InfoAnda - Al Qaeda linked to rogue aviation network |

Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case
Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They

Taiwan denies boycotting Australian film festival
Thursday, August 6, 2009

AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e

Merkel's support dips, regional ally resigns International
Thursday, September 3, 2009

By Sarah Marsh and Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German

Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street rally
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an

Lily Allen's store is doing fine despite reports | 19 July 2011
Thousands march in Yemen to demand change of government | | 28 January 2011
Landmine kills 14 in Cambodia | | 17 November 2010

Chris Brown commended for progress on probation | 19 November 2010

Forum Views () Forum Replies ()

Read more with google mobile : Al Qaeda linked to rogue aviation network |

Edition: U.S. Article Comments (0) Save Email Print Reprints Most Popular Most Shared Thousands feared dead as major quake strikes Haiti | Video 9:16am EST Obama to announce TARP fee on banks on Thursday 7:56am EST Wall Street frets over Google's future in China | Video 9:11am EST Venezuela plans blackouts in Caracas, oil town 12 Jan 2010 Big Haiti quake topples buildings, casualties seen 12 Jan 2010 Thousands feared dead as major quake strikes Haiti | Video 9:16am EST Wall Street frets over Google's future in China | Video 9:11am EST Netflix in deal with Nintendo to show movies on Wii 7:43am EST Why those fat thighs may help you live longer 12 Jan 2010 WHO to review its handling of H1N1 flu pandemic 12 Jan 2010 Al Qaeda linked to rogue aviation network Tim Gaynor and Tiemoko Diallo TIMBUKTU, Mali Wed Jan 13, 2010 9:58am EST Related News Study says Europe's 12 million cocaine users risk lives 3:02am EST Three in al Qaeda drug case plead not guilty in NY Wed, Jan 6 2010 Colombia rebels, al Qaeda in "unholy" drug alliance Tue, Jan 5 2010 Al Qaeda says kidnapped Italians in Africa: report Mon, Dec 28 2009 Italian couple kidnapped in Mauritania Sat, Dec 19 2009 TIMBUKTU, Mali (Reuters) - In early 2008, an official at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security sent a report to his superiors detailing what he called "the most significant development in the criminal exploitation of aircraft since 9/11." World | Barack Obama | Mexico The document warned that a growing fleet of rogue jet aircraft was regularly crisscrossing the Atlantic Ocean. On one end of the air route, it said, are cocaine-producing areas in the Andes controlled by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. On the other are some of West Africa's most unstable countries. The report, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, was ignored, and the problem has since escalated into what security officials in several countries describe as a global security threat. The clandestine fleet has grown to include twin-engine turboprops, executive jets and retired Boeing 727s that are flying multi-ton loads of cocaine and possibly weapons to an area in Africa where factions of al Qaeda are believed to be facilitating the smuggling of drugs to Europe, the officials say. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has been held responsible for car and suicide bombings in Algeria and Mauritania. Gunmen and bandits with links to AQIM have also stepped up kidnappings of Europeans for ransom, who are then passed on to AQIM factions seeking ransom payments. The aircraft hopscotch across South American countries, picking up tons of cocaine and jet fuel, officials say. They then soar across the Atlantic to West Africa and the Sahel, where the drugs are funneled across the Sahara Desert and into Europe. An examination of documents and interviews with officials in the United States and three West African nations suggest that at least 10 aircraft have been discovered using this air route since 2006. Officials warn that many of these aircraft were detected purely by chance. They caution that the real number involved in the networks is likely considerably higher. Alexandre Schmidt, regional representative for West and Central Africa for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, cautioned in Dakar this week that the aviation network has expanded in the past 12 months and now likely includes several Boeing 727 aircraft. "When you have this high capacity for transporting drugs into West Africa, this means that you have the capacity to transport as well other goods, so it is definitely a threat to security anywhere in the world," said Schmidt. The "other goods" officials are most worried about are weapons that militant organizations can smuggle on the jet aircraft. A Boeing 727 can handle up to 10 tons of cargo. The U.S. official who wrote the report for the Department of Homeland Security said the al Qaeda connection was unclear at the time. The official is a counter-narcotics aviation expert who asked to remain anonymous as he is not authorized to speak on the record. He said he was dismayed by the lack of attention to the matter since he wrote the report. "You've got an established terrorist connection on this side of the Atlantic. Now on the Africa side you have the al Qaeda connection and it's extremely disturbing and a little bit mystifying that it's not one of the top priorities of the government," he said. Since the September 11 attacks, the security system for passenger air traffic has been ratcheted up in the United States and throughout much of the rest of the world, with the latest measures imposed just weeks ago after a failed bomb attempt on a Detroit-bound plane on December 25. "The bad guys have responded with their own aviation network that is out there everyday flying loads and moving contraband," said the official, "and the government seems to be oblivious to it." The upshot, he said, is that militant organizations -- including groups like the FARC and al Qaeda -- have the "power to move people and material and contraband anywhere around the world with a couple of fuel stops." The lucrative drug trade is already having a deleterious impact on West African nations. Local authorities told Reuters they are increasingly outgunned and unable to stop the smugglers. And significantly, many experts say, the drug trafficking is bringing in huge revenues to groups that say they are part of al Qaeda. It's swelling not just their coffers but also their ranks, they say, as drug money is becoming an effective recruiting tool in some of the world's most desperately poor regions. U.S. President Barack Obama has chided his intelligence officials for not pooling information "to connect those dots" to prevent threats from being realized. But these dots, scattered across two continents like flaring traces on a radar screen, remain largely unconnected and the fleets themselves are still flying. THE AFRICAN CONNECTION The deadly cocaine trade always follows the money, and its cash-flush traffickers seek out the routes that are the mostly lightly policed. Beset by corruption and poverty, weak countries across West Africa have become staging platforms for transporting between 30 tons and 100 tons of cocaine each year that ends up in Europe, according to U.N. estimates. Drug trafficking, though on a much smaller scale, has existed here and elsewhere on the continent since at least the late 1990s, according to local authorities and U.S. enforcement officials. Earlier this decade, sea interdictions were stepped up. So smugglers developed an air fleet that is able to transport tons of cocaine from the Andes to African nations that include Mauritania, Mali, Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau. What these countries have in common are numerous disused landing strips and makeshift runways -- most without radar or police presence. Guinea Bissau has no aviation radar at all. As fleets grew, so, too, did the drug trade. The DEA says all aircraft seized in West Africa had departed Venezuela. That nation's location on the Caribbean and Atlantic seaboard of South America makes it an ideal takeoff place for drug flights bound for Africa, they say. A number of aircraft have been retrofitted with additional fuel tanks to allow in-flight refueling -- a technique innovated by Mexico's drug smugglers. (Cartel pilots there have been known to stretch an aircraft's flight range by putting a water mattress filled with aviation fuel in the cabin, then stacking cargoes of marijuana bundles on top to act as an improvised fuel pump.) Ploys used by the cartel aviators to mask the flights include fraudulent pilot certificates, false registration documents and altered tail numbers to steer clear of law enforcement lookout lists, investigators say. Some aircraft have also been found without air-worthiness certificates or log books. When smugglers are forced to abandon them, they torch them to destroy forensic and other evidence like serial numbers. The evidence suggests that some Africa-bound cocaine jets also file a regional flight plan to avoid arousing suspicion from investigators. They then subsequently change them at the last minute, confident that their switch will go undetected. One Gulfstream II jet, waiting with its engines running to take on 2.3 tons of cocaine at Margarita Island in Venezuela, requested a last-minute flight plan change to war-ravaged Sierra Leone in West Africa. It was nabbed moments later by Venezuelan troops, the report seen by Reuters showed. Once airborne, the planes soar to altitudes used by commercial jets. They have little fear of interdiction as there is no long-range radar coverage over the Atlantic. Current detection efforts by U.S. authorities, using fixed radar and P3 aircraft, are limited to traditional Caribbean and north Atlantic air and marine transit corridors. The aircraft land at airports, disused runways or improvised air strips in Africa. One bearing a false Red Cross emblem touched down without authorization onto an unlit strip at Lungi International Airport in Sierra Leone in 2008, according to a U.N. report. Late last year a Boeing 727 landed on an improvised runway using the hard-packed sand of a Tuareg camel caravan route in Mali, where local officials said smugglers offloaded between 2 and 10 tons of cocaine before dousing the jet with fuel and burning it after it failed to take off again For years, traffickers in Mexico have bribed officials to allow them to land and offload cocaine flights at commercial airports. That's now happening in Africa as well. In July 2008, troops in coup-prone Guinea Bissau secured Bissau international airport to allow an unscheduled cocaine flight to land, according to Edmundo Mendes, a director with the Judicial Police. "When we got there, the soldiers were protecting the aircraft," said Mendes, who tried to nab the Gulfstream II jet packed with an estimated $50 million in cocaine but was blocked by the military. "The soldiers verbally threatened us," he said. The cocaine was never recovered. Just last week, Reuters photographed two aircraft at Osvaldo Vieira International Airport in Guinea Bissau -- one had been dispatched by traffickers from Senegal to try to repair the other, a Gulfstream II jet, after it developed mechanical problems. Police seized the second aircraft. FLYING BLIND One of the clearest indications of how much this aviation network has advanced was the discovery, on November 2, of the burned out fuselage of an aging Boeing 727. Local authorities found it resting on its side in rolling sands in Mali. In several ways, the use of such an aircraft marks a significant advance for smugglers. Boeing jetliners, like the one discovered in Mali, can fly a cargo of several tons into remote areas. They also require a three-man crew -- a pilot, co pilot and flight engineer, primarily to manage the complex fuel system dating from an era before automation. Hundreds of miles to the west, in the sultry, former Portuguese colony of Guinea Bissau, national Interpol director Calvario Ahukharie said several abandoned airfields, including strips used at one time by the Portuguese military, had recently been restored by "drug mafias" for illicit flights. "In the past, the planes coming from Latin America usually landed at Bissau airport," Ahukharie said as a generator churned the feeble air-conditioning in his office during one of the city's frequent blackouts. "But now they land at airports in southern and eastern Bissau where the judicial police have no presence." Ahukharie said drug flights are landing at Cacine, in eastern Bissau, and Bubaque in the Bijagos Archipelago, a chain of more than 80 islands off the Atlantic coast. Interpol said it hears about the flights from locals, although they have been unable to seize aircraft, citing a lack of resources. The drug trade, by both air and sea, has already had a devastating impact on Guinea Bissau. A dispute over trafficking has been linked to the assassination of the military chief of staff, General Batista Tagme Na Wai in 2009. Hours later, the country's president, Joao Bernardo Vieira, was hacked to death by machete in his home. Asked how serious the issue of air trafficking remained for Guinea Bissau, Ahukharie was unambiguous: "The problem is grave." The situation is potentially worse in the Sahel-Sahara, where cocaine is arriving by the ton. There it is fed into well-established overland trafficking routes across the Sahara where government influence is limited and where factions of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have become increasingly active. The group, previously known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, is raising millions of dollars from the kidnap of Europeans. Analysts say militants strike deals of convenience with Tuareg rebels and smugglers of arms, cigarettes and drugs. According to a growing pattern of evidence, the group may now be deriving hefty revenues from facilitating the smuggling of FARC-made cocaine to the shores of Europe. UNHOLY ALLIANCE In December, Antonio Maria Costa, the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, told a special session of the UN Security Council that drugs were being traded by "terrorists and anti-government forces" to fund their operations from the Andes, to Asia and the African Sahel. "In the past, trade across the Sahara was by caravans," he said. "Today it is larger in size, faster at delivery and more high-tech, as evidenced by the debris of a Boeing 727 found on November 2nd in the Gao region of Mali -- an area affected by insurgency and terrorism." Just days later, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials arrested three West African men following a sting operation in Ghana. The men, all from Mali, were extradited to New York on December 16 on drug trafficking and terrorism charges. Oumar Issa, Harouna Toure, and Idriss Abelrahman are accused of plotting to transport cocaine across Africa with the intent to support al Qaeda, its local affiliate AQIM and the FARC. The charges provided evidence of what the DEA's top official in Colombia described to a Reuters reporter as "an unholy alliance between South American narco-terrorists and Islamic extremists." Some experts are skeptical, however, that the men are any more than criminals. They questioned whether the drug dealers oversold their al Qaeda connections to get their hands on the cocaine. In its criminal complaint, the DEA said Toure had led an armed group affiliated to al Qaeda that could move the cocaine from Ghana through North Africa to Spain for a fee of $2,000 per kilo for transportation and protection. Toure discussed two different overland routes with an undercover informant. One was through Algeria and Morocco; the other via Algeria to Libya. He told the informer that the group had worked with al Qaeda to transport between one and two tons of hashish to Tunisia, as well as smuggle Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi migrants into Spain. In any event, AQIM has been gaining in notoriety. Security analysts warn that cash stemming from the trans-Saharan coke trade could transform the organization -- a small, agile group whose southern-Sahel wing is estimated to number between 100 and 200 men -- into a more potent threat in the region that stretches from Mauritania to Niger. It is an area with huge foreign investments in oil, mining and a possible trans-Sahara gas pipeline. "These groups are going to have a lot more money than they've had before, and I think you are going to see them with much more sophisticated weapons," said Douglas Farah, a senior fellow at the International Assessment Strategy Center, a Washington based security think-tank. NARCOTIC INDUSTRIAL DEPOT The Timbuktu region covers more than a third of northern Mali, where the parched, scrubby Sahel shades into the endless, rolling dunes of the Sahara Desert. It is an area several times the size of Switzerland, much of it beyond state control. Moulaye Haidara, the customs official, said the sharp influx of cocaine by air has transformed the area into an "industrial depot" for cocaine. Sitting in a cool, dark, mud-brick office building in the city where nomadic Tuareg mingle with Arabs and African Songhay, Fulani and Mande peoples, Haidara expresses alarm at the challenge local law enforcement faces. Using profits from the trade, the smugglers have already bought "automatic weapons, and they are very determined," Haidara said. He added that they "call themselves Al Qaeda," though he believes the group had nothing to do with religion, but used it as "an ideological base." Local authorities say four-wheel-drive Toyota SUVs outfitted with GPS navigation equipment and satellite telephones are standard issue for smugglers. Residents say traffickers deflate the tires to gain better traction on the loose Saharan sands, and can travel at speeds of up to 70 miles-per-hour in convoys along routes to North Africa. Timbuktu governor, Colonel Mamadou Mangara, said he believes traffickers have air-conditioned tents that enable them to operate in areas of the Sahara where summer temperatures are so fierce that they "scorch your shoes." He added that the army lacked such equipment. A growing number of people in the impoverished region, where transport by donkey cart and camel are still common, are being drawn to the trade. They can earn 4 to 5 million CFA Francs (roughly $9-11,000) on just one coke run. "Smuggling can be attractive to people here who can make only $100 or $200 a month," said Mohamed Ag Hamalek, a Tuareg tourist guide in Timbuktu, whose family until recently earned their keep hauling rock salt by camel train, using the stars to navigate the Sahara. Haidara described northern Mali as a no-go area for the customs service. "There is now a red line across northern Mali, nobody can go there," he said, sketching a map of the country on a scrap of paper with a ballpoint pen. "If you go there with feeble means ... you don't come back." TWO-WAY TRADE Speaking in Dakar this week, Schmidt, the U.N. official, said that growing clandestine air traffic required urgent action on the part of the international community. "This should be the highest concern for governments ... For West African countries, for West European countries, for Russia and the U.S., this should be very high on the agenda," he said. Stopping the trade, as the traffickers are undoubtedly aware, is a huge challenge -- diplomatically, structurally and economically. Venezuela, the takeoff or refueling point for aircraft making the trip, has a confrontational relationship with Colombia, where President Alvaro Uribe has focused on crushing the FARC's 45-year-old insurgency. The nation's leftist leader, Hugo Chavez, won't allow in the DEA to work in the country. In a measure of his hostility to Washington, he scrambled two F16 fighter jets last week to intercept an American P3 aircraft -- a plane used to seek out and track drug traffickers -- which he said had twice violated Venezuelan airspace. He says the United States and Colombia are using anti-drug operations as a cover for a planned invasion of his oil-rich country. Washington and Bogota dismiss the allegation. In terms of curbing trafficking, the DEA has by far the largest overseas presence of any U.S. federal law enforcement, with 83 offices in 62 countries. But it is spread thin in Africa where it has just four offices -- in Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt and South Africa -- though there are plans to open a fifth office in Kenya. Law enforcement agencies from Europe as well as Interpol are also at work to curb the trade. But locally, officials are quick to point out that Africa is losing the war on drugs. The most glaring problem, as Mali's example shows, is a lack of resources. The only arrests made in connection with the Boeing came days after it was found in the desert -- and those incarcerated turned out to be desert nomads cannibalizing the plane's aluminum skin, probably to make cooking pots. They were soon released. Police in Guinea Bissau, meanwhile, told Reuters they have few guns, no money for gas for vehicles given by donor governments and no high security prison to hold criminals. Corruption is also a problem. The army has freed several traffickers charged or detained by authorities seeking to tackle the problem, police and rights groups said. Serious questions remain about why Malian authorities took so long to report the Boeing's discovery to the international law enforcement community. What is particularly worrying to U.S. interests is that the networks of aircraft are not just flying one way -- hauling coke to Africa from Latin America -- but are also flying back to the Americas. The internal Department of Homeland Security memorandum reviewed by Reuters cited one instance in which an aircraft from Africa landed in Mexico with passengers and unexamined cargo. The Gulfstream II jet arrived in Cancun, by way of Margarita Island, Venezuela, en route from Africa. The aircraft, which was on an aviation watch list, carried just two passengers. One was a U.S. national with no luggage, the other a citizen of the Republic of Congo with a diplomatic passport and a briefcase, which was not searched. "The obvious huge concern is that you have a transportation system that is capable of transporting tons of cocaine from west to east," said the aviation specialist who wrote the Homeland Security report. "But it's reckless to assume that nothing is coming back, and when there's terrorist organizations on either side of this pipeline, it should be a high priority to find out what is coming back on those airplanes." (Additional reporting by Tiemoko Diallo in Mali, Alberto Dabo in Guinea Bissau and Hugh Bronstein in Colombia, editing by Jim Impoco and Claudia Parsons) World Barack Obama Mexico Add a Comment More from Reuters Barons of Wall Street testify to crisis panel WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chiefs of Wall Street's biggest firms defended the lucrative pay practices and huge size of their businesses, but conceded regulatory changes are needed at the first hearing of a congressional commission investigating the 2008 global financial crisis. Wall Street frets over Google's future in China | Video Obama budget could include spending cuts Wall Street opens up on Kraft outlook Cadbury defenders step up fight as Kraft closes in Iran knew Israel, U.S. planned "terrorist acts": speaker » More Top News Haiti quake leaves many dead A major earthquake toppled the presidential palace and hillside shanties alike, leaving the poor Caribbean nation appealing for international help. Full Article | Slideshow Live coverage of the Haiti earthquake Factbox: Quake-stricken Haiti Send us your photos and videos NATURAL DISASTERS John Foley: Google's broken links Ditching the world’s biggest group of Web surfers makes a powerful statement about free speech but could be good for business, too. Commentary U.S., Google and China square off Will Internet majors back Google? Verdict: Don't take Google threat lightly Factbox: Google's footprint in China Google © Copyright 2010 Thomson Reuters Editorial Editions: Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom United States Reuters Contact Us Advertise With Us Help Journalism Handbook Archive Site Index Video Index Analyst Research Mobile Newsletters RSS Podcasts Widgets Your View Labs Thomson Reuters Copyright Disclaimer Privacy Professional Products Professional Products Support Financial Products About Thomson Reuters Careers Online Products Acquisitions Monthly Buyouts.com Buyouts Europe: Buyouts Conferences: Venture Capital Journal ECVJ International Financing Review International Securitisation Report Project Finance International PEhub.com PE Week Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

Other News on Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Iran blames U.S. "agents" for killing of scientist
Woman who saved Anne Frank's diary dead at 100
AOL says to close German, French offices
Nigerian's trips may offer clue to U.S. attack plot |
Record profit for US central bank
China shuts down, blocks 15,000 porn websites: state media
Afghan war should stay out of Pakistan: FM
New evidence of Qaeda tie to Madrid blast: expert |
France accepts Google role in book scanning
Parents of Madeleine McCann face accuser in court
Airbus warns military plane failure threatens company
US trade deficit widens as imports grow
Q+A: What's driving China's latest Web crackdown
Abbas spurns US effort to revive Mideast talks
'Nazi guard' lawyer calls for trial suspension
Yemen negotiates as Western hostages located in war zone
Iran court opens trial of 7 Baha'is on spy charges
Shanda Games buys U.S. firm to expand global presence
U.S. forces fight Taliban in Afghan south, 13 rebels dead |
Hundreds of Yemeni rebels slain in clashes: Saudi official |
Forrester sees global tech spending rebound in 2010
Hamas seeks to lower tension with Egypt, Israel |
eMusic inks Warner deal; plans for streaming
Iraqi forces seize explosives, arrest 25 in raids
Venezuela plans blackouts in Caracas, oil town |
Mexico captures major Tijuana drug gang leader |
Turkey demands Israeli apology as ties sour |
Indonesian govt red-faced over prison perks
Alaska man gets 189 years for dad's machete murder
Cambodian PM says Thai government will not survive
One dead, scores injured in China land brawl: witnesses
2 hairstylists arrive in the Salahi probe
China takes new steps to curb bank lending
NYC: Nigeria owes millions in unpaid taxes
US tells Afghans to grow grapes not opium poppy
Historian: Marriage about more than procreation
Gunman kills 2, wounds 1 in Japanese bar shooting
Intel to start tech earnings season with bang |
Thai policemen charged in missing Saudi man case
Gov. O'Malley to Gov. Patrick: Pony up the lobster
Thai court to rule on Thaksin's fortune next month
Brother of tourist slain in Fla. pleads for help
Moderate quake strikes off Indonesia
Biden eulogizes mother, calls her courageous
Sri Lankan woman killed in election-related attack
APNewsBreak: Removal or censure for NY senator
U.S. East Coast port shut after explosives spill
US port shut as 'highly explosive' containers punctured
Carlyle, Beijing set up yuan-based investment fund
Nissan aims to expand in US, boost image with electric Leaf
Hyundai eyeing a growing share of US auto market
Pakistan economy expected to grow despite militancy: bank
Johnny Depp in Serbia for Kusturica's film festival
Incoming EU trade chief lashes out at China
India's Bharti acquires control of Bangladesh telecom firm
India's Infosys reports 0.6 pct rise in profit
S&P affirms China's sovereign credit ratings
NY's top court rejects Rather's appeal against CBS
Cybill Shepherd's son charged in mid-air thefts
NY top court rejects Dan Rather appeal in CBS case |
On this rare map, China is the center of the world
Spain posts drop in domestic violence victims in 2009
Sarah Palin to debut as Fox News pundit Tuesday
New York restaurants urged to cut back on salt
Matt Morris parlays Disney contacts for new CD
Mary J. Blige to headline 2010 Essence Fest
Johnny Depp in Serbia for Kusturica's film festival
Nominees announced for $20,000 Story Prize
Nine dead in Koran protest shooting in Afghanistan: police
N.Ireland parties hopeful of crisis deal
Big Haiti quake topples buildings, many casualties |
Google may pull out of China over censorship
Palin combative in Fox TV commentator debut
Despite dismal economy, luxury on display at US auto show
Aide to ex-UK PM denies 'sexing up' Iraq dossier
Turkey demands Israeli apology as ties sour
Yemeni al Qaeda cell leader killed: state media |
Online ReputationDefender wins investor backing
A low blow: Israel puts Turkey down with snub
AP stories not welcomed at Google for now
Cash-short North Korea opens up to U.S. tourists |
Suicide bomber kills 7 in Iraq's Anbar province |
Intel to start tech earnings season with a bang
Bomb plot against ministries in Baghdad thwarted
Forrester sees IT spending rebound in 2010
Turkey says again Israel Gaza attack hurt peace
Iran accuses US, Israel of murdering nuclear scientist
Guinea's Camara arrives in Burkina Faso |
Hamas seeks to lower tension with Egypt, Israel
Turkey demands Israeli apology as ties sour |
Colombian ruling backs Uribe re-election bid |
Mexico captures major Tijuana drug gang leader |
Google may quit China over censorship |
Facebook taps McAfee to shield users from attacks |
Chinese Internet activists applaud Google, see no backdown |
Man on FBI's most wanted list returned to LA
Arson eyed in 5 east Texas church fires this month
White House credits stimulus with up to 2M jobs
NKorea warns SKorea over propaganda leaflets
Philippine massacre witness implicates suspects
Report: Obama team has too many vacancies
Former Army captain sentenced for stealing $400K
Train hits school bus in Pakistan, 8 children die
Rape investigation of David Copperfield closed
S.Korea jails N.Korea spy for 10 years
2 Americans reported trapped in wreckage in Haiti
Judge: Roeder can try to make manslaughter defense
China plans security spending hike in Xinjiang
NY cabbie returns $21K in purse to passenger
142,800 gallons of fuel spilled on Alaska island
Notorious criminal escapes Papua New Guinea prison
US lawmaker upbeat on Japan war views
Most Taiwanese oppose smoking on the move
Philippines concerned over UN staff in quake-hit Haiti
Students fake foreign status to enter China universities
Google to end China censorship after e-mail breach
Baidu shares up as Google threatens to quit China
JAL shares dive 81 percent on bankruptcy fears
PAKISTAN
Asia markets lower as China moves to curb credit
Jetstar Pacific airline safety violations: reports
Asian carmakers scope deeper inroads in US market
Second year of shortfall as Taiwan passes 2010 budget
NZ commodity prices rise in December
NZ employee sentiment hit year-high in Q4 -survey
Simon and Garfunkel to perform at Jazz Fest
Could "Precious" director break Oscar barrier?
Conan O'Brien refuses "Tonight Show" move, NBC quiet
Conan O'Brien refuses Tonight Show move, NBC quiet |
Duffy recruits diverse duo for second album
Lost creators promise cocktail of answers, mystery |
ABC orders "Bachelor" all-stars spin-off
Could Precious director break Oscar barrier? |
Conan O'Brien says no thanks to NBC move
Peter Sarsgaard to play "Green Lantern" villain
Conan O'Brien to quit if 'Tonight Show' rescheduled
ABC orders Bachelor all-stars spin-off |
Unreleased Hendrix recordings set for album
Sony to open new chapter in Spider-Man saga |
"Lost" creators promise "cocktail" of answers, mystery
Peter Sarsgaard to play Green Lantern villain |
Duffy recruits diverse duo for second album |
In Iran, money talks with protest slogans
Germany 2009 recession worst since 1930s
LG bets on Android to boost phone sales 20 percent
New snowfalls heap more misery on shivering Europe
Chinese Internet activists applaud Google, see no backdown
Al Qaeda linked to rogue aviation network |
2009 deadliest year for Afghan civilians: UN
Common blood-pressure drug also combats dementia
2009 deadliest year of war for Afghan civilians: U.N. |
Suicide bomber kills 7 in Iraq's Anbar province
Facebook taps McAfee to shield users from attacks
Turkey threatens to recall Israel envoy |
Pakistan says U.S. drone attacks could hurt ties |
Ahmadinejad slams Saudi role in Yemen conflict |
Iran knew Israel, U.S. planned terrorist acts: speaker |
Italy's PM Berlusconi says will not suspend trials by decree |
Amsterdam-Aruba flight diverted after bomb threat |
LG bets on Android to boost phone sales 20 percent
The nation's weather
US agencies coordinating Haiti rescue efforts
2 US troops, 4 Afghan troops killed in Afghanistan
LG bets on Android to boost phone sales 20 percent |
Gay marriage trial revives camera controversy
State media: 8 Chinese peacekeepers die in Haiti
HK legislators urge China to release dissident
Fatal gunplay in Maine sex dungeon leads to trial
Adobe software may have been exploited in cyber attack |
North Korea says it will allow American tourists
Philippine witness says massacre suspect shot victims
Ex-worker charged in Ga. fatal workplace shooting
Philippine massacre witness implicates suspects
Obama wants record $708 billion for wars next year
Masses gather in India for Hindu festival
Bank CEOs: We underestimated 2008 financial crisis
Nepal asks UN for extension of peace mission
Japan holds Philippine transsexuals for fake marriages
Iran speaker accuses Israel, CIA of killing scientist
2 US troops, 4 Afghan police killed in Afghanistan
Haitian-Americans worry about devastated homeland
Pakistani o/n rates flat; rupee firms
JAL shares down 81 percent amid feared bankruptcy
Pakistan to announce monetary policy on Jan. 30
Indonesia back-tracks on China trade pact
Indonesian rage over luxury jail cells for wealthy
Seoul shares fall, led by steelmakers and shipyards
China fund's 2009 return may pass 10 pct: report
Taiwan stocks at 2-wk closing low, China policy weighs
Seoul shares fall led by steelmakers, shipyards
Vietnam Airlines 2009 profit falls 42 percent
Sentencing for Ohio chief in Parker-Broderick case
Greying China: getting old before getting rich
Vancouver winter Games: transportation still big issue
Afghan town evicts addicts in desperation
Vancouver Stockpiles Snow For 2010 Winter Games
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights

USD EUR - 1 year graph	VPN on MacOSX	BlogMeter 1.01