the global status quo, destroy the capitalist hegemony, and help create an Islamic caliphate.

Since the mid-1990s, al Qaeda's WMD procurement efforts have been managed at the most senior levels, under rules of strict compartmentalization from lower levels of the organization, and with central control over possible targets and the timing of prospective attacks. The modus operandi has been top-down -- more similar to the 9/11 attacks than to more recent bottom-up efforts, like the attempted bombing of Flight 253. For instance, al Qaeda deputy chief Ayman al-Zawahiri personally shepherded the group's ultimately unsuccessful efforts to set off an anthrax attack in the United States.

Al Qaeda concentrated its efforts on nuclear devices in the run-up to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Based on the timing and nature of its WMD-related activity in the 1990s, al Qaeda hoped to use such weapons in the United States during an intensified campaign following the 9/11 attacks. There is no indication that the fundamental objectives that lie behind its WMD intent have changed over time.

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PlayStation 3 'hacked' by iPhone cracker

A US hacker who gained notoriety for unlocking Apple's iPhone as a teenager has told BBC News that he has now hacked Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3). George Hotz said the hack, which could allow people to run pirated games or homemade software, took him five weeks. He said he was still refining the technique but intended to post full details online soon. The PS3 is the only games console that has not been hacked, despite being on the market for three years. "It's supposed to be unhackable - but nothing is unhackable," Mr Hotz told BBC News. I can now do whatever I want with the system. It's like I've got an awesome new power - I'm just not sure how to wield it." Sony said it was "investigating the report" and would "clarify the situation" when it had more information.

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Officials fear toxic ingredient in Botox could become terrorist tool

In early 2006, a mysterious cosmetics trader named Rakhman began showing up at salons in St. Petersburg, Russia, hawking a popular anti-aging drug at suspiciously low prices. He flashed a briefcase filled with vials and promised he could deliver more -- "as many as you want," he told buyers -- from a supplier somewhere in Chechnya. Rakhman's "Botox" was found to be a potent clone of the real thing, but investigators soon turned to a far bigger worry: the prospect of an illegal factory in Chechnya churning out raw botulinum toxin, the key ingredient in the beauty drug and one of world's deadliest poisons. A speck of toxin smaller than a grain of sand can kill a 150-pound adult.

No Chechen factory has been found, but a search for the maker of the highly lethal toxin in Rakhman's vials continues across a widening swath of Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia. U.S. officials and security experts say they know the lab exists, and probably dozens of other such labs, judging from the surging black market for the drug. Al-Qaeda is known to have sought botulinum toxin. The Lebanese Hezbollah movement, which the United States has designated a terrorist organization, and other groups have bought and sold counterfeit drugs to raise cash. Now, with the emergence of a global black market for fake Botox, terrorism experts see an opportunity for a deadly convergence.

• "Botulism", Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, website.
  
• "Botulinum Toxin as a Biological Weapon", AMA Journal, 2/28/01.
  

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Bin Laden takes credit for airline bombing plot; officials express skepticism

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden claimed responsibility for the Christmas Day attempt to blow up an American civilian jet in an audiotape broadcast today on Arab television. U.S. intelligence officials quickly raised doubts about Bin Laden's role and suggested the statement was an attempt to score propaganda points for a plot already claimed by an increasingly independent faction of his movement in Yemen.

In the clip, Bin Laden said his group was behind the failed attempt allegedly carried out by Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight. Speaking directly to President Obama, the Al Qaeda leader vowed to continue launching terrorist attacks against the United States as long as Washington supported what he described as Israel's unjust treatment of Palestinians.

U.S. intelligence officials today did not cast doubt on the authenticity of the tape. But they expressed skepticism that Bin Laden or his lieutenants, believed to be based in Pakistan, played a meaningful role in conceiving or executing the Christmas Day plot.

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A pragmatic fight for animal rights

In recent years, there has been a controversy swirling in animal rights circles, as some people such as Victor Schonfeld object to the work of groups such as Peta, which, while abolitionist and determined to get animals off the dinner plate and out of the fur farms, circuses and laboratories, have nevertheless been working with corporations to achieve animal welfare reforms within their industries. A few outspoken critics of such "half measures" or "baby steps" have gone so far as to argue against Peta's campaigns for improved slaughter practices for chickens, better living conditions for hens and larger cages for animals in laboratories. We find this attitude unhelpful to the goal of animal liberation.

Not only is it possible to work for an end to animal slavery while simultaneously supporting incremental change, moving the bar closer to that goal also seems to us to be an important step. Yes, it is more comfortable for industry and consumers alike, but short of a bloody revolution of the sort history has witnessed in other social movements, it is also nearly impossible to move a society forward in any other way. The vast majority of people, if they care about animals − and consumer surveys show that they do − support incremental improvements, even if the increments are far from wholly satisfactory to the animals, who would rather not be caged and mutilated, hung upside down and killed, and to the liberationists, who chafe at such slow progress. It seems obvious that society is more likely to progress in a way that causes particularly abusive systems to be improved or eliminated before full animal liberation is achieved.

• PETA official website.
• "Five Fatal Flaws of Animal Activism", Guardian, 1/18/10.
  

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CCTV in the sky: police plan to use military-style spy drones

Police in the UK plan to use unmanned spy drones, controversially deployed in Afghanistan, for the ­"routine" monitoring of antisocial motorists, ­protesters, agricultural thieves and fly-tippers, in a significant expansion of covert state surveillance. The arms manufacturer BAE Systems, which produces a range of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for war zones, is adapting the military-style planes for a consortium of government agencies led by Kent police. Documents from the South Coast Partnership, a Home Office-backed project in which Kent police and others are developing a national drone plan with BAE, have been obtained by the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act.

They reveal the partnership intends to begin using the drones in time for the 2012 Olympics. They also indicate that police claims that the technology will be used for maritime surveillance fall well short of their intended use – which could span a range of police activity – and that officers have talked about selling the surveillance data to private companies. A prototype drone equipped with high-powered cameras and sensors is set to take to the skies for test flights later this year.

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Suspect in Recruit Shooting Claims Al Qaeda Ties

The man accused of killing one soldier and wounding another outside an Arkansas military recruiting center has asked a judge to change his plea to guilty, claiming ties to Al-Qaeda. Abdulhakim Muhammad's attorney, Claiborne Ferguson, said Thursday night that his client sent a letter earlier this month to the judge in his case asking to change his plea to capital murder and attempted capital murder charges.

Muhammad has called the shootings justified retaliation for U.S. military action in the Middle East. He told The Associated Press in a telephone interview last year that he doesn't believe he's guilty. Muhammad described himself in the letter as a soldier in Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and called the shooting "a Jihadi Attack." The group has claimed responsibility for the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound American airliner. "I wasn't insane or post traumatic, nor was I forced to do this act," Muhammad claimed in the handwritten letter.

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Lashkar readies para-gliders to launch suicide attack on India: Intel

Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba has acquired more than 50 sets of para-gliding equipment from Europe, setting off alarm bells in the government that these could be used to carry out air-borne suicide attacks in the country. The intelligence input which came barely days ahead of Republic Day celebrations has prompted authorities to ensure a tight air security around all vital installations, official sources said here on Friday.

The input about movement of overground workers, owing allegiance to LeT, in Europe led the sleuths to find out that they were on a shopping spree for para-gliding equipment, the sources said. Security agencies have carried out mock drills in different areas in the country as part of the exercise to prevent any air-borne suicide attack by LeT terrorists. The input bears significance in view of the fact that government has already put all Air India planes operating in the country's neighbourhood on high security alert following intelligence reports from Western agencies that the LeT and other terror groups were planning to hijack a flight.

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Mass of Data, Analysis Failures Main Culprits of Christmas Day Attack

The botched terrorist attack on Christmas Day was a failure of intelligence analysis and not information sharing, the two former chairs of the 9-11 Commission testified today. "The greatest single challenge that arises from this incident in our view is the urgent need to strengthen the analytic process," former Rep. Lee Hamilton and former Gov. Tom Kean said in prepared testimony before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

They were joined by Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Director of the National Counterterroism Center Michael E. Leiter, both of whom testified earlier this morning before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Reform with Dennis C. Blair, the director of national intelligence. Members of both committees focused on how to correct the intelligence and security failures that allowed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, to board a flight from Amsterdam with high explosives sewn into his underwear, despite numerous indicators that should have landed him on the country's No-Fly List.

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U.S. counterterror agency lacks "Google-like" search

A senior counterterrorism official said on Wednesday his agency lacks "Google-like" search capability that could have identified the suspect in the attempted Christmas Day airline bombing. The National Counterterrorism Center, the agency charged with reviewing disparate data to protect against attacks, does not have a computer search engine that could have checked for various spellings of the alleged bomber's name and his birthplace in Nigeria, the center's chief told a Senate hearing on security reform. "We do not have that exact capacity," said Michael Leiter, adding that the agency is working on solutions that could be in place within weeks.

The State Department has acknowledged it misspelling attacker's name, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, when sending an advisory out about him after his father warned the U.S. embassy in Nigeria his son had been attracted by militant ideology. Google and other common Internet search engines routinely offer alternative spellings for searches, particularly with names. Abdulmutallab had been flagged beforehand by U.S. embassy staff in Nigeria, but not under his full name.National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair acknowledged that current search tools used by U.S. spy and counterterror agencies have "blind spots that don't allow the sort of Google-like" searches civilians can do on their personal computers.

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Mexican prison brawl leaves 23 dead

Twenty-three inmates were killed and several others injured during a prison brawl Wednesday morning at a northern Mexico penitentiary, prison officials said. The fight broke out between inmates at the state prison in the city of Durango that houses 2,025 inmates, said prison spokeswoman Carla Puente. Puente said she did not know the specific number of injuries nor the reason for the fight, which was quelled by guards.

More than 60 inmates have died during fierce fights at Mexico's often overcrowded and loosely run prisons in the past two years. Officials at the state-run prisons frequently complain that they are not equipped to handle violent drug traffickers who are being held on federal charges. Once a quiet state, Durango has seen an upsurge in cartel violence in recent years, both in its cities and its prisons.

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Report Cites 'Radicalization' of U.S. Prisoners

U.S. law enforcement authorities believe as many as three dozen Americans who converted to Islam in prison have traveled to Yemen, possibly to train with al-Qaeda, according to a Senate report. The "radicalization" of the individuals has alarmed U.S. officials even though no evidence has immediately tied them to terrorist activities. Several of the individuals have "dropped off the radar" for weeks at a time and continue to carry U.S. passports.

"Al-Qaeda's recruitment tactics also have changed, the group seeks to recruit American citizens to carry out terrorist attacks in the United States." Al-Qaeda forces in Yemen have emerged in recent months as a pressing threat to U.S. security, with ties to the recent airline bombing plot and Fort Hood shooting. In addition to the nearly three dozen prisoners, Kerry's staff also cites as many as 10 non-Yemeni Americans who moved to Yemen, converted to Islamic fundamentalism and married Yemeni women to remain in the country.

• "Al-Qaeda in Yemen and Somalia: A Ticking Time Bomb" Committee on Foreign relations, US Senate, 1/21/10.
  

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Billions laundered through innocent parties

Organised crime is laundering money through the bank accounts of unsuspecting third parties in a global racket known as "cuckoo smurfing", masking millions in Australia alone Queensland's Crime and Misconduct Commission has detailed how criminal syndicates use stooges and legitimate firms to hide illicit profits. Money monitoring agency Austrac believes crime in Australia generates up to $6.3 billion a year, but that pales against former International Monetary Fund boss Michel Camdessus's estimate that money laundering is worth up to 5 per cent of global gross domestic product, equating to a staggering $56bn here.

Cuckoo smurfing is a new laundering technique employing functionaries, or "smurfs", to deposit black money into the bank accounts of unsuspecting individuals or companies. "The term . . . has its origin in the nesting behaviour of the cuckoo bird," the CMC explained in a report on money laundering issued yesterday. "The cuckoo lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. Similarly, offenders deposit their POC (proceeds of crime) into the accounts of unsuspecting and unrelated third parties. The cuckoo smurfing technique involves a legitimate financial transaction occurring . . . in one direction, and an illegitimate flow of the POC in the other direction.

• "The United Kingdom Threat Assessment odf Organised Crime", SOCA, 2009/10.
  
• "Money Laundering Methodologies", Austrac, 2008.
  
• "Money Laundering & Terrorist Financing Typologies 2004-2005", FATF, 6/10/05.
  

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Britain Introduces Measures To Curb Binge Drinking

Bar-going Britons may soon be bidding goodbye to their country's all-you-can-drink deals — as well as some of their more outlandish drinking games. The government said Tuesday it was banning irresponsible promotions and boozy contests such as the "dentist's chair" — where alcohol is poured directly into customers' mouths — in an effort to tackle Britain's binge-drinking problem. The government says the ban will limit binge-drinking, but health experts say the nation's deepening alcohol problem would best be tackled by imposing higher minimum prices on Britain's cheap booze.

The raft of new measures is "better than nothing," according to Carys Davis, spokeswoman for Britain's Alcohol Concern charity. But she said the restrictions "seem tame" compared to what the government could do by ending pricing practices that result in alcohol selling for less than water. Britain's alcohol consumption has risen by 40 percent over the past four decades, although per-capita drinking is still lower than in many other European countries — including Russia, Spain, Germany and France.

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Nigeria religious riots 'kill scores' in Jos

At least 149 people have been killed during two days of violence between Christian and Muslim gangs in the Nigerian city of Jos, officials say. Mosque workers and Muslim clerics told reporters of the deaths as they prepared for a mass burial. The death toll has not been verified independently and it is not known how many Christians have died. Nigeria's vice-president has ordered troops to help police restore order and also dispatched top security officials.

It is believed to be the first time Goodluck Jonathan has used executive powers since President Umaru Yar'Adua left Nigeria for hospital treatment in Saudi Arabia in November. The clashes broke out on Sunday and have continued since, with reports of gunfire and burning buildings. A 24-hour curfew has been enforced in the area, which has seen several bouts of deadly violence in recent years. At least 200 people were killed in an outbreak of fighting between Muslims and Christians in 2008, while some 1,000 died in a riot in 2001.

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Rival Somali pirates have shootout over oil tanker release

A shootout between rival Somali pirate gangs over their biggest ransom ever threatened to turn an oil supertanker and the 28 hostages aboard into a massive fireball until bandits begged the international anti-piracy force for help, a negotiator said Monday. A group of pirates showed up in two speedboats just before a $5.5 million ransom was to be dropped by parachute onto the Maran Centaurus, according to a Somali businessman responsible for the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisals.

The crude oil onboard, estimated to be worth some $150 million at the time it was hijacked, is so flammable that smoking is forbidden on deck. Two helicopters chased away the attackers seeking a cut of the ransom after the pirates onboard called frantically for help. "It's really remarkable: You have the criminals calling on the police to come and help them," said pirate expert Roger Middleton from London-based think tank Chatham House, who said it was the first time he could recall such a situation.

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Jordan makes arrests for failed attack on Israel diplomats

Jordanian authorities have made a number of arrests in connection with Thursday's failed roadside bombing attack on an Israeli diplomatic convoy. Although the attack caused no injuries, the kind of bomb and the intelligence required to make such an attack are raising concerns about security breaches among Jordanian and Israeli authorities. According to Arabic media reports, Jordanian security officials have arrested a cab driver believed to have planted the bomb along the road between Amman and the Jordanian-Israeli border, and several other arrests in connection with the bombing.

One Jordanian official called the attack "a message" to Jordanian authorities and a sign that Jordan's security establishment could be infiltrated. Haaretz's analysis shows the perpetrators had very good intelligence and they knew that many Israeli diplomats, who normally live in Amman without their families, usually depart for Israel for the weekend on Thursday afternoon, and they knew how to identify the two-car convoy. Their analysis also speculates that the parties most likely responsible for the attack are either Hizbullah or Sunni extremists.

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Sizing up 2010 terror threat in South Africa

South Africa's intelligence agencies have jacked up their investigations into possible terrorist threats, specifically emanating from Somalia, according to a top intelligence analyst. But Mark Schroeder, director of sub-Saharan Africa for the United States intelligence company Strategic Forecasting, insisted that crime, rather than terrorism, remains the major threat for tourists traveling to South Africa for the Fifa World Cup. Schroeder said that although an al-Qaeda-linked Somali militant group, al-Shabaab, had allegedly established a network in the Cape Flats that had led to South African spooks visiting Somalia and Kenya, it was unlikely that Muslim extremists would launch attacks in South Africa, as it was their "logistical hub".

Schroeder was interviewed in the wake of a deadly terrorist attack on the Togolese national football team in Angola that left three people dead and eight injured. Additionally, in September last year the US government closed its embassy in Pretoria and all other US government offices for two days after intelligence reports that al-Shabaab was planning to bomb American interests in South Africa. It is believed that Al-Shabaab are established in South Africa and are using the Somali diaspora for fundraising. But after the September threats against US facilities in South Africa, the South African Secret Service (Sass) sent agents to Kenya and Somalia to gather their own intelligence. In reality, crime in South Africa is the "primary concern" for tourists -- "not just making them aware of the problem, but explaining the do's and don'ts of traveling in South Africa, where they should go and where they shouldn't".

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What To Do If You Spot Suspicious Terrorist Activity

If you see suspicious behavior, do not confront the individuals involved!

Take note of the following details:

• S – Size (Jot down the number of people, gender, ages, and physical descriptions)
• A – Activity (Describe exactly what they are doing)
• L – Location (Provide exact location)
• U – Uniform (Describe what they are wearing, including shoes)
• T – Time (Provide date, time, and duration of activity)
• E – Equipment (Describe vehicle, make, color etc., license plate, camera, guns, etc)

Then immediately report the activity to your local or federal police.

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Wanted drug suspect captured in Venezuela

Venezuelan authorities on Saturday said they have captured a prominent Colombian drug trafficker wanted by the United States. U.S. authorities had offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest of Salomon Camacho Mora. Venezuelan intelligence and counter-drug agents captured the 65-year-old Colombian during the past week in the city of Valencia, the state-run Bolivarian News Agency reported. It was not immediately clear what steps led up to the arrest.

The U.S. State Department says on its Web site that Camacho began trafficking cocaine in the 1980s with Colombia's Medellin cartel, and later formed partnerships with other traffickers. U.S. authorities say that since 1998 he had worked with the trafficker Hermagoras Gonzalez Polanco in what has been called the Guajira cartel, and that the two men were responsible for sending as much as 10 tons (9 metric tons) of cocaine to the U.S. between 1999 and 2000 alone.

Venezuelan authorities previously captured Gonzalez in 2008, saying his name was Armando Gonzalez Apushana. The U.S. State Department says the two were thought to have ties to Dominican drug organizations that paid for drugs through a money laundering scheme. Camacho was indicted in Florida in 1991 for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, and in New Jersey in 2002 for money laundering. A subsequent 2005 indictment against Camacho and other associates included those same charges.

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At Large: Teen Bandit. Even Larger: His Legend.

A teen bandit from the small Washington island of Camano has been on the run for 20 months and is being touted as a modern-day Jesse James. Police say the young outlaw is an amateur criminal — but a master escape artist. The last time authorities had Colton Harris-Moore in custody was in April 2008. At that point, he was serving time in a halfway house for youth offenders, just south of Seattle. He'd been convicted of theft and possession of stolen property.

It was bed-check and he was in his pajamas. But soon after the nightly routine, he climbed out a second-story window and into the night. Since then, the now-18-year-old fugitive has eluded police in Washington, Idaho and Canada, repeatedly vanishing into the woods. Police suspect he's stolen at least two planes, two boats and several cars, plus broken into more than 50 homes. Yet the only thing growing faster than Harris-Moore's alleged rap sheet is his legend.

"I don't understand it, myself," says county sheriff Mark Brown. He bristles at the mention of Harris-Moore's exploding popularity. "Reasonable people would not want to idolize somebody or sensationalize somebody who's a thief," he says. Harris-Moore is wanted in five counties on multiple charges. But 10 of those charges are in Harris-Moore's hometown of Camano Island — Brown's jurisdiction.

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US kills terrorist in Pakistan but misses Mehsud

A US missile strike in Pakistan killed one of the FBI's most-wanted terrorists, a man suspected in a deadly 1986 plane hijacking with a $5 million bounty on his head, three Pakistani intelligence officials said Friday. The death would be the latest victory for the CIA-led missile campaign against terrorist targets in Pakistan's insurgent-riddled tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, a campaign that has recently escalated. One Thursday is believed to have missed Pakistan's Taliban chief.

The intelligence officials said that a Jan. 9 missile strike in the North Waziristan tribal region killed Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim. The FBI's Web site lists him as a Palestinian with possible Lebanese citizenship. The Pakistani officials called him an al-Qaeda member, but the FBI site says he was a member of the Abu Nidal Palestinian terrorist group. Rahim was wanted for his alleged role in the Sept. 5, 1986, hijacking of Pan American World Airways Flight 73 during a stop in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi.

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While helping out in Haiti please be aware of scams!

As the world looks for ways to help the victims of Haiti's earthquake, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is now warning that there are also those who are looking for opportunities set up scams surrounding the latest disaster relief efforts. The FBI advises that people should be very skeptical of any unsolicited appeals they receive or find on the Internet.

One month after Hurricane Katrina, the FBI said it was suspicious of most of the 4,600 Web sites soliciting money on behalf of those victims. Within an hour of the World Trade Center attacks, scam sites popped up on the Web according to ScamBusters.org. But Web sites are not the only way criminals try to get their hands on charity funds -- they might also send you an e-mail, a letter, phone you or even knock on your door.

At CNN's Impact Your World, you can find a list of list of Web sites of charities highly rated by CharityNavigator.org, an independent, nonprofit organization that evaluates and rates thousands of charity groups based on effectiveness and financial stability.

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Conflicting Reports on Possible Death of Hakimullah Mehsud

A CIA drone strike on a suspected militant hideout today

killed 12 people in an attack aimed at killing the top Taliban commander in Pakistan. A local tribal leader said Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in the early-morning raid but the Taliban insisted he was still alive. Pakistani officials have not yet made any claim over his fate.

In the strike a pair of missiles hit a mud-walled compound which previously housed an Islamic seminary in Pasalkot village in North Waziristan where Mehsud, the chief of the Pakistani Taliban movement, was believed to be staying. Pakistani security officials confirmed Mehsud was the target. He had succeeded Baithullah Mehsud last year after he was killed in a drone strike on his house in South Waziristan last August.

Pasalkot, which sits between North and South Waziristan, has become the main sanctuary of Taliban fighters fleeing the military operation in South Waziristan. North Waziristan is also a major stronghold for the Haqqani network, an Afghan Taliban faction with links to al-Qaeda that many suspect was involved in the last month’s suicide bombing on a CIA base in Afghanistan which killed seven agents.

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By the way... the Russians are missing a fighter jet... and would really like it back!

A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet of the Far East air force disappeared during a scheduled flight in the Khabarovsk Territory on Thursday, a Defense Ministry spokesman told Interfax - AVN. "The Su-27 fighter jet disappeared from radar screens at 9.27 a.m. today. It went on a scheduled mission from Dzemgi airfield outside the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, the aircraft reportedly disappeared at a distance of about 30 kilometers from the airfield. A search and rescue effort involving helicopters was launched to find the lone pilot and the plane."Hmmmmmm! Food for thought. Wonder where it went and in which direction, assuming it wasn't straight down?

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Al Qaeda linked to rogue aviation network

In early 2008, an official at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security sent a report to his superiors detailing what he called "the most significant development in the criminal exploitation of aircraft since 9/11." The document warned that a growing fleet of rogue jet aircraft was regularly crisscrossing the Atlantic Ocean. On one end of the air route, it said, are cocaine-producing areas in the Andes controlled by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. On the other are some of West Africa's most unstable countries.

The report, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, was ignored, and the problem has since escalated into what security officials in several countries describe as a global security threat. The clandestine fleet has grown to include twin-engine turboprops, executive jets and retired Boeing 727s that are flying multi-ton loads of cocaine and possibly weapons to an area in Africa where factions of al-Qaeda are believed to be facilitating the smuggling of drugs to Europe, the officials say.

Gunmen and bandits with links to AQIM have also stepped up kidnappings of Europeans for ransom, who are then passed on to AQIM factions seeking ransom payments. The aircraft hopscotch across South American countries, picking up tons of cocaine and jet fuel, officials say. They then soar across the Atlantic to West Africa and the Sahel, where the drugs are funneled across the Sahara Desert and into Europe.

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You can run but you can't hide - Facebook fugitive recaptured

A criminal who taunted police via Facebook while on the run from prison in Britain has been recaptured, four months after his break-out, police said on Wednesday. Craig "Lazie" Lynch, 28, became a cult figure thanks to his defiant status updates on the Internet social networking site. Dubbed the "Facebook fugitive" by media, Lynch -- whose profile picture showed him raising his middle finger to the camera -- notched up tens of thousands of "friends" from around the world.

There was also a separate Facebook page, "Where is Craig 'Lazie' Lynch?", calling for information which could lead to his capture. Lynch was serving a seven-year term for aggravated burglary when he escaped prison in Suffolk, eastern England, in September. But he could now have his spell behind bars extended after being charged with escaping from lawful custody.

Dozens of Facebook users expressed glee at his recapture on the "Where is Craig 'Lazie' Lynch?" page. "I know where he is... locked up now!" wrote one, while another added: "Ha ha ha, he not laughing now is he at the police." Lynch was recaptured in the county of Kent, southeast of London, on Tuesday night. Awesome stuff!

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Psychiatrist faces charges in alleged bear gallbladder trafficking

A Japanese psychiatrist with a home in Seattle is facing poaching and gun-possession charges following allegations that he poached several black bears and tried to smuggle gallbladders back to Japan. In charging documents filed in King County Superior Court, prosecutors contend Dr. Tohru Shigemura made repeated trips to Washington to hunt bear, taking animals out of season and on tribal lands. Shigemura, prosecutors claim, also amassed a collection of 11 firearms without the appropriate permits.

Writing to the court, state Fish and Wildlife Department Detective Todd Vandivert said authorities first learned of Shigemura in April 2007. Believing Shigemura was hunting illegally, smuggling wildlife parts and trafficking in bear gallbladders, wildlife agents launched an undercover investigation into the psychiatrist's activities. Visiting the state from Japan, Shigemura had been buying Washington hunting licenses and tags for years, Vandivert said. He also acquired firearms, the detective said, by falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen.

Based on those allegations, investigators placed a GPS tracker on Shigemura's vehicle in early 2008 and found he'd traveled to a sporting goods dealer in Fife. Examining the store's records, Vandivert said investigators found Shigemura had bought a 12- gauge shotgun. Additionally, investigators found Shigemura had bought a "bear call w/cassette" and shotgun ammunition. Convinced Shigemura was attempting to smuggle bear gallbladder -- a prized aphrodisiac sold at premium prices -- wildlife agents conducted an undercover contact with the 71-year-old at Sea-Tac International Airport in July 2008. According to the Humane Society of the United States, an average size bear gallbladder can be sold for as much as $3,400 in Asia. Used in traditional medicine, the organ is believed by some to have a variety of medicinal properties and is sometimes sold as a sexual stimulant.

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SWAT options for multiple shooter terrorist attacks

The threat of an international terrorist attack against our country is not to be taken lightly by law enforcement professionals. In fact, I see it being taken very seriously in the New York Metropolitan area; agencies are meeting, communicating and taking proactive steps to counter potential terrorist efforts.

As professional police officers we are all aware of the threat. The training is out there to provide information and resources on how to deal with terrorism, whether it is domestic or foreign. In this article I would like to address one area that I feel we in law enforcement need to take action on immediately. The immediate employment of police officers to a terrorist attack as first responders is inevitable; I believe that the one thing that is not being addressed is what is going to happen to those first responding officers.

We train our police officers in rapid deployment tactics which will serve them well against a violent act by a lone gunman, or even the likes of Harris and Klebold (Columbine shooters). But let’s face it, police officers employing rapid deployment tactics against a hardened target defended by a determined enemy with automatic weapons, interlocking fields of fire and hand grenades will not fare well. There is a high likelihood that the assault will be turned away, and at a bloody cost.

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A 19-year-old Saudi man allegedly posing as a pilot was detained at Manila's airport after he breached security and spent several hours wandering in the terminal's restricted area, officials said Tuesday. The man told investigators he wanted to meet his father, who was flying in from Saudi Arabia to visit him in Manila, said airport immigration supervisor Theodore Pascual.

"It's a breach of security," Alfonso Cusi, Manila airport general manager, told The Associated Press. "We consider him to be a security threat, so we are taking action from there." Wearing a pilot's uniform, Hany Abdulelah Bukhari went through security checks at the entrance of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, then walked over into the arrivals area one floor below, Pascual said.

He was approaching an immigration lane reserved for arriving airline crew when a security officer became suspicious and demanded to see his pilot's ID. Bukhari presented a document that identified him as a dependent of a Saudi Airlines' employee, Pascual said. Bukhari is facing charges of misrepresentation and will be deported, Cusi said, adding investigators were working to find out more about him and his intentions.

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Irish Republican dissidents have at least four more booby-trap bombs

Four more explosive devices similar to the one used in an attempt to murder Catholic PSNI Constable Peadar Heffron are believed to be in the possession of dissident republicans. The booby-trap bomb used in Friday’s murder bid is thought to have come from a batch of around half-a-dozen devices constructed with the assistance of a former Irish Republican Army explosives expert.

Police in the North believe another one of the devices may have been used in a bomb attack last year when a policeman’s girlfriend escaped serious injury after a device exploded under her car in east Belfast. Detectives have been investigating similarities between the two bomb attacks, both claimed by Oglaigh na hEireann.

The intensification of the dissident campaign coincides with the crisis at Stormont over the transfer of policing and justice powers. The attempted murder of Constable Heffron will have been carried out by dissidents in a bid to further destabilise the peace process and try to dissuade Catholics from joining the PSNI. Last year saw the highest number of people ever applying to join the PSNI. Dissidents will be hoping their campaign of terror will deter those considering applying.

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Google reports China-based attack, says pullout possible

Google said Tuesday the company and at least 20 others were victims of a "highly sophisticated and targeted attack" originating in China in mid-December, evidently to gain access to the e-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. "Based on our investigation to date we believe their attack did not achieve that objective," according to a statement by David Drummond, senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer for Google, operator of the most popular Internet search engine.

Drummond said that as a result of the attacks, Google has decided it is no longer willing to consider censorship of its Google site in China and may have to shut down its site and its offices in that nation. "These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered -- combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the Web -- have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China."

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Mexico Captures Major Tijuana Drug Gang Leader

Mexican police captured a drug kingpin on Tuesday known for having the corpses of tortured rivals dissolved in acid and blamed for much of a surge in violence in the northern border city of Tijuana. In a fresh victory for Mexico's bloody war on drug gangs, Teodoro Garcia Simental was caught in southern Baja California early Tuesday, police said.

Garcia Simental, also known as "El Teo" or "Tres Letras" for the three letters in his nickname Teo, was apprehended when an elite force of some 50 federal police raided an upscale neighbourhood in the beach town of La Paz near the tip of the Baja California peninsula. They searched several houses before finding him.

"No shots were fired. It was a very fast operation. The investigation has been going on for a long time," a police officer who participated in the operation told Reuters. Garcia Simental was handcuffed and swiftly flown to Mexico City. The top smuggler split from the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix cartel to help Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman -- head of the rival Sinaloa cartel and Mexico's most wanted man -- wrest control of key smuggling corridors in northern Mexico.

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The Khost Attack and the Intelligence War Challenge

As Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi exited the vehicle that brought him onto Forward Operating Base (FOB) Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan, on Dec. 30, 2009, security guards noticed he was behaving strangely. They moved toward al-Balawi and screamed demands that he take his hand out of his pocket, but instead of complying with the officers’ commands, al-Balawi detonated the suicide device he was wearing.

The explosion killed al-Balawi, three security contractors, four CIA officers and the Jordanian General Intelligence Department (GID) officer who was al-Balawi’s handler. The vehicle shielded several other CIA officers at the scene from the blast. The CIA officers killed included the chief of the base at Khost and an analyst from headquarters who reportedly was the agency’s foremost expert on al Qaeda. The agency’s second-ranking officer in Afghanistan was allegedly among the officers who survived.

Al-Balawi was a Jordanian doctor from Zarqa (the hometown of deceased al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi). Under the alias Abu Dujanah al-Khurasani, he served as an administrator for Al-Hesbah, a popular Internet discussion forum for jihadists. Jordanian officers arrested him in 2007 because of his involvement with radical online forums, which is illegal in Jordan. The GID subsequently approached al-Balawi while he was in a Jordanian prison and recruited him to work as an intelligence asset.

Al-Balawi was sent to Pakistan less than a year ago as part of a joint GID/CIA mission. Under the cover of going to school to receive advanced medical training, al-Balawi established himself in Pakistan and began to reach out to jihadists in the region. Under his al-Khurasani pseudonym, al-Balawai announced in September 2009 in an interview on a jihadist Internet forum that he had officially joined the Afghan Taliban.

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Mexico Cartel Stitches Rival's Face on Soccer Ball

The body of 36-year-old Hugo Hernandez was left on the streets of Los Mochis in seven pieces as a chilling threat to members of the Juarez drug cartel. A note read: ''Happy New Year, because this will be your last.'' To drive home the point, the assailants skinned Hernandez's face and stitched it onto a soccer ball.

The gruesome find, confirmed Friday by Sinaloa state prosecutors, represents a new level of brutality in Mexico's drug war, in which torture and beheadings are almost daily occurrences. Hernandez was taken to Sinaloa after being kidnapped Jan. 2 in neighboring Sonora state, in an area known for marijuana growing, said Martin Robles, a spokesman for Sinaloa prosecutors. The motive for his abduction was unclear. His torso was found in a plastic container in one location; elsewhere another box contained his arms, legs and skull, Robles said. Hernandez's face, sewn onto a soccer ball, was left in a plastic bag near City Hall.

More than 15,000 people have been killed since President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown on cartels three years ago. While the border cities of Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana have seen much of the violence, Sinaloa state is Mexico's drug-smuggling heartland and is the birthplace of the leadership of four of the six major cartels. Often, victims are tortured and mutilated, in an attempt to intimidate rivals, officials and others who might represent a threat to the cartels.

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'System Failure' In U.S. Screening For Terrorists

The White House concluded in a report issued Thursday that "a series of systematic breakdowns" contributed to the failure to prevent the failed Christmas Day bombing of a trans-Atlantic airliner bound for Detroit. The unclassified summary of the swiftly completed review said the unsuccessful attack exposed failures when it came to assembling and analyzing disparate pieces of intelligence, as well as gaps in the U.S. government's procedures for placing potential terrorists on federal watch lists.

Obama admitted that spy agencies had collected, but failed to connect, pieces of information that should have led authorities to pay greater attention to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian student who allegedly tried to blow up Northwest Flight 253. "At this stage in the review process, it appears that this incident was not the fault of a single individual or organization, but rather a system failure across organizations and agencies," President Obama said on Thursday.

He ordered a set of changes in counterterrorism procedures, including how the watch list system operates, as well as new efforts to develop more sophisticated explosives detection technology for airport screening checkpoints. The White House review found the complex system of maintaining multiple watch lists "is not broken," but John Brennan, the deputy national security adviser who supervised the review, said the process of feeding information into the watch list system must be strengthened.

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Here's one vote for full body scans

"Today I’m flying for the first time since before Thanksgiving . . . and for the first time since the Panty Bomber tried to light his balls—and then the plane—on fire. And I have one very simple question: Who in their right mind would object to full-body scanners in the airport? I mean, who could be that God-damned dumb?"

This is how Steve Crescenzo begins a missive in Corporate Hallucinations. It is hilarious, very pointed, and in many ways I agree with what he is saying, although I would definitely phrase it differently. Please read the entire article below, I am sure you will enjoy it...

"There are people trying to blow our planes out of the sky. There are people strapping explosives to their genitals. The current security system obviously doesn’t work. Something needs to happen. And yet the ACLU and other morons object to having people go through full body scanners because of “privacy” reasons.

Utah Republican Jason Chaffetz, sponsor of a House bill banning the full-time use of body scanners, told the New York Times that he didn’t think that “anyone needs to see my 8 year old naked in order to secure that airplane.” What an ass. The ACLU calls these body scanners “an assault on the essential dignity of passengers.” What a bunch of asses. We have terrorists trying to blow us out of the sky and people are worried about modesty? It defies logic.

As a nervous flyer to begin with, I certainly don’t care if they send me through a body scanner. Send me through TWO body scanners if you want to. Send me through a row of body scanners. Pat me down. Pat me down again. Lay me flat on a conveyer belt with hundreds of other travelers and send us all through an MIR machine if that will keep the bombs off the planes.

Hell, you can drop a drug-sniffing rat into my pants . . . as long as you’re doing the same thing to everyone else, and doing it twice to the people most likely to try and blow up the plane (yes, Corporate Hallucinations fully supports all racial profiling, when it comes to airports).

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking:
“That’s easy for you to say, Crescenzo. You’re Italian, blessed with an Italian’s anatomy. Who cares if someone scans your entire body and sees the Bald Eagle? You’ve got nothing to be ashamed of. “

And you’re also thinking:
“What about all the poor Irish and Japanese people out there, who weren’t so anatomically blessed? What about exposing those folks to the ridicule of heartless TSA workers who run the body scans?"

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Pair suspected of stealing cavity fillings

A man and a woman are behind bars today on suspicion of stealing raw precious metals used to fill cavities from 18 dental laboratories mostly in Orange County, police said. Matthew Marchman, 38, and Shawna Lerer, 29, both of Costa Mesa, were arrested early Sunday morning after a patrol officer saw Lerer sitting in a car outside a lab in the 700 block of North Valley Street near the 5 freeway, said Anaheim police Sgt. Rick Martinez. Marchman, who was walking nearby, discarded a crowbar on seeing the officer, Martinez said. Marchman was arrested and Lerer fled in a Chrysler Sebring but was quickly caught in the industrial complex, Martinez said.

A crime spree began in late November resulting in 18 dental labs – many in Anaheim – being burglarized, Martinez said. Labs in Fullerton, Costa Mesa, Westminster, Los Alamitos, Santa Ana, Orange, Tustin, San Clemente and possibly Walnut were targeted, he said. Two vehicles were stolen during two of the burglaries and later burned, Martinez said. Burglary detectives and the department's crime analysis unit noticed the crime trend. The officer who spotted the suspects was patrolling dental labs. Following the arrests, detectives uncovered a large amount of evidence believed to be linked to many of the dental laboratories burglarized, Martinez said.

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Statewide Anthrax Scare in Alabama

The Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating a statewide anthrax scare in Alabama. Local lawmakers are among the targets.

Eight letters with white powder were sent to five locations:
- Congressman Mike Rogers office at the federal courthouse in Anniston
- Senator Richard Shelby's office at a federal building in Birmingham
- Rogers', Shelby's and Senator Jeff Sessions' offices at the state capitol building in Montgomery.
- Congressman Jo Bonner's offices in Mobile and Foley

The 15th floor of the RSA Tower in downtown Mobile, where one of Bonner's offices is located, was evacuated as a precaution. So was Bonner's office in Foley. It's located in a shopping center on McKenzie Street. More than a dozen businesses in that shopping center, including the News 5 bureau, were also evacuated.

The FBI says all eight letters made reference to anthrax. But so far, all tests have come back negative. The FBI says more letters could be out there.

• CDC. Emergency Preparedness Response: Anthrax
  

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Mexico Captures Alleged Drug Lord

Just two weeks after a chilling reprisal attack for troops' killing of the reputed boss of the Beltrán Leyva cartel, police have captured one of his brothers, sending a strong message that Mexico won't back down in the drug war. The Public Safety Department said in a statement Saturday night that Carlos Beltrán Leyva was arrested in Culiacán, the capital of the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa, where he and several of his brothers were born and allegedly started their gang.On Dec. 16, his brother Arturo, the alleged chief of the Beltrán Leyva cartel, died during a two-hour shootout with marines in the city of Cuernavaca. He was the highest-ranking drug suspect taken down since President Felipe Calderón sent tens of thousands of soldiers and federal police across the country three years ago to fight brutal drug gangs.

Mexican officials in the past have described Carlos Beltrán Levya, 40 years old, as a key member of the gang, but it was unclear if he took over as chief of the cartel after his brother died. A third brother, Alfredo, was arrested in January 2008. At least one other brother, Mario, remains at large and is listed as one of Mexico's 24 most-wanted drug lords, with a $2 million reward offered for his capture. Carlos Beltrán wasn't included on the list, although the Public Safety Department said there had been a warrant for his arrest since 2008. The arrest gave Mr. Calderón back-to-back victories in the drug war and underscored the government's determination to destroy the Beltrán Leyva cartel despite the threat of reprisal attacks.

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