Big Apple Terror?
ABC News

ABC News has learned that federal and New York City officials have received credible intelligence that al Qaeda has been plotting to carry out suicide attacks on corporations based in the city.

Sources at several law enforcement agencies tell ABC News that an "overseas source" has provided the information about the threat to New York and that it is more significant than the usual "chatter" intercepted from likely terrorists that has prompted warnings in the past.

Officials from dozens of local and federal agencies met into the night Friday and again this morning.

"Intelligence reporting indicates that al Qaeda continues to target for attack commercial and financial institutions, as well as international organizations, inside the United States," the New York City Police Department said in a statement released today on the "ongoing al Qaeda threat."

"The NYPD recommends that corporate and institutional security directors review their protection of HVAC systems, parking installations, and security in general," the statement added. "The alert level for New York City remains unchanged at 'orange' or 'high.'"

Uzbekistan on High Alert in Wake of Friday's Bomb Attacks
VOA News

Security forces in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan were on high alert Saturday after suicide bombers detonated explosives near the U.S. and Israeli embassies as well as the general prosecutor's office. The death toll in the attacks rose to three after another policeman died overnight.

Authorities in Uzbekistan say an investigation is continuing into the simultaneous bombings near three key buildings in the capital city, Tashkent.

Police were stopping and inspecting cars while Uzbek troops reinforced guards at the U.S. and Israeli embassies, which were targeted in the attacks.

A policeman at the U.S. embassy died overnight from wounds suffered during one of the bombings.

Two security guards outside the Israeli embassy died on Friday when a bomber detonated explosives there.

Pakistan Police Suspect Al-Qaida Behind Assassination Attempt
VOA News

Pakistan authorities say the al-Qaida terror network may have been behind Friday's attempted assassination of prime minister-designate Shaukat Aziz.
Investigators say the suicide bomber, whose severed head was found not far from the blast site, appears to have been a young Pakistani man. They say they are looking for links to international terrorist groups.

Shaukat Aziz was ambushed after speaking at an election rally in Punjab province. Officials said he escaped unhurt, but at least seven other people died in the explosion and 30 others were injured.

Iran Says It Resumes Building Nuclear Centrifuges
Yahoo News

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has resumed building centrifuges that Washington says are intended to enrich uranium to weapons-grade for use in atomic warheads, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said Saturday

Iran's decision backtracks from a pledge made in October to the European Union (news - web sites)'s "big three" member states -- Britain, France and Germany -- to suspend all uranium enrichment-related activities.

"We have started building centrifuges," Kharrazi told a news conference.

Iran said it would restart making centrifuges to retaliate against a resolution from the U.N. nuclear watchdog last month that deplored Tehran's failure to co-operate fully with inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Diplomats say Iran has also restarted work at a uranium conversion facility near the central city of Isfahan.

This plant turns processed ore, or yellowcake, into uranium hexafluoride gas which is pumped into centrifuges to form enriched uranium.

During a meeting in Paris Thursday, Iran told the EU "big three" that it would not surrender its right to proceed with uranium enrichment.

The IAEA says the enrichment suspension was meant to cover both centrifuge construction and the uranium conversion plant.

al Qaida 'Postpones' N.M. Attack, FBI says
El Defensor Chieftain (New Mexico)

SANTA FE — Authorities say possible elements of al-Qaida might be operating in New Mexico and that efforts by law enforcement agents forced terrorists to "postpone" a May attack in New Mexico or California.

"The attack was, I guess you could say, quashed because of increased security measures that law enforcement and other agencies had taken," FBI special agent Bill Elwell said Thursday. "It became too much of a risk for them to continue."

Elwell said intelligence about the attack "was very nonspecific in scope, in times, dates or location." He said federal agents found out about the attack after May but couldn't say specifically when.

Elwell said he couldn't comment on how law enforcement agents learned of the plan but said intelligence revealed that terrorist elements "had discussed that they had to postpone an attack."

Officials at the New Mexico Department of Public Safety received an unclassified communication from the FBI on Thursday, said spokesman Peter Olson.

The bulletin informed local law enforcement there were possible al-Qaida elements in the state, Olson said, but gave no specific threat information or instructions.

Two More Drivers Seized in Iraq
BBC World News

A militant group in Iraq claims to have taken two Turkish truck drivers hostage and will kill them unless their firm leaves the country, said al-Jazeera TV.

The threat was made by a group led by Abu Musab al-Zaraqawi - a suspected ally of the al-Qaeda network.

A videotape showed three armed, masked men standing behind two seated men holding forms of identification.

The group said the men's Turkish firm, which supplies goods to the US in Iraq, had 48 hours to leave the country.