Al Qaeda rebuilding ranks: report
ABC News

Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network has named new leaders to replace those who have been killed or captured, promoting from within and recruiting new operatives to run the organisation, The New York Times reports.

The newspaper cites intelligence officials and refers to computer records, documents and email addresses seized after the arrest in Pakistan of 25-year-old Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan.

"Al-Qaeda's upper ranks are being filled by lower-ranking members and more recent recruits," the daily said.

Khan's computer contained photos and surveillance reports on financial institutions in New York, Washington and Newark, New Jersey, as well as London's Heathrow airport.

"The results create a far more complex picture of Al Qaeda's status," the daily said.

Leak Allowed al-Qaida Suspects to Escape
Yahoo News

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The disclosure to reporters of the arrest of an al-Qaida computer expert allowed several wanted suspects from Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s terror network to escape, government and security officials said Tuesday.

Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, a 25-year-old Pakistani computer engineer, was nabbed in a July 13 raid in the eastern city of Lahore. He then led Pakistani authorities to a key al-Qaida figure and cooperated secretly by sending e-mails to terrorists so investigators could trace their locations.

His arrest was first reported in American newspapers on Aug. 2 after it was disclosed to reporters by U.S. officials in Washington. Later, the Pakistan government also confirmed his capture but gave no other details.

Two senior Pakistani officials said the reports in "Western media" enabled other al-Qaida suspects to get away.

"Let me say that this intelligence leak jeopardized our plan and some al-Qaida suspects ran away," one of the officials said on condition of anonymity.

National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) acknowledged Sunday that Khan's name had been disclosed to reporters in Washington "on background," meaning that it could be published, but the information could not be attributed by name to the official who had revealed it.

The Pakistani officials said that after Khan's arrest, other al-Qaida suspects abruptly changed their hide-outs and moved to unknown places.

NYC Man Admitted Supplying Al-Qaida With Money, Equipment
KOTV News

NEW YORK (AP) _ A New York man admitted meeting with a high-ranking member of al-Qaida in Pakistan in a scheme to smuggle money, night-vision goggles and other equipment to the terrorist network, according to a court transcript released Tuesday.

Mohammed Junaid Babar also acknowledged aiding a foiled bomb plot in London, according to the transcript, which was made public two months after Babar secretly pleaded guilty to charges of providing material support to a terrorist organization. He agreed to cooperate with authorities as part of a plea deal.

The transcript says Babar told a judge he met with an unidentified al-Qaida official earlier this year in South Waziristan, a tribal area near the border of Afghanistan. He said he and others had provided money, goggles, sleeping bags and other goods to the terrorist group beginning in 2003.

``I understood that the money and supplies that I had given to al-Qaida were supposed to used in Afghanistan against U.S. or international forces,'' he said.

Babar, 29, a U.S. citizen of Pakistani descent, also described arranging lodging and transportation for recruits to a ``jihad training camp'' and providing ammonium nitrate and other materials for the bomb plot in London.

Syrian Woman arrested at Twin Cities airport
AP Wire

MINNEAPOLIS - A Louisiana woman of Syrian descent was charged with trying to evade currency reporting requirements Monday after being caught with more than $24,000 in concealed U.S. currency when boarding a flight to her homeland.

Amneh Ahmad Abbas, 49, of New Orleans, was ordered held without bond by U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan. Another hearing is scheduled at 10 a.m. Thursday.

According to the criminal complaint, Abbas was stopped on a jetway at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Friday as she was attempting to board a Northwest Airlines flight to Syria.

Abbas told officers that she was transporting $9,919 in U.S. currency in a fanny pack and purse, and 4,200 Syrian pounds, the complaint said. The United States requires people entering or leaving the country with amounts of $10,000 or more to report that to customs authorities.

However, officers noted a bulge in her chest area and removed an envelope containing $1,600. A further search revealed a parcel in her pants containing $22,400 in U.S. currency, the complaint said.

Abbas is a Syrian national with permanent resident status in the United States, the U.S. attorney's office said.

Iran Tells Britain to Hand over Nuclear Weapons and Know-How
Telegraph News

Iran has issued an extraordinary list of demands to Britain and other European countries, telling them to provide advanced nuclear technology, conventional weapons and a security guarantee against nuclear attack by Israel.

Teheran's request, said by British officials to have "gone down very badly", sharply raises the stakes in the crisis over Iran's nuclear programme, which Britain and America believe is aimed at making an atomic bomb.

Iran's move came during crisis talks in Paris this month with senior diplomats from Britain, France and Germany.

The "EU-3" were trying to convince Iranian officials to honour an earlier deal to suspend its controversial uranium enrichment programme, which is ostensibly designed to make fuel for nuclear power stations but could also be used to make fissile material for nuclear bombs. Iranian officials refused point-blank to comply, saying they had every right under international law to pursue "peaceful" nuclear technology.

They then stunned the Europeans by presenting a letter setting out their own demands.

Iran said the EU-3 should support Iran's quest for "advanced (nuclear) technology, including those with dual use" - a reference to equipment that has both civilian and military applications.

Attack on Jewish Cemetery Stirs Outrage in France
Yahoo News

LYON, France (Reuters) - Vandals daubed swastikas and slogans on 56 graves and a war memorial in a Jewish cemetery in eastern France, the latest in a spate of attacks on Jewish, Muslim and Christian property that have shocked France.

The attackers also used black paint to scrawl slogans glorifying Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler and declaring "Resistance to the Islamist invasion" on some of the graves on Monday evening in a cemetery in Lyon, France's second city.

President Jacques Chirac, the government, opposition and Jewish leaders on Tuesday condemned the attack, which prompted calls for tougher action to prevent such vandalism.

More than 300 tombs or graves have been desecrated in eastern France since April -- many in Jewish cemeteries but also some Muslim and a few Christian graves -- despite a drive led by Chirac to eradicate racism and protect France's tolerant image.

"It is very symbolic to see graves that bear the Star of David defaced by a swastika," Richard Wertenschlag, Lyon's chief rabbi, said at the cemetery. "It's an indescribable shock."

He noted that the attack coincided with the 60th anniversary of France's liberation from Nazi occupation in World War II and described it as an attack on the Jewish community.