• Twenty dead, scores injured, in violent anti-U.S. demonstrations in Pakistan

    Demonstrations across Pakistan this afternoon (local time) have turned deadly, with reports that eighteen people were killed and seventy-eight injured; most of the violence occurred during demonstrations in Karachi and Peshawar; among those killed in Karachi were two police officers; in Peshawar, two police officers were killed; U.S. diplomatic facilities were cordoned off by the police, and the demonstrators instead torched theaters and shops; the Pakistani government deployed a large number of military and security personnel, and cellular phone services in fifteen cities were temporarily blocked to prevent militants from using phones to detonate bombs during the protests; in several cities, military helicopters buzzed overhead

  • Administration: attack on consulate was a pre-planned terrorist attack

    The administration yesterday (Thursday) began to move away from its initial description of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi as a spontaneous reaction to the anti-Islamic movie, to suggest that the attack was a terrorist act  planned in advance

  • Critics: U.S. not doing enough to combat domestic terrorism

    The effectiveness of the U.S. campaign against al Qaeda and its affiliates may have reduced the threat of foreign terrorists launching attacks on targets in the United States, but the threat of terrorism the United States is facing has not been reduced owing to the rise in domestic terrorism

  • France braces for Muslim backlash

    France said it would temporarily close French embassies, diplomatic facilities, cultural centers, and schools in twenty Muslim countries in anticipation of anti-French backlash; on Wednesday, the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published cartoons which mocked the Prophet Mohammed; the French government government also said it would not give a permit for a protest demonstration, scheduled for 22 September, against the crude anti-Islamic movie produced by an Egyptian Christian Copt now living in California

  • Many issues fueling Muslim world's anti-American backlash: expert

    Anti-U.S. uprisings in the Muslim world reveal old and new tensions despite hope for better relations with the West since the Arab Spring; the sources of the unrest are suspicion of U.S. motives; ignorance of the norms and practices of democratic societies; and the more recent, and more dangerous, manipulation of these sentiments by radical, conservative Islamic groups in the Middle East and North Africa

     

  • French satirical magazine today publishes unflattering caricatures of Prophet Mohammed

    The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo announced yesterday (Tuesday) that today (Wednesday), it would publish satirical cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed as a protest against the violent wave of anti-American demonstrations in several Muslim countries

  • U.S. urgently needs better bioterrorism, disease tracking system

    Nearly eleven years have passed since the fall 2001 bioterrorism-related anthrax attacks that shook the United States, killing five people and injuring seventeen, a leading bioterrorism expert says the country has still not learned its lesson; he says that current data mining approaches are passive and do not provide immediate solutions to the emergencies at hand, proposing instead an electronic, clinician-based reporting system which would have the capacity to limit the impact of a bioterrorism attack

  • Libya arrests 50 in connection with Benghazi consulate attack

    The Libyan government and the Obama administration differ on the origins of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi; Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, insisted that attack in Benghazi was similar to the attacks on embassies in Cairo and Sana, and that all were reminiscent of previous spontaneous unrest among Muslim in response to perceived slights toward the Prophet Mohammed; the Libyan president, announcing the arrest of about 50 in connection to the attack, said the attack was planned “by foreigners” affiliated with al Qaeda; among those arrested are militants from Mali and Algeria

  • U.S. sends two guided missile destroyers, more drones, to Libya

    The United States is increasing its military and intelligence presence in and around Libya – on the ground, in the air, and at sea; in addition to helping the Libyan authorities hunt down the members of the cell which attacked the consulate, the United States is increasing its surveillance of Islamic militants in eastern Libya, with the al Qaeda-linked Imprisoned Omar Abdul Rahman Brigades considered to be the main culprit behind the consulate attack, and behind Islamic terrorism in Libya more generally; drone strikes against militants in Libya, similar to the drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, should be initiated sooner rather than later

  • DHS, FBI warn of the “risk of violence” in wake of movie controversy; movie producer’s identity revealed

    The FBI and DHS yesterday issued a Joint Intelligence Bulletin which warned faith-based organizations in the United States and U.S. embassies abroad that “the risk of violence could increase both at home and abroad as the film continues to gain attention”

  • Details, timeline of attack on Benghazi compound emerge

    The details and time line of the assault on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi raises questions about whether internal and external security arrangements were sufficient; the relative ease with which the assailants managed to enter the compound, and then shoot their way from building to building, suggests that there were not enough security guards to protect the compound; but there are also questions about the security arrangements between the United States and Libya. It is not clear why it took the Libyan government – or the local police – nearly four hours to respond: the assault began at 10:00 p.m., but Libyan units did not arrive in force until 2:00 a.m.

  • U.S. Middle East embassies under attack

    Three U.S. embassies in the Middle East and North Africa came under attack on Tuesday and Wednesday; the attacks, in Cairo, Benghazi, and Sanaa, have raised different questions; the attack in Cairo, which saw a score of ultraislamist demonstrators scale the walls of the embassy and pull down the U.S. flag, raised questions about a press release issued by the embassy, a release which, some charged, appeared to be more concerned with the hurt feelings of Muslims than with the security of U.S. personnel and the rule of law; the Benghazi attack raised questions of a more operational nature, concerning intelligence and protection

  • Are Americans safer today than they were four years ago?

    The presidential campaign is dominated by economic issues, so the question the two candidates invite their audience to ponder is: “Are you better off now than four years ago?”; the question “Are you safer today than you were four years ago” is hardly, if ever, posed; security experts agree that while security challenges posed by China, Iran, and Islamists in Africa have grown, Americans are safer today than they were four years ago because the Obama administration, relative to its predecessor and, has pursued the campaign against terrorism and terrorists more aggressively and more single-mindedly; sustained drone strikes and secretive special operations have weakened al Qaeda considerably over the last four years

  • In Pakistan, stronger support for militant groups among the middle class than the poor

    Expectations that poorer people are more susceptible to the appeals of violent groups have contributed to U.S. policies that focus on using aid to reduce poverty as a way to combat militant violence; a new survey found, however, that the poor in Pakistan were substantially more negative toward militant groups than their middle class countrymen

  • More traffic deaths following 9/11

    In the wake of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, many Americans started driving more due to a fear of flying — and lost their lives in traffic accidents; why did this happen more frequently in some states than in others? Why did Spanish driving habits not change in the same way following the 2004 train bombings in Madrid? Psychologists offer an answer