+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 8 May '12:"Interpol Issues Red Notice for
Arrest of Iraqi VP"
SUBJECT: Interpol seeks fugitive Iraqi VP
QUOTE:"Interpol...Red Notice for arrest of iraq's fugitive Vice President
Tareq al-Hashemi 'on suspicion of guiding and financing terrorist attacks.'
"
Interpol said Tuesday[8 May] it had issued an international Red Notice for
the arrest of Iraq's fugitive Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi "on suspicion
of guiding and financing terrorist attacks".

"The Red Notice for al-Hashemi represents a regional and international alert
to all of Interpol's 190 member countries to seek their help in locating and
arresting him," the Lyon-based international police agency said.

Interpol said the notice, its highest possible alert, was issued following
an Iraqi warrant made "as part of an investigation in which security forces
seized bombing materials and arrested individuals".

Hashemi, who is being tried in absentia in a Baghdad court and was last
known to be in Istanbul, is charged along with several bodyguards with
killing six judges and senior officials.

He has challenged the legitimacy of the trial and said his life is at risk
in Baghdad.

"The Interpol Red Notice against Tareq al-Hashemi will significantly
restrict his ability to travel and cross international borders," Interpol
secretary general Ronald Noble said in a statement.

"This case also clearly demonstrates the commitment of Iraqi authorities to
work with the world police community via Interpol to apprehend individuals
facing serious charges," he said.

A Red Notice is not an internationally binding arrest warrant but many of
Interpol's members consider it a valid request, especially if they have an
extradition treaty with the requesting country.

Iraqi authorities issued an arrest warrant for Hashemi in December after the
U.S. completed its pullout and he first sought refuge with Iraqi Kurds.

The autonomous population refused to hand him over to Baghdad and he then
fled to Turkey, after stops in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

"My life in Baghdad (is) in high risk," the key Sunni Arab leader told
journalists Friday[4 May] in Istanbul, where he had been based more than a
month.

He has challenged the legitimacy of the trial in the Central Criminal Court
of Iraq (CCCI), claiming the federal court should have handled the case
because he is a sitting vice president.

He rejected claims he was a "fugitive" on Friday[4 May] and said he would
soon be back in Arbil, the capital of Kurdistan in northern Iraq.

Hashemi's trial began Thursday[3 May], but was delayed until May 10.

The decision to charge Hashemi sparked a political crisis that saw the vice
president's bloc boycott cabinet and parliament over accusations Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, was monopolizing power.

+++SOURCE: Saudi Gazette 8 May '12:"Putin takes back ‘nuke suitcase’",
Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Putin gets command of the "nuclear suitcase"
QUOTE:"the device (nuke suitcase)is actually one of three operated in Russia
on a daily basis"

MOSCOW – Vladimir Putin was handed the black suitcase Monday that controls
the country’s vast nuclear arsenal moments after taking his oath to a third
term.
With outgoing Kremlin leader Dmitry Medvedev standing at his side, Putin was
given command of the “nuclear suitcase” at a formal post-inauguration
ceremony overseen by Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, official
images showed.
The portable communications device uses a secret code called Cheget to allow
the country’s commander-in-chief to launch commands that could potentially
trigger a nuclear attack against a foreign country.
Widely seen as a relic of the Cold War standoff between Moscow and
Washington, the suitcase remains at the president’s side at all times,
including on his foreign visits.
First developed in 1983, the system is usually carried by specially assigned
officers called “operators” and was first used by former Soviet leader
Konstantin Chernenko in 1984.
Although the president’s black suitcase is the most famous and symbolic, it
is actually one of three operated in Russia on a daily basis.— AFP __

+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 8 May '12:"Officials: Qaida Plot against
U.S.-bound Airliner Foiled", Agence France Presse

SUBJECT:Yemen al-Qaida plot foiled

QUOTE:"The United States has foiled a plot by al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen to
blow up a U.S. - bound airliner"
EXCERPTS:The United States has foiled a plot by al-Qaida's branch in Yemen
to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner near the first anniversary of Osama bin
Laden's death, officials said Monday[7 May].

The FBI said investigators were examining the explosive that appeared to be
a revamped model of the bomb employed in the Christmas Day plot of 2009, in
which a plastic explosive hidden in a Nigerian man's underwear failed to
detonate on a plane headed for Detroit.

The plot hatched by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula was uncovered at an
early stage and at no point was the public in danger, according to the White
House and government agencies.

"The device was for use by a suicide bomber on an airliner," a U.S.
counterterrorism official told Agence France Presse.

"At no point were any airlines at risk."

News of the plot was revealed just days after the one-year anniversary of
the raid by U.S. Navy commandos that killed al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden
at his Pakistan hideout.

"I congratulate the CIA for thwarting this reported plot by AQAP to destroy
a U.S.-bound airliner using a specific type of bomb that is of new design
and very difficult to detect by magnetometer," Senator Dianne Feinstein, who
heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.

The FBI said the improvised explosive device was seized abroad and was "very
similar to IEDs that have been used previously by al-Qaida in the Arabian
Peninsula (AQAP) in attempted terrorist attacks, including against aircraft
and for targeted assassinations."

Like previous attempted AQAP attacks, the explosive was non-metallic to
avoid detection, officials said.

. . .

"Hijacked airliners were also used to carry out the September 11, 2001
attacks on New York and Washington in which nearly 3,000 people were killed.

============
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA