Qaeda Plot Leak Has Undermined U.S. Intelligence
By ERIC SCHMITT and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDTWASHINGTON — As the nation’s spy agencies assess the fallout from disclosures about their surveillance programs, some government analysts and senior officials have made a startling finding: the impact of a leaked terrorist plot by Al Qaeda in August has caused more immediate damage to American counterterrorism efforts than the thousands of classified documents disclosed by Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor.
Since news reports in early August revealed that the United States intercepted messages between Ayman al-Zawahri, who succeeded Osama bin Laden as the head of Al Qaeda, and Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the head of the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, discussing an imminent terrorist attack, analysts have detected a sharp drop in the terrorists’ use of a major communications channel that the authorities were monitoring. Since August, senior American officials have been scrambling to find new ways to surveil the electronic messages and conversations of Al Qaeda’s leaders and operatives.
Golden Dawn leader charged in Greece
Central figures in neo-Nazi party face charges related to at least three murders
Damian Mac Con Uladh
Investigating magistrates specialised in combating corruption will tomorrow begin formally indicting key figures from Greece’s neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party on charges of directing and belonging to a criminal organisation and of involvement in at least three murders.
This follows a crackdown by the authorities over the weekend on the party that resulted in the arrest of six of its 18 MPs and another 16 functionaries or members, among them two serving police officers.
Picked up in dawn raids early on Saturday were Nikos Michaloliakos, the party’s leader, and Ilias Kasidiaris, its spokesman, who made international headlines last year when, during an election campaign, he assaulted a woman politician on live television.
BILATERAL RELATIONS
Australia PM Abbott to begin Indonesia trip amid asylum seeker tension
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is set to begin a trip to Indonesia for his first trip abroad since taking office. His two-day visit will likely be dominated by immigration issues and the plight of asylum seekers.
Australia's Abbott who is making his first overseas trip as newly elected prime minister is expected to meet with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta on Monday.
Those talks are likely to dominated by rising Australian-Indonesian tensions over Abbott's policies aimed at stopping asylum seeker boats from reaching Australian shores.
Abbott will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Trade Minister Andrew Robb and several business people.
Abbott will arrive three days after a boat packed with asylum seekers bound for Australia sunk in Indonesian waters, killing 36 people.
30 September 2013 Last updated at 08:39 GMT
Kenya's Westgate siege: MPs start intelligence probe
Kenyan MPs have started an investigation into alleged intelligence failings over the deadly Westgate shopping centre attack.
The head of the parliament's defence committee says "people need to know the exact lapses in the security system".
There are reports the NIS intelligence agency issued warnings a year ago.
Some 67 people were killed and many injured after al-Shabab militants stormed the Westgate centre in the capital Nairobi on 21 September.
Kenya's Red Cross says the number of people still believed to be missing is 39, down from an earlier figure of 61.
'The Act of Killing' helps Indonesia confront its dark past
September 30, 2013 -- Updated 0817 GMT (1617 HKT)
Denpasar, Bali (CNN) -- On a traffic-choked street in Bali's capital, Denpasar, Edo walks through his family's shop to an empty back room.
Only there does he feel safe enough to explain why he's afraid.
"Well, it's because probably the killers are still out there," he says.
The killers he refers to are those who Edo believes are responsible for the murder of his grandfather, one of between 500,000 and 1 million people estimated by human rights groups to have been killed by military death squads during anti-communist purges across Indonesia in 1965 and 1966.
Uneasy Gulf states weigh US-Iran overtures
BRIAN MURPHY 3 hours ago
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Lost in the blizzard of attention on Iran's cautious openings to the U.S. was another bit of noteworthy outreach by President Hassan Rouhani: Sending greetings to Saudi Arabia's king and appealing for more cooperation between the two regional rivals.
Rouhani's message last week also carried a subtext for Saudi Arabia and the other Western-allied Persian Gulf states. As Iran's diplomatic profile rises with attempts to recalibrate its dealings with Washington, the Gulf rulers will have to make adjustments, too.
That's not such an easy thing for the monarchs and sheiks to swallow.
Leaders such as Saudi King Abdullah are accustomed to having Washington's undivided focus and a prominent voice in shaping policies over Iran, which Gulf officials routinely denounce for allegedly trying to undermine their rule through suspected proxies and spies.
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