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AL Qaeda group warns US of “unbearable hell” after Bush re-election (AFP) 5 November 2004 DUBAI A group linked to Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network threatened the United States with reprisals after the re-election of President George W. Bush, warning of “unbearable hell,” in a website statement on Friday. “The coming days will show you that the one you preferred will lead you to an unbearable hell,” said the group calling itself the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades after the Al Qaeda military chief killed in Afghanistan in October 2001. It was not possible to immediately verify the statement. The same...

MARCH 31, 2004 Taiwan President rejects China's 'one country, two systems' formula Chen vows to create new Constitution TAIPEI President Chen Shui-bian vowed to go forward with plans to write a new Constitution for Taiwan within two years, a move China has said could compel it to seize the island by force. In his first interview since his re-election on March 20, Mr Chen also said China's 'one country, two systems' formula would never be accepted by Taiwan - a 'sovereign country' governed by a president - since it could not even work well in Hong Kong, which is only...

Last Updated: Monday, 16 February, 2004, 21:32 GMT 'Imminent' Saudi attack warning Suicide bombers hit residential compounds in Riyadh last year Terrorists may be in the final stages of planning an attack in Saudi Arabia, the UK Foreign Office has warned. It has issued fresh guidance to travellers about the possibility of an imminent attack. It had already warned it believed terrorists were "determined to carry out further attacks in Saudi Arabia". The new warning comes after a British Airways flight to Riyadh, which had been due to fly on Monday afternoon, was cancelled amid security fears. 'Low profile' The...

By Paul Sperry © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has advised federal agencies to initiate emergency counterterrorism measures to prevent possible al-Qaida car bombings planned during the last days of the Muslim holiday Ramadan, according to a confidential department memo obtained by WorldNetDaily. Citing al-Qaida's "increasingly sophisticated" car-bombing tactics, it recommends security guards tow all vehicles parked illegally in and around government facilities, if their owners cannot be identified, and inspect the undercarriage and other areas of vehicles entering sensitive areas, among other high-threat protective measures. Al-Qaida could also target "liquid natural gas, chemical or...

Britain on red alert as terrorist threat rises BRIAN BRADY WESTMINSTER EDITOR MINISTERS are preparing to place the UK on ‘red alert’ in an unprecedented peacetime move that would see the streets of Britain flooded with armed police. The plan to step up to the highest possible security state follows last week’s devastating terrorist attacks on British targets in Turkey and growing fears that a direct assault on the UK is inevitable. The nationwide alert would result in tougher security checks across the country and give intelligence agencies and police emergency powers to increase surveillance, phone-tapping and the detention of...

UPDATED INTEL FINDS & ANALYSIS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21 November 2003-- Advisory from the Northeast Intelligence Network: Based on newly obtained data and information collected from a variety of sources (Internet and human intelligence) within the last 72 hours, the terror threat to the United States has increased. Although the exact timing with regard to the execution of planned terror operations cannot be pinned down with any reasonable or responsible degree of precision, we have been seeing references to planned operations extending through the Christmas and New year holidays, with specific references to a time period from 21-28 November 2003. How valid...

Wed, October 29, 2003 Jet attack tip from Mossad VIPs aboard T.O. El Al flight By TOM GODFREY, TORONTO SUN Canadian security officials yesterday revealed details of the threatened terror attack on an Israeli passenger jet enroute to Pearson airport last week. While the El Al Boeing 767 was in the air Thursday, Mossad agents in Tel Aviv notified airport and Canadian security agents that al-Qaida operatives were planning to attack the jet with a surface-to-air rocket, officials said. "The tip originated from the Mossad," one senior federal official said, speaking on condition they remain anonymous. "They believed it was...

Russia bears its military teeth Putin: Russia's nuclear arsenal as deadly as ever. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov has said his country does not rule out a pre-emptive military strike anywhere in the world if the national interest demands it. He said that Russia faced foreign interference in its internal affairs and instability in neighbouring states as well as classic threats such as the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, international terrorism and the drugs trade President Vladimir Putin, who met Mr Ivanov on Thursday, added that the Russian military still possessed a formidable nuclear arsenal. A report by the...

Russian critics blast Putin's record Five prominent Russians have taken out a series of full-page newspaper advertisements bitterly attacking the Kremlin - and warning the US against friendship with President Vladimir Putin. The adverts have appeared in leading papers in the UK and the US, including the Financial Times, Daily Telegraph, Washington Post and New York Times. The Russians, led by UK-based tycoon Boris Berezovsky, launch a tirade of accusations against Mr Putin. They portray him as a genocidal president who has flattened democracy and has allowed Nazi-era techniques to be used to whip up public feeling. The campaign, costing...

'N Korea developing intercontinental ballistic missile' Press Trust of India Washington, September 12 The Bush administration has evidence that North Korea has been using Russian technology to develop a new intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching targets in the continental United States, a US official said. The official estimated that the new ballistic missile would have a potential range at 9,400 miles. The distance from the North Korean capital of Pyongyang to San Francisco is about 5,500 miles, he said. In theory at least, the new missile could strike any target on US soil, the official preferring anonymity said.

North Korea may be caught in US net WARNING: Washington says that its efforts to curb the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction could interfere with Pyongyang's plans to sell such weapons The White House said on Monday that North Korea may be affected by a US-led, 11-country effort to develop skills for sea, air and ground interdiction of weapons-of-mass-destruction transfers. The first such exercises, involving planning for high seas interdictions, will take place next month off the coast of Australia shortly after North Korean disarmament talks are held in China. US Department of State spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters...

2003-08-19 13:20 * RUSSIA * FAR-EAST * EMERGENCY * EXERCISE * STATE OF EMERGENCY IN RUSSIA'S FAR EAST VLADIVOSTOK, August 19, 2003 /RIA Novosti correspondent Anatoly Ilyukhov/ -- An emergency situation has been declared in four regions of Russia's Far East with the beginning of a command-and-staff exercise to drill clean-up operations. The areas concerned are Primorye, Khabarovsk territory, Sakhalin region and Kamchatka, the press centre of the Primorye administration told RIA Novosti on Tuesday. The state of emergency only accompanies the exercise and does not restrict the constitutional rights of citizens, the local media, enterprises and cultural institutions. The...

Talks with North Korea, US Should Resume Now, says Russia Lisa McAdams Moscow 21 Jul 2003, 15:40 UTC Russia's top Asia expert is calling for immediate negotiations on the nuclear standoff between North Korea and the United States. Russia's deputy foreign minister, Alexander Losyukov, said talks on the North Korean nuclear crisis need to start as soon as possible in order to decrease tensions on the peninsula. Alexander Losyukov Mr. Losyukov blamed both the United States and North Korea for failing to signal a willingness to move forward on the issue. The longer the standoff goes on, he said, the...

'US Mulling NK Regime Change' By Kim Ki-tae Staff Reporter With North Korea claiming to have reprocessed around 8,000 spent fuel rods, a hard-line United States media report says the Bush administration is mulling toppling the communist regime by force within a few months. The magazine ‘’U.S. News and World Report’’ recently reported that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld ordered the military to devise a new war plan for a possible attack ``within the next two months.’’ The draft, known as Operation Plan 5030, amounts to a strategy to topple Kim’s regime by destabilizing its military. U.S. military website globalsecurity.org...

Time running out for North Korea solution-Perry By Linda Sieg TOKYO, June 3 — Washington and its allies have months, not years, to prevent North Korea from becoming a serious nuclear power and sparking an atomic arms race in East Asia, former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry said on Tuesday. ''The worst-case scenario I see is a major nuclear arms race unfolding in the Pacific. That's not a forecast, that's a logical train of events,'' Perry -- the architect of engagement with North Korea in the Clinton administration -- told Reuters. ''We have maybe half a year; the first month...

June 2, 2003 WORLD NEWS North Korea Reportedly Plans More Nukes Seoul, South Korea — North Korea acknowledged it has nuclear weapons and plans to build more while repeating its demand for direct talks with the United States, a U.S. congressman said Monday after a visit to the communist nation. "They admitted to having nuclear capability and weapons at this moment," said Weldon, vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. "They admitted to an effort to expand their nuclear production program." In Washington, a State Department official expressed doubt about North Korea's claim that the reprocessing of spent fuel...

Authorities investigate disease victim's stop in Williamsport, Pa. By EMILY PHELPS A state health alert was widened Friday after officials learned a Canadian woman who was treated last week in Shippensburg, and later hospitalized with probable SARS in Toronto, had also stopped in Williamsport, Pa. New details emerged as the state Department of Health continued to work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and Health Canada to track the woman's movements in the United States, which she visited from May 16 to 20. No cases of SARS have been reported in Franklin County, which was part...

N.Korea Accuses South of Sending Warships North Thu May 29, 2003 09:11 AM ET By Samuel Len SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea accused South Korea of sending warships across a disputed sea border and warned Seoul further moves could lead to "irrevocable serious consequences," ratcheting up tensions on the divided Korea peninsula. The North's warning, carried by the official KCNA news agency, followed what the South Korean Defense Ministry said was three successive days of incursions into southern waters by North Korean fishing boats, most recently Wednesday. Tensions have been high on the Korean peninsula for more than seven months,...

May 09, 2003 Hospitals try to dupe officials about Sars From Oliver August in Baoding MEDICAL staff sought to hoodwink World Health Organisation (WHO) officials during emergency inspections of hospitals outside Beijing yesterday, amid concern over the spread of Sars among 700 million poorly protected peasants. China has promised full co-operation with the WHO after the country’s early attempts to hide the epidemic were exposed. But, despite a propaganda campaign calling for greater transparency, many officials continue to attempt cover-ups. China has almost 5,000 cases now and, if Sars spreads in the countryside, where modern medical facilities are not available,...

China's Chernobyl: SARS Can Spread on Imported Goods Charles R. Smith Monday, May 5, 2003 Medical researchers have discovered that the SARS virus can survive on common surfaces at room temperature for days. The discovery is a shock to importers of Chinese-made goods because it is clearly possible to contract the disease from products contaminated by infected workers. The shocking find by medical scientists working on the SARS virus also showed that common detergents failed to kill the disease, suggesting that efforts to sterilize contaminated areas and goods may be futile. Japanese researchers have also discovered that the SARS virus...