al Qaeda May Launch Financial Cyber Attack

The U.S. government warned American private financial services on Thursday of an al Qaeda call for a cyber attack against online stock trading and banking Web sites beginning on Friday, a source said.

The source, a person familiar with the warning, said the Islamic militant group aimed to penetrate and destroy the databases of the U.S. financial sites.

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed an alert had been distributed but said there was no reason to believe the threat was credible.

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Grave And Growing Threat of Biological Weapons

A prominent research center has published a survey showing the threat of bioweapons is serious and growing. The study comes five years after the discovery of deadly anthrax in envelopes and other containers sent through the U.S. postal system. The spores killed five people and sickened 22 others. VOA’s Sean Maroney has more from Washington.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies released Wednesday the findings of its survey addressing the future use of biological weapons. Since mid-October, the center polled about 340 current executive branch officials and members of Congress, as well as former senior government officials and nongovernmental experts, on how they perceived the threat of bioweapons.

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Full Text – Ahmadinejads Message To America

The full text of the message of the President of Iran To the American People is located at this link. It’s pretty much what you’ld expect, but if you still want to read it, we’ve made it available.

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Two In Houston Charged In Taliban Plan

Two Houston men have been charged with planning to aid the Taliban, U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced Tuesday. Adnan Babar Mirza, 29 and 33-year-old Kobie Diallo Williams, also known as Abdul Kabeer and Abdul Kabir, are both in federal custody.

Williams, a University of Houston student, pleaded guilty Tuesday. Mirza hasn’t entered a plea.

Both men are accused of training with firearms so they could go to the Middle East to fight with the Taliban against coalition forces.in the Middle East. They’re also charged with providing cash to support terrorist groups.

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How The Imams Terrorized An Airliner

Muslim religious leaders removed from a Minneapolis flight last week exhibited behavior associated with a security probe by terrorists and were not merely engaged in prayers, according to witnesses, police reports and aviation security officials.

Witnesses said three of the imams were praying loudly in the concourse and repeatedly shouted “Allah” when passengers were called for boarding US Airways Flight 300 to Phoenix. “I was suspicious by the way they were praying very loud,” the gate agent told the Minneapolis Police Department.

Passengers and flight attendants told law-enforcement officials the imams switched from their assigned seats to a pattern associated with the September 11 terrorist attacks and also found in probes of U.S. security since the attacks two in the front row first-class, two in the middle of the plane on the exit aisle and two in the rear of the cabin.

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Lincoln Memorial Closed Over Note, Liquid

Authorities briefly closed the Lincoln Memorial on Monday after finding suspicious containers and a note reading, “Do you know what anthrax is?” and “Do you know what a bomb is?”

The scare began about noon when a visitor to the memorial discovered the note in a plastic document holder near the steps of the memorial.

After evacuating the area, U.S. Park Police found a travelers’ coffee mug near the note on the steps and a Gatorade bottle in a women’s restroom, said Wayne Benson, a battalion chief with the District of Columbia fire department.

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FBI Searches For Rental Car Suspect

The FBI was helping in the search Sunday for a person who left a suspected explosive device in the trunk of a rental car at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

The Bloomington Police Department’s bomb squad detonated the device, finding it contained no explosive material. But airport spokesman Pat Hogan said it appeared to be an attempt at either crafting a bomb or something that looked like one.

“It had wires coming out of it, and shrapnel attached, and it was concealed in the cargo area in a way where you wouldn’t see it if you were just casually looking into the trunk,” Hogan said.

An employee of Avis Rent A Car found the device while inspecting the recently returned car around 10:30 a.m. Sunday. The Bloomington bomb squad detonated it without incident a few hours later, and Hogan said airport operations were not affected.

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2 Acid Bombs Set Off In Wal-Mart

UPDATE: Two teenage boys have been charged with setting off two homemade bombs inside a Wal-Mart filled with holiday shoppers, authorities said.

The boys, both 15, were taken into custody after photos from the store’s security cameras where shown on television newscasts.

The explosion of two homemade bombs inside Wal-Mart Saturday afternoon sent a store full of holiday shoppers scurrying for the exits.

Two acid bombs detonated in two separate aisles as the store was crowded with shoppers around 3:15 p.m. on Saturday, said Sgt. Joel Davis, fire investigation supervisor for the State Fire Marshal’s Office. One of the bombs detonated in the pet area. The second was in the store’s toy section, Davis said.

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Ex-spy Litvinenko – Victim Of State Terror

Britain’s intelligence agencies last night claimed that the poisoning of the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko bore the hallmarks of a “state-sponsored” assassination.

A senior Whitehall official told The Times that confirmation that the former Russian spy, who had become a British citizen, had been poisoned with radioactive polonium-210 and other evidence so far not released pointed to the murder being carried out by foreign agents.

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Osama bin Laden Allies Enter The Philippines

Suspected allies of international terrorist leader Osama bin Laden were able to enter the Philippines using fake visas and other forged travel documents, Philippine Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said on Friday.

The information was contained in a confidential report received by the Department of Justice recently, a report by GMA news network quoted Gonzalez as saying.

He said most of the suspected bin Laden men who entered the country are carrying Indian passports.

Some Pakistanis and Afghans who are suspected emissaries of bin Laden also make use of fake Indian passports in entering the country, Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez added that on Aug. 9 a group of 10 Indian nationals using fake Philippine visas arrived at Manila on board a foreign airline.

Gonzalez also said Philippine authorities are now strictly monitoring visitors in the country carrying Indian passports.

Al Qaeda Blamed For Iraqi Attack Kiilling 150

Mortar shells and car bombs devastated several streets in the Shia neighbourhood of Sadr City in Baghdad today, killing nearly 150 people in what Iraqi officials said was an al-Qaeda attack.

Witnesses said that mortar fire and at least three car bombs, each packed with as much as half a tonne of explosives, blew up one after the other in markets and shopping streets, starting just after 3pm local time. More than 230 people were injured in the explosions

The bombs detonated 15 minutes apart, hitting Jamila market, al-Hay market and al-Shahidein Square in Sadr City. Whole streets were destroyed, leaving bloodied remains and fierce fires burning amid the ruined shells of cars.

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Rainier Valley Barber Shop Owner Flees U.S.

Ruben Shumpert, who federal agents allege made his Rainier Valley barber shop a kind of “anti-American training ground for Muslims” where children were taught “how to shoot and fight the Americans,” has telephoned the FBI to say he won’t be going to prison anytime soon.

Shumpert, who faces sentencing on federal counterfeiting and weapons charges, has fled to Somalia.

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Shumpert, who is also known as Amir Abdul Muhaimin, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Redkey said. He was to be sentenced Tuesday.

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U.S. To Require Passports For Nearly All

Nearly all air travelers entering the U.S. will be required to show passports beginning Jan. 23, including returning Americans and people from Canada and other nations in the Western Hemisphere.The date was disclosed Tuesday by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in an interview with The Associated Press. The Homeland Security Department plans to announce the change on Wednesday.

The department had been expected to institute the passport requirement for air travelers around the beginning of the year. Setting the date on Jan. 23 pushes the start past the holiday season.

The requirement marks a change for Americans, Canadians, Bermudians and some Mexicans.

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Jericho, Heroes Spark Concern With Civil Defense

Brian Camden, president of Harden Structures/Harden Shelters in Virginia Beach, Va., said he has witnessed a significant uptick in business particularly following North Koreas first nuclear weapons test last month.

I can tell you it’s picked up since the test, Camden told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. It’s not just across the country but around the region. Their nerves are rattled.

Sharon Packer of Utah Shelter Systems reports getting as many telephone calls as just after Sept. 11. Brian Duvaul of American Safe Homes of Oregon, who sells $10,000 prefabricated do-it-yourself concrete shelter kits, expects sales to reach $1 million this year.

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