Billions of Dollars in Damage Followed by Billions of Dollars in Fraud
August 28, 2006 -- KATRINA ANNIVERSARY
Billions of Dollars in Damage Followed by Billions of Dollars in Fraud
Tina Marie Winston says she watched in horror a year ago as her two daughters, aged five and six, were swept away and drowned during Hurricane Katrina. She collected $5,600 from FEMA for her "pain and suffering" to help pay for her daughters' burial. (ABC News)
Katrina One Year Later
(ABC News)
LONDON PLOT
Pakistan Says Britain Seeks Airliner Plot Suspect
Britain has requested the extradition of a Briton of Pakistani descent who was arrested in Pakistan this month on suspicion of involvement in a plot to bomb airliners over the Atlantic, Pakistan said on Monday. (Reuters)
New Facts Emerge in Terror Plot
On Aug. 9, in a small apartment in east London, two young Muslim men recorded a video justifying what the police say was their suicide plot to blow up trans-Atlantic planes: revenge against the United States and their "accomplices," Britain and the Jews. [This story published in this morning's print edition of the New York Times has not yet been made available on NYT.com. An abbreviated version can be found at (Toronto Star)]
IRAQ NEWS
At Least 23 Dead in Iraq Violence
The death toll mounted in Iraq Monday as clashes between Shiite militiamen and U.S.-backed Iraqi forces in a southern city killed at least 23 and injured 70 while a suicide bombing in the capital killed 15, including 8 policemen. (Washington Post)
Homicide Charges Rare in Iraq War
The majority of U.S. service members charged in the unlawful deaths of Iraqi civilians have been acquitted, found guilty of relatively minor offenses or given administrative punishments without trials, according to a Washington Post review of concluded military cases. Charges against some of the troops were dropped completely. (Washington Post)
TURKEY
4 Blasts Hit Turkey, Injuring 27
Four separate bombs at a popular Turkish coastal resort and in the country's commercial hub Istanbul wounded at least 27 people, including 10 British tourists, authorities said on Monday. (Reuters)
AGHANISTAN
Afghan Market Blast Kills 17
A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded market in southern Afghanistan today, killing 17 people and wounding 47. (The Guardian)
U.S.
Cause of Deadly Comair Crash Probed
Investigators probing the fiery crash of Comair Flight 5191 want to know why it tried to take off from a runway considered far too short for commercial passenger planes. All but one of the 50 people aboard died. (ABC News)
IRAN/JAPAN
Atomic Inquiry in Japan Looks at Possible Iran Link
An investigation into a Japanese manufacturer suspected of exporting sophisticated measuring devices to Libya's former atomic weapons program has increasingly focused on whether the company also sold similar equipment to Iran, a government official said Monday. (New York Times)
GAZA
Freed Fox Pair Tell of Kidnap Torment Before Forced Conversion To Islam Two journalists from the American Fox News channel were freed unharmed in Gaza yesterday after being forced at gunpoint to convert to Islam at the end of a two-week kidnapping ordeal. (The Guardian)
AUSTRIA
Teen Held for 8 Years Defends Her Captor
Austrian Teen Held for 8 Years Until Dramatic Escape Defends Her Captor As 'a Part of My Life' (AP)
MIDEAST CONFLICT
Hezbollah Chief Indicates Regret for Kidnappings
Nasrallah says he would not have ordered the seizure of Israeli troops had he known the result. (LA Times)
Sources: Hezollah Members to Germany with Evacuees
"Press sources" say an unknown number of Hezbollah members may be in Germany after leaving Lebanon with the Germans who were being evacuated during the war. Elaph reports that those in charge of evacuations were unable to check citizenship papers for all evacuees since everything was being done very quickly. Some officials however doubt that Hezbollah would try to send members to Germany, suggesting those who left wanted to escape the war. (Elaph)
GUANTANAMO
Experiencing Guantanamo Part Three
There is a big difference between the prison conditions of the fourth and fifth camps in the US naval base in Guantanamo, in which Al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners. (Asharq al Awsat)
SAUDI ARABIA
Saudi "Corrects" Ideas of 700 Al Qaeda Sympathizers
Saudi Arabia has released over 700 suspected militants after clerics "corrected" their thinking in a special program aimed at stemming a three-year-old campaign of violence by al Qaeda, officials said. (Reuters)
Saudi says 34 Militants Seized in al Qaeda Swoop
Four militants arrested in the Saudi city of Jeddah this week were part of a group of 34 men rounded up in an effort to prevent a resurgence of al Qaeda violence, the Saudi interior ministry said on Saturday. (Reuters)
SOMALIA
US Ends Somali Banking Blacklist
Somali banking company al-Barakat says all its international representatives have been taken off a US terror list. (BBC)
AUSTRALIA
Australia Applies New Anti-Terror Laws
Australia on Monday restricted the movement of a terror suspect whose conviction was struck down earlier this month, applying tough new laws adopted in response to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. (AP)
EGYPT
Egyptian Islamist Group Criticizes Al Qaeda in New Book
In a new book, parts of which are exclusively published by Asharq al Awsat newspaper, the previously militant Egyptian group al Gamaa al Islamiya criticizes al Qaeda and argues that "America's unjust policies towards the Muslim world's issues" do not justify the killing of civilians. The group says al Qaeda has tainted the image of Islam and led the whole world to unite against "the so-called Islamic threat." The group renounced violence in 1997 and started revising it's ideology in several books have been written since then. (Asharq al Awsat)
TONIGHT ON NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
Triple Cross: Bin Laden's Spy in America
A spy infiltrated America. Acquired U.S. secrets. And revealed them to the one man...we came to fear most. (National Geographic Channel)
ANALYSIS & OPINION
Could This War Produce a Sunni-Israeli Alliance?
Ever since he joined American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) 25 years ago, Martin Indyk has been devoting his life to Middle Eastern affairs and the Israeli-Arab conflict. (Ha'aretz)
Still Blind to the Poverty
A year ago, in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, NEWSWEEK published a cover story called "Poverty, Race and Katrina: Lessons of a National Shame." The article suggested that the disaster was prompting a fresh look at "The Other America"—the 37 million Americans living below the poverty line. (Newsweek)
No Place for Cluster Bombs
All weapons kill and maim, but some are especially insidious - like cluster munitions, miniature explosives packed into a bomb, rocket or artillery shell and designed to scatter over a wide area. (NYTimes)
Gaza: In Need of Journalists
What is surprising regarding the kidnapping of the two Fox News journalists, Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig who were freed after nearly two weeks, is that the operation was unlike other hostage-taking operations that have preceded it in Gaza. (Asharq al Awsat)
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.