NYC Terror Probe Leads To Denver.

CNN) -- Officials investigating a possible terror strike by Afghan nationals in New York searched on Wednesday the Denver, Colorado, apartment of an Afghan man who recently traveled to New York.


FBI agents search the apartment of Naijbullah Zazi on Wednesday in connection with a terror investigation.

The man, Naijbullah Zazi, was not at the Denver apartment when the FBI arrived. His attorney said earlier that Zazi had stayed in an apartment in New York that was raided this week.

As activity increased at the Denver apartment on Wednesday, FBI spokeswoman Kathleen Wright told CNN a search warrant was being executed. At least one law-enforcement dog could be seen, and agents were wearing hazardous material suits.

At least two women were brought out of the apartment. Agents evacuated the complex, which has about 12 units, as a precaution, the FBI said.

Agents also searched a single-family home in the Denver suburb of Aurora later Wednesday, FBI spokeswoman Kathleen Wright said.

On Monday, several apartments in the New York borough of Queens were raided by investigators from the federal Joint Terrorism Task Force, sources close to the investigation said.

They were acting on suspicions that a cell of Afghan nationals associated with a New York-area mosque might be plotting to carry out a terrorist strike in New York. It's believed to be the first time Afghan nationals are suspected of involvement in a terror plot targeting the United States, a source with direct knowledge of the investigation said.

However, FBI director Robert Mueller, asked about the matter Wednesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, said, "I can say that I do not believe there's imminent danger from that particular investigation -- from what I know of that particular investigation."

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Zazi's attorney, Arthur Folsom, told CNN affiliate KUSA that Zazi stayed in one of the apartments that was raided. He said Zazi drove to New York from Denver to sort out a business issue and denied that Zazi has any ties to terrorism

Police stopped the shuttle limousine worker on the George Washington Bridge for what Zazi described as a "random drug stop," but he was cleared, Folsom said.

Later, Zazi's rental car was towed, supposedly for parking violations, Folsom said. While the car was impounded, police asked -- and Zazi granted -- permission to search it and a laptop computer inside. Both were returned to Zazi, who flew back to Denver.

Nothing was found in the Monday raids, according to the source, who added that the targets of the raid may have been "spooked" by publicity or the searches themselves. There also is growing concern that police may have "jumped the gun" and moved in too early, the source said.

However, the probe continues. Additional resources are being brought into New York to support the investigation, the source said.

A law enforcement source earlier said the FBI was looking at locations in the Denver area, where bomb-making materials may have been purchased. The source did not say who may have purchased the materials.

Folsom told KUSA he doesn't know why Zazi chose to drive the rental car to New York and fly back to Denver. But he insists Zazi is eager to answer any questions authorities might have.

"He loves this country," Folsom said. "He loves living here. That's why he brought his family over here. ... We want to clear any air of suspicion that may be surrounding his name at this point."

A man who told CNN he knows Zazi said Zazi stayed at his apartment one night while in New York. The man, who asked not to be identified, said he was taken in for questioning and released during the Monday raids.

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First rocky planet outside our solar system found.

(CNN) -- Scientists have discovered the first confirmed Earthlike planet outside our solar system, they announced Wednesday.

"This is the first confirmed rocky planet in another system," astronomer Artie Hatzes told CNN, contrasting the solid planet with gaseous ones like Jupiter and Saturn.

But "Earthlike" is a relative term.

The planet's composition may be similar to that of Earth, but its environment is more like a vision of hell, the project's lead astronomer said.

It is so close to the star it orbits "that the place may well look like Dante's Inferno, with a probable temperature on its 'day face' above 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit (2,000 degrees Celsius) and minus-328 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 200 degrees Celsius) on its night face," said Didier Queloz of Geneva Observatory in Switzerland, the project leader.

Hatzes, explaining that one side of the body is always facing the star and the other side always faces away, said the side "facing the sun is probably molten. The other side could actually have ice" if there is water on the planet.

"We think it has no atmosphere to redistribute the heat," Hatzes told CNN from Barcelona, Spain, where he is attending the "Pathways Towards Habitable Planets" conference.

The astronomers were stunned to find a rocky planet so near a star, he said.

"We would have never dreamed you would find a rocky planet so close," he said. "Its year is less than one of our days."

The planet, known as CoRoT-7b, was detected early last year, but it took months of observation to determine that it had a composition roughly similar to Earth's, the European Southern Observatory said in a statement.

Astronomers were able to measure the dimensions of the planet by watching as it passed in front of the star it orbits, then carried out 70 hours of study of the planet's effect on its star to infer its weight.

With that information in hand, they were able to calculate its density -- and were thrilled with what they found, Hatzes said.

"What makes this exciting is you compare the density of this planet to the planets in our solar system, it's only Mercury, Venus and Earth that are similar," Hatzes, of the Thuringer observatory in Germany, told CNN.

They were helped by the fact that CoRoT-7b is relatively close to Earth -- about 500 light years away, in the constellation of Monoceros, the Unicorn.

"It's in our solar neighborhood," Hatzes said. "The thing that made it easier is it's relatively close, so it's relatively bright. If this star was much much farther away, we wouldn't have been able to do these measurements."

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Universal Soldier

Universal Soldier: "

Contributor Kimberley Johnson has a story in next months DTI about operational experience with current Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles in Afghanistan. Without revealing too much, lets say that the commercial-chassis vehicles ponderous size is not working out as it did in Iraq. 

That makes BAE Systems RG-35 family, unveiled today at the DSEi show, even more interesting. Evolved from a long line of vehicles designed and built in South Africa, the RG-35 is largely new, and is intended to provide the protection of an MRAP with the mobility of a traditional combat vehicle. 

A key feature is that the engine has been moved. Older BAE vehicles had the engine in front, under a long and lightly protected hood. On the RG-35, the powerpack is installed behind the driver, offset to the left, with space for a gun turret and operator on the right. The result is a compact vehicle with space for the driver plus 15 crew, only 2.5 meters wide and with a 15 m turning circle, with all critical systems under armor. 

The basic vehicle weighs 18.1 metric tons and is designed to operate at 26 tons for high-mobility operations and 33 tons when kitted with extra armor for urban combat - the design provides for 50 mm of added side armor and 120 mm extra protection on the V-shaped lower hull. The prototype is a 6 x 6, but a 4 x 4 version should be running within a year.

"

(Via Ares.)

Don't fear the Reaper - just shoot it down?

USAF Splashes One Reaper: "

Is it a blue-on-blue incident if it is deliberate?

Regardless, a U.S. Air Force fighter downed a MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft over Afghanistan on Sunday.

Operators lost control over the unmanned aircraft during its operation. With the UAV headed in a direction where it was about to depart Afghanistan's air space, a U.S. Air Force aircraft brought down the Reaper in what the Air Force says was a remote part of Afghanistan. The type of aircraft or method used to take out the Reaper was not specified.

The Air Force says merely that ‘the Reaper impacted the side of a mountain and there were no reports of civilian injuries or damage to civilian property at the site.’

The incident is now under investigation. Investigators also will be busy looking into the crash of an MQ-1 Predator at Creech AFB, Nev. That took place on Sept. 11. That General Atomics UAV was being used in a training mission.

"

(Via Ares.)

VIDEO: ABL Targets Missile With Surrogate Laser

VIDEO: ABL Targets Missile With Surrogate Laser: "This video from Boeing takes a little bit of interpretation, so I suggest you watch it, read the description below, then watch it again (once or twice). The surrogate high-energy laser referred to is a low-power laser that is fired through the ABL's beam-control optics to simulate the aircraft's actual megawatt-class high-energy laser.

Video: Boeing

Here's Boeing's description:

'On August 10, 2009, the Airborne Laser engaged an instrumented target missile launched from San Nicolas Island, located in the Naval Air Warfare Center-Weapons Division Sea Range, off the central California coast. This was a test of the tracking laser, atmospheric compensation laser, and surrogate high-energy laser (SHEL) for scoring purposes in preparation for a high-energy laser shootdown later this year.

A camera sensitive to infrared wavelengths was positioned on the Boeing 747 cockpit glare shield by the pilot. In the video, you see the bright missile plume moving left to right across the windshield. Note several small windshield reflections as the missile travels across the screen. The first laser beam that comes on is the tracking laser, followed by the atmospheric compensation laser, and finally the SHEL.

The 36-foot-long Terrier Lynx/Black Brandt missile moves rapidly across the sky, showing the rapid timelines and clear advantage that speed-of-light, directed energy weapons deliver.'

Eight days after this test, on Aug. 18, the ABL fired its high-energy laser in the air for the first time, but into an onboard calorimeter to capture and measure its power. Actual shots against target missiles are the next step on the road towards the much-anticipated lethal shoot-down test against a ballistic missile."

(Via Ares.)