Two plead not guilty in foiled NYC terror plot

Two high school classmates of admitted terrorist Najibullah Zazi were indicted Thursday in a foiled scheme to bomb New York City subways that a prosecutor said was directed by "al-Qaeda leadership." Zarein Ahmedzay and Adis Medunjanin, both 25, pleaded not guilty in federal court in Brooklyn to charges of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and providing material support to the al-Qaeda terrorist network. Zazi, a former Colorado air shuttle driver who attended high school in Queens, pleaded guilty to similar charges this week. Zazi was arrested in September 2008 after he drove cross-country from Denver to New York, where authorities said he abandoned the bombing plan after realizing authorities were trailing him.

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Suspect in consulate attack dies in strike

A militant wanted in connection with an attack on a U.S. consulate in Pakistan four years ago was killed in a missile strike in the country's tribal region, a Pakistani intelligence official said Thursday. Qari Mohammad Zafar was among 13 people killed Wednesday in the Dargah Mandi area of North Waziristan. Authorities had wanted Zafar for questioning in connection with the March 2, 2006, bombing near the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan,

The attack killed three Pakistanis and U.S. diplomat David Foy. Zafar was suspected of being a key figure involved with this attack. The United States put a $5 million reward on his head. Zafar was pro-Taliban and a member of Lashkar-e Jangvi, a banned Pakistan-based radical Sunni militant group. The group started out going after Shiites in sectarian turf and then is believed to have linked up with al Qaeda.

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New twist in the card-skimming saga

Utah police investigators said crooks have installed electronic "skimming" devices at 180 gas stations from Salt Lake to Provo in an attempt to steal bank card and pin numbers. The skimming device is actually located inside the gas pump. Card skimming has been on the rise during the past year, with most attackers rigging or replacing merchant card readers with their own sniffer devices or ATM machines. The devices typically include a scanner, transmitter, camera, and, most recently, Bluetooth or wireless-enabled links that shoot the stolen data back to the bad guys.

Here's the problem: Two gas pump manufacturers supply most pumps nationwide and issue universal keys for those pumps. Criminals can break into virtually any pump with one copied universal key. Once they break into the pump, criminals install a false keypad that records, or "skims," your card information. The crooks then remotely access that data with Bluetooth technology and start withdrawing money from your account. Maverik gas-stations have rekeyed all their pumps with a unique key at each store, to prevent skimming. This should be adopted everywhere, and soon.

• "Police warn of credit card 'skimming' at gas stations", ABC4 News, 2/17/10.
• "Criminals Hide Payment-Card Skimmers Inside Gas Station Pumps", DarkReading, 2/22/10.
• "Gas stations defend themselves against 'skimming'", KSL, 2/22/10.

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The New 'Google Search' Scam

Small and medium-sized businesses depend on the Web perhaps as much as anyone. They thus need to be mindful of the ever-evolving roster of Web scams--like a new one involving news. Most people know that search engines like Google are useful for quick research on topics in the news. Unfortunately, the bad guys aren't far behind. A search for "Bill Clinton heart attack" performed last Sunday produced the expected Google links about the former president's recent heart stent procedure. There were stories from the Los Angeles Times and ABC News, along with links to sites devoted to fighting heart disease.

However, it wasn't all what it seemed. If you clicked on the 10th item on the Google page, headlined "Bill Clinton heart attack," you were directed to another page of what appeared to be even more helpful Google results. Everything about the page--the typeface, the design--was authentic. If you looked quickly in the URL bar at the top of the page, you'd find what you might think was conclusive evidence of it being a legitimate Google page, since the URL seemed to be "googlesearches.com." But in fact the URL had a "q," not a "g," as its first letter. The two letters look enough alike that only the most eagle-eyed would have ever noticed.

"qooglesearches.com"--another of this ilk is "qoogle.com"--is a variation of a practice known as "typo-squatting." In its classic form, someone registers a domain that is close in spelling to a real one. When Web users inadvertently typed the wrong URL, they're directed to the typo-squatter's site, where they'd realize their mistake on account of all the ads and other attempts at easy monetization. But typo-squatters appear to be doing two things new. First, they are trying to fool you into thinking you've landed on the Web page you wanted to go to in the first place. Second, they are using tricks of "black hat" search engine optimization to get the links to their scam sites included in genuine Google search results.

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Our View: Too many pain pills

Thanks to my lovely wife who sent me this article to comment on. The Ogden Standard-Examiner had this to say. "When it comes to treating pain, it's true that most of us don't have empathy for those who truly suffer from constant physical pain. Prescription pain killers are mercy for these unfortunates, and they rely on professional physicians for relief. However, if a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is any indication, there are too many Utahns using pain pills who either don't need them or are not receiving them in a proper, legal manner."

"The numbers are 35,000 adults in Utah who are illegally using dangerous prescription pain killers, mostly oxycodone and hydrocodone. This is a dangerous game our neighbors, family members and friends are playing. These pain killers will kill you if you take too many of them. Those who abuse the drugs have obviously developed a tolerance for the drug that long ago ceased to have any relationship with real physical pain. What happens is abusers need more of the drug to get the feeling they crave or release from phantom pain. In 2007, more than 260 Utahns died due to a prescription pain medication overdose. About half of those deaths were of persons who did not have a prescription. They were scrounging for pain pills prior to finally killing themselves."

"Although it is ultimately the responsibility of the individual to not allow addiction to occur, the CDCP numbers show that 97 percent of Utah's 35,000 illegal pain pill users got the drugs from a friend or a relative. And only about a tenth of those cases involved pills being taken without the consent of the owner. It's clear that too many of us are serving as enablers for friends and family members who abuse pills. We need to do all we can not to be enablers. We must say no, and in some cases, we may need to contact the authorities if no doesn't work. A good first step is to dispose of all unused pain pills. There are specific methods that help prevent the pills from being abused."

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The Utility of Assassination - STRATFOR

The apparent Israeli assassination of a Hamas operative in the United Arab Emirates turned into a bizarre event replete with numerous fraudulent passports, alleged Israeli operatives caught on videotape and international outrage (much of it feigned), more over the use of fraudulent passports than over the operative’s death. If we are to believe the media, it took nearly 20 people and an international incident to kill him.

We should begin by defining what we mean by assassination. It is the killing of a particular individual for political purposes. It differs from the killing of a spouse’s lover because it is political. It differs from the killing of a soldier on the battlefield in that the soldier is anonymous and is not killed because of who he is but because of the army he is serving in. Stratfor has written on the details of the killing as the company has learned of them, but they see this as an occasion to address a broader question: the role of assassination in international politics.

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Australia Releases Counter Terrorism White Paper

Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd yesterday released a counter terrorism white paper prepared by the Australian intelligence community. Mr Rudd said at the release, "that many home-grown terrorists were inspired by what he called international jihadist narratives, and that the threat of home-grown terrorism is now increasing. This white paper is clear: some of the threat we now face comes from the Australian-born, Australian-educated and Australian residents."

Al-Qaida-linked groups in Yemen and Sudan are the new centre of threat internationally, the policy paper says, and the risks posed by Afghanistan and Pakistan remain high. The paper says that, despite Indonesia's successes against terrorism, the Jakarta hotel attacks of last July point to an ongoing threat there. "Terrorism continues to pose a serious threat and a serious challenge to Australia's security interests. That threat is not diminishing," Mr Rudd said.

• COUNTER-TERRORISM WHITE PAPER
  Securing Australia | Protecting Our Community
  

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Officials wary of agricultural terrorism

U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson drew attention to a new focus in the war on terror that hits home for South Dakotans during his keynote address this month at the South Dakota Farmers Union 95th annual state convention in Huron. In the past decade, safeguarding food and agriculture from both foreign and domestic terrorism has become a point of emphasis for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has dealt with food safety since its establishment in 1862."Agriculture is the lifeblood of South Dakota. One attack could shut down the economy of this entire state, so we need to be vigilant about this," he said in his speech.

Johnson said public awareness is a critical component of preventing agri-terrorism, which is why he chose it as his speech topic. "These are the folks who see the suspicious signs first. We need to make sure farmers and ranchers are our first responders and understand and are aware of this potential threat."Farmers and ranchers have been aware of the potential for foreign terrorists or domestic ones, such as animal rights activists, to disrupt South Dakota agriculture, said Doug Sombke, SDFU president. The new anti-terrorism safety net rests atop a firm foundation of longstanding agricultural safeguards, he pointed out.

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Agro-terrorism threat a real one

An author and terrorism expert says that Americans need to be aware of the threat of agro-terrorism and the impact it could have on the nation's food supply. Tim Downs is the author of Ends of the Earth (Thomas Nelson, September 2009), a novel which explores the scenario of a terrorist attack on U.S. farms which contaminates the nation's food supply. Downs, who has done extensive research on agro-terrorism, says it is especially difficult to defend against.

"The concern about an agricultural act of terrorism is we just can't defend a thousand-acre farm," he explains. "You can put up a metal detector in an airport -- but how do you protect a thousand acres of corn or wheat?" The 2007 Christy Award-winning author says this method of terrorism is much cheaper than making a nuke. "Experts have estimated that for a terrorist group to develop a nuclear weapon could cost them a billion dollars," Downs notes. "But to develop a very good biological arsenal you would need about ten million dollars and a very small lab and a master's degree in chemical engineering." Downs says more than likely the terrorists would use genetically altered insects to spread pathogens to infest the crops. According to the author, experiments of this kind were conducted by both the former Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.

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Argentina requires permits for ships heading to Falklands

I noted with interest a CNN report that Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner signed a decree Tuesday February 16th requiring all ships navigating from Argentina to the disputed Falkland Islands to carry a government permit. The move comes as tensions over the territory simmer because of British oil companies' efforts to drill off the northern coast of the islands. The Falklands, known as Las Malvinas in Argentina, lie in the South Atlantic Ocean off the Argentinean coast and have been under British rule since 1833. But Argentina has always claimed sovereignty over them. The two nations fought a war over the islands in 1982. Tuesday's decree followed an accusation made last week by the Argentine government that a ship docked on the mainland was preparing to transport tubes to the Falklands for oil and gas exploration.

My attention was caught for a number of reasons, firstly the Falklands Islands War in 1982 included units from the British Royal Marines, the special forces group that my father fought with in the 1950s and 1960s. Second I have British ancestry and still hold citizenship there. Third, like most analysts, I cannot see this move by the Argentine government will lead to another battle between the two rival nations although history is replete with this sort of riposte. I certainly hope not.

As Peter Hodge so eloquently puts in his blog "The Strategist" ... "Unlike 1982, the political dynamic in Argentina is completely different, the British are forewarned, and the Falkland Islands are heavily garrisoned. Britain's trump card is its nuclear-powered submarines, and the powerful deterrent effect of the destruction of the Argentinian cruiser General Belgrano by HMS Conquerer on 2 May 1982. There are, however, two interesting points to ponder. Firstly, this dispute is not about sovereignty per se, as in 1982. It is about control of energy resources, the rich oil and gas deposits that may lie beneath the seabed around the Falkland Islands. Secondly, in disputes and confrontations over oceanic energy resources, conventional military assets (such as submarines, aircraft carriers, planes), are necessary for projecting power and protecting interests."

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Homeland chief: Domestic extremism is top concern

Americans who turn to terrorism and plot against the U.S. are now as big a concern as international terrorists, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Sunday. The government is just starting to confront this reality and does not have a good handle on how to prevent someone from becoming a violent extremist, she said. In the last year, Napolitano said, she's witnessed a movement from international extremism to domestic extremism - cases in which Americans radicalized and decided to plot attacks against the country. "What really is it that draws a young person being raised in the United States to want to go and be at a camp in Yemen and then come back to the United States with the idea of committing harm within the United States?" Napolitano asked without citing specific cases. "Where in that person's formulation is there an opportunity to break that cycle?"

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Pleaserobme.Com Highlights Dangers of TMI on Social Networks

Three Dutch website developers have created a website that highlights exactly how dangerous too much information can be when it comes to social networking. Pleasrobme.com was launched on Wednesday and has already got the internet news and blogging community talking about the implications of such an experiment. The site aggregates the Twitter feeds of people who play Foursquare, a location-sharing application that allows users to "check in" from their various geographic whereabouts as part of a game where they earn badges for reaching certain milestones. The problem is, according to pleasrobme, in playing the game, many users are also publicly broadcasting that their home is likely unattended and a good "opportunity" (as the site terms it) for thieves.

The creators of Pleaserobme state on the home page of the site that the point is not so much to assist robbers at breaking into homes, but to bring into focus the potential dangers of oversharing information through social networks. "Hey, do you have a Twitter account?" the site asks. "Have you ever noticed those messages in which people tell you where they are? Pretty annoying, eh. Well, they're actually also potentially pretty dangerous. We're about to tell you why." The hazards of giving up too much information can also pose business risks. As illustrated in The Final 5 Tweets of Harold Wigginbottom, Tech Savvy CEO, oversharing can also make you a desirable target for kidnapping, especially if you are an executive or other kind of VIP. At the 2009 CSO Executive Seminar on Data Loss Prevention in Chicago, Motorola CSO Bill Boni expressed his reservations about using Twitter, calling it a great way to get one's self kidnapped.

• "Web Posts May make You Vulnerable to Crime, NPR, 2/25/10.

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Failed Canadian actor sent letter bombs for revenge

When Adel Mohamed Arnaout filled out a Toronto model and talent agency questionnaire, he wrote down just one previous role: "hippy," and listed archery and skydiving among his abilities. Today, the 39-year-old man is on trial and being cast as a wannabe thespian who turned his failed aspirations into a campaign of revenge that spanned several years and jurisdictions. The prosecution says he sent letter bombs and water spiked with industrial solvent to alleged targets, including a former roommate, two talent agencies, his one-time lawyer and a Toronto judge.

On Wednesday, Crown attorney James Dunda provided Superior Court Justice Todd Ducharme, who is hearing the case alone, with an overview of the case after Arnaout pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of attempted murder and five offences relating to explosive substances and devices. Arnaout first came to the attention of the public in the summer of 2007 after police arrested him for sending three letter bombs to recipients in Toronto and Guelph. Police shut down the Don Valley Parkway to transport explosive material found in the trunk of his car to the Leslie St. Spit where it was detonated, Dunda told court.

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Man sets house on fire, steals plane and flies it into tax office

A Texas man set his house on fire, then stole a small plane and crashed it into a building containing a US federal tax office on Thursday, CNN reported citing federal officials. "This was apparently - according to an official - a deliberate act," CNN anchor Tony Harris said. "Joseph Andrew Stack is the name of the pilot." A federal law enforcement official said investigators are looking into an anti-government message linked to Stack that was left on a website. The message outlines problems with the tax office and says violence "is the only answer".

The plane struck the second floor of the seven-storey building in Austin, Texas about 10am on Thursday (0300 AEDT on Friday) and burst into flames in a massive explosion that forced people to flee out of the windows, witnesses and officials said. There was "no known link to terrorism" the Department of Homeland Security said, noting that the cause of the crash was not yet known. However, North American Aerospace Defense Command launched two F-16 fighter aircraft from Ellington Field in Houston on Thursday to conduct an air patrol in response to the crash.

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Gunfire erupts in Niger capital in apparent coup bid

Smoke was seen rising from the presidential palace amid heavy gunfire in Niger's capital, Niamey, on Thursday in an apparent coup attempt. "We can hear gunshots from time to time but ... the president is in his office," a security source inside the presidential palace told Reuters by telephone. Witnesses said machine gun and heavy weapons fire erupted in the city at about noon GMT and that smoke was rising from the presidential palace. A Reuters witness later saw five injured soldiers at a hospital in Niamey.

Niger President Mamadou Tandja and his cabinet are being held by soldiers after gun battles in the capital. Gunfire broke out around the presidential palace at about 1300 (1200 GMT) and continued for 30 minutes, says the BBC's Idy Baraou in Niamey. State radio is playing military music - a similar pattern to two coups in the 1990s. Tensions have been growing in the uranium-rich nation since last year. Mr Tandja was widely criticised when he changed the constitution in August to allow him to stand for a third term.

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Afghan Taliban 'shadow governor' is captured in Pakistan

The Taliban "shadow governor" of a northern Afghan province, also considered an important figure in the movement's overall leadership, has been captured in Pakistan, according to Afghan and Pakistani officials. Word of the arrest of Mullah Abdul Salam and a Taliban associate follows disclosure this week of the recent capture, also in Pakistan, of the Afghan Taliban's top military commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, whose influence has been described as second only to the movement's spiritual leader and supreme commander, Mullah Mohammed Omar. Intelligence sources in Pakistan on Thursday also reported the arrest of three suspected Al Qaeda militants in the port city of Karachi a day earlier. Taken together, the cluster of captures represents a sharp rise in cooperation from Pakistani authorities in pursuing Islamic extremists, particularly Afghan Taliban militants who in the past have used Pakistani soil as a haven.

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British investigate ID theft by 'Mossad' hit squad in Dubai

Britain was today looking into whether any its nationals had their identities stolen by the assassination squad who killed a Hamas leader in a Dubai hotel. Police in the Gulf state are conducting an international manhunt for 11 suspects in the murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in his hotel room on January 19. The investigators have named Melvyn Mildiner, Stephen Hodes, Paul Keeley, Jonathon Graha, James Clarke and Michael Barney as the British passport holders suspected of involvement in the murder, along with three with Irish passports, including a woman, and the holders of a German and a French passport. The Foreign Office and the Irish Government confirmed today that the passports used were fake. "We are aware that the holders of six British passports have been named in this case. We believe the passports used were fraudulent and have begun our own investigation," said a spokesman. "We have informed the authorities in the UAE (United Arab Emirates) that this is the case, and continue to cooperate closely with the Emiratis on this matter,"

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The business of kidnapping

It is one of the world's most highly specialised and secretive occupations, where every decision can determine whether someone lives or dies. This is the life of the kidnap response consultant, who is called in to help secure the release of hostages taken for ransom in the world's most dangerous corners. John Chase is an expert in kidnap and ransom cases. The 48-year-old comes from an intelligence background, has more than 17 years' experience and is the managing director of crisis response at AKE group, which specialises in preparing people to enter some of the most hostile places on the planet.

"A lot of my job is about taking the mystery out of what some people think of as the `black art' of kidnap," Chase says down the line from his London home. "In reality, it's simply a business. Some say it's the second-oldest business in the world." Chase, speaking candidly to The Australian about the growing kidnap and ransom business, is highly critical of the Australian government's response to ransom cases and says it needs to take a more "mature" approach.

He speaks from experience. Last year Chase helped secure the release of Australian photojournalist Nigel Brennan and his Canadian colleague Amanda Lindhout, ending their 15-month imprisonment at the hands of Somali kidnappers. Because of the sensitivity of Chase's job, The Australian is unable to reveal his face. In December 2008 one of Chase's colleagues in the industry, Felix Batista, was taken by armed gunmen in Mexico and never seen again. Chase thinks he was captured and killed because his picture found its way into the Mexican media.

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Fraudsters now targeting malware to individual consumers

When it comes to email most marketers know they must follow white-hat policies. Have email authenticated, use valid subject lines, clean the list regularly and pay attention to sender reputation. Despite this consumers are defrauded daily by fraudulent emails, making it more and more difficult for legitimate marketers to engage consumers. According to Symantec's MessageLabs, a new threat is now at the horizon: targeted, fraudulent emails. The research lab has identified Olympic-themed emails which appear to be legitimate - the messages even have actual travel and Olympic links - but hidden inside the message is an i-frame which could leave malware of consumer computers.

"We have seen three instances of this attack so far in February," said Paul Wood, Senior Intelligence Analyst with MessageLabs. "[This is] a very small number in terms of global malware, but by its nature it is not designed to be widespread. This targeted attack is meant to attempt to gain access to a small number of specific users' machines. If just one gets through, the damage to the victim could be substantial." The messages contained subject lines such as "Information and resources to help you travel during the 2010 Winter Games" and "How to make Olympics more interesting". The body of the messages seems innocuous, but an attached program file then attempts to install malware on the person's computer.

This is another example of why sender reputation is so important for legitimate email marketers and why white hat practices should always be followed. Consumers, more than ever, are smart about which emails they open but some are still fooled by spammers. A consumer only has to be burned once to never again open a message sent from someone other than a personal friend. By following the 'best practices' there is a better chance that consumers will actually open real email messages.

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San Diego crime at 45-year low despite economy and cuts, city practices Intelligence-led Policing

One might expect crime to increase during a recession, but San Diego currently boasts the lowest city-wide crime rate since 1963. According to a report released by the San Diego Police Department, overall crime is down 17.7 percent from 2008, representing the largest one-year drop in more than 60 years. Last saw 41 homicide cases, the lowest number since 1972, when San Diego had only half the number of residents. San Diego saw decreases in every category except aggravated assaults, which was up two percent.

David Ramirez, the executive assistant to the chief of police, said the increase was due to an upswing in domestic violence cases, probably stemming from stresses the economy is placing on families, such as job losses and foreclosures. “The question I consistently get asked in a very difficult environment where the economy’s changing is ‘why are you seeing crime go down not only in the city of San Diego, but you’re seeing it go down across the country?” said Lansdowne. “I think it’s because of several reasons. One is that we police differently than ever before. We use a concept of intelligence-led policing.”

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Clinton: Iran moving toward military dictatorship

The United States believes Iran's Revolutionary Guards are driving the country toward military dictatorship and should be targeted in any new U.N. sanctions, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday. Speaking in Qatar before flying to Riyadh, Clinton denied the United States planned to attack Iran and said Washington wanted dialogue with Tehran but could not "stand idly by" while Iran pursued a suspected nuclear weapons program.

Asked if Washington planned to attack Iran, she replied: "No, we are planning to try to bring the world community together in applying pressure to Iran through sanctions adopted by the United Nations that will be particularly aimed at those enterprises controlled by the Revolutionary Guard, which we believe is, in effect, supplanting the government of Iran.That is how we see it. We see that the government of Iran, the supreme leader, the president, the parliament, is being supplanted and that Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship.

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U.S. hunts for English-speaking bombers

U.S. and allied counterterrorism authorities have launched a global manhunt for English-speaking terrorists trained in Yemen who are planning attacks on the United States, based on intelligence provided by the suspect in the attempted Christmas Day bombing after he began cooperating. U.S. officials told The Washington Times that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, facing charges as a would-be suicide bomber, revealed during recent cooperation with the FBI that he met with other English speakers at a terrorist training camp in Yemen. Three U.S. intelligence officials, including one senior official, disclosed on the condition of anonymity some details of the additional bomb plots.

Said one official: "It's safe to say that Abdulmutallab is not the only bullet in the chamber for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," the Islamist terrorist group based in Yemen. "Farouk took a month to get operational. Once he left [training in Yemen], it did not take very long." Information about the bomb plots was shared with the FBI after Mr. Abdulmutallab's family traveled from Nigeria to help coax the former student into cooperating, after a period of about five weeks when he refused to help authorities.

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Two in custody after Fort Worth bomb scare

Southeast Loop 820 and East Rosedale Street in Fort Worth were reopened early Sunday morning after being shut down for five hours overnight. The Fort Worth bomb squad detonated four charges that were found in a pickup truck that spun out on a slick road during a police pursuit. Two people are in custody, and one of them — Kimberly Suzanne Al-Homsi — is well-known to police and federal agents. The Fort Worth bomb squad worked through the evening on the threat. They sent a robot to check a possible explosive device inside the truck. Investigators recovered a toy gun and three pipe-like items containing suspicious material.

It all started in Arlington as a road rage incident in the 1000 block of West Abrams Street, police said. "Someone called to say that there was a person in another vehicle that pointed a weapon at them," said Arlington police spokeswoman Tiara Ellis Richard. "Officers found that vehicle and tried to conduct a stop. That vehicle did not stop, and as a result, the officers conducted a pursuit." The chase continued for 20 minutes. It came to an end when the truck spun out on Rosedale at around 5:30 p.m. Officers took two people into custody: Kimberly Suzanne Al-Homsi, 45, — who is also known as Asma Al-Homsi — and Yasinul Alan Ansari, 18. They reportedly told police there was an "incendiary device" in the vehicle. Al-Homsi was charged with evading arrest, two counts of terroristic threats, and also a prohibited weapons count. Both remained in custody Sunday without bond due to federal holds.

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India says investigating blast, Pakistan talks on

Security officials were investigating the possible involvement of Pakistan - based militants in a bomb blast in western India that killed nine people, but New Delhi said talks with Islamabad later this month would go ahead. The bomb, left in a backpack at the popular German Bakery in the city of Pune on Saturday, wounded 60 and appeared to target Indian and foreign tourists. Senior internal security sources, who declined to be named, said the focus had fallen on Pakistan-based separatist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which has been blamed for the Mumbai attacks, and a local militant group called Indian Mujahideen (IM) because both had been behind bombings in India in the past. "As of now our line of investigation is toward the possible involvement of LeT, a sleeper module of the Indian Mujahideen could also be involved," a senior interior security official overseeing the investigation told Reuters. Both groups are fighting against Indian rule in Kashmir, the disputed Himalayan region. "Nothing is ruled out, nothing is ruled in. The investigation is in progress," Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said.

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West African cocaine use rises along smuggling routes

West Africans are consuming more of the drugs trafficked between South America and Europe, raising the spectre of rising crime and health problems in already unstable states, experts said. The region, an established transit point for Latin American cocaine to big Western markets, has also become a drug processing site amid rising addiction rates, and drug-related violence will follow, they told a drug summit over the weekend. "A flourishing illicit trade in the hands of organised crime is obviously a threat to the rule of law, governance and, as a result, human rights," said Alexandre Schmidt, West African head for the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC). "But we must no longer hide the indirect consequences with regard to the increase in problems linked to drug abuse." About 20 tonnes of cocaine passed through West Africa in 2008, worth about $1-billion, the United Nations says. The warnings came during a meeting of seven West African governments who, backed by the United Nations, France and Spain, are seeking to implement declarations of intent to curb trafficking.

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Sleuths unravel 16th-century Italian murder mystery

Police in Sicily have called in an international team of forensic scientists and criminologists to help solve the case of a murdered Baroness, 447 years after the crime. The investigation in Carini -- a small town near Palermo -- centres on the castle where Baroness Laura Lanza was killed in 1563 with her lover Ludovico Vernagallo when they were caught in bed together. "Justice wasn't done back then," said Gaetano La Fata, Mayor of Carini, who has decided to reopen the case and exhume the remains of the lovers.

"We hope that DNA tests and criminal profiling will help us discover the motive behind the crime and establish whether there was more than one assassin." The Baroness's father Cesare confessed to the honour killing in a letter to the king, which is currently archived in the Chiesa Madre church in Carini. "Legend has it, however, that Cesare Lanza did not act alone, but was helped by his son-in-law, Don Vincenzo La Grua," said the Mayor. Rumours passed down through generations of Sicilians have it that the husband was motivated by plans to marry again. La Grua may also have feared his rival, Vernagallo, would attempt to claim financial rights for fathering children with his wife.

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LA Ports Add Ship to Screen for Biological Weapons

A new ship to detect chemical and biological weapons has been launched to protect the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department said Wednesday it started using the $3 million vessel this week. It is staffed by explosives experts and equipped with tools to screen cargo ships for threats before they enter the nation's busiest port complex. The experts board the ships and screen for substances used for weapons of mass destruction. Deputies have also added a helicopter to screen for radioactive material, while the ship's sonar system looks for underwater threats. The ships are subject to further inspection when they enter the ports.

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Visa security is critical to preventing terrorist attacks

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's failed attempt to bomb Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day is another reminder that a visa is priceless to a terrorist. It is the golden key that allows easy passage to the United States. If the intelligence on Abdulmutallab had been properly analyzed, his visa would have been quickly revoked and he would have been denied access to Flight 253. We must go back to basics and strengthen the role of the Homeland Security Department in visa issuance, review and security.

Certainly, we must continue to improve methods and technologies for screening and detecting explosives carried by airline passengers, but our highest priority is to remember the lesson of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the attempted Christmas Day bombing: Our first line of defense against terrorism is intelligence and visa security. Yes, visa security. It's not an easy, 30-second sound bite and it takes a little more explaining, but it might be our best defense. Without a valid visa, America's enemies will not be able to lawfully enter the United States at all.

This does not mean we should in any way diminish America's role as a gateway to visitors from around the world. Common-sense security measures and an open and welcoming culture are not mutually exclusive. Revoking Abdulmutallab's visa would have done nothing to interfere with the travel plans of any other passenger boarding a flight to America. The DHS inspector general has found that the successful vetting of visas requires a hands-on presence at the embassy. On the ground, visa security agents can better connect local intelligence (such as that given by Abdulmutallab's father to the U.S. embassy in Nigeria). They also can re-interview applicants if necessary, applying trained law enforcement and security perspectives the State Department simply does not offer.

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Iran proclaims new success in uranium enrichment

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed Thursday that Iran has produced its first batch of uranium enriched to a higher level, saying his country will not be bullied by the West into curtailing its nuclear program a day after the U.S. imposed new sanctions. Ahmadinejad reiterated to hundreds of thousands of cheering Iranians on the anniversary of the 1979 foundation of the Islamic republic that the country was now a "nuclear state," an announcement he's made before. He insisted that Iran had no intention of building nuclear weapons. It was not clear how much enriched material had actually been produced just two days after the process was announced to have started.

David Albright of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security said that any 20-percent enriched uranium produced just a few days after the start of the process would be "a tiny amount." The United States and some of its allies accuse Tehran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to build nuclear weapons but Tehran denies the charge, saying the program is just geared toward generating electricity."I want to announce with a loud voice here that the first package of 20 percent fuel was produced and provided to the scientists," he said. Enriching uranium produces fuel for a nuclear power plants but can also be used to create material for atomic weapons if enriched further to 90 percent or more.

• "The Sanctions on Iran are Working", Foreign Policy, 2/10/10.
  
• "Iran’s Enrichment for the Tehran Research Reactor: Update", Institute for Science and International Security, 2/9/10.
  
• "Uranium Enrichment" US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, website.
• "Enrichment Process", URENCO, website.
  
• "Gas Centrifuge Uranium Enrichment", Global Security, website.
  

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Opium production in Afghanistan may fall in 2010, UN reports

Productivity could stay stable or fall, continuing a trend since 2007 which has seen a one-third drop in production, according to a new UNODC study. The report is based on farmers' intentions at the start of the planting season and gives an early picture of the 2010 crop. The cultivation of opium – raw material for the world's deadliest drug, heroin – in Afghanistan could drop this year, the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said today, as bad weather is forecast during the country's current growing season.

It also found a correlation between insurgency and high cultivation, with nearly 80 per cent of villages with very poor security conditions growing poppies but in only 7 per cent of villages untouched by violence. The UNODC report pointed out that in parts of Afghanistan where the Government is more able to enforce the law, nearly two thirds of farmers said they did not grow opium because it is banned, whereas in the southeast, where authorities' reach is weaker, just under 40 per cent of farmers cited the ban as a reason for not cultivating poppies.

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Hotel bombing suspect goes on trial

Noordin Mohammad Top would have been pleased to have died a martyr in a hail of gunfire but his Jemaah Islamiah terrorism network was now seriously degraded, according to his driver. Amir Abdillah made the remarks to reporters yesterday as he stood trial for his role in protecting Noordin and securing explosives used in the Jakarta hotel bombings last year that killed nine people, including three Australians.

He has also been charged for taking part in a plot to assassinate the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in a car bomb attack which was to have taken place a month after the hotel bombings. Abdillah scoured Java for safe houses for Noordin and ran errands for him, including buying materials for explosives. Asked about Noordin's demise after seven years of eluding a massive manhunt, Abdillah said: ''That's what he wanted. He wanted to be a martyr.''

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Pakistani Taliban leader is dead

Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud is dead, three Taliban sources and a government official said Tuesday. There were conflicting reports about where Mehsud died. The government official told CNN Mehsud died as a result of the January 14 attack in North Waziristan. He was seriously injured, and was moved to the Orakzai region, where he died and was buried more than a week ago, the official said, citing information from local pro-government militias. Other sources said Mehsud died near the city of Multan in central Pakistan while on his way to a treatment center in Karachi. Authorities have been looking into reports that Mehsud died after being wounded last month in a drone attack. Word of his death contradicts a statement by a Taliban spokesman last week that Mehsud was alive and in hiding.

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Mexico arrests 2 reputed leaders of Tijuana gang

Mexican federal police arrested two suspected gang leaders Monday, delivering another big blow to a brutal drug cartel that terrorized the border city of Tijuana for several years. The capture of Raydel Lopez Uriarte and Manuel Garcia Simental apparently wipes out the existing leadership of the cartel headed by Teodoro Garcia Simental, who was captured last month. Teodoro and Manuel Garcia are brothers.

Lopez, known as "El Muletas," and Garcia, known as "El Chiquilin," were arrested Monday in La Paz, a city in the southern end of the Baja California peninsula, said Amy Roderick, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The gang was known for its brutality, having executed, beheaded and mutilated hundreds of rivals in Tijuana, which is across the U.S. border from San Diego. Gang members pinned notes to corpses and dissolved bodies in caustic soda.

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Pakistanis Claim To Foil Plot To Target Americans

Authorities arrested six suspected Taliban militants with a suicide vest and hand grenades allegedly on their way Monday to attack a five-star hotel and kill Americans in Lahore, Pakistan's cultural capital, police said. The eastern city of Lahore has suffered a spate of bombings at markets and security installations in recent years as the Taliban have expanded attacks beyond their main sanctuary in the northwest. Militants have also targeted hotels and restaurants in other parts of Pakistan popular with Westerners.

The militants arrested Monday on the outskirts of Lahore included a 14-year old boy and a prayer leader from Pakistan's Khyber tribal area near the Afghan border, said police official Zulfikar Hameed. The prayer leader was wearing a vest packed with explosives. They told police they were targeting Americans at the Pearl Continental hotel, he said. "We think they were on their way to launch the attack," said Hameed. "They told us that Americans are responsible for the death of every innocent Muslim in the so-called war on terror." Police seized 26 hand grenades and five detonators from the militants, who were traveling by car and motorcycle, said Hameed. Despite their intentions, the men didn't know for certain whether any Americans were staying at the hotel

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INLA confirms decommissioning move

A republican paramilitary group which killed more than 100 people during the Troubles in the North announced today that it has decommissioned its weapons. The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) confirmed it has disposed of its illegal arsenal in recent weeks through the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD). The splinter group was responsible for some of the most infamous attacks of the Troubles, including the killing of Conservative MP Airey Neave in 1979.

Four months ago the INLA used a graveside oration outside Dublin to confirm its "armed struggle is over" and it vowed to end its 35-year campaign of violence in the North. A spokesman for the group, Martin McMonagle, told a Belfast press conference the INLA had disarmed. "We make no apology for our part in the conflict," he said. But he added: "We believe that conditions have now changed in such a way that other options are open to revolutionaries in order to pursue and ultimately achieve our objectives."

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China Heralds Bust of Major Hacker Ring

China heralded a major bust of computer hackers to underscore its pledge to help enhance global online security, with state media saying officials had shut what they called the country's largest distributor of tools used in malicious Internet attacks. Three people were arrested on suspicion of making hacking tools available online, the state-run Xinhua news agency said on Monday. Their business, known as Black Hawk Safety Net, operated through the now-shuttered Web site 3800cc.com and generated around $1 million in income from its over 12,000 subscribers, the report said. The arrests took place in late November as part of a police investigation that spanned three Chinese provinces and resulted in part from Black Hawk's role in domestic cyberattacks, according to Xinhua.

The delay in announcing the case wasn't explained. China in recent weeks has waged an aggressive public-relations campaign on the issue of hacking, apparently at least in part aimed at discrediting allegations from Google Inc. and others last month that China was the source of sophisticated cyberattacks against the Internet search giant and a number of other foreign companies. After U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also raised concerns about hacking from China, Chinese state media said her comments were hypocritical and said Google had become a pawn in an American "ideology war."

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23 dead as Pakistan hospital, bus bombed

A hospital in Pakistan's commercial capital Karachi treating victims of an earlier bus bombing that killed 12 people was itself rocked by an explosion that killed 11 more people, local officials said. Two suicide bombers on motorcycles struck the bus and hospital, targeting Shiite Muslims in Karachi for the second time in six weeks, killing 23 people and wounding 75 others. Women and children were among 12 people killed when a bomber rammed a motorcycle bomb into a bus of Shiites on one of Karachi's busiest roads, gutting the bus and sending glass flying, officials and witnesses said. A second bomber killed 11 people, damaging ambulances and the entrance to the casualty department at Jinnah Hospital where the bus bomb victims were being treated and anxious relatives were gathering.

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When Ordered, Twitter Monitors Tweet-Bangers For Authorities

Representatives of Twitter and Facebook said they cooperate with authorities investigating gangs that use the social-networking tools to communicate about crime, according to a report. "Representatives from Twitter and Facebook say they regularly cooperate with police and supply information on account holders when presented with a search warrant," states the Associated Press. Authorities say they're increasingly coming across gangs that use Twitter and Facebook to communicate. In one example cited in the Associated Press, a gang warned members that an affiliate released early from behind bars might have cut a deal and could be a snitch. It did so via Twitter. Is this the era of tweet-banging? Facebangers?

If so, that sword cuts both ways: Authorities were following members' tweets as part of its ongoing investigation of the Bay Area gang. Law enforcement seems to be finding social media as useful as gangs are. Prosecutors said they found evidence on YouTube that helped them crack down on the Eastside Riva gang in Riverside last week. "You find out about people you never would have known about before," Dean Johnston of the California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement told AP. "You build this little tree of people." AP reports that (even) gangsters are moving on from MySpace to Twitter and Facebook to keep their own social networks alive. Threats, boasts and tips are shared this way, law enforcers say. Some gangs even have groups on Facebook. But gangs such as Mara Salvatrucha and Florencia still prefer MySpace, according to the report.

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Drug cartels tighten grip; Mexico becoming 'narco-state'

For months, the leaders of Tancitaro had held firm against the drug lords battling for control of this central Mexican town. Then one morning, after months of threats and violence from the traffickers, they finally surrendered.Before dawn, gunmen kidnapped the elderly fathers of the town administrator and the secretary of the City Council. Within hours, both officials resigned along with the mayor, the entire seven-member City Council, two department heads, the police chief and all 60 police officers. Tancitaro had fallen to the enemy.

Across Mexico, the continuing ability of traffickers to topple governments like Tancitaro's, intimidate police and keep drug shipments flowing is raising doubts about the Mexican government's 3-year-old, U.S.-backed war on the drug cartels.Far from eliminating the gangs, the battle has exposed criminal networks more ingrained than most Americans could imagine: Hidden economies that employ up to one-fifth of the people in some Mexican states. Business empires that include holdings as everyday as gyms and a day-care center. And the death toll continues to mount: Mexico saw 6,587 drug-related murders in 2009, up from 5,207 in 2008 and 2,275 in 2007, according to an unofficial tally by the respected newspaper Reforma. Cartels have multiplied, improved their armament and are perfecting simultaneous, terrorist-style attacks.

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Anthrax contaminated heroin spreads in U.K.

British authorities today warned drug users that heroin in London was highly likely to be contaminated with anthrax, after a first confirmed case there and following nine deaths in Scotland. "While public health investigations are ongoing, it must be assumed that all heroin in London carries the risk of anthrax contamination," said Dr. Brian McCloskey, who is director of the Health Protection Agency (HPA) in London.

"Heroin users are advised to cease taking heroin by any route, if at all possible, and to seek help from their local drug treatment services."McCloskey added that the risk to the general population was "negligible."Anthrax has been found in 19 heroin users in Scotland since December and nine of those people died, six of them in the Glasgow area, officials said. The first case in London was confirmed yesterday, and the user was in hospital receiving treatment.

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Shi'ites targeted by bombs in Iraq and Pakistan

18 killed in dual bomb attack in Karachi

A blast targeting a bus filled with Shiite religious observers in Karachi killed at least 12 people and another explosion in front of a hospital where attack victims were being treated killed six more Friday, a government official said. Motorcycles were used in both assaults, police said, and they came during the Shiite observance of Arbaeen, a commemoration that takes place 40 days after the anniversary of Iman Hussein's death, which is also known as Ashura. Sindh provincial health minister, Dr. Saghir Ahmed said that along with the 12 dead, 30 people were injured in the first blast. The second blast happened in front of the emergency room at Jinnah Hospital, where doctors treated people from the first attack and people on stretchers were waiting to be taken in to the crowded facility. Along with the six slain, five people were wounded. The last deadly blast in Karachi took place late December during Ashura, when more than 40 people were killed. A twin car bombing Friday tore through a crowd of Shiite pilgrims packing a highway as they walked to a holy city south of Baghdad for a major religious observance, killing at least 35 people and wounding 151 others, Iraqi officials said.

Blasts kill 35 at height of Iraq Shiite pilgrimage

It was the third deadly bombing this week hitting the ceremony in which hundreds of thousands of Shiites have been converging on the city of Karbala. Friday's attack struck during the culmination of the pilgrimage. This week's violence took place as Iraqi politicians argued over an effort to bar hundreds of candidates from running in the March parliamentary elections because of suspected ties to Saddam Hussein's former regime. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Thursday he would not allow the US ambassador to meddle in the dispute, which Washington fears could hamper Sunni-Shiite reconciliation. Friday's attack began shortly after noon when a parked car bomb exploded just east of one of three main entrances to Karbala, two Health Ministry officials said. The explosion sent throngs of pilgrims running down the highway and straight into the path of a suicide car bomber who detonated the vehicle, they said.

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Women 'scared into prostitution'

Young women and girls were subjected to bizarre rituals to scare them into a life of prostitution, an Irish court has heard. Some were shoved into coffins and witnessed chicken slaughter before they were trafficked from Nigeria and coerced into a large and lucrative prostitution ring run by a married couple. Irish-born Thomas Carroll, 48, and his South African wife Shamiela Clark, 32, ran a complex and organised prostitution business in Ireland, which earned more than one million euros in one year, Cardiff Crown Court, in Wales, was told.

Clark, who went by the name of Carmen, ran a "call centre" where she co-ordinated the brothels and took calls from clients, organised accommodation and placed adverts in newspapers, the court heard. Robert Davies, prosecuting, said the business used foreign sex workers "so they would not have homes to go to at night".

Most of the young women and girls, one aged just 15, came from South America and Nigeria, with many not knowing they would have to work as prostitutes to pay off the huge debts they were told they owed their traffickers. Women from Nigeria underwent "terrifying and humiliating" rituals involving menstrual blood, killing chickens and being pushed into a coffin "to put the fear of death in them", Judge Neil Bidder was told.

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Londonistan

Just in case the Brits hadn't figured that out, the usual anonymous U.S. State Department official was happy to do it for them. Last month, an official told the Daily Telegraph that their country "has the greatest concentration of active al Qaeda supporters [in the West]," posing a threat to Britain and "the rest of the world." The same article cited a fresh and ominous finding from the director of MI5. He estimated his service was aware of some 2,000 "radicalized Muslims" who might be involved in terrorist plots. That figure, of course, doesn't include the population of plotters who have escaped MI5 scrutiny, like Abdulmutallab. As if to underline the threat, on Jan. 12, the British government banned two of the country's most notorious Islamist organizations, Islam4UK and Al Muhajiroun, under a 2000 anti-terrorism law.

So why is this particular front in the war on terrorism proving such a challenge? Haras Rafiq, a British Muslim who founded a think tank to combat Islamic extremism, worries that a big share of the blame goes to his own government. For decades, he says, Britain tolerated plotting by domestic Islamic radicals as long as they targeted other countries, often ones in the Middle East. "We gave them freedom to preach violence and extremism -- [as long as] they were preaching it abroad and not in the U.K. They used that freedom to take over community organizations, mosques, TV stations," he says. "They've been building capacity for their viewpoint." He describes the radicals' techniques as strikingly reminiscent of those of 20th-century communists and fascists. The Islamists have also mimicked the Irish Republican movement by using ostensibly non-violent political groups to covertly radical ends.

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U.S. Believes Pakistani Taliban Leader Is Dead

U.S. counterterrorism officials believe Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud is dead following a missile attack last month, a senior intelligence official said Wednesday in the strongest signal that Washington has offered about the militant's fate. Neither Pakistan nor the U.S. has officially confirmed the death of Mehsud, who commands an Al Qaeda-allied movement that is blamed for scores of suicide bombings and is suspected in a deadly attack on a CIA base in Afghanistan late last year. Mehsud's death would be the latest successful strike against suspected terrorists by the U.S. and its allies. The U.S. has recently stepped up attacks from unmanned aircraft in Pakistan, and a closer collaboration with Yemen has led to recent airstrikes there. President Barack Obama highlighted the increasing success of such attacks in his State of the Union address last week.

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Terrorists 'plan attack on Britain with bombs inside their bodies' to foil new airport scanners

Britain is facing a new Al Qaeda terror threat from suicide ‘body bombers’ with explosives surgically inserted inside them. Until now, terrorists have attacked airlines, Underground trains and buses by secreting bombs in bags, shoes or underwear to avoid detection. But an operation by MI5 has uncovered evidence that Al Qaeda is planning a new stage in its terror campaign by inserting ‘surgical bombs’ inside people for the first time. Security services believe the move has been prompted by the recent introduction at airports of body scanners, which are designed to catch terrorists before they board flights. It is understood MI5 became aware of the threat after observing increasingly vocal internet ‘chatter’ on Arab websites this year.

The warning comes in the wake of the failed attempt by London-educated Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up an airliner approaching Detroit on Christmas Day. One security source said: ‘If the terrorists are talking about this, we need to be ready and do all we can to counter the threat.’ A leading source added that male bombers would have the explosive secreted near their appendix or in their buttocks, while females would have the material placed inside their breasts in the same way as figure-enhancing implants.

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Heists Targeting Truckers On Rise

Thieves are swiping tractor-trailers filled with goods, triggering a spike in cargo theft on the nation's highways. Over five days last month, an 18-wheeler carrying 710 cartons of consumer electronics was stolen from a Pennsylvania rest stop, a 53-foot-long rig packed with 43,000 pounds of paper was ripped off in Ottawa, Ill., and a 40-foot-long truck filled with reclining armchairs went missing in Atlanta.

Truckloads containing $487 million of goods were stolen in the U.S. in 2009, a 67% increase over the $290 million worth of products swiped a year earlier. Thieves stole 859 truckloads in 2009, up from 767 loads in 2008 and 672 in 2007, according to FreightWatch International, an Austin, Texas-based supply-chain security firm that maintains a database of thefts that several government agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, look to for trends.

"In the past two months, we've just seen such an increase that it's to the point where criminals are just wreaking havoc," said Sandor Lengyel, a detective sergeant and squad leader in New Jersey State Police's cargo-theft unit. "They'll pretty much steal anything." Cargo thieves ripped off $28 million in goods in New Jersey in 2009, an 87% spike from the $15 million stolen in 2008, he said. Law-enforcement authorities in Illinois, California and Pennsylvania are among several agencies and industry groups also reporting a spike.

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Female Homicide Bomber Kills 54 in Baghdad

A female homicide bomber walking among Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad detonated an explosives belt on Monday, killing at least 54 people and wounding more than 122, officials said. The bombing was the first major strike this year against pilgrims making their way to the southern city of Karbala to mark a Shiite holy day. It came as security official warned of a possible increase in attacks by insurgents using new tactics to bypass bomb-detection methods.

The bombing raises fears of an escalation of attacks as hundreds of thousands of Shiites head by Friday to the southern holy city of Karbala to mark the end of 40 days of mourning following the anniversary of the death Imam Hussein, a revered Shiite figure.

The bomber hid the explosives underneath an abaya — a black cloak worn from head to toe by women — as she joined a group of pilgrims on the outskirts of Baghdad's Shiite-dominated neighborhood of Shaab, said Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, Baghdad's top military spokesman.
The bomber set off the blast as she lined up with other women to be searched by female security guards at a security checkpoint just inside a rest tent, al-Moussawi said.

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