Earlier today, the U.S.-born al Qaeda leader and terrorist recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in Yemen by a missile fired from an American drone aircraft. In the wake of the death of al-Awalki, the first time since the Sept. 11 attacks that an American citizen had been deliberately targeted and killed by American forces, Ron Paul is not happy: "If the American people accept this blindly and casually that we now have an accepted practice of the President assassinating people who he thinks are bad guys, I think it's sad." more ›

A CIA Predator Drone strike in Yemen on Thursday failed to hit its intended target, American citizen Anwar al-Awalaki, but may have killed other members of Al Qaeda, the Times reports. Al-Awalaki, a Muslim cleric who was born in New Mexico and recruits English-speaking extremists through internet sermons, is believed to be a member of Al Qaeda's branch in the Arabian Peninsula. more ›

Last night, the DHL cargo facility at JFK Airport was evacuated due to a suspicious package. The package, which had a cellphone and paperwork, was ultimately deemed safe, but the episode signaled how worried authorities are in the wake of last week's mail bombs, which were sent from Yemen and intercepted in the U.K. and Dubai. Now, France's interior minister claims one of the bombs was defused 17 minutes before it was set to explode. more ›

The U.S.-born radical cleric who's been ordered killed by President Obama has been given a chance at due process... in Yemen. Yesterday Yemen put Anwar al-Awlaki on trial in absentia, accusing him of colluding with another man, Hisham Assem, in the October 6th murder of a Frenchman at an oil firm's compound where he worked as a security guard. Prosecutors say Assem told interrogators that al-Awlaki "convinced him that foreigners are 'occupiers,' and sent him audiotapes with sermons justifying the killing of foreigners," the AP reports. Assem has denied all the charges and says he was tortured into giving false confessions. more ›

The woman taken into custody by Yemeni authorities, because her phone number was left at the shipping center where packages containing explosives were shipped to Chicago (they were intercepted in the U.K and Dubai), was released. A lawyer for the 22-year-old student at Sana University said his client was set-up because her identity was stolen. In the meantime, officials have identified Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri as the expert behind the bombs—he's "so ruthless that he once slipped explosives inside his own brother's body to kill a Saudi prince." more ›

As Yemeni authorities have arrested an engineering student in connection with the plot to mail bombs to the U.S., Qater Airways say that the explosives in a package intercepted in Dubai flew on two passenger airplanes. And British Home Secretary Theresa May said the mail bomb found in the U.K. was "viable" and meant to take down the plane, though it's unclear whether the explosion was to take place over the U.K. or U.S. more ›

Yesterday, suspicious Chicago-bound packages intercepted in the UK and Dubai triggered a concerns over UPS packages on flights at Newark and Philadelphia International Airports, as well as on a UPS truck in Brooklyn, and even prompted a military fighter jet escort for a commercial Emirates flights landing at JFK Airport. It turns out that the packages, mailed from Yemen and headed to Chicago synagogues (including one across the street from President Obama's home in the Windy City), tested positive for explosives. Obama called it a "credible terrorism threat," as other officials said it may very well have been a test run for a bomb plot. more ›

Hours after the suspicious packages-on-UPS planes and trucks concerns, 1010 WINS says U.S. military jets are escorting an Emirates passenger flight, originating from Yemen, to JFK "out of an abundance of caution." Update: We hear the plane has landed and is being escorted by the Port Authority and NYPD to either a gate or another part of the airport. more ›

Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born cleric whose radical views have forced him into hiding in Yemen, released a new video promising harm to Americans, "Oh, America, if you transgress against us, we will transgress against you, and you keep killing our people, we will kill your people. This is the image that we need to present. These American soldiers heading to Afghanistan and Iraq will be killed. We will kill them if we can, there in Fort Hood, or we will kill them in Afghanistan and Iraq." more ›

President Obama spent the afternoon in the Situation Room meeting with his national security team, the first face-to-face meeting with some two dozen advisers since the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. Following the meeting, the president acknowledged that the government knew of “other red flags” in the failed underwear bombing plot. "This was not a failure to collect intelligence, it was a failure to integrate and understand the intelligence that we already had," Obama told reporters at the White House. For good measure, he added that "the system has failed" in a major way. But at least the FAIL wasn't as bad as the one in Slovakia on Saturday! more ›

After being attacked by critics in the wake of the thankfully unsuccessful attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight last week, the White House addressed critics head on. Communications director Dan Pfeiffer posted a response—especially towards former Vice President Dick Cheney—on the White House website yesterday saying that President Obama has acknowledged the U.S. is "at war. The difference is this: President Obama doesn’t need to beat his chest to prove it, and - unlike the last Administration - we are not at war with a tactic ('terrorism'), we at war with something that is tangible: al Qaeda and its violent extremist allies. And we will prosecute that war as long as the American people are endangered." Further: more ›

Early Tuesday morning, a Yemeni jet carrying 153 people (142 passengers, 11 crew members) crashed into the Indian Ocean (here's a map and timeline). Rescuers found a toddler; CNN reports, "The child is the only known survivor from the downed Yemenia Airways flight, which was carrying 153 people en route to the island nation of Comoros from Yemen's capital, Sanaa. The child was found in the waters and taken to a hospital." According to the NY Times, "The flight, IY 626, originated in Paris and stopped in Marseille before continuing to Yemen, where the passengers and crew changed planes." Yemeni authorities say the plane, which was an Airbus 310 (the fatal Air France flight was an Airbus 330), was headed to the Comoros airport in heavy winds. And BBC News says that EU has been concerned about Yemenia's safety and suggests that the a worldwide blacklist of unsafe airlines be created. more ›

CNN reports that 10 Yemeni police and civilians were killed when "suspected al Qaeda insurgents disguised as security forces launched an attack on the U.S. Embassy" in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen. According to the NY Times, one car drove up, and "several attackers got out...firing rocket-propelled grenades and automatic rifles" while a second car "drove into the compound’s gate and exploded in what appeared to be a suicide bombing." No U.S. Embassy employees were killed; earlier this year, the State Department ordered the non-emergency staff to depart the embassy but lifted the order last month. Back in 2000, Al Qaeda attacked the U.S.S. Cole, in the Yemeni port of Aden, killing 17 American soldiers. more ›