14 Countries Part of CIA’s Global ‘Spider Web’
June 7, 2006 -- CIA PRISONS
14 Countries Part of CIA's Global 'Spider Web' Says Investigator
Fourteen European countries were part of the global "spider web" used by the CIA to secretly transfer terrorism suspects, according to a new report released today. (ABC News)
IRAQ NEWS
Nearly 600 Prisoners Freed in Iraq
Some clutching the Koran and kissing the ground, the first batch of a planned mass release of 2,500 prisoners walked free in Iraq on Wednesday as part of efforts to heal sectarian wounds and defuse an insurgency. (Reuters)
Masked Gunmen Kill 21 Shiite Students
Masked gunmen stopped two minivans carrying students north of Baghdad Sunday, ordered the passengers off, separated Shiites from Sunni Arabs, and killed the 21 Shiites "in the name of Islam," a witness said. (AP)
CANADA
Canada Detainees Accused of Plot against Parliament
Some of the 17 men and youths arrested in a suspected terrorist plot had planned to storm the nation's Parliament, take politicians hostage and behead Prime Minister Stephen Harper unless their demands for a withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan and release of Muslim prisoners were met, prosecutors allege. (LA Times)
HUMAN TRAFFICING
Human Trafficking: From Dubai to Brazil to Germany
It's a scenario that is played out thousands of time each day around the world. A young woman is lured to a country halfway across the world with the promise of a good job and good pay. (ABC News)
U.S.
Data Theft Hit 80% of Active Military
Social Security numbers and other personal information for as many as 2.2 million U.S. military personnel -- including nearly 80 percent of the active-duty force -- were among the data stolen from the home of a Department of Veterans Affairs analyst last month, federal officials said yesterday, raising concerns about national security as well as identity theft. (Washington Post)
U.K. TERROR
British Computer Whiz-Kid Exports Terror Via Internet
AN INTERNET trail left by a British computer expert has led investigators to an intricate terror network spreading from the backstreets of Baghdad through cells of young militants living in European capitals to Islamic extremists plotting car-bomb attacks in North America. (London Times)
Police Under Attack
The British police were under pressure last night to clear up the confusion over last week's massive anti-terror raid or risk seeing angry Muslims "take the law into their own hands," a Muslim community leader warned. (7 Days)
BIRD FLU
China Plagued By Bird-Flu Cover-ups
YANGZHOU, CHUZHOU and CHENZHOU, China - Having learned a bitter lesson from covering up the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in early 2003, the central government of China now is said to be taking a more positive, responsible attitude in dealing with avian influenza, or bird flu. But that hasn't filtered down to the provinces. (Asia Times)
UN REPORT ON MIGRATION
Global Migrants Reach 191 Million Nearly 200 million people now live outside their country of origin - up by about a quarter since 1990, a United Nations report on migration says. (BBC)
NIGERIA
5 Korean Workers Kidnapped in NigeriaAn unidentified armed group in Nigeria kidnapped five South Korean workers at an island near Port Harcourt, an oil producing region in southern Nigeria, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said on Wednesday. (Korea Times)
Analysis: Nigeria: A New Threat in the Delta
Officials in southern Nigeria blamed Peak Petroleum Industries Nigeria Ltd. for the June 2 kidnapping of eight foreign oil workers from an oil rig operated by Peak off the Nigerian coast. The two officials, a state governor and a traditional monarch, said Peak triggered the raid -- which ended with the hostages' June 4 release -- by failing to provide the nearby Bilabiri community with jobs and other benefits. These calls raise major concerns regarding the vulnerability of oil companies operating in Nigeria to ever-widening political and economic manipulation from local leaders. (Stratfor)
DARFUR
Sudan Inclined to Reject U.N. Peacekeeping Offer
President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir presides over this country still raw from 21 years of civil war and still suffering from marauding by militias in the Darfur region. But on Tuesday, he told U.N. officials that he didn't want the world body's help. (L.A.Times)
ANALYSIS & OPINION
Our Rocky `Engagement' In Iraq
THE US MILITARY calls them engagements. Iraqi families are throwing back the rings. (Boston Globe)
Win Baghdad and We'll Forgive Haditha
Every major counterinsurgency waged by a Western power since the advent of mass-circulation media in the late 19th century has produced at least one scandal in which troops are accused of employing excessive force. (L.A.Times)
An Inflection Point in China's Banking Problem
The month of May witnessed an interesting phenomenon: a spate of reports on China's nonperforming-loan problem. What is most intriguing is that these reports did not come from organizations like Stratfor -- minor outfits that have been talking about this for a couple of years. It came from real, solid, serious mainstream organizations that were, and continue to be in some cases, quite positive about China on the whole. What is important here is not that China has a serious problem with bad loans in its banking system. That's old news. What is important is that mainstream analysts in the West now are taking official notice of it. The wide divergence between the Western perception of Chinese economic health and the realities of China's economy is beginning to close. There will be consequences to that. (Stratfor)
The Insider Daily Investigative Report (DIR) is a summary of major news articles and broadcasts relating to investigative news, including international terrorism and developments in Iraq. The DIR is edited daily from foreign and U.S. sources by Chris Isham and Hoda Osman of the ABC News Investigative Unit. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ABCNEWS.