Western Freedom

The terrorism threat to the United States over the next five years will be driven by instability in the Middle East and Africa, persistent challenges to border security and increasing Internet savvy, says a new intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press.Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks are considered the most dangerous threats that could be carried out against the U.S. But those threats are also the most unlikely because it is so difficult for al-Qaida and similar groups to acquire the materials needed to carry out such plots, according to the internal Homeland Security Threat Assessment for the years 2008-2013.

The al-Qaida terrorist network continues to focus on U.S. attack targets vulnerable to massive economic losses, casualties and political “turmoil,” the assessment said.

Earlier this month, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction remains “the highest priority at the federal level.” Speaking to reporters on Dec. 3, Chertoff explained that more people, such as terrorists, will learn how to make dirty bombs, biological and chemical weapons. “The other side is going to continue to learn more about doing things,” he said.

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The incident took place at a police station of the western center in Ramadi.

Authorities say the deaths happened in centre of the western city of Ramadi.

“During an exchange of fire between prisoners trying to escape and police officers in the station, six policemen and seven prisoners were killed,” police chief Tareq al Dulaimi said.

Three prisoners managed to get away but one was re-arrested, Mr al Dulaimi said, adding that another four policemen were wounded in the shootout.

Iraqi authorities are taking increasing responsibility for policing and military enforcement in the country as foreign troops prepare to pull out in the coming year.

The majority of British forces are expected to have left country by July, according to Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s plans.

Military operations by British troops are set to finish by the end of May at the latest.

But a few hundred are likely to stay in Iraq for training and mentoring duties.

Meanwhile, US President-elect Barack Obama has promised to take all US troops out of Iraq a little over a year after he takes office in late January.

Due to the recent terror attacks in Mumbai, Goa authorities take caution. New Year parties are banned here over security fears, - Sky News announced.

The luxury Oberoi and Taj Mahal hotels will partially reopen almost one month after Islamic militants stormed the buildings in a rampage that left 172 people dead. Members of banned Pakistan-based group Lashkar e Taiba are accused of staging the attacks that kicked off a three-day siege.

Nine of the alleged gunmen were killed and one is in police custody. Now, in a blow to the Indian resort state of Goa where year-end parties are a big draw for tourists, the authorities have cancelled all beach celebrations. Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai gets ready for Christmas Taj Mahal gets ready for Christmas “We have decided that beach parties would not be allowed from December 23 to January 5,” Goa chief minister Digamber Kamat said. The former Portuguese colony’s reputation has already suffered this year after a string of high-profile crimes, including the murder of British teenager. Scarlett Keeling’s death lifted the lid on a culture of drink and drugs and prompted concerns about safety. Kamat’s ruling following a high-level review of security with state home minister Ravi Naik.

Murdered: Scarlett Keeling Naik said all other festivities and celebrations would continue, assuring visitors that there was no cause for concern. “There is no ban for the functions in the hotels. Also the traditional celebrations will go on uninterrupted,” he added. Over two million tourists visit the state each year but arrivals have fallen 20% since November’s Mumbai attacks, according to the Tour and Travel Association of Goa.

The suspected planner of last month’s attack by gunmen on Mumbai was arrested by Pakistani security forces in a raid on a militant camp, an official with a charity linked to the militant group said on Monday.

The Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was among four men taken into custody following Sunday’s raid on a camp used by Lashkar-e-Taiba fighters outside Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir. Pakistani intelligence officers said six men have been arrested, but gave no names, and there has been no official confirmation of the raid.Lakhvi, one of Lashkar’s operations chiefs, was named as a ringleader in the Mumbai plot by the lone surviving gunmen captured in India, according to Indian officials.

Since September, Somali pirates have robbed three vessels and hijacked a tug and barge off Tioman island. Some 100 ships have been attacked off the Somali coast this year, of which 40 vessels have been hijacked. Thirteen ships remain in the hands of pirates, including a Saudi supertanker filled with $100 million of crude and a Ukrainian ship loaded with 33 battle tanks.

Last Saturday, pirates armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons attacked a Dutch-operated container ship off the coast of Tanzania but failed to hijack the vessel.

The attack Saturday shows the pirates are becoming bolder and extending their reach further from their base in Somalia, said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur.

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Associated Press:

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Somali pirates hijacked a supertanker hundreds of miles off the Horn of Africa, seizing the Saudi-owned ship loaded with crude and its 25-member crew, the U.S. Navy said Monday.

It was the largest ship pirates have seized, and the farthest out to sea they have successfully struck.

The hijacking highlighted the vulnerability of even very large ships and pointed to widening ambitions and capabilities among ransom-hungry pirates who have carried out a surge of attacks this year off Somalia.

Saturday’s hijacking of the MV Sirius Star tanker occurred in the Indian Ocean far south of the zone patrolled by international warships in the busy Gulf of Aden shipping channel, which leads to and from the Suez Canal. A U.S. Navy spokesman said the bandits were taking it to a Somali port that has become a haven for seized ships and bandits trying to force ransoms for them.

Maritime security experts said they have tracked a troubling spread in pirate activity southward into a vast area of ocean that would be extremely difficult and costly to patrol, and this hijacking fits that pattern.

“It is very alarming,” said Cyrus Mody, manager of the International Maritime Bureau. “It had been slightly more easy to get it under control in the Gulf of Aden because it is a comparatively smaller area of water which has to be patrolled, but this is huge.”

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