] I was in a dinner with heads of Saudi and German FBI,
] plus the foreign minister of Afghanistan. They all said
] that at its peak Al Qaeda had 70,000 members. Only 10% of them
] were trained in terrorism -- the rest were military recruits.
] Of that 7000, they say all but about 200 are dead or in jail.

Supposedly this is from a compromised private Email, from a Newsday reporter at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. There's a thread on slashdot about how the Email was compromised, and the various privacy implications, etc. etc. But I have to say, now that it's public, I still found the Email fascinating!

Slashdot thread here:
http://slashdot.org/articles/03/02/28/1823256.shtml?tid=158

Newsday Reporter's 'Spilled' Email

] Flavia Carvalho recalls unlocking the door to her
] computer software store here Tuesday when she noticed how
] utterly alone she was on a commercial block that is
] usually bustling by 10 a.m. Everything was closed: the
] shoe boutique, the art gallery, the colossal supermarket
] on the corner.
]
] Then, with a tap on the shoulder, a young man appeared,
] seemingly from nowhere, with a message all the more
] chilling for its casual delivery: Shut down your shop for
] the day, or else.
]
] "I thought: Oh, no, not again," Carvalho said. "Another
] day without business. But what could I do? He told me
] that anyone who opened would be shot or burned."

As Carnaval Opens, Violence Rocks Rio

Heist 'geniuses' got $100m gems

The haul from Belgium's most spectacular diamond robbery in Antwerp earlier this month was worth more than 100 million euros ($107m), Belgian police have said.

In what police authorities have called the heist of the century, 123 of the 160 vaults at the Antwerp Diamond Centre were emptied.

Antwerp's judicial director, Erik Sack, called the crime on 16 February "a piece of genius in its simplicity".

He said the gang had learned to circumvent the alarm system and had copied master keys after renting an office in the Diamond Centre in the name of a phantom company.

During the theft, they taped over security cameras and may have put old videotapes in the surveillance system, police said.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Heist 'geniuses' got $100m gems

] addam Hussein indicated on Monday that he does not intend
] to follow U.N. orders to destroy his Al-Samoud 2
] missiles, and challenged President Bush to an
] internationally televised debate via satellite linkup.
]
] In a three-hour interview with CBS anchor Dan Rather, the
] Iraqi leader said he envisioned a live debate with Bush
] along the lines of those in a U.S. presidential campaign,
] according to the network.
]
] Rather reported on the interview during the evening
] newscast. CBS said it planned to broadcast excerpts on
] Tuesday and the entire interview on Wednesday.

I would love to see a Bush/Saddam debate. I seriously doubt that will happen though.

Newsday.com - In Interview, Saddam Challenges Bush to Debate

] I'm starting to wonder if were aren't watching something
] like the same strategy again. In other words, it's
] possible Cheney and company are actually bluffing. This
] time, instead of trying to terrify the Soviets into
] collapse, the objective is even grander. If I'm right
] about this, they have two goals. Neither involves actual
] war, any more than the MX missile did.

The thought had occurred...

John Perry Barlow provides a personal perspective on Dick Cheney

] The Dept of Homeland Security would like to take this
] opportunity to explain the current political situation to
] you all.

Haha! This is grade-A funny. Its a remix of some of the "Duck and cover" stuff on Ready.gov. You must check this out.

Kieran Healy's Weblog: Public Service Announcement

] A U.S.-led assault on Iraq could push the price of oil on
] international markets to unprecedented levels - perhaps
] as high as $50 a barrel - and fuel a worldwide wave of
] terrorism by Muslims, Malaysia's prime minister warned
] Thursday.
]
] Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, in an exclusive
] interview with The Associated Press, expressed the
] apparently widespread sentiment among the mostly
] developing nations of the Non-Aligned Movement that an
] attack on Iraq was unwarranted.

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Malaysian Leader: War May Bring Backlash

] As US Secretary of State Colin Powell readied for a
] three-nation jaunt through Asia this weekend, ending with
] the inauguration Tuesday of new South Korean president
] Roh Myun-hoon, North Korea sent a fighter jet for a
] two-minute romp into South Korean airspace.
]
] The incursion above the Yellow Sea, rebuffed by South
] Korean jets, is unusual. Generally, it is North Korean
] naval vessels that penetrate the tip of the Yellow Sea in
] tests of will with the South.
]
] The MiG-19 jet probe, coming just days after the North
] threatened to pull out of the armistice that has governed
] the two Koreas for 50 years, is regarded here as yet
] another in an escalating set of provocations designed to
] push the US into one-on-one talks.

North Korea intensifies bid for US attention

] The pan-Arab satellite TV pioneer MBC is due to launch an
] all-news channel from Dubai to compete directly with
] Qatar-based al-Jazeera TV in the battle for Arab viewers.

Multiple news sources are always a good thing. :) Now I just hope they also include an english-language version (or at least some other language that I can get at via Babelfish) in their planning!

Al-Jazeera Competitor Launches

] The Bush Administration is planning a secret meeting to
] discuss the construction of a new generation of nuclear
] weapons, including "mini-nukes", "bunker-busters" and
] neutron bombs designed to destroy chemical or biological
] agents, a leaked Pentagon document reveals.]
] A meeting of military officials and nuclear scientists at
] the Omaha headquarters of the United States Strategic
] Command in August would also decide whether to restart
] nuclear testing and how to convince the public new
] weapons are necessary.

Secret Pentagon plan for new nuclear arsenal