Author: David Lee Miller

A former New York City cab driver pleaded guilty in Federal Court to plotting to blow up the city’s subway system.

25 year old Afghan born US citizen Zarein Ahmedzay faces two life sentences and a $750,000 fine when sentenced July 30th.

During his court appearance, Ahemdzay wearing a government issued blue jump suit and surrounded by US marshals matter of factly described the failed terror plot. Ahmedzay’s high school friend and accomplice Najibullah Zazi pleaded guilty to similar charges last February.

In an emotional and at times bone chilling statement, Ahmedzay described how he, Zazi, and a third man traveled to Pakistan in August of 2008. He said the three made the trip to fight the “corrupt Karzai government” and to kill “occupying forces.”

He told the court after being denied entry into Afghanistan they were recruited by Al Qaeda to carry out “martyrdom operations in the US. Ahmedzay said his experience as a taxi driver was seen as especially helpful in selecting targets. He said all three men received light weapons training before returning to the US.

Back on American soil Ahmedzay said he had doubts about the plan but decided to become a suicide bomber. With his help the group decided to blow up New York subways traveling through the busiest stations in the city, Grand Central Station and Times Square.

The plot abruptly ended when the group suspected they were being watched by law enforcement. Ahmedzay said the chemicals used to make the explosives were discarded somewhere in the Queens borough of New York.

He told the court he was “ thankful I didn’t harm anyone,” but feared “someone else will do the same thing.”

He also quoted from the Koran and said he and the others were sent on the mission by “Allah.” He blamed the “Zionist Jews” for taking part in a secret government and called them the real enemies of the US.

Yohan Vassquez admits he is “lucky to be alive.”

For the last three years he has worked as a guard at a prison in the Chillian city of Chillan. Nothing could have prepared him for what happened the morning of the 8.8 mega quake.

Vassquez says he and the other 19 guards on duty were asleep when the tremor hit at 3:30 AM. Soon after awakened by the quake he discovered the inmates were on a rampage.

Cell doors had been jostled loose by the quake. Hundreds of the 760 inmates housed at the facility were free to roam the prison compound.. among them rapists and murderers held in maximum security.

According to Vassquez, although equipped with 9 millimeter revolvers, guards could not use the weapon unless an inmate was no longer on prison grounds. Instead, he says guards could only use a wooden baton or a shotgun loaded with non lethal rubber coated pellets.

The inmates, some armed with makeshift five foot spears, made it to the recreation yard. Three of the guard towers had collapsed along with large chunks of the perimeter wall.

Overwhelimg the guards, the prioners scalled a small wire fence and made it to freedom. After looting a nearby liquor store they burned it to the ground. Intoxicated by drink and freedom they returned to the prison releasing prisoners still behind bars.

Vassquez clutching his prison issued shotgun described how the “animals” then set fire to everything in their path. He says they burned their cells, administative office and even each other. Although the victim’s remains have been removed, a charred cell floor is a gruesome reminder of the torture that took place.

Durning the quake fueled riot four guards were injured and four inmates were killed. Of the 280 prisoners who escaped 130 are still on the loose.

The surrounding community lives in terror. The escapees are on a crime spree. Soon after their new found freedom the inmates burned the home of a family who lived near the prison.

Chile’s civillian and military police, already overwhelmed with looters and the ongoing aftershocks are desperately trying to capture the escapees.

Vassquez and the other guards who still work at the burned out prison remain on edge. Vengeful relatives of the inmates have vowed to completely destroy what is left of the prison.

It seems no one here really knows the death toll in Chile, following the 8.8 mega quake, the resulting tsunami and more than 200 aftershocks.

Much of the devastated areas still lack phone service, electricity and water. But there is another shortage. Lack of reliable information.

Nearly one week after the quake and there is still confusion about the number of missing and dead. By midweek the death toll hovered around 800. Now it is officially 279. The government says people who fled after the first tremor were wrongly presumed to have been killed. Instead it now appears many are still alive. 

Good news? Yes, but it underscores the frustration of trying to cope in the aftermath of a natural disaster.

A long line of traffic was at a standstill on the main roadway outside the city of Concepcion, Chile. Drivers arrived early hoping to enter the city the moment the noon curfew was ended. Travelers had six hours to locate missing relatives, bring supplies, or accomplish their mission. At six sharp the curfew is reinstated.

Army troops lined the roadway into town. Emergency aid and soldiers used the outgoing lanes to enter the city.

The people who live here say Concepcion is at the center of the ring of fire. For centuries the city has been plagued by earthquakes. This morning alone five aftershocks rocked the city. Many residents fled to the hills fearing a tsunami.

It is with this in mind thousands enter this city as even more people flee.

Forget the business class lounge. Passengers at Santiago, Chile’s main airport don’t even have a terminal building. Both the international and domestic terminals were damaged by Saturdays’ earthquake and not are operational. Authorities have set up giant tents to accommodate the thousands of stranded travelers anxious to catch a flight.

Despite delays and having to line up outside under a hot sun most passengers seemed pleased with the way airport authorities are handling the crisis. Tim and Bonnie McGill  from Omaha, Nebraska,  who now live in Taiwan, were boarding a plane this morning for Chile’s Easter Island.  The couple said although waiting an hour outside the downtown office of Chile’s main airline LAN, they did not experience any serious problems with their vacation.

A Scottish couple also on vacation had nothing but good things to say about Chilean authorities. Keith Scott said “things were very well organized.” His wife Alice added they “were really impressed by all the Chilean people.”

On the other side of the airport aid flights have started to arrive. One Spanish aircraft brought dozens of “rescue experts” and 17 search dogs. On Tuesday Secretary of State Hillary Clinton briefly touched down at the airport as part of a previously planned five nation Latin American tour. She brought with her badly needed satellite telephones and a pledge of more help. Chile’s neighbors are also pitching in. Peru, Argentina and Brazil are providing field hospitals.

As the death toll increases, the front-page headlines of one of Chile’s most well respected newspapers said the head of the Chilean Navy admitted to making a mistake by not acting sooner to warn residents of coastal towns about a tsunami.

Many quake victims in hardest hit areas of the country say the government acted too late and was too slow in delivering aid. Some critics suggest the government was reluctant to call in the military, fearful that the sight of troops on the streets would remind people of the country’ s recent past when it was ruled by a military dictatorship. When the military finally arrived to deliver rations troops were cheered by hungry quake victims.

Meanwhile authorities said there has been a dramatic drop in looting, Authorities credit an 18 hour-a-day curfew and thousands of troops and police on the street. Another explanation is that there is simply nothing left on store shelves.

Adding to the anxiety about the future is fear of more aftershocks, both seismic and political. In one week Chile’s newly elected President will take office.

The main airport in Chile’s Capital of Santiago allowed has reportedly allowed the first few aircraft to land since the 8.8 mega quake struck the country Saturday morning. No aircraft however have been permitted to take off.

The earthquake has left as many as 2 million people without a place to live. An estimated half million homes have been damaged. Much of Chile remains cutoff from the rest of the world. Power and communication lines are down. As phone service is gradually restored the death toll inches up over 700.

While most of the destruction has is centered around the city of Concepcion the quake was felt up to 1,800 miles away in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The quake even claimed two lives across the border when a building wall collapsed in an apartment house in Salt, Argentina.

The Chilean government has put the military in charge of security in areas where there has been looting. Frustrated quake victims have broken into stores taking food, water bread and other necessities. Some of the looters have also stolen TV sets and home appliances.

Some of the areas hardest hit by the tragedy are Chile’s coastal communities. Not only did the quake itself inflict damage, but the resulting tsunami also took lives and submerged streets. A boat swept inland now sits in one town center.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who as a part of a previously scheduled trip was due to arrive in Santiago on Monday, is now slated to land a day later. It is not clear how much if any of the devastation she will see first hand. It is likely she will hold meetings at Santiago’s airport.

Five thousand iPhone apps are too sexy. At least that’s what Apple claims. The company has banned what it considers sexually offensive software from its online app store.

In the last few days Apple said it has removed the objectionable app content including 50 different products from a company called On the Go Girls. Among its offerings is the “Dirty Fingers Sexy Screen Wash.” If you haven’t seen it, the app features a partially clothed young woman named Amber as if she were cleaning an iPhone screen.

Company President Fred Clarke told Fox News Apple’s decision will cost the app software developer thousands of dollars a day. Clarke said the sudden change in policy is “unfair” and hypercritical.

Clarke and other app providers want to know why apps from Sports Illustrated and Playboy featuring scantily clad women are still allowed for sale while many others have been deemed inappropriate.

An Apple spokeswoman in an email to Fox News said “whenever we receive customer complaints about objectionable content we review them. If we find these apps contain inappropriate material we remove them and request the developer make any necessary changes in order to be distributed by Apple.”

In an interview with the New York Times, Apple’s Senior VP for marketing, Phillip Schiller, admitted that in the case of the Sports Illustrated app “the difference is that this is a well known company with previously published material in a well accepted format.” There was no further explanation provided for why Playboy is acceptable as well as hundreds of sexually themed movies and music for sale in the iTunes store.

Some industry watchers believe Apple is preparing for next month’s iPad launch. The iPad which will likely be marketed to schools and families uses the same apps as the iPhone. While apple wants to clean up its image, it seems the “Dirty Fingers Sexy Screen Wash goes too far.

An American born Islamic scholar who once gave religious instruction to the accused underwear bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab, is coming under fire for videotaped remarks denouncing western courts and democracy despite his reputation as a moderate.

Following the arrest of Abdulmuttalab last December in Detroit, Yasir Qadhi expressed surprise at his former pupil’s alleged bomb plot. In an interview last December with CNN, Qadhi described Abdulmuttalab “as a quiet individual, tight lipped and shy.”  The two met in 2008, during a 16 day religious seminar organized by the Al Maghrib Insititute, in Houston Texas. Qadhi said the event was a way to teach the “nuts and bolts” of Islam, adding “it’s ironic that he came to us.”

A video tape provided to FOX News by the Investigative Project on Terrorism, reveals what some experts consider Qadhi’s more radical agenda. In the undated recording made for the UK’s Islam Channel, Qadhi is speaking to a group of Muslim men. He is advising them to ignore western laws and democratic institutions in favor of Sharia or Islamic law.

He tells the group, “it is not my right to legislate or your right to legislate. No Supreme court, no system of government no democracy where they vote. Can you believe it, a group of people coming together and voting and the majority vote will then be the law of the land?”  The other men on the panel listen intently as Qadhi concludes, “Allah, is our judge, he knows what is best for us.” Calls and an email to Qadhi were not returned.

Terrorism Expert Walid Phares, Author of  The War of Ideas: Jihadism and Democracy warns that Qadhi’s remarks are consistent with Jihadist ideology. He said those who “hear this narrative; they are going to be convinced that their action against the United States government … is legitimate.”

Phares also criticized the US National Counter Terrorism Center for inviting Gadhi to attend a 2008 symposium on Islamic radicalization. Sources say Gadhi did not speak during the event, but also in attendance was then Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff. According to Phares the US government is “dropping the ball” by inviting “jihadi ideologues” to participate in anti terror programs. The center said in a statement “participants in these sessions represents a wide array of perspective and viewpoints thereby enabling a more thorough understanding of the extremist radicalization process that can spawn acts of terrorism.”

Victor Perez defies the statistics.

Despite near record high unemployment for teens, this nineteen year old works as a swing manager at a McDonald’s restaurant in the New York City borough of The Bronx.  Victor admits he’s “lucky to have this job.” He said many customers his age ask not only for a hamburger, but an employment application as well.

According to the latest statistics teen unemployment in the United States is nearly triple the overall rate at 27.1 percent. The figure peaked in October at 27.6, a 61 year high.

When it comes to finding work experts say teens more than any other age group have been hardest hit by the recession. On an industry basis nearly a quarter of all teens work in the food preparation business.

Economists cite several reasons for the high teen unemployment rate. Most frequently they blame the recession that resulted in older workers squeezing out younger job applicants. According to New York University Stern, Economics Professor Joseph Foudy, “youths obviously have less experience in the job market.”  Foudy said teens are “the first to lose work” during difficult times.

Teens not only have to compete with retirees forced to return to work, but with recent college graduates who unable to find work in their field of study increasingly take lower paying jobs.

Some economists argue that a recent increase in the minimum wage also contributed to the high rate of teen unemployment. Last July the federal minimum wage increased from $6.55 to $7.25. Over the next two months 330 thousand teen jobs were lost.

Lack of jobs will make it difficult for many teens to afford college or an education beyond high school. Experts say the lack of job experience will also hurt teens later in life. Some studies show teens with job experience have better employment prospects as adults. McDonald’s New York Region, Vice President, Steve Kerley says the chain teaches teen workers “to be part of a team, to work with the public.” He said they learn “life skills they can take with them, regardless of where their careers may lead.”

After working at McDonald’s since he was 16, Victor Perez agrees. He said college is too costly to consider and for now he is planning a career at the restaurant chain.

They go by names such as Piratecrackers, Yourhackers and Slickhackerz.  Although illegal, a handful of internet services brazenly advertise that for a usual hundred dollar fee they can obtain almost any email password. One site boasts that it provides an ideal way to catch a cheating spouse or significant other.

George Washington University Law professor, Orrin Kerr who worked as a prosecutor specializing in computer crime said although these services are breaking the law, prosecuting them is “a low priority for law enforcement.” According to Kerr the crimes are hard to investigate because “not many victims know they have been victimized.”

Internet security consultant Kevin Mitnick, said these hackers for hire use “social engineering” rather than technology to hack into a victim’s email account. In other words they use elaborate trickery to fool people into revealing their passwords. Mitnick should know. He was once the FBI’s most wanted hacker. After serving five years in prison he turned his life around.

In order to expose how these hacker services work, Mitnick set up an email account for a fictitious girlfriend. He then asked the hackers to steal the password. Before the hackers could go to work they requested additional information. Mitnick received an email asking for the name of someone who was his girlfriend’s close friend.

According to Mitnick’s investigation, the hackers then send the intended target an electronic greeting card that appears to come from someone they know. By clicking on the link to view the e-greeting the victim is redirected to what looks like the sign on page for Google, AOL or whatever service the victim uses for email.

The site is a phony created by the hackers. Since the target is already signed into an email account re-entering a password should not be required. According to Mitnick, most people don’t hesitate to sign on again and re-enter their password. What they are really doing is sending it to the hackers.

The deception is called phishing. In order not to arouse any suspicion, the fake web site even produces the promised e-greeting, complete with music and animation.

Recognizing that potential customers might be understandably reluctant to pay prior to getting the hacked password, all of the hacking services ask for payment only after they provide proof of their success. Such proof can be a screen snap shot revealing the contents of the hacked account.

While law professor Kerrr said the hackers and the people who hire them are breaking the law, there is another reason not to employ hacking services. In some instances, Mitnick said the hackers threaten to contact the person hacked and to expose whoever hired them unless paid an additional fee. He says what began as email theft elevates to “cyber-extortion.”

In order to prevent falling victim to this or a similar scam Mitnick advises checking the browser address bar to confirm you are on the correct web page and not a lookalike. He also warns that if you have been re-directed from one site to another never enter a password or personal information.

At the Millennium Personnel Corporation in midtown Manhattan a steady stream of unemployed New Yorkers wait to be interviewed for a temporary job.

Agency President Lainie Bennett says business is booming. In the last year placements are up 75 percent.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the last six months temporary employment nationwide is up 9 percent. Currently 1.9 million Americans are employed as so called temps.

Recently joining their ranks is 22 year old Michael Wassel, who six months after graduating from college still couldn’t find work.  After interviewing at Millennium Personnel, Wassel was placed at a New York Internet marketing firm. Although his temporary job as a researcher ends in 3 months Wassel says he “feels better suited for a full time position” due to his experience as a temp.

According to the American Staffing Association, the nationwide group representing temporary employment agencies, temp jobs are available in all sectors. Association President Richard Wahlquist says that includes “manufacturing, logistics, warehousing and distributions through white collar professions.”

While worker’s benefit, so do employers. At Salem Global, where Wassel is employed, company owner Raphi Salem says in the uncertain economy his business can “ scale up, but not make that full commitment” by using temps.

Economists say the spike in temp workers could be a predictor of an improving overall economy.

It seemed there were more reporters than car buyers at the Toyota dealership in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday afternoon.

The world’s largest auto manufacturer has halted sales and production of 8 vehicles as it tried to figure out why the gas pedal in some instances stuck in the depressed position. Last week Toyota ordered the voluntary recall of the same models.

They are:
2009-2010 RAV 4
2009-2010 Corolla
2009-2010 Matrix
2005-2010 Avalon
2007-2010 Camry
2010 Highlander
2007-2010 Tundra
2008-21010 Sequoia

Throughout most of the day a bright red Corolla sat on the Manhattan’ dealership’s showroom floor, although it could not be offered for sale. No one at the dealership will talk publicly about the situation.

Documents on file with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reveal that Toyota knew of problems with the gas pedal of the Tundra truck in 2007.
According to a Toyota Defect Information Report on file with the NHTSA the defective component used in the recalled vehicles was manufactured by  Elkhart, Indiana based CTS Corporation at a plant in Streetsville, Ontario.
The report said humid conditions could contribute to pedal failure. The document said  “… friction when the accelerator pedal is operated may increase, which may result in the accelerator pedal becoming harder to depress, slower to return or in the worst case mechanically stuck in a partially depressed position.”
A CTS spokesman said problems with the pedal have not caused any accidents or injuries. The company in a written statement said it now has a “newly designed pedal that is being shipped to some Toyota factories.”

Despite CTS’s efforts to resolve the  problem,  that bright red Corolla no longer sits on the showroom floor at the Manhattan Toyota dealership.

It is temporarily relocated until Toyota says it can be offered for sale.