The Detroit Free Press reported that Roger Stockham, 63, drove from California to Dearborn, MI, and was found by police Monday, Jan. 24, in a car packed with high-end class C fireworks in the mosque and school's parking lot. The report said the fireworks included M-80s, a powerful firecracker outlawed in Michigan and other states.[coronado.patch.com]

Must have been going to go all celebratory-tango on their asses ... or something ...

And here in Saudi Arabia, a government-supported program has enlisted hundreds of Islamic scholars turned bloggers to fight online radicalization by challenging the interpretations of the Koran posted on extremist social networking forums.[nytimes.com]

“The terrorist threat in Russia is higher than in America,” Medvedev acknowledged in nationally televised remarks from the briefing. “Terrorism is the main threat to security of our state.” The admission was even grimmer than people might imagine. In the wake of the September 1999 apartment-house bombings, Russian voters accepted an implicit deal with the former KGB man they quickly elected president: they would surrender many of the freedoms they had enjoyed during the chaotic Boris Yeltsin years in exchange for Putin’s protection from terrorist attacks.[newsweek.com]

Vigilante work is unrewarding. Al-Shuhayra, the accountant, says he and his compatriots have been sleeping on the streets of Imbaba in order to watch over their district's property.[time.com]

To many in the intelligence community (especially those who purportedly created it), the Stuxnet worm was a wildly successful cyberattack. But it was also a major failure on at least two fronts—fronts that could come back to haunt us.[gizmodo.com]

In that this, or similar, threats aren't going away anytime soon, now would probably be a good time to start a policy of giving critical infrastructure manual control capabilities ...

To use an anonymous proxy you must have 100% confidence in the integrity of the server and of the people controlling this server.[anonymousproxylistservice.com]

Gandara, a former radio dispatcher, was declared the de facto police chief last summer; after the 10 other cops in town had either quit or been killed. The young woman took her job as chief of 9,000 border residents seriously, going out on patrol every morning with an R-15 rifle and proudly hefting the gun in pictures for local papers.[nypost.com]

I bet they sent plenty of help when they came for Ms. Santos, too. She doesn't look like the type it's safe to trifle with ...

Without taking the stand, he gave an opening statement that let the jury hear his side of the events without subjecting himself to cross-examination by the state. He also told his story without the jury learning that he’s a Megan’s Law offender whose criminal history includes threatening behavior.[pressofatlanticcity.com]

It's probably a good idea to have at least a pedestrian knowledge of how the court system works. You never know when you won't have any choice but to defend yourself ...

Video included

The suspect turned his gun on the guard and took his gun. He demanded three bottles of OxyContin, then escaped out the back door. There were no customers inside, and no workers were injured.[wlox.com]

I suspect that either the perp is geographically-challenged or the surroundings are perfect for his particular brand of E & E. Sounds like he was ready for the Security Dude, though, so there may be video of him re-casing the place since the last one ...probably in the previous couple of days ...

Five days of protest. At least 100 dead. Thousands injured. One sacked government. A new Prime Minister and Vice President. An army, and a country, in the balance. And the rage continues…[forgetthebox.net]

Interesting perspective ...

Three cables from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo to the State Department, published by Wikileaks, shed some light on Egypt's new Vice President Omar Suleiman.[abcnews.com]

It is kinda convenient that these are coming out at this time ...

A new municipal police force made up of 422 certified officers will begin patrolling the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico’s murder capital, officials said.[laht.com]

Video included

The dramatic video shows that frightening Sunday afternoon on January 23 when four officers were wounded inside the police station.[newsnet5.com]

It doesn't look like he had any intention of leaving afterward ...

Video included

When Spencer Brill saw the surveillance video of his severe beating, his response was surprisingly upbeat.[myfox8.com]

It's hard to prepare for one of these ...

Video included

Don't count on this always working ...

Egypt watch

Now for Julian Assange's contribution to the Egyptian riots.[businessinsider.com]

Also:

The U.S. government secretly supported leading opposition figures in Egypt who have been preparing to topple President Hosni Mubarak for the past three years, according to diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks.[ibtimes.com]

It's now conventional wisdom that Moscow faces a brutal Islamic terrorist movement, bent on jihad, unwilling to compromise and determined to inflict pain on Russians almost as an end in itself. That's the view presented by Russian officials and accepted by Western leaders ... This unthinking acceptance of the Russian narrative allowed Moscow to respond with brutal violence, often against innocent civilians and without prompting international criticism.[time.com]

Also:

Second, Mr. Putin's autocratic form of rule and imperialist policy toward non-Russian nations has made it impossible for him to resolve - or even seriously address - the underlying problem that fuels most of the attacks.[washingtonpost.com]

Lastly, and most importantly, are we sure that our betrayal of American ideals abroad makes us safer or does it just, like many experts believe, provide a huge recruitment boost for terrorist organizations?[blogcritics.org]

"Our goal is to provide the technical tools but also the societal discussions about how we can achieve privacy in an electronic society," Jan Camenisch, a Zurich-based cryptographer with IBM Research told CNET.[cnet.com]

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. Thursday reiterated that it can't give Indian security agencies access to its corporate smartphone email service. While talks will continue, the issue casts uncertainty over the popular service in the world's fastest-growing telecom market.[wsj.com]

The US Navy plans to purchase 117 production P-8A aircraft to replace its ageing Lockheed P-3 Orion Fleet. IOC is planned for 2013 at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida.[defenceweb.co.za]

The other two boats are US-built Guppies, the oldest operational submarines in the world. Just how spine-chillingly antiquated these subs are is illustrated by the story of their development. The US Navy obtained the Guppy technology by testing and reverse engineering captured Nazi U-boats. This is the state of technology that Taiwan still sends to plough the seas in 2010.[atimes.com]

You would think that Taiwan could build their own ...

No one will have been more delighted with the Government’s decision to scrap the RAF’s Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft than the commanders of Russia’s nuclear submarine fleet.[telegraph.co.uk]

NATO and Russia vowed Wednesday to stand side-by-side against terrorism after Moscow's airport bombing but remained at odds over cooperation on a missile shield for Europe's population.[AFP]

The five-step color codes, which range from green to red, will be phased out in the next 90 days.[usatoday.com]

Facebook will allow its users to encrypt their use of the site, an overdue move that would stop eavesdroppers from picking up any information sent to and from the social network.[washintonpost.com]

Pics included

Explosion at the “Europe” shopping mall in Ufa.[englishrussia.com]

"That becomes a very attractive target to a suicide bomber," Ron said. "The attack in Moscow should draw attention to the need for increased security in these areas."[washingtonpost.com]

I wonder what they imagine Security could do other than move the target area out into the parking lot, or wherever. Suicide bombing is self-limiting because there are very few people whose lives are of so little value to themselves that they are willing to go through with it UNLESS there are environmental factors present that tend to create them faster than they can blow themselves up.

A Web hack that can endanger online banking transactions is ranked the No. 1 new Web hacking technique for 2010 in a top 10 list selected by a panel of experts and open voting.[pcworld.com]

As the world becomes increasingly saturated with closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras, security experts say offenders can easily slip away simply because no one has the time to find the incriminating footage.[reuters.com]

Interesting supposition ...

A reported suicide bombing/terrorist attack occurred Monday 4:30pm, January 24, 2011 at Russia's Domodedovo Airport. The death toll at the Moscow airport is at least 35 dead, with approximately 152 others injured.[examiner.com]

You don't have to get on the plane ... all you need is a crowd ...

Mr. Muschick said that neither his DNA nor fingerprints were found at the crime scene -- even though the robber did not wear gloves and touched the counters and windows. He also asserted that the shoes he was wearing that day were different from the ones shown in the bank surveillance video.[post-gazette.com]

El Paso had five homicides in the city and two in the county during 2010. In Juárez, there were more than 3,000 homicides.[elpasotimes.com]

In the shootout "10 presumed aggressors were killed," Mexico's Secretariat of National Defense said in a statement on Saturday.[smh.com]

Hmmm ... they must not have a presumption of  innocence ...

A fisherman on the U.S. side of the lake heard shots coming from land, Gonzalez said. Under the impression that the shots were the result of someone target practicing, the fisherman decided to get closer, Gonzalez said.[cnn.com]

Some people say there is no Darwin ...

Nuclear submarine technology (truly cold war terror science) may one day have peaceful payoffs: A French firm is planning modified submarine nuclear power stations, able to provide clean juice to remote communities.[fastcompany.com]

Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari has called on China to do more to pressure Pakistan on cross-border terrorism and told the Chinese leadership there is “strong public opinion” in India against China's projects in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).[hindu.com]

I wonder how much influence China has on Pakistan ...

Here's a quick look at recent terrorism-related cases in Canada. Since December, there have been developments in six of the cases.[cbc.com]

Buffalo has introduced three new USB flash drives, the RUF2-HSCLT, RUF2-HSCLTV and RUF2-HSCLTV3. They are available in 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB and 32GB capacities and come equipped with AES 256-bit hardware encryption.[slipperybrick.com]

The Norwegian Navy has received its fifth and last of F-310 Nansen class anti-submarine warfare frigates from Spanish shipbuilder Navantia.[brahmand]

As Chinese Premier Hu Jintao prepares for today’s state dinner at the White House in his honor, the headlines are filled with questions about his control over China’s rapidly modernizing military. So it falls to Adm. Gary Roughead, the Navy’s top officer, to signal that he’s not worried about Chinese seapower — either with optimism that his Chinese counterparts will be responsible mariners or with unsubtle reminders that they’re not yet as good as his own sailors.[wired.com]

That might seem eccentric, but the bunkers and other fortresses occupy a special place in Swiss history. The first one was started in 1885 at the strategic St. Gotthard Pass to discourage invading armies from using the new railway route across the Alps, said Jürg Stüssi-Lauterburg, a Swiss historian.[nytimes.com]

Video included

Gary Darling was struck in the head. His nephew, Nakia Darling, was shot in the head, leg and hand. The other nephew, Ben Phillips, was able to wrestle the gun away from Searles before he could do any more damage.[ktla.com]

You gotta give 'em credit, they knew where the blam-blams were coming from and they kept going toward them. Apparently, blood IS thicker than water ...

Hacker team "failOverflow" and iPhone hacker George "geoHot" Hotz, recently revealed the PS3's root key publicly. The root key is an encryption key that, if used with other code, can make the PS3 run any kind of software. Hotz then promptly contacted Sony about his discovery and even offered his security services at Nintendo, Microsoft, or Sony. Sony sent Hotz some papers all right, but it wasn't exactly a job application.[omgn.com]

Video included

The suspect reportedly took a magazine from a rack and asked the manager the price. As the manager looked at it, police say the suspect began to punch him in the face several times, causing the manager to fall on the floor, breaking his nose in the process.[nbcphiladelphia.com]

If you can't be invisible, you better have your invincibility tweeked up pretty high ... maybe as a start, get off your ass. The punches didn't appear to be all that inherently effective, he was just totally unprepared for them to start raining down on him ...

A BofA spokesman insisted to the New York Times recently that the domain registrations were not, in fact, associated with fears of a new document dump from Wikileaks. No other explanation for the timing was offered.[centerforinvestigativereporting.org]

Interesting, but ultimately futile, approach ...

You investigate and find that not only is your software illegal, it was sold to you by a company secretly owned and operated by none other than your own IT systems administrator, a trusted employee for seven years. When you start digging into the admin's activities, you find a for-pay porn Web site he's been running on one of your corporate servers. Then you find that he's downloaded 400 customer credit card numbers from your e-commerce server.[news.idg.no]

Mess up your whole day, it would ...

During normal ship operations, ships and submarines develop a magnetic signature, which can be detected by mines, ships or aircraft. Removing the magnetism requires wrapping a submarine with electrical cables and using high current to reset its magnetic signature.[staradvertiser.com]

Stuxnet follow-up

Siemens says that program was part of routine efforts to secure its products against cyberattacks. Nonetheless, it gave the Idaho National Laboratory — which is part of the Energy Department, responsible for America’s nuclear arms — the chance to identify well-hidden holes in the Siemens systems that were exploited the next year by Stuxnet.[nytimes.com]

Very interesting ...

Swedish companies are the best in Europe on IT security and protection against cyber attacks and internet fraud, according to a new survey. Nearly half of the Swedish enterprises with ten employees or more have an IT security policy. That is the highest proportion in the EU.[swedishwire.com]

With Norway a close second ... maybe it's the cold that does it ...

Video included

"At the beginning it looked like he was going to take off his clothes and fight the guy, but out come the gun and then came the shots and the guy ran into the store," Jacobs said.

The video seems to support a 'self-defense' defense for the shooter ...

Video included

A shopping mall security surveillance video has shown how a woman became so distracted by her cell phone that she fell head first into a fountain, getting completely drenched.[dailymail.co.uk]

It's pretty hard not to laugh at stuff like this ...

California's opinion in Diaz is the latest of several recent court rulings upholding warrantless searches of mobile phones incident to arrest. While this precedent is troubling for civil liberties, it's not a death knell for mobile phone privacy.[arstechnica.com]

Now that security is out of control, cheaters have taken hold of the Modern Warfare 2 servers.[examiner.com]

Hmmm ...

They can do that because our computers aren't secure, and never will be, thanks to the fact that ...[cracked.com]

For as dumb as the comic book was, they have a surprisingly tasty website ... probably shouldn't start browsing it at work, though ...

The last of four Chinese Yuan diesel-electric submarine has appeared. There was no official information released, but based on photos available it appears to be another development in China's taking Russian submarine technology and adapting it for Chinese designs.[strategypage.com]

The Israel Navy is now preparing to receive a new submarine. In the last two enlistment cycles for the IDF Submarine Flotilla Corp, there was an increase by 30 percent for combat soldiers trained for the position, a result of two new submarines acquired by Israel from Germany.[israelnewsagency.com]

Also contains some interesting discussion of Israel's nuclear capability ...

When an undercover TSA security team tested jetBlue staff at Charlotte airport, they were allegedly able to walk up to a ticket counter, tell the agent that they really needed a package to get to Boston that day, hand over $100 in cash, and get the package labeled for the next flight out.[gadling.com]

Also:

The government-issued weapon was in a backpack that was picked up by mistake by a passenger after Michael Connery put it down while he chatted with another pilot.[dailymail.co.uk]

"I just bought my first gun today,” Eric Barber said. Eric was excited to tell us about his first-ever gun purchase, but he hadn’t told his wife yet.[fox23.com]

Remember: No matter how excited you are at having made your first gun purchase, under no circumstances should you jump up and down in the mall yelling "I'VE GOT A GUN, I'VE GOT A GUN!". 8o)

Justice Nancy Morrison made the comment in a recent judgment that awarded Ron Madill of Abbotsford $760,000 for injuries he sustained in a car accident more than six years ago. "The investigators testified they drove with one hand on the wheel and the other hand operating the video camera, up at the side of their head, to allow them to view through the camera what they were taping," the judge noted.[timescolonist.com]

I bet your insurance carrier is impressed  on so many levels ...

Starting in May, anyone entering a casino in Ontario will have their face digitally scanned by a camera. The image will be sent through a database of people who have voluntarily put themselves on a banned list because they admit to having gambling problems.[thebarrieexaminer.com]

I wonder if these work any better than previous products (great in tests, lousy in practice) ...

"The ability to secure high-speed connections without impacting performance is especially appealing to organizations trying to balance data security and compliance requirements with high-performance networking."[eweek.com]

Okay, how was this possible? Encryption works very good when your machine is off and someone is trying to access it. Or if another user on the local machine or LAN is trying to read it. But since this online attack dropped the attacker into the current logged in user session, the attacker could read all of the encrypted information. The encryption system could not tell that the attacker was a remote attacker, but thought it was the local user.[infosecisland.com]

Interesting ...

The only solution, if this counts as one, is to move to real-time verification. A credit card used to be a credential; it gave the bearer certain privileges. But the problem of forged and stolen credit cards was so pervasive that the industry moved to a system where now the card is mostly a pointer to a database. Your passport, when you present it to the customs official in your home country, is basically the same thing. I'd like to be able to photograph a law-enforcement badge with my camera, send it to some police website, and get back a real-time verification -- with picture -- that the officer is legit.[schneier.com]

Bruce is always thought-provoking ...

Video included

The police were called, but all three women managed to leave the bus -- two women and the children manage to escape the locked bus through a window.[cbsnews.com]

Hmmm ... not much technique ... or effect ...

Video included

Cross-dressing robbers pepper spray Home Depot employees[sun-sentinel.com]

This wasn't very well planned. The first one that got caught was likely unable to escape because he/she was pepper-sprayed with the same blast that hit his/her captor ...

The first problem is that casino security staff do not seem overly curious about why someone would come in with a large quantity of cash. In one example cited by police, someone bought $250,000 in chips with $20 bills and the casino only reported it as a large transaction.[aml-cft.blogspot.com]

This may be because the responsibility doesn't fall to them ...

New Mexico State University professor and librarian Molly Molloy has made it her personal endeavor to track and document the day-to-day killings in Mexico's deadliest city, Ciudad Juarez.[publicbroadcasting.net]

A senior Israeli military officer says thousands of troops in the north are on alert following the fall of the Lebanese government.[washingtonpost.com]

“For the financing of the production of [six] submarines in Turkey, an export credit agreement in the amount of 1.878 billion euros was signed between the Undersecretariat of the Treasury and bank consortium led by Bayerische Landesbank, and a commercial loan agreement in the amount of 309 million euros was signed between the Undersecretariat of the Treasury and a bank consortium led by WestLB London Branch on Dec. 31. The total amount of financing provided equals 2.187 billion euros,” the statement said.[hurriyetdailynews.com]

Staff shortages and funding cuts at nuclear weapons sites across the UK have put the public and the environment at risk, according to the Ministry of Defence's nuclear safety watchdog.[guardian.co.uk]

A Mexican official who did not want to be named said the two agents were about to execute an arrest warrant on a street close to one of the IMSS public hospitals about 1 p.m., when they were ambushed by a several gunmen in a vehicle.[lcsun-news.com]

It's not a good time to be a Mexican Federale ...

Muslim clerics across the world used their Friday prayer ceremony today to discuss tolerance and call on Christians and Muslims to unite against terrorism, as they condemned a deadly bombing outside a Coptic church in Egypt last week.[online.wsj.com]

Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance Gainer confirmed on ABC’s Good Morning America this morning that threats to congressmen increased from 2009 to 2010, but he doesn’t believe more members carrying guns is the answer.[usnews.com]

Sounds like it may be time for a new Sergeant at Arms ... I can't believe he said this immediately after his proposed plan, leaving it to the professionals, just failed so spectacularly ...

It took longer than expected, but at noon on Monday, ETA, the organization that has killed more than 800 people in its 40-year struggle for a Basque homeland independent from Spain, announced that it was declaring a "permanent and general cease-fire." Although the group, which is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the European Union, has made similar statements before, this is the first time it has committed itself to a process that would lead to the end of violence.[time.com]

Police said a casino surveillance video shows a man handing his Hummer over to the valet. The valet parked the Hummer in the casino's secured lot without knowing there were three men hiding inside the vehicle. The men had access to all the cars parked in the lot, police said.[clickondetroit.com]

A woman wanted by immigration authorities for engaging in a human trafficking ring faces federal charges after being spotted gambling at Mohegan Sun casino, state police said.[courant.com]

South Korea's military will install underwater sensors near its tense sea border with North Korea to guard against an attack by the North's submarines, a report said Monday.[AFP]

Everyone should have one of these ...

The U.S. Marshals Service can deputize a member of Congress as a special deputy marshal if a threat assessment shows they are in danger, a federal law enforcement official said.[nydailynews.com]

How convenient for them ...

According to The Wall Street Journal the surveillance video captured District Judge John Roll (who was one of the fatalities) as he spoke with an aide just seconds before the alleged gunman, Jared Loughner, opened fire on those attending Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ “Congress in Your Corner” rally.[examiner.com]

Video included - poor quality

The following video—of a man being attacked by two teenagers in a metro station—is very disturbing.

Hmmm ... why would you be screaming 'I did nothing to you' over and over ... it will be interesting to see what the Transit video shows ...

The bodies of fifteen decapitated men were discovered in the Mexican resort of Apaculpo Saturday, in five abandoned vehicles. The heads were found elsewhere.[gather.com]

A New Jersey congressman criticized what he called the government’s "dragnet" approach to airline security today, arguing that subjecting passengers to intrusive screening hinders rather than enhances security, violates fliers’ privacy and subjects travelers to unknown health risks.[nj.com]

Video included

The video shows Collura being carried down a 150-foot hallway by his legs and neck and placed in a headlock.[wyff4.com]

They were probably amazed at how placid he became once they got him in that hold.

I imagine Platinum Plus' insurance premiums are about to go up ...

Video included

"It is unusual for a woman to go in by herself," said Janet Stoll-Lee, a Spokesperson with the Clovis Police Department.  In fact Stoll-Lee added this is the first case like this in Clovis that she remembers involving a woman by herself.[cbs47.tv]

I wonder why they sound so sure that it's a woman ...

Victorinox is unfolding a trio of Swiss Army knives that include secure USB drives--including what it calls the world's smallest solid-state drive.[pcworld.com]

Iran has in the past put the world on guard that it would close the Persian Gulf to shipping if it were attacked. The impact would be huge. Americans mostly would feel it at the gas pump, with oil prices soaring out of control.[nationaldefensemagazine.org]

One of the down-sides of being authoritarian douche-bags is that the minute we cut your heads off, all your citizens will go "Here, lets us help you clear the straight of Hormuz and get that oil flowing again."

Video included

The lede on this video says that this is an attempted escape, but even had the prisoner completely nuked the guard, he would have been no closer to getting out, at least if the area this occurs in is like most detention facility day areas ... looks more like he just decided it was time to get sum ... and the detention officer wasn't paying enough attention when the time came ...

Remember: Today's the day, EVERY day ...

A security guard was responding to a road rage incident when the driver attempted to grab the guard's firearm.[ktnv.com]

A leaked diplomatic cable says that President Ahmadinejad was slapped in the face by the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard for daring to suggest  lifting restrictions on the press.[telegraph.co.uk]

I hope it was with the hand they control him with ... fresh out of his puppet-hole ...

We've seen this coming over time: Based on the Trusted Computing Group's standard, hard drives and solid state drives (SSD), are offering self-encryption built-in.[pcworld.com]

Pics included

Really cool space pics ...

(Hat-tip to someotherguy)

Of course, the catch is that any changes must be approved by the TSA, and private contractors must continue to use TSA’s approved procedures — including intrusive pat-downs, electronic body scans that give ogling agents crystal-clear images of private body parts, and summary arrests for innocent passengers who refuse to be treated like convicted terrorists.[thenewamerican.com]

For the moment, at least ...

The Armed Citizen is back online![opposingviews.com]

Link to site: http://www.thearmedcitizen.com/

The high court also said that “even if the district court concludes that Fanders’ claims arose out of and in the course of her employment with Riverside, she may still pursue her assault and battery and wrongful imprisonment claims against the security guards.”[busunessinsurance.com]

The so-called SHIELD Act, which has been introduced in both Houses of Congress, would amend the Espionage Act of 1917 to make it a crime for any person knowingly and willfully to disseminate, in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States," any classified information... concerning the human intelligence activities of the United States or... concerning the identity of a classified source or informant" who is working with the intelligence community of the United States.[huffingtonpost.com]

Maurer, who is represented by Las Vegas attorney Sigal Chattah, seeks more than $3 million in damages, according to the complaint.[privateofficernews.wordpress.com]

The severed head of a young man was found hanging from a bridge in the Mexican border city of Tijuana on Monday.[washingtonpost.com]

Video included

"If you don't shoot, every day you will have somebody in here trying to rob you, so I wanted to make an example out of them." Kayeh said.[kwtx.com]

Wallendas like canteloupes ... that's all I can say ...

Intel Corp., aiming to alleviate Hollywood’s concerns about piracy, is building security into a new chip design that would let Warner Bros. and other studios sell high-definition movies online for viewing on computers.[bloomberg.com]

A business owner's homemade security device inside an office in the South Texas Medical Center caused a security guard to call 911 to report the suspicious device, resulting in a fire and police response that closed a nearby McDonald's and cordoned off several businesses Sunday morning.[mysanantonio.com]

That could change in Wisconsin with Republicans controlling the Senate, Assembly and governor's office. Governor-elect Scott Walker has said he would sign a bill allowing gun owners to carry firearms. Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, previously vetoed such bills.[theonline.com]

Six terrorist plots targeting U.S. subway and rail systems have been exposed since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and the systems remain a target, transit authorities, security experts and members of Congress agree. An alleged plot to simultaneously bomb four Washington, D.C., Metro subway stations was foiled in October, and another plot to detonate explosives in New York's subway system was averted last year.[policeone.com]

The problem with even trying to secure the trains, etc. from tangos is that you can get just as big a score from blowing up the location where everyone is being searched as you can by actually hitting the train or bus. Planes are somewhat different because the can be used as a guided missile with what amounts to a jet fuel warhead. Loading a train or bus up with enough explosives to have an equivalent effect is going to be a really noticeable operation ...

As lines in the nation's airports grow longer with newly enhanced security measures, many travel groups suggest that the best way to speed passengers through would be to create separate, faster checkpoints for frequent fliers, including business travelers.[latimes.com]

But the government’s success has unleashed a new terror as remaining cartel members fight to control the drug-smuggling corridors that feed a multibillion-dollar business. Cartel assassins, local thugs and federal troops are dying by the thousands in running gun battles, highway ambushes, prison fights, car bombings and gangland executions.[nationalpost.com]

Leviathan is estimated to have 16 trillion cubic feet of gas. Tamar, a nearby site being drilled by Noble and Israel's Delek Energy, was the largest gas find in the world in 2009, at 8.4 trillion cubic feet.[washingtonpost.com]

A day after attacks on two police stations that resulted in the deaths of four police officers in the northern state of Nuevo Leon, a police spokesman vowed Thursday that security will be beefed up in the municipalities and strategies to fight organized crime will be reconsidered.[edition.cnn.com]