Saturday, September 27 - Somali Pirates have taken a Ukranian cargo ship bound for Kenya with a large cache of military supplies. On Sunday morning the BBC reported the destoyer USS Howard steaming out of Djibouti has made visual contact with the cargo ship. A Russian naval vessel is also reported on its way.
Damascus Bombing
Saturday, September 27 - A car bomb killed 17 and injured many more in a suburb of the Syrian capital of Damascus.
Gulf Coast Recovering
Friday, September 26 - Nearly two weeks after Ike, the Texas and Louisiana coasts are beginning to come to grips with their new reality. Over a half million Houston area residents remain without electric power. The utility expects to have main powerlines restored by this Sunday but is not promising when the remaining 20 percent plus of its customers will be able to turn on their lights. At least 75 percent of Galveston homes are uninhabitable. Eleven of 15 oil refineries have returned to operation, but refinery utilization rates are at the lowest level in over 40 years. The US Department of Energy suggests the nation is still "a few weeks" away from restoring usual gasoline production capacity. According to Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, "Texas estimates its costs from Ike will total $27 billion to $35 billion. Louisiana's costs are expected to be $30 billion to $40 billion." Wednesday the US Congress passed an omnibus funding measure that includes some recovery support.
Kyle Targets New England and Maritimes
Friday, September 26 - Tropical Storm Kyle is expected to come ashore this weekend. According to the National Hurricane Center:
THE VERTICAL CIRCULATIONS ARE EXPECTED TO BECOME VERTICALLY STACKED AND MORE ALIGNED WITH THE DEEP LAYER FLOW. THIS SHOULD ALLOW FOR STEADY INTENSIFICATION TO OCCUR OVER RELATIVELY WARM WATER UNTIL KYLE REACHES THE NORTH WALL OF THE GULFSTREAM IN ABOUT 48 HOURS. ALTHOUGH MUCH COOLER WATER LIES NORTH OF GULFSTREAM...THE FASTFORWARD SPEED OF THE CYCLONE SHOULD INHIBIT ANY SIGNIFICANT DECREASE IN INTENSITY UNTIL LANDFALL OCCURS.
Germans Arrest Two Suspected Terrorists
Friday, September 26 - Two Somali nationals were arrested at Frankfurt airport. According to some reports both had recently completed training in the Pakistani border region. Some reports indicate the suspects were on the first-leg of a return trip to Pakistan.
Monsoon Flooding Continues
Photo by Amit Dave, Reuters
Friday, September 26 - Heavy rain continues to fall across Northern India as the death-toll from flooding exceeds 2400 with tens of thousands displaced.
Varied Signals, Uncertain Outcomes
Thursday, September 25 - The Pakistani Army claims success in a major offensive, killing over 1000 insurgents, including five top al Qaeda and Taliban leaders. Shots were exchanged between US and Pakistani forces along the border region with Afghanistan. In New York the President of Pakistan has condemned US operations into Pakistan, but has also excused the most recent report of a border incursion. Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff is pushing for a sustained commitment of US support for Pakistan, telling Reuters, "Clearly, Americans are not very popular in Pakistan. Many Pakistanis see it as America's war, not their war. And I understand all that ... I'm not trying to fan those flames." British Airways has discontinued flights into Pakistan and the Islamabad airport has been essentially shut-down by threats of an attack. More suicide attacks were reported in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and a bombing derailed a train killing a woman and three children. The United Nations is considering removal of non-essential staff from Pakistan. In a joint Wall Street Journal piece the Afghan and Pakistani UN ambassadors assure readers, "President Hamid Karzai and the new democratically elected president of Pakistan, Mr. Asif Ali Zardari, are firmly committed to fighting terrorism in a united front, as common allies of the United States and victims of terrorism."
Bush-Zardari Meeting
Wednesday, September 24 - Very little substance has been reported emerging from yesterday's morning meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel between Presidents Bush and Zardari. A subsequent meeting between Pakistan's President and President Karzai of Afghanistan seems to have had more concrete outcomes. Raising particular hopes was the announcement that the Turkish President would host a trilateral meeting involving both Afghanistan and Pakistan focused on greater military cooperation against terrorists operating along their shared border.
Basque Bombings and Arrests
Wednesday, September 24 - The third ETA bombing in 24 hours claimed its first victim on Monday. Today French police made at least 12 related arrests.
Galveston Allowing Residents to Return
Tuesday, September 23 - On Wednesday - eleven days after Hurricane Ike hit the city - Galveston officials will allow residents to return to the barrier island, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Low Pressure Likely to Intensify
Tuesday, September 23 - A broad area of low pressure currently centered between South America and Hispaniola is predicted to strengthen as it moves slowly North or Northwest according to the National Hurricane Center.
Schools Threatened
Tuesday, September 23 - A Finnish student killed ten others and himself in a shooting spree at a vocational school in Kauhajoki. Yesterday Polk Community College in Winter Haven, Florida locked down its campuses in response to a threat to shoot a person at the college. The suspect was arrested.
New York on High-Security
Monday, September 22 - Most of the East Side of Mid-town Manhattan will be shut down for the opening of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday. According to WNBC, "First Avenue and numerous streets near the U.N will be closed. The NYPD said there will also be closures around the Waldorf Astoria and other hotels where leaders are staying... Officials have said while there is some Internet chatter warning of threats to New York, none is considered credible or specific at this time."
Marriott Bomb's Composition Claimed
Monday, September 22 - A senior official with Pakistan's Home Ministry told James Rupert that the truck bomb involved at least 1300 pounds of "high-grade TNT, trinitrotoluene, or RDX, cyclotrimethylene-trinitramine, a military explosive... as well as mortar bombs, artillery shells and an incendiary aluminum powder. He described the bomb as the biggest ever used in a terrorist attack in Pakistan." Pakistani Leaders Assert They were Target
Monday, September 22 - Some Pakistani officials claim the government leaders were the target of the Saturday night bombing of the Marriott Hotel. AFP reports, "Pakistan's top leaders were due to have dinner at Islamabad's Marriott hotel on the night it was bombed but cheated death after switching venue at the last minute, a senior official said Monday. The hotel however denied the claim, made by interior ministry chief Rehman Malik, that President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and military top brass had narrowly escaped Saturday's devastating attack."
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