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2005 Law Enforcement News:
20051231
US
- International
- Iraq
- Secret
- GOV
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Telecommunications
- E-Mail
- Privacy
- Politics
- Media
- Enforcement
- "US
investigates leak of spy program: Prosecutors focus
on disclosure to New York Times." ... "The Justice Department has opened
a criminal investigation into recent disclosures about a controversial
domestic eavesdropping program that was secretly authorized by President
Bush after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, officials said yesterday."
... "Justice Department prosecutors will focus on whether classified information
about the program was unlawfully disclosed to The New York Times, which
reported two weeks ago that Bush had authorized the National Security Agency
to monitor the international telephone calls and e-mails of people in the
United States without court-approved warrants, officials said." ... "The
case is the latest in a series of clashes between the media and the Bush
administration, which has aggressively enforced restrictions on classified
information and has frequently complained about media disclosures related
to terrorism or the war in Iraq." -By Dan Eggen -WashingtonPost
via -BostonGlobe
20051230
Indonesia
- US
- Business
- Police
- "Indonesian
military admits being paid by US mining firm." ...
"Indonesia's military admitted yesterday that officers received payments
from a local subsidiary of the American mining giant Freeport-McMoRan to
guard its huge Grasberg copper and gold mine in Papua, the western, Indonesian,
half of New Guinea island." ... "The admission comes after a report in
the New York Times claimed that Freeport Indonesia paid military and police
officers, and several army units £11.7m from 1998 to 2004. Some officers
allegedly received tens of thousands of pounds. If they kept any of the
money themselves, it would be a criminal offence." -By
John Aglionby -Guardian.co.uk
Egypt
- Sudan
- UN
- Politics
- "10
dead in Cairo protest camp clearance." ... "Ten Sudanese
refugees, including a young girl, were killed today when Egyptian police
fired water cannon and beat migrants with clubs to break up a protest camp
in Cairo." ... "Up to 2,000 refugees had lived in the camp for three months,
demanding that the UN refugee agency resettle them." ... "The sit-in began
in September after the UN high commissioner for refugees stopped hearing
the cases of Sudanese asylum seekers, a decision which followed the signing
in January of a peace accord that ended Sudan's 21-year civil war."
-Guardian.co.uk
20051227
Secret
- Government
- Law
Enforcement
- Law
- Privacy
- "U.S.
secret surveillance up sharply since Sept. 11." ...
"Federal applications for a special U.S. court to authorize secret surveillance
rose sharply after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and the panel required
changes to the requests at a even greater rate, government documents show."
... "The Justice Department's reports to the U.S. Congress on the surveillance
court's activities show that the Bush administration made 5,645 applications
for electronic surveillance and physical searches through 2004, the most
recent year for which figures are available. In the previous four years,
the court received a total of 3,436." -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
US
- Iraq
- Police
- "U.S.
Seeks To Escape Brutal Cycle In Iraqi City: 3rd Try
at Pullout Depends on Police." ... "On one of his last days in Iraq, Sgt.
Dale Evans looked out over the turbulent city from a rooftop tower piled
high with sandbags, manning a machine gun. Below him, rows of Bradley Fighting
Vehicles stood at the ready. Dusty streets were lined with coiled barbed
wire and abandoned houses pockmarked from gunfire -- a protective no-man's
land around a base that U.S. commanders describe as their "battleship"
in downtown Samarra." ... "This month, Evans and his company from the 3rd
Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, will leave Patrol Base Uvanni, beginning
a third attempt in as many years by U.S. forces to hand this Sunni city
over to Iraqi police. It's a major test for the U.S. military in Iraq,
and one U.S. commanders here say they can't afford to fail." ... "Since
2003, Samarra has come to symbolize the trials and errors of U.S. strategy
in Iraq -- a cycle of military offensives, lulls and new waves of lethal
insurgent attacks." (1, 2)
-By Ann Scott Tyson -WashingtonPost
20051226
Iraq
- Terrorism
- Police
- Politics
- "Gunmen
kill Iraqi forces, bombs shake Baghdad." ... "Guerrillas
killed 10 Iraqi policemen and soldiers in attacks north of Baghdad on Monday,
while the capital itself was rocked by five major explosions that left
at least eight dead." ... "It was one of the bloodiest days in Iraq since
the largely peaceful election on December 15, when rival ethnic and sectarian
groups took part in a vote for a new parliament. By nightfall, at least
20 were killed and over 40 injured." -By Deepa Babington
with contributions by Faris al-Mehdawi in Baquba, Aseel Kami and Gideon
Long -Reuters.co.uk
20051224
Government
- Terrorism
- Law
Enforcement - Law
- Telecommunications
- Business
- Internet
- Privacy
- Politics
- "Spy
Agency Mined Vast Data Trove, Officials Report."
... "The National Security Agency has traced and analyzed large volumes
of telephone and Internet communications flowing into and out of the United
States as part of the eavesdropping program that President Bush approved
after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to hunt for evidence of terrorist activity,
according to current and former government officials." ... "The volume
of information harvested from telecommunication data and voice networks,
without court-approved warrants, is much larger than the White House has
acknowledged, the officials said. It was collected by tapping directly
into some of the American telecommunication system's main arteries, they
said." ... "As part of the program approved by President Bush for domestic
surveillance without warrants, the N.S.A. has gained the cooperation of
American telecommunications companies to obtain backdoor access to streams
of domestic and international communications, the officials said." ...
"The government's collection and analysis of phone and Internet traffic
have raised questions among some law enforcement and judicial officials
familiar with the program." -By Eric Lichtblau and
James Risen
(1,
2)
-NYTimes
20051223
Travel
- Terrorism
- Law
Enforcement - "Airport
security changes create little noise: Guidelines
that now allow small scissors, sharp objects have little effect on travelers."
... "New airport security guidelines that allow passengers to carry small
scissors and other sharp objects were implemented Thursday at airports
nationwide, including Houston." ... "Security personnel will now focus
on detecting explosives rather than confiscating small sharp objects."
-By Armando Villafranca -HoustonChronicle.com
20051222
US
- Arizona
- Mexico
- Drugs
- Terrorism
- Law
- Intelligence
- "Surprise
- terror war aids drug war: One Arizona border unit
sees marijuana haul triple." ... "As Congress and President Bush wrangle
over the USA Patriot Act, the Border Security bill, and other tools of
the war on terror, they may want to keep another law-enforcement group
in mind - the nation's drug-fighters." ... "That's because the war on terror
is proving to be a boon to the war on drugs. Drug seizures are up all along
the US-Mexico border. Nowhere is the trend clearer than along a desolate
118-mile patch of Arizona desert across the border from the Mexican state
of Sonora." ... "In what is rapidly becoming one of the highest drug-trafficking
and people- smuggling sectors along the border, US Customs and Border Protection
(CBP) officers there have seized 13,000 pounds of marijuana since Oct.
1, triple the amount captured in the same period last year. That year,
fiscal 2005, also set a record. The reasons for the success? Better intelligence-sharing,
increased manpower, and improved technology that border officials have
received in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks." -By
Faye Bowers -CSMonitor
20051214
Canada
- US
- World
- Drugs
- Internet
- Privacy-
"Meth
addicts' other habit: Online theft." ... "Hot on
the trail of identity thieves, veteran [Alberta, Canada] Edmonton Police
Service detectives Al Vonkeman and Bob Gauthier last winter hustled to
a local motel, a cinder-block establishment where rooms rent by the hour."
... "Inside Room 24 the detectives found meth pipes, stolen credit cards,
notebooks with handwritten notations about fraudulent transactions and
printouts of stolen identity data." ... "Evidence in the motel room would
ultimately lead them to a much bigger revelation: The Edmonton ring had
gone global." ... "It no longer relied solely on dumpster-diving, mailbox-pilfering
street addicts to supply stolen credit cards, checks and account statements,
the grist for local thefts. Instead, it had advanced to complex joint ventures,
conducted over the Internet, in partnership with organized cybercrime rings
outside the country." ... "What's happening in Edmonton is happening to
one degree or another in communities across the USA and Canada — anywhere
meth addicts are engaging in identity theft and can get on the Internet,
say police, federal law enforcement officials and Internet security experts."
-By Byron Acohido and Jon Swartz
-USATODAY
20051213
Water
- US
- Turkey
- Police
- Connecticut
- "Congress
turns attention to cruise safety." ... "George Allen
Smith IV vanished from a Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. ship in the Mediterranean
10 days after his wedding last summer. His family says he was a victim
of foul play covered up by the cruise ship line to avoid bad publicity."
... "Smith's wife, Jennifer Hagel Smith, says ship officials forced her
from the vessel after her husband's disappearance and abandoned her in
Turkey, where she ended up at a police station and later a hospital with
no food, money, clothing or ticket home." -AP
via -USATODAY
Australia
- "Racial
Violence Erupts in Sydney for Second Successive Night."
... "Sydney erupted into a second night of racial violence as gangs of
young men of Middle-Eastern appearance attacked people in streets and smashed
cars and shop windows in the city's southern and western suburbs, police
said." ... "Police tried to block bridges and roads to the beachside suburb
of Cronulla when a convoy of about 70 cars carrying armed youths drove
to the area to retaliate for the bashing of people of Middle-Eastern appearance
during a riot by about 5,000 residents protesting an attack on two volunteer
lifeguards a week ago." -By Miriam Steffens -Bloomberg
20051212
France- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- "French
target 'Islamic network': Police investigating suspected
plans for attacks in France have arrested at least 20 people during raids
in and around Paris." ... "They described the arrests as a "major operation
aimed at disbanding an Islamist network linked to terrorism"." ... "Agents
of the domestic intelligence service, the DST, raided homes around Paris
before dawn."-BBC
/News
Lebanon
- Syria
- France
- UN
- Media
- Police
- "Anti-Syrian
legislator killed by Beirut car bomb." ... "A car
bomb killed Lebanese newspaper magnate and anti-Syrian legislator Gebran
Tueni in Beirut on Monday, less than 24 hours after he returned from Paris
[France] where he lived for several months fearing assassination." ...
"Several politicians blamed Syria and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said
he would ask the U.N. Security Council to investigate a series of attacks
that have rocked Lebanon since the February 14 killing of former Prime
Minister Rafik al-Hariri." ... "Syria denies any role in the attacks and
said the latest killing was timed to smear it." ... "Police said Tueni,
publisher of the An-Nahar daily newspaper, was among four people killed
in the explosion that destroyed his armoured vehicle in the Mekalis area
of mainly Christian east Beirut. More than 30 people were wounded." (1,
2,
3) -By Nadim Ladki and Lin Noueihed with contributions
by Alaa Shahine and Ayat Basma -Reuters
20051210
Secret
- Government
- Wireless
- Telecommunications
- Technology
- Law
Enforcement - Law
- New
York
- Texas
- Maryland
- Noteworthy
- "Live
Tracking of Mobile Phones Prompts Court Fights on Privacy."
... "Most Americans carry cellphones, but many may not know that government
agencies can track their movements through the signals emanating from the
handset." ... "In recent years, law enforcement officials have turned to
cellular technology as a tool for easily and secretly monitoring the movements
of suspects as they occur. But this kind of surveillance - which investigators
have been able to conduct with easily obtained court orders - has now come
under tougher legal scrutiny." ... "In the last four months, three federal
judges have denied prosecutors the right to get cellphone tracking information
from wireless companies without first showing "probable cause" to believe
that a crime has been or is being committed. That is the same standard
applied to requests for search warrants." ... "The rulings, issued by magistrate
judges in New York, Texas and Maryland, underscore the growing debate over
privacy rights and government surveillance in the digital age." (1, 2)
-By Matt Richtel -NYTimes
20051208
US
- Iraq
- Politics
- Police
- "Bus
bombing kills 30 in Baghdad: A suicide attacker has
detonated a bomb on a bus in Baghdad, killing at least 30 people, Iraqi
police said." ... "The vehicle was leaving al-Nahda bus station heading
south for the Shia town of Nasiriya when the attack occurred." ... "Witnesses
said the bus was gutted and left in flames by the explosion. Another 25
people are reported injured." ... "Iraq has been bracing for an increase
in violence by anti-US insurgents ahead of the election next Thursday for
the first full-term post-Saddam parliament." ... "Police believe the attacker
waited until the bus was pulling away slowly from the station and jumped
on board to avoid security checks." -BBC
/News
Nebraska- Police
- "Biker
cleared after 128mph chase: A US motorcyclist who
zoomed through Nebraska at over 128mph (205kph) has been cleared of reckless
driving." ... "Judge John Steinheider reluctantly ruled that speed alone
was not enough to prove reckless driving under Nebraska law." ... "Biker
Jacob Carman accelerated away from a traffic policeman after he was clocked
at 82mph (131km/h)." ... "State prosecutors admitted that they could have
won a conviction for speeding, but had opted to pursue a charge of reckless
driving." -BBC
/News
20051207
Egypt
- Politics
- "Update
9: Eight Killed in Egyptian Voting Violence." ...
"Police barricaded polling stations and fired tear gas and rubber bullets
Wednesday to keep supporters of the banned Muslim Brotherhood from voting
in the final day of parliamentary elections. At least eight people were
killed, including a 14-year-old boy." ... "Supporters of the banned Brotherhood
fought back, hurling stones and molotov cocktails and cornering security
forces in some towns." ... "The last day of the vote, which stretched over
a month, was by far the most violent. A total of at least 10 people have
been killed during the three rounds of balloting, which began Nov. 9 and
are considered a key test of President Hosni Mubarak's pledge to open the
autocratic political system." -AP
via -Forbes
Florida
- Airline
- Terrorism
- "Man
who threatened to blow up bomb killed by federal marshal."
... "As dozens of passengers exited from an American Airlines flight at
[Florida's] Miami International Airport this afternoon, one male passenger
who threatened to blow up a bomb in the gateway was shot and killed by
a federal air marshal, a government official said." ... "The 44-year-old
U.S. citizen, whose name was not immediately released, claimed he had the
bomb in a carry-on bag and tried to run away from a team of federal air
marshals after they ordered him to the ground, according to the Transportation
Security Administration." ... "One of the air marshals opened fire as the
man reached into the bag." -AP
-MercuryNews
20051206
Iraq
- Police- Military
- "Baghdad
Bombers Kill at Least 27 at Police Academy (Update2)."
... "At least 27 Iraqi police officers and students died and 50 were hurt
when two suicide bombers attacked a police academy in eastern Baghdad,
the U.S. military said." ... "Earlier reports that the bombers were women
and walked into a classroom were ``erroneous,'' according to the statement."
... "The attack was the deadliest against Iraqi forces since Feb. 28, when
a suicide car bomber struck police and Iraqi National Guard recruits in
Hillah, a mostly Shiite Muslim city 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of
Baghdad, killing 125." -By Caroline Alexander
-Bloomberg
20051130
US
- Iraq
- Police
- Politics
- "Bush
Offers 'Strategy for Victory' in Iraq: The president
again rejects a timetable for troop withdrawal." ... "Moving to deflect
criticism of the war in Iraq and lay out new conditions that would allow
the departure of U.S. troops, President Bush said today he would settle
for "nothing less than complete victory" there, and defined that success
as creating an Iraq in which Iraqis could live in peace protected by their
own security forces." ... "The president devoted much of the roughly 35-minute
speech to presenting a picture of Iraqi police and military units increasingly
being able to carry on the campaign against those he called "rejectionists,
Saddamists and terrorists."" ... "But he did not address three ongoing
concerns about the security forces: their de facto division into three
segments made up separately of Kurds, Shiites and Sunni; the fact that
some Sunnis are accepting the U.S. training and then joining the insurgency;
and the infiltration of the Iraqi government's security forces by members
of ethnic militia loyal to leaders other than those of the government."
-By James Gerstenzang, Tyler Marshall and Mark Mazzetti
-LAtimes
20051129
US- Mexico
- US
Immigration - 2006
Election - Politics
- Police
- Worker
- Tucson
- Arizona
- "Bush
revives immigration reform push: Switching priorities,
he only touches on guest-worker plan." ... "President Bush promised a renewed
push for changes in immigration law Monday, reversing the priorities he
had set out nearly two years ago by emphasizing tougher border enforcement
and mentioning his controversial guest-worker program almost as an afterthought."
... "Bush joins several congressional Republicans in Congress, including
several likely presidential candidates, who intend to make an overhaul
of the nation's immigration laws a priority heading into the 2006 midterm
elections." ... ""Illegal immigration is a serious challenge," Bush told
a gathering of border enforcement officials in Tucson [Arizona]. "And our
responsibility is clear. We are going to protect the border."" -By
Carolyn Lochhead -SFGate.com
Samuel
Alito
- Police
- Privacy
- "Alito
Memos Supported Expanding Police Powers." ... "As
a lawyer in the Reagan Justice Department, Samuel A. Alito Jr., the Supreme
Court nominee, played an active role in advancing the administration's
efforts to expand law enforcement powers and limit restrictions on prosecutors,
documents released Monday by the Justice Department show." ... "The 470
pages of documents, which consist mainly of memorandums Mr. Alito wrote
as a deputy assistant attorney general in the office of legal counsel in
1986 and 1987, generally address routine matters or highly technical legal
issues. In several of the memorandums, however, Mr. Alito makes a series
of arguments espousing a broad view of law enforcement authority and a
skeptical view of proposals to protect individuals from legal investigations."
-By David D. Kirkpatrick
-NYTimes
Florida
- Terrorism
- "Miami
Police Take New Tack Against Terror." ... "Police
are planning "in-your-face" shows of force in public places, saying the
random, high-profile security operations will keep terrorists guessing
about where officers might be next." ... "Deputy Police Chief Frank Fernandez,
who announced the program Monday, said as an example, officers might surround
a bank, check the IDs of everyone going in and out, and hand out leaflets
about terror threats." -By Curt Anderson
-AP via-WashingtonPost
20051127
Azerbaijan
- Politics
- "Azerbaijan
protest forcefully shut down: Group driven away with
water cannons." ... "Thousands of protesters in Azerbaijan shouting "Freedom!"
and vowing to occupy downtown Baku on Saturday were beaten back by riot
police wielding truncheons and water cannons. Witnesses said hundreds of
protesters were injured, along with at least 26 police officers." ... "The
demonstration, in which opposition leaders demanding new parliamentary
elections appeared to be staging an attempt to occupy the capital's Victory
Square, ended abruptly when officers in helmets and riot shields broke
apart the speaker's stand, ripped orange flags out of protesters' hands
and began beating demonstrators and opposition leaders with batons, leaving
several people lying injured in the square." -By Kim
Murphy -LAtimes
via -SFGate.com
20051126
Azerbaijan
- Politics-"Azerbaijani
activists clash with police." ... "Truncheon-wielding
police Saturday beat and dispersed opposition protesters demanding a redo
of disputed parliamentary elections, the first use of force against demonstrators
since the vote." ... "Some 15,000 opposition activists gathered in Azerbaijan's
capital, Baku, to protest Nov. 6 parliamentary elections they claimed were
rigged. It was latest in a series of such demonstrations in recent weeks."
-By Aida Sultanova -AP
via-MercuryNews
Egypt
- Police
- Religion
- "Turmoil
Grips Runoff Voting in Egypt." ... "Egyptian police
barricaded polls and arrested hundreds of supporters of the banned Muslim
Brotherhood movement Saturday, while armed backers of Islamist and secular
politicians clashed _ severely curbing turnout and scarring a parliamentary
runoff vote." ... "The violence came amid efforts by the fundamentalist
Muslim Brotherhood _ Egypt's largest Islamist group _ to bolster its already
impressive tally of 47 out of 186 seats decided so far in the three-stage
elections. The ruling National Democratic Party has claimed 122 seats and
is expected to maintain control of the 454-member legislature." -Contributions
by Mariam Fam and Nadia Abou El-Magd -AP
via -CBSNews
20051124
Samuel
Alito
- Family
-Woman
- Privacy- Law
- Politics
- Advertising
- Pennsylvania
- Drugs
- "Alito
ad flap centers on strip search of woman, daughter."
... "When police in a small Pennsylvania coal town went to the home of
a suspected methamphetamine dealer, they sent for a female meter maid to
search the suspect's wife and 10-year-old daughter." ... "The woman took
the two to an upstairs bathroom, had them lift their shirts and drop their
pants and patted them down. Then she directed them downstairs, where they
sat on a couch while a Schuylkill County drug squad searched the home."
... "As a 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge, Alito found it acceptable
to search family members even if they were not specifically named in the
warrant. But his view came in a dissent to the 2-1 majority opinion written
by colleague Michael Chertoff then a judge, now the nation's Homeland
Security secretary who said that officers went beyond the terms
of the search warrant and were liable for potential damages."
-AP via -USATODAY
20051121
Ethiopia
- Police
- EU
- "Violence
in Ethiopia Inspires Regional Rally: Community Holds
Protests, Raises Funds to Spotlight Unrest After Elections Abroad." ...
"More than 40 people died and thousands were detained this month after
demonstrators contested the May 15 election results that favored Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi and his ruling party, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary
Democratic Front. Medical officials have said police have killed many of
the victims; Meles contends that the opposition groups are responsible
for inciting the violence." ... "The groups say the election was rigged,
and European Union officials have said the election did not meet international
standards. But government officials say the irregularities were not significant
enough to have swayed the election." -By Aruna Jain-WashingtonPost
20051117
Idaho
- New_Hampshire
- Alaska
- Illinois- Wisconsin
- Colorado
- Secret
- GOV
- Police
- Intelligence
- Civil
Liberties - Library
- Business
- Health
- Privacy
- Politics
- "Senators
Vow To Block Patriot Act." ... "Half a dozen senators
worried about civil liberties –three Democrats and three Republicans –
said Thursday they will try to block the measure to renew the Patriot Act,
CBS News correspondent Bob Fuss reports." ... "The most controversial parts
of the law that vastly expanded FBI powers after 9/11 expire at the end
of the year unless renewed. An agreement on a measure to do that between
the House and Senate doesn't include some minimal new protections these
senators want, including having a judge review broad secret warrants when
the FBI seeks information from libraries, hospitals and banks." ... ""If
further changes are not made, we will work to stop this bill from becoming
law," GOP Sens. Larry Craig [Idaho], John Sununu [New Hampshire] and Lisa
Murkowski [Alaska] and Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin [Illinois], Russ Feingold
[Wisconsin] and Ken Salazar [Colorado] said in a letter to the Senate Judiciary
and Intelligence committees." -AP
-CBSNews
20051116
US
- Iraq
- Prisons
- Military
- "U.S.
Troops Discover 173 Abused Detainees In Iraq Basement:
Sunni Arab prisoners were allegedly tortured by Iraqi captors." ... "The
same day that the [US] Senate passed a resolution barring cruel, inhuman
and degrading treatment of detainees in the war on terror, the Iraqi government
said Tuesday that it has ordered an investigation into the alleged abuse
of 173 detainees discovered by American troops over the weekend in the
basement of an Interior Ministry building in the Baghdad suburb of Jadriya."
... "For many Iraqis, the revelation of the secret torture center brought
back painful memories of the brutality of the Sunni-dominated Saddam Hussein
regime, blamed for killing hundreds of thousands of Shiites and Kurds[.]"
... "American officials were quick to condemn the treatment of the prisoners
with the American Embassy and U.S. military command calling the situation
"totally unacceptable," agreeing with Iraqi officials that "mistreatment
of detainees will not be tolerated."" -By Gil Kaufman
-MTV.com /News
20051111
Liberia
- Politics
- US
- UN
- "Liberian
protesters face tear gas." ... "U.N. forces fired
tear gas at angry supporters of Liberian soccer star George Weah on Friday
after they stoned police and marched to the U.S. embassy to back a demand
to halt counting in an election Weah says was rigged." ... "Police from
the U.N. peacekeeping force used the gas and batons to disperse hundreds
of Weah supporters after they broke through a line of Liberian riot police
trying to hold them back from the imposing beach side U.S. embassy building."
... "With 97 percent of polling stations' votes counted from Tuesday's
runoff ballot, Harvard-trained former Finance Minister Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
has an unassailable 59.4 percent. But Weah and his Congress for Democratic
Change party insist the election was rigged."
-Reuters via -CNN
20051110
Jordan
- US
- Intelligence
- Police
- "Attacks
at U.S.-Based Hotels in Amman Were Minutes Apart."
... "Terrorist bombs ripped nearly simultaneously through three popular
hotels here [in Amman, Jordan] on Wednesday night, killing dozens and wounding
more than 100." ... "The Jordanian cabinet said in a statement that the
attacks, which killed 57 people and wounded 110, appeared to have been
carried out by suicide bombers. Amman, the capital, was placed under a
severe security lockdown late Wednesday with streets closed and the police
donning heavy armor. Members of Jordan's secret intelligence police force
were also out in full force. " -By Hassan M. Fattah
and Michael Slackman with contributions by Douglas Jehl and Suha Maayeh
-NYTimes
20051107
Pakistan
- India
- Politics
- "Police
Keep Kashmiris From Crossing Border." ... "Pakistani
police fired tear gas to disperse Kashmiri villagers Monday when some tried
to cross into Indian territory during an unprecedented frontier ceremony
by the South Asian rivals to exchange aid for victims of the Oct. 8 quake."
... "The border opening that India and Pakistan agreed to last month was
supposed to have been a much grander gesture: letting Kashmiris cross at
five points to check on long-lost relatives and visit relief camps set
up along the frontier." ... "But India on Saturday said it was prepared
to open only one crossing, and on Sunday officials on both sides said bureaucratic
wrangling would delay chances for people to cross, partly because India
must be assured that no Muslim militants will head into Indian territory."
-AP via
-CBSNews
Australia
- Police
- Intelligence
- "Australia
foils terrorist attack." ... "Australian authorities
arrested 17 people on Tuesday on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack,
raiding homes in Melbourne and Sydney less than a week after parliament
passed tougher anti-terror laws." ... "One man was shot in the Sydney raids
and the police bomb squad was examining a backpack at the scene. Outspoken
Muslim cleric Abu Bakr, who has voiced support for al Qaeda leader Osama
bin Laden, was among those arrested in Melbourne." ... "The Australia Security
Intelligence Organization (ASIO), last week acknowledged for the first
time that Australia had home-grown extremists, some of whom trained overseas."
(1, 2)
-By Joanne Collins with contributions by Michelle
Nichols -Reuters
France
- Belgium
- Germany
- "Rioting
in France Spreads to 300 Towns." ... "Rioting by
French youths spread to 300 towns overnight and a 61-year-old man hurt
in the violence died of his wounds, the first fatality in 11 days of unrest
that has shocked the country, police said Monday." ... "As urban unrest
was reported in neighboring Belgium and Germany, the French government
faced growing criticism for its inability to stop the violence, despite
massive police deployment and continued calls for calm. One riot-hit town
in suburban Paris said it was preparing to enforce a curfew." ... "Meanwhile,
governments worldwide urged their citizens to be careful in France." -By
Angela Doland with contributions by Emmanuel Georges-Picot, Thierry Boinet
and Jan Sliva -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
Texas
- Louisiana
- Death
Penalty - "US
death row escapee recaptured: Police in the United
States have recaptured a convicted murderer, three days after he walked
out of jail." ... "Death row inmate Charles Victor Thompson fooled at least
four prison employees to flee a Texas prison." ... "He was captured on
Sunday while using a public telephone in Shreveport in the neighbouring
state of Louisiana."-BBC
/News
Ethiopia
- Politics-
"Ethiopia
PM regrets protest dead: Ethiopian Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi has said he regrets the deaths of at least 46 people killed
in last week's anti-government protests." ... "But he said it was understandable
that police had panicked when facing protesters with hand grenades and
guns." ... "Speaking in Germany, Mr Zenawi accused the opposition of provoking
unrest." ... "The unrest first erupted on Tuesday after the opposition
accused the government of rigging the 15 May elections and there are fears
of more protests." ... "The elections saw Mr Zenawi's Ethiopian Peoples
Revolutionary Democratic Front take control of two-thirds of the country's
parliament." ... "After the clashes, many opposition leaders were detained."-BBC/News
20051106
France
- Cars
- "French
Police Arrest 186; Paris Riots Continue for 10th Night."
... "French police arrested 186 people overnight as gangs burned cars and
buildings for the 10th consecutive night in Paris suburbs, other cities
around France, and, for the first time, within the city of Paris itself.
More than 900 vehicles were set ablaze across the nation." ... "More than
550 people have been arrested and more than 2,100 vehicles have been torched
since Oct. 27." -By Alan Katz
-Bloomberg
20051105
Argentina
- US
- Mexico
- Canada
- Chile
- Business
- Politics-
"Summit
Protests Turn Violent in Argentina." ... "More than
1,000 demonstrators angry about President Bush's policies clashed with
police, shattered storefronts and torched businesses Friday, marring the
inauguration of the Summit of the Americas as leaders began debating creation
of one of the world's largest free trade zones." ... "The chaos reflected
the often violent, worldwide debate on free trade as the United States
and Mexico pushed to relaunch talks on a zone stretching from Canada to
Chile. Past summits on the issue _ including last year's gathering of Asian-Pacific
leaders in Chile _ have drawn bitter opposition and similarly angry protests."
-Contributed to by Alan Clendenning, Dan Molinski,
Nestor Ikeda, and Vivian Sequera -AP
via -CBSNews
20051104
Ethiopia
- Politics
- "Ethiopian
unrest spreads." ... "Gunfire echoed sporadically
around Addis Ababa for a fourth day on Friday as reports emerged that unrest
had spread beyond the capital, a development likely to deepen international
concern for Ethiopia's stability." ... "Residents contacted by telephone
said students in Dessie town, 400 km (250 miles) north of Addis Ababa had
thrown stones at police who dispersed them by firing in the air." ... "Amhara
region is the base of the Amhara people who make up about a fifth of the
ethnically-diverse
nation of 77 million, sub-Saharan Africa's second most populous after Nigeria."
(1, 2)
-By Tsegaye Tadesse -Reuters
via -ABCNEWS.com
Samuel
Alito
- Drug
- Parents
- Privacy
- Law
- "Alito
shows a different side in his dissents." ... "The
facts of the case were stunning: A 10-year-old was strip-searched in her
home by police officers whose warrant authorized only the search of her
father, a suspected drug dealer." ... "To the other judges who heard the
case, the law seemed clearly on the girl's side: The very purpose of a
warrant is to limit the scope of permissible searches." ... "But Supreme
Court nominee Samuel Alito saw it differently. And his ruling opens a window
onto one facet of his judicial philosophy." ... "Alito said the girl's
search, while unfortunate, was justified because supporting documents broadened
the warrant's sweep. It was a technicality, he said, that the particulars
were left out of the warrant itself, and that was no reason to punish good
cops who were just doing their jobs." ... "He was the only judge hearing
the case who thought the police acted properly." -By
Stephen Henderson -Knight
Ridder via -MercuryNews
20051103
Ethiopia
- Politics
- "More
violence in Ethiopia capital: Three more people have
been killed in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, in a third day of clashes
between opposition supporters and the police." ... "The riots were part
of protests against the general election in May, which the governing party
won. The opposition says voting and counting were rigged." ... "The main
opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, resumed protests
this week after its members refused to attend parliamentary sessions."
... "Security officers have arrested all 15 members of the CUD's Central
Committee and about 1,000 supporters according to a lawyer for the party."-BBC
/News
France
- "Paris
Rioting Continues for Eighth Night." ... "Rioters
fired at police, stoned commuter trains and torched a school, shops and
hundreds of vehicles in tough immigrant suburbs Thursday, spurring French
authorities to deploy 1,000 riot police on an eighth night of street violence."
... "The main spark for the riots came Oct. 27 in the town of Clichy-sous-Bois
when two teenagers died by electrocution while hiding from police in an
electrical substation. One youth was of Tunisian descent, and the other
was born in Mauritania. The two were at a soccer game when police arrived;
the teenagers reportedly fled to the fatal hiding place, though investigators
say police were not chasing them. Nonetheless, neighborhood youths began
setting fires, destroying property and attacking police and firefighters."
-By Sebastian Rotella
-LAtimes
20051102
Australia
- Police
- Terrorism- Civil
Liberties - Law
- "Australia
says has intelligence on terror threat." ... "Australia
has received specific information about a possible "terrorist threat" to
the country, Prime Minister John Howard said on Wednesday, but Australia's
medium security alert remained unchanged." ... "Howard refused to give
any details about the nature or location of the threat, but said the government
would rush through changes to anti-terror laws to enable police to respond."
... "The new laws, which have been criticised by human rights and civil
liberties groups, will allow police to detain suspects for seven days without
charge, and use electronic tracking devices to keep tabs on suspects."
-By James Grubel -Reuters
via -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
20051030
Wisconsin
- Halloween
- "Hundreds
Arrested in Wis. Halloween Crowd: Police Break Up
Crowd at Halloween Celebrations in Madison, Wis.; More Than 400 Arrested."
... "A weekend of Halloween celebrations popular with college students
resulted in more than 400 arrests, and police used bursts of pepper spray
early Sunday to break up crowds of revelers." ... "Mayor Dave Cieslewicz
suggested canceling the annual gathering. The downtown party near the University
of Wisconsin-Madison attracts college students from across the Midwest,
and has turned chaotic in the past. Last year, 455 were arrested."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com