Spanish Police Nab Daredevil Thieves

They were daredevil highwaymen whose meticulously planned motorway heists combined precision driving with death-defying acrobatics.

On Friday Spanish police made a series of arrests in and around Madrid detaining 23 members of a gang who they say specialized in robbing moving trucks without the drivers noticing.

The Civil Guard believe the the gang crisscrossed the country and pulled off more than 50 thefts from trucks in a two-year crime spree that brought them millions of dollars.

With little apparent thought for their safety the thieves often targeted trucks at night on quiet stretches of motorway.

The gang used a car to overtake and then pull in front of a lorry, forcing it to slow down. Other gang members in following pick-up trucks would then draw up behind the truck. A daring robber would walk down the bonnet of the pick-up and leap from it and on to the back of the moving truck.

Using a rope or a suction cup device to hang on, the thief then used either a battery-powered grinder or a crowbar to pry open the truck’s rear doors.

Other members of the gang clambered across the bonnet of the pick-up truck and jumped into the back of the big rig.

They then passed back the loot, which was often computers, mobile phones, brand-name clothes, sunglasses or perfumes.

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Report – Bin Laden May Be Planning Large Scale Terror Attack Against U.S.

Osama  bin Laden and al-Qaeda may be planning a terror attack against the United States which will “outdo by far” the attacks of September 11 in 2001.

The Arab newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi in London is reporting a senior Yemen official close to the terrorist group is warning of a new wave of terror attacks against the U.S.

The source, who is not named in the report, is quoted as being “very close to Al-Qaeda” Read more

New Bin Laden Video Coming – Addresses Obama

Osama Bin Laden is set to release a video threat to Barack Obama, fanatics have warned.

The al-Qaeda chief’s first message in months could come when Mr Obama names his first Cabinet.

Hate preacher Omar Bakri led the talk in extremist Arabic chatrooms. He said: “It will be fresh, addressing the Cabinet he chooses.”

In a direct threat, Bakri went on: “We will fight him if he fights against Islam.”

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Obama To Get Top Secret CIA Briefing

President-elect Barack Obama will learn the full “burdens of office” tomorrow when he receives his first top secret briefing from the Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell.

McConnell will be accompanied by the CIA’s top intelligence analyst, Michael Morel, the Director for Intelligence, and two senior CIA briefers, intelligence officials tell ABCNews.com.

Morel will take over the briefing responsibility for the President-elect through the transition after tomorrow’s initial session, officials say.

Top Obama advisers are eager to begin a strategic shift in counter-terrorism policy with a much greater focus and commitment of resources to going after al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani tribal region.

Officials say the President-elect will learn the CIA still has no specific information on the whereabouts of bin Laden but has a much better set of leads on the location of bin Laden’s deputy Ayman al-Zawahari.

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Osama Bin Ladens Son Seeks Asylum In Spain

Update: Asylum was refused.

A son of Osama bin Laden who grabbed headlines by marrying a British woman last year has flown to Spain and requested asylum, the Spanish government said Tuesday.

Omar Osama bin Laden, 27, is a metals trader who had been living in Cairo, Egypt with his wife. He has not renounced his father, but has said he wants to be an “ambassador for peace” between the Muslim world and the West.

His wife said, however, that he was denied a British residency request this year after officials there said he had demonstrated continuing loyalty to his father.

Omar Osama bin Laden — one of the al-Qaida leader’s 19 children — arrived in Madrid Monday on a flight from Cairo to Casablanca, Morocco, an Interior Ministry official said.

He had been traveling on a Saudi passport, and remained at the airport Tuesday while the ministry considered his request for Spanish asylum, the official said on condition of anonymity in line with ministry policy.

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Morocco Smashes Al Qaeda Terror Network

The Moroccan authorities say they have broken up a militant cell operating in several towns in the kingdom.

The group allegedly had links with al- Qaeda and police described the 15 people arrested as “dangerous”. Read more