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"Iran is serious about developing a nuclear bomb and has the ability to produce a primitive, truck-sized version of the bomb this year, the German magaziner Der Spiegel reported on Monday. An intelligence dossier obtained by Der Spiegel shows that there is a secret military branch of Iran's nuclear research program that answers to Tehran's ministry of defense, according to the report. Officials who have read this document - which is currently under review by the U.S., Germany and Israel - claim that it shows that their nuclear program aimed at producing a bomb is well advanced. Advertisement The officials said to Der Spiegel that the truck-sized bomb which they are capable of producing will have to be compressed to a size that would fit into a nuclear warhead for the strategic threat potential they desire. Der Spiegel also wrote that Israel and the West were alarmed by the dossier's revelations, as Iran could reach the compressed level of a nuclear bomb between 2012 and 2014. Tehran has consistently denied that it is enriching uranium for weapons, claiming it is exclusively dedicated to the peaceful use of nuclear technology. Iran has often warned it would retaliate for any attack on its nuclear facilities, which the West suspects form part of a drive to develop bombs. Tehran denies the charge. U.S. and Israel have not ruled out attack of Iran's nuclear site"

MONSTER MACHINES APR 19, 2013 11:07 PM 14,548 47 Share GET OUR TOP STORIES FOLLOW GIZMODO The Tech That Helped Take Down Marathon Bombing Suspect Dzhokar Tsarnaev Casey Chan and Brian Barrett The second suspect in the brutal Boston Marathon bombings has been apprehended, after five days of uncertainty and fear. And while all credit for Dzhokar Tsarnaev's capture goes to the men and women of the many, many agencies that spent the last week tracking him down, technology played as prominent a role as it ever has in a time of national crisis. A Smartphone Immediately after the Boston Marathon bomb exploded, David Green pulled out his smartphone and snapped a shot of the aftermath, smoke and all-around chaos. He then put his phone away and started helping victims. Taking a picture of what you see in front of you-whether it be a disaster, a beautiful view, a plate of food-has become as instinctual as just plain seeing. What Green didn't know, and what the world was soon going to find out, was that Green's picture eventually became the clearest image of 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, aka Suspect #2. In the high-resolution image, you can see Tsarnaev calmly walk away from the explosion in his unmistakable white baseball cap. On top of that, the smartphone pic captured Tsarnaev without the backpack he was spotted carrying earlier on surveillance cameras. The backpack that reportedly held the bomb.

Authorities are debating whether or not video surveillance should be increased in the United States due to their importance in uncovering the suspects of the Boston Marathon bombings. Lawmakers are in talks about the importance of increasing surveillance and how CCTV (close-circuit television) cameras will be able to increase security and protect citizens as well as help authorities track down suspects. Many lawmakers believed that if there are more security cameras installed in cities, it would help speed up the process of identifying suspects and catching them before they get very far. Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York, states that they had recently increased surveillance in New York's midtown and downtown areas due to the tragic events of the Boston bombings. He says, "The Boston bombing is a terrible reminder of why we've made these investments-including camera technology that could help us deter an attack, or investgate and apprehend those involved. [The added video surveillance can] alert police to abnormalities it detects on the street, such as an abandoned package that is left on a corner." However, calls for extra video surveillance has left many privacy advocates concerned. They believe that increasing video surveillance can be a potential invasion of privacy for the general public. They also state that since the authorities were able to track down the Boston bombers within only a few days, there really isn't any need for any extra surveillance tools. A lawyer for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Alan Butler, says,

Last week's foiled airline bombing plot by a Nigerian man who hid explosives in his clothing has renewed debate in the United States as to how extensive and invasive passenger screening should be at U.S. airports. A few major airports already possess machines that can take detailed, full-body images, but Congress has not mandated widespread use of the technology. Air travelers worldwide are accustomed to passing through metal detectors. But in an era of plastic explosives and advanced chemical compounds, that system has proved lacking. Kip Hawley is a former head of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, which is charged with screening airline passengers and luggage. "The number one area we need to focus on, the biggest potential vulnerability, is a bomb on the body," said Hawley. Dutch officials have ordered detailed, full body scans of all U.S.-bound air travelers. Terrorism expert M.J. Gohel of the London-based Asia Pacific Foundation applauds the move. "These scanners are, in fact, very effective," he said. "They actually show a person's body - any foreign object attached anywhere in the body, even if it is internally. That kind of x-ray scanner would have located the package that this individual [Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab] had on the flight to Detroit. They are on a trial basis at the moment."

"BAGHDAD - A female suicide bomber mingling among Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad detonated an explosives belt Monday, killing at least 54 people, officials said. The bombing was the first major strike this year against pilgrims making their way to the southern city of Karbala to mark a Shiite holy day. It came as a security official warned of a possible increase in attacks by insurgents using new tactics to bypass bomb-detection methods. The bombing raises fears of an escalation of attacks as hundreds of thousands of Shiites head to Karbala to mark on Friday the end of 40 days of mourning following the anniversary of the death Imam Hussein, a revered Shiite figure. The bomber hid the explosives underneath an abaya - a black cloak worn from head to toe by women - as she joined a group of pilgrims on the outskirts of Baghdad's Shiite-dominated neighborhood of Shaab, said Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, Baghdad's top military spokesman. The bomber set off the blast as she lined up with other women to be searched by female security guards at a security checkpoint just inside a rest tent, al-Moussawi said. A police official said 54 people, including 18 women and 12 children, were killed and 117 were wounded. A hospital official confirmed the casualties. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Witnesses described a chaotic scene in the minutes after the blast. Raheem Kadhom, 35, said he was standing nearby when a huge fireball erupted among the pilgrims. Pilgrims were "on the ground, covered in blood and crying for help," he said. "Banners were all over the ground and covered in blood." The blast was so powerful it knocked some out of their slippers and shoes, which were scattered across the ground, he said, adding how people put the wounded in cars, taking them to hospitals rather than wait for ambulances. Despite an overall decline in violence in Iraq, al-Qaida and other Sunni extremists have routin

"TEHRAN, Iran - A senior physics professor who publicly backed Iran's opposition leader was killed when a bomb-rigged motorcycle exploded as he left for work Tuesday. The government blamed the U.S. and Israel for the attack. The blast apparently was set off by a remote trigger, but it was unclear why the professor was targeted. The victim was a 50-year-old researcher with no prominent political voice, no published work with military relevance and no declared links to Iran's nuclear program. Hard-line backers of the Islamic system have urged stronger measures to try to crush and intimidate anti-government forces. But the Tehran University professor, Masoud Ali Mohammadi, was far from a front-row political player. He joined a list of 240 faculty members in a declaration supporting opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi before June's disputed presidential election, but did not take any known high-profile role in the protests after the vote. The attack was an oddity in Tehran, where such targeted bombings are rare. "There's a lot of conflicting and confusing aspects to this," said Mehrzad Boroujerdi, an Iranian affairs expert at Syracuse University. "About the only thing we can probably say is that this may bring lots more pressure on the opposition.""

"Britain and the US have agreed to intensify efforts to tackle the "evolving threat" from Islamist groups in Yemen, Downing Street has announced. Officials said the UK and the US were funding a counter-terrorism police unit in Yemen. The news follows an alleged airline bomb attack over Detroit. Barack Obama has sent his top Middle East general to meet Yemen's president. The US president has alleged that the Christmas Day bomb suspect was trained by a Yemen-based al-Qaeda offshoot. Gen David Petraeus - who is responsible for US Middle East and Central Asian operations - reportedly said the US was keen to support Yemen's fight against al-Qaeda. On Saturday, Mr Obama for the first time publicly accused an offshoot of al-Qaeda, based in Yemen, over the alleged attempt by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up an airliner over Detroit. "

"To get an idea of the state of mind of the men here in Yemen who run al-Qaeda in the Arabia peninsula, just take a look at what they said about the failed attack on the US airliner on Christmas Day. Framed photos of Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh in Sanaa President Saleh's government has been accused of corruption In a swaggering and ambitious statement, they claimed that they sent the Nigerian student onto the plane, and that he only failed because of a technical fault with the bomb. For them, getting that close counts as the next best thing to a successful mission. And take just one look at the terrain of this country to understand why al-Qaeda is feeling so comfortable here, relaxed enough for one of its leaders reportedly to have moved his wife and family down from Saudi Arabia. Yemen's mountains are rugged, hard to reach, and best of all from a jihadi point of view, they are not controlled by the central government. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula established itself in Yemen after it was forced out of Saudi Arabia, taking advantage of the fact that large swathes of Yemeni territory are controlled by powerful, well-armed tribes, not by a government that is getting closer to the US and its counter-terrorism advisers than ever. "

"In Egypt, seven Coptic Christians were murdered yesterday by a Muslim gunman as they filed out of a midnight mass in the southern town of Nag Hamadi. In Pakistan, more than 100 Christian homes were ransacked by a Muslim mob last July in the village of Bahmaniwala. In Iraq that same month, seven Christian churches were bombed in Baghdad and Mosul in the space of three days. Such atrocities-and there are scores of other examples-are grim reminders that when it comes to persecution, few groups have suffered as grievously as Christians in Muslim lands. Fewer still have suffered with such little attention paid. Now a new report from the non-profit ministry, Open Doors USA, shines a light on the scale of oppression. In its annual World Watch List, Open Doors ranks eight Muslim countries among the 10 worst persecutors of Christians. The other two, North Korea (which tops the list) and Laos, are communist states. Of the 50 countries on the list, 35 are majority Muslim. Take Iran, which this year ranks as the world's second-worst persecutor of Christians. Open Doors reports that in 2009 the Islamic Republic arrested 85 Christians, many of whom were also mistreated in prison. In 2008, some 50 Christians were arrested and one Christian couple was beaten to death by security officials. At least part of the reason for the mistreatment appears to be the result of Muslim conversions to Christianity: Apostasy carries a mandatory death sentence in Iran."

"The Obama administration says the internal unrest in Iran and signs of unexpected delays in their nuclear program make the Iranian government especially vulnerable to swift and serious sanctions, the New York Times reported on Sunday. An administration official said current circumstances "give us a window to impose the first sanctions that may make the Iranians think the nuclear program isn't worth the price tag." Despite the political unrest, Iran's political and military leaders are remaining steadfast in their determination to develop nuclear weapons, advisers to U.S. President Barack Obama said. But the unrest coupled with the Iranian government's internal turmoil has caused a deceleration in production of nuclear fuel in recent months. Advertisement The White House is interested in focusing new sanctions on Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is thought to be the driving force behind the country's nuclear weapons program. The Obama government believes that Iran's bomb making efforts were hurt following the exposure of a secret uranium enrichment plant three months ago in the city of Qum. The plant's exposure prevents Iran from enriching uranium at the high levels necessary for creating fuel for a nuclear weapon. Nuclear inspectors report that in Iran's plant in Natanz, the operation of centrifuges has dropped by 20 percent since the summer, which experts attribute to technical problems. "

"CHICAGO (AP) - A would-be terrorist tries to board a plane, bent on mass murder. As he walks through a security checkpoint, fidgeting and glancing around, a network of high-tech machines analyzes his body language and reads his mind. Screeners pull him aside. Tragedy is averted. As far-fetched as that sounds, systems that aim to get inside an evildoer's head are among the proposals floated by security experts thinking beyond the X-ray machines and metal detectors used on millions of passengers and bags each year. On Thursday, in the wake of the Christmas Day bombing attempt over Detroit, President Barack Obama called on Homeland Security and the Energy Department to develop better screening technology, warning: "In the never-ending race to protect our country, we have to stay one step ahead of a nimble adversary." The ideas that have been offered by security experts for staying one step ahead include highly sophisticated sensors, more intensive interrogations of travelers by screeners trained in human behavior, and a lifting of the U.S. prohibitions against profiling. Some of the more unusual ideas are already being tested. Some aren't being given any serious consideration. Many raise troubling questions about civil liberties. All are costly. "Regulators need to accept that the current approach is outdated," said Philip Baum, editor of the London-based magazine Aviation Security International. "It may have responded to the threats of the 1960s, but it doesn't respond to the threats of the 21st century." Here's a look at some of the ideas that could shape the future of airline security:"

"A nuclear Iran would set off an unprecedented arms race in the Middle East, Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon warned Wednesday. "A nuclear Iran would destroy the world order," Ayalon told a gathering in Jerusalem. "We would see a nuclear arms race which we have never seen before." Advertisement He urged the international community to form a "united front" against Iranian nuclear aspirations. Iran was an especially dangerous state to possess an atom bomb because of its "radical, fundamentalist" regime, its "extremist policy" and its support of Islamic militant factions, he charged. Tehran was "banking on driving a wedge between the different members of the security council and the international community. "Suffice to say that I take the American president and secretary of state at their word and they are right to say and to state that all options are on the table," Ayalon warned, alluding to the possibility of a military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities in case international sanctions failed. Speculation has been rife as to whether Israel is planning such a military strike and whether it would carry out such a plan even without US support. Israeli officials have repeatedly warned that they prefer tough international sanctions, but have equally often threatened that it would not rule out military action. "

"A military strike on Iran could have the unintended consequence of stirring nationalist sentiment to the benefit of Tehran's hard-line government, U.S. General David Petraeus told Reuters. Iran's June election gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term but sparked the worst internal crisis in the Islamic Republic's history, putting internal pressure on a government already facing the threat of more sanctions over its nuclear program. "It's possible (a strike) could be used to play to nationalist tendencies," Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command region, which includes Iran, said in an interview this week. "There is certainly a history, in other countries, of fairly autocratic regimes almost creating incidents that inflame nationalist sentiment. So that could be among the many different, second, third, or even fourth order effects (of a strike)." Tensions over Iran's nuclear program have set off speculation that Israel could make good on veiled threats to hit its arch-foe pre-emptively. But Israel's envoy to Washington said in December the U.S.-Israeli dialogue on Iran has not reached the point of discussing the military option. U.S. officials, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates, have warned that any strike on Iran would not stop the Islamic Republic from pursuing nuclear weapons. Instead, it would only delay Tehran, an opinion Petraeus said he shared. Dennis Blair, the U.S. director of national intelligence, told Congress on Tuesday that Iran was keeping open the option of developing nuclear weapons but that it remained unclear whether Tehran had the political will to do so. Petraeus, commenting on advances of Iran's nuclear program, said: "On the one hand, there is no question that there has been a continuation of various aspects of the nuclear program but I'm not sure it has always proceeded as rapidly as has been projected at various times." GRADUAL BOOST IN DEFENSES Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday Iran was ready to send its enriched uraniu

"A group of prominent Muslim clerics in Yemen warned today that they will call for jihad - holy war - if the US sends troops to fight al-Qaida in Yemen. The group of 15 clergymen includes the highly influential Sheikh Abdul-Majid al-Zindani, whom the US has branded a spiritual mentor of Osama bin Laden but who is also courted by the Yemeni government. The clerics' warning goes straight to the Yemeni government's dilemma in co-operating with Washington against an al-Qaida offshoot. In doing so, Yemen's weak regime must avoid upsetting al-Zindani and other radical Islamic figures whose support it needs to stay in power. "If any foreign country insists on aggression and the invasion of the country or interference, in a military or security way, Muslim sons are duty bound to carry out jihad and fight the aggressors," the clerics said in a statement. Barack Obama has said he does not plan to send US combat troops to Yemen, though Washington is increasing counterterrorism aid and training to Yemeni forces to fight al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. Concern about the growing capabilities of Yemen's al-Qaida offshoot increased after the failed attempt to bomb a US airliner shortly before it landed in Detroit on Christmas Day. US investigators say the Nigerian suspect in the failed attack told them he received training and instructions from al-Qaida in Yemen. The group of clerics also said they believed an international conference on Yemen to be held on 27 January in London was intended to clear the way for the country's occupation by foreign nations. The conference is to be attended by the US and European countries."

"BAGHDAD - Suicide bombers struck near three hotels popular with Western journalists and businessmen Monday just as Iraq announced the execution of Saddam Hussein's notorious cousin known as "Chemical Ali." At least 37 people were killed and more than 104 injured, security officials said. The blasts - coming in a span of about 15 minutes in downtown Baghdad - came shortly before state television announced that Ali Hassan al-Majid had been hanged. There was no claim of responsibility for the latest major attacks in Baghdad - about six weeks after a series of blasts killed 127 and brought outcry against Iraq's government for repeated security lapses as U.S. troops withdraw. Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the latest bombings "represent an extension" of the activities of insurgents linked to Saddam's regime. But he stopped short of declaring the blast as possible revenge for the execution. The first explosion struck at about 3:40 p.m. local time in the parking lot of the Sheraton Hotel, toppling high concrete blast walls protecting the site and damaging a number of buildings along the Abu Nawas esplanade across the Tigris River from the Green Zone. Two other blasts followed minutes later, striking near the Babylon Hotel and Hamra Hotel, which is popular with Western journalists and foreign security contractors. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. According to initial tallies, 15 of the victims were at the Hamra, 14 at the Sheraton, and the remaining 8 died at the Babylon, including two policemen."

"WASHINGTON-The U.S.'s top intelligence officials said Tuesday that an attempted al Qaeda attack on the U.S. in the next three to six months was "certain." An official also said the Nigerian who allegedly attempted to blow up an airliner on Christmas Day was again cooperating with federal investigators. Republicans have accused the administration of squandering a chance to gain valuable intelligence from the suspect by using the civilian court system to charge him, instead of declaring him an enemy combatant and subjecting him to more interrogation. Al Qaeda remains a significant threat to the U.S., the officials said, and the group's recent evolution in tactics includes dispatching individuals who can enter the U.S. without arousing suspicion, such as the man accused of attempting the Christmas Day attack. Such tactics have created "a new degree of difficulty" for U.S. spies seeking to thwart the next attack, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Al Qaeda will remain intent on attacking in the U.S. at least until Osama bin Laden and his second in command, Ayman al Zawahiri, are killed or captured, Mr. Blair said. Al Qaeda's many affiliates are also of great concern to the spy agencies. The Yemeni affiliate, which is believed to have directed the attempted Christmas Day attack, will continue to attempt additional attacks on the U.S., Mr. Blair said. Militant groups in Pakistan are also coordinating their attacks with al Qaeda, which has led to an increase in terrorist attacks inside Pakistan as well as rising concerns the groups may expand their ambitions to attack outside Pakistan, officials said. Republican lawmakers also pressed Mr. Blair and FBI Director Robert Mueller on the decision to read Miranda rights to the alleged Christmas Day bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, rather than submit him to further interrogation. Both officials said that decisions on whether to read a terror suspect his rig

"Taking advantage of the ado surrounding the failed airliner bombing and the new prominence of the al Qaeda peril, the Obama administration has finally given up its sanctions strategy for averting the rise of a nuclear-armed Iran. US secretary of state Hillary Clinton was tasked with the public announcement: "The Obama administration wants to keep the door to dialogue open with Iran," she said Jan. 4, then added a remark which let Iran off completely of the American hook: "…although the United States has avoided using the term deadline, it cannot wait indefinitely to hear form Iran." Her words explicitly backtracked on statements by other senior administration officials, including National Security Adviser James Jones, in recent interviews that Tehran's deadline for responding to international proposals expired on Dec. 31. DEBKAfile's Iranian sources report that Tehran sees Washington as so eager to reach the negotiating table that it is falling back from effective penalties step by step, including an embargo on refined oils and benzene, and even willing to forgive Iran's failure to meet a highly publicized international deadline. "Our goal is to pressure the Iranian government, particularly the Revolutionary Guards elements without contributing to the suffering of Iranians," Clinton explained. Threatening Iran's Revolutionary Guards instead of its regime is nothing but a feeble face-saver, our Iranian sources maintain, since the IRGC, whose financial operations and its management of Iran's nuclear program subsist on alternative "black market" economic mechanisms is hardly vulnerable to international sanctions."

"In 2005, General Chi Haotian of China, its "Minister of National Defense" since 1993 to 2003, revealed in his speeches that in China's war on the U.S.A., from one-third to two-thirds of Americans would be poisoned or infected biologically by the Chinese, and their homes and property would be transferred over to Chinese settlers, since the Chinese (and not the Germans, as Chi stipulated in his speech) are the superior race and must have everything best in the world. Anyway, a slave state (China) has this advantage over a free country (the United States): it can reward (enrich!) 100 million or 200 million of its troops and its civilians with what those killed (poisoned and infected) Americans and their ancestors had been acquiring for the past two and a half centuries. In the United States , an American's betrayal of his country to China may well be seen to be his use of his freedom. This certainly applies to the U.S. Presidents, whose elections (which have little to do with the appointment of the prime minister in Britain) contradict the knowledge of mental ability, according to which the value of a thought may include its exclusivity: Einstein said that he was understood by seven people in the world. It was only owing to Einstein's letter to President Roosevelt in 1939 that the Americans got the nuclear bombs before Hitler's Germany completed its nuclear project. "

"Four missiles fired by a US drone aircraft in the northern Pakistani tribal region of North Waziristan have killed three militants, officials say. They say that a militant camp was also destroyed by the missiles. Separately Pakistani intelligence officials say US drone missiles recently killed a militant on the FBI's most-wanted terrorists list. The man, named as Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim, is believed to have died on 9 January in North Waziristan. The FBI's Web site says that Mr Rahim has a $5m bounty on his head and is wanted for his alleged role in the 1986 hijacking of Pan American World Airways flight during a stop in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi. Taliban sanctuaries More than 700 people have been killed in about 77 US drone strikes since August 2008. A surge in such strikes has been ordered by US President Barack Obama, with seven drones hitting the tribal north-west this month alone. "

"Malaysia: Churches Firebombed print story download (PDF) email story share Share on Facebook Share on MySpace! no media Eight churches have been attacked in Malaysia following a court decision that allows Christians to use "Allah" in their prayers and publications when referring to God, according to The Associated Press (AP). On Sunday, Jan. 10, three churches were firebombed. "On Sunday, a Molotov cocktail was hurled at the All Saints Church in Taiping town in central Perak state early in the morning before it opened," state police chief Zulkifli Abdullah told AP. "Police found burn marks on the wall but there was no damage to the building," he added. Despite the attacks, thousands of Christians attended services and prayed for unity and an end to the attacks. The attacks on churches began on Jan. 8 and 9, when four churches were hit with firebombs. "No one was hurt and all suffered little damage, except the Metro Tabernacle Church," AP said. "Parishioners there moved services after fire gutted the first floor." The attacks followed a Dec. 31 High Court decision overturning a government ban prohibiting non-Muslims from using the word "Allah" in prayers and literature. The court had ruled on a petition by Malaysia's Roman Catholic Church, whose main publication, the Herald, uses the word "Allah" in its Malay-language edition. The government has appealed the verdict."