3 million illegals to U.S. this year
WorldNetDaily

U.S. borders have become more porous following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists attacks and the incorporation of immigration enforcement agencies within the Department of Homeland Security, according to an in-depth report in today's edition of Time magazine.

According to the cover story, illegal immigration into the U.S. has accelerate in the last year, since President Bush proposed a temporary worker program that amounts to a limited amnesty program that would allow millions to remain in the U.S. legally.

This year, according to the report, some 3 million more illegal aliens will enter the country – "enough to fill 22,000 Boeing 737-700 airliners, or 60 flights every day for a year."

It's the largest wave of illegal immigration into the country since 2001, according to the report, and illegal immigration now represents triple the number of immigrants who enter the country legally.

"The next time you pass through an airport and have to produce a photo ID to establish who you are and then must remove your shoes, take off your belt, empty your pockets, prove your laptop is not an explosive device and send your briefcase or purse through a machine to determine whether it holds weapons, think about this: In a single day, more than 4,000 illegal aliens will walk across the busiest unlawful gateway into the U.S., the 375-mile border between Arizona and Mexico," begins the report, "Who Left the Door Open?" "No searches for weapons. No shoe removal. No photo-ID checks. Before long, many will obtain phony identification papers, including bogus Social Security numbers, to conceal their true identities and mask their unlawful presence."

While the vast majority of these illegal immigrants are Mexicans, a growing number come from other countries, including those with large populations hostile to America, reports Time.

Who Left the Door Open?
TIME Magazine

The next time you pass through an airport and have to produce a photo ID to establish who you are and then must remove your shoes, take off your belt, empty your pockets, prove your laptop is not an explosive device and send your briefcase or purse through a machine to determine whether it holds weapons, think about this: In a single day, more than 4,000 illegal aliens will walk across the busiest unlawful gateway into the U.S., the 375-mile border between Arizona and Mexico. No searches for weapons. No shoe removal. No photo-ID checks. Before long, many will obtain phony identification papers, including bogus Social Security numbers, to conceal their true identities and mask their unlawful presence.

The influx is so great, the invaders seemingly trip over one another as they walk through the old copper-mining town turned artist colony of Bisbee (pop. 6,000), five miles from the border. Having eluded the U.S. border patrol, they arrive in small groups of three or four, larger contingents of more than a dozen and sometimes packs of a hundred. Worried citizens who spot them keep the Bisbee police officers and Cochise County sheriff's deputies busy tracking down all the trespassing aliens. At night as many as 100 will take over a vacant house. Some crowd into motel rooms, even storage-compartment rental units. During the day, they congregate on school playgrounds, roam through backyards and pass in and out of apartment buildings. Some assemble at the Burger King, waiting for their assigned drivers to appear. Sometimes stolen cars are waiting for them, keys on the floor. But most continue walking to designated pickup points beyond Bisbee, where they will ride in thousands of stolen vehicles, often with the seats ripped out to accommodate more human cargo, on the next leg of their journey to big cities and small towns from California to North Carolina.

The U.S.'s borders, rather than becoming more secure since 9/11, have grown even more porous. And the trend has accelerated in the past year. It's fair to estimate, based on a TIME investigation, that the number of illegal aliens flooding into the U.S. this year will total 3 million—enough to fill 22,000 Boeing 737-700 airliners, or 60 flights every day for a year. It will be the largest wave since 2001 and roughly triple the number of immigrants who will come to the U.S. by legal means. (No one knows how many illegals are living in the U.S., but estimates run as high as 15 million.)

US Says N.Korea Blast Unlikely to Have Been Nuclear
ABC News

SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) - A huge explosion rocked North Korea three days ago but U.S. and South Korean officials said on Sunday it was unlikely to have been a nuclear weapons test despite a report the blast produced a mushroom cloud.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the blast on Thursday in Kimhyungjik county in Ryanggang province in the northeast near the border with China appeared much bigger than a train explosion that killed at least 170 people in April.

The New York Times reported in its Sunday editions the Bush administration had received recent intelligence reports that some experts believed could indicate North Korea was preparing to conduct its first nuclear weapons test explosion.

But in Washington, U.S. officials said there was no definitive explanation yet, although the blast did not appear to be nuclear. A test would alter the stakes in the North's standoff with the United States over Pyongyang's atomic ambitions.

"We've got no indication that anything of the sort has happened. We believe these reports to be completely unfounded," said a State Department official who asked not to be named.

"People are pretty sure it's not a mushroom cloud and not a test of any kind," the official said.

N.Korea blast near missile base
Reuters

SEOUL (Reuters) - The region in North Korea believed to have been hit by a huge blast on September 9 is home to a underground missile base that was listed as a possible uranium enrichment site, according to a disarmament think tank.

Kimhyungjik county, where a large explosion was recorded on Thursday, hosts the Yongjori Missile Base, an underground base thought to hold missiles and launchers, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) database.

There has been no confirmation of the location or nature of the explosion in Ryanggang province, a remote and mountainous region which Western defence experts believe houses key military sites. It is off-limits to outsiders, including aid agencies.

Kimhyungjik county is named after leader Kim Jong-il's grandfather and sits right on the border with China.

Yongjori base, which lies about 20 km (12.4 miles) from the Chinese border, consists of a dozen tunnels for storing, deploying and launching medium-range missiles that are capable of hitting Japan, NTI said.

U.S. refuses to rule out Iran attack
Reuters

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The United States is determined to stop Iran getting atomic weapons, and has signalled Washington will not rule out an attack if peaceful diplomacy failed to achieve this.

President George W. Bush's top official on nuclear on-proliferation, Undersecretary of State John Bolton, was asked during a brief visit to Israel if the United States could consider such an attack.

"President Bush is determined to try and find a peaceful and diplomatic solution to the problem of Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons," he said. "But we are determined that they are not going to achieve a nuclear weapons capability."

Iran says it is not trying to build an atom bomb and its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes.

But intelligence officials told Reuters in Vienna earlier this week they estimated it would take Iran a few months to a year to become nuclear capable -- meaning Tehran would be able to build a nuclear bomb without importing technology or experts.

As Iran's arch-enemy, Israel has particular fear of Tehran developing nuclear arms. Israel is presumed to have its own atomic arsenal, but has a policy of neither confirming nor denying that.

Iran Holds Military Exercises Near Border
AP Via Yahoo

TEHRAN, Iran - Hundreds of thousands of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards began military maneuvers Sunday near the border with Iraq, with a top commander saying the exercise was designed to reinforce Iran's resolve to defend itself against "big powers."

Mohammed Bagher Zolqadr, a senior officer of the Revolutionary Guards, did not mention the United States by name but was clearly referring to America, which leads the multinational force in neighboring Iraq.

"Our country has constantly been threatened directly or indirectly by extra-regional forces and big powers ... . We are holding the exercises to show our resolve and (our) will to defend ourselves," he told state television.

Indiana : Iraq conflicts spur interest in Arabic classes
WANE.com

NDIANAPOLIS Terrorism and the war in Iraq are fueling demand for Arabic classes at Indiana colleges.
At Indiana University, the number of introductory Arabic classes has doubled since the September Eleventh terrorist attacks.

And Arabic is the fastest-growing language program at Purdue University.

Interest in the programs has risen steadily since the 2001 attacks as government agencies, including the F-B-I, have called for more Arabic speakers.