Exclusive: Baltimore Reportedly Target of Latest Terror Threat

October 18, 2005 --

Exclusive: Baltimore Reportedly Target of Latest Terror Threat
Sources: Six Egyptian Terrorists Plotted to Bomb Harbor Tunnels. (ABC News)

Cheney's Office Is a Focus in Leak Case
Prosecutor has assembled evidence that shows vice president's feud with the CIA contributed to the unmasking of operative Valerie Plame. (Washington Post)

E-Mails Expose The Disorder At FEMA
As Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans on Aug. 29, Michael Brown, then director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, appeared confused over whether Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff had put him in charge, senior military officials could not reach Brown, and his team became swamped by the speed of the unfolding disaster, according to e-mails to and from Brown. (Washington Post)

Lebanon Charges Syrian with Murder in Hariri Probe
Lebanon has charged with murder a key Syrian witness detained in France over the assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, judicial sources said on Tuesday. (Reuters)

20 Suspected in Hariri Murder
UN investigator Detlev Mehlis, the sources revealed, had given political and judicial figures in Lebanon a list of twenty suspects, including security officials, former politicians, and civilians, including Syrian officers. (Asharq al Awsat)

'Mehlis has Reached the Complete Truth in the Hariri Killing'
Head of UN Investigating team compiles list of 20 suspects including names of Syrian officers. (The Daily Star)

UN Resists Hariri Probe Extension
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has turned down - for now - a request by Lebanon to extend an inquiry into the death of its former prime minister. (BBC)

'500,000' Quake Victims without Aid
Half a million survivors of south Asia earthquake yet to receive relief supplies, UN World Food Programme says. (The Guardian)

Chaos Grows in Darfur Conflict as Militias Turn on Government
Janjaweed militias have grown emboldened enough to turn their guns on the same government that trained and armed them. (NY Times)

'Taliban' Kill Two Afghan Clerics
Two pro-government clerics have been killed in separate attacks by suspected Taleban militants in Afghanistan, government officials say. (BBC)

Bird Flu Declared 'Global Threat'
European Union foreign ministers on Tuesday declared the spread of bird flu from Asia into Europe a "global threat" requiring international action. (CNN)

Poultry Power: China, With Huge Flocks, Is at Big Flu Risk
As governments in North America and Europe grow increasingly worried about the possibility of a global epidemic of bird flu, one crucial player is China. Yet for now, much of what China is doing to manage a possible epidemic is a mystery. (NY Times)

Report: Bangladesh, Chad Most Corrupt
Serious levels of corruption in the public sector plague more than two-thirds of the world's nations and are undermining attempts to eradicate poverty, Transparency International said. (Al Jazeera)

UK and Libya Sign Agreement on Terror Suspects
Britain signs deal with Libya to allow deportation of terror suspects in line with international human rights obligations. (The Guardian)

Hussein Goes on Trial Tomorrow, and Iraqis See a First Accounting
What should be a moment of triumph for Saddam Hussein's victims is instead stirring concern about the fairness and competence of the court itself. (NY Times)

Monitors in Iraq Review Votes Where 'Yes' Ballots Hit 90%
Iraqi election officials said Monday that they were investigating "unusually high" vote totals in 12 Shiite and Kurdish provinces, where as many as 99 percent of the voters were reported to have cast ballots in favor of Iraq's new constitution. (NY Times)

Iraq Election Commission Checking Ballots
A sandstorm that had closed Baghdad's airport cleared Tuesday, allowing officials to resume flying ballot boxes to the capital Tuesday so "unusually high" vote totals in 12 Shiite and Kurdish provinces can be checked by election officials. (AP)

Australia's New Anti-Terror Laws Raise Widespread Concern
Australia's Prime Minister John Howard says the Federal Government's new anti-terror laws will go before parliament in two weeks. (Radio Australia)

Trial of Milosevic Holds Lessons for Iraqi Prosecutors
For Iraqi prosecutors, Milosevic war crimes trial shows pitfalls for those attempting to bring ex-dictators to justice. (Washington Post)

After Vote, Iraqi Sunnis at Crossroads
Iraq's disaffected Sunni Arab minority finds itself at a crossroads of sorts after taking part in large numbers for the first time in a free election. (Asharq al Awsat)

Like It or Lump It
President Bush's national security advisor spelled out precisely why Iraq is now on course for a geopolitical train wreck. In an op-ed published coast-to-coast last weekend, Stephen Hadley makes unmistakably clear that Iraq's new constitution is federal with provisions for regional governments that will not be allowed to intrude on the powers of the federal government. (Middle East Times)

Are We Going To War With Iran?
Dan Plesch evaluates the evidence pointing towards a new conflict in the Middle East. (The Guardian)

Out of Jail and In Disrepute
"We have everything to be proud of and nothing to apologize for," New York Times reporter Judith Miller told colleagues preparing a story on Miller's testimony before a federal grand jury probing a White House leak that targeted CIA employee Valerie Plame after her husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson, wrote an op-ed piece critical of the Bush administration. (SF Chronicle)

Wanted, Dead or Alive: Where's Bin Laden Now?
It's been four years since President Bush, in the first days after the worst terrorist attack on US soil, declared: ''I want justice. And there's an old poster out West . . . I recall, that said, 'Wanted, Dead or Alive.' (Boston Globe)

Unprepared for Bird Flu
We need a frank and open discussion if we intend to care for the sick in a time of pandemic. (US World & News Report)