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[JohnCenaFan28]

Interesting read, thanks.

[Black Widow]

Three men accused of plotting a series of terrorist attacks on transatlantic jets have pleaded guilty to conspiring to cause explosions.

Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, Assad Sarwar, 28, and Tanvir Hussain, 27, admitted the offence at Woolwich Crown Court, in south east London.

The trio and two other defendants, Ibrahim Savant, 27, and Umar Islam, 30, also pleaded guilty to conspiring to cause a public nuisance by publishing videos threatening suicide bomb attacks.

A jury must still decide if the five men, and three others, are guilty of conspiring to murder thousands in a wave of mid-air terrorist explosions using homemade liquid bombs.

All eight men deny two charges of conspiracy to murder between January 1 and August 11 2006.

One of the charges specifies that the attacks would involve the detonation of improvised bombs on passenger aircraft.

Prosecutors claim the eight men plotted to blow up passenger jets flying from Heathrow to major cities in North America.

They planned to use powerful hydrogen peroxide liquid bombs disguised as soft drinks to bypass airport security, jurors were told.

The devices would be assembled by injecting the chemicals into plastic soft drinks bottles and detonated using a battery from a camera flash, it was claimed.

They were being assembled at a bomb factory flat bought by the gang in northeast London, the court heard.

The same flat was allegedly used by six members of the gang to record martyrdom videos in which they ranted hatred against the West and non-Muslims, jurors were told.

In their defence, Ali and Sarwar said they planned to record a documentary highlighting injustices against Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon.

A small explosion at the Houses of Parliament in which no one would be hurt would act as a publicity stunt to draw attention to the programme.

The two men also considered other targets including gas terminals, oil refineries and airports, Sarwar said.

Ali and the five other men who recorded videos said they were acting the role of violent hate-filled extremists and the footage would be woven into the video.


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[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[Black Widow]

The US Army has defended a practice of shooting live pigs as part of a medical training exercise for soldiers heading to Iraq.

The military says the practice teaches troops emergency lifesaving skills needed on the battlefield when there are no doctors or medical facilities nearby.

"It's to teach Army personnel how to manage critically injured patients within the first few hours of their injury," said Major Derrick Cheng, spokesman for the 25th Infantry Division.

But animal cruelty organisation Peta has labelled the practice outdated and unnecessary and have urged the Army to rethink the plan.

"There's absolutely no reason why they have to shoot live pigs," spokeswoman Holly Beal said.

Peta said the training was brought to their attention by a "distraught" soldier who told them of plans to shoot the pigs with M4 carbines and M16 rifles.

The organisation said there were more humane options available, including high-tech human simulators.

But Major Cheng said shooting pigs was the best option.

"Those alternative methods just can't replicate what the troops are going to face when we use live-tissue training," he said.

"What we're doing is unique to what the soldiers are going to actually experience."

He added that the pigs were anaesthetised for the drill.

"We understand (Peta's) concerns and point of view. At the same, the Army is committed to providing the soldiers with the best training possible," he said.

Determined to halt the exercise, Peta has asked its two million members to flood the Army with calls and emails.


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[JohnCenaFan28]

That's awful...

[Black Widow]

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday, met with American forces and, according to a U.S. official, is expected to meet Sunday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee was visiting the southern Asian nation before he embarks on a tour of the Middle East and Europe, a trip aimed at boosting his foreign policy credentials.

The trip, which comes four months ahead of the presidential election, marks Obama's first visit to Afghanistan.

On Saturday, the senator from Illinois traveled to eastern Afghanistan to visit Americans forces under NATO's Regional Command East. Obama is accompanied by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska and Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island.

The senators met service members at Jalalabad airfield in Nangarhar province. The governor of Nangarhar province, Gul Agha Shirzai -- formerly the governor of Kandahar province -- also met the senators at the air base. Shirzai and Obama embraced briefly at the end of the meeting. Video Watch Obama's visit to Jalalabad »

Upon arrival at Bagram Air Base, the senators were briefed by Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser, commanding general of the Regional Command East.

Ahead of the trip to Afghanistan, the senators stopped in Kuwait to visit U.S. troops, said Obama campaign spokesman Robert Gibbs. They left Washington on Thursday.

In Kuwait, the senators visited Camp Arifjan for about two hours to meet with U.S. Army Central leadership, take a brief tour of the base and talk with soldiers, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Bill Nutter said.

They met with about 1,000 military members at a gymnasium, and Obama played basketball with some soldiers before conducting a meet-and-greet there which included photo opportunities, Nutter said.

Following the events at the the gymnasium, they met with Lt. Gen. Jim Lovelace, the U.S. Army Central Commander, and senior leadership who gave them an overview of the command, Nutter said.

Obama spoke briefly to a pool reporter about his trip just before leaving Washington.

"I'm looking forward to seeing what the situation on the ground is," Obama said. "I want to, obviously, talk to the commanders and get a sense, both in Afghanistan and in Baghdad of, you know, what the most, their biggest concerns are. And I want to thank our troops for the heroic work that they've been doing."

Asked if he would have tough talk for the leaders of Afghanistan and Iraq, Obama said he was "more interested in listening than doing a lot of talking."

"I think it is very important to recognize that I'm going over there as a U.S. senator. We have one president at a time, so it's the president's job to deliver those messages," Obama said. Video Watch Obama's foreign policy adviser discuss overseas trip »

The fight in Afghanistan has become a more pressing issue on the political radar. Three times as many coalition soldiers and other military personnel have died this month in Afghanistan, compared with Iraq. July's death toll for coalition troops in Afghanistan reached 22 Saturday, after the Friday death of a Canadian soldier was announced.

The fight in Afghanistan has become a more pressing issue on the political radar. Three times as many coalition soldiers and other military personnel have died in July in Afghanistan than in Iraq.

On Sunday, nine U.S. soldiers were killed in a fight with about 200 Taliban militants in eastern Afghanistan. It was the deadliest attack on U.S. troops in Afghanistan in three years.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that U.S. officials are looking for ways to send more troops to Afghanistan, amid the resurgence of violence nearly seven years after the ousting of the Taliban government.

Gates said the hope is to send additional forces "sooner rather than later."

He said the Pentagon is "working very hard to see if there are opportunities to send additional forces sooner rather than later." That likely means further reductions in troop levels in Iraq later this year to free up forces for Afghanistan.

Shortly after Obama laid out his foreign policy vision in Washington on Tuesday, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain criticized his proposals as naive and premature. McCain visited Iraq in March.

"I note that he is speaking today about his plans for Iraq and Afghanistan before he has even left, before he has talked to Gen. [David] Petraeus, before he has seen the progress in Iraq and before he has set foot in Afghanistan for the first time," McCain said.

"In my experience, fact-finding missions usually work best the other way around: First, you assess the facts on the ground; then you present a new strategy."

Obama on Tuesday called the war in Iraq a "dangerous distraction" from the battle in Afghanistan, and said if he is elected one one of his top goals will be to finish the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda, which their regime harbored in Afghanistan.

"As should have been apparent to President Bush and Sen. McCain, the central front in the war on terror is not Iraq, and it never was," Obama said. He said part of his new strategy will be "taking the fight to al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan."
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Obama said that on his first day in office he would give the military a new mission: ending the war in Iraq.

Obama will travel to Jordan on Tuesday, then visit Israel, Germany, France and England.


CNN

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[Black Widow]

(CNN) -- Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday offered his strongest public statement yet on sex abuse against minors by Roman Catholic priests, apologizing to victims and calling the abuse "evil."

The apology came during a mass in Sydney, Australia, and expands on comments the pope made during an April visit to the United States, during which he publicly acknowledged the pain the church's sex abuse scandal has caused and met privately with abuse victims.

"Indeed, I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the victims have endured and I assure them as their pastor that I too share in their suffering," he said Saturday at Sydney's St. Mary's Cathedral.

The comments came on the pope's third day of public appearances in Australia, where he is attending World Youth Day. Dubbed "the Catholic Woodstock," the event is believed to be the largest Christian gathering in the world and this year is believed to have attracted more than 150,000 people from 70 countries.

The pope said he wanted to "acknowledge the shame which we have all felt" over reports of sex abuse by clergy and said those responsible for the "evils" should be brought to justice.

He asked those attending the mass to help their bishops to end the abuse.

"It is an urgent priority to create a safer, more wholesome environment, especially for young people," he said.

In April, the 81-year-old pontiff acknowledged "the enormous pain" caused by sexual abuse of children by the clergy.
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"It is vitally important that the vulnerable are always shielded from souls who would cause harm," he said then.

Benedict also met with three people who said they were childhood victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy.


CNN

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[Black Widow]

Four bombs have exploded in Spain - the devices are believed to have been planted by the Basque separatist group ETA.

No injuries were reported following the blasts in the north of the country.

One bomb exploded outside a bank in Getxo, damaging a cash dispenser and breaking windows.

Officials said the homemade device packed into a gasoline tin went off without warning at about 5am.

Five hours later, an anonymous caller said ETA had planted four bombs on beaches in Laredo, Ris and Noja as well as at a golf course close to Noja.

Police cordoned off the towns and a device exploded near Laredo's beach at around 12:15 pm.

It went off on the seafront promenade in the Cantabrian resort.

Later in the day a second bomb exploded in Lardeo.

An official said grey and showery weather meant the beaches were not busy in the morning.

A third device then went off at a golf course near Noja that had already been evacuated.

Until now, the most recent attack by the armed Basque separatist group happened on July 4.

The organisation, which is fighting for independence in the Basque region, carried out a bomb attack against a telecommunications centre.


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