Here we go...

absolutely as predicted...

NYC officials push for dramatic expansion of electronic surveillance

New York officials say they could stop attacks like the attempted Times Square car bomb by expanding a controversial surveillance system so sensitive that it will pick up even suspicious behavior.

New York is already a heavily policed city, with 35,000 officers and a counterterrorism bureau -- the first of its kind in the country -- partnering the FBI.

But Saturday's failed terrorist bomb in the Times Square tourist hot spot has provided the authorities with a new argument for expanding a sometimes controversial security blanket of cameras, sensors and analytical software.

not all bets are sure things, but this one ain't one of 'em... i would have given the last hair on my already-balding pate that this headline would be following in lockstep with the times square incident as sure as night follows day...

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Kabul bomb blast

we were having a meeting in the cool morning air on the terrace when we heard the explosion... the sound had come from roughly the center of town but it wasn't until later looking at news reports that i learned it was near the ministry of the interior and the indian embassy...


Afghan soldiers carry body of a victim after a blast in
Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009. The
powerful explosion rocked the center of Afghanistan's
capital early Thursday near the Interior Ministry and
the Indian Embassy, where dozens of civilians were
killed in an attack last year.

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More violence in Peshawar

now that i've got some good friends in this part of the world, i pay much closer attention than usual to news from the area...

one of my good friends is the computer systems administrator for the project where i work... he moved his family from kabul to peshawar, pakistan, some time back for several reasons, not the least of which was their safety and security... he also felt that the schools there were much better for his kids... since then, he's been working tirelessly for weeks at a time (he also handles the regional offices of the project in several other afghan cities), and then takes a week or ten days to drive over the khyber pass to peshawar to spend time with his family...

in recent months, the trip has become increasingly dangerous... bereft of any identification or even a cell phone, he takes a taxi to the border crossing into pakistan and then catches another taxi on the other side for the remainder of the trip... his language, ability to speak the regional dialect, and appearance allow him to blend in and remain inconspicuous, but it's still a frightening, 9 hour ordeal...

he told me a few weeks ago that, come school vacation time, he'll be moving his family back to kabul... with stories like this, i can see why...

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A car bomb killed at least 20 people and wounded scores in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Friday, officials said.

The blast occurred near an assembly hall of minority Shi'ite Muslims in a crowded part of the city. One building collapsed in flames and several others were badly damaged and on fire.

"It shook the entire area like an earthquake," said resident Rahim Gul as he tried to remove rubble with his bare hands. "It was a huge and terrible explosion. As we reached here it was all burning. There was rubble all around."

Khizar Hayat, the chief doctor at the city's main government hospital, said at least 20 people had been killed and 50 wounded, 20 of them seriously.

people indiscriminately killing other people... sigh...

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