US: Sect bomb attacks possible in Nigeria capital (AP)

LAGOS, Nigeria – After a weekend of violence and fear, U.S. officials warned Sunday that luxury hotels frequented by foreigners and Nigeria's elite may be bombed by a radical Muslim sect as the death toll from attacks in the country's northeast rose to more than 100.

The warning by the U.S. Embassy shows how seriously diplomats take the threat posed by the outlawed Islamist group known locally as Boko Haram, which previously bombed the United Nations headquarters in the capital, Abuja, killing 24.

The unusually specific warning from the U.S. Embassy identified possible targets in Abuja as the Hilton, Nicon Luxury and Sheraton hotels. With popular restaurants and bars, the hotels draw diplomats, politicians and even reformed oil delta militants.

The embassy said an attack may come as Muslims in the oil-rich nation celebrate the Eid al-Adha holiday and that its diplomats and staff had been instructed to avoid those hotels.

Still, Nigerian officials continued to downplay the threat posed by the militants, hoping to reassure Africa's most populous nation that everything remains under control in a country often violently divided by religious and ethnic differences.

"We're all expected to live in peace, but as a nation, we have our own challenges," President Goodluck Jonathan said in a speech televised nationally.

"During this holy period, we still have incidents happening here and there," added Jonathan, a Christian, who appeared wearing a prayer cap and the traditional robes of the country's Muslim north.

U.S. officials offered no other details about how the embassy received the threat information. Deb MacLean, a U.S. Embassy spokeswoman in Abuja, declined to comment Sunday.

It wouldn't be the first time Abuja saw itself targeted by Boko Haram, which has waged an increasingly bloody sectarian fight against Nigeria's weak central government. A suicide bomber claimed by the group attacked the U.N. headquarters in August, while another bomber targeted the federal police headquarters in June.

Still, most attacks have targeted Nigeria's arid and impoverished northeast, so any strike against hotels in Abuja would be an escalation that shows the group's ability to strike at will — even against foreigners and its elite.

The warning came as a Nigerian Red Cross official said more than 100 people were killed in a series of attacks Friday in the northeast.

Ibrahim Bulama said he expected the death toll to rise in Damaturu, the capital of rural Yobe state. He said mourners quickly buried some bodies in line with Muslim tradition, making a precise count difficult.

While the hard-hit city remained calm as its Muslim inhabitants celebrated the religious holiday Sunday, army and police units manned roadblocks and streets remained largely empty, Bulama said. The state government announced a dusk-to-dawn curfew for the entire state.

Meanwhile, a police inspector was killed Sunday in Boko Haram's spiritual home of Maiduguri about 80 miles (130 kilometers) east of Damaturu. Sect gunmen stopped the officer's car at gunpoint as he neared a mosque to pray with his family, police commissioner Simeon Midenda said.

Gunmen ordered the family away, then shot the inspector, Midenda said.

World leaders from the United Nations to Pope Benedict XVI have called for an end to the violence, though Nigerian officials largely have downplayed the threat. Jonathan has repeatedly said that all countries in the world face terrorism, while others have urged local journalists to exercise restraint in their reporting in the name of patriotism.

Despite the bombings and gun battles in northeast Nigeria, Defense Minister Mohammed Bello told journalists Sunday that "a lot of progress" has been made there.

"I believe our security agencies are doing very well in containing the situation," Bello said.

Nigeria's history, however, shows the government often waits until crises escalate out of control before responding with harsh military crackdowns. In 1980, the government suppressed a radical Muslim sect called the Maitatsine only after its members rioted, with the violence and subsequent crackdown leaving 4,000 dead.

Rumors had persisted then that the Maitatsine received aid from Nigeria's elite, but became too much for politicians to control. Similar rumors now surround Boko Haram, which wants the strict implementation of Shariah law across Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million split largely between a Christian south and Muslim north.

Other analysts suggest Jonathan, a Christian who took power after the 2010 death of an elected Muslim leader, remains unsure of his grip on the nation. The April election that saw Jonathan cement his hold on the presidency also sparked political and religious rioting across Nigeria's north that left 800 people dead.

Boko Haram's name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language. It rejects Western ideals like Nigeria's U.S.-styled democracy. Followers believe that democracy has destroyed the country with corrupt politicians.

The latest attacks occurred ahead of Sunday's celebration of the feast of sacrifice, when Muslims around the world slaughter sheep and cattle in remembrance of Abraham's near-sacrifice of his son.

An Associated Press count shows the group has killed at least 361 people this year alone.

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Associated Press writer Njadvara Musa in Maiduguri, Nigeria contributed to this report.

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Jon Gambrell can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

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Gaddafi loyalists hold off new Libyan attacks (Reuters)

BANI WALID/SIRTE, Libya (Reuters) – Diehard loyalists of Muammar Gaddafi threw rockets, mortars and heavy gunfire at Libyan fighters who pushed into two besieged towns on Friday in a bid to end months of civil war and capture key figures from the old ruling system.

The smoke of battle hung over Gaddafi's home town of Sirte, on the Mediterranean coast between Tripoli and Benghazi, and Bani Walid, a tribal stronghold in the desert, as the motley forces of the National Transitional Council (NTC) mounted their biggest advances after weeks of stalemate and skirmishing.

But the word coming back from the frontlines to Reuters correspondents on the outskirts of both cities was that fierce defense was not being overcome quickly, nearly four weeks after the rebel coalition overran Gaddafi's capital.

Libya's new leaders are getting on with the business of government, trying to impose order on a host of irregular armed forces and restart the oil-based economy. Their latest foreign visitor was Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who hailed the fate of Gaddafi as an example to Turkey's Syrian neighbor.

He also called on the people of Sirte to give up the fight and make peace, though in neither town did that seem imminent.

"It's a very strong resistance," Abusif Ghnyah, a spokesman for the NTC forces at Bani Walid, told reporters watching the battle from high ground. "The most difficult part is the central market, that is where they are firing from."

A Reuters correspondent watched anti-Gaddafi fighters move forward under mortar, rocket and sniper fire, edging from house to house and sheltering behind walls from shrapnel and bullets.

A faux-ancient castle built for Gaddafi on a hill in the center of Bani Walid was also under attack, fighters said.

Many of the town's 100,000 residents fled in recent days.

It was also unclear how many civilians remain in Sirte, a sprawling city of a similar size, which Gaddafi created out of his native village. NTC fighters, who brought up scores of machinegun-mounted pickup trucks and a handful of tanks, spoke of scattered pockets of heavily armed opponents dug in there.

DESERT SKIRMISHING

Contact has not been possible with Gaddafi loyalists inside the two towns, as well as at Sabha, deep in Libya's southern desert where several senior Gaddafi aides have been lately.

Details of developments around Sabha are scant, but a British military spokesman said that British jets had fired about two dozen Brimstone missiles to destroy a group of Libyan armored vehicles near the desert town on Thursday.

Erdogan, visiting a day after the French and British leaders credited by the NTC with rallying support for them, displayed NATO-member Turkey's Muslim credentials by joining NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil for Friday prayers at the newly renamed Martyrs' Square, once a showcase for Gaddafi.

"From here I call out to Sirte," he said of the beleaguered city. "Come, right now. Some 10,000 brothers and sisters are hungry and thirsty -- embrace your brothers in Tripoli.

"Spilling blood does not suit us. Let us come together."

Gaddafi, 69, is still at large and commanding loyalty from at least hundreds of armed men, concentrated from Sirte, through Bani Walid and Sabha, creating a corridor in the vast empty spaces of the desert through which members of Gaddafi's family and senior aides have reached Algeria and Niger.

The new leadership, struggling to maintain unity and restore order as international powers line up to offer aid and seek contracts for oil and reconstruction contracts, says Gaddafi and his sons and aides pose a threat, at the very least of insurgent attacks, and wants to capture their last bastions.

BANI WALID FIGHTING

At Bani Walid, truckloads of NTC fighters shouting "Let's go! Bani Walid!" and columns of pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns had advanced on the town in early morning.

"We are going in. We finally have the orders," Mohammed Ahmed said, his rifle sticking out of his car window. "God is greatest. God willing, Bani Walid will be free today."

However, the going proved slow. Throughout the day, there was heavy fighting, though casualties among the cautious government forces appeared light -- a spokesman said three were wounded -- as they moved forward, setting up supply dumps and dressing stations to support the advancing front. Mortars and Grad rockets landed around the government lines outside.

"It is a very strong resistance," fighter Isham al-Nasser said as he returned from the frontline in a truck convoy.

In the northern outskirts, streets were deserted with few civilians in sight. Houses were peppered with bullet holes.

Local farmer Mohamed Khalil Mohamed, 31, said the end of the siege and victory for Gaddafi's opponents would be welcome: "At first we were afraid because we didn't know who they were but now that we have seen them, we are very happy."

The traditional stronghold of Libya's biggest tribal grouping, Bani Walid's complex mix of loyalties is a proving ground for the ability of the new leadership in Tripoli to hold together a nation whose historic divisions Gaddafi exploited during his 42 years of personal, and often bloody, rule.

NTC fighters said they had arrested several suspected Gaddafi loyalists. But one such man, sitting on the back of a pickup truck in handcuffs, protested his innocence.

"I'm not with the militia, I'm innocent. I'm free to support whoever I want," said the man, clutching a green medallion -- a symbol of Gaddafi support.

"I did not kill anyone, I did not do anything," he said, looking frightened but unhurt.

SIRTE ASSAULT

At Sirte, NTC fighters massed around a breeze-block mosque on the outskirts, while others drove on toward the center accompanied by two tanks. Mohammed, a 23-year-old fighter from the city of Misrata said the resistance was coming from pockets of Gaddafi supporters dotted around a city which Gaddafi developed from a village into a would-be "capital of Africa."

"They have got heavy weapons," he said. "Gaddafi has been gathering heavy weapons for 42 years ... We are regrouping, pulling back, hitting them with heavy weapons and then advancing again."

Al Jazeera television said NTC forces had taken Sirte's airport, which lies some 10 km (six miles) south of the city.

Gaddafi's spokesman said he had thousands of supporters.

"We are telling you that as of tomorrow there will be atrocious attacks by NATO and their agents on the ground on the resisting towns of Sirte, Bani Walid and Sabha," Moussa Ibrahim told Syrian-based Arrai television late on Thursday.

The television said 16 people had been killed in Sirte, including women and children, as a result of NATO bombing, and that Gaddafi forces had destroyed a NATO warship and vehicles.

A NATO spokesman dismissed those claims and said its air forces struck military targets, including a tank and several missile systems, but was unaware of any civilian casualties:

"It is clear," he said, "That Gaddafi forces are once again trying to spread rumours, claiming unsubstantiated victories and attempting to terrorise the local population."

(Additional reporting by William MacLean and Joseph Logan in Tripoli, Sherine El Madany in Ras Lanuf, Emma Farge in Benghazi, Philippa Fletcher and Giles Elgood in London and Barry Malone and Sylvia Westall in Tunis; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

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U.S. must stay in Afghanistan or risk more attacks: envoy (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – The United States must keep fighting the Taliban or risk more attacks like those of September 11, 2001, because the insurgent group is a ruthless enemy that has not cut ties to al Qaeda, the U.S. ambassador to Kabul said.

Ryan Crocker, a career diplomat who was ambassador in Iraq, also warned the United States would have to spend billions more in the coming years to bolster Afghanistan's government and security forces as its own troops prepare to return home.

"What we have to do is I think demonstrate the strategic patience that is necessary to win a long war," he told Reuters, in an interview ahead of the 10th anniversary of the attacks.

"It is going to require more resources, its going to require time. I hope we can bring all those to bear, because as hard, painful, as expensive as this has been in blood and treasure, it has cost a lot less than 9/11 did."

Crocker flew into New York early on the morning of September 11, 2001, and saw the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapse as he drove into Manhattan after landing.

He has carried his boarding pass from that flight around the world with him, to a decade of senior positions at the heart of the conflicts that followed in the wake of the attacks.

"My life to a significant degree was never the same after 9/11 ... what drives me is what happened that day, and what I saw. And not that I need a reminder, but this is just a small memento of why we are in this fight and why we need to stay in it."

He described building a stable Afghanistan as "the ultimate guarantee that there will not be another 9/11."

After nearly a decade of fighting in Afghanistan the Taliban have greater reach than any time since they were ousted from power, and civilian casualties -- the majority caused by insurgents -- are at the highest since 2001.

"These are tough, determined guys, and we have got to stay in the fight, because if we decide we are done, without completing the mission along the lines I laid out earlier, well the Taliban is going to be back," Crocker said.

Polling showed Afghans do not want the Taliban back, however, and broadly support their own security forces. Western mistakes, especially careless spending, had been corrected, he added.

"I think we all made mistakes, the international community, in the way we put resources into this country. Often without due consultation with Afghan partners, without Afghan buy-in, without appropriate oversight," he said.

"I think we are on the right path now. Yes these are mistakes, but boy the people who are doing the finger pointing ought to come out here and try and get it right in the smoke and dust of a hot war."

WAR-WEARY AMERICA

Over 1,600 U.S. soldiers have died in Afghanistan, and the war has cost nearly $450 billion, according to the Congressional Research Service. It also stirred up vocal domestic opposition.

Foreign forces have now started handing over control of some areas to the Afghan police and army, and the NATO-led coalition expects to have all combat troops home by the end of 2014.

Crocker hopes this plan will bolster support for the next few years of fighting and institution-building.

"Americans, they are war-weary, it has been a decade, but they also see a plan for future transition. So I think we will be able to maintain the necessary commitments as we move forward to 2014," he said.

The United States is also expected to have some presence in the country beyond that date, with Kabul and Washington currently in trying to hammer out a "strategic partnership" agreement to define the U.S. role longer-term.

Stopping the Taliban fighting their way back to power -- whether with U.S. troops on the ground or through support for Afghan forces -- is critical to U.S. security, Crocker added.

"With the Taliban will come al Qaeda, and we will have the same situation that we had pre-9/11, and that to me is an utterly unacceptable outcome," he said in his Kabul residence, in the heart of the heavily guarded embassy.

"That is a risk of our national security that I think no sane person would willingly take."

Despite preliminary contacts with insurgent groups, Crocker also said he did not expect a negotiated settlement in the short-term, because without stronger military pressure insurgents would not accept changes in Afghanistan, including improvements in women's rights.

"The Taliban needs to be further weakened to the point where they will come to the table prepared to accept the conditions we have set jointly with the Afghans," he said.

"That's not the Taliban I think we are engaged with today."

Crocker dismissed critics who argue that limited progress in Afghanistan is due in part to the shift in focus to Iraq.

"If for example in 2002, 2003 or 2004 we had substantially increased the number of our forces without an active Taliban threat, which didn't come until later, I think there is every chance the Afghans would have seen us as occupiers," he said.

"We could have had a backlash of proportions that would have given us even a worse situation today."

(Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Ed Lane)

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Israel-Gaza violence intensifies after attacks (Reuters)

GAZA (Reuters) – Israel struck militants in Gaza and Palestinians fired rockets back on Friday following deadly gun attacks along the desert border with Egypt that have raised tensions between Israel and the new rulers in Cairo.

Egypt formally protested and demanded Israel investigate the deaths of three of its security men, who, it said, where killed when Israeli forces hunted for the gunmen behind Thursday's roadside ambushes. In all, more than 20 people have been killed.

Eight Israelis perished in Thursday's assault along the Egyptian border, and at least seven of the attackers also died as Israeli forces tracked them down along the largely open frontier with Egypt.

Israel swiftly pinned the blame on a Palestinian group that is independent of the Hamas Islamist movement which governs Gaza, and struck back with two days of air strikes killing eight militants and two civilians, children aged 2 and 13.

An airstrike killed the faction's leadership on Thursday and there were numerous other strikes throughout Friday. Huge crowds gathered for the funerals, chanting anti-Israeli slogans and vowing revenge.

Israel, stunned by an assault along a long quiet border, threatened further attacks.

"We have a policy of exacting a very heavy price of anyone who attacks us and this policy is being implemented," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday while visiting wounded compatriots in hospital.

Hamas Islamists in control of Gaza also cautioned they would respond. "We will not allow the enemy to escalate its aggression without getting punished," the group's armed wing said.

Militants in the tiny coastal Gaza enclave fired 17 rockets at southern Israeli cities on Friday, the Israeli military said. Two rockets targeting the city of Ashdod hit a synagogue and a school, injuring two people, one of them seriously.

Israel said Thursday's attackers had slipped out of Gaza and into Egypt's Sinai desert, and then headed south before infiltrating Israel close to the Red Sea resort of Eilat.

Israeli forces had been on high alert for a possible attack and was swift to blame the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) armed faction. The group denied involvement in Thursday's ambushes, but did claim responsibility for some of Friday's rocket fire.

The PRC said its commander, Kamal al-Nairab, his deputy, Immad Hammad, and three other members were killed in Thursday's air strike on a home in Rafah, by the Gaza border with Egypt.

EGYPT LOSING SINAI GRIP?

Israeli leaders accused Egypt's new military leaders of losing their grip on the Sinai peninsula. Cairo rejected the charge, but Israel fears its once sleepy southern flank is rapidly becoming a major security threat.[nL5E7JI440]

"We would hope that yesterday's terrorist attack on the border would serve as an impetus for the Egyptian side to more effectively exercise their sovereignty in Sinai," said a senior Israeli official, who declined to be named.

Cairo rejected the charge and voiced anger at the death of an army officer and two security officials on their side of the border on Thursday, although it was not clear how they died. Witnesses said those who attacked the Israelis had disguised themselves as Egyptian security forces.

"Egypt has filed an official protest to Israel over the incidents at the border yesterday and demands an urgent investigation over the reasons and circumstances surrounding the death of three of Egypt's forces," an army official in Cairo said.

The Israeli military said there was an exchange of fire between its troops and the militants along the border on Thursday night. "The IDF (army) will investigate the matter thoroughly and update the Egyptians," it said in a statement.

The sparsely populated Sinai forms a huge desert buffer zone between Egypt and Israel, who sealed an historic peace treaty in 1979 after fighting two wars in less than a decade.

Israel enjoyed good relations with U.S.-backed former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, but following his downfall in February, Israeli officials have regularly voiced concern about a security vacuum along their joint border.

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the "brutal and cowardly attacks" on the Israelis near Eilat. She said the violence "only underscores our strong concerns about the security situation in the Sinai Peninsula."

(Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch and Allyn Fisher-Ilan in Jerusalem and Marwa Awad in Cairo; Editing by Jon Boyle)

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Security chief: Norway attacks work of lone man (AP)

By KARL RITTER and DON MELVIN, Associated Press Karl Ritter And Don Melvin, Associated Press – 1?hr?5?mins?ago

OSLO, Norway – The man who admitted killing 76 people in a bombing and youth camp massacre last week is a sociopath who acted without accomplices or a network of like-minded right-wing extremists, and kept his plans to himself for more than a decade, Norway's top police official said Thursday.

Levels of right-wing violence across Europe have been generally low and there are no clear indications of imminent danger from networks of extremists, security officials said. But they expressed concern that Norway attacker Anders Behring Breivik could inspire imitators among the continent's extremist, anti-immigrant fringe. Particularly worrying are similar loners who give no clues of their intentions to others before acting, officials said.

European Union counterterrorism officials held a special meeting with Norwegian representatives Thursday dedicated to preventing future extreme-right attacks, saying they would try to share information faster and better understand what triggers the rare radical to turn to violence.

"Clearly, one major risk is that somebody may actually try to mount a similar attack as a copycat attack or as a way of showing support," said Tim Jones, principal adviser to the EU's counterterrorism coordinator.

Police were on high alert across Europe: Finnish officers said they had arrested an 18-year-old man who ordered 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of fertilizer from Poland to build make explosives. Police said the case appeared to have no connections to the massacre; the national broadcaster YLE cited police as saying the man told them he wanted to make fireworks.

Breivik claims he carried out the July 22 attacks as part of a network of modern-day crusaders plotting a revolution against a multicultural Europe, and that there are other cells ready to strike.

But investigators have found no signs — before or after the attacks — of a larger conspiracy, Janne Kristiansen, the director of the Norwegian Police Security Service told The Associated Press.

"It's a unique case. It's a unique person. He is total evil," she said. "On the information we have so far, and I emphasize so far, we have no indication that he was part of a network or had any accomplices, or that there are other cells."

Kristiansen told AP Breivik doesn't appear to have shared his plot with anyone, and lived an outwardly lawful and moderate life before carrying out the attacks with "total precision."

Europol, the European police agency said it had agreed with police chiefs from Norway, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Poland, Sweden and Britain that its operations center in The Hague, Netherlands, would be expanded to include their senior experts.

The agency said that team would "urgently assess the wider implications of the incidents in terms of the threat from right-wing extremism across Europe."

The new network held its first meeting Wednesday, Europol said.

Europol's 2010 report, which covers the calendar year 2009, says there were four failed, foiled or successful right-wing attacks in 2009, all of them in Hungary.

Two security officials said there didn't appear to be any imminent threats associated with Breivik to countries around Europe, but that didn't mean a regional investigation would be ended. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

Experts said Breivek was successful in his attacks partially because he did act alone.

"The Norwegians have his computer," said Bob Ayers, a London-based former U.S. intelligence officer. "If there was significant dialogue, there would have been a footprint. Acting alone gave him the advantage of not being watched by security personnel.

Breivik has admitted that he set off a car bomb in the government district of Oslo, killing at least eight people, then drove several miles (kilometers) northwest of the Norwegian capital to an island where the youth wing of the ruling Labor Party was holding its annual summer camp. He arrived at Utoya island posing as a police officer, then opened fire on scores of unsuspecting youth, executing them one after the other as they tried to flee into the water. Sixty-eight people died, many of them teenagers.

There has been no large-scale violence by the right-wing in Germany in years, but the Office for the Protection of the Constitution said it considered some 9,500 of the far-right in Germany as potentially violent, "with the readiness to use violence to achieve their political goals on the rise," the Office for the Protection of the Constitution said.

German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich told the Rheinische Post newspaper after the attacks that Germany's intelligence agencies had the far-right groups under "intensive" surveillance, but that they were still a danger.

"Among the right extremists we know of some who could be dangerous, but they're not the problem — those who we have an eye on — but rather those who radicalize in secret."

Investigators will interview Breivik again on Friday and will focus on whether there is "any more danger," police attorney Paal-Fredrick Hjort Kraby told reporters.

Police have not turned up any signs that copycat attacks might be committed, Kraby said.

But they are clearly concerned. Kraby said Brevik's next hearing will be closed "just in case he's able to send messages by code" to associates.

Police have so far only interviewed the Norwegian suspect once, in a seven-hour session the day after the attack. Kraby said Breivik is in contact only with his lawyer and investigators. He also said the Norwegian police have been in touch with the FBI regarding the attacks, but he did not elaborate.

The national sense of heartbreak is being renewed daily as police slowly release names of the dead. Later Thursday, 24 names were added to the list, including 23-year old Tamta Lipartelliani from Georgia who died at the camp, setting the confirmed total by police at 41.

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Melvin reported from Brussels. Paisley Dodds in London, David Rising in Berlin, Jim Heintz and Louise Nordstrom in Stockholm and Ian MacDougall and Bjoern H. Amland in Oslo contributed to this report.

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Nasdaq spends to fend off "constant" hack attacks (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The operator of the Nasdaq Stock Market is "under constant attack" from would-be hackers and will spend more on security as a result, its top executive said.

"As we sit here, there are people trying to slam into our system every day," Robert Greifeld, chief executive officer of Nasdaq OMX Group, said in an interview on Wednesday. "So we have to be ever-vigilant against an ever-changing foe."

The exchange operator sits at the center of the U.S. financial system, which has increasingly come under siege from computer hackers and counts itself among those, including Citigroup Inc, that have had recent cyber breaches.

Intruders entered Nasdaq's systems last year, leaving "suspicious files" on the exchange's servers and sparking an investigation involving the FBI. Trading platforms were not compromised, the exchange said, although some Internet-based client applications were vulnerable.

"We're (now) in normal state in that we resolved that particular issue," Greifeld said.

Nasdaq, which runs stock and derivatives trading venues in the United States and Nordic Europe, provides and stores sensitive market data.

Earlier on Wednesday, the company boosted 2011 cost projections, in part because of higher information security expenses.

Expenses should now total $950 million to $965 million this year, up from the $920 million to $940 million estimated in February.

Chief Financial Officer Lee Shavel said the environment had changed in the last few months.

"You can throw as much money as you want against something like this, but as we looked at the level of attacks that have been experienced really across the industry ... we decided it was appropriate for us to up the amount of resources," he told Reuters.

The list of hacker victims has grown long and well beyond Wall Street this year. Sony, Google Inc, Lockheed Martin, and even the International Monetary Fund have all been breached, at times exposing clients' personal information.

Some cyber experts fear financial institutions have inadequate defenses, due in part to distractions during the financial crisis that led them to ignore IT systems.

Two-thirds of U.S. banks plan to raise spending on fraud-detection and authentication systems in 2011, including the largest ones, according to a Gartner Research poll of 76 banks.

The hacker wave has prompted calls from the White House and the Securities and Exchange Commission for new laws and rules to protect personal information and safeguard capital markets.

Financial institutions, cognizant of reputations and possible systems vulnerabilities, appear increasingly willing to put cash on the line to get ahead of possible attacks.

"We recognize that we're under constant attack," Greifeld said, "and by that I mean literally constant attack."

(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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U.N. Council condemns embassy attacks in Syria (Reuters)

BEIRUT/NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday condemned "in the strongest terms" attacks by demonstrators on the U.S. and French embassies in Damascus.

Both Washington and Paris sharply denounced Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has been trying for four months to stamp out a broad popular revolt with troops and tanks.

"He has lost legitimacy by refusing to lead the transition" to democracy, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters, further sharpening U.S. rhetoric against the Syrian leader over a harsh crackdown on protesters.

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had told reporters: "We have absolutely nothing invested in him remaining in power,"

A Security Council statement read to media by Germany's U.N. Ambassador Peter Wittig, this month's president, called on Syrian authorities to protect diplomatic property and personnel.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon had earlier accused Russia and China of trying to block a U.N. resolution on Syria, saying it was "intolerable that the Security Council should stay silent on such a tragedy."

Syria's U.N. ambassador accused the United States and France on Tuesday of distorting and exaggerating facts about attacks by demonstrators this week on their embassies in Damascus.

The envoy, Bashar Ja'afari, told reporters that Syria had had sought to protect the embassies and that some demonstrators involved in Monday's events had been arrested and would be brought to justice.

FLAGRANT INTERVENTION

The Syrian state news agency SANA said Clinton's remarks were "another proof of the U.S.'s flagrant intervention in Syria's internal affairs."

"The legitimacy of Syria's leadership is not based on the United States or others, it stems from the will of the Syrian people," it said.

Crowds broke into the U.S. embassy in Damascus on Monday and tore down plaques, while security guards using live ammunition drove crowds away from the French embassy.

The attacks followed protests against a visit by U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford and French envoy Eric Chevallier to the city of Hama, now the focus of the uprising against Assad.

Inspired by the protests that unseated the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia, Syrians have been taking to the streets in their thousands since March, calling for more political freedom and an end to corruption and poverty.

Assad has responded with a mixture of force and promises of reforms. He sent his troops and tanks to numerous cities and towns to crush protests, and thousands have been arrested.

But Assad has also granted citizenship to tens of thousands of Kurds, lifted the draconian state of emergency, freed hundreds of prisoners and called for a national dialogue.

A two-day meeting aimed at setting the framework for national dialogue and discussing legislation that would allow a multi-party system and constitutional amendments issued its final statement on Tuesday, endorsing the formation of a committee to rewrite the constitution.

Western governments have condemned Assad's violence against protesters, but their practical response has so far been limited to sanctions against top officials, a far cry from the military intervention against Muammar Gaddafi in Libya.

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has steadily toughened its rhetoric on Assad as Syrian security forces crack down on protests. Until Monday, it had refrained from saying Assad had lost legitimacy.

Washington has imposed targeted sanctions on Assad and members of his inner circle, and has said it is working with its allies to build international consensus for further pressure on his government.

SUPPORT FOR ASSAD

Assad retains the support of Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah, as well as substantial portions of the minority Alawite community from which his family springs.

"If the Americans think he has lost legitimacy, this doesn't mean he has lost legitimacy, it means the Americans think he has lost legitimacy," Rami Khouri, a political analyst based in neighboring Lebanon, told Reuters.

"When Ford visited Hama, the dynamic changed. Clinton's remarks have simply raised the temperature."

Syria said Ford had sought to incite protests. The State Department denied this and said Ford had toured Hama to show solidarity with residents facing a security crackdown.

Hama, a city of 700,000 people, was the scene of a 1982 massacre that came to symbolize the ruthless rule of the late president Hafez al-Assad, and has staged some of the biggest protests in 14 weeks of demonstrations against his son Bashar.

Human rights groups say at least 1,400 civilians have been killed since the uprising began in March.

(Additional reporting by Oliver Holmes in Beirut, John Irish, Brian Love, Elizabeth Pineau in Paris and Tim Castle in London; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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Rebels brace for attacks as Gaddafi threatens Europe (Reuters)

DAFNIYA/AL-QAWALISH, Libya (Reuters) – Rebel fighters braced for further attacks on Saturday from forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi after the Libyan leader staged a show of support at home and threatened to strike his enemies abroad.

Rebels in Misrata said the death toll in the western town, a longtime insurgent stronghold, had risen to seven from six, with at least 17 wounded, after a heavy attack by Gaddafi artillery the day before.

A rebel spokesman in the town on the Mediterranean coast, who gave his name as Youssef, told Reuters: "The situation is calm today in Misrata. Yesterday seven rebels were killed. We expect fighting this evening."

Rebels have advanced on two fronts against Gaddafi forces in recent days, but government troops have fought back and Gaddafi has also sought to encourage his forces.

In a defiant speech late on Friday, Gaddafi threatened to export the war to Europe in revenge for the NATO-led military campaign against him, and to crush his enemies.

The "traitors" ranged against him in Libya and elsewhere will "fall under the feet" of the Libyan masses, he said.

In Tripoli and 800 km (500 miles) to the south in the desert town of Sabha, tens of thousands -- swelled by representatives of the tribes of the region -- gathered for Friday prayers in what appeared to be an attempt to show that Gaddafi enjoys widespread support in the areas he still controls despite the rebel gains of recent weeks.

Gaddafi supporters rallied in Tripoli's Green Square, underscoring his refusal to step down after four decades in power and five months of fighting.

Speaking on Libyan television, Gaddafi threatened to send hundreds of Libyans to carry out revenge attacks in Europe.

"Hundreds of Libyans will martyr in Europe. I told you it is eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. But we will give them a chance to come to their senses," he said in an audio speech.

HEAVY FIRE

While the insurgents have advanced on two fronts, rebels in Misrata have come under heavy artillery fire from Gaddafi's forces.

A rebel sympathizer in Misrata told Reuters opposition forces had been moving closer to neighboring Zlitan, one of a chain of government-controlled towns blocking their advance to Tripoli.

As they advanced, pro-Gaddafi troops inside the city fired rounds of explosives to block their progress, the sympathizer said in an email.

"The rebels are waiting for NATO backup or for Gaddafi forces to run out of ammunition to make a move to take the city center," he said.

On the other major front, in the Western Mountains region southwest of Tripoli, NATO warplanes bombed forces loyal to Gaddafi several times on Friday, their bombs landing about 3 km (2 miles) east of the village of Al-Qawalish, according to one rebel fighter.

After weeks of static fighting, the rebels have made significant advances this week: pushing west from Misrata to within 13 km (8 miles) of Zlitan, where large numbers of pro-Gaddafi forces are based, and seizing the village of Al-Qawalish in the southwest.

Taking Al-Qawalish brings them closer to having control of a major highway into the capital.

Rebel advances over the last two weeks have allowed normal life to resume in towns no longer within shelling distance of Gaddafi's troops.

Rebels staged a military parade on Friday evening in Zintan, driving tanks through the streets of town in the Western Mountains. People fired rifles in the air including one small boy who opened fire with a Kalashnikov assault rifle while perched on his father's shoulders.

(Additional reporting by Lamine Chikhi in Sabha, Joseph Nasr in Berlin, Tarek Amara in Tunis; Writing by Giles Elgood)

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Afghan insurgent attacks dip for first time: Petraeus (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – Insurgent attacks against Afghan and NATO forces in Afghanistan have started to decline on an annual basis for the first time in up to five years, defying predictions by intelligence analysts, General David Petraeus said on Saturday.

The number of insurgent attacks is one of the key measures used by the military to assess the success or failure of the nearly decade-old war in Afghanistan, the focus of a massive U.S. troop buildup which will start to come home this month.

Petraeus, who is due to step down as the top commander in Afghanistan in mid-July, said the number of attacks declined in May and June by "a few percent," compared to the same months in 2010. July is trending in the same direction, he said.

That compares to intelligence estimates that had predicted insurgent attacks to spike up by 18 to 30 percent this year over last Year.

"Obviously it is what we have wanted to see -- rather than the year-on-year-on-year increase that has taken place for some four or five years," Petraeus told reporters, in what was expected to be his last media briefing before he steps down.

Petraeus is due to take over as CIA director in September.

Asked whether he believed that the declining violence was a sign of the success of the "surge" of more than 30,000 forces that President Barack Obama ordered into Afghanistan in 2009, Petraeus was hesitant.

"I'm not making that pronouncement," Petraeus said. "Again, it is an important development but we need to see if it is sustained our not."

Obama is withdrawing the first 10,000 of the nearly 100,000 U.S. forces in Afghanistan this year, followed by another 23,000 by the end of next summer.

The drawdown is faster than the one that Petraeus had originally recommended but he has since voiced his support for the strategy and said he intends to carry it out.

Still, Petraeus suggested that the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan would be able to keep up the pressure on militants, taking away their strongholds.

Usually, that process causes a spike in violence, he said, adding that although there had been no rise in overall incidents this year, the insurgents were still a dangerous enemy.

"Typically when you have a lot more friendly forces, and when you go on the offensive, violence goes up because you have to fight back," Petraeus said.

"And they're fighting back, don't get me wrong," Petraeus said, acknowledging, for example, heavy use of homemade bombs -- the number one killer of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

(Editing by Emma Graham-Harrison)

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