Exclusive: The Sexually Explicit Internet Messages That Led to Fla. Rep. Foley's Resignation

September 29, 2006 -- FLORIDA REP. RESIGNATION

Exclusive: The Sexually Explicit Internet Messages That Led to Fla. Rep. Foley's Resignation

Florida Rep. Mark Foley's resignation came just hours after ABC News questioned the congressman about a series of sexually explicit instant messages involving congressional pages, young men who are under 18 years of age. (ABC News)

NEW AL QAEDA STATEMENT

Al-Qaida No. 2 Condemns Bush in Video

Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri condemned President Bush in a video statement released Friday, calling him a failure and a liar. (ABC News)

PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN

Pakistan Accused of Hundreds of Terror Abductions

Pakistan has abducted hundreds of people as part of the U.S-led war on terror, often secretly holding them for months while they are interrogated, the human rights group Amnesty International said on Friday. (Reuters)

Pervez: Couriers Hold Key to Qaeda Network

The Al Qaeda has established a well-entrenched courier system as the mainstay of its communications network in Pakistan and Afghanistan. (Asian Age)

Taliban Say They Shot "Spy" In Pakistan's Waziristan

The Taliban claimed responsibility on Friday for executing a man described as a spy for U.S. and Afghan intelligence in North Waziristan, a border region where the Pakistan government signed a pact with tribals a few weeks ago to stamp out militancy. (Reuters)

IRAQ NEWS

Woodward: Bush Concealing Level of Iraq Violence

The Bush administration is concealing the level of violence against U.S. troops in Iraq and the situation there is growing worse despite White House and Pentagon claims of progress, journalist Bob Woodward said in advance of a new book. (Reuters)

7 Tortured Bodies Found in Baghdad

Seven bodies bearing signs of torture were found in Baghdad on Friday, more apparent victims of the sectarian death squads that roam the capital. (AP)

Brother-in-Law of Saddam Trial Judge Killed

A brother-in-law of the judge trying Saddam Hussein for genocide was shot dead by gunmen while driving in western Baghdad, police said on Friday. (Reuters)

Army Responds: Troops Assigned to Protect Halliburton Convoy Followed Procedure

The U.S. Army says it conducted an investigation following an incident in Iraq last year when a convoy of U.S. troops and Halliburton trucks came under attack. (ABC News)

Al Qaeda in Iraq Beckons Nuclear Scientists

Al Qaeda in Iraq's leader, in an audiotape released yesterday, called for nuclear scientists to join his group's holy war and urged insurgents to kidnap Westerners so they could be traded for a blind Egyptian sheik who is serving a life sentence in a US prison. (AP)

U.S.

US Senate Backs Terror Trial Bill

The US Senate has passed controversial legislation endorsing President George W Bush's proposals to interrogate and prosecute foreign terror suspects. (BBC)

Senate Approves $70B for War Spending

The Senate unanimously approved $70 billion more for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan Friday as part of a record Pentagon budget. (AP)

New Jersey Congressman Accuses the FBI of Bungling the Anthrax Investigation

A New Jersey congressman, who is a scientist and whose district was the location from which the anthrax letters were mailed, is taking on the head of the FBI for what he calls the "lack of progress" in the investigation of "the 2001 anthrax bioterrorism attacks." (ABC News)

Al QAEDA

Al Qaeda Announces Death of Its Media Specialist in Car Accident

Al Qaeda's most prominent media specialist died in a car accident last Tuesday, according to the Islamic Media Front which released al Qaeda's statements on the Internet. The statement did not specify where the accident that killed Seif El Din Al Kenani took place. Al Kenani was a member of the founding committee of the Islamic Media Front and headed its public relations office since its establishment, according to the report. The statement said al Kenani participated in al Qaeda's "jihadi media work" and was planning on going to fight in Iraq. (Asharq al Awsat)

AFRICA

Surge in Cocaine Seizures Fuels Trafficking Fears in Africa

A more than three-fold jump in the amount of cocaine seized in Africa has sparked fears the continent is rapidly becoming a trafficking hub, African law enforcement officers were told this week. (Mail and Guardian)

US/JAPAN

U.S. Relocates X-band Radar in Aomori to Watch North Korea

The U.S. military has activated a high-powered radar outpost in northern Japan capable of tracking ballistic missiles, a key part of a joint missile defense project, amid concerns about North Korea and its nuclear ambitions. (AP)

RUSSIA/GEORGIA

Georgia Charges 4 Russians with Spying

Georgia on Friday charged four Russian military officers with spying, a police spokesman said, as relations between the two ex-Soviet neighbors plummeted to a new low. (AP)

1993 MUMBAI BOMBING

Five More Held Guilty in 1993 Mumbai Blasts Case

TADA court on Friday held five aides of prime conspirator Tiger Memon guilty of participating in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts conspiracy by going to Pakistan via Dubai for arms training. (Times of India)

EGYPT

Islamic Group in Egypt Denies Any Link with Al Qaeda Affiliated Website

As the confrontation between the Islamic group (IG) in Egypt and "Al-Qaeda" organization escalates, Najih Ibrahim, the IG's second-in-command and its ideologue, denied that the group has any connection at all with the electronic website launched by Muhammad Khalil al-Hakayimah, the former IG member who recently joined "Al-Qaeda", under the name of "Al-Jama'ah al-Islamiyah..Althabeton ala al-ahd." (Asharq al Awsat)

ANALYSIS & OPINION

A Tyrannical Antiterror Law

Here's what happens when this irresponsible U.S. Congress railroads a profoundly important bill to serve the mindless politics of a midterm election: The Bush administration uses Republicans' fear of losing their majority to push through ghastly ideas about antiterrorism that will make U.S. troops less safe and do lasting damage to Americans' 217-year-old nation of laws - while doing nothing to protect America from terrorists. (NY Times)

Rumors of bin Laden's Death: Truth, Lies and Audio Files

A regional French newspaper, L'Est Republicain, recently published a report claiming that Osama bin Laden died in Pakistan on Aug. 23 after contracting typhoid fever. The newspaper cited a document it obtained Sept. 21 from the DGSE -- the French foreign intelligence service -- that quotes a Saudi intelligence report that mentions bin Laden's death. (Stratfor)

Eco-Friendly Terrorism

By Chan Akya

Having been subjected to the rigmarole of watching former US vice president Al Gore pontificating on the future of the planet in the film An Inconvenient Truth [1] and reading the gloomy projections for carbon emissions in Scientific American, I had an alternative view when reviewing the current electrified situation of Muslims against Catholics that arose from Pope Benedict XVI's recent remarks. (Asia Times)

How Would Al Qaeda Fix Potholes?

By Lorenzo Vidino

In recent weeks, President George W. Bush has delivered a series of major speeches outlining his strategy against terrorism. We have come a long way from the nebulous rhetoric of the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001. (The Boston Globe)

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.