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Bluetooth users beware - You may be at more risk than just looking like a cyborg!
"Depending upon how it is configured, Bluetooth technology can be fairly secure," the advisory said. "Unfortunately, many Bluetooth devices rely on short numeric PIN numbers instead of more secure passwords or passphrases."
Basically, any device that can "discover" another Bluetooth device can send unsolicited messages or do things that could lead to extra fees, data being compromised or corrupted, data stolen in an attack called "bluesnarfing," or the device being infected with a virus, the advisory said.
To protect against these risks, Bluetooth owners should disable the technology when it is not being used, disable unnecessary features and switch it to "hidden" mode, CERT said. Using "hidden" mode won't prevent me from using my headset with my phone because once the two devices have located each other, or paired, they will continue to be able to recognize each other thereafter.
Bluetooth users should also be careful where they are using the technology. For instance, using it in a public wireless "hotspot" poses a greater risk that someone else can intercept the connection than using it in your home or car, according to the advisory.
P.S.
Could all of you bluetooth users who use these things in line at the grocery store at least point the thing out so I don't think your trying to have a friendly chat with me, Thanks! "Depending upon how it is configured, Bluetooth technology can be fairly secure," the advisory said. "Unfortunately, many Bluetooth de... more -
CIA-funded university program trains the next generation of spies
When classes at the University of Washington resume this fall, some students at the school will be under the watchful eye of a Central Intelligence Agency spook. In fact, some of them will even be learning from him.
This fall, Dr. Tim Thomas, a CIA agent specializing in "open source" data mining, will begin a two-year stint as an officer-in-residence at the UW's Institute for National Security Education and Research (INSER), which is financed by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. That office is an umbrella organization for groups such as the U.S. Marine Corps Intelligence Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the CIA—which will provide the university with $2.5 million in grant money over the next five years.
It's not unusual for political or military organizations to recruit on campuses, but it seems strange for the UW to align itself with an agency most recently in the news for overseas kidnappings and harsh interrogation tactics such as waterboarding.
When classes at the University of Washington resume this fall, some students at the school will be under the watchful eye of a Central... more -
Blackwater says oversight and media scrutiny not part of master plan
Blackwater Worldwide said Monday that it planned to shift away from the lucrative security contracting business because U.S. government scrutiny and negative media attention had made the business too costly.
Blackwater executives say that they have unfairly become a symbol for all contractors in Iraq and that the company has become a flash point for those opposed to the war. It plans to focus on training, aviation and logistics.
Blackwater has been under intense scrutiny since September when its security contractors opened fire in a crowded Baghdad intersection while responding to a car bombing. Seventeen Iraqis were killed, prompting congressional hearings and an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
In 2005 and 2006, security jobs, including guarding U.S. diplomats in Iraq and helping to secure New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, represented more than 50 percent of the company's business.
Security now represents about 30 percent of revenue, and Gary Jackson, president of Blackwater, said it would go much lower.
"If I could get it down to 2 percent or 1 percent, I would go there," he said, adding that "security was not part of the master plan, ever."
Blackwater Worldwide said Monday that it planned to shift away from the lucrative security contracting business because U.S. governmen... more -
Plea deal unlikely before Gitmo war crimes trial
A last-minute plea deal could halt the first war crimes trial at Guantanamo Bay on Monday, but military lawyers and observers say that appears extremely unlikely at this late stage.
The Pentagon already has brought witnesses to the U.S. Navy base in Cuba and assembled a jury pool of American military officers, preparations that had not been made before a plea deal that ended the case against Australian David Hicks in March 2007.
Military prosecutors are also eager to use the case of Salim Hamdan, a former driver and alleged bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, to showcase a tribunal system that has seen repeated legal setbacks.
"We're looking at it in two veins, primarily as bringing Mr. Hamdan to justice but also we're well aware that in doing that at the individual level it provides the first opportunity to test and validate this process," said Army Col. Lawrence Morris, the tribunals' chief prosecutor.
Jury selection in Hamdan's case is scheduled to begin Monday. Military prosecutors are gathering 22 witnesses for a trial that is expected to last roughly three weeks.
Hamdan, a Yemeni, was captured in Afghanistan in November 2001 and accused of helping bin Laden escape retribution following the Sept. 11 attacks. He faces up to life in prison if convicted of conspiracy and supporting terrorism.
Defense attorneys, who say Hamdan was merely a low-level bin Laden employee, have refused to say whether they are in negotiations over a possible guilty plea.
Julia Hall, senior counsel for Human Rights Watch's counterterrorism program, said Hamdan would not be a likely candidate for a plea deal because his case appears simple in comparison with others pending before the first U.S. war-crime tribunals since World War II.
"He has alleged direct associations with Osama bin Laden, he was not held in secret detention, and a federal court judge has ruled the commission can go forward," she said. "It seems obvious why he is a person that the government would want to test drive the military commissions on." A last-minute plea deal could halt the first war crimes trial at Guantanamo Bay on Monday, but military lawyers and observers say that... more -
MoD admits losing 121 memory sticks
In our *facepalm* story of the week:
The Ministry of Defence in the UK has admitted that 121 of its USB memory sticks have been lost or stolen since 2004. The Ministry does not know how or when the sticks came to be missing, but says that some did contain secret information. This follows the news that 658 laptops have also been lost or stolen from the MoD over the last 4 years, nearly twice what was previously thought.
Nice to feel safe, eh? In our *facepalm* story of the week: ... more -
China's Olympic air security
China steps up airport security across the country as part of the country's massive Olympic security effort.
Airports have implemented an additional set of baggage checks and body searches at the terminal entrances.
Authorities at Beijing Capital Airport have advised people who come to greet or see passengers off not to enter the terminals to save time. China steps up airport security across the country as part of the country's massive Olympic security effort. ... more -
Brown: Mideast economic map
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown arrives in the Middle East for two days of talks to promote "an economic road map for peace".
The visit to Israel is Brown's first since becoming Prime Minister in June 2007.
Brown visited Israel's Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem where he laid a wreath in memory of six million Jews murdered by the Nazis during WWII.
He then met with Israeli President Shimon Peres to discuss Israeli-British relations, regional security threats, and the Iranian nuclear programme, Peres's office said in a statement.
Brown will later meet Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown arrives in the Middle East for two days of talks to promote "an economic road map for peace". ... more -
Questions surround deaths of Iraqi governor's kin
U.S. forces killed two relatives of a local Iraqi governor in northern Iraq on Sunday. The dead were identified by the U.S. military as members of al Qaeda in Iraq.
But a local police official said the two males -- the governor's 16-year old son and the teen's cousin -- were "executed" as they headed to morning prayers in Baiji, located north of Baghdad in Salaheddin province.
That police official, Lt. Col. Saad al-Qaisi, is the brother of Salaheddin's governor, Hamad al-Qaisi.
The U.S. military disputed Saad al-Qaisi's account, saying its forces captured a wanted al Qaeda in Iraq financier during a pre-dawn raid in Baiji. The military said the wanted man was wounded in the raid but later died of injuries at a military medical facility.
A second armed man was also killed in the raid, the military said.
In a statement, the military said its forces perceived "hostile intent" and acted "in self defense during the operation."
Another suspected terrorist was detained in the raid, the military said.
"It was subsequently determined that the two armed men killed in the event were related to the governor of Salaheddin province," the military said.
Saad Al-Qaisi said his nephew, Hussam Hamad al-Qaisi, and Badri Khalaf Issa walked out of a house next door to the building that was being raided by the U.S. military at around 3:30 a.m. He said the young men "were taken and executed" by the military. U.S. forces killed two relatives of a local Iraqi governor in northern Iraq on Sunday. The dead were identified by the U.S. military a... more -
Kurdish rebels release German hostages
Three Germans held captive by Kurdish rebels have been released Sunday.
Mehmet Cetin, the governor of the city of Agri in Turkey, told reporters that after officials check the health of the hostages, they will be returned to Germany.
"They have been kept in the mountains under bad conditions; naturally we are concerned about their health," he said.
The Kurdistan Workers' Party, known as the PKK, confirmed taking the three hostages -- Helmut Johann, Martin Georpe and Lars Holper Reime -- from Mount Agri on July 9, the Firat News Agency, a pro-Kurdish Web site that frequently carries statements from the PKK, reported.
Soon after the Germans were taken hostage, the rebels said they would hold them until the German government stops "its enemy-like politics" against them.
"We are not the enemies of the German people, and we have not mistreated any of the hostages," the PKK said, according to Firat. "Unless the German government announces it has stopped its enemy-like politics towards PKK and the Kurds, we will not release the German citizens."
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier then issued a statement saying the government refuses to be "blackmailed."
Germany and the rest of European Union considers PKK a terrorist organization and tensions between Kurdish militants and Europe have been on the rise. The largest portion of Germany's foreign population is from Turkey, which hopes to join the EU.
In June, Germany banned a Kurdish television station that the country's interior minister said was a mouthpiece for the armed group. Germany also extradited two PKK militants to Turkey last year.
In April, a report released by Europol -- the EU law enforcement agency -- said PKK claimed responsibility for 14 out of 15 terror attacks in Germany last year. Also in 2007, nearly 40 suspected PKK members were arrested in five EU nations -- Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Slovakia.
Turkey in recent months stepped up its campaign against PKK bases in northern Iraq, in response to increased attacks by the group.
The PKK is a leftist insurgent group that formed in 1984 to fight for an independent Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey and adjacent areas in northern Iraq and Iran. The group initiated an armed independence campaign that year.
Since then, an estimated 35,000 people have died in the conflict.
The rebels more recently claimed to fight for greater rights for Kurds who live in Turkey, according to the U.S. government. Three Germans held captive by Kurdish rebels have been released Sunday. ... more -
Woman's corpse may be link to mystery baby
An autopsy on a woman's body found in an apartment linked to a mystery newborn baby found that the woman was partially eviscerated and her uterus was cut open, authorities said Saturday.
The body was found Friday in an apartment of another woman who showed up at a hospital with a newborn she falsely claimed was hers.
Investigators were trying to determine the woman's identity, how she died and whether she was the mother of the baby that Andrea Curry-Demus allegedly told police she bought for $1,000.
The victim appeared to have been dead for about two days before she was found, Allegheny County Medical Examiner Karl Williams said in a statement.
The woman's hands and feet were bound with duct tape, and her face was covered with a plastic material that had also been secured with duct tape. A placenta was recovered at the apartment.
Curry-Demus, 38, of Wilkinsburg, showed up at West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh on Thursday with a newborn whose umbilical cord was still attached, police said. Tests later proved she was not the mother -- despite her claims to the contrary, police said.
Curry-Demus was charged with child endangerment and dealing in infant children. She has been jailed until she posts $10,000 bond and undergoes a psychiatric exam.
The jail wouldn't say whether Curry-Demus had an attorney, and a message left for an attorney who has previously represented her was not immediately returned.
The woman's body was found Friday after reporters called authorities about a foul odor coming from inside Curry-Demus' apartment.
Police had been at the building Thursday night, but did not enter that apartment, Wilkinsburg Police Chief Ophelia Coleman said. A relative of Curry-Demus had led them to another apartment, she said. An autopsy on a woman's body found in an apartment linked to a mystery newborn baby found that the woman was partially eviscerated and... more -
British PM: 'No timetable on Iraq troop cuts'
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Saturday that plans are being made to scale back troops in Iraq, but he would not set an "artificial timetable."
According to the Associated Press, Brown's comments -- made during an unannounced visit to the Iraqi capital to hold talks with counterpart Nuri al-Maliki -- come in advance of next week's scheduled address to British lawmakers on Iraq, when he is expected to give more details on troop reduction plans.
Britain has about 4,000 troops in Iraq, based around the southern city of Basra. British troops handed over security control to Iraqis late last year, but still maintain a presence in Basra province.
According to AP, Brown said "enormous progress" had been made to lower violence and begin economic reconstruction around Iraq. "There has been a very big turnaround," he added.
Both leaders stressed the importance of building long-term relations between Iraq and Britain, the future of the British presence in Iraq and economic issues, the Iraqi government confirmed.
Brown also met with President Jalal Talabani and other Iraqi leaders, including Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, Shiite Vice President Adel Abdul Mehdi and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, according to a statement from the Iraqi presidency. VideoWatch Gordon Brown's meeting with Iraqi leaders »
Other attendees of that meeting included the deputy president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Kosart Rassoul, and other Kurdish officials.
"Talabani briefed Brown and the accompanying delegation on the political, security and economic developments Iraq has witnessed over the recent months which spread security and stability across the country," the presidential statement said.
They discussed issues concerning both countries "in a way that strengthens relations between Iraq and the United Kingdom in the upcoming period," according to the statement.
During the discussion, the British prime minister cited what he called, "positive political developments achieved recently," which he attributed to a drop in violence, the statement said.
Limiting militia and outlaw activity in Basra, Mosul and other areas contributed as well, he said.
Violence has decreased recently in Iraq, and there have been improvements in the performance of the Iraqi security forces.
Brown also paid particular attention to economic cooperation between Britain and Iraq, the statement said, specifically what role his country and British companies would play in the reconstruction and rebuilding of Iraq.
Talabani emphasized the importance of national harmony, and pointed to the return of the Accord Front -- the country's Iraq's largest Sunni Arab bloc -- rejoining the Cabinet on Saturday.
The bloc -- which includes 44 lawmakers in the 275-member parliament -- pulled six ministers from the Cabinet last August for several reasons, including the monopolization of power by Shiites and Kurds and what had been regarded as the unjust detention of Sunni Arabs.
The Accord Front's return was part of a deal announced July 1 in which al-Maliki accepted proposals from the bloc for five candidates to fill the several ministries that bloc members vacated last summer.
Brown's visit comes less than a week after the head of the British armed forces said troop levels in Iraq should start to come down over the course of 2009.
Air Chief Marshal Jock Stirrup, the chief of the defense staff, told the BBC that troop numbers will have be more "sustainable" given Britain's military involvement in Afghanistan.
On Friday, the White House said that President George W. Bush and Iraq's prime minister have agreed to set a "general time horizon" for bringing out more U.S. troops -- marking a dramatic shift from the administration's past refusals to discuss any kind of deadline or timetable.
The two men "agreed that the goals would be based on continued improving conditions on the ground and not an arbitrary date for withdrawal," the White House said in a statement. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Saturday that plans are being made to scale back troops in Iraq, but he would not set an "art... more -
Picture Leak: UK Mobile Operator O2's Attempt At Security
Some O2 customers' private photos taken with their mobile phones are publicly accessible online.
Customers of U.K. mobile network operator O2 may believe that photos taken with their mobile phones and sent via MMS to friends are private. But if the recipient's phone isn't capable of receiving MMS data, as is the case with Apple's iPhone 3G, those pictures may be publicly accessible.
O2's security for this scenario is security through obscurity: It makes pictures sent via MMS viewable on non-MMS devices by posting them online with a URL that's difficult to guess.
But thanks to Google, there's no need to guess the URL. It can be found using the inurl: search query operator with mms2legacy as the argument. Some O2 customers' private photos taken with their mobile phones are publicly accessible online. ... more -
Film and Geotag Your Next Car Accident
Your faulty memory won't hold up in court next time some moron comes out of nowhere and hits you, but this will.
The guys who brought us the CarCam Voyager dash-mounted video camera have gone one better and added GPS logging so you not only record what happened, but where and when it happened. Just the thing for convincing your insurance agent you didn't cause the six-car pileup that totaled your Corvette ZR1.
Of course, the CarCam Voyager Pro can be used for more than covering your ass.
The Voyager Pro can record your entire road trip -- or as much of it as the 2-GB SD card will hold, anyway -- and track it all on Google Earth so you don't forget where you found that greasy spoon with the amazing chili or saw the world's largest ball of twine.
It'd be a sweet tool for doing recon on great motorcycling roads, but security is clearly the gadget's selling point. Built-in sensors detect sudden braking, acceleration or other movement and will begin recording 10 seconds before impact. (It stops recording 30 seconds after impact.) "You will never be left wondering 'What happened?' because it will all be caught on tape," the manufacturer claims. Plug the SD card into your computer and the video plays alongside a Google Earth map showing where it was recorded. It's also got a time and date stamp and a record of your speed.
With geotagging and time stamping, the video is probably admissable in court, so make sure you turn it off before making that 130-mph run down Alligator Alley. Your faulty memory won't hold up in court next time some moron comes out of nowhere and hits you, but this will. ... more -
Brown in talks with Iraqi leaders
Gordon Brown has been holding talks in Baghdad with Iraqi prime minister Nouri Maliki and military leaders.
The surprise visit comes ahead of a statement next week on Britain's involvement in the country.
Key aims are to assess the UK's goals in Iraq such as the holding of local elections and reconstruction, and gauge the prospects for troop withdrawal.
Mr Brown said it was his intention to reduce troop numbers, but refused to give an "artificial timetable".
Plans to halve UK troop numbers to 2,500 by spring were delayed due to violence in Basra at the end of March.
Numbers had been reduced from 5,000 to 4,000 between October 2007 and the beginning of April.
Meeting troops
BBC chief political correspondent James Landale, who is travelling with Mr Brown, said the prime minister's main objective was to judge "how Britain is doing" in achieving its aims, such as the training of Iraqi troops and economic development in the south.
He said Mr Brown would also be looking at Basra's airport, where most British forces are currently based, to see what more could be done to achieve the "ultimate goal" of handing the base over to civilian rule.
Speaking from Iraq Mr Brown said the number of violent incidents had reduced dramatically since he was last in the country in December.
"In a period of six months enormous progress has been made," he said, adding that there had been a "turning point" in the violence.
Military commanders have said they expect numbers to be further reduced during the course of 2009, added the BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad.
At the peak of UK military activity in Iraq, in 2003, there were 26,000 soldiers posted in the country.
UN mandate
Mr Brown - whose visit was not announced in advance for security reasons - spent just under an hour in talks with Mr Maliki, then with his advisers. He then moved on to the presidential palace for a 20-minute meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
Mr Brown is also due to meet British troops serving in Iraq.
In his last visit in December he thanked troops for their work as he announced the official handover of Basra to Iraqi authorities.
This week Iraq and the US called for an agreement on a "general time horizon" for the withdrawal of US troops.
The call came after a video conference between President George W Bush and Mr Maliki.
The UN mandate covering foreign troops in Iraq expires at the end of the year.
The US is negotiating a new bi-lateral agreement to cover their continuing presence, and Britain will have to do the same, said Jim Muir. Gordon Brown has been holding talks in Baghdad with Iraqi prime minister Nouri Maliki and military leaders. ... more -
US attends historic Iran meeting
A senior United States official is taking part for the first time in international talks with Iran over its controversial nuclear programme.
The official, William Burns, is joining envoys from the EU and permanent members of the UN security council.
They are expected to discuss with the country's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, incentives for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment.
Mr Burns' attendance is being seen as a major shift in US policy.
The US and Iran have had no diplomatic relations since the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the taking of hostages at the US embassy in Tehran.
Formal contact between the two countries have been extremely limited, though last year they met at ambassadorial level to discuss security in Iraq.
Conciliatory move
Since 2002, when President George W Bush famously named Iran as one of the countries that formed the "axis of evil", his administration had insisted that no face-to-face talks would be held unless Iran suspended the enrichment of uranium, which it says could be used to produce nuclear weapons. A senior United States official is taking part for the first time in international talks with Iran over its controversial nuclear prog... more -
Iran 'positive' ahead of nuclear talks
Iran hopes that Saturday's talks in Switzerland on its nuclear program will lead to a "positive outcome," the state-run news agency quoted Iran's foreign minister as saying.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, is in Geneva to meet with a delegation led by the European Union foreign policy chief, Javier Solana. Top U.S. diplomat William Burns is sitting in on the meeting, marking a major shift in U.S. policy on Iran.
Iran's IRNA news agency said Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is "hoping that the upcoming talks between nuclear Iran and the Group 5+1 would lead to (a) positive outcome."
The group includes the six world powers -- the five veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany -- which agreed on a package of incentives for Iran if it stops uranium enrichment, or penalties if it refuses.
Burns and Jalili are not expected to speak directly to each other at the meeting, which was called to hear the Iranians' response to the incentive package.
A senior U.S. administration official told CNN Wednesday that Washington simply wants to remind Tehran that there are consequences -- possibly more sanctions -- if Tehran doesn't accept the offer of the refreshed incentives.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Burns will be under strict orders that he can listen but not engage in one-on-one discussions with Jalili. If possible, McCormack said, Burns will hammer home the U.S. position that Iran can end its political and economic isolation if it stops enriching uranium.
Iran insists its nuclear program is for research and civilian energy purposes, but the United States believes the process will enable Iran to produce nuclear weapons.
The decision to send Burns, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, is meant to send a strong signal but does not indicate a change of the U.S. position on Iran, McCormack said.
Until now, U.S. President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insisted that the United States would talk to Iran only after Tehran halted its nuclear program.
EU officials have said they want the meeting to advance discussions with Iran and break the deadlock over the country's nuclear activities.
Iranian officials have expressed hope that Saturday's talks will be held in a new atmosphere of trust with no threats.
The U.S. participation in the talks is a "new positive approach," Mottaki said Friday, in comments carried by IRNA.
"I hope this progress (in the format) will also have (an) impact on the content of the talks," Mottaki said.
McCormack and others refused to predict whether sending Burns to the Saturday meeting will set off a carefully executed series of diplomatic maneuvers, the first of which would be for Iran to "freeze" its nuclear program while the United States and its allies freeze any new sanctions, followed by a formal "suspension" on both sides. Iran hopes that Saturday's talks in Switzerland on its nuclear program will lead to a "positive outcome," the state-run news agency qu... more -
Add Laptop Location Tracking Security, for Free
A new open source project allows computer users to add surreptitious location tracking to their systems. Windows, Mac and Linux versions are available.
Adeona, from researchers at the University of Washington and the University of California, San Diego, anonymously sends data to servers on a free storage system called OpenDHT. The data, which is encrypted, includes IP addresses, information about neighboring routers, and so forth. If your notebook ever gets stolen you can log into the system from another computer, access the data and notify authorities with it. Working with ISPs they should be able to locate it. The Mac version also uses a freeware program called isightcapture to take a picture of whoever is using the system.
Commercial versions of such products, such as CompuTrace's LoJack for Laptops, have been available for a long time. Typically they also offer a remote wiping function, which would seem to be a major advantage, at least for businesses.
It's not clear whether the location tracking information in the commercial products is any different from this free version. The ultimate version would use GPS hardware, but this is not typically included in notebook computers. Perhaps it should be.
A new open source project allows computer users to add surreptitious location tracking to their systems. Windows, Mac and Linux versio... more -
Husband tortured and killed dog
A man who killed his wife's dog and threatened to kill her has been sentenced to six months in jail.
William David Streeter, 29, of Cloyfin Park, Coleraine, was convicted of seven counts of animal cruelty and one of making threats to kill.
The judge said it was one of the worst cases he had seen involving animals.
Streeter hanged golden retriever Mac by his collar, kicked him with steel toe-capped boots and hit him with a boulder in October 2006.
North Antrim Magistrates' Court heard that he threatened to kill his wife two days after the dog's death.
The one-year-old pedigree dog died after Streeter put a choke chain around its neck and hanged it from a rafter in his garage. A man who killed his wife's dog and threatened to kill her has been sentenced to six months in jail. ... more -
French hunt for stolen explosives
French anti-terrorist officers are hunting 28kg (61lb) of explosives missing from a security services site at Corbas, near the city of Lyon.
A police official in Paris said the missing material was Semtex - the powerful plastic explosive which is very hard to detect.
France's interior ministry confirmed an investigation was underway, saying the head of the site had been suspended.
Police say they are treating the theft "very seriously".
Detonators are also missing, the police official told the AFP news agency.
The discovery that explosives were missing from the site, said to be home to a specialist anti-mine division of the security services, was made on Friday.
However, it is thought the explosives could have been taken up to one week ago.
In a statement released late on Friday the interior ministry said that explosives were normally kept at the site for use in destroying old munitions, and that "security failings" had made the theft possible.
Police sources have declined to confirm a newspaper website report which said that the store had been unguarded. French anti-terrorist officers are hunting 28kg (61lb) of explosives missing from a security services site at Corbas, near the city of... more -
U.S. and Iraq Agree to Set Goals for Troop Cuts
The United States and Iraq have agreed to set a “general time horizon” for the “further reduction of U.S. combat forces in Iraq” following the improvement in security conditions in the country, the White House said Friday.
The breakthrough, which was reached between President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki in discussions via video link on Thursday, could lead to the successful completion of a long-term security agreement covering American operations in Iraq — from combat missions to detaining Iraqis — by the end of this month, a White House official said.
"We’re converging on an agreement," the official said, referring to ongoing negotiations between Iraq and the United States on the deal.
The long-term agreement had been held up by differences over issues like the extent of Iraqi control over American military operations, the right of American soldiers to detain suspects without the approval of Iraqi authorities and Iraqi demands for a timetable for withdrawal.
But in a statement, the White House said Mr. Bush and Mr. Maliki had agreed “that improving conditions should allow for the agreements now under negotiation to include a general time horizon for meeting aspirational goals — such as the resumption of Iraqi security control in their cities and provinces and the further reduction of U.S. combat forces from Iraq.”
The White House offered no specific dates for troop cuts, but the inclusion of even just a reference to a time horizon is a significant concession by the Bush administration, which has long resisted setting a timetable for cuts in combat forces. It is a tacit admission that the United States’ military presence in Iraq is not endless.
The administration on Friday insisted that it had not shifted its position. It said that the move was simply a reflection of the changing nature of conditions in Iraq.
“These are aspirational goals, not artificial timetables based on political expediency,” said Scott Stanzel, a White House spokesman, who was traveling with Mr. Bush in Tucson, Ariz., where Mr. Bush was attending a fund raiser.
The Democrats, including Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, have long pushed for a specific timetable for troop withdrawals.
Mr. Obama’s Republican rival, Senator John McCain of Arizona, on Friday said the agreement was evidence that the addition of tens of thousands of combat troops to Iraq last year — the so-called surge, which he supported from the start — had worked.
“Withdrawal is possible because of a successful surge strategy that senator Obama opposed, campaigned against, railed against during the process of running for the Democratic nomination and now, fortunately for everyone, he will enjoy the benefits of that successful strategy,” said Nicolle Wallace, a spokeswoman for Mr. McCain.
In the statement, the White House insisted there would not be “an arbitrary date for withdrawal,” and again reiterated what has been Mr. Bush long-standing opposition to what he has called “an artificial timetable for withdrawal.”
The United States and Iraq have been trying to negotiate a long-term security agreement that would clear the way for American troops to operate in Iraq after a United Nations mandate expires at the end of the year.
But the negotiations have been deadlocked. The United States and Iraq have agreed to set a “general time horizon” for the “further reduction of U.S. combat forces in Iraq” follo... more
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