Pakistani former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated in a suicide attack.
Ms Bhutto - the first woman PM in an Islamic state - was leaving an election rally in Rawalpindi when a gunman shot her in the neck and set off a bomb.
At least 20 other people died in the attack and several more were injured.
This year's housing bust is shaping up to be one of historic proportions. Sales and construction have sunk to levels not seen since the 1990 savings and loan crisis, while foreclosures and price drops are the largest since the Great Depression — and expected to get worse next year.
New York City police are moving forward on a multimillion-dollar counter-terrorism initiative, installing more than a hundred license plate readers and eventually thousands of cameras in Lower Manhattan. NY1 Criminal Justice Reporter Solana Pyne takes a look at the program in the following report.
As Police officer Michael Gerbasi drives, a camera on the roof of his patrol car photographs license plates. A computer then checks a database to see, for example, if the car is stolen.
"It will notify us with an alert sound on the computer, and then actually there is a voice that speaks out and says, ‘stolen vehicle’ and it will give you a picture of the plate and a description of the vehicle,” says Gerbasi.
More than a hundred of the readers – some on cars, others in fixed places – are about to be deployed en-masse in Lower Manhattan as part of a massive $106 million counter-terrorism initiative years in the planning.
“Starting in January, we'll be putting in our license plate readers. That will be, kind of, phase one of this program,” says Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
The license plate readers are just the tip of the iceberg in what's billed as the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative.
“We're looking to put in, ultimately, a thousand cameras in public spaces, link it to 2,000 private sector cameras,” says Kelly.
All the cameras would be monitored by police at one location. Virtually anyone who walks or drives south of Canal Street could be under surveillance.
The plan also includes mobile barriers on streets the department says are key choke points into the area. They could be automatically moved into place, effectively sealing off Lower Manhattan.
“That will enable us to wall off that area in extreme situations,” says Kelly.
It's all modeled on the so-called ring of steel in London, where cameras have helped authorities find terrorism suspects. It’s a first for the US.
"This is the first time that the government and the police in particular will have the ability to track everyone moving around in a public area,” says Chris Dunn of the NYCLU.
Concerned it's an invasion of privacy, the NYCLU has issued freedom of information law requests to get more information about exactly how the program works.
“The police department should not be spending a hundred million dollars of public money to put up thousands of cameras to track New Yorkers without there being some public debate and some public oversight,” says Dunn.
Police say the only information kept long-term will be about suspected law breakers. And that the City Council already approved part of the $40 million dollars the department is using to get the program started.
Top-secret details about hundreds of sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects are to be released for public viewing in response to the nation's continuing fascination with the subject.
The Ministry of Defence will release a total of 160 files dating back to that time to the National Archives in Kew.
The first files will be made available in Spring 2008 and the process is expected to take three years.
Pentagon auditors said they could not account for millions of dollars worth of rocket-propelled grenades, armored vehicles, ammunition and other supplies and equipment that were to be used to train and equip Iraqi security forces, because of inadequate paperwork and a lack of oversight personnel.
A report released last week by the Defense Department's inspector general looked at $5.2 billion in the Iraq Security Forces Fund, which is part of the $44.5 billion U.S. reconstruction effort in Iraq.
It found that the command in charge, known as the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq, couldn't provide "reasonable assurance" that the money for the Iraqi security forces was used properly and that it was protected from "waste and mismanagement."
The inspector general said the command was unable to prove that it received 12,712 of the 13,508 weapons it bought because the serial numbers were not kept when they were brought to the Abu Ghraib warehouse, and when they were sent out there wasn't adequate paperwork tracking them to a contract. The 13,508 weapons were made up of 7,002 pistols, 3,230 assault rifles, 2,389 rocket-propelled grenade launchers and 887 machine guns.
The inspector general's report follows an audit this summer by the Government Accountability Office that said the Pentagon lost track of about 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols given to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005. The GAO report looked at weapons in the early part of the training and equipping program.
Gary Comerford, a spokesman for the inspector general, said there was "no way of telling" whether the Defense Department auditors looked at the same weapons as the GAO.
The inspector general's audit also looked at a random sample of equipment purchases, worth $1.1 billion. Of $643.1 million worth of contracts for armored vehicles, weapons, ammunition, communications equipment, garbage trucks and other supplies, the inspector general was able to follow a paper trail for only 12.9 percent -- or $82.9 million -- of it. For another set of purchases, worth $438.2 million, there was an audit trail for only 1 percent.
Tony Blair raised fears about an investigation into a Saudi arms deal days before it was dropped last year, a newly-disclosed document has shown.
The then PM had said the decision to stop the probe into the BAE deal was taken because of national security and was not linked to commercial interests.
But in a letter released during a legal case, Mr Blair refers to "concern" over ongoing business negotiations.
Downing Street has refused to comment on the letter to his attorney general.
The letter from Mr Blair to Lord Goldsmith dated 8 December 2006 was released to the High Court during a case brought by two pressure groups who are challenging the legality of the decision to end investigations into BAE Systems' dealings with Saudi Arabia.
It refers "critical difficulties" that might have affected the major contract for new military aircraft
On the 234th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, Texas Congressman Ron Paul’s supporters have set two fund raising records --- one for the Internet and a second for most raised in 24 hours.
As 24 hours approach on the West Coast, Paul supporters bested John Kerry’s fund raising record from 2004 when $5.7 million was added in 24 hours. After their “Tea Party” money bomb, Dr. Paul has $6.4 million and counting.
EU leaders have signed a treaty in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, that is expected to greatly alter the way the 27-nation body operates.
The treaty creates an EU president and a more powerful foreign policy chief.
The document, signed at a ceremony at the city's historic Jeronimos Monastery, also scraps veto powers in many policy areas.
It is a replacement for the EU constitution, which was abandoned following French and Dutch opposition.
EU leaders insist that the two texts are in no way equivalent.
But the Lisbon treaty incorporates some of the draft constitution's key reforms, and several governments face domestic pressure over the document.
In a speech before the signing, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called on European leaders to use the treaty to make freedom, prosperity and solidarity an everyday reality for all European citizens.
"From this old continent, a new Europe is born," he said.
Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said the treaty would create a more modern, efficient and democratic union.
"The world needs a stronger Europe," he said.
The leaders signed the treaty, translated into the EU's 23 official languages, using specially engraved silver fountain pens as a choir sang Beethoven's Ode to Joy.
UK signing
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown signed the treaty later in the day after missing the ceremony, citing a prior engagement in the British parliament.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband attended the signing ceremony.
The UK's opposition Conservatives accused Mr Brown of "not having the guts" to sign the treaty, which is politically controversial in Britain, in public.
Having started this year with a celebration of its 50th birthday, the EU hopes the signing of the Lisbon treaty will end the serious mid-life crisis brought about by the death of the constitution, the BBC's Oana Lungescu reports.
There will be a lot of relief, said a senior European diplomat, but also some apprehension about what happens next.
Ireland is the only country planning to hold a referendum, but most voters there seem either undecided or indifferent.
Parliaments in Britain, the Netherlands and Denmark are also expected to give a turbulent reception to the 250-page text.
However, Germany, France and Poland have pledged to be among the first to ratify it, so that the new reforms can come into force in 2009 as planned.
The treaty is a slimmed-down version of the European constitution, with a more modest name and without any reference to EU symbols such as the flag and anthem.
It is meant to ease decision-making, by scrapping national vetoes in some 50 policy areas, including sensitive ones such as police and judicial co-operation.
There will also be a foreign policy chief, controlling a big budget and thousands of diplomats and officials, and a permanent EU president appointed for up to five years.
But some already fear that instead of giving Europe a strong single voice in the world, the new posts will only generate more rivalry, our correspondent adds.
Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the architect of the abandoned European Constitution, has admitted that the document has been rewritten by EU leaders in a different order just to avoid the need for referendums.
Morgan Stanley has issued a full recession alert for the US economy, warning of a sharp slowdown in business investment and a "perfect storm" for consumers as the housing slump spreads.
Iran has stopped selling its oil for U.S. dollars, the Iranian ISNA news agency said on Saturday, citing the country's oil minister.
"In line with a policy of selling crude oil in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, the sale of our country's oil in U.S. dollars has been completely eliminated," ISNA reported Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari as saying.
Regular use of mobile telephones increases the risk of developing tumours, a new scientific study by Israeli researchers and published in the American Journal of Epidemiology revealed on Friday.
An extract of the report seen by Israel's Yedoit Aharonot newspaper put the risk of developing a parotid gland tumour nearly 50 percent higher for frequent mobile phone users -- more than 22 hours a month.
The risk was still higher if users clamped the phone to the same ear, did not use hands-free devices or were in rural areas.
"Analysis restricted to regular users or to conditions that may yield higher levels of exposure (eg heavy use in rural areas) showed consistently elevated risks," said an abstract of the report in the US journal made available to AFP.
The study included 402 benign and 58 malignant incident cases of parotid gland tumour diagnosed in Israel at age 18 years or more, in 2001-2003.
The research was led by Dr Siegal Sadetzki, a cancer and radiation expert at the Chaim Sheba Medical Centre in Israel and as part of a World Health Organisation project.
Don't ever say the Bush administration doesn't take care of its own. Nearly three years after Paul Wolfowitz resigned as deputy Defense secretary and six months after his stormy departure as president of the World Bank—amid allegations that he improperly awarded a raise to his girlfriend—he's in line to return to public service. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has offered Wolfowitz, a prime architect of the Iraq War, a position as chairman of the International Security Advisory Board, a prestigious State Department panel, according to two department sources who declined to be identified discussing personnel matters. The 18-member panel, which has access to highly classified intelligence, advises Rice on disarmament, nuclear proliferation, WMD issues and other matters.
Wolfowitz, now a visiting scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, will replace former senator Fred Thompson, who quit over the summer to run for president. Although officials declined to say how Rice came to choose him, Wolfowitz began his government career in the 1970s in the State Department as an arms-control expert; he forged a relationship with Rice during the 2000 presidential campaign, when they both served as top foreign-policy advisers to the then candidate Bush. But his selection has raised more than a few eyebrows within State because he'll be providing advice on some of the same issues that critics say the administration got spectacularly wrong when Wolfowitz was pushing the case for the Iraq War at the Pentagon. (One of the department sources called the appointment "amazing.") At least Wolfowitz, who did not return calls seeking comment, will have like-minded company: other panel members include Robert Joseph, the former National Security Council official in charge of Iraq WMD intelligence, and ex-CIA director James Woolsey, both strong allies during the Iraq debate.
The sources said Wolfowitz has already accepted Rice's offer to fill the part-time position, though it won't be announced until the completion of a standard check for conflicts of interest. But he won't have to worry about any complaints from pesky Democrats. The position doesn't require Senate confirmation. "We think he is well suited and will do an excellent job," said one senior official.
Slovak and Hungarian police seized a kilo (2.2 lbs) of radioactive material and arrested three people in a joint operation on Wednesday, a spokesman said.
Slovak police spokesman Martin Korch said the material was being examined and did not confirm a report carried by the Slovak news agency SITA that it was enriched uranium.
"This one kilogram should have been sold for one million U.S. dollars," spokesman Martin Korch said.
The spokesman said the police raid took place along the eastern part of the two central European countries' common frontier, near their borders with Ukraine.
"Three people have been taken into custody, two in Slovakia one in Hungary," he said. "Further information will be provided tomorrow."
Uranium enrichment can yield either fuel for nuclear power stations, or be used for nuclear warheads.
The video-sharing website YouTube has suspended the account of a prominent Egyptian anti-torture activist who posted videos of what he said was brutal behaviour by some Egyptian policemen, the activist said.
Wael Abbas said close to 100 images he had sent to YouTube were no longer accessible, including clips depicting purported police brutality, voting irregularities and anti-government demonstrations.
YouTube, owned by search engine giant Google, did not respond to a written request for comment. A message on Abbas's YouTube user page, http://youtube.com/user/waelabbas, read: "This account is suspended."
"They closed it (the account) and they sent me an email saying that it will be suspended because there were lots of complaints about the content, especially the content of torture," Abbas told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Abbas, who won an international journalism award for his work this year, said that of the images he had posted to YouTube, 12 or 13 depicted violence in Egyptian police stations.
Abbas was a key player last year in distributing a clip of an Egyptian bus driver, his hands bound, being sodomised with a stick by a police officer - imagery that sparked an uproar in a country where rights groups say torture is commonplace.
That tape prompted an investigation that led to a rare conviction of two policemen, who were sentenced to three years in prison for torture. Egypt says it opposes torture and prosecutes police against whom it has evidence of misconduct.
YouTube regulations state that "graphic or gratuitous violence" is not allowed and warn users not to post such videos. Repeat violators of YouTube guidelines may have their accounts terminated, according to rules posted on the site.
Rights activists said by shutting down Abbas's account, YouTube was closing a significant portal for information on human rights abuses in Egypt just as Cairo was escalating a crackdown on opposition and independent journalists.
The internet has emerged in Egypt as a major forum for critics of the Egyptian government.
"The goal is not showing the violence, it is showing police brutality. If his goal was just to focus on violence without any goal, that is a problem. But Wael is showing police brutality in Egypt," said Gamal Eid, head of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information.
This year, for the first time, an Egyptian court convicted and jailed a blogger over his internet writings.
A string of court rulings since September has seen at least 12 Egyptian journalists ordered jailed on charges from defaming President Hosni Mubarak to misquoting the minister of justice.
Elijah Zarwan, a prominent blogger and activist in Egypt, said he thought it was unlikely that YouTube had come under official Egyptian pressure, and was more likely reacting to the graphic nature of the videos.
"I suspect they are doing it not under pressure from the Egyptian government but rather because it made American viewers squeamish," he said. "But to shut them down because some people might find the truth disturbing is unconscionable."
Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percent of the general adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday.
The government's terrorist watch list has swelled to more than 755,000 names, according to a new government report that has raised worries about the list's effectiveness.
The size of the list, typically used to check people entering the country through land border crossings, airports and sea ports, has been growing by 200,000 names a year since 2004. Some lawmakers, security experts and civil rights advocates warn that it will become useless if it includes too many people.
More than 15,000 people have appealed to the government since February to have their names removed from the terrorist watch list that delayed their travel at U.S. airports and border crossings, the Homeland Security Department says.
John Anderson of Minneapolis, who turned 6 on July 4, is among those who have been inconvenienced.
Police detained hundreds of Pakistani opposition figures and lawyers on Sunday as military ruler President Pervez Musharraf tried to stifle the outcry over his imposition of a state of emergency.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said national elections, due in January, might be rescheduled because of General Musharraf's decision on Saturday to announce emergency rule, which was condemned by the United States and other Western allies.
Pakistani opposition leaders and activists have been detained in the wake of President Pervez Musharraf's decision to declare emergency rule.
The acting head of the party of exiled former PM Nawaz Sharif was arrested, senior lawyers have been detained and the country's chief justice sacked.
The proclamation of emergency in Pakistan has made one big difference. All the nearly 30 TV news channels have gone off the air. And with them has gone all the cacophony about the political, judicial and military crisis in the country.
Pakistan's military ruler, Gen Pervez Musharraf, suspended the constitution and proclaimed emergency rule in a televised address on Saturday evening.
Soon afterwards, TV cable operators said they were asked by the government to stop beaming all local and foreign news channels, except the official Pakistan Television Corp (PTV).
Meanwhile, resentment is brewing among the judges of the higher judiciary. More than 60 judges, out of a total of 97, have declined to take oath under the new Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO).
Their homes have been placed under strict security, presumably to prevent them from going to the courts on Monday, as some of them plan to do.
In a hurriedly-called sitting on Saturday evening, seven Supreme Court judges issued an order barring the government from proclaiming emergency rule, and advising the state functionaries not to carry out emergency orders, if issued.
Police and soldiers emboldened by state of emergency powers swept up hundreds of activists and opposition members on Sunday, dragged away protesters shouting "Shame on you!", and turned government buildings into barbed-wire compounds.
The young man who filmed the final minutes of 40-year-old Robert Dziekanski's life has given a disturbing account of what he believes was a preventable Taser death.
Paul Pritchard, 25, was on his way home to Victoria when he happened to witness an RCMP officer Taser Dziekanski to death in the arrivals section of Vancouver International Airport on Oct. 13.
Pritchard, an English teacher in China, says he was waiting in the arrivals lobby when he noticed Dziekanski acting strangely as he paced back and forth. After watching for a few minutes, he decided to use his cellphone camera to film Dziekanski.
While others in the waiting area called for security, it took some 25 to 30 minutes before security and police arrived, recalled Pritchard.
But upon their arrival, it was clear that the police had decided to use a Taser gun before they even got near Dziekanski, said Pritchard.
"I heard 'Can I or should I Taser him?' before they even got to Mr. Dziekanski," says Pritchard. "Right away they Tasered him."
Three police officers then struggled to handcuff Dziekanski, who by now was on the floor. Dziekanski was unconscious about a minute later, said Pritchard.
Police immediately called "Code Red" and medics arrived about five to eight minutes later - a time period that Pritchard believes was too long.
Pritchard said that in the 25 minutes prior to security and RCMP officers arriving on scene, at least five people - including women - went up to Dziekanski to offer help.
Although he was clearly distressed and behaving strangely "none of us felt threatened at any time. We weren't scared, women were going right up to him," said Pritchard.
Pritchard's account is in stark contrast to that given by the RCMP, who said Dziekanski had been behaving violently and erratically in the international arrivals area and they were unable to calm him.
Pritchard had turned over his video footage to police on the understanding it would be returned to him within 48 hours.
But police have since changed their minds, saying the release of Pritchard's footage may taint other witness testimony.
Investigators told Pritchard it could be a year to two years before he gets the footage back.
Now Pritchard is suing the Mounties to get the video back in a bid to show the public what actually happened and put to rest the questions surrounding Dziekanski's death.
"I'm watching all these interviews and all these press conferences and there's all this guesswork. . . But there's a clear image of what happened - why are they hiding it?" said Pritchard at a Victoria news conference.
Pritchard's lawyer, Paul Pearson, will be arguing in B.C. Supreme Court on Friday for the return of the video footage.
"The police have not cited any legal authority for holding onto the footage," said Pearson. "They've been generally stating that it's an investigation. . .To us, that is not a legal reason."
Pearson added that when police seize personal items, they typically write a report to the justice.
"Those, as I understand it, have not been followed," said Pearson. "Effectively, they are people who are holding onto my client's property."
Dziekanski, who spoke no English, flew to Vancouver Oct. 13 to immigrate to Canada and join his mother in Kamloops, B.C.
The Taser death at Vancouver Airport has caused international repercussions - Poland's embassy in Ottawa has sent a diplomatic note to Canada expressing concern over the death.
Dziekanski's mother, Zofia Cisowski, was too distraught to comment publicly on Thursday.
"She buried her only son yesterday," said a friend. "She's devastated, absolutely devastated."
