Friday, April 24, 2009

The Latest from National Terror Alert Response Center



















Swine Flu Probe Widens as Mexico Finds Lung Illness


Posted: 24 Apr 2009 01:26 AM PDT




An urgent probe into an unusual flu outbreak that’s infected seven people in

the U.S. was widened after Mexico sought assistance to investigate more

than 130 cases of severe respiratory disease that may be related.


Authorities in Mexico asked the Public Health Agency of Canada to help

identify the cause of the lung illness linked to 20 deaths, including two in
the state of Baja California Norte, which borders California. The Mexican

cases include five health- care workers, the Ottawa-based agency said in

an e-mail today.

Tests in Mexico found patients were infected with H1N1 and type-B influenza

strains and the parainfluenza virus, the agency said. In the U.S., doctors
discovered a new strain of H1N1 swine influenza in patients in San Diego

County and Imperial County, California, and in San Antonio, the Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said today.


"It will be critical to determine whether or not the strains of H1N1 isolated

from patients in Mexico are also swine flu,” Donald Low, an infectious
diseases specialist at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, told the Canadian

Press.


Canada’s National Microbiology Lab received 51 specimens from
Mexico yesterday and will be testing them for a range of pathogens, the

public health agency said.


Thirteen fatal cases of severe respiratory illness were reported in Mexico

City, four in San Luis Potosi, a city north of the capital, and another in

Oaxaca city in the south. Most cases occurred in southern and central

Mexico in previously healthy adults aged 25 to 44 years old.


Read Full Article



Canada Issues Travel Advisory


Canadians who have recently returned from Mexico should be on alert for

flu-like symptoms that could be connected to a severe respiratory illness,
federal health officials said Thursday in issuing a travel advisory.


A severe respiratory illness appears to have infected 137 people in south

and central areas of Mexico, with cases concentrated in Mexico City and

three other areas, including 20 deaths, the Public Health Agency of

Canada said.


In the United States, health officials in Texas and California were scrambling

this week to deal with a new strain of swine flu, which has been diagnosed in
seven people.


The states share a border with Mexico not far from a town where two deaths

were reported.


The U.S. cases are unusual, because it appears none of the patients had contact

with pigs, and the virus is one that health officials have never seen
before.


Read Full Article



This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert.

National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland
security
news and information.


Share this post Digg Sphinn del.icio.us Facebook Mixx Google NewsVine Propeller Reddit SphereIt StumbleUpon TailRank Technorati TwitThis Wikio Yahoo! Buzz LinkedIn





Pakistan - Taliban Nuclear Nightmare


Posted: 23 Apr 2009 11:59 PM PDT




Nuclear-armed Pakistan is unraveling at a frightening pace and if it doesn’t

worry you, it should. Imagine al Qaeda having it’s finger on the button
of up to one hundred nuclear missiles and you quickly get an idea of the

mortal danger (as Hilary Clinton called it earler this week) the world is facing

should Pakistan fall.

Amazingly, most Americans seem unaware or simply unconcerned.



UPDATE: The Taleban say they will withdraw from a Pakistani district where their


consolidation of power this week has caused deep concern in the US. A Taleban


spokesman said commander Maulana Fazlullah had issued the order for fighters

to pull back from the north-western district of Buner.

The US has accused officials in Pakistan of abdicating to the Taleban.

The Taleban have agreed a peace deal bringing Sharia law to some districts in return for

ending their insurgency. Taleban spokesman Muslim Khan said: “Our leader has ordered


that Taleban should immediately be called back from Buner.”

Will the Taliban pull out? Probably. Will this be the end of their drive for power over

Pakistan? Probably not. In fact, the pullout is probably more strategic than

anything else, but time will tell.


Equally alarming, Pakistan’s leaders appear far less concerned than their

American counterparts.


You have to wonder what they’re thinking in Islamabad, the capital.

Rather than fighting back against Taliban militants, the government of

Asif Ali Zardari (who became president after his wife, Benazir Bhutto,

was murdered by extremists) has been acquiescing, in a deluded belief

it can appease its way to peace.


It can’t. Recent evidence ought to be a jolting, 11th-hour wake-up call. After

gaining control of the Swat Valley, a once-prosperous tourist haven 100

miles from the capital, and getting government permission to impose
harsh Islamic law, the Taliban is on the move. It is newly in charge of the
Buner region, just 60 miles from Islamabad.


The Taliban’s ambitions are no secret. Two prominent clerics have broadcast

their intent to spread Islamic rule throughout the country. The implications of

that are captured on an Internet video showing the public flogging in Swat of a

woman suspected of adultery.


The stakes for the United States are enormous. Taliban forces attack U.S. and

NATO troops in Afghanistan from their havens along the Pakistan
border. That is where Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders behind

9/11 are thought to have refuge and be plotting new attacks. The ultimate

nightmare is that extremists will gain access to Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.

The United States is stepping up efforts to prod official Pakistan out of its
denial. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Wednesday that
Pakistan’s government is “basically abdicating to the Taliban.” Some Pakistani

officials are belatedly beginning to acknowledge that appeasement does not

work. But saying the right things under U.S. pressure falls short of effective

action.


Source - USA Today



3 a.m Wake Up Call


The failure of Pakistani political leadership to stem the Taliban’s tide now brings

Washington’s 3 a.m. wake-up call – nuclear weapons in the hands of extremists –

closer than ever to becoming reality. The United States has given its allies
in Islamabad political and financial assistance in every way possible for far
too long with too few meaningful constraints, only to watch Pakistan destroy itself.


Source CSN


Does Pakistan’s Taliban Surge Raise a Nuclear Threat?


The prospect of turmoil in Pakistan sends shivers up the spines
of those U.S. officials charged with keeping tabs on foreign nuclear

weapons. Pakistan is thought to possess about 100 — the U.S. isn’t

sure of the total, and may not know where all of them are.


Still, if Pakistan collapses, the U.S. military is primed to enter the

country and secure as many of those weapons as it can, according to

U.S. officials.


Time



The Taliban’s Nuclear Threat


As insurgents close in on Islamabad, The Daily Beast’s Gerald Posner reports that

Taliban forces are on the verge of seizing Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal—which
has the capability to hit India, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.

This morning, Taliban units took control of the Buner region of Pakistan, bringing their

burgeoning insurgency within 60 miles of the capital city of Islamabad. The

government called the advance a breach of a recently signed peace agreement.

But what did they expect? Any store owner who has faced ever-increasing

protection payments to local gangsters could have told the Pakistanis that their

recent string of capitulations to the Taliban—striking peace deals and ceding territory

—was doomed to failure.


You think the stock market looks bad over the last two years? Let a Taliban

spokesman announce that Mullah Omar has his finger on the Islamic Bomb.

The Taliban advance should be causing high Richter-scale reactions inside the

Obama White House. Counterterrorism officials have long warned that al
Qaeda is desperate to obtain weapons of mass destruction.
Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is in play if the Taliban insurgency should unseat

the government of Asif Ali Zadari.


Pakistan has been a member of the nuclear club since in 1987. Intelligence estimates

are that the country now has between 50 and 100 nuclear missiles that can travel
1,200 miles. That places much of India, Saudi Arabia, and eastern Iraq within range.
With slight improvements in the rockets’ booster phase—not a difficult
technological advance—Jerusalem could be hit.


The Daily Beast


Pakistan Paramilitary Force Routed as Taliban Militants
Extend Control
Towards Islamabad


The fall of Buner does not pose an immediate threat to Islamabad. The

capital lies across a mountain range and the river Indus. But the speed and
aggression of the latest advance has stoked a sense of panic among

Pakistan’s western allies, and, increasingly, at home.


On Wednesday the US secretary of state, Hilary Clinton, accused
President Asif Ali Zardari’s government of “basically abdicating to the

Taliban and the extremists”. After an outcry from Pakistani officials,

she modified her tone yesterday, conceding there was an

"increasing awareness” of the threat within government circles.


Sam Zarifi of Amnesty International said the government had left the

650,000 residents of Buner, particularly women and children, “at the

mercy” of the Taliban.

Source



Israel: Pakistan Nukes Could Fall To Taliban


A day after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that the Pakistani government

was ceding ground to the Taliban, a top Israeli defense official expressed concern on

Thursday that the country’s nuclear arsenal would fall into extremist hands and
be used to threaten Israel.

Pakistan is believed to have several dozen nuclear warheads.


On Wednesday, in testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Clinton said the

Pakistani government was losing control of the country.


" I think we cannot underscore [enough] the seriousness of the existential threat posed

to the state of Pakistan by the continuing [Islamist] advances,” Clinton said, adding that

an unstable and nuclear-armed Pakistan would pose a “mortal threat” to the United

States and other countries.


Israeli defense officials said that while Pakistan was farther away than Iran, Israel needed to

be concerned with the political upset there.


Source


This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National
Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for
homeland security news and information.


Share this post Digg Sphinn del.icio.us Facebook Mixx Google NewsVine Propeller Reddit SphereIt StumbleUpon TailRank Technorati TwitThis Wikio Yahoo! Buzz LinkedIn





Pakistan PM Under Terror Threat in 3 Cities


Posted: 23 Apr 2009 02:19 PM PDT



Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is under a serious threat, intelligence

agencies have claimed in a letter addressed to concerned quarters of the
government, including the Ministry of Interior, sources told The News.


The PM could be targeted in Islamabad, Lahore or Multan, the sources,

quoting the letter, added. Tribal area based terrorists are planning to
target Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani through a combination of

explosion and a suicide attack, or gorilla attack similar to the Sri

Lankan cricket team and the Manawan police training centre, the

report said. Three teams of terrorists are reported to be

working simultaneously at Islamabad, Lahore and Multan.


Meanwhile, to counter serious threats to Islamabad, the federal

government has called troops of the Northern Area Scouts (a

paramilitary force under the Army command) to aid the
civil administration in protecting important personalities

and sensitive installations of the capital city, Interior
Ministry sources told The News.


The ministry has asked concerned authorities to arrange the

required force of the Northern Area Scouts (NAS) to counter

threats from extremists. At least, 20 companies of the NAS

are required to tackle any possible untoward situation, the

sources said.


The NAS would be deployed at sensitive installations and
included in the motorcade of important personalities.


SSP (Security Division) Zubair Hashmi, when contacted, confirmed

the report. A proposal to summon the NAS has been sent to the

concerned authorities. Meanwhile, the capital city police are hunting

for an explosive laden ambulance and a car bearing a Press Plate

on the information of an intelligence agency, sources said. However,

it could be a mock exercise, they added.


Source



This story comes to us via Homeland Security
- National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted
source for
homeland security news and information.


Share this post Digg Sphinn del.icio.us Facebook Mixx Google NewsVine Propeller Reddit SphereIt StumbleUpon TailRank Technorati TwitThis Wikio Yahoo! Buzz LinkedIn





Top Iraq Al-Qaeda Boss Abu Omar al-Baghdadi Captured


Posted: 23 Apr 2009 02:06 PM PDT




Iraqi forces said today that they had arrested one of the most wanted

al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq, even as his suicide bombers killed more than
70 people in attacks
in and around Baghdad.


Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, a leader of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq,
was
held in the capital after a tip-off, said Major General Qasim
Atta, Baghdad’s security
spokesman.


The Islamic State of Iraq is a shadowy, al-Qaeda-linked, Islamist umbrella

group that in 2006 declared an independent caliphate in mainly Sunni West
Baghdad, as well as
in areas to the north and west. Modelled on the Taleban in
Afghanistan, it murdered
and intimidated anyone who did not adhere to its strict
Islamist rulings.


Iraqi security forces have reported al-Baghdadi’s death and capture on several
different
occasions in the past, as well as claiming to have captured the man

believed to be al-Qaeda’s overall leader in the country, Abu Ayyub al-Masri.

Some intelligence sources have denied that either man even exists, claiming

that they are fronts either to throw the security forces off the scent or, in the

case of al-Baghdadi, to give the terrorist network an Iraqi face.


Source



This story comes to us via Homeland Security
- National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted
source for
homeland security news and information.


Share this post Digg Sphinn del.icio.us Facebook Mixx Google NewsVine Propeller Reddit SphereIt StumbleUpon TailRank Technorati TwitThis Wikio Yahoo! Buzz LinkedIn





Woman, 20, Jailed In SFA Massacre Threat


Posted: 23 Apr 2009 10:40 AM PDT



A 20-year-old Stephen F. Austin State University student was in
jail Thursday, a day
after her arrest on allegations that she posted

signs on and near campus last week that threatened a deadly mass

shooting.


Jennifer Grant, a sophomore from Palestine, is a tenant of The Grove, the
off-campus
apartment complex where several signs appeared April 16.

They warned that “10 people will be killed and shot at The Grove.”


A notice on the university Web site said campus police arrested Grant and
booked
her into the Nacogdoches County Jail. The District Attorney’s
Office had no record
of an attorney for Grant. A jail official said she was

being arraigned Thursday morning.


The signs were found on the second anniversary of the Virginia Tech

massacre that left 32 people dead.


SFA Police Chief Marc Cossich said in Thursday’s Nacogdoches Daily

Sentinel the investigation remained active but that no more arrests were
expected. Cossich said
information leading to the arrest came from a variety of
sources.


Officials said it was too early to comment on a possible motive.


A student who said he knew Grant said he was surprised by the
arrest.



Source



This story comes to us via Homeland Security
- National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted
source for
homeland security news and information.



Share this post Digg Sphinn del.icio.us Facebook Mixx Google NewsVine Propeller Reddit SphereIt StumbleUpon TailRank Technorati TwitThis Wikio Yahoo! Buzz LinkedIn














No comments:

Post a Comment