Author: admin

{{The United States took the unusual step of issuing a worldwide travel alert to its citizens on Friday, warning of a “significant threat” of an al Qaeda terrorist attack between now and the end of August.}}

The travel alert, the first of its kind to be issued by the US since an announcement preceding the 10th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, warned of “the potential for terrorists to attack public transportation systems and other tourist infrastructure”.

The US State Department said the potential for an attack was particularly acute in the Middle East and North Africa and urged US travelers to take extra precautions overseas.

The US intercepted electronic communications among senior al Qaeda figures, according to officials quoted by The New York Times.

“There is a significant threat stream, and we’re reacting to it,” said Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He told ABC in an interview to be aired Sunday that the threat was “more specific” than previous ones and the “intent is to attack Western, not just US interests”.

The alert came a day after the US announced the closure of 21 embassies and consulates across the Muslim world for the weekend as a security precaution.

{{Yemen could be focus of attacks}}

US officials pointed to Yemen as one of the areas most at risk of a terror attack. The country is the home of al Qaeda’s most dangerous offshoot and the network blamed for several notable terrorist plots on the United States.

“Current information suggests that al Qaeda and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks both in the region and beyond, and that they may focus efforts to conduct attacks in the period between now and the end of August,” the State Department said.

The concern by American officials over the Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is not new, given the terror branch’s gains in territory and reach during Yemen’s prolonged Arab Spring-related instability.

The group made significant territorial gains last year, capturing towns and cities in the south amid a power struggle in the capital that ended with the resignation of Yemen’s longtime leader, Ali Abdullah Saleh. A US-aided counteroffensive by the government has since pushed the militants back.

Yemen’s current president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, met with President Obama at the White House on Thursday, where both leaders cited strong counterterrorism cooperation. Earlier this week, Yemen’s military reported a US drone strike killed six alleged al Qaeda militants in the group’s southern strongholds.

As recently as June, the group’s commander, Qasim al-Rimi, released an Arabic-language video urging attacks on US targets and praising the ethnic Chechen brothers accused of carrying out the deadly Boston Marathon bombings in April.

{{Britain closes embassy, urges nationals to leave Yemen}}

Meanwhile, Britain also took action Friday in Yemen, announcing it would close its embassy there on Sunday and Monday as a precaution and urged its citizens to leave the country.

Britain, which closely coordinates on intelligence matters with Washington, stopped short of releasing a similar region-wide alert but added that some embassy staff in Yemen had been withdrawn “due to security concerns”.

The British Foreign Office also advised the country’s nationals against all travel to Yemen and strongly advised any remaining Britons to leave the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country.

“Our travel advice advises particular vigilance during Ramadan, when tensions could be heightened,” a ministry spokesman said.

(FRANCE 24 with wires)

{{Germany has cancelled a Cold War-era pact with the US and Britain in response to revelations about electronic surveillance operations.}}

Details of snooping programmes involving the transatlantic allies have been leaked to the media by former US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden.

The revelations have sparked widespread outrage in Germany, where elections are due next month.

The agreement dates from 1968-9, and its cancellation is largely symbolic.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement: “The cancellation of the administrative agreements, which we have pushed for in recent weeks, is a necessary and proper consequence of the recent debate about protecting personal privacy.”

Germans’ experience of mass surveillance under the Communist and Nazi dictatorships makes them particularly sensitive to perceived infringements of personal privacy, and the country has strong data protection laws.

The agreement cancelled on Friday gave the Western countries which had troops stationed in West Germany – the US, Britain and France – the right to request surveillance operations to protect those forces.

wirestory

{{ If immigration reform sputters in the deeply divided U.S. Congress, supporters are planning to push President Barack Obama to act on his own to help 11 million illegal residents, lawmakers and immigration advocates said.}}

Immigration law experts, some senators and House Democratic aides speculated that if Congress cannot agree on a wide-ranging immigration bill this year, Obama could use his executive authority to stop deporting parents of children living in the United States illegally.

Many of those children have won temporary reprieves on deportation and broadening the protection to their parents would be a way of keeping immigrant families together.

Navigating around Congress comes with plenty of drawbacks, though, since anything Obama could do would not be as lasting as enacting a law. Furthermore, he could not use his own powers to make sweeping changes, such as creating a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented.

Any such measures are certain to provoke a reaction from Republicans. But immigrant groups would argue that some action from the White House is better than putting up with existing conditions.

Obama also could sidestep Republican opposition to legislation by helping a broader spectrum of illegal residents who have been in the United States for prolonged periods, say 10 years or more, for temporary legal status if they have clean records.

“You could make a persuasive policy argument that those are the people who have most fully sunk roots into communities, most convincingly demonstrating they’re contributing in the labor market,” said Doris Meissner, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute. “Many are paying U.S. taxes and raising families in their adopted country.”

With Congress in a five-week recess and many Republicans balking at “amnesty” for those living in the United States illegally, chances are worsening for passing a comprehensive immigration bill this year, even with the Senate’s bipartisan backing in June for such a measure.

“There’s a huge degree of effort and support going into immigration reform and if it fails (in Congress), all of that effort and support will turn right back on the administration to do something for constituents that have been hurting and are important to the president,” Meissner said.

Senior Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, who voted for the Senate-passed bill, told Reuters, “There are a lot of people speculating” about the demands for Obama to act unilaterally if legislation fails.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who helped write the Senate bill, concurred, saying, “I have always suspected that’s a real possibility.”

Agencies