US responds to Islamic State’s plan to enter through Mexico
WASHINGTON — Militants for the Islamic State have traveled to Mexico and are just miles from the United States. They plan to cross over the porous border and will “imminently” launch car bomb attacks. And the threat is so real that federal law enforcement officers have been placed at a heightened state of alert, and an American military base near the border has increased its security.
U.S. agencies generally acted properly before Boston bombing
WASHINGTON — Federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies “generally shared information and followed procedures appropriately” in their investigation of Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his brother, Dzhokhar, in the years leading up to the Boston Marathon bombing, but they should have more closely scrutinized Tamerlan when he returned to the United States from Dagestan in 2012, according to a report by the inspector general for the intelligence community that was released Thursday.
Al-Qaida plot leak has undermined US intelligence
WASHINGTON — As the nation’s spy agencies assess the fallout from disclosures about their surveillance programs, some government analysts and senior officials have made a startling finding: The impact of a leaked terrorist plot by al-Qaida in August has caused more immediate damage to U.S. counterterrorism efforts than the thousands of classified documents disclosed by Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor.
Gunman was ‘wandering’ halls as he shot, FBI chief says
WASHINGTON — The director of the FBI, James B. Comey, provided Thursday the most up-to-date account of the gunman’s rampage at the Washington Navy Yard, saying that he was “hunting people to shoot” as he made his way through the building but did not appear to have targeted a particular person or group of people.
Boston bombing suspect is indicted on 30 counts
BOSTON — A federal grand jury here issued a 30-count indictment on June 27 against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect, charging him with using a weapon of mass destruction that killed three people and injured more than 260.
Attack against US in Libya was major blow to CIA effort
WASHINGTON — The attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans has dealt the Central Intelligence Agency a major setback in its intelligence-gathering efforts at a time of increasing instability in the North African nation.
Study finds concerns regarding readiness for cyberattacks
WASHINGTON — A study commissioned by President Barack Obama to assess the nation’s ability to respond to terrorist attacks and man-made and natural disasters has found that state and local officials have the most confidence in their public health and medical services but are the most concerned about whether agencies can respond to cyberattacks.
Heat wave and fasting add to woes of Iraqis
BAGHDAD — Iraqis still live in a nation where bombings are a nearly daily occurrence, government paralysis is routine and corruption is de rigueur.
Baseball Star Ramirez Is Sport’s Latest Drug Failure
When Major League Baseball officials examined the results of urine tests from the slugger Manny Ramirez earlier this season, they became suspicious. While the tests did not show clear evidence of a performance-enhancing drug, there were traces of banned substances present, enough to initiate a process that has now left one of the best hitters in baseball history with a 50-game suspension.
DEA Cracks Down on Steroids, Growth Hormones From China
Three dozen Chinese companies sent massive quantities of steroids, human-growth hormone and other illicit bodybuilding drugs to a sprawling underground network of distributors throughout the United States, authorities said in five states on Monday, proclaiming a breakthrough in the largest steroid enforcement action in U.S. history.