Risk of Terror Strike and Vedic Mantras in US Senate
Post Modern Manusmriti is the sperit og New global World as America's appetite for natural resources unquenched
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com
PUBLIC FORUM
Defend the Right to Protest Bush
Rob Stary Melbourne lawyer for Jack Thomas, the ?Barwon 13? and G20 protesters
Peter McClelland NSW president, CFMEU
Michael Bozic barrister, NSW Council of Civil Liberties
Wendy Bacon UTS journalist and academic
Monday July 16, 7pm
University of Technology, Sydney
Building 2, Level 4, Room 11 $5 recommended donation
Contact Alex 0413 976 638 James 0438 18 348 Anna 0401 900 698
Organised by Sydney Stop Bush Coalition
www.stopbush2007.org
Dear all
Send this information to as many people as possible in USA and elsewhere, People from India should also write to senators in USA.
Concern:
On 12th July US senate is planing to be opened with vedic mantras. Vedic religious scriptures regulates the caste and race in India. The chanting of mantras will support such vedic rituals for 'untouchability' and 'racial injustice' , US senate being strong defender against racial injustice, should not allow this injustice against race and untouchability.
Reference:
Hindu Prayer Will Open Senate
http://www.crosswal k.com/news/ 11545475/
http://www.organise r.org/dynamic/ modules.php? name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=184&page=27

What you can do
Please Sign this petition and send it across. So that maximum people sign it.
http://www.gopetition.com/online/13139.html

The captured chief cleric of the Red Mosque was allowed to lead funeral prayers for his slain brother Thursday, and forecast that the death of the mosque's militant defenders would push Pakistan toward an "Islamic revolution."A suicide blast and a separate roadside bombing killed eight people in Pakistan Thursday, officials said, as a deadly army raid on militants in an Islamabad mosque sparked Islamist anger.Journalists were shown a blackened room in the mosque's religious school where an army spokesman said a suicide bomber died along with a half-dozen victims whose bodies were so badly burned it was impossible to tell their age or gender.Cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi was killed on Tuesday along with a handful of hardcore militants he had gathered around him in his drive to impose strict Islamic rule on the capital.In contrast to the graveside scenes in Punjab, the burials of scores of Ghazi's supporters took place before daybreak at a cemetery in Islamabad. No relatives were present.Meanwhile, parents and relatives frantically searched hospitals, hoping to find missing children.
A cleric read verses from the Koran, the Muslim holy book, although full funeral rites were not observed, according to a Reuters photographer present. There were no names on the coffins, only number codes.
"All the victims have been fingerprinted and photographed and their DNA test has been taken to help parents and relatives identity them, then the bodies will be handed over," said Rana Akbar Hayat, a senior city administrator supervising the burials.
An American Airlines flight was diverted to New York early on Thursday after the crew reported a suspicious passenger in what the U.S. homeland security chief later said may have been a misunderstanding. The Transportation Security Administration said American Flight 136 from Los Angeles to London made an emergency landing at JFK Airport around 4 a.m.The decision to divert was made after a flight attendant became suspicious about the behavior of one of the passengers, the airline said in a statement.American Airlines said the passenger has been handed over to the FBI. It offered no further details.
Conditions in this subcontinent are reflected best in the death of a female elephant in Tuesday’s firing on a herd, which crossed into Nepal from West Bengal.This incident has raised concerns over the safety of animals migrating across international borders in the region. Five other elephants were injured. The West Bengal Government intends taking up the matter with Nepalese authorities, Forest Minister Ananta Ray told The Hindu here on Wednesday. We may understand what the ruling classes do behave with human migration accross the border considering trans border terrorism and growing risk of terror strikes!
World refugee total rises
WASHINGTON — The number of refugees worldwide increased by nearly 2 million last year, driving the total to nearly 14 million, the highest level since 2001, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants reported.
Risk of terror strike grows
By Josh Meyer
Al Qaeda has regrouped in Pakistan, intelligence officials say. But they know of no specific threat against the U.S.
VIDEO
In Washington,Craig Cohen, deputy chief of staff at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, was online Wednesday, July 11, at 2 p.m. ET to discuss the deadly military raid at Pakistan's Red Mosque -- which ended an eight-day standoff with anti-government, pro-Taliban forces -- and the impact it will have on President Pervez Musharraf's control of the U.S.-allied country. US intelligence chiefs urged Pakistan to wage a more vigorous pursuit of terrorism, warning that its lawless region bordering Afghanistan has become a sanctuary for Al-Qaeda and Taliban diehards.Pakistan's army said Thursday that women and children may have been among those killed in the Red Mosque raid, as the burials of militants killed in the assault sparked angry Islamist protests. While Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said Thursday in an address to the nation that the raid on Islamabad's Red Mosque was "inevitable" because it was a centre for extremism.

"I am sad over the loss of lives in the operation but it became inevitable for Pakistan," Musharraf said, in his first comments since the assault this week that left at least 86 people dead, most of them militants.He said the mosque and its adjoining girls' Islamic school had been "freed from the hands of terrorists."
Military ruler Musharraf, wearing a dark suit and tie instead of his army uniform for the speech on state television, also urged the country's thousands of Islamic schools or madrassas to preach moderation.
Well, here you are!
The Pakistan story has got its roots in Washington, right in the white house! Which has adopted all Zionist and Hindu Vaidiki rituals to implement Post modern Manusmriti to transfrom this planet in a Global colony and rule the Galaxy. This is the Star Wars, the most sought after dream of Ameriacanism! To boost the new Global order all the comradors including those who rule this subcontinent under Brahminical rotten syestem have been Americanised! It happens to be the chemistry of a President General in Uniform as well as the Slave leaders of other so called Democracies including India and Bangladesh! It is also the chemistry of a Buddhadev Bhattachary or a Narendra Modi as well! Contrarily,with the land acquisition row a major roadblock to industrialisation, the business community in West Bengal has come out in favour of proper rehabilitation packages for displaced farmers, to avoid a Singur-like scenario in future.Investment Climate Survey Report, a recent study by the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC), pointed out that 80 percent respondents from the business community felt the state government 'must chalk out suitable rehabilitation packages' for displaced farmers before formally handing over land to industrial units.
According to the report, a sizable proportion of the respondents (37.5 percent) who participated in the survey felt the state government must not stop the land acquisition process for promoting industrial growth in West Bengal.
ICC president Harsh K. Jha released the report here Wednesday evening. About 150 industrial houses in Bengal were chosen as respondents to gauge several political and industrial issues related to future investment opportunities in the state.
The government of India Thursday cleared the way for development of 27 special economic zones (SEZ) in the country, including Mukesh Ambani's multi-product SEZ in Navi Mumbai. The go-ahead was given at a meeting of the Board of Approvals (BOA) on special economic zones presided over by Commerce Secretary G.K. Pillai here.The meeting, called to examine 39 proposals from all over the country, gave formal go ahead to 21 applications. Six were given in-principle approval, as some clarifications are required.
Kolkata: Strong action would be taken against any attempt to foment trouble in the name of democratic movement in West Bengal over land acquisition, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today. Capitalist marxist Chief Minister of West Bengal also speaks in a language branded for Bush, Blair or Musharraf!He said the government now can not go back from its commitment of having four new steel industrial units and a power plant at Katowa in Burdwan district. He said for this the NH 34 was being widened.The chief minsiter said the state has about one crore 35 acres of agricultrual land, of them only one per cent was fallow land compared to 17 per cent in the country. He said the state needed some one lakh acres of land for industrialisation, which was only one per cent.

The government would not surrender to any threat and the police would take action to contain violence and any bid to demolish a factory or its wall, Bhattcharjee said in his reply to the debate on the budgetary demands for grants for Home (Police) Department in the assembly. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee had in the past claimed that the wall of the Tata Motors plant at Singur would be pulled down.The Chief Minister, at the same time, sought the cooperation of the Opposition parties to industrialise the state in the interest of thousands of unemployed youth.
Bhattacharjee said though the state was a late starter in industrialisation after formulating its industrial policy in 1994, efforts for wooing investors had begun yielding fruits. Under no circumstances, would the state government allow violence to spoil the process, he said.
Referring to the acquired land at Singur and would be acquired at Katowa and Siliguri, he said all efforts would be taken so that land losers were given for proper support for living.
Referring to proposed steel factory at Salboni by Jindal group, he said local people will have tremendous employment opportunity there, besides compensation for land.Mr Bhattacharjee said if the proposed chemical hub at Haldia was established, it could create job opportunities for some one lakh people as setting up one textile unit and three rubber plants were being proposed besides many ancillary units.The chief minister was addresssing a function after laying the foundation stone for rehabilitation of shopkeepers, whose sites were taken for widening of roads at Raja SP Mallick road in south Kolkata.

Facing Left Opposition, West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi today scotched media reports that he was a likely candidate for the vice-presidenship, saying he had made his "disinclination" clear when he was informally sounded out for the post. The UPA-Left’s candidate for Vice President need not be a someone with a political background, CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat said on Thursday in New Delhi.

The ongoing India-Britain joint air drill at this Royal Air Force (RAF) base primarily not only involves flying activities but also involves a mammoth logistical exercise that is largely out of the public eye.Visiting Australian Defence Minister Brendan Nelson called for beefed-up criminal investigation ties with India to speed up probes into attacks such as the failed bombings in Britain.On the other hand, India and Israel are to enter into a Rs.100 billion ($2.5 billion) joint venture to develop a medium-range missile for the Indian Air Force (IAF) to replace its ageing Soviet-era Pichora weapon system.India on Thursday announced a $320 million relief package for exporters hit by a rising rupee, including cuts in bank lending rates for the worst-affected sectors and increased tax breaks.India’s successful mega share offerings are creating waves globally. Domestic companies, which raised a total of $4.6 billion in the first half of this calendar, have catapulted India to the sixth position in the global list of countries in terms of IPO fund collections.
President Bush on Thursday sought to put to rest the controversy over his decision to spare a top former White House official from going to jail, saying it was time to move on. He also called on the nation and skeptical lawmakers to stand with him on Iraq, despite a new report showing only mixed progress. A House panel cleared the way Thursday for contempt proceedings against former White House counsel Harriet Miers after she obeyed President Bush and skipped a hearing on the firings of federal prosecutors.
TRIPOLI, Lebanon - Four soldiers were killed Thursday in one of the Lebanese army's largest operations yet against al-Qaida-inspired Islamic militants in a Palestinian refugee camp, the military said.
GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) - A government official kidnapped by separatist guerrillas in Assam was feared killed during a rescue operation by security forces on Thursday, police said.
HYDERABAD, India (AFP) - Maoist rebels destroyed TV and power sites near a major port in southeast India on Thursday, less than a week after they killed 24 troops in an ambush in a nearby state, police said. The attacks on a television transmission tower and a power station took place in a town near the busy port city of Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh state, a hotbed of left-wing insurgent activity.The Maoists, who launched their campaign in 1967 and operate in 14 of India's 29 states, say they are fighting for the rights of landless farmers and have stepped up attacks in remote district centres they control.
India's industrial production growth slowed for a second month in May as the highest interest rates in five years crimped demand and currency gains weakened exports.
LTTE threatens attacks
Times Now.tv - 2 hours ago
In a renewed threat to Sri Lanka, LTTE has vowed to target major economic and military targets in Sri Lanka with an aim to cripple the economy of the country.
Bangladesh troops fight Myanmar rebels, take weapons
Reuters India, India - 7 hours ago
DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh troops fought a gunbattle with suspected rebels from Myanmar and destroyed a hideout in forests between the two countries on ...
Bangladesh emergency six months on
BBC News, UK - 22 hours ago
By John Sudworth This week a picture of an 85-year-old man appeared on the front pages of Bangladesh's newspapers. Monoranjan Roy was shown handcuffed, ...
Bangladesh army chief says crusade on graft to continue Reuters India
Army chief for end to corruption culture The Daily Star
Gen. Moeen for constitutional review Weekly Blitz
Robert Scheer writes well:As Iraq continues to disintegrate, and our top generals and in-country ambassador predict that U.S. troops will need to die there for decades in order to prevent a full-scale regional bloodbath, it is important to recall the reasons why we got into this mess.
The marker of what will go down in history as "Bush's folly" is that this idiot of a president invaded a country that had absolutely nothing to do with terrorists attacks on the United States or threatening America with WMD, while coddling the military junta in Pakistan, which was guilty on both counts.
(For newspaper editors inclined to strike my reference in this syndicated column to our "idiot president" as excessively pejorative, I refer them to one definition of "idiot" in Webster's New Riverside University Dictionary: "being unable to guard against common dangers and being incapable of learning connected speech.")
Two news stories this week underscore the extreme irrationality and utter moral depravity of the Bush administration in exploiting the 9-11 attack to justify the invasion of Iraq. They both concern Pakistan, the close ally of the Taliban government in Afghanistan when it hosted Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida terrorist network. And, as opposed to Iraq, Pakistan did have WMDs and facilitated their proliferation to "rogue nations." Both examples provide damning evidence that Bush cared not a whit about WMDs or about preventing another 9-11 attack because the danger of both existed in Pakistan, which he befriended — rather than in Iraq, which he invaded.

The prominent SEZs to get formal approval include Unitech Infopark, DLF Commercial Developers Ltd, Parsvnath Developers Ltd., Navi Mumbai SEZ and Hindalco Industries Ltd.
The SEZs that got in-principle approvals include Videocon Realty, Skil Infrastructure, Indian Foundry Association and one in Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara area, the constituency of Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, to be developed by Chhindwara Plus Developers Pvt. Ltd.Formal approvals have so far been granted for setting up 341 SEZs, of which 130 have been notified, Pillai said after the meeting.He said that over Rs.431 billion have been invested in these notified SEZs, which will provide direct employment to 35,053 persons.By the end of the current fiscal, investments of over Rs.100 billion are expected and 100,000 jobs will be created in these SEZs, Pillai said.

Ambani's Navi Mumbai SEZ had faced several obstacles earlier due to objections raised by the revenue department regarding the rights of the villagers residing near the 1,250 hectares area.

The BoA gave the green signal to the 27 proposals even after the parliamentary committee last week suggested that no more SEZs be cleared until the government comes up with a proper plan for acquiring land for them.

Thus,President Pervez Musharraf's decision to have the army storm the Red Mosque may strengthen the U.S.-allied leader's hand among Pakistanis dismayed at how Islamic militants used the holy site as a fortress. It also has pushed a fight over his bungled attempt to fire the country's top judge out of a harsh media spotlight and prompted a fresh show of support from Washington.However, the general has given extremist enemies who have repeatedly tried to assassinate him a new cause to rally around, raising the prospect of surging violence as Pakistan heads toward elections and he seeks another five years in power.

President Pervez Musharraf's government warned yesterday it would not tolerate militancy at any of Pakistan's thousands of religious schools after the army subdued Islamic extremists holding the Red Mosque. At least 106 people died in the weeklong siege and street battles, according to official figures.THE Red Mosque in Islamabad sits in the heart of the Pakistan capital. It is just a few kilometres from the presidential palace and the headquarters of the secret intelligence service, the ISI. Yesterday a week-long siege at the mosque ended when the military launched an assault that left more than 50 people dead. Several soldiers also were killed and dozens wounded in "Operation Silence".It also united General Musharraf and his political opponent Benazir Bhutto, who praised the storming of the mosque. "We cannot keep on appeasing the militants," she said.
Within hours, al-Qaida's No. 2 released a videotape calling on Pakistanis to join a holy war against Musharraf's government to avenge the army assault.
"Rigged elections will not save you. Politics will not save you. And bargaining, bootlicking negotiations with the criminals and political maneuvers will not save you," a bespectacled and white-clad Ayman al-Zawahri said in the video, which was subtitled in English. "Musharraf and his hunting dogs have rubbed your honor in the dirt in the service of the crusaders and the Jews."
Meanwhile,President Bush reaffirmed his confidence Tuesday in Pakistan's president as a strong ally in the war against extremists. "I like him and I appreciate him," Bush said in Cleveland. The president also called President Gen. Pervez Musharraf a partner in promoting democracy.
Bush's remarks followed an expression of approval by the State Department of Pakistan's decision to storm a mosque in Islamabad where militants were holding hostages.
The United States has delivered two F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan and will hand over another 24 shortly, the US Embassy said. Pakistan received the two planes Tuesday at a ceremony at an air base in the western city of Sargodha attended by US Ambassador, Anne Patterson, and senior Pakistani and US air force officials. The 26 aircraft, provided by the US Air Force, will join 34 F-16s already in Pakistan's armory, the statement said Wednesday. They are separate from an order for 18 new F-16 signed last September.
The delivery "symbolizes the US intent to remain engaged with Pakistan over the long term, just as we do with any other important ally and friend," Patterson said at the ceremony.
The U.S. State Department backed Pakistan's decision to storm a mosque in Islamabad where militants were holding hostages Tuesday.
A U.S. State Department spokesman, Tom Casey, said that the militants were given many warnings before the commandos moved on the sprawling Red Mosque compound before dawn.
"The government of Pakistan has proceeded in a responsible way," Casey said. "All governments have a responsibility to preserve order."
The White House was more cautious. "That's an internal matter for the Pakistani government to address," said the White House deputy press secretary, Scott Stanzel. "What remains clear is, in places throughout the world the threat of extremists is real, but that operation is a matter for the Pakistani government."
Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has called on Pakistanis to rise up against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf following the storming of a mosque in Islamabad.
Al-Zawahiri, a native of Egypt, called the assault on the mosque a "despicable crime" and accused Musharraf of working on behalf of the "crusaders" - a reference to the West.
The videotape was translated by the IntelCenter, a firm near Washington which has provided recordings of al-Zawahiri in the past.
However,Western governments, especially the United States and Britain, would be looking approvingly at General Musharraf stamping his authority on radical Islamists. Pakistan, with its border on Afghanistan, is one of the bulwarks in the fight against terrorism. General Musharraf may be less than desirable as a model in pursuing democratic traditions, but he is seen as useful in the war on terror. There are, however, question marks over his fidelity to the West. The US has channelled billions of dollars to Pakistan, but the concrete results of that aid are far from transparent. The border with Afghanistan is known as a haven for terrorists from the Taliban and al-Qaeda. The terrorist links of the ISI, how much it sustains and supports the Taliban, also throw into question the assurances General Musharraf makes about cracking down on radicalism.
While the assault avoided the bloodbath the government had feared, several radical clerics and militant leaders are calling for attacks on Musharraf's government and security forces, insisting the troops slaughtered innocent students and defiled the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque.A string of attacks since the mosque siege began July 3 has hit at government targets in Pakistan's northwest, where many people are sympathetic to the hard-line Islam of the Taliban. At least 30 people died, including 17 soldiers and policemen.
Mansoor Dadullah, a senior commander of Taliban fighters in neighboring Afghanistan, on Wednesday called for suicide attacks on Pakistani security forces.Still, the siege could blunt an opposition drive against Musharraf's plan to ask lawmakers for a new five-year term this fall without first giving up his post as army chief.
Images of troops surrounding the white-domed Red Mosque to a soundtrack of explosions and gunfire overshadowed a weekend meeting of 60 opposition parties in London designed to coordinate their campaign against Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup.
It also diverted attention from Musharraf's attempt to fire the Supreme Court chief justice, a misstep that set off a broader democracy movement and alienated some of the leader's own supporters.
Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister and opposition leader expected by many to return from exile and join Musharraf in a power-sharing deal after year-end general elections, praised him for taking a tough line on the Red Mosque.
"I'm glad there was no cease-fire with the militants in the mosque because cease-fires simply embolden the militants," she told Britain's Sky TV on Tuesday. "There will be a backlash, but at some time we have to stop appeasing the militants."
Pakistan's mainstream, liberal newspapers also backed the assault, though ordinary citizens appeared less enthusiastic.
Several people interviewed by AP sympathized with some of the clerics' professed goals, especially closing down alleged brothels in Pakistan's relatively Westernized capital.
But they also criticized the mosque leaders' increasingly aggressive anti-vice campaign, which included kidnapping alleged Chinese prostitutes, and their stockpiling of weapons and ammunition at the holy site and an adjoining madrassa, or religious school, for girls.
"Musharraf's government did this to please America," Murtaza Khan, a 55-year-old shopkeeper in Peshawar, said of the army assault at the mosque.
But then he added: "This incident also shows that there should be checks on the madrassas. If something like this is going on in any madrassa, action can be taken in time."
Ikram Sehgal, a Pakistani political analyst, said that sentiment could help Musharraf broaden public support for cracking down on violent Islamic radicalism. The siege "has woken up people in Pakistan who were generally favorable to the Taliban and to the clerics," Sehgal said.
Last year John Negroponte, a former ambassador to Iraq and America's first Director of National Intelligence, warned a Senate panel of Pakistan's unsteady state. The country "remains a major source of extremism that poses a threat to Musharraf, to the United States and to neighbouring India and Afghanistan". Indeed, General Musharraf has been the target of several assassination attempts. Samina Ahmed, of the International Crisis Group, told the US House of Representatives subcommittee on national security and foreign affairs this year that jihadi madrasas were thriving outside the main cities and that General Musharraf's reforms were a "shambles".
Given the violent ending of the siege, it cannot be discounted that Islamists will respond in kind. While some sections of Pakistan society have hailed the crackdown on militants, it is to be hoped that General Musharraf does not use it as a pretext to invoke a state of emergency. Elections are due this year. General Musharraf came to power via a coup, and then suspended the constitution, took the titles of chief executive and President and now wants to extend the tenure of President past this year.
Pakistan and the West need a strong leader. Equally, they need democracy to flower.
In Washington,a new top-level intelligence assessment concludes that the al-Qaida terrorist network has rebounded and is at its greatest strength since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, U.S. officials said Wednesday.Calling al-Qaida the most potent terrorist threat to U.S. national security, the classified draft makes clear that the Bush administration has been unable to cripple Osama bin Laden and the violent terror movement he founded.
The conclusion suggests that the network that launched the most devastating terror attack on the United States has been able to regroup along the Afghan-Pakistani border despite nearly six years of bombings, war and other tactics aimed at crippling it.

Bush War Crimes Death Toll Up to One Million
Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy

July 11, 2007
When he is removed from office, Bush should stand trial for war crimes, violations of the Nuremberg Principles, the Geneva Conventions, and our own US criminal Codes, Title 18, Section 2441 which makes death from war crimes a capital offense. Despite efforts by Bush to rewrite the laws --but only after having flouted them --the US is bound by treaty to basic international principles, many of which were first championed by the US.
Think of it: Bush, as President of the United States, knowingly ordered such violations and as a result some one million civilians are dead [See: Estimated Iraqi death due to US invasion nears one million] One million Iraqi civilians fall victim to state sponsored mass murder. Can we now put to rest a pernicious, evil GOP lie? That is, that Iraqis have been liberated!
Aggravating this crime against humanity is the fact that Bush defrauded the American people to do it. By any definition, that amounts to a betrayal of the sovereign --high treason! Of course, Bush is to be held responsible for these heinous crimes against the US, Iraq and humanity. That Bush invaded a sovereign nation in order to control the price of oil aggravates his crime.

WASHINGTON - With both houses of Congress debating war-related legislation, lawmakers awaited the Bush administration's assessment Thursday of political, economic and military progress made by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government.
Congressional investigators set up a bogus company with only a postal box and within a month obtained a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that allowed them to buy enough radioactive material for a small "dirty bomb."
Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., who will ask the NRC about the incident at a Senate hearing Thursday, said the sting operation raises concerns about terrorists obtaining such material just as easily.Nobody at the NRC checked whether the company was legitimate and an agency official even helped the investigators fill out the application form, Coleman said in an interview Wednesday.
Meanwhile,America's trade deficit rose to its second highest level of the year, reflecting higher prices for foreign oil and a continued appetite for Chinese goods despite this year's recalls of tainted products.The trade deficit widened as expected in May, as higher oil prices helped lift imports to an all-time high, swamping a boost to exports from stronger overseas growth and a weaker dollar, a government report showed on Thursday.The number of U.S. workers signing up for first-time jobless benefits fell to a seasonally adjusted 308,000 last week, slightly lower than expected, a government report on Thursday showed.
As consumers turn to air conditioners for relief from high temperatures and set off on summer road trips, it might appear that America's appetite for natural resources hasn't ebbed although oil prices have generally been quite high during the past year.
Turkey's ambassador to Washington said Wednesday that U.S. weapons have been turning up in the hands of Kurdish guerrillas staging attacks in Turkey.
AL-QAEDA has used its haven along the Afghan-Pakistani border to restore its operating capabilities to a level not seen since just before the September 11 attacks.
That finding comes in an assessment by US counter-terrorism analysts.
A counter-terrorism official familiar with the new assessment — which says al-Qaeda is "better positioned to strike the West" — called it a stark appraisal.
The analysis will be part of a meeting at the White House overnight Melbourne time about an upcoming National Intelligence Estimate.
The classified findings suggest the network that launched the most devastating terror attack on US soil has been able to regroup despite nearly six years of bombings, war and other tactics aimed at dismantling it.
The threat assessment focuses on the terror group's haven in Pakistan and makes a range of observations about the threat posed to the US and its allies, said officials who declined to be identified.
Still, numerous government officials say they know of no specific, credible threat of a new attack on US soil.
Al-Qaeda was considerably stronger than a year ago and had regrouped to an extent not seen since 2001, a counter-terrorism official said, paraphrasing the report's conclusions. "They are showing greater and greater ability to plan attacks in Europe and the United States," he said.
The group has also created the most robust training program since 2001, with an interest in using European operatives, the official quoted the report as saying.