:
Sa Jun 10 -

US TEEN LURED TO MIDEAST -

When FBI agents found her in the Amman, Jordan, airport, 16-year-old Katherine Lester from Tuscola County, Michigan, was on her way to meet a 25-year-old man in Jericho on the West Bank. They "met" in cyberspace about three months ago via her page on MySpace.

::Cyber link to Mideast::

...

:
F/Sa Jun 10 -

ZARQAWI STILL DEAD:
But Nixes Felafel Anyway -

Omar at ::ITM:: gives some
background on Hibhib and notes:

*In the first official confirmation, PM al-Maliki said that Jordan has provided intelligence that was used in the raid on Zaraqwi's hiding place but he also stressed that tips from locals were the primary lead to Zarqawi's exact location and these were the information according to which the missiles were guided.*

Zeyad notes on his blog that his comment on Zarqawi is at The UK Guardian's Comment is Free blog and gives the link to it.

BBC Monitoring reports on Arab
TV coverage of Zarqawi's death.

At Al-Arabiyah TV's website via Google Translation, they're speculating about who Zarqawi's successor will be and have identified some potential individuals.

...

:
Fri Jun 9 -

SoFlo Local:
DYSTOPIA TO BE AXED -

*FORT LAUDERDALE -- The new
owners of Las Olas Riverfront, a
$55 million bar-restaurant-movie
complex on the river downtown,
plan to demolish it.*

:: By Brittany Wallman ::
-- Sun-Sentinel --

...

:
We Jun 7 -

BAGHDAD BRASS
BALLS AWARD . . .

this week to the BBC's John Simpson for this video segment which shows him strolling around Baghdad, talking to drivers, visiting a barbershop, chatting with some Reuters TV cameramen, and dropping into the Palestine Hotel which is almost entirely deserted at the moment with pigeons roosting in its lobby rafters.

:: Life in Iraq ::
three years after invasion.
10 min: 18 sec.

:: NewsNight: June 6th ::

...

:
Tu Jun 6 -

CANADIAN TERROR NET -

"These were guys who
were also acting strange."

:: Toronto Star ::


Qayyum Jamal: *Yet even before the 43-year-old was accused of plotting to blow up parts of Southern Ontario, some parents were beginning to worry about his growing influence over their teenagers.*

:: Globe and Mail ::

...

:
Tu Jun 6 -

CYBER ZARQAWI NET -

*AN INTERNET trail left by a British computer expert has led investigators to an intricate terror network...

For nine months police and intelligence agents in eight countries have patiently worked through a forest of e-mails and intercepted telephone calls that have so far led to the arrest of up to 30 men.*

:: By Daniel McGrory ::
-- UK Times --

...

:
Tu Jun 6 -

SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED -

Gayle Lynds says she thinks
we're in "The Decade of the Spy."

*There’s a growing trend in fiction that will take over bestseller charts within the next couple of years. The genre is espionage novels-- "international thrillers." ...and it’s only going to grow in popularity.*

:: Read more :: here ::

and see if you agree with her.

How did it all begin?

Eric Ambler and the
invention of the spy novel.
A brief article at Slate by
Stephen Metcalf from
Thurs, May 25th.

...

:
Mo Jun 5 -

IRAQ: Monday
Morning Update...

& Goombye Hair Gel -

A huge fire has erupted in a house near a gas station in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Yarmouk, but no casualties have been reported. Iraqi forces have evacuated nearby houses and are trying to contain the fire...

:: AP/ WashTimes ::


Salam Pax is working on two new Video segments for BBC's NewsNight-- gee, I hope the crew there posts links to them on their website.

And then Salam, ambling along at his narrative line in his own peculiar way, describes his travails in getting people in Baghdad to talk these days, plus other assorted tsooris. Oh, yeah, they've got plenty of tsooris lately in Baghdad, by the way... in case you haven't noticed yet. And Salam lists some of the unexpected problems that anyone can step into like a cow pie in a pasture if you're not assiduously careful where and how you step...

PS: Better add
Hair Gel to the list of NoNo's!

Of course, the list is endless. And you never know when the mysterious masked men are going to add to their lists... depending on which list you are talking about... if the list has been signed before it was posted... depending on which phase of the moon
we're in...

I'm in a cranky mood
this morning. Can you tell?

:: Salam Pax Blog: perma ::

...

:
Su Jun 4 -

FANTASY CONTESTS -

Some people like to play Fantasy Football-- whatever that is. Others enjoy casting hypothetical movies. There's a populist movement now to draft Condi Rice to run for president in a hypothetical contest against Hillary Clinton. Several blogs are devoted to promoting Condi as candidate.

:: Blogs for Condi ::

...

:
Su Jun 4 -

TORONTO:
TONS OF TROUBLE -

*Three tonnes of ammonium nitrate, thrice the amount used by Timothy McVeigh to demolish a government building in Oklahoma City. Cellphone detonators. Switches. Computer hard drive. A 9-mm pistol. Soldering gun. Camouflage gear.

And 17 males-- born here or reared here, certainly settled here, some of them little more than children-- formally remanded yesterday on terrorism-related charges.*

:: By Rosie DiManno ::
-- The Toronto Star --

...

:
Su Jun 4 -

UK SLEEPERS:
M15 Fears "Silent Army" -

...a new breed of urban
terrorists waging war from
Britain's drab suburbs...

Unbeknown to their families and friends, they form a silent 1,200-strong "army" of terrorists. They are believed to be involved in at least 20 major plots that they hope will bring death and destruction to Britain...

...one of his sources had claimed to him that two brothers living at 46, Lansdown Road, Forest Gate, were attempting to build a chemical bomb...

:: Rayment: UK Telegraph ::


Terrorists were planning a chemical attack in London similar to the outrage on the Tokyo underground, according to police and the security services.

:: UK Telegraph ::

...