| latest news |
Student pursues an anthrax defense
A medical journal will publish his investigation into how a steam iron can kill spores inside an envelope.
A high school
senior who showed in a science-fair project that steam-ironing
mail can kill anthrax-like spores inside - without damaging the
other contents of the envelope - will have that research published
in June.
Marc Roberge, 17, of Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh,
decided to experiment after discussing his father's work as a
medical toxicologist for the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention
office in the Pittsburgh suburb of South Park. His research will
appear in the Journal of Medical Toxicology.
"He's just 17. I was 35 before I had my first publication,"
said Roberge's father, Raymond, an expert on biological agents.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, anthrax attacks using
the mail killed five people and injured 17. A germ-warfare specialist
from the former Soviet Union told a congressional committee in
October 2001 that a hot steam iron could be used to kill anthrax
spores.
During a CNN interview several months later, Raymond Roberge said
that high heat could kill anthrax, but that he did not know whether
an iron would work.
Marc Roberge did not use anthrax in his experiments, which he
performed at home and at school. "The government might have
had a problem with that," he told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Instead, he used a bacterial spore from the anthrax family that
is more heat-resistant than anthrax, and that scientists use as
a surrogate for anthrax.
He found that an iron at its highest setting, about 400 degrees,
killed all spores ironed for at least five minutes.
Roberge conducted the experiments as part of a science project
for his Advanced Placement biology course.
Bioterrorism expert Michael Allswede, of the University of Pittsburgh
Medical Center, said people should not routinely iron their mail.
"But should there be another threat like the anthrax attacks
in 2001, it would be one of the techniques that could be used
by regular people," he said.
18 Feb 2006, AP
Indian city on high alert after 25 hurt in bomb blast
India's western Ahmedabad city has been placed on high alert after
25 people were injured, three of them seriously, in a bomb blast
at the main railway station.
"It was a bomb blast. It was meant to create panic and terror. Whether it was a handiwork of terrorist outfits is not clear," said A.K. Bhargava, police chief of Gujarat state which includes Ahmedabad.
He said that powerful explosives were used for the blast, but the impact was limited as there were no trains at the station early morning when it was detonated.
Two of the three people seriously injured suffered major damage to their hearing, doctors said.
The others were discharged after being given first-aid.
The explosion destroyed part of a railway platform in the city, the commercial capital of Gujarat state, witnesses said.
Two tea stalls were destroyed in the early morning explosion.
Gujarat state's home minister Amit Shah inspected the site of the blast and declared a state of "high alert," police said.
By late afternoon, trains were running on schedule after services had earlier been halted.
Police have stepped up security in other parts of the city as well, a government spokesman said.
Gujarat state was torn by bloody communal riots in late February 2002 after Hindus accused Muslims of torching a train carriage crammed with Hindu hardliners. A government inquiry later found the fire was caused by an accident.
More than 2,000 people -- mostly Muslims -- were killed in the ensuing riots.
15 Feb 2006, AP
Body Guard Assigned to Pop Star After Hate Mail Campaign
X FACTOR winner Shayne Ward has been given a bodyguard after receiving hate mail.
The Clayton singer has vowed to ignore the threats but has been given round-the-clock protection, says the Mirror.
One note warned Shayne, 21, and family to "look over their shoulders" and another made racist remarks on their Irish roots.
Shayne's mum Philomena, 48, has also received threatening phone calls and is scared to leave their Manchester home.
Shayne's sister Lisa, 24, said: "It's upsetting and stressful, but we're a strong family. Negativity from jealous idiots won't upset us."
It is believed the letters could be from enemies of Shayne's jailed relations. His father, Martin, 50, is serving eight years for raping a pensioner.
Two uncles
and a cousin also got life over a shooting.
13 Feb 2006, Manchester Evening News
White powder causes anthrax alert at NATO centre in Norway
A letter containing a mysterious white powder triggered an anthrax alert at a NATO centre in western Norway, the military said Wednesday.
Norwegian military spokesman Erling Kristiansen said a female civilian employee at the base had come in contact with the powder, and received medical treatment as a precaution. "This has been turned over to the police, who sent the powder for analysis," Kristiansen said. "The result should be ready in a few days."
The letter arrived Tuesday at the Jaataa military complex in Stavanger, the western city housing NATO's Joint Warfare Centre and the Norwegian military's operational command.
Kristiansen declined to give any details about the letter's sender or intended recipient.
Norway's largest newspaper, Verdens Gang, reported that the letter was sent from the United States and addressed to Americans at the NATO centre.
Several letters with suspicious powders have been received in Norway, but none has been proven to contain the deadly anthrax bacteria.
14 Feb 2006, AP
Beyonce Knowles Gets Hate Mail For Promoting Furs
Beyonce Knowles is reportedly being bombarded with hate mail for selling animal fur in her fashion range.
The curvy singer has been sent sacks of letters since her label, Dereon, started selling clothes made of rabbit and chinchilla fur - and teddy bears made of mink.
Furious animal
rights campaigners have even threatened to leave carcasses outside
the star's home, according to a report in Britain's News of The
World newspaper.
13
Feb 2006, Female First news
Oxford Steps up Security After Escalation of Threats
Colleges are mounting an unprecedented security operation in the wake of renewed threats from animal rights extremists, at the same time that it emerged five protestors attempted to break into Hertford College The protestors, believed to be members of the Animal Liberation Front, were participating in a demonstration outside Balliol on 28th January, organized by SPEAK.
The five campaigners are understood to have broken away from the main protest, before scaling the walls of Hertford’s Warnock House and Abingdon House annexes. Hertford’s Bursar, Peter Baker, said, "The protestors did not gain admission to any buildings and left the grounds soon afterwards.
The Principal of the college, Dr John Landers told The Oxford Student, "As a college we take the security of our students and staff very seriously and are endeavoring to ensure it in the light of recent events, but it would not be appropriate for me to discuss the specific measures involved." Meanwhile, students at Pembroke have been warned in an email to be vigilant about who they let into their college, and reminded of the policy of signing in all invited guests after midnight.
The email from the college’s Dean, Dr Adrian Gregory, told students, "The ALF ‘declaration of war’ is a real cause for concern. Colleges are going to be targeted (probably for vandalism, but we can’t rule out worse), and logically any attack is going to happen at night." Dr Gregory told this newspaper, "There have been no specific incidents in the last few months, but this was really an appeal for heightened vigilance and common sense.
JCR President Claire Addison said the sign-in system was nothing new, but acknowledged the need to be alert. "Security at Pembroke is very high at the moment - with a porter on the door at all times, CCTV coverage, and members’ only key entry at the main door." She described the regulations as a sensible measure, saying, "College are taking reasonable and responsible measures to ensure the safety of the students in what is an increasingly fraught situation.
The Steward of nearby Christ Church, John Harris, confirmed the college is also attempting to strike the balance between convenience and security. Harris stressed that termtime security is generally very high at Christ Church, but confirmed that it is usually tightened at times of particular concern.
Harris told The Oxford Student that the level of security during animal rights protests is dependent upon the specific event, with marches near the Town Hall or in the St Aldate’s area causing the greatest worry. During the 28th January SPEAK protest, the main gate to the college remained closed, with a custodian monitoring the wicket gate. Thames Valley Police is understood to have written to all colleges detailing its security advisory program.
It recommends stricter vetting procedures and scrupulous reference checks before employing staff, particularly temporary workers. They have also warned students to be vigilant.
9 Feb 2006, Oxford Student
'ETA
bomb' explodes outside disco
A car
bomb exploded at a discotheque in northern Spain on Tuesday night,
causing damage but no injuries because police had cleared the
area after a warning call in the name of the Basque separatist
group ETA, an Interior Ministry spokesman told CNN.
The blast came just four days after Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said that Spain could be witnessing the "beginning of the end" of ETA, which is blamed for more than 800 deaths in its 37-year fight for Basque independence.
While government officials and political analysts speculate publicly about an imminent ETA cease-fire, the Basque ambulance service DYA received a call just after 7 p.m. (6 p.m. GMT) Tuesday in which the caller, speaking for ETA, warned of a bomb that would explode an hour later at La Nuba discotheque in the town of Urdax, in northern Navarra province, a DYA spokeswoman told CNN.
Civil Guards rushed to the site and cleared the area. The bomb, in a van parked outside the dance club, went off at 8 p.m., the ministry spokesman said.
Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso, in the eastern city of Valencia to speak at a conference honoring victims of terrorism, including many who have suffered at the hands of ETA, condemned the latest blast.
Last December, ETA set off a bomb at another discotheque in Navarra province, causing no injuries but property damage, after a warning call.
ETA is listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States.
ETA has not killed anyone since 2003, although it continues a campaign of bombings that caused injuries and property damage last year.
More than
500 ETA prisoners are now in Spanish jails, after police in Spain
and France, ETA's traditional rearguard region, have boosted cooperation
in recent years.
3 Feb 2006, CNN
15 wounded in Istanbul bomb blast
A bomb exploded at an Istanbul supermarket during Monday's afternoon rush, injuring 15 people. A Kurdish news agency reported that a Kurdish militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, which came days after a fatal bombing at an Internet cafe in the city.
In an e-mail, the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons Organization said it carried out both attacks in response to Turkey's policies toward the Kurdish people, the Firat News Agency said on its Web site.
The shadowy group -- believed linked to the main Kurdish guerrilla group, Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK -- has claimed responsibility for a number of bomb attacks in Turkey, including a blast in the Aegean resort town of Cesme last summer that wounded 21 people. The same group had also claimed Thursday's bomb attack on the Internet cafe, which killed one person and injured 15, including seven policemen.
"From now on, we will continue our actions uninterrupted" until the Turkish government changes its policies, the militant group said.
Turkey maintains its military drive against the autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels and does not recognize its sizable Kurdish population as an official minority.
The bomb blast at the supermarket damaged a wall and shattered windows.
"I was sitting inside when the explosion shattered the windows," said Zikri Cetinkaya, 48, who had been in a real estate office next door to the supermarket. "I immediately ducked and waited inside, I saw the ambulances outside but I was so afraid to walk to the market."
Kurdish guerrillas
have been fighting for autonomy in the southeast since 1984, a
battle that has so far claimed 37,000 lives. The European Union
and the United States consider the PKK to be a terrorist organization.
13
Feb 2006, AP
Woman Accused of Sending Mail Bombs
A former strip-club waitress mailed condoms filled with a potentially explosive mixture to a television station, strip clubs and other places, saying she was tired of being mistreated by men, according to court documents.
In FBI documents unsealed in a Boston U.S. District Court, Kimberly Lynn Dasilva, 40, said she "couldn't take it anymore."
None of the condoms exploded. They each contained a mixture of drain-cleaning detergent and gasoline, which could explode when combined, authorities said.
On Sept. 21, a suspicious package arrived at the Bridgewater State College admissions office. Five more were found the next day.
U.S. Magistrate
Judge Robert Collings released her on a $10,000 unsecured bond
and scheduled a hearing in the case for Feb. 23.
9 Feb 2006, AP
Mail Bomb Targets Baffled by Attacks
When employees in the Bridgewater State College admissions office flipped through the mail five months ago, an 8-inch by 8-inch envelope caught their attention.
"It emitted a whitish powder," Bridgewater State College Police Chief David Tillinghast said. "When they set it down, it leaked some kind of liquid. Needless to say, that raised some hackles over there."
Within minutes, the building was evacuated and the Fire Department called, setting off a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe that led to the recent arrest of a former strip-club waitress.
Kimberly Lynn DaSilva of Hull, 40, a former waitress at The Foxy Lady in Brockton and Alex's strip club in Stoughton, was accused in U.S. District Court of sending explosive devices through the mail.
She was accused of mailing packages containing explosive devices to Bridgewater State College, The Foxy Lady, Alex's, the Outlaws motorcycle club in Taunton, the Fox 25 television station in Dedham and the KISS-108 FM radio station in Revere.
The package containing two condoms, one filled with Drano and the other with gasoline, was sent to BSC on Sept. 21, 2005. Similar packages addressed to the other businesses were found the next day at the Brockton Postal Annex.
Tillinghast said he can't figure out why the college was targeted. He said the suspect never attended the college.
"I'm not aware of any connection with Bridgewater State College," he said. "If it was just to make a splash, it caused more than a little one."
Tillinghast said the admissions building was evacuated and the state bomb squad responded.
"It was quite a scene back there," he said. "The admissions office is right behind the administration building. It caused a huge scene back there. They had all the yellow tape up."
The package received at Bridgewater State College was a bubble-wrap envelope containing a condom and a granular substance. A broken condom that appeared to have contained a liquid was also in the package.
A note, written on a word processor, read, "BOOM."
An FBI bomb technician found that if the two substances were to combine and combust, the resulting gases, if contained in an air-tight container, "could result in a low-level explosion," according to court papers.
In addition to the packages, authorities received several "taunting letters" referring to the packages. The name on the letters was that of another former strip-club waitress who DaSilva's ex-boyfriend was trying to date, according to court papers.
According to an affidavit filed in federal court, DaSilva was described by an ex-boyfriend as "very expensive" and "paranoid."
The former boyfriend, William Gauss, who once lived in Hyde Park, told authorities DaSilva "has a wild imagination and has imagined a variety of things which have never occurred," according to court papers.
Gauss told authorities he now has a new girlfriend.
DaSilva, who
now sells sex toys, was also described by Gauss as "a lonely
woman," according to court papers
9
Feb 2006, Enterprises
Animal Rights Violence Escalates
THE number of attacks by animal rights activists has escalated dramatically over the past decade, according to a report released by the Foundation for Biomedical Research (FBR) in Washington DC on Friday.
The FBR compiled information from more than two decades on harassment, intimidation, arson, vandalism, bombing, beatings, theft and even body snatching. It concluded that "the number, severity and scope of attacks" are growing. There were 88 such incidents in the 1980s, 132 in the 1990s, and 363 cases in the first five years of this century.
Instead of targeting increasingly better-secured labs or furriers, activists have switched to "tertiary targeting" - attacking companies that do business with the labs or furriers in a bid to force them to end their cooperation.
"88 animal rights attacks in the 1980s - and 363 in the first five years of this decade"In the case of animal-testing lab Huntingdon Life Sciences, for instance, the international Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) campaign has targeted equipment suppliers, share market makers, insurers, auditors, banks and couriers.
The FBR hopes
new legislation may reduce attacks. In the first trial of its
kind since US law was amended to outlaw "animal enterprise
terrorism", jury selection was due to begin this week in
the trial of six SHAC members in Trenton, New Jersey, who face
charges of conspiracy, stalking and harassment against employees
of Huntingdon.
11 Feb 2006, New Scientist
Kenyan police have arrested five men suspected of plotting a bomb attack on last Saturday's African Nations Cup final between Egypt and Ivory Coast where Egypt President Hosni Mubarak was in the 74,000 crowd, a police official said today.
The men were
detained in separate raids on Friday and Saturday in Nairobi and
the north-eastern town of Wajir, about 500km from the capital,
after authorities were tipped off about the alleged plot, they
said.
"According to the intelligence we got, they were planning
a bomb attack on some location, which we have not yet established,
in Cairo," one senior police official said. "How far
that is true is yet to be known."
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is still at a very preliminary stage, said the intelligence included monitored telephone conversations between Kenya, Egypt and South Africa.
He said South African authorities had alerted Kenyan police to the calls in which the suspects spoke of an apparent attack timed to coincide with Saturday's final, which was won on penalties by Egypt.
The official declined to identify the nationalities of the suspects.
A second police source said three of the suspects were arrested in Nairobi's crime-prone Eastleigh suburb, a frequent target for terrorism and weapons related raids where large numbers of Somali migrants live.
The other two were detained in Wajir, which is located near the Somali border, he said, adding that a sixth suspected member of the group is still at large and is being sought by police.
"They are under investigation but, at the moment, nothing concrete has been established," the official said, noting that the suspects were being moved frequently during their interrogation for security reasons.
Citing unnamed government sources, Nairobi's Sunday Nation newspaper said police were looking into whether the men might be affiliated with an international terrorism ring.
Kenya has been the site of several deadly terrorist attacks claimed by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, which intelligence agencies fear may be establishing a foothold in anarchic Somalia.
Since the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi and the 2002 attack on an Israeli resort near the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa, Kenyan police have seized weapons and arrested several people believed to be al-Qaeda members.
All have been released for lack of evidence.
13 Feb 2006,
Agence France-Presse
Animal
Rights Extremists Target Glaxo Executives in Mail Campaign
GlaxoSmithKline reacted with horror last night after two executives, including Sir Ian Prosser, became targets of a hate campaign by animal rights extremists. Letters sent to neighbours of the two have maliciously accused them of being rapists. The house of one was daubed with the words "paedo scum".
The targets of the campaign are understood to be Sir Ian Prosser, a non-executive director, and Simon Bicknell, the company secretary. Franz Humer, of the drug maker Roche, is also understood to have been targeted. GSK described the attacks as "deplorable, cowardly and depraved".
13 Feb 2006, The Independent
Police Officer Charged With Making Threats
A former police officer in a small western Maryland town faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted of making racial, bomb and anthrax threats after he was fired.
The FBI has charged Jeffrey Shifler with making more than a dozen anonymous phone calls and sending at least nine anonymous letters containing the threats. Shifler worked at the Hagerstown, Md., Police Department until he was dismissed in November 2003.
Shifler is expected to appear in federal court Friday. The FBI says the threats targeted police employees and a black city council member, schools and public office buildings.
Shifler was hired by the nearby town of Boonsboro after being fired in Hagerstown. It's unclear if he is still working there.
10 Feb 2006,
CNN
Dublin bomb device was 'potentially lethal'
Gardaí
say a device which exploded outside a house in Dublin yesterday
evening was elaborate and potentially lethal.
The pipe bomb exploded after falling from the boot of a car on Glin Road in Coolock.
It contained nails and explosives and was a timed device, according to officers at the scene. Gardaí say it could have killed and those who were nearby were lucky to escape injury.
The device is similar to others found recently in Limerick and Dublin.
Garda technical experts have been examining the scene outside the home of car dealer, John Ward.
At 4.45pm yesterday evening, when two men went to move the car the flask containing the bomb fell off the boot, broke apart and subsequently exploded.
However, the people who were at the scene had enough time to move away from the device before it exploded.
Army bomb disposal experts dealt with the pipe bomb device. Gardaí are still trying to establish a motive for the attack, and they are looking at the possibility that dissident republicans may have been involved.
9 Feb 2006,
RTE news
Oxford University Workers Hide Their Identities from Animal Rights Extremists
An unprecedented security crackdown is being mounted at Oxford University in the face of threats from animal rights extremists.
Police have warned the university to tighten up its vetting checks on new staff, and college deans, who believe that attacks are inevitable, have ordered students to sign in night-time guests with gate porters.
In a letter seen by The Times, the Dean of Pembroke College, Adrian Gregory, acknowledges that students may regard the tighter restrictions as an invasion of privacy. But he says that he fears that it is necessary because activists will conduct reconnaissance trips to identify the easiest targets among Oxford’s colleges.
Builders wearing masks to hide their identities restarted work on the university’s £18 million biomedical research laboratory in December, 16 months after intimidation and threats to contractors and shareholders suspended its construction.
The planned facility has become the main battleground in the fight between activists and those involved in animal research — the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) recently announced that anyone associated with Oxford University, including students, was a legitimate target for attack.
Security experts have reportedly been recruited to protect key workers at the site of the new laboratory.
A college boathouse was burnt down in an arson attack last July, despite the granting of a High Court order creating a no-protest zone around the university and homes of staff and students.
The ALF has this month falsely accused executives of GlaxoSmithKline, Britain’s largest pharmaceutical company, of being convicted rapists. Activists sent letters to the men’s neighbours, purporting to be from a police officer.
Thames Valley Police has written to all Oxford colleges, giving details of its security advisory program to reduce potential risk. It recommends stricter vetting procedures and scrupulous reference checks before employing staff, particularly temporary workers.
A police spokesman said: "We are doing all we can to assist colleges in this and are there to provide advice if needed. We’ve offered our services and a number of colleges have taken us up on it.
"Colleges should be aware of what staff they’re taking on. We don’t want keys being copied, which would be a nightmare situation."
Dr Gregory told its student committee: "The ALF declaration of war is a real cause for concern."
He said it was likely that "colleges are going to be targeted, probably for vandalism, but we can’t rule out worse".
"Logically any attack is going to happen at night. In these circumstances, I don’t think we have any choice but to crack down on gate security. I’ve told the porters that we will need to seriously police the practice of students holding the door open for strangers at night.
"I’m authorizing the porters to send me names of anyone caught doing this. I know that this can seem a bit officious on the part of the porters, but the concerns are very real."
"I realize that holding a door open is frequently a reflex of politeness but we do have to be careful. In essence students need to think of our front gate as their front door at home."
Dr Gregory said that the college would be more vulnerable if it appeared to be a soft target.
"My guess is that activists will soon be mounting ‘reconnaissance’ in order to see which colleges they can hit," he said.
"It is also imperative that legitimate guests after midnight are signed in, and out if they leave.
"We have no interest in what students do in their private life and we simply need to know that anyone who is in the college at night has a student taking responsibility for them."
Many colleges
have a signing-in system, but it is not always rigorously enforced.
8 Feb 2006, The Times
Danish Consular Reports Suspicious Package
A Defense Force bomb squad has been called to a downtown Auckland building, after Danish trade officials reported today that they had received a suspicious package.
Inspector Barry Smalley, from the police northern communications centre, said a specialist police search team and an explosives detection dog were also being sent to the building in Quay St.
"There's a package that's arrived in the mail that they are not happy with," he said.
"We are following normal procedures for any suspicious package. In light of recent developments in the media, we are considering it as a potential risk."
Denmark's consulate in Beirut was torched at the weekend during a protest over Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, while there have been similar attacks on Danish and Norwegian missions in Damascus.
In New Zealand, the decision of three newspapers to reprint the cartoons has ignited debate over freedom of speech.
Mr Smalley said the Danish trade office in Auckland initially advised authorities in Wellington about the package.
"They notified us and we responded accordingly." He said streets around the building had not been closed off, as the threat was not yet considered of that level.
It was a case
waiting for the bomb squad and specialist search group to assess
the nature of the package.
7 Feb 2006, NZ Stuff
Bomb
explodes at police headquarters in Afghan city
A bomb
exploded Tuesday outside the police headquarters in the main city
in southern Afghanistan, and officials said at least 15 people
were killed or wounded.
"We think the bomb was attached to a motorbike that was parked outside the building," police commander Bashir Khan said as he surveyed the site of the blast in Kandahar. "There are many casualties."
A reporter for The Associated Press said he saw three bodies lying on the ground covered in blood and several wounded people being carried away.
The site of the blast is up against a concrete wall that surrounds the heavily guarded police headquarters. Several cars and motorbikes in the area were destroyed, but the wall and the buildings inside the police compound were not damaged.
Afghan and
Canadian troops cordoned off the area. The attack is the latest
in a string of bombings in Kandahar, a former Taliban stronghold.
The violence has raised fears for this country's nascent democracy
four years after the Taliban were ousted for hosting Osama bin
Laden, reports the AP.
7 Feb 2006, Pravda.ru
White Powder Threat Evacuates Clear Channel Studios
Employees of a Miramar broadcast center housing several radio stations are being allowed to return to their jobs after a telephoned threat indicated the building would sustain a ‘white powder attack.’ Police evacuated the building, but found no evidence of danger.
The telephone call to the ClearChannel broadcast center in Miramar at 7601 Riviera Boulevard was made last night, but not reported to police until this afternoon. Units from the Miramar police department, including specially a trained dog, were called in to search the building, and were surprised when the dog indicated a package located in the building’s mail room might contain explosives.
Miramar police say a second dog was called to the building and confirmed the first dog’s findings, so the building was evacuated and special units were called in, including hazardous materials teams from Hollywood and Broward County, and the Broward Sheriffs Office bomb squad.
After an inspection
of the building, police decided that the dogs had indicated that
they call a ‘false positive’, where a substance the
dogs detect mimics the scent of explosives.
7
Feb 2006, CBS4 News
Parcel Bomb Received by Education Official in India
Imphal, India--A bomb was recovered from a parcel received by an official of the state's education department.
Police today said that L Somorjit, district project coordinator of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, received a parcel yesterday at his residence at Thangmeiband here.
Suspecting some foul play, the official did not open the parcel and called in the police. A bomb was found inside the parcel, which was later defused by experts.
A sit-in protest was carried out today by officials of the education department in front of the office of the Zonal Education Officer, Imphal.
Meanwhile, an Assam Rifles (AR) official informed that troops of 4 AR apprehended a Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) cadre during a search operation at Pangai, Imphal East.
One sophisticated lethal bomb was recovered from him.
Spot interrogation revealed the presence of another KYKL cadre in the same village, who was also held by the AR.
One crude bomb and two demand letters were recovered from him.
Both were
handed over to Lamlai police station
5 Feb 2006, WebIndia
27
injured by bomb blast
AT least 27 people were injured when a bomb exploded outside a
restaurant in Yala town in Thailand's troubled Muslim-majority
south, police said today.
"The bomb went off at 7:30pm at Tara restaurant. So far 27 people are wounded, including five in serious condition, but no-one has died yet," a police officer said.
The bomb was strapped to a motorcycle which two teenagers parked in front of the restaurant, police said. They left the scene shortly before the bomb exploded last night.
Four people were killed on Thursday in two bombings in nearby Narathiwat province, part of flaring violence this week in the Muslim-majority provinces along the southern border with Thailand.
The blast came as tens of thousands of people protested in Bangkok to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who they accuse of corruption and of failing to curb two years of unrest in the south.
More than 1,000 people have died in near-daily shootings, bombings and arson attacks, which are blamed on a volatile mix of Islamic separatists, organised crime and local corruption.
5 Feb 2006, Reuters
Bus
bomb kills at least 13 in Pakistan
A bomb
exploded on a bus in southwestern Pakistan on Sunday, killing
at least 13 people and wounding 20, the latest incident in worsening
separatist violence in troubled Baluchistan province, officials
said.
The blast in a pass at Kolpur, about 60 km (38 miles) south of Baluchistan's capital Quetta, came hours after eight people were killed when suspected tribal militants fired rockets into a town in the province near the country's main gas field.
Hospital officials said there were 13 dead at Quetta hospital and 20 wounded. Baluchistan police chief Chaudhry Mohammed Yaqoob said the toll could be higher as he had reports that people were still trapped in the wreckage of the bus.
He blamed Baluch tribal militants who have stepped up an insurgency seeking greater autonomy and more benefit from natural gas resources in the province, which is Pakistan's main source.
Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told Reuters the blast was caused by a bomb that may have been hidden in a bag placed under a seat of the bus, which had been traveling to the eastern town of Lahore.
Yaqoob said it was apparently a time bomb that exploded in the rear of the vehicle. "A man may have come on the bus and left it there and it exploded later," he said.
The bus bombing followed two passenger train derailments in the past week that killed three people and injured dozens.
The government has ordered inquiries into the train incidents. Officials said the first derailment a week ago appeared to have been caused by sabotage and have not ruled out this in the second, which occurred on Saturday.
The bus attack was the worst incident blamed on tribal militants since they attacked Pakistan's largest gas field in the Sui area of Baluchistan last January, killing 15 people and disrupting fuel supplies to industry for over a week.
On Saturday, tribal militants fired more than 100 rockets into the town of Sui killing eight people.
Police said this attack damaged 16 houses and killed two military guards and six civilians and followed a similar rocket blitz on Friday and Saturday in the nearby town of Dera Bugti.
Sui is the site of Pakistan's main gas field and is about 720 km (450 miles) southwest of Islamabad.
The area's senior administrator, Abdul Samad Lasi, said militants also blew up a section of gas pipeline and a water pipeline in a gas field in Dera Bugti overnight, while a land mine blast on Sunday morning killed a civilian in a nearby district.
Speaking earlier in response to the rocket attack, Sherpao said security forces were currently limiting their activity to defensive action but warned that "this strategy can be changed for the protection of gas installation and local population."
"Attacks on national installations cannot be tolerated."
The violence came after President Pervez Musharraf on Friday demanded Baluch tribal leaders disband "private militias."
The military launched a major crackdown on militants in Baluchistan after a rocket attack on December 14 during a visit by Musharraf to Kohlu. The crackdown coincided with the announcement of plans to privatize two gas distribution firms in Baluchistan.
Baluch nationalists say hundreds of people have been killed.
Analysts say
this could be an exaggeration, but the independent Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan has accused the government of "gross
human rights violations" in Baluchistan.
5 Feb 2005, Yahoo
New Trial for Six Accused of Targeting Animal Testing Firm
NEWARK, N.J. -- The undercover videos on the group's Web site show animals being slapped, force-fed, screamed at and otherwise manhandled, allegedly by workers at a research laboratory that uses animals to test the safety of drugs and chemicals.
But federal prosecutors say the group, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, also used its Web site to incite violence against the testing company, Huntingdon Life Sciences, and its employees.
When both sides face off in a courtroom this week in Trenton, what the animal activists call an exercise in free speech will be portrayed by the government as domestic terrorism.
Seven members of the Philadelphia-based group, which goes by the acronym SHAC, were arrested in May 2004 and charged with animal enterprise terrorism, conspiracy and interstate stalking, part of a plan to drive Huntingdon Life Sciences out of business. Charges against one of the defendants were dropped; the other six are to stand trial in federal court in Trenton, where jury selection begins on Monday.
U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie would not discuss the case, citing the upcoming jury selection process. But in a news release the day the defendants were arrested, Christie said the group used "violence and intimidation" to further their cause.
"This is not activism," Christie said at the time. "This is a group of lawless thugs attacking innocent men, women and children."
The indictment lists numerous acts of vandalism, harassment and intimidation that followed postings on the group's Web site, including the overturning of a Huntingdon employee's car in the driveway of his home and the throwing of rocks through his windows; the smoke-bombing of the offices of two Seattle insurance companies that did business with Huntingdon, leading to the evacuation of two high-rise office buildings; spray-painting and threatening to burn down the homes of several officials of companies doing business with Huntingdon, and a cyber-attack on Huntingdon's computer network.
The group makes no apologies for its five-year campaign against the British-based Huntington, saying it kills 500 animals per day and vowing to shut it down. Criticizing the company's operations _ and even applauding the illegal actions of others who lash out against it _ is not against the law, said Andrea Lindsay, a spokeswoman for the group.
"Anything they can pin on the defendants is an act of free speech," she said. "The government contends it rises to the level of domestic terrorism. We say it's free speech.
"The defense contention is they (the defendants) were only reporting information," Lindsay added. "Even if they said we support the illegal actions of somebody, that's not illegal."
Officials of Huntingdon, which has a research lab in Franklin Township, Somerset County, stressed that their company is not on trial.
"The defendants are being tried for inciting criminal attacks against law-abiding citizens carrying out essential research that is required by government authorities," said Mike Caulfield, Huntingdon's general manager. "We're grateful for the Justice Department's efforts in bringing this case, and we, along with the rest of the biomedical research community, will be watching the outcome very carefully.
"We've heard one preposterous claim after another leveled against our company by these defendants over the past five years," he added. "If the defendants' claims about HLS were even fractionally true, we would have been put out of business long ago."
The defendants, Kevin Kjonaas; Lauren Gazzola; Jacob Conroy; Joshua Harper; Andrew Stepanian and Darius Fullmer, could face as much as 13 years in prison and fines of up to $750,000 each if convicted.
They are the first people to be charged in New Jersey under the federal Animal Enterprise Protection Act, a 1992 law that was expanded in 2002 and equates their alleged activities with domestic terrorism.
The indictment alleges the defendants incited others to commit vandalism and harassment against employees of Huntingdon and companies that did business with it by putting employees' names, addresses and other personal information on a web site. Afterward, the group would post reports on the incidents on its Web site.
But the group says it never told anyone to break the law or commit illegal acts. A section of its Web site urging people to call Huntingdon and companies that deal with it "and ask them to justify their involvement in animal cruelty" includes a caution that "SHAC does not encourage repetitive, rude or threatening phone calls and e-mails. Make your point politely."
The defendants are optimistic they will be acquitted, Lindsay said.
Three weeks
of testimony ended in a mistrial last June after one of the activists'
lawyers grew too ill to continue.
5 Feb 2006, AP
Two Hooters Restaurants Receive Mailed Bomb Threats
Two Sacramento Hooters restaurants received bomb threats in letters sent via the U.S. Postal Service last week, Sacramento Police Sgt. Terrell Marshall said.
On Jan. 26, the Hooters at 1785 Challenge Way in the Arden area received a threat to blow up the restaurant. The following day, the Hooters at 3341 Truxel Road in Natomas received the same threat in the same handwriting, Marshall said.
The motive
is unknown, and the incidents remain under investigation, Marshall
said.
2 Feb 2006, Sacramento Bee
ALF Bombing in Britain Indicates an Escalation in Violence
For years, hard-line American animal rights activists have followed as their British counterparts led the way in increasingly violent attacks on their enemies. It was British activists who were the first to physically attack executives of companies they disliked, a technique since emulated in the United States. By the time the fringe of the American animal rights movement began bombing buildings and engaging in widespread arson, their British counterparts had been doing so for years.
Once again, British hard-liners seem to be leading the way. This fall, the British section of the Animal Liberation Front claimed the Sept. 7 bombing of the home of Paul Blackburn, the corporate controller of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). He was singled out because his firm is a customer of the animal testing corporation Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), the most visible target of eco-radicals today. It was the first known bombing of an individual's home claimed by the ALF, although ALF activists have made bomb threats and, in one case, set off a smoke device at a scientist's home. Other animal rights extremists have sent letter bombs.
The porch of Blackburn's Buckinghamshire home was damaged. Blackburn was out of the country at the time, but his wife and child were home.
The ALF, which openly advocates arson and other crimes but claims to oppose violence directed at humans, took responsibility on a Web site. "We realize that this may not be enough to make you stop using HLS, but ... this is just the beginning," the statement from "Brigade G" of the ALF said. "We have identified and tracked down many of your senior executives and also junior staff, as well as those from other HLS customers. Drop HLS or you will face the consequences."
In another
case of animal rights extremism that riveted the British public,
police in late September arrested five people during dawn raids
in connection with the theft of an elderly woman's body from her
grave. After the remains of Gladys Hammond were stolen in October
2004, her family was told they would only be returned if the family
shut down its Newchurch farm, which breeds guinea pigs for use
in experimental medical research. Ultimately, the family complied.
Southern Poverty Law Center
Suspected Postal Bomb Found in Sweden
The suspected bomb which was found in the post box of a building in central Filipstad on Wednesday morning was made safe by the police's bomb disposal unit at around 8pm.
The device had been placed in the letter box outside the property owned by the Metall union. It was discovered when someone went to collect the mail.
"Cables and possibly a battery were visible, so it was closed and the police were informed," said Bjarne Andersson, duty commander at Värmland police, earlier in the day.
The building, which was mostly residential, was evacuated and police cordoned off the area. The bomb disposal unit arrived from Gothenburg at around 6pm.
After an inspection the technicians decided to destroy the device in the letter box itself.
"They blew up the object. We still don't know what it contained - the bomb technicians took the pieces with them to Gothenburg for further technical investigation," said Lars Bloom, Värmland police area manager, to TT.
It was still
unclear on Thursday morning who was behind the incident, since
no threats had been made in connection with the bomb.
2 Feb 2006, The Local
17
Arab countries call Danish government to punishment
Interior ministers from 17 Arab countries have issued a joint
statement calling on the government of Denmark "to take the
necessary measures to punish those responsible." United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan was officially "concerned."
Governments from Pakistan to Syria have demanded apologies not
just from Denmark but France, Germany, Norway and other Western
European governments.
What human rights atrocity has so inflamed their sense of outrage? A Danish newspaper published cartoons. Last September.The daily Jyllands-Posten's cartoons, which have since been reprinted in free-speech solidarity by publications in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Switzerland, not only broke the Koran's strictures against depicting the prophet Muhammad, but one added insult to blasphemy by drawing his turban in the shape of a bomb.
The cartoons are undeniably offensive to Muslims. Yet the overreaction by opportunistic, authoritarian governments and backpedaling European officials has been deeply disappointing.
Islamic tradition considers any depiction of Muhammad blasphemous. Angry and violent reaction to the cartoons' publication was predictable from radical Islamists, who will seize upon almost any reason to rail against the West. Armed fanatics in the West Bank and Gaza, for example, stormed European Union offices, kidnapped at least one German (he was later released) and went hunting for Danes, French, Germans and Norwegians at four hotels. The leader of Lebanon's governing Hezbollah faction said this all could have been avoided if only novelist Salman Rushdie had been murdered. Hundreds of students in Pakistan chanted "Death to France" and "Death to Denmark."
What's most disheartening is the response from governments in the Middle East and Europe. The former have seized on the opportunity to direct their citizens' considerable anger toward the West. Some European leaders, meanwhile, perhaps overcompensating for government policies widely seen as harmful to Muslim immigrants, are apologizing for one of the core freedoms of a democratic society.
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who for months maintained a sensible position, that a private newspaper's editorial judgment is not the government's business, is now walking around issuing letters of regret. Norway's deputy foreign minister, Raymond Johansen, traveled to Lebanon to deliver an official apology.
Such sentiments
foster the dangerous notion that governments are responsible for,
and answerable to, their countries' private media. And it judges
all news content, satirical or otherwise, by the standard of how
much offense it gives, a surefire path toward self-censorship,
reports Los Angeles Times.
3 Feb 2006,
DOJ confirms new Abu terror plot
Members of the Abu Sayyaf Group are planning a series of new bomb attacks on or before Valentine's Day, the Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed Friday.
Chief State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco said the DOJ received information about the plot in January. He added that the new threat is separate from a previous Abu Sayyaf plot to conduct retaliation attacks for the conviction of the Valentine's Day bombers last year.
The Abu Sayyaf earlier claimed responsibility for three simultaneous bombing incidents in Metro Manila and in Mindanao that killed 11 people during Valentine's Day last year.
A Makati court later sentenced to death Indonesian national Rohmat and Filipino bombers Gamal Baharan and Abu Khalil Trinidad after finding them guilty of multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder charges.
Velasco said the DOJ does not discount the possibility that similar bomb attacks will be conducted this year. He said an Abu Sayyaf member involved in last year's V-Day bombing who turned state witness revealed information about the plot.
Velasco said the DOJ and the Philippine National Police (PNP) is taking the threat very seriously.
He called on the public to remain vigilant and report suspicious activities as the attacks may occur in places where there are high concentrations of people.
He added that the DOJ did not intend to leak the information but a major daily carried the story.
Deputy Director General Vidal Querol, Metro Manila police chief, told ANC that more policemen will be deployed in vital installations in and around Metro Manila.
He said police
visibility will also be increased in malls, churches and in other
populous areas.
2 Feb 2005, ABS-CBN