Israel Army Launches Assault in Lebanon

July 12, 2006 -- LEBANON

Public Israel Army Launches Air, Ground Assault in Lebanon

Israeli Army Radio said that Israeli ground forces are entering Lebanon to search for two soldiers who were kidnapped by Hizbullah on Wednesday. (Daily Star)

Hezbollah Warns Israel over Raids

The leader of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah has said two captured Israeli soldiers will only be returned through talks and a prisoner exchange. (BBC)

MUMBAI TRAIN BOMBINGS

Death Toll in Bombay Attacks Rises to 200

The death toll from a series of bombs that struck Bombay's packed commuter trains rose Wednesday to 200, and India demanded that Pakistan dismantle the "infrastructure of terrorism," but leveled no direct accusation at its rival for the attacks. (AP)

Kashmiri Militants Deny Mumbai Train Attacks

Two of the main Muslim militant groups operating in Kashmir today denied involvement in yesterday's train attacks in Mumbai, which killed at least 183 people and injured some 700. (Guardian Unlimited)

Mumbai Bombs: 'Pencil Timers Found'

Timers hidden in pencils have been discovered in at least three of the seven sites where bombs exploded on commuter trains in India's financial capital, killed 185 people, according to CNN's sister station. (CNN)

Analysis: Mumbai Attacks: A New Spiral of Violence

By Sudha Ramachandran

What adds to the significance of Tuesday's terror attacks in Mumbai is that they were aimed not just at paralyzing India's financial and commercial capital, but at causing mass casualties and triggering communal tension. (Asia Times)

IRAQ NEWS

Day of bloodshed kills 35 in Baghdad

Sectarian gunfights, mosque bombings, and executions of unarmed civilians continued to roil the country as night fell yesterday, leaving at least 35 Iraqis dead and 45 wounded in the capital alone. (L.A. Times)

Iraq Finds Bodies of 20 Kidnapped Bus Drivers

Iraqi security forces said they had found the bodies of 20 bus drivers who had been kidnapped north of Baghdad earlier on Wednesday. (Reuters)

AFGHANISTAN

Suicide Bomber Attacks U.S. Convoy in Eastern Afghanistan, Killing Child

A suicide attacker in a car detonated a bomb near a U.S. military convoy in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing a boy who was playing nearby and wounding three other children, a provincial governor said. (AP)

Afghan Drug Lord Pleads Guilty to Charge

An Afghan drug lord suspected of ties to the Taliban and accused of plotting to poison U.S. neighborhoods with heroin pleaded guilty to a federal drug charge Tuesday. (AP)

U.S. TERROR TARGETS

Security Funding List: Bean Fest, But Not Times Square?

A Homeland Security database of vulnerable terror targets in the United States, which includes an insect zoo but not the Statue of Liberty, is too flawed to determine allocation of federal security funds, the department's internal watchdog found. (AP)

IRAN NUCLEAR

World Powers Refer Iran to UN Over Nuclear Row

World powers said on Wednesday they would refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council after Tehran failed to respond quickly enough to a package of incentives aimed at defusing a nuclear standoff. (Reuters)

Analysis: U.S.'s Zero-Sum Diplomacy Toward Iran

By Kaveh L Afrasiabi

On the eve of the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Russia, President George W Bush and his top policymakers openly boast about the US's multilateralist diplomacy toward Iran and, yet, their all-or-nothing approach with respect to Iran's nuclear enrichment program represents a zero-sum pseudo-diplomacy bound to fail. (Asia Times)

U.S.

Agency Works on Emergency Alert System

We interrupt your cell phone call with this important announcement: The government will soon be sending warnings of national emergencies on wireless phones, Web sites and hand-held computers. (AP)

Columnist Names White House Adviser in Spy Scandal

The journalist at the centre of an extensive criminal investigation into the naming of a CIA agent has revealed that top presidential aide Karl Rove played a major role in the affair. (Guardian Unlimited)

CHEMICAL WEAPONS

Bio-Warfare Laboratory Causes Great Concern

A research facility specializing in the study of bio-warfare is scheduled to start operating this August, and community groups are not happy. They say the facility poses life-threatening risks to the some seven million residents in the San Francisco Bay area. (ABC News)

DEATH OF CHECHEN WARLORD

Cause Of Terrorist's Death Disputed

Conflicting accounts were offered yesterday about the cause of an explosion that killed Russia's most wanted man, Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev. (AP)

Analysis: The Twisted Saga of Chechnya's Che

By Sonni Efron

Shamil Basayev started out as a rebel but turned into a monster in his desperate struggle against Moscow. (L.A. Times)

ANALYSIS & OPINION

Outdated Airport Security

By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed

As I stood behind a family of two men, three women and a young child, a hypothetical situation came to mind. It was apparent that the immigration officer carried out his responsibilities according to a set structure that includes transferring data from passports onto a system, which naturally takes some time. (Aawsat)

Terror and Power: Bush Takes a Step Back

By Scott Shane

From the outset, President Bush declared that the battle against Al Qaeda would be a war like no other, fought by new rules against new enemies not entitled to the old protections afforded to either prisoners of war or criminal defendants. (New York Times)

Indonesia's Brewing Power Struggle

By Bill Guerin

Just hours after the December 2004 tsunami battered Indonesia's coastal areas, Vice President Jusuf Kalla jumped into action. Kalla unilaterally summoned the relevant ministers and from the ground began delegating relief efforts from the worst-hit province of Aceh. (Asia Times)

A Platoon's Mission: Seeking and Destroying Explosives in Disguise

When American soldiers take to the road they pray they avoid the roadside bombs that seem to explode every day in Iraq. Sgt. First Class Timothy Faust has a very different goal: he hopes to find them. (New York Times)

Terror in Mumbai: IT Could be Next Target

By Rakesh Goyal

Terrorism' has become a global industry. It appears to work like a multinational corporation with branches, local offices around the world. This industry has no accountability to society. (Rediff News)

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, Hoda Osman and Elizabeth Sprague of the ABC News Investigative Unit. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ABCNEWS.