On the anniversary of the 9-11 terror attacks in the United States, a former associate of Osama bin Laden has written a lengthy open letter to the Al Qaeda leader, highly critical of the organization’s actions, and laying out all the negative repercussions of them, on the entire world, both Muslim and non-Muslim.   Noman Benotman, a former Libyan Islamic Fighting Group commander, who fought in the Afghan war against the Soviets alongside Osama bin Laden, writes to the Al Qaeda number

Errant drone near DC almost met by fighter jets   By LOLITA C. BALDOR (AP) – 13 hours ago   WASHINGTON — The U.S. military almost launched fighter jets and discussed a possible shoot-down when an errant Navy drone briefly veered into restricted airspace near the nation's capital last month, a senior military official said Thursday.   The incident underscores safety concerns with unmanned aircraft as defense officials campaign to use them more often during natural disasters and for homeland

WASHINGTON — In the most dangerous valley of the most rugged corner of eastern Afghanistan, a small rifle team of airborne soldiers fell into a vicious insurgent ambush, a coordinated attack from three sides.   A young Army specialist, Salvatore A. Giunta, took a bullet to the chest but was saved by the heavy plates of his body armor. Shaking off the punch from the insurgent round, he jumped up and pulled two wounded soldiers to safety before grabbing hand grenades and running up the t

Bad news in the bay area, no details, happening as i type this.   R.I.P. to those lost.

For years, top U.S. Defense Department officials have tried to cancel the F136 engine being developed by GE and Britain's Rolls-Royce Group PLC (RR.L) as an alternative to the F135 engine built by Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp (UTX.N). Then each year, Congress has defied veto threats and White House pressure to keep the program alive.   The struggle has taken on new significance this year, amid a major Pentagon cost-cutting push and growing concern among lawmakers abo

Emerging technology can ease the problem of wind farms causing interference with air-traffic control systems. But deployment of that technology in the U.S. has been slowed by questions over authority and cost.   Since 2006, radar maker Raytheon and National Air Traffic Services, which provides air traffic control in the U.K., have been working on a project to upgrade air traffic radar so it can distinguish between aircraft and wind turbines' spinning blades. Concerns over the disturbances turb

Yahoo News   By BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press Writer – Fri Sep 3, 5:08 pm ET   DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – A UPS cargo plane with two crew members on board crashed shortly after takeoff Friday outside Dubai, officials said.   The state news agency WAM, quoting the General Civil Aviation Authority, reported that the "bodies of two pilots" had been found at the scene, but UPS did not confirm that.   The plane went down inside an Emirati air base near a busy highway intersection about 1