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Hundreds of al-Qaeda militants are planning terror attacks from Yemen, the country’s Foreign Minister said today. Abu Bakr al-Qirbi appealed for more help from the international community to help to train and equip counter-terrorist forces. His plea came after an al-Qaeda group based in Yemen claimed responsibility for the failed Christmas Day airliner bomb plot. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, alleged to be behind the attempt to blow up an American-bound aircraft, spent time in Yemen with al-Qaeda and was in the country only days before the failed attack. Dr al-Qirbi said: “Of course there are a number of al-Qaeda operatives in...

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A global search for accomplices in the Detroit airliner plot was under way yesterday after an al-Qaeda group based in Yemen claimed responsibility for the operation and the would-be bomber was reported to have said that more attacks were being planned. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a terrorist cell led by a former personal secretary to Osama bin Laden, issued a statement saying that the failed attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a response to American-backed airstrikes on the group in Yemen this month. Yemeni government forces, acting on US intelligence and using what officials have admitted was American military...

The number of strategic bombers performing routine patrols could be doubled if the Russian General Staff makes such a decision, the commander of Russia's strategic aviation said Tuesday. Russia resumed strategic bomber patrol flights over the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic oceans, the Black Sea and along the borders of the Commonwealth of Independent States in August 2007, following an order from then-president Vladimir Putin. "As a rule, up to four strategic bombers perform patrol flights simultaneously. However, under specific circumstances and on orders from the General Staff, their number could be increased to up to eight aircraft," Maj. Gen. Anatoly...

More good news on the terrorism front, this time from ABC’s Brian Ross, who reports that Umar Abdulmutallab says “more like me” will be coming to the US. Al-Qaeda has launched a new offensive against the US using the international air travel system, and that the US has not completely grasped the significance of the attack on Christmas Day. The British seem to have a better handle on it:

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — The Nigerian man accused of trying to bomb a U.S. airliner cut off all ties with his relatives until they awoke to news of the attempted Christmas Day attack, the family said Monday. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's father first reached out to Nigerian security agencies two months ago and a month later to foreign security agencies about his concerns that his son had disappeared and ceased contact with the family, the family said in a statement. U.S. authorities said that in November, Abdulmutallab's father visited the U.S. embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, to discuss his concerns about his...

The man who allegedly tried to blow up a transatlantic passenger jet over Detroit has reportedly claimed that he is one from a production line of terrorists that has been trained in Yemen by al-Qaeda. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who is charged with the attempted Christmas Day bombing of Northwest Airlines flight 253, told FBI agents others with similar training to him were now ready to launch their own attacks, according to the US network ABC. The claim came as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula released its first communication since the failed bombing. In a written statement it called on "the...

Obama Addresses Airline Security in Low-Key Fashion By Anne E. Kornblut Monday, December 28, 2009 KAILUA, HAWAII -- President Obama has performed a difficult but familiar balancing act over the past few days: ordering new security measures in the wake of an attempted airliner attack without excessively alarming the public -- or triggering an outcry from civil liberties advocates. He has done so almost entirely out of sight. On vacation in Hawaii, tucked away in a lush neighborhood where his family is renting a waterfront home, Obama dispatched surrogates back in Washington -- chiefly Homeland Security Secretary Janet A. Napolitano...

WASHINGTON: The decade ahead could be a brutal one for America's unemployed, and for people with jobs hoping for pay raises.At best, it could take until the middle of the decade for the nation to generate enough jobs to drive down the unemployment rate to a normal 5 or 6 percent and keep it there. At worst, that won't happen until much later, perhaps not until the next decade. The deepest and most enduring recession since the 1930s has battered America's work force. The unemployed number 15.4 million. The jobless rate is 10 percent. More than 7 million jobs have...

SNIPPET: "Discussion: I first observed discussion of binary explosives on the al-Firdaws forum in January of 2007. In light of recent events I will post here my archive:" SNIPPET: "Implementation: On Christmas Day, 2009, Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab boards a flight in Amsterdam, bound for Detroit, and on final descent he attempts to set off what was most likely a binary explosive. Thank goodness he either screwed up or had bad instructions, because the chemicals he was working with were evidently quite good."

WASHINGTON—A 23-year-old Nigerian man was charged in a federal criminal complaint today with attempting to destroy a Northwest Airlines aircraft on its final approach to Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Christmas Day and with placing a destructive device on the aircraft. According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, a Nigerian national, boarded Northwest Flight 253 in Amsterdam, Netherlands on December 24, 2009 and had a device attached to his body. As the flight was approaching Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Abdulmutallab set off the device, which resulted in a fire and what appears to have...

Man on Flight to Detroit Claims Al Qaeda Ties; Obama Tightens Security DETROIT -- A passenger on a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight tried to detonate an explosive device that was strapped to his leg and later told investigators that he was trying to blow up the plane and had affiliations with al Qaeda, according to a senior U.S. official. The man, who has not been publicly identified by officials, told investigators that he was given the device by Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen, where he was also given instructions on how to detonate it, the official said. The Associated Press...

You may not have noticed because most of the plots were foiled, but 2009 saw an unprecedented surge in terror "events" on U.S. soil. When analysts tally these events, they refer to anything from a disrupted plot to U.S. citizens traveling abroad to seek terror training or a lone gunman running amok in the U.S. And by the calculations of Rand Corporation expert Brian Jenkins, more terrorist threats were uncovered in the U.S. during 2009 than in any year since 2001.

ENGLEWOOD, N.J. (1010 WINS) -- An eighth grade honor student from Englewood, New Jersey, was hospitalized after being jumped and badly beaten Friday by as many as 11 students, police said. David Muneton, 13, was recovering after reconstructive surgery to his face but was in danger of losing his eyesight.

ENGLEWOOD, N.J. (CBS) ― Click to enlarge1 of 1 David Muneton, an eighth grade honor student, needed reconstructive facial surgery after being savagely beaten by a gang of 11 students on Dec. 18, 2009, in Engelwood, N.J. David Muneton, an eighth grade honor student, needed reconstructive facial surgery after being savagely beaten by a gang of 11 students on Dec. 18, 2009, in Engelwood, N.J. Police said as many as 11 students beat up the eighth-grader leaving him severely injured, and he may even lose his sight. CBS 2 HD spoke with some of his friends about what led to...

KABUL - The Taliban have announced they will release a new video of a U.S. soldier captured in Afghanistan, a U.S.-based terrorism monitoring group said Wednesday.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WTVC-TV) - A 4-year-old boy, beer in hand, is accused of stealing Christmas presents from his neighbors. It's a strange story, but also a sad one. April Wright is 21 years old and is going through a divorce with her husband who is in jail. She says she is not sure how her 4-year-old managed to get out of the house, open a beer, and steal the neighbors presents from under their tree. Now she's just glad he's okay and says she won't let it happen again. The child, Hayden Wright, was found around 1:45 am Tuesday, wandering...

A dramatic deterioration in Asian security could push Australia to acquire nuclear weapons, a strategy that it abandoned four decades ago, a new study says. But Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) analyst Dr Rod Lyons says such a decision certainly isn't close nor is it inevitable. He said the 2006 Switkowski report on nuclear power suggested it would take Australia at least 10 years and probably 15 to bring the first civil reactor into service. "It's true that Australia might be able to conduct an emergency nuclear weapon construction effort in rather less time, especially if it were to focus...

Long feared by US intelligence, Muslim radicalisation is gaining momentum in the United States, which has had a spate of cases featuring youths recruited and trained overseas for jihad. The latest case - five US nationals arrested in Pakistan on Wednesday on suspicion of plotting an attack - deepened concern that militant Islamist groups are successfully enlisting potential attackers inside the United States, much as they have in Britain. (snip) "We've known for several years that al-Qaeda and its allies like Lashkar-e-Taiba have put a high priority on recruiting assets in the Pakistani communities in the United States, and the...

Black Gangs Vented Hatred For Whites In Downtown Attacks'I Hate You F---ing White People,' Woman Shouts At Victim Black gangs roaming downtown Denver often vented their hatred for white victims before assaulting and robbing them during a four-month crime wave, according to interviews and court records obtained by 7NEWS. "I hate you f---ing white people," said a black woman in a large group of black men, according to the victim who was beaten up as he and three buddies left a LoDo bar after midnight on Aug. 30. "F---- you, white boys," the woman added, according to the 25-year-old Westminster...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks tumbled Tuesday afternoon across the board, as investors eyed weak global markets, a rising dollar, falling oil and gold prices and some disappointing profit news from 3M, McDonald's and Kroger. The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) tumbled 100 points, or 1%, with more than two hours left in the session. The S&P 500 index (SPX) lost 10 points, or 0.9%. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) shed 11 points, or 0.5%. Stocks slipped right out of the gate as investors took a cue from falling global markets and a rising dollar. The weak dollar has added to...

Car bombs exploded amid busy streets and official buildings in Baghdad this morning, killing at least 127 people and wounding 450 more, in the latest assault on the Iraqi government by militants, according to police officials.

Stuart Varney was just on Fox and said Moody's will lower the United States bond rating for the first time ever in 2013 with current spending plans.

Zhihua Tian traveled thousands of miles from his native China earlier this year to profit from the treasures of the American education system. Unfortunately, he landed at South Philadelphia High School, where the number of violent incidents often overshadow student achievements. Tian, 19, of South Philly, and five other students who are recent immigrants are staying home today because they were among 26 Asian students who were attacked by a gang of other students throughout the day yesterday, said Xu Lin, of the Chinatown Development Corporation, who works with victimized students.

Zhou Yongjun, 42, faces a third prison term in China after being handed over to the mainland by the police in Hong Kong. Mr Zhou, who has lived in the United States since seeking political asylum in 1992, was arrested last September. His subsequent transfer to the authorities in China, who have accused him of travelling on a false passport, has ignited fury in Hong Kong, which remains regulated by British law. Mr Zhou's lawyer, Chen Zerui, said the charges were without foundation. Mr Zhou emerged into the spotlight when he and two other students knelt on the steps of...

The international press finally reports on Castro's violence. Perhaps because the victim is a darling of the left as well as the right. ---------- Yoani Sanchez is a blogger who persists in offending Cuba’s dictatorial masters by continuing to think freely. For this reason, Time called her one of the most influential people in the world. I call her the most dangerous woman in Cuba, because the gravest offense a Cuban resident can commit is to think and act independently. On November 6, Sanchez — who writes about the absurdity of life in the “workers’ paradise” at a blog called...

Regulators close two Florida banks and on in California, costing the FDIC $986.4 million. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Two Florida banks and one in California failed Friday night, bring the 2009 national tally to 123. Regulators closed Century Bank, Federal Savings Bank in Sarasota, Fla., Orion Bank in Naples, Fla., and Pacific Coast National Bank in San Clemente, Calif. Customers of all the failed banks are protected, however. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which has insured bank deposits since the Great Depression, currently covers customer accounts up to $250,000.

H1N1 swine flu killed an estimated 3,900 Americans from April to October, U.S. health officials said Thursday. Better estimates show that the pandemic of flu has infected an estimated 22 million Americans and put 98,000 in the hospital, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Of these totals, children account for 8 million of the infected, 36,000 of those in hospital and 540 deaths.

A prominent Columbia architecture professor punched a female university employee in the face at a Harlem bar during a heated argument about race relations, cops said yesterday. Police busted Lionel McIntyre, 59, for assault yesterday after his bruised victim, Camille Davis, filed charges. McIntyre and Davis, who works as a production manager in the school's theater department, are both regulars at Toast, a popular university bar on Broadway and 125th Street, sources said. The professor, who is black, had been engaged in a fiery discussion about "white privilege" with Davis, who is white, and another male regular, who is also...

A prominent Columbia architecture professor punched a female university employee in the face at a Harlem bar during a heated argument about race relations, cops said yesterday. Police busted Lionel McIntyre, 59, for assault yesterday after his bruised victim, Camille Davis, filed charges. McIntyre and Davis, who works as a production manager in the school's theater department, are both regulars at Toast, a popular university bar on Broadway and 125th Street, sources said. The professor, who is black, had been engaged in a fiery discussion about "white privilege" with Davis, who is white, and another male regular, who is also...

Unemployment, now in the double digits, may remain "high" for several years and dampen economy recovery from a brutal recession, a regional central bank official warned on Nov. 10. The U.S. has experienced jobless recoveries following the previous two recessions in 1991 and 2001, when job creation remained weak for several years following the business cycle trough. "In both cases, output growth was less robust than in the typical recovery and, unfortunately, things seem to be shaping up similarly this time around," said Janet Yellen, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Unemployment jumped to double digits in...

Clueless Chris Matthews: "See - we have a problem," Matthews said. "How do we know when someone like Hasan is going to make his move and do we know he's an Islamist until he's made his move? He makes a phone call or whatever, according to Reuters right now. Apparently he tried to contact al Qaeda. Is that the point at which you say, ‘This guy is dangerous?' That's not a crime to call up al Qaeda, is it? Is it? I mean, where do you stop the guy?" [VIDEO AT SITE]I love it how Dr. Jasser is trying to...

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) - As if going off to war, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan cleaned out his apartment, gave leftover frozen broccoli to one neighbor and called another to thank him for his friendship—common courtesies and routines of the departing soldier. Instead, authorities say, he went on the killing spree that left 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, dead. Investigators examined Hasan's computer, his home and his garbage Friday to learn what motivated the suspect, who lay in a coma, shot four times in the frantic bloodletting that also wounded 30. Hospital officials said some of the wounded had...

Plus, Ron Reagan couples "tea baggers" with Murderer Nidal Hasan. In 2008 The George Washington University Homeland Security Institute (HSPI) initiated a transition task force to help craft homeland security policies during Obama's transition period. In May of 2009 HSPI finished its report titled, "Thinking Anew-Security Priorities for the Next Administration." One of the members of this Obama transition project was none other than the Muslim murderer Nidal Hassan. Nidal is listed in Appendix C, Page 29 of the HSPI report as having served as a "Task Force Event Participant," in his position with the Uniformed Services University School of...

Egypt (AINA) -- On October 24, 2009 Egyptian State Security arrested a Christian Copt in the village of Deir Samalout, Samalout, Minia province, for praying "without a license." He was held in prison for two days before being released on "compassionate grounds." Maurice Salama Sharkawy, 37 years old, had invited Pastor Elia Shafik, to conduct the sacrament of the 'Anointing of the Sick' for his sick father, who had suffered a stroke. State Security broke into his house while the prayers were ongoing, handcuffed Maurice, put him into a police car and took him to a police station for interrogation....

FOX is getting testimony from officer that he heard the shooter make several anti-American, pro-Muslim/jihad-like statements about Muslims need to rise up against the Western agressors and engage in violent attacks against the military like the shooter in Little Rock, AR. This dude was reported concerning his threatening statements and was still walking around. Don't you just love our politically correct Army. I'm talking about some of those libs at the top, not the real soldiers who are fantastic.

Stunned and angry, national gay rights leaders Wednesday blamed scare-mongering ads — and President Barack Obama's lack of engagement — for a bitter election setback in Maine that could alter the dynamics for both sides in the gay-marriage debate.

Republican Bob McDonnell easily won the Virginia governor’s race last night just a year after the state went overwhelmingly for President Obama and the Democrats. Unofficial results showed the former state attorney general defeated his Democratic opponent Creigh Deeds. The state had a Republican governor for the past eight years. The Virginia race and the contest for governor of New Jersey are viewed as the first referendum on Mr Obama and the Democratic Congress before the 2010 mid-term elections. A year ago, Mr Obama became the first Democrat in 44 years to carry Virginia in a presidential race. This time...

U.S. President Barack Obama and European Union leaders pledged on Tuesday to redouble efforts for a deal on climate change at a summit in Copenhagen, but gave no details of how to reach that ambitious goal. "We discussed climate change extensively and all of us agreed that it was imperative for us to redouble our efforts in the weeks between now and the Copenhagen meeting to ensure that we create a framework for progress," Obama told reporters. The U.N. conference to fight climate change will be held in Copenhagen from December 7 to 18, pitting emerging economic powerhouses China and...

NJ: 8,519 Christie [R] 4,019 Corzine [D] 1,125 Daggett [I]

TONIGHT: RESULTS... REPUBLICAN TAKES VA: 656,124 McDonnell [R] 427,075 [D] NJ: 11,652 Christie [R] 7,930 Corzine [D] 1,894 Daggett [I] NY: 9 PM Hoffman [C] Owens [D] ABCNEWS: Vast Economic Discontent Spells Trouble for Dems in 2010...

Fox News just called the Virginia gubernatorial race for Republican Bob McDonnell. Exit polls show him defeating Democrat Creigh Deeds in a landslide. Republicans also have captured the Lt. Governor and Attorney General spots, making it a clean sweep.

Now that the Obama administration is attempting to take a victory lap on the U.S. economic recovery, claiming the $787-billion stimulus passed earlier this year was what did the trick, despite a cost of $160,000 per 'stimulus' job, as ABC's Jake Tapper pointed out, it has come at the cost of the U.S. dollar. Since then, the stock market has rebounded nicely. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is off a March low of 6,547 points, even topping the 10,000-mark recently. But what has caused this nearly 50-percent jump? According to CNBC's Larry Kudlow - loose monetary policy by the...

Steven MalangaFeral Detroit Nature is reclaiming the Motor City. Autumn 2009 We usually apply the word “feral,” which means “reverting to a wild state,” to domesticated animals that are abandoned and must survive on their own. But in rapidly shrinking Detroit, where tens of thousands of structures have sat empty for years, people are starting to describe houses and neighborhoods as feral—that is, as places where human activity ceased so long ago that nature has reclaimed them. Two Detroit residents writing for the blog Sweet Juniper describe these feral houses as places that “for a few beautiful months during...

It's been another dreadful week in the war of civilizations. On Sunday, 153 people were killed and more than 500 wounded in back-to-back car bombings in Baghdad. On Tuesday in Kabul, five UN staffers and three Afghans were killed in an attack on a UN guesthouse. And on Wednesday in Pakistan, 100 people - mostly women and children - were killed and 160 wounded in a shopping district bombing in Peshawar. The week also saw 24 American service personnel killed in Afghanistan, making 58 fatalities for the month - the deadliest since 9/11. This is a war of civilizations in...

Robert Kagan wondered this morning if The One will ever be prepared to play hardball with Iran or if the “plan” is, in fact, eternal negotiation while they perfect their bombmaking technique. We’ll know soon. The proposal would have depleted Iran’s stockpile of nuclear fuel below the threshold necessary for making a single nuclear bomb, possibly creating diplomatic breathing room for a broader agreement between Tehran and those worried about its atomic research program. But according to the diplomat, Iran wants to send its uranium abroad in smaller batches over an undetermined stretch of time rather than the lump transfer...

President Barack Obama traveled overnight to receive the remains of fallen soldiers whose bodies were returning from Afghanistan. Obama made a midnight trip to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, the first stop back in the U.S. for soldiers who are killed in combat, where he awaited an Air Force C-17 transporting the remains of 15 U.S. soldiers and three Drug Enforcement Agency agents killed in Afghanistan this week. Obama met at a chapel on-base with family members of the fallen Americans, and boarded the C-17 for a short ceremony to witness the "dignified transfer" of the soldiers' remains. The...

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's a big number that only tells part of the story. The number of banks that have failed so far this year topped 100 on Friday — hitting 106 by the end of the day — the most in nearly two decades. But the trouble in the banking system from bad loans and the recession goes even deeper. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of other banks remain open even though they are as weak as many that have been shuttered. Regulators are seizing banks slowly and selectively — partly to avoid inciting panic and partly because buyers for bad...

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