HeadLinks

Courtesy of CNSNews:


Washington Post:
Police Chiefs Group Bolsters Policy on Suicide Bombers

The International Association of Chiefs of Police, which represents the heads of police departments in the United States and across the world, has issued new guidelines saying that officers who confront a suicide bomber should shoot the suspect in the head.


BBC News:
London Bombers 'Used Hair Bleach'

The bombs that killed 56 people in London on 7 July were probably detonated using mobile phones, New York police officials have said.
They were made in Leeds from household chemicals like hair bleach and stored in a powerful refrigerator, they said.

Commissioner Ray Kelly was briefing New York security industry bosses on information given to NYPD officers monitoring the investigation in London. Scotland Yard has refused to comment on the US claims.

The NYPD said UK authorities were happy for them to release details.
Commissioner Kelly said: "Initially it was thought that perhaps the materials were high-end military explosives that were smuggled - but it turns out not to be the case.


Washington Times:
European Nations Oust Imams


Countries across Europe are working to expel radical Islamic clerics who glorify and condone acts of terrorism, in hopes of stemming the tide of extremism among impressionable Muslim youth.

France deported an imam to his native Algeria on Friday for incendiary sermons at mosques in Paris, and at least eight more extremist clerics are expected to be banished in the coming weeks.

Italy expelled eight fundamentalist Palestinian preachers on Tuesday for not holding proper residency permits, Italian news agency ANSA reported.
The British Home Office announced recently that it will introduce an anti-terror bill that criminalizes "indirect incitement of terrorism," and is creating a database to identify those who preach intolerance and run Web sites promoting jihad, or holy war.


Fox News:
Is the Vatican a Target for Terrorists?

The Vatican is seen as the heart of the Christian world, but some also eye the international iconic symbol of Christianity (search) as a terror target.

"I think the Vatican has to be considered a target because Al Qaeda has said that the Vatican is a target," said Kishore Jayabalan, a former Vatican official, now of the Acton Institute. "One of the things the Vatican has tried to do is to downplay the differences between Islam and Christianity."


Washington Post:
In Congress, the GOP Embraces Its Spending Side

GOP leaders this week sent House Republicans home for the summer with some political tips, helpfully laid out in 12 "Ideas for August Recess Events." Drop by a military reserve center to highlight increased benefits, the talking points suggest. Visit a bridge or highway that will receive additional funding, or talk up the new prescription drug benefit for seniors.

Having skirted budget restraints and approved nearly $300 billion in new spending and tax breaks before leaving town, Republican lawmakers are now determined to claim full credit for the congressional spending. Far from shying away from their accomplishments, lawmakers are embracing the pork, including graffiti eradication in the Bronx, $277 million in road projects for Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), and a $200,000 deer-avoidance system in New York.


Washington Times:
Alabama Limits Eminent Domain

Alabama yesterday became the first state to enact new protections against local-government seizure of property allowed under a Supreme Court ruling that has triggered an explosive grass-roots counteroffensive across the country.

Republican Gov. Bob Riley signed a bill that was passed unanimously by a special session of the Alabama Legislature, which would prohibit governments from using their eminent-domain authority to take privately owned properties for the purpose of turning them over to retail, industrial, office or residential developers.

Calling the high court's June 23 ruling "misguided" and a "threat to all property owners," Mr. Riley said, "A property rights revolt is sweeping the nation, and Alabama is leading it."

The backlash against the judicial ruling has not received much attention in the national press, although legislative leaders in more than two dozen states have proposed statutes and/or state constitutional amendments to restrict local governments' eminent-domain powers.

Besides Alabama, legislation to ban or restrict the use of eminent domain for private development has been introduced in 16 states: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Texas.

Legislators have announced plans to introduce eminent-domain bills in seven more states: Alaska, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Ohio, South Dakota, South Carolina and Wisconsin, and lawmakers in Colorado, Georgia and Virginia plan to act on previously introduced bills.


ABC News/AP:
South Korean Stem Cell Pioneer Clones Dog

The "Pride of Korea" has struck again. Pioneer South Korean stem cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk and his research colleagues have succeeded in cloning a dog, a global first that extends the remarkable string of laboratory successes by the Seoul National University professor.

Last year, Hwang's team created the world's first cloned human embryos. They followed that in May by creating the first embryonic stem cells that genetically match injured or sick patients.

Now, they've come up with Snuppy, an Afghan hound, now 14 weeks old, that Hwang's research colleague, Gerald Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, called "a frisky, healthy, normal, rambunctious puppy."