Karl's Weird News

Israeli Jets Scramble to Intercept U.S. Airliner After Communications Loss

Israel air force fighter planes scrambled Wednesday to intercept a U.S. airliner after it lost communications with air controllers, security officials said.

The Continental passenger plane was flying in from the U.S. when it lost contact. Following anti-terror procedures, two Israeli warplanes intercepted the plane and guided it back over the Mediterranean Sea until communications were restored, Channel 10 TV reported.

Mobile Helicopter Killers Found and Destroyed in Iraq:

American troops in Iraq figured out how Iraqi terrorists had managed to ambush American helicopters with heavy machine-guns and get away with it. The Iraqis had used trucks with the machine-gun mounted in the back, and a tarp over metal supports (a common feature of military trucks) to conceal the weapon. The tarp was rigged so it could be quickly pulled aside, as well as the metal supports for the tarp. This enabled the heavy machine-gun to immediately open fire. There were four of these trucks, and they roamed around areas that American helicopters were operating above. One of these trucks was spotted, with its machine-gun revealed, by a UAV, after informants indicated that this was probably the weapon responsible. U.S. intelligence then analyzed video and other data they had, and put more UAVs over areas believed frequented by the trucks. On the ground, intelligence operatives began beating the bushes for information on these mobile flak traps. Soon the four trucks were identified and, one by one, destroyed with smart bombs.

Chiquita to Pay $25M in Terror Case

Banana company Chiquita Brands International said Wednesday it has agreed to a $25 million fine after admitting it paid terrorists for protection in a volatile farming region of Colombia.

 The settlement resolves a lengthy Justice Department investigation into the company’s financial dealings with right-wing paramilitaries and leftist rebels the U.S. government deems terrorist groups.

In court documents filed Wednesday, federal prosecutors said the Cincinnati-based company and several unnamed high-ranking corporate officers paid about $1.7 million between 1997 and 2004 to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, known as AUC for its Spanish initials.

Greek Cypriots dismantle barrier:

Cypriot soldiers remove parts of an outpost from a wall at the UN buffer zone in Nicosia

Greek Cypriots have demolished a key section of the barrier dividing the island’s capital city, Nicosia. The Green Line has separated Cyprus’s Greeks from the Turkish population since 1974, when Turkish troops occupied the north.

US Navy research throws up vomit ray

The US Navy is funding research into a “Star Trek phaser set on ’stun’”.

At least to begin with, the kit is intended for use by Marines in ordinary urban combat rather than starship crewmen beamed down onto strange new worlds (fans of the classic series may be interested to note that the USS Enterprise happens to be preparing for an “upcoming surge deployment”, however.)

The new technology has been given an acronym, EPIC, for Electromagnetic Personnel Interdiction Control. The idea is that intense radio-frequency emissions – capable of passing through walls – would be used to temporarily disrupt the balance and coordination functions of targets’ inner ears, knocking them down relatively harmlessly.

The Navy notes that “second order effects would be extreme motion sickness,” suggesting that in fact the order given by future Captain Kirks may be “set phasers on ‘puke’”.

170 Swiss troops cross border, surprise undefended Liechtenstein

What began as a routine training exercise almost ended in an embarrassing diplomatic incident after a company of Swiss soldiers got lost at night and marched into neighboring Liechtenstein. According to Swiss daily Blick, the 170 infantry soldiers wandered just over a mile across an unmarked border into the tiny principality early Thursday before realizing their mistake and turning back.

14 Iranian troops killed in helicopter crash

Fourteen Iranian military personnel were killed in a helicopter crash last week during an operation against rebels close to the Turkish border, the Revolutionary Guards confirmed on Monday.

A statement carried by the ISNA agency said that two commanders of the Guards’ ground force and 12 other military personnel were killed in Friday’s accident. Kurdish rebels had claimed they shot down the aircraft.

“Commanders Ghahari Said and Dorosti of the Guards’ Hamzeh Army 3, along with 12 other members of the Islamic republic’s army and the Guards, were martyred in the helicopter accident,” the army statement said.

US funds terror groups to sow chaos in Iran

America is secretly funding militant ethnic separatist groups in Iran in an attempt to pile pressure on the Islamic regime to give up its nuclear programme.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s regime is accused of repressing minority rights and culture In a move that reflects Washington’s growing concern with the failure of diplomatic initiatives, CIA officials are understood to be helping opposition militias among the numerous ethnic minority groups clustered in Iran’s border regions.

The operations are controversial because they involve dealing with movements that resort to terrorist methods in pursuit of their grievances against the Iranian regime.

In the past year there has been a wave of unrest in ethnic minority border areas of Iran, with bombing and assassination campaigns against soldiers and government officials.

Clashes in Northwest Iran!… Chopper Down-Dozens Dead!:

Ten Revolutionary Guard members including two officers were killed when their helicopter was shot down by insurgents on Saturday. Iranian news reported that 17 “terrorists” were eliminated during the fighting.

The helicopter was on a mission at Khoy region, East Azarbaijan province, where it had to make an emergency landing immediately after which it was exploded. All IRGC forces on the board including two commanders were killed instantly.

Record power for military laser:

A laser developed for military use is a few steps away from hitting a power threshold thought necessary to turn it into a battlefield weapon.

The Solid State Heat Capacity Laser (SSHCL) has achieved 67 kilowatts (kW) of average power in the laboratory.

It could take only a further six to eight months to break the “magic” 100kW mark required for the battlefield, the project’s chief scientist told the BBC.

WWI postcard from soldier finally arrives

A postcard sent from the trenches during World War I by a private to his wartime sweetheart finally arrived — 92 years after he had sent it.

Pvt. Walter Butler wrote to Amy Hicks in 1915, telling her he was alive and well — but the army issue postcard never made it to her home in Wiltshire, 60 miles west of London. Butler survived the war, and the couple went on to marry.

Al Sadr Fled Iraq, Fearing U.S. Bombs:

While members of the U.S. House of Representatives take turns weighing in on President Bush’s planned troop surge in Iraq, the focus in Iraq is not on the arrival of more U.S. troops, but the departure of one of the country’s most powerful men, Moqtada al Sadr and members of his army.

According to senior military officials, al Sadr left Baghdad two to three weeks ago and fled to Tehran, Iran, where he has family.

Al Sadr commands the Mahdi army, one of the most formidable insurgent militias in Iraq, and his move coincides with the announced U.S. troop surge in Baghdad.

U.S. cyber counterattack: Bomb ‘em one way or the other

If the United States found itself under a major cyberattack aimed at undermining the nation’s critical information infrastructure, the Department of Defense is prepared, based on the authority of the president, to launch a cyber counterattack or an actual bombing of an attack source.

The primary group responsible for analyzing the need for any cyber counterstrike is the National Cyber Response Coordination Group (NCRCG). The three key members of the NCRCG, who hail from the US-CERT computer-readiness team, the Department of Justice and the Defense Department, this week described how they would seek to coordinate a national response in the event of a major cyber-event from a known attacker.

Super Sub Search Sensor Surfaces

American researchers at Georgia Tech, investigating how fish hear underwater, have developed a sensor that can detect the sound objects make while moving through the water, and what direction it’s coming from. This will enable submarines to “hear” other submarines, or surface ships, moving. Fish use this acute sense of sound to detect prey, or predators. Submarines will use this ability in the same way, and for the same purpose. The new motion sensor is passive. It just listens, and does not give off any signals.

Video: US forces engage Mahdi militia in Baghdad

One of the better videos from the Iraq front in the last few months.  Nice secondaries resulting from the Apache too

NOTE: Strong language / NSFW alert

US military unveils heat-ray gun:

The US military has given the first public display of what it says is a revolutionary heat-ray weapon to repel enemies or disperse hostile crowds. Called the Active Denial System, it projects an invisible high energy beam that produces a sudden burning feeling, but is said to be harmless.

Sunken WWII sub found by accident near Java

The wreck of a World War II submarine was discovered by accident near Java on Thanksgiving Day, according to officials of the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum. Charles Hinman, the museum’s education director, said the 300-foot diesel submarine USS Perch was discovered in 190 feet of water in the Java Sea by an international team of divers and photographers who were hoping to photograph the wreck of the British cruiser Exeter.

DESTROYED – NOT

WELL, the Iraqi Ministry of Interior says disputed Associated Press source Jamil Hussein does exist. But at least one story he told the AP just doesn’t check out: The Sunni mosques that as Hussein claimed and AP reported as “destroyed,” “torched” and “burned and [blown] up” are all still standing. So the credibility of every AP story relying on Jamil Hussein remains dubious.

‘Star Wars’ Weaponry Gets a Trial Run in Dahlgren:

A flashy demonstration of the futuristic and comparatively inexpensive railgun weapon Tuesday at the Naval Surface Warfare Center had Navy brass smiling. The weapon, which was successfully tested in October at the King George County base, fires nonexplosive projectiles at incredible speeds, using electricity rather than gun powder.

Chinese Satellite Test Draws Sharp Protest From Other Nations

The Chinese military used a ground-based missile to hit and destroy one of its aging satellites orbiting more than 500 miles in space last week, an apparent test of anti-satellite technology that raised concerns about a possible arms race in space and drew sharp protests from other space-faring nations.

Al Qaeda flees Baghdad:

The apparent evacuation of Baghdad by al Qaeda forces comes from direct orders issued by al-Masri, the former soldier who took control of the Iraqi wing of al Qaeda following the June 2006 bombing death of Zarqawi.Initially, the intelligence officer informed Pajamas, the Baghdad-based AQ fighters did not want to leave. Al-Masri had to send unequivocal orders for their retreat, adding that one of the lessons from the Fallujah campaign was that Americans have learned how to prevail in house-to-house fighting. Masri said that remaining in Baghdad was a ‘no-win situation’ for the terrorists.

“In more than ten years of reading al Qaeda intercepts, I’ve never seen language like this,” the intelligence officer said. Usually, al Qaeda communications are full of bravado and false confidence, he added.

Al-Masri’s evacuation order – assuming that it is authentic – reveals that al Qaeda in Iraq leader has a good grasp of a tactical situation. “He is far more formidable than Zarqawi was,” the intelligence officer said, because of his training at Soviet special warfare schools.

Pint-sized soldier with a big wallop

The Army’s newest recruit can’t speak or climb stairs well. And at 3 feet tall and a whopping 200 pounds, it wouldn’t pass a physical. But it fires a machine gun with half-mile accuracy and doesn’t flinch. The latest infantryman is electronic — a gun-slinging robot developed at Picatinny Arsenal. Engineers at the Army weapons research post in Rockaway Township hope to send the machine, the first of its kind, into combat this year.

Two Alliances

It was the hugely ambitious project of the Bush administration to transform the entire Middle East by remaking Iraq into an irresistible model of prosperous democracy. Having failed in that worthy purpose, another, more prosaic result has inadvertently been achieved: divide and rule, the classic formula for imperial power on the cheap.

Silly String Goes to War:

Troops have a tendency to improvise. They’ve often used commercial equipment, where it seemed better than issue stuff. And they’re usually quick to spot ways to use in combat items not originally intended for the purpose. Consider “Silly String.”

US forces storm Iranian consulate:

US forces have stormed an Iranian consulate in the northern Iraqi town of Irbil and seized five members of staff. The troops raided the building at about 0300 (0001GMT), taking away computers and papers, according to Kurdish media and senior local officials.

Raytheon tests new laser weapon

Raytheon said its prototype solid-state Laser Area Defense System, or LADS, “successfully detonated 60-millimeter mortars at a range greater than 550 yards within the tactical timeline in static ground testing conducted in partnership with the United States government.” The company described the tests as “groundbreaking’ and said the results had been achieved “in less than six months.” “The LADS demonstration used a proven, existing, off-the-shelf solid-state laser, coupled with commercially available optics technology,” Raytheon said. “The goal of the demonstration was to rapidly prove that lasers can yield military utility now by demonstrating that such a system could protect warfighters against mortars.”

U.S. Denies New Attacks in Somalia

But one U.S. military official said this morning that there was no U.S. involvement in ongoing fighting. “It’s a fluid situation,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said Ethiopian forces, who last month ousted Islamist leaders from the Somali capital, continued to clash with remnants of militias supporting the Islamists.

America’s Boots on the Ground in Somalia:

The al-Qaeda affiliated Islamic Courts Union’s (ICU) rapid retreat in the face of Ethiopia’s military campaign in Somalia has puzzled many observers. How could the Ethiopians roll up the jihadists so quickly? Pajamas Media has learned that one significant factor is that U.S. air and ground forces covertly aided the Ethiopian military since its intervention began on Christmas day.

U.S. ground forces have been active in Somalia from the start, a senior military intelligence officer confirmed. “In fact,” he said, “they were part of the first group in.”

Court ‘cursed’ as cartoon protester is convicted of incitement

Extremists screamed insults at an Old Bailey judge yesterday as a British Muslim was convicted of inciting murder during protests against the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Umran Javed, 27, had shouted “Bomb, bomb USA” and “Jihad is the path to Allah” as he led a 300-strong crowd in chants during a demonstration in London last year.

Wars Update: Less War, More Peace in 2006:

You’d never know it from the headlines, but, overall, things quieted down in the past year. Fighting has died down considerably, or disappeared completely, in places like Nepal, Chechnya. Congo, Indonesia and Burundi. This continues a trend that began when the Cold War ended, and the Soviet Union no longer subsidized terrorist and rebel groups everywhere.

Not a shot was fired yet the Somali jihad was suddenly over…

Their fortress fell without a shot. After just nine days of clashes in Somalia’s hinterland, the Islamists who had vowed to fight to the death abandoned Mogadishu, the city they had governed since June. From having controlled most of southern and central Somalia, they were holed up yesterday in the southern port city of Kismaayo, facing annihilation by Ethiopian troops.

‘42 midget sub committed to the deep

The wartime midget submarine discovered off the beaches of Sydney is to be left on the ocean floor and is expected to become a permanent tomb for the two crewmen killed inside the vessel after their attack on Sydney Harbour in 1942.

Australian government officials have confirmed that the sub will probably never be raised for various reasons, including technical difficulties. The vessel’s discovery last month by amateur divers ended a 64-year mystery about its whereabouts.

Al Qaeda’s message to the Left:

Al Qaeda has sent a message to leaders of the Democratic party that credit for the defeat of congressional Republicans belongs to the terrorists. In a portion of the tape from al Qaeda No. 2 man, Ayman al Zawahri, made available only today, Zawahri says he has two messages for American Democrats. “The first is that you aren’t the ones who won the midterm elections, nor are the Republicans the ones who lost. Rather, the Mujahideen — the Muslim Ummah’s vanguard in Afghanistan and Iraq — are the ones who won, and the American forces and their Crusader allies are the ones who lost,” Zawahri said, according to a full transcript obtained by ABC News.

Iraqi soldiers eat frogs, rabbit at handover ceremony

Iraqi soldiers bit the heads off frogs and ate the heart of a rabbit as signs of courage on Wednesday at a ceremony to transfer Najaf province, home to one of Shi’ite Islam’s holiest shrines, from U.S. to Iraqi control.

X-51 Hypersonic Cruise Missile: The Pentagon’s Prompt Global Strike Weapon Plan

The mission: Attack anywhere in the world in less than an hour. But is the Pentagon’s bold program a critical new weapon for hitting elusive targets, or a good way to set off a nuclear war?