Al-Qaeda practises beats body scanners

A body scanner at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport would not necessarily have detected the explosives which the would-be syringe bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had sewn into his underwear. A Dutch military intelligence source told De Telegraaf newspaper that Al Qaeda has its own security scanners and has been practicing ways of concealing explosives.

The terrorist group has even carried out test runs at smuggling explosives through European airports, the paper reports.

On Monday Schiphol's operational manager Ad Rutten said the explosives carried by the 23-year-old Nigerian Abdulmutallab may well have been detected had he been scanned by one of the airport's 15 body scanners. Schiphol was the first airport to run a trial of body scanners, which use sound waves to see through passengers' clothing. At present the scanners are only an optional alternative to the conventional metal detector, as European privacy laws prevent them being made compulsory.

Since the attempted attack on the flight from Schiphol to Detroit, Schiphol has been operating tightened security measures. Around 50 extra security staff have been hired in to carry out the tightened checks on passengers to the United States. All passengers to the US are now being body searched at the gate. The airport says that while the chance of discovering any concealed explosives is still not 100 percent, it is at least much higher than it was.

Airports Slow to Receive Whole-Body Imaging Scanners

Only 19 U.S. airports have received sophisticated imaging machines that can detect explosives hidden in clothing.

Security experts say the scanners may be the best defense in stopping attacks such as an attempt to bomb a Detroit-bound aircraft Christmas Day.

The Transportation Security Administration wants to install more of the devices, known as whole-body imaging scanners, but the agency has met resistance from civil liberties groups, passengers and some members of Congress.

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, the nation's third busiest, has just two of the machines.

The scanners are able to detect weapons and explosives in places security screeners are not allowed to touch in physical pat-down searches, such as the groin area and even body cavities where items could be concealed.

Government investigators say they believe Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the man accused of attempting to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day, hid the explosives he used inside his underwear.

The Associated Press reported Monday that Abdulmutallab did not pass through a whole-body imaging scanner before boarding the Northwest flight in Amsterdam, Netherlands. European airports are using the imaging machines only in limited cases.

Dallas-based aviation security consultant Clive Miskin said whole-body scanners may be the best technology to prevent the terrorists from personally carrying explosives onto planes.

"That's one piece of technology that can help and it will help apprehend bad people with bad intentions," said Miskin, managing director of International Security Defense Systems LLC.

Miskin's partner, Chaim Koppel, said recent events may push governments to install the machines at more airports.

"Slowly, we're going to see more them in the States, in Europe, in South America," he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union has opposed the imaging machines, arguing that the body images they produce are too revealing. And some members of Congress have supported legislation that would limit their use, allowing passengers to opt out and submit to a pat-down search instead.

In an effort to increase privacy, the TSA screeners who read the images are placed in a separate room so they are not able to see the passenger who is being shown on the imaging screen.

Travelers at DFW Airport were divided.

"It's not like you're taking a picture and posting it on the Internet or selling it in a magazine," said Paul LeBon. "It's just a scan that lasts for 10 seconds.

"I am going to take issue with people being able to look at my children's bodies and my body," said Tamara Haddox, another traveler.

The TSA currently has 150 additional body imaging devices machines on order. But that's not nearly enough to cover all of the nation's airports.

Obama: US intel had info ahead of airliner attack

HONOLULU (AP) - President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the intelligence community had bits of information that should have been pieced together that would have triggered "red flags" and possibly prevented the Christmas Day attempted terror attack on a Detroit-bound airliner.

"There was a mix of human and systemic failures that contributed to this potential catastrophic breach of security," Obama said.

Senior U.S. officials told The Associated Press that intelligence authorities are now looking at conversations between the suspect in the failed attack and at least one al-Qaida member. They did not say how these communications with the suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, took place—by Internet, cell phone or another method.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said the conversations were vague or coded, but the intelligence community believes that, in hindsight, the communications may have been referring to the Detroit attack. One official said a link between the suspect's planning and al-Qaida's goals was becoming more clear.

Intelligence officials would not confirm whether those conversations involved Yemen-based radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, but other U.S. government officials said there were initial indications that he was involved. Al-Awlaki reportedly corresponded by e-mail with Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who is charged with killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, on Nov. 5.

"Had this critical information been shared, it could have been compiled with other intelligence, and a fuller, clearer picture of the suspect would have emerged," Obama said in a brief statement to the media. "The warning signs would have triggered red flags, and the suspect would have never been allowed to board that plane for America."

Officials said Obama chose to make a second statement in as many days because a morning briefing offered him new information in the government's possession about the suspect's activities and thinking, along with al-Qaida's plans.

had to backtrack on an assertion that "the system worked" in the Detroit airliner scare. Some have criticized Obama for not addressing the issue publicly sooner.

An angered Obama called the shortcomings "totally unacceptable" and told reporters traveling with him on vacation here that he wanted a preliminary report by Thursday on what went wrong on Christmas Day, when the suspect carried explosives onto a flight from Amsterdam despite the fact the suspect had possible ties to al-Qaida.

It will take weeks for a more comprehensive investigation into what allowed the 23-year-old Nigerian to board the airplane he is accused of trying to blow up with more than 300 people aboard. Law enforcement officials believe the suspect tried to ignite a two-part concoction of the high explosive PETN and possibly a glycol-based liquid explosive, setting off popping, smoke and some fire but no deadly detonation. Abdulmutallab, charged with trying to destroy an aircraft, is being held at the federal prison in Milan, Mich.

Obama, interrupting his vacation to address the airliner attack, said, "It's essential that we diagnose the problems quickly."

"There were bits of information available within the intelligence community that could have—and should have—been pieced together," he said.

Abdulmutallab had been placed in one government advisory system, but never made it onto more restrictive lists that would have caught the attention of U.S. counterterrorist screeners, despite his father's warnings to U.S. Embassy officials in Nigeria last month. Those warnings also did not result in Abdulmutallab's U.S. visa being revoked.

The Central Intelligence Agency said it worked with embassy officials to make sure that Abdulmutallab's name made it into the government's database of suspected terrorists and noted his potential extremist connections in Yemen. The CIA also said it forwarded that information to the National Counterterrorism Center.

Officials in Yemen were investigating whether Abdulmutallab spent time with al-Qaida militants there during the months leading up to the botched bombing attack.

Administrators, teachers and fellow students at the San'a Institute for the Arabic Language, where Abdulmutallab had enrolled to study Arabic, told The Associated Press that he attended school for only the Mulsim holy month of Ramadan, which began in late August. That has raised questions about what he did during the rest of his stay, which continued into December.

They also said he was not openly extremist, though he expressed anger over Israel's actions against Palestinians in Gaza.

Officials also noted Tuesday that Amsterdam, where Abdulmutallab boarded his flight to Detroit, is one of nine locations where U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials are stationed to do additional screening on U.S.-bound passengers who have been flagged as a potential risk.

But it is unlikely Abdulmutallab would have been flagged because the Customs and Border Patrol officers do not routinely screen all passengers against the names of individuals on the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment database, known as TIDE, which was the only place that Abdulmutallab was listed.

The government put in place enhanced screening procedures for passengers after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington to catch potential terrorists. On U.S.-bound flights from overseas, CBP checks passenger names against some lists of potential terrorists, but not against all information the government keeps.

On top of that, airport security equipment did not detect the bomb-making devices and materials Abdulmutallab is accused of carrying on board the Northwest Airlines flight.

Obama said many things went right after the incident, with passengers and the flight crew subduing the man and government officials working quickly to increase security. He singled out Napolitano, backing her much-criticized comments that the attempted terror attack showed the aviation security system worked.

"As Secretary Napolitano has said, once the suspect attempted to take down Flight 253, after his attempt, it's clear that passengers and crew, our homeland security systems, and our aviation security took all appropriate actions," Obama said.

Napolitano received so much criticism for her Sunday talk show remarks that she did another round of interviews the following day to say the system did not work in preventing Abdulmutallab from getting on the plane with a bomb. But, she said, the response system did work after the man was subdued. She contends her remarks were taken out of context.

Meanwhile, Napolitano asked to meet with security and counterterrorism experts, including at least two former Bush administration officials, according to a person familiar with the meetings. On Tuesday, she met with former Bush homeland security adviser Fran Townsend and former DHS undersecretary for policy Stewart Baker, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was not on the secretary's public schedule.

Republicans are questioning Napolitano's judgment and a few have called for her resignation. The White House says her job is safe.

However, Obama said: "What's also clear is this: When our government has information on a known extremist and that information is not shared and acted upon as it should have been ... a systemic failure has occurred. And I consider that totally unacceptable."

The two reviews, which Obama said got under way on Sunday, are looking at airport security procedures and the U.S. system of terror watch lists.

"It now appears that weeks ago this information was passed to a component of our intelligence community but was not effectively distributed so as to get the suspect's name on a no-fly list," Obama said.

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Ancient wall found in Jerusalem

A 3,700-year-old wall has been discovered in east Jerusalem, Israeli archaeologists say.

The structure was built to protect the city's water supply as part of what dig director Ronny Reich described as the region's earliest fortifications.

The 26-ft (8-m) high wall showed the Canaanite people who built it were a sophisticated civilisation, he said.

Critics say Israel uses such projects as a political tool to bolster Jewish claims to occupied Palestinian land.

Excavations at the site, known as the City of David, are in a Palestinian neighbourhood just outside the walls of Jerusalem's old city.

It is partly funded by Elad, a Jewish settler organisation that also works to settle Jews in that area.

Open to the public

The wall dates from a time in the Middle Bronze Age when Jerusalem was a small, fortified enclave controlled by the Canaanites, before they were conquered by the Israelites.

Its discovery demonstrated Jerusalem's inhabitants were sophisticated enough to undertake major building projects, said Mr Reich.

"The wall is enormous, and that it survived 3,700 years - this is, even for us, a long time," said Mr Reich, an archaeology professor at the University of Haifa.

The excavation team said the wall formed part of a structure that protected a passage from a hilltop fortress to a nearby spring - the area's only water source.

Israel's Antiquities Authority said the site would be open to the public on Thursday.

Three dead babies found in house

The remains of three babies have been discovered at a house on Merseyside.

Police found the bodies when they were called to a property in Harlow Close, St Helens, on Sunday morning.

Two women, aged 54 and 38, and a 26-year-old man have been arrested in connection with the investigation and bailed pending further inquiries.

A spokeswoman for Merseyside Police said: "The remains are believed to relate to births that occurred as far back as the mid 1980s."

Merseyside Police said forensic tests were being carried out to determine the age and sex of the children.
Det Supt Steve Naylor, of Merseyside police, said: "Following a call to us, we attended an address in St Helens where human remains were discovered.

"The remains are believed to be that of newborn babies and at this stage of the inquiry it is believed they are the remains of three babies."

Mr Naylor said a number of lines of inquiry were being looked at.

"We cannot speculate as to the cause or circumstances of the deaths and any inappropriate supposition is likely to have a severe impact on the investigation and the family concerned," he said.

"This looks like being a complex investigation, and a lot of hard work needs to be done before we can ascertain what the full circumstances are surrounding this situation."

New protests in western China

There have been fresh protests in western China's Xinjiang region, where almost 200 people were killed in ethnic violence in July.

A witness told the BBC that as many as 2,000 ethnic Han Chinese have been demonstrating in the capital Urumqi.

The protesters are said to be angry at the deteriorating security situation in the wake of the July riots.

A trigger for the protests appears to have been a spate of unexplained stabbings using hypodermic needles.

July's violence was the worst ethnic unrest in China for decades; at least 197 people died and hundreds injured.

The government says most of the dead were Han, but the exile activist group the World Uighur Congress claims many Uighurs were also killed.

Members of the city's Han community last held mass protests shortly after July's violence by ethnic Uighurs.

Safety fears

A businessman in Urumqi told the BBC that members of the Han community were demonstrating to complain about the worsening security situation.

"Han Chinese people have been protesting in the streets since yesterday," he said.

"Nearly everyone in Urumqi is on strike or protesting. Right now in front of me there are at least 2,000 people," he said from the centre of Urumqi.

Another resident said Han Chinese were concerned for their safety in the wake of the reported syringe attacks.

"The local government is not doing enough to protect Han people there... I am really [worried about] my family and relatives there. I urge [the] Chinese government should do more to prevent this," the resident told the BBC.

Xinhua news agency said the stabbing victims came from nine ethnic groups, including Uighurs and Han.
Protesters have accused the provincial government of being "useless", and some even asked for the dismissal of regional Communist Party boss Wang Lequan, who is thought to be an ally of President Hu Jintao.

Large numbers of police were reported to have turned out to block the protesters from reaching People's Square in the city centre.

There has been tension for many years between Xinjiang's Uighur and Han communities.

Some Uighurs complain that Han migration into the province has diluted their culture and influence.

Han currently account for roughly 40% of Xinjiang's population, while about 45% are Uighurs.

The tensions exploded in early July after an initially peaceful protest by Uighur youths, apparently prompted by an earlier riot in a factory in southern China.

Iran backs first woman minister

Iranian MPs have approved the first woman minister in the 30-year history of the Islamic republic.

She was one of 18 nominations for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's new cabinet to be approved. Two other women were among three rejected nominees.

The president's choice for defence minister, Ahmad Vahidi, who is wanted by Argentina over a deadly 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre, won strong backing.

The vote follows months of wrangling after disputed elections in June.

Correspondents say Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, the female health minister-designate, is a hard-line conservative who has in the past proposed introducing segregated health care in Iran, with women treating women and men treating men.

The two women rejected were Fatemeh Ajorlou, as welfare and social security minister, and Susan Keshavarz, as education minister.

The third nominee to be turned down was the president's choice for energy minister, Mohammad Aliabadi.

Mr Ahmadinejad has three months to propose new candidates to replace those voted down.

'Real democracy'

The parliamentary confidence vote followed five days of intense debate.

Before the vote, Mr Ahmadinejad urged MPs to approve his choices, saying the ballot reflected "real democracy". His government would work closely with parliament, he said.

The president's proposed oil minister, Massoud Mirkazemi, was approved, despite questions over his experience.

Meanwhile, Mr Vahidi - a controversial figure internationally - received the highest number of votes in favour of any nominee, with 227 MPs backing him out of 286, Speaker Ali Larijani said.

Interpol has distributed Argentina's warrant for Mr Vahidi's arrest over the attack at the Israeli-Argentine Mutual Association (AMIA) 15 years ago, which killed 85 people.

Israel and Argentina had condemned his nomination, with Buenos Aires calling it "an affront to the victims" of the bombing. Iran has denied any involvement in the blast and says the case against it is politically motivated.

Each nominee had to secure the support of at least 50% of MPs to be confirmed.

The BBC's Peter Biles says the vote was a key test of the president's support and his hold on power, amid continuing opposition following his re-election in a contested presidential ballot in June.

The appointment of the cabinet also comes at a time of increasing pressure on the Iranian government from abroad, our correspondent says.

US President Barack Obama has given Iran until later this month to agree to new talks on its nuclear programme, or face tougher sanctions.

Iran has said it is ready to present a new package of proposals to the international community, although the details have not been published.

An aide to Mr Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that the president would attend a United Nations meeting later this month in New York.