Leader Turned Informant Rattles Muslims

The surprise announcement by a prominent Muslim leader here that he was an informant who helped authorities arrest 17 Muslims on terrorism charges has raised questions in the Muslim community over the ethics of informing versus a responsibility to stop violence.

Since outing himself as an informant who infiltrated and trained with the suspects, Mubin Shaikh has come under harsh criticism by some Toronto Muslims and sparked a debate about how far citizens should go in aiding police investigations, even as he has been hailed as a hero in the mainstream media.

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The Secretive Fight Against Bioterror

On the grounds of a military base an hour’s drive from the capital, the Bush administration is building a massive biodefense laboratory unlike any seen since biological weapons were banned 34 years ago.

The heart of the lab is a cluster of sealed chambers built to contain the world’s deadliest bacteria and viruses. There, scientists will spend their days simulating the unthinkable: bioterrorism attacks in the form of lethal anthrax spores rendered as wispy powders that can drift for miles on a summer breeze, or common viruses turned into deadly superbugs that ordinary drugs and vaccines cannot stop.

In an unusual arrangement, the building itself will be classified as highly restricted space, from the reception desk to the lab benches to the cages where animals are kept. Few federal facilities, including nuclear labs, operate with such stealth. It is this opacity that some arms-control experts say has become a defining characteristic of U.S. biodefense policy as carried out by the Department of Homeland Security, NBACC’s creator.

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At least one killed during shooting at Seattle Jewish federation

At least six people were shot – one fatally – this afternoon at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle by a man a witness said was upset about “what was going on in Israel.”

Police spokesman Rich Pruitt said there was one shooter, who was apprehended without incident outside the Jewish Federation Building located on the corner of Third Avenue and Virginia Street.
One witness, who declined to give her name, said a man walked into the Jewish Federation building with a gun, said he was upset about what was going on in Israel, then opened fire. After the shootings, the man said to call 911, the witness said. The witness said the man identified himself as an American Muslim.

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Additional details at Seattle Times

Videotape of the arrest

Shooting At Seattle Jewish Federation

At least five people were shot – one fatally – this afternoon at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle by a man a witness said was upset about “what was going on in Israel.”

Police spokesman Rich Pruitt said there was one shooter, who was apprehended without incident outside the Jewish Federation Building located on the corner of Third Avenue and Virginia Street. Pruitt said there were at least two victims on the third floor of the building.

Police got reports of shots fired shortly before 4 p.m.

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Sources have stated that a bulletin was issued yesterday to Seattle Police requesting heightened patrols on Synagogues and Mosques in the Seattle area.

New 911 Style Attack In The Works?

Familiar face turns up in new al-Qaeda video – Is a message being sent?

Al Qaeda’s No. 2 leader turned up on Thursday with another videotaped rant against the United States and Israel. The White House said he just wants some attention, because Hezbollah has been stealing al Qaeda’s thunder lately. But as CBS News correspondent Jim Stewart reports, one thing did get the FBI’s attention — pictures on the tape that add to worries a known terror suspect might be hatching a new 9/11-style plot.

The man in the photo behind terrorist leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in his latest message is Mohammed Atta, the ringleader of the 9/11 attacks. One of the enduring questions facing the FBI is whether Atta and his accomplices had any help while in the United States. Did investigators miss anyone?

An old face from that investigation has resurfaced, and he’s raising a lot of eyebrows at the FBI.

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Calif. To Open Terror Tracking Center

Hoping to better secure Southern California against attacks, federal and local law enforcement agencies have banded together to create a first-of-its-kind command center to improve intelligence sharing on terrorist threats.

The Joint Regional Intelligence Center will track terrorist activity with help from officials who specialize in fields such as epidemiology and chemical attacks, while analyzing real-time threat information.

Its opening was expected to be announced Thursday.

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al-Qaeda Calls For Holy War Against Israel

Al Qaeda’s No. 2 leader issued a worldwide call in a new videotape released Thursday for Muslims to rise up in a holy war against Israel and join the fighting in Lebanon and Gaza until Islam reigns from “Spain to Iraq.”

In the message broadcast by Al-Jazeera television, Ayman al-Zawahiri, second in command to Usama bin Laden, said that Al Qaeda now views “all the world as a battlefield open in front of us.”

The Egyptian-born physician said that the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and Palestinian militants would not be ended with “cease-fires or agreements.”

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Syria to come clean on al-Qaeda cells

Syria is prepared to tell the US the whereabouts of al-Qaeda cells in Lebanon, Britain’s Sky News television reported today.

Sky News said they had spoken to Syrian cabinet minister Amr Salem.

“Syria has real hard knowledge,” the channel quoted him as saying.

A Sky News correspondent said the Syrians were offering to tell the US where many fundamentalists were.

He said the channel was told specifically there were cells of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist network in Lebanon, and Syria knew of their whereabouts.

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Sleeper Hizbullah cells activated

Hizbullah “sleeper” terror cells set up outside Lebanon with Iranian assistance have been put on standby The Jerusalem Post learned on Sunday, and are likely planning attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets throughout the world.

The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) confirmed to the Post Sunday night that it had instructed embassies, consulates and Jewish institutions it was responsible for abroad to raise their level of awareness in light of the conflict in the North.

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Las Vegas flight quarantined

A section of the airport at Las Vegas, Nev., was closed for several hours after a flight arrived from Denver with 11 sick people on board, officials said Sunday.

Passengers and crewmembers on United Airlines Flight 1491 were quarantined for several hours Saturday night at McCarran International Airport while the plane, passengers and luggage were checked by hazardous materials experts, said Elaine Sanchez, a McCarran spokeswoman.

Four of the victims were flight attendants, Sanchez said.

Sanchez said the cause was still being investigated. A passenger, Don Yarbrough, told KUSA TV of Denver that investigators believed the victims reacted to a cleaning fluid containing ammonia that had been used on the plane after it arrived in Denver from Cancun, Mexico.

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Outcry Over Dirty Bomb Boat Interception

Border guards seized a British lorry on its way to make a delivery to the Iranian military – after discovering it was packed with radioactive material that could be used to build a dirty bomb.

The lorry set off from Kent on its way to Tehran but was stopped by officials at a checkpoint on Bulgaria’s northernborder with Romania after a scanner indicated radiation levels 200 times above normal.

The lorry was impounded and the Bulgarian Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NPA) was called out.

On board they found ten lead-lined boxes addressed to the Iranian Ministry of Defence. Inside each box was a soil-testing device, containing highly dangerous quantities of radioactive caesium 137 and americium-beryllium.

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New Message Expected From Bin Laden

A new Osama bin Laden message from al Qaeda’s as-Sahab Institute for Media Production is to be released soon. Extremist websites have begun to advertise a new message.

In his message, bin Laden will reportedly address events in Gaza and Lebanon. This message has been expected and is consistent with new efforts in 2006 by al Qaeda’s senior leadership to be responsive in their messages to current developments.

Developing…

London: Terror Risk Over Nuclear Cargo

A newspaper reporter walked up to an unattended train carrying nuclear waste and planted a fake bomb on it, the Daily Mirror has said.

Reporter Tom Parry said he placed the fake device on the train, travelling from Kent to Cumbria, at a north-west London depot in a built-up area.

The paper said many trains carry waste between nuclear power stations each week and could be a terror target.

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al-Qaeda Billboard Appears In Gaza

A billboard appearing in Gaza today features images of Osama Bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The billboard caries a message of support for “al-qaeda of Palestine”. There has been concern for some time that al-Qaeda was been attempting to establish a cell group in Gaza. The exact intent of the billboard remains unclear.

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