Times Square Car Bomb?

The scene at the corner of W 45th St. and Broadway in the heart of Times Square, where a car was found last night, that contained cans of flammable liquid and other explosive devices. (NY Daily News)


‘Very Lucky,’ Mayor Says, After Bomb
A crude car bomb of propane, gasoline and fireworks was discovered in a smoking Nissan Pathfinder in the heart of Times Square on Saturday evening, prompting the evacuation of thousands of tourists and theatergoers on a warm and busy night. Although the device had apparently started to detonate, there was no explosion, and early on Sunday the authorities were still seeking a suspect and motive.


Mayor: New York 'Lucky' Car Bomb Did Not Explode
Authorities in New York City are viewing security camera footage and examining other evidence to determine who may have tried to set off a car bomb in the Times Square entertainment district.


Time Square car bomb: Cops evacuate heart of NYC after 'potential terrorist attack'
Three heroic cops and a quick-thinking street vendor stopped a madman from detonating a car bomb in the heart of Times Square Saturday night, law enforcement officials told the Daily News.


'Very Lucky': Cops Comb Foiled Times Sq. Bomb Clues
A t-shirt vendor, a Vietnam veteran, saw something suspicious in New York's Times Square Saturday evening -- smoke coming from an unoccupied SUV -- so he alerted police. The tip led police to find the Nissan Pathfinder contained what New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to called an "amateurish"-looking bomb and what Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano told ABC News' "This Week" might have been part of a "one-off" attack.


Echoes of 2007 London attack in Times Square car bomb
An illegally parked car packed with propane gas cylinders and cannisters filled with petrol attached to a crude homemade detonator. That was Times Square, New York, last night. It was Haymarket, London, three years ago.


Napolitano: NYC car bomb is 'a potential terrorist attack'
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano took to the Sunday talk shows this morning, ostensibly to talk about efforts to protect the Gulf Coast from a potential ecological disaster due to a massive oil slick headed for land. However, Napolitano instead found herself talking about the apparent failed car bombing Saturday night in New York's Times Square.


Times Square Bomb Scare: 'Very Deadly' Blast Averted 

January 25th Morning Readbook

US Marines left the Sunni-dominated western province of Anbar on Saturday after almost seven years of operations in what was once Iraq's epicentre of Al-Qaeda activity and insurgent violence. (AFP/US Marine Corps/File/Tyler W. Hill)



Analysis: Marines leave Iraq again _ for good?
It is easily lost in the hopefulness of the Marines' departure from Iraq - hailed in ceremonies as "the final chapter" - that this is not the first time they left in the expectation of never returning. Will it be the last?  In September 2003 the Marines completed a pullout from Iraq - leaving to the Army the task of winding down the war - only to be called back in March 2004 amid a fast-boil insurgency centered in the western province of Anbar. The war, of course, was far from over, but few foresaw the scope of killing and chaos to come.


Britons feared dead in Ethiopian Airlines plane crash
Two Britons are feared dead after an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed shortly after take-off from the Lebanese capital Beirut.


Christmas Bombing Try Is Hailed by bin Laden
Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, spoke publicly for the first time about the botched Christmas Day airliner bombing, praising the attempt — but not explicitly taking responsibility for it — in an audiotape broadcast Sunday that was aimed personally at President Obama.


Official: Suspected drone down in Pakistan
The unmanned aircraft went down about 8 p.m. (10 a.m. ET) Sunday night near the village of Hamzoni in North Waziristan, the official said. Hamzoni is about 5 km (3 miles) west of Miran Shah, a town well-known for Taliban and al Qaeda activity.


 McChrystal hopes for Taliban deal 
An increase in the number of foreign troops in Afghanistan could lead to a negotiated peace with the Taliban, the commander of Nato forces in the country has said.


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Alerts Raised in the UK and India

(AFP/Getty Images/File/Stephen Lovekin)

India and the United Kingdom have raised their threat levels today. No details have emerged for the UK but India announced their reaction was in response to a possible hijacking plot. Whether the two actions were related is unknown at this time.

Terrorist threat level raised to 'severe'
Britain's terrorist threat level was raised tonight from “substantial” to “severe” - meaning that counter-terrorism agencies believe an attack is “highly likely”. The measure was approved at a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergency committee and announced by Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary. The Times understands that the decision to raise the threat level is connected to the conference on Afghanistan taking place at Lancaster Gate, London, next Thursday.


India Issues Terror Alert Over Hijack Plot
Indian airports are on high alert today after officials issued a terror warning of a possible airline hijacking. Security has been increased at all airports, passengers are being subjected to tougher screening and more air marshals will be deployed on flights in India, the Indian home ministry said this morning. Local reports suggest that Air India flights within all of South Asia are being targeted. The alert comes days after U.S. Secretary of Defence Robert Gates met with Indian officials in New Delhi and said that a "syndicate of terror groups" affiliated with al-Qaeda are potentially trying to destabilize the entire region.

November 29th Morning Readbook

(AFP/Kirill Kudryavtsev)

Russia hunts bombers of inter-city express
Russian police yesterday hunted for the bombers behind an attack that killed at least 26 people on an elite passenger train, while relatives began the grim task of identifying bodies.


Remains Identified After Russian Train Bombing
A day after investigators determined that the deadly crash of a luxury train was caused by a homemade bomb, relatives of victims arrived in this regional capital on Sunday to carry out the tearful process of identifying the remains.


Bomb pieces steer Russian inquiry toward terror plot
Russian investigators discovered traces of an improvised bomb Saturday on the rail line between Moscow and St. Petersburg, where a train derailment killed at least 26 people in what appeared to be the nation's worst terrorist attack in years outside the volatile North Caucasus.


Pakistan opposition urges prez to give up powers
Pakistan's main opposition party demanded Sunday that the president immediately relinquish much of his power amid calls for the unpopular leader to assume a ceremonial role or resign. The political turmoil threatens to distract the U.S.-allied country from its fight against the Taliban and al-Qaida near the Afghan border.


Pakistan must step up action against al Qaeda-Brown
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called on Pakistan to take tougher action against al Qaeda and step up its efforts to track down the group's leader Osama bin Laden.


The Afghan decision
PRESIDENT OBAMA is expected to announce on Tuesday a substantial escalation of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan: more training for the Afghan army, more support for Afghan governance and tens of thousands more American troops. It is a difficult choice but also the right one. While there is no guarantee that the new measures will reverse what is now a losing effort, the alternatives under consideration -- from a more limited counterterrorism strategy to maintaining the current force -- have been tried and have failed. While sending more Americans to war will entail a painful cost in lives, abandoning Afghanistan to civil war or rule by the Taliban would be immoral -- and would endanger key American interests.


Saddam was telling truth in missing Gulf War pilot
Saddam Hussein was telling the truth, this time. The United States just didn't believe him. So it took the most powerful military in the world 18 years to find the remains of the only U.S. Navy pilot shot down in an aerial battle in the 1991 Gulf War.


U.S. hopeful of breakthrough in Iraq vote deadlock
Vice President Joe Biden pressed Iraq's leaders in a series of telephone calls on Saturday to break a deadlock that has stalled preparations for an election seen as critical for U.S. troops to withdraw, officials said.


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Understand the Culture and the Strategy Writes Itself (III)