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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Conservation boat, whale ship collide

From Wire Reports

Sydney, Australia – A conservation group’s boat was sinking today after it collided with a Japanese whaling ship in the frigid waters of Antarctica, the group said. The boat’s six crew members were safely rescued.

The clash was apparently the most serious in the several years that the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has sent vessels into far southern waters to try to harass the Japanese fleet into ceasing its annual whale cull.

The society said its boat Ady Gil – a high tech speed boat that resembles a stealth bomber – was hit by the Japanese ship Shonan Maru near Commonwealth Bay.

“The condition of the Ady Gil now is that it is inoperable and the crew of the Ady Gil has been transferred to our other vessel, the Bob Barker,” Locky Maclean, the first mate of the society’s lead ship told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

Bomber had never been to base

Washington – The bomber who killed seven CIA officers at an agency forward base in Afghanistan had never been to the compound or met with agency operatives before the attack, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

The absence of any prior encounter adds to the confusion over how the attacker – posing as an informant with valuable information on al-Qaida – was able to make it past security with a bomb apparently strapped to his body and lure seasoned CIA operatives to their deaths last week.

A U.S. intelligence official said that the bomber had provided a stream of useful information to the CIA after being presented by the Jordanian intelligence service as an Islamic militant who had switched sides and was now willing to work against al-Qaida.

But the informant – a 36-year-old Jordanian physician – was still seen as an unproven asset by CIA officers.