First Friday prayer of holy month of Ramadan brings 93,000 worshippers to al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City. Hundreds of Palestinians push up against police lines set up at West Bank checkpoints
Roee Nahmias and AP
Some 93,000 Muslim worshippers arrived at the Temple Mount for the first Friday prayer of the holy month of Ramadan.  
Hundreds of Palestinians thronged two major West Bank checkpoints, trying to reach the key Islamic shrine in Jerusalem, despite tight Israeli restrictions.    Israeli troops turned back many of the West Bank faithful. Only men above the age of 45 and women above the age of 35, who had also obtained special permits, were allowed to enter Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest shrine of Islam, said police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby.  
Later Friday, several tens of thousands of Palestinians, many of them Jerusalem residents not affected by the restrictions, participated in the al-Aqsa service, and the crowd dispersed peacefully.  
This year, the start of Ramadan, a month of fasting and religious observance, coincided with the Jewish New Year. As customary, Israel imposed a blanket closure on the West Bank during the Jewish holiday, barring virtually all Palestinians from entering Israel.  
Hundreds ...   more »

By NICOLE WINFIELD 
ROME (AP) - A senior U.S. nuclear official said Friday that North Koreans were in Syria and that the government in Damascus may have had contacts with "secret suppliers" to obtain nuclear equipment.
Andrew Semmel, acting deputy assistant secretary of state for nuclear nonproliferation policy, did not name the suppliers, but said there were North Koreans in Syria and that he could not exclude that the network run by the disgraced Pakistan nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan may have been involved.
Semmel was responding to questions about an Israeli airstrike in northern Syria last week. Neither side has explained what exactly happened, but a U.S. government official confirmed that Israeli warplanes were targeting weapons from Iran and destined for Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that Israel had gathered satellite imagery showing possible North Korean cooperation with Syria on a nuclear facility.
Semmel, who is in Italy for a meeting Saturday on the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, said Syria was certainly on the U.S. "watch list."
"There are indicators that they do have something going on there," he said. "We do know that there are a number of foreign technicians that have been in Syria. We ...   more »

By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow
Foreign spies in Russia have been handed an unexpected gift by officials in the town of Sarov who accidentally posted details of a new top secret submarine on the local administration’s website.
Russia stunned by Vladimir Putin's premier choice
The embarrassing leak followed what was supposed to be a confidential meeting between the commander of the secret submarine and officials in the closed town, which is home to Russia’s main nuclear research facility.
advertisementInstead, overly assiduous officials wrote a press release that covered the meeting in minute detail, not only naming the prototype vessel’s commander as Capt Sergei Kroshkin but even revealing the project’s code number: 20120.
Other technical and tactical specifications were also given, including the submarine’s water displacement of 3,950 tonnes.
It was not until the story was dutifully picked up by local newspapers that officials noticed the slip.
The offending press release has now been removed from the website, and Russia’s navy, defence ministry and armament manufacturing industry have all denied the existence of project 20120.
Military analysts who have studied the data suggest the new craft, also named the Sarov, is similar in appearance — although much larger — to the ...   more »

In TV interview, US secretary of state addresses reports of possible nuclear facilities in Syria, says, 'We have to have policies that prevent the world's most dangerous people from having the world's most dangerous weapons'
Ynet
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in an interview on Fox New's Sean Hannity Show Thursday night expressed concern following reports that Syria may be building nuclear facilities, saying, "We have to have policies that prevent the world's most dangerous people from having the world's most dangerous weapons." 
Rice did not mention any possible attack on Syria, but said the United States was working with its allies to "shut down activities". 
"That's why we have a Proliferation Security Initiative that tries to intercept dangerous cargos. So this is something that's been at the highest point of the President's agenda since he came into power and we work every day and we watch it every day and we're vigilant about it and we're determined," Rice explained. 
When asked about her political plans for the 2008 presidential election, specifically if she would run for vice president, the secretary of state said, "It's not for me." 
"I'm going to do everything I can to help carry out ...   more »

It's hard to believe, but officials at Arlington National Cemetery plan to replace the original Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with a new replica solely because of repairable cosmetic imperfections.  This 1932 monument is nationally significant and eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
The 48-ton marble block has two nonstructural cracks which pose no threat to visitors or the historic structure. Surprisingly, federal administrators want the replica carved from new stone that experts agree will likely again crack along its grain just as marble does naturally when exposed to the elements. Repair and proper care of the Tomb (re-grouting the cracks and using only gentle cleaning methods instead of high-pressure power-washing) is possible and is the preferred method for fixing the existing cracks, as other marble monuments such as the Lincoln Memorial were repaired.
Once the National Trust learned about this ill-considered plan, we raised the alarm with Members of Congress and tried unsuccessfully to consult with those who administer the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.   
A decision to determine the fate of the Tomb Monument is expected by September 30th. Your help is needed to weigh in with decision-makers to help save the memorial.  
Original ...   more »

Windows Update has been updating itself on millions of PCs without their users knowledge or permission.
By Tom Spring | Friday, 14 September, 2007
Stealth tinkering by Microsoft of millions of Windows XP and Vista PCs sounds like a cheesy B-movie plot. That's why I had to read the Windows Secrets story "Microsoft updates Windows without users' consent" story twice.
Scott Dunn, an editor at the "Windows Secrets" newsletter, reports nine files in XP and Vista have been changed by Windows Update without displaying the usual notification or permission dialog box. The files are related to the XP and Vista versions of Windows Update itself.
Reported unauthorised tampering by Microsoft of user machines with no permission or consent has been confirmed by other sources as well. EWEEK Labs has independently confirmed the report and so has ZDNet.
So far Microsoft has not issued any statement. Dunn says Microsoft has only hinted at what its intentions are. In a Microsoft forum titled "Critical Update slipped in through the back door" there are some clues as to Microsoft's intent.
Dunn reports:
The only explanation found at Microsoft's site comes from a user identified as Dean-Dean on a Microsoft Communities forum. In reply ...   more »

 Russian military aircraft were intercepted by British and Norwegian jets Friday after they breached NATO airspace close to the U.K. and Finland, defense officials said.
Finland's prime minister demanded an explanation from Moscow. Interception of Russian warplanes in NATO patrolled-airspace has become increasingly common since the Kremlin ordered strategic bombers to carry out long-range missions for the first time since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
British fighter jets intercepted two Russian long-range bombers flying in NATO airspace and shadowed them until they charged course, Britain's defense ministry said, without revealing precisely where the incursion took place. The two Tu-160 "Blackjack" bombers were initially intercepted by Norwegian F16s, defense officials said.
In Finland, authorities said an Ilyushin-76 transporter plane flew about three miles into Finnish airspace for three minutes.
"These kinds of (violations) must not happen," Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said. "And when they do happen, then they need to be sorted out between the countries in question."
Flights legal, Russia says
Russian Air Force spokesman Col. Alexander Drobyshevsky said Friday that "all flights of our strategic bombers have been conducted in accordance with international rules."
"Our planes have flown over neutral waters without approaching air borders of any ...   more »