Authorities say an explosion Thursday afternoon at a biodiesel plant in northwest Ohio has injured three people. 1 of those injured has been taken to a Toledo hospital and the other two are being treated at a Defiance hospital.
Officials say the injured had been in an office at the plant. Police in Defiance say the explosion happened around 3 p.m. at American AG Fuels. It's not clear what caused the blast.
Authorities evacuated a two-block area next to the plant for about two hours until residents were allowed to return. The plant began processing soybean oil to make biodiesel within the last three years.
http://www.wdtn.com/Global/story.asp?S=7574216
Rotterdam terror attack foiled (Netherlands)
Thursday 03 January 2008
Three men arrested in Rotterdam on New Year’s eve following a tip off by the security services were planning a terrorist attack on the city’s Erasmus bridge where 15,000 people were due to celebrate the New Year, according to Thursday’s Telegraaf.
The paper says its information comes from ‘well informed sources’ involved in the investigation. Three men in their 30s, two with dual Dutch and Moroccan nationality and one alleged to be an illegal immigrant from Sudan, are currently in police custody.
Although there has been widespread speculation over whether the suspects were planning a terrorist attack, the security service and public prosecution office have said only that the men were suspected of planning an attack in the near future. A spokeswoman for the prosecution department declined to comment on the possible target of such an attack or its motive, reports news service ANP.
http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2008/01/suspects_planned_terror_attack.php
Illegal immigrants walk three miles through Channel Tunnel in attempt to sneak into UK
03.01.08
Four illegal immigrants who breached tight security to sneak into the French entrance to the Channel Tunnel were only spotted three miles inside by a train driver. The gang were walking along one of the main rail tunnel, with 100mph Eurostar trains to Britain passing just feet away when they were stopped at 8.30am on Wednesday morning, police said.
Eurostar passengers suffered three hours of delays to trains in both directions while French frontier police officers and a French Channel Tunnel fire crew arrested the immigrants and returned them to France. The group were just feet from high-speed trains travelling at 100mph
A Calais frontier police spokesman added: "They were risking their lives by walking against the tunnel wall, very close to trains passing at high speed. "They were glimpsed by a train driver passing them at about 100mph, who immediately alerted the authorities. "Trains were stopped while police and fire teams used the main service tunnel to catch up with the immigrants and head them off. "They have been arrested and are being held in custody by frontier police in Calais."
The four men, believed to be Afghans who have been in Calais for several weeks, now face prosecution for breaking and entering into Eurotunnel property and could be jailed for up to a year before being deported, the spokesman said.
Excerpted
“the Channel Tunnel”
Duly Noted and thank you Oorang.
Russia has admitted that customs officials thwarted more than 120 attempts to smuggle "highly radioactive" material out of the country last year. The disclosure is likely to fuel concern about how many illegal exports were not halted. It will also lead to new fears that Moscow has failed to stop material becoming available on the black market that could be used by terrorists to make radioactive "dirty" bombs.
A further 722 cases of illegal importing of highly radio-active material into Russia were detected - possible evidence of a dangerous trade between ex-Soviet states. The figures come as Britain continues to demand the extradition of the Russian MP Andrei Lugovoi for allegedly poisoning the former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko with radioactive polonium-210 in London in November 2006.
British sources indicate that this polonium originated at a Russian state facility. But Nikolai Kravchenko, of the Russian customs service, said: "Industrial shipments of this substance are being exported from Russia legally."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/03/wrussia103.xml
25 militants killed in S Waziristan
Thursday, January 03, 2008
PESHAWAR: At least 25 militants have been killed in two days of fighting between security forces and the Taliban in South Waziristan, officials said on Wednesday. Military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said the Frontier Corps (FC) had ceased fire on the request of a local jirga.
Arshad said four FC personnel, who were kidnapped in the Luddha area on Tuesday, had not been recovered so far, adding that 30 to 35 suspects had been taken into custody in this connection. A curfew has been imposed in Parachinar as clashes between Sunni and Shia groups, NNI reported.
An army Cobra gunship helicopter crash-landed near Thal, Parachinar, due to a technical malfunction on Wednesday, an ISPR statement said. The pilot and co-pilot were safe.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008/01/03/story_3-1-2008_pg1_10
"On Thursday, December 27, 2007 U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers at the Detroit Canada Tunnel detained an Albanian citizen, with permanent resident alien status, after discovering that he was the subject of an Interpol warrant for murder.
On December 27, 2007, Ndue Harusha [shown] arrived in the U.S. from Canada by way of the Detroit Canada Tunnel. During inspection at the primary booth it was discovered that Harusha was the subject of an armed and dangerous alert.
Mexican trucks going deep into U.S. despite new law to block them "The Bush administration is going ahead with a controversial pilot program giving Mexican trucks greater access to U.S. highways despite a new law by Congress against it.
The decision to proceed with the four-month-old program, which allows participating Mexican trucking companies to send loads throughout the United States, comes despite language in the recently signed catchall spending bill aimed at blocking it."
Free Ramos and Compeon Rally 2008
When: Jan 19th 2008 @ 7:30pm
Where: Palace Station Hotel & Casino
With many special guests attending and speaking! (including Monica Ramos, Joe Loya, Ted Hayes, Robin Hvidston, Raymond Herrera, and more!) (This is being held the night of the Nevada Caucus, presidential candidates may attend...)
Viet Nam War Memorial defaced by MS-13
Vietnam War Memorial defaced, threatening words Kill whites MS 13