NEW YORK – Counterterrorism officials searching New York City apartments for explosives and possible links to al-Qaida operatives questioned a man extensively about his connection to a childhood friend who lives in Denver who visited last week, the man said Tuesday.
"I can't tell" if the Denver man, who he identified as Najibullah, has al-Qaida connections, Naiz Khan said. "I don't know if there is. I'm not sure."
Counterterrorism officials warned police departments around the country Tuesday to be on the lookout for evidence of homemade bombs following Monday's raids on the apartments.
The searches came after a man who was under surveillance for possible links to the terrorism network visited New York City over the weekend and then left the area, said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.
Khan, an Afghanistan native who lives in one of the apartments raided by authorities, said the FBI questioned him for about two hours about his friend, whom he grew up with in New York. He saw him Thursday at a local mosque in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, and Najibullah asked to stay overnight.
"He told me, I have a problem with the coffee truck, I have some type of a permit problem. I need to sleep over, overnight in your room," Khan said. His friend used to operate a coffee truck in the city before moving to Denver a few years ago, Khan said.
After he stayed at the apartment, Khan said he ran into Najibullah on Friday at the mosque. His friend told him his car had been stolen; Khan didn't see him again.
FBI agents raided his home in Flushing early Monday morning, Khan said in an interview in his ransacked apartment.
Investigators issued warrants to search the residences early Monday for explosives material but did not find any, according to a person briefed on the matter who was not authorized to discuss the case and requested anonymity.
The FBI and Homeland Security intelligence warning, issued Monday to police departments, lists indicators that could tip off police to homemade hydrogen peroxide-based explosives, such as people with burn marks on their hands, face or arms; foul odors coming from a room or building; and large industrial fans or multiple window fans. The warning, obtained by The Associated Press, also said that these homemade explosive materials can be hidden in backpacks, suitcases or plastic containers.
The notice was not intended for the public, said Justice Department spokesman Richard Kolko.
Homeland Security and the FBI have no specific information on the timing or target of any planned attack, Kolko said, but "we believe it is prudent to share information with our state and local partners about the variety of domestically available materials that could be used to create homemade explosives, which have been utilized in previous terrorist attacks."
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Tuesday that he couldn't comment on whether there would be any arrests or whether the raids were tied to al-Qaida.
"I think you just have to think about the sequence of events here," Kelly told the AP. "Warrants were executed. Material was obtained during the execution of those warrants, that material is now being analyzed, and we'll see what develops from the analysis."
Sen. Charles Schumer said the law enforcement action Monday was unrelated to President Barack Obama's visit to the city the same day.
"There was nothing imminent, and they are very good now at tracking potentially dangerous actions, and this was preventive," said Schumer, D-N.Y.
Two U.S. intelligence officials, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly, said the target of any purported attack — or who would carry it out — remained unclear.
Authorities have not found any weapons ready for use that would indicate an attack was imminent, they said. Nevertheless, one of the officials called the threat very real and emphasized the urgency of it.

New York police spokesman Paul Browne confirmed that searches were conducted in the borough of Queens by agents of a joint terrorism task force.

Residents in the Flushing neighborhood on Monday described officers armed with search warrants swarming their immigrant neighborhood at about 2:30 a.m.

A White House spokesman said Obama, who spoke on Wall Street on Monday, had been briefed on the investigation.

The person familiar with the case said the raids were the result of previous law enforcement surveillance of people.

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Associated Press writers Devlin Barrett, Eileen Sullivan, Lara Jakes and Pamela Hess in Washington and Adam Goldman and Colleen Long in New York contributed to this report.

Medford, Mass. –
While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and representatives of the Middle East Quartet debate whether evictions of Palestinian families are a barrier or catalyst to a two-state solution, Israeli and Palestinian women alike confront the realities of the conflict on the ground.
These women work toward a sustainable peace as committee members, as demonstrators, and as mothers raising and educating their children despite occupation. But their representation in formal negotiations is inadequate.
Because Israeli and Palestinian women are disproportionately affected by occupation and the threat of violence, their input into the national security debate – and international negotiations for peace – is essential.
On the Palestinian side, occupation increases women's exposure to violence not only while traveling to various locations, but also at home.
Consider the story of Maha, a Palestinian woman living next to the wall separating Israel from the West Bank. Before the wall, Maha was able to travel without problem to the village of Al Ram, where she taught mathematics, according to the Jerusalem Center for Women. But now, the potential for harassment at checkpoints is the norm. Because of that, she no longer travels at all and can no longer bring home the income from her job. This in turn diminishes her family's economic security.
Though men face economic hardship as well, the threat of gender-based harassment can mean increased restrictions on women's movement, and hindered access to jobs, healthcare, and education. Because women are often the care-takers, a danger that requires a child to stay inside the house means diminished educational and economic opportunity for mothers and sisters, in addition to increased psychological and emotional stress.
For other women, the economic hardship experienced by men due to the occupation correlates with increased levels of domestic violence, as Amnesty International reports. Additionally, the numerous roadblocks and restrictions on movement mean women may have difficulty physically getting to remote family and friends to seek psychological support after they experience domestic violence.
In Israel, too, increased levels of militarization and violence have affected women disproportionately, particularly in poor and marginalized communities. As in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, increased violence among men – as seen among Israeli army combatants during intensified military operations – can mean the home becomes more tumultuous and emotionally stressful, increasing the probability of domestic violence.
Along national borders as well, poor women feel the greatest burden of rocket attacks. During the 2006 Second Lebanon War in northern Israel, women received little assistance from the Israeli government in the aftermath of Hezbollah rocket attacks, according to the Mahut Center in Haifa.
Because many poverty stricken women lost jobs during the war, the lack of government compensation for forgone wages led to a widening of the economic gap between men and women. Higher unemployment, compounded with the emotional burden of caring for children out of school meant increased reports of trauma and despair among women, according to the center.
The suffering that women face under increased militarization should translate into a large presence in the security sector. But the Haifa Feminist Center reports that men are overwhelmingly the central decisionmakers in matters of formal conflict resolution, while female politicians largely address socioeconomic issues within the "private" sphere.
This lack of entrenched female involvement is partly due to the use of army rank as a criterion for promotions within the security sector. To be sure, varying perceptions of the role women should play in Israeli and Palestinian societies and within the family, while nuanced and never monolithic, also play a role.
But using army rank as a way to promote leadership in the security sector means that women rarely become central players in issues of national defense, even though they may have a more acute sense of the disproportionate effect of violence on women.
Knowing intimately how civilians on the ground suffer during armed conflict – and who bears the largest burden of violence – is key to designing defense policies that do not exacerbate the enemy's determination. Many women have this very information because they are the ones taking care of the injured, raising children by themselves when husbands are in combat, and sacrificing their jobs and economic security when there are increased restrictions on freedom of movement, or when rocket attacks prevent children from attending school.
For years, women's organizations in Israel and Palestine have worked to increase female participation in the peace process. Groups like the Haifa Feminist Center have organized conferences and lobbied legislators, while the Palestinian section of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom has met with Palestinian leadership about increasing the number of high-level posts held by women.
Such grass-roots efforts should be supported and recognized by US diplomats and the Obama administration, both politically and financially.
One simple step for major players to take could be to facilitate increased information-sharing between these organizations, the Israeli government, the Palestinian Authority, and members of the Quartet. That alone could bring a spotlight to this issue.
Of course, women cannot magically wave a wand and transform the Israeli-Palestinian discourse on security into a conversation about human rights and needs. This transformation must include male and female politicians alike, so that defense analysts understand why the safety of women in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem and Al Ram and Ashkelon vitally affects policy. To begin, a greater number of women must get to the negotiation table.

Until the debate includes further talk of individual economic, educational, and physical safety alongside discussions of borders, weapons, and power politics, delegates like those visiting the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in protest of recent evictions will not fully understand the root causes of conflict

Rachel Brown is a master's degree candidate at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

NEW YORK (Reuters) –
Jay Leno launched his NBC prime-time TV talk show on Monday -- a venture whose success or failure is being closely watched by the industry -- with familiar offerings including a topical monologue and chats with fellow comedian Jerry Seinfeld and a repentant Kanye West.

Leno, who ended his 17-year late-night run on "The Tonight Show" in May, began his new NBC show by greeting a few audience members on stage, shaking their hands and exchanging a few words against a background of sectioned, brightly lit columns.

His show will appear Monday through Friday at 10 p.m. It is the first prime-time talk show on U.S. television in decades.

Leno's move from his comfortable 11:30 p.m. late-night home to the nightly prime-time slot traditionally occupied by expensive scripted drama on leading U.S. networks is being scrutinized by the television industry. General Electric Co's NBC network is struggling to retain audiences and cut costs in the face of declining advertising revenue and increased competition from videogames and social networking.

"This IS the actual show," Leno began, adding, "I apologize for my face being all over the place," a reference to the extensive publicity about the new show.

After a monologue that included jokes about President Barack Obama and healthcare reform and the controversy about West and singer Taylor Swift from Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards, Leno presented a filmed sketch featuring Dan Finnerty of "The Hangover" entertaining car-wash patrons.

Leno plans to have only one celebrity guest each night. But Seinfeld, the show's premier on-set guest, shared screen time with Oprah Winfrey, who appeared on tape after Leno told Seinfeld he was unable to book her.

"Hi Jerry," she chirped, and then conducted a brief chat with Seinfeld from which Leno was playfully excluded.

Ribbing Leno on the widely covered end of his "Tonight Show" run, which was quickly followed by his new program, Seinfeld cracked, "In the 90s when we quit a show, we actually left." Seinfeld even wore a tuxedo for the big night.

'PRONOUNCED DEAD'

The first night also featured a faux interview by Leno with Obama, which spliced the president's answers from a serious media interview with the comic's questions, tailored for humor.

"What do you think of my new show?" Leno asked about the experiment, before the shot cut to Obama intoning, "I guarantee you this will be pronounced dead."

"It crashes and burns," Obama added when Leno posed a follow-up query.

Monday's show also featured an appearance by West, who before performing "Run This Town" with Jay-Z and Rihanna, again apologized for hijacking 19-year-old country music star Swift's moment in the spotlight at the Video Music Awards. West had grabbed the microphone from Swift after she won best female pop video for "You Belong With Me."

West then declared that the award should have gone to Beyonce's "Single Ladies" video.

"I immediately knew in the situation that it was wrong," West told Leno. "And it was very -- it was just -- it was rude, period. ... I'd like to be able to apologize to her in person," he said. West added, "I need to, after this, take some time off and just analyze how I'm going to make it through the rest of this life, how I'm going to improve."

(Editing by Will Dunham)

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama, citing new government data showing that nearly half of all Americans live without health insurance in a 10-year period, says the situation will only worsen without the overhaul legislation he wants Congress to send him.
Obama was testing his message — that losing health insurance can happen to anyone — at a rally Saturday in Minneapolis. A new Treasury Department analysis found that 48 percent of all Americans under age 65 go without health coverage at some point in a 10-year period. The data came from a study that tracked the insurance status of a sample of Americans from 1997-2006.
The report also found that more than half, or 57 percent, of people under age 21 will find themselves without insurance at some point during a span of 10 years and that more than one-third of Americans will be without coverage for a year or more.
"I refuse to allow that future to happen," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet message. "In the United States of America, no one should have to worry that they'll go without health insurance — not for one year, not for one month, not for one day.
"And once I sign my health reform plan into law, they won't," he added.
In the Republican address, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said Obama has paid lip service to bipartisanship, rejected ideas that would bring the parties together around overhauling the system and ignored the American people's wishes. He criticized the cost and its long-term effect on the budget deficit, saying one of the House bills works out to $2.4 trillion over 10 years, beginning in 2013.
Obama puts the cost of his plan at $900 billion over the period.
"President Obama should work with Republicans on a bottom-up solution that the American people can support," Cornyn said.
The Minneapolis rally set for the Target Center is the latest move in the "full-court press" Obama promised as he seeks to overhaul a costly health care system he says will bankrupt the country and leave millions more people without needed coverage if left unchanged.
He followed Wednesday night's nationally televised health care speech with a day of events at the White House, including more remarks on health care, a Cabinet meeting dominated by the topic and a meeting with moderate Senate Democrats.
On Friday, he sat down with CBS' "60 Minutes" for an interview to be broadcast Sunday.
He continues the health care focus next week, speaking Tuesday in Pittsburgh at the AFL-CIO convention, where the need for health care overhaul will be an overriding theme, and holding another rally Thursday in College Park, Md., a Washington suburb.
In his televised speech to the nation, Obama spelled out what he'd like to see in the health overhaul bill he wants: coverage expanded to most of the nearly 50 million uninsured, new requirements for people to get insurance, new prohibitions against insurance company practices like denying coverage because of a pre-existing condition and creation of a new marketplace, or exchange, where consumers could shop for coverage.
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Associated Press writer Martiga Lohn in St. Paul, Minn., contributed to this report.
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On the Net:
Obama address: http://www.whitehouse.gov

GOP address: http://www.youtube.com/user/gopweeklyaddress