Assembling bombs in flight and then detonating on board--the alleged outline of the plot that led to the arrests of at least 24 people in Britain--is not an entirely new idea. In early 2004, a British newspaper, the Observer, reported that "security sources" believed Islamic militants had conducted "dry runs" on flights between the Middle East, Europe, and North Africa of a brand-new style of attack: Suicide bombers would carry pieces of explosives, items like wires or batteries not banned on airplanes, past security screeners. They would then build a bomb in flight.
Consumers went on a buying spree in July, boosting retail spending numbers more than expected. Despite higher oil prices, retail sales grew 1.4 percent during the month, the Commerce Department reported today. It's the biggest rise since January and comes after a 0.4 percent decline in June sales.
Terrorism suspects plotting to blow up American planes headed from the United Kingdom to the United States were planning to smuggle hydrogen peroxide-based liquid/slurry explosives in modified sports drink bottles, U.S. News has learned. The suspects had figured out a way to modify the bottoms of the factory-sealed bottles and fill them with the explosives that were similar to those used in other recent attacks in London, and at least nine planes were targets, the official said. So far, British police have arrested at least 24 suspects in the plot, which had been months in the planning.
AP - The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution seeking a "full cessation" of violence between Israel and Hezbollah, offering the region its best chance yet for peace after a month of fighting that has killed more than 800 people and inflamed Mideast tensions.
AP - Israeli missiles slammed into a village in southern Lebanon early Saturday, killing at least 15 civilians, Lebanese security officials said, while an attack in the north severely restricted access to the country's last open border crossing with Syria.
AP - Investigators on three continents worked to fill in the full, frightening picture Friday of a plot to blow U.S. jetliners out of the Atlantic skies, tracking the money trail and seizing more alleged conspirators in the teeming towns of eastern Pakistan.
Israel bombed targets in southern Lebanon Saturday, hours after the U.N. Security Council approved a proposal aimed at ending the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. With an expansion of its ground campaign under way, Israel struck the southern Lebanese town of Rshaf from the air, killing 15 people, Arab-language news media reported.
Suspects in an alleged plot to blow up trans-Atlantic flights received a message in recent days in which they were advised, "Do your attacks now," U.S. sources said. The message was part of the reason British authorities decided an attack was imminent, according to an unclassified security memo.
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