The U.S. government will have unmanned surveillance aircraft monitoring the whole southwest border with Mexico from September 1, as it ramps up border security in this election year, a top official said on Monday.

Predator B is powered by a turboprop engine and can carry a greatly increased payload.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said U.S. Customs and Border Protection would begin flying a Predator B drone out of Corpus Christi, Texas, on Wednesday, extending the reach of the agency’s unmanned surveillance aircraft across the length of the nearly 2,000 mile border with Mexico.

“With the deployment of the Predator in Texas, we will now be able to cover the southwest border from the El Centro sector in California all the way to the Gulf of Mexico in Texas, providing critical aerial surveillance assistance to personnel on the ground,” Napolitano said during a conference call.

“This is yet another critical step we have taken in ensuring the safety of the border and is an important tool in our security toolbox,” she added.

Illegal immigration and security along the porous border with Mexico has become a hot topic this year, when the ruling Democrats’ control of Congress is on the line in November 2 elections.

Earlier this month, President Barack Obama signed a $600 million bill that would fund some 1,500 new Border Patrol agents, customs inspectors and other law enforcement officials along the border, as well as paying for two more unmanned drones.

Napolitano said the additional aircraft pledged under the bill, together with the new aircraft soon to begin operations in Texas, would increase the Customs and Border Protection drone fleet to six by the start of next year.

The Predator B drones are made by defense contractor General Atomics. They carry equipment including sophisticated day and night vision cameras that operators use to detect drug and human smugglers, and can stay aloft for up to 30 hours at a time.

(Reporting by Tim Gaynor; editing by Mohammad Zargham)

[Via: Reuters]

Former FBI agent discloses Information Linking Another Individual to the JFK Assassination

Clearances granted to members of the FBI’s network of regional terrorism task forces jumped to 878 in 2009, up from 125 in 2007, signaling intensified attention to domestic terror threats. During the same period, clearances granted to other law enforcement officers and contractors soared to 945 from 364.

As of last month, the number of clearances this year were on pace to equal or surpass last year’s totals, with 557 granted to task force members and 587 to other officers.

Police officials said the clearance program, once widely criticized as slow to provide access to key information about emerging threats and terror investigations, has added needed intelligence to recent terror inquiries from Colorado to New York.

Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis says some of the agency’s officers with clearance authority assisted in the fast-moving May investigation into the unsuccessful bombing in New York’s Times Square. Eight Boston officers have clearance, up from two or three in 2001.

“Prior to Sept. 11, this wouldn’t have happened,” Davis said. “Now, there is a feeling that we are right in the middle” of the war on terror.

Faisal Shahzad, arrested 53 hours and 20 minutes after the failed attack, pleaded guilty to the attempt in June.

Last year, New York police worked with their federal counterparts to thwart an attempted assault on the city’s transit system by terror operatives with ties to Denver, New York Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne said.

The information shared can include intelligence about terror suspects as well as other criminal probes.

Part of the increase, federal and local officials say, is because of the rapid expansion of the terrorism task forces created after the 2001 assaults to disrupt future terror plots.

Since 2001, the number of terror units, which draw on federal, state and local investigators, have grown from 35 to 104 nationwide. The units are staffed with 4,433 officers and agents, up from 912 in 2001, FBI spokesman Bill Carter said.

Full Source Article:usatoday

10 Oz Gold Bar

Several tons of gold imported into the UAE by traders and investors turned out to be fake on closer inspection, resulting in millions of dirhams in losses and high levels of stress to the victims.

Mohamad Shakarchi,, Managing Director of Emirates Gold, said: “A lot of people in the UAE who tried to import gold at lower prices or through dubious overseas companies have been cheated.

We have inspected many consignments from African countries, especially Ghana, and found that there is not an ounce of gold in them.

For importing pure dust or other metals with yellow colour, these traders have paid several million dirhams.”

Dubai Customs sources confirmed the incidence of fake gold imports, but did not reply to a questionnaire sent by Emirates 24|7 ten days ago.

“The concerned official is on leave,” said a spokesman.

Emirates Gold has stopped examining gold imported from Africa. “We send specialists to examine a gold consignment only if it is routed through a local company.

We don’t have time to waste because most of these so called gold imports are fake. The traders got greedy. They thought they were getting gold at a discounted rate.”

Mohammed said that at least five tonnes of fake yellow metal is lying with Dubai Customs.

A tonne of gold will cost approximately $40 million. Merchants estimated that the minimum loss of fake gold imported by local traders is nothing less than $200 million.

He said many clients and Dubai Customs have requested the use of company’s expertise to verify the purity of gold. “The fake gold issue has affected many people. Some of the traders got heart attack, after our inspectors said there is no gold in the tonnes of imports brought from Africa,” Mohammed said.

Recent media reports suggested that several million dollars worth of gold with the Ethiopian Central Bank turned out to be fake. These bars of gold turned out to be gold plated steel bars

African gold merchants claim to be in possession of large quantities of gold dust or gold bars, which they offer to sell at below market prices.

The would-be buyer is made to send money for travel of the seller, for insurance, for shipping and for refinery assays before they would receive anything of any value. Investors are shown samples, which may be original gold.

But when the consignment reaches the port, it will be only mud or sand. Once Dubai Customs tightened controls, fake gold imports started reaching the UAE through other ports.

The seller can walk away at any point with virtually no risk of being caught as all contacts are via anonymous free webmail accounts accessed from Internet cafes and via prepaid mobile phones.

After the real estate and stock market investments became dull, many local investors have turned to commodity, especially gold investment, said the Chief
Executive Officer of JRG Commodities, Sajith Kumar PK.

A US Internet radio host was convicted Friday of threatening to assault and kill three judges who upheld a ban on handguns in Chicago, the US Justice Department said.

Hal Turner

Hal Turner, 47, was arrested in June 2009 for an Internet posting that said of the three federal judges who had upheld Chicago’s handgun ban, “Let me be the first to say this plainly: These judges deserve to be killed.”

His post included photos of the three men, Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook and Judges Richard Posner and William Bauer, as well as their phone numbers and work addresses.

All three judges testified during his trial, which was held in New York after Chicago judges recused themselves.

Prior to the trial, it was disclosed that Turner was a well-paid informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), pulling in over $100,000 from the government in just five years time.

Turner’s FBI codename was “Valhalla,” which he sometimes wrote on the memo line of the checks the agency sent him.

Turner’s famously vile, racist broadcasts began in 2002, though the one-time Pat Buchanan campaign coordinator did not begin his relationship with the FBI until 2003. He was first outed as an FBI informant in July, 2008, when unknown hackers broke into the racist agent provocateur’s e-mail and discovered a message to a bureau handler discussing an alleged plot to kill Sen. Russ Feingold.

Turner ceased broadcasting in 2008 and insisted up through his trial that he was “a deep undercover intelligence operative.” He now faces up to 10 years in prison for threats to assault and murder the men in retaliation for their performance of official duties.

“There is no place in society for threatening federal judges with violence. Period. We are grateful that the jury saw these threats for what they were and rejected any notion that they were acceptable speech,” said Patrick Fitzgerald, US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

If there is anyone who disagrees with the last quoted statement, are you prepared to comment on it?

[Via:rawstory]