Yemeni forces searched yesterday for suspected al-Qaeda militants behind a plot to bomb Jewish targets in Chicago, uncovered by the interception in Britain and Dubai of parcels with explosives sent from Yemen.
US President Barack Obama addressed the nation on Friday, saying US authorities would spare no effort to find the source of the packages that he called a “credible terrorist threat” aimed at two places of Jewish worship.
One parcel intercepted in Dubai had a bomb hidden in a printer, which bore all the hallmarks of al-Qaeda, said Dubai police, whose experts defused the device. British forensic experts were examining the other parcel yesterday.
“The parcel was prepared in a professional way where a closed electrical circuit was connected to a mobile phone SIM card hidden inside the printer,” a Dubai police statement said.
The plot originating in Yemen will further heighten security concerns about the unstable Arab state, seen by the West as the home of al-Qaeda’s most inventive and audacious affiliate.
Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and one of its leading figures, US-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlak, have been priority US targets since it took responsibility for a failed plot to blow up a US jet on Christmas Day last year.
Dubai police said they found pentaerythritol trinitrate in a printer and cartridge, the same chemical explosive used in the bomb sewn into the underwear of a Nigerian man charged with the attempted Christmas attack.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the parcels, but US officials suspect AQAP, which is affiliated with al-Qaeda, whose militants killed 3,000 people using hijacked airliners in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US
The White House said Saudi Arabia had helped to identify the threat from Yemen, while Britain and the United Arab Emirates also provided information.
One of the packages was found on a United Parcel Service (UPS) cargo plane at East Midlands Airport, about 260km north of London. The other was discovered at a FedEx Corp facility in Dubai.
UPS and FedEx said they were halting shipments from Yemen. UPS planes were searched and then cleared in New Jersey and Philadelphia.
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
CONCESSION: A Shin Kong official said that the firm was ‘willing to contribute’ to the nation, as the move would enable Nvidia Crop to build its headquarters in Taiwan Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) yesterday said it would relinquish land-use rights, or known as surface rights, for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), paving the way for Nvidia Corp to expand its office footprint in Taiwan. The insurer said it made the decision “in the interest of the nation’s greater good” and would not seek compensation from taxpayers for potential future losses, calling the move a gesture to resolve a months-long impasse among the insurer, the Taipei City Government and the US chip giant. “The decision was made on the condition that the Taipei City Government reimburses the related
FRESH LOOK: A committee would gather expert and public input on the themes and visual motifs that would appear on the notes, the central bank governor said The central bank has launched a comprehensive redesign of New Taiwan dollar banknotes to enhance anti-counterfeiting measures, improve accessibility and align the bills with global sustainability standards, Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday. The overhaul would affect all five denominations — NT$100, NT$200, NT$500, NT$1,000 and NT$2,000 notes — but not coins, Yang said. It would be the first major update to the banknotes in 24 years, as the current series, introduced in 2001, has remained in circulation amid rapid advances in printing technology and security standards. “Updating the notes is essential to safeguard the integrity
RSS