Blog Heap of Links for the day 9 April 2009

Congressional aides say President Barack Obama is seeking $83.4 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan into the fall. Once approved by Congress, the money would bring the total amount for U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan since Sept. 11, 2001 to almost $1 trillion.

A would-be suicide bomber aged 11 has been arrested alongside Taliban fighters. Known only as Abdullah, the youngster was caught crossing the mountains from Pakisrtan's tribal region into Afghanistan wearing a jacket packed with explosives. Police say he is the youngest terror recruit they have ever come across. Abdullah has also become Afghanistan's youngest prisoner but he is still being held at a top security prison in the capital, Kabul.

At some point around 2 a.m. PDT, a fiber optic line owned by AT&T but leased to Verizon became damaged. It was located in a manhole about 10 feet below the roadway. San Jose Police told KCBS-radio that they suspect vandalism and are treating the area as a crime scene. The damage to the line silenced landline phones, cell phone service and Internet access for many in the area. But it also impacted a number of Web sites, which have data centers in the Silicon Valley area that - apparently - are connected to that fiber optic line.

The CIA will decommission the infamous "black sites" where terrorism suspects were interrogated with harsh techniques that included waterboarding, agency director Leon Panetta said on Thursday.

Shortly after a report indicated Chinese and Russian hackers were accused of targeting the U.S. power grid infrastructure, Chinese officials have vehemently denied the accusations. "The intrusion doesn't exist at all," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said during a press conference. "We hope that the concerned media will prudently deal with some groundless remarks, especially those concerning accusations against China."

In May last year, he took a photograph of housing minister Caroline Flint walking along Downing Street, holding briefing papers which laid bare fears of a 10 per cent fall in the housing market. He said last night that he had tried to warn the Government before that photographers were able to read top secret papers when people go through the door of 10 Downing Street. He said: "I have told Downing Street before that the quality of lenses and digital lenses means that we can read ministerial papers. "Someone in Bob Quick's position should have known that. He must have been sitting with them on his lap in his car. Anyone could have read them. There was no cover on them."

Anti-terror chief Bob Quick quit yesterday with a pension pot worth millions - despite admitting he came close to endangering an operation to smash a suspected Al Qaeda terrorist unit. Mr Quick, who inadvertently revealed confidential details of the terror swoop while exiting his car for a Downing Street meeting, fell on his sword shortly after 8am after he lost the confidence of the Home Secretary.

The country's top counter-terrorism officer quit on Thursday after his security blunder forced police to bring forward a major operation to thwart a suspected al Qaeda plot involving Pakistani nationals. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said officers had been dealing with a "very big terrorist plot" which security officials had been following for some time.

Some Bartlesville students have been honored for their forward-thinking. Sophomores Meagan Schwegler, Emily Mueller and Amanda Cole are regional champions in the Toshiba ExploraVision contest. ... The three Bartlesville students' project focuses on changing the exhaust systems in vehicles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"Most regular church-goers have heard their less scrupulously observant fellows called 'Christmas and Easter Christians.' Well, they also have their counterparts in the mainstream media: "Christmas and Easter Anti-Christians," said Colleen Raezler, a research assistant at the conservative Culture and Media Institute, in a commentary on NewsBusters. "How else to explain the spate of skeptical, negative stories that inevitably accompany the two most important Christian holy days?"

The National Organization for Marriage, a key backer of the successful campaign against same-sex marriage in California, is launching a $1.5 million ad campaign to "energize" gay-marriage opponents in key states "by making the case that it will impinge directly on their own lives."

A 17-year-old boy suffered a head wound and was knocked unconscious when a woman jumped to her death off a New York City mall balcony and landed on him. ... Witnesses said she was muttering to herself and had removed her shoes before she took her own life....

A hidden camera captured footage of two men breaking into a Boynton Beach home on April 8, 2009. The homeowner was watching via live internet feed at her job. She called police, who surrounded the house and arrested the burgarly suspects. [video]

Thomas... set up the live video stream after her home was burglarized last October... The amazing surveillance video from inside Thomas's house was uploaded to YouTube by the Boynton Beach Police Department ...

Britney had barely started performing when she abruptly left the stage, leaving the crowd quite literally in the dark. After a few minutes, an announcement informed the audience that "It's become uncomfortable and unsafe for the performers, including Ms. Spears…The show will resume as soon as the air around the stage is clear." ... Britney had barely started performing when she abruptly left the stage, leaving the crowd quite literally in the dark. After a few minutes, an announcement informed the audience that "It's become uncomfortable and unsafe for the performers, including Ms. Spears…The show will resume as soon as the air around the stage is clear."

Dog-crazy Americans will soon be able to buy a pet-friendly car with a cushioned dog bed in the trunk, fitted with a built-in water bowl and fan and a ramp to help less agile dogs climb in.