Interpol

TRIPOLI, Libya - Former Libyan rebels began attacking the loyalist holdouts of Bani Walid and Surt last night, a day before their own deadline for the surrender of those cities took effect. "It's full steam ahead right now," said Abdulrahman Busin, a spokesman for the military. The former rebels reportedly were inside Bani Walid but fighting continued, Busin said. The attack on Surt had just begun and the former rebels were still on the outskirts. Busin said the Bani Walid attack took place early because loyalist forces inside the small city had opened fire on former-rebel...

BAGHDAD - The international law enforcement agency Interpol stepped squarely into a bitter political and sectarian fight Tuesday when it responded to a request for help from Iraq to arrest the country's fugitive Sunni vice president on charges he ran death squads inside Iraq. The move will probably add fresh tensions to relations between Iraq's Shi'ite leadership and leaders in Turkey, where the Iraqi vice president, Tariq al-Hashimi, has been staying with the apparent blessing of the Turkish government since he fled his refuge in northern Iraq last month.

PARIS -- Interpol issued a call yesterday for the arrest of ousted Liberian leader Charles Taylor, putting him on its wanted list. But Nigeria, where Taylor, who has been indicted on war crimes charges, lives in exile, indicated that it would not be pressured into handing him over. The wanted notice, posted on Interpol's website and distributed to the international police organization's 181 member nations, said the 55-year-old former warlord is sought for "crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

Interpol on Tuesday put Iraq's fugitive Sunni vice president on the equivalent of its most-wanted list at the behest of the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad. Tariq al-Hashemi, who is currently in Turkey, is being tried in absentia in Baghdad on charges of terrorism as well as guiding and financing death squads that targeted government officials, security forces and Shiite pilgrims. The Iraqi government links him to about 150 bombings, assassinations and other attacks, and says the death squads were largely composed of the vice president's bodyguards and other employees.

It’s a tried-and-true tactic in music, the act of self-titling an album to announce this isn’t the same artist you remember. But in Interpol’s case, its eponymous fourth release is clearly meant to remind fans, particularly ones who have strayed in recent years, of the New York band’s beloved roots. “Interpol,’’ however, rarely brandishes the hallmarks — the majestic slow build, the keen sense of dynamics — that made the group’s 2002 debut, “Turn on the Bright Lights,’’ such a vital document of New York’s resurrected rock scene.

It's been five years since Interpol became hipster darlings with "Turn on the Bright Lights," and in that time, the band has switched from high-profile indie label Matador to higher-profile major label Capitol and made the leap from clubs to larger venues. But Wednesday's show at a half-empty Agganis Arena showed a band that may be in danger of stalling out. Of course, half-empty also means half-full, and if Interpol isn't quite arena-size yet, it certainly seemed to be headed in the right direction.

PARIS - Police in Cyprus have arrested a man from Montenegro believed to belong to a gang of international jewel thieves dubbed the Pink Panthers that is suspected of carrying out high-profile thefts around the globe, the international police organization Interpol said yesterday. Rifat Hadziahmetovic of Montenegro was arrested March 18 while traveling on a forged Bulgarian passport as he tried to enter Larnaca airport in Cyprus, Cypriot police said. The Pink Panthers are believed to be mainly from countries in the Balkans.

The director of Interpol said Thursday there is no specific intelligence the 2012 Olympics will be targeted. Ron Noble, secretary-general of the international police agency based in France, also said that Britain does a good job of screening identification documents against the Interpol database as part of its security procedures. But he said the UK does not have enough immigration officers. London is hosting the Olympics this summer. Olympics security has been a primary concern since 1972, when 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were killed at the Munich...

Interpol has launched a campaign to help save the world's last wild tigers in the 13 Asian countries where they still exist, winning praise from conservationists. The project will link international wildlife officials with customs and law enforcement officers in the 13 nations to help stem poaching and smuggling of tiger parts for use in expensive traditional medicines. "Having a force like Interpol working on this will give the effort a great boost," Mike Baltzer, head of WWF's Tigers Alive Initiative, said Thursday, a day after the campaign was unveiled at an...

PARIS — Interpol said yesterday that 25 suspected members of the loose-knit Anonymous hacker movement have been arrested in a sweep across Europe and South America. The international police agency said in a statement that the arrests in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Spain were carried out by national law enforcement officers working under the support of Interpol's Latin American working group of specialists on information technology crime. The suspects, between ages 17 and 40, are suspected of planning coordinated cyberattacks against institutions including Colombia's defense...

PARIS - The late Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy's former chief of staff is living in France with the government's permission despite facing US sanctions and being wanted by Interpol. The presence in France of Basher Saleh threatens to make life even more complicated for French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who confirmed Tuesday that Saleh is here. Sarkozy has had a roller-coaster relationship with Libya and faces an uphill battle for reelection Sunday. The French leader already has denied recent allegations that Khadafy's regime offered to finance his 2007 presidential campaign.

The late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi's former chief of staff is living in France with the government's permission despite facing U.S. sanctions and being wanted by Interpol. The presence in France of Basher Saleh threatens to make life even more complicated for French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who confirmed Tuesday that Saleh is here. Sarkozy has had a roller-coaster relationship with Libya and faces an uphill battle for re-election in a vote Sunday. The French leader already has denied recent allegations that Gadhafi's regime offered to finance his 2007 presidential campaign.

PARIS - Interpol issued an alert Sunday seeking the arrest and extradition of Moammar Khadafy's former intelligence chief at Libya's request. Abdullah al-Senoussi was detained Saturday in Mauritania. Libyan authorities may have requested the red notice in attempt to ensure they take custody of the man accused of attacking civilians during the uprising against Khadafy last year and the 1989 bombing of a French airliner. France and the International Criminal Court have also said they want to prosecute Senoussi.

Remember when Ashley Judd used to make competent thrillers about scrappy, resourceful women? Fast forward one of those women to the present, hand her a Eurail pass and a son who has been kidnapped, and you've got "Missing," which premieres Thursday at 8 p.m. on Channel 5. The twist here is that Judd's character, Becca Winstone, may be a PTA member in good standing, but she's also a former CIA agent. Over the phone, she listens in horror as her husband, Paul, who is also with the agency, comes to a fiery end as her young son watches, and she immediately...

PARIS — Interpol said yesterday that 25 suspected members of the loose-knit Anonymous hacker movement have been arrested in a sweep across Europe and South America. The international police agency said in a statement that the arrests in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Spain were carried out by national law enforcement officers working under the support of Interpol's Latin American working group of specialists on information technology crime. The suspects, between ages 17 and 40, are suspected of planning coordinated cyberattacks against institutions including...

Police say they have arrested four suspected hackers allied to the loose-knit Anonymous movement in connection with attacks on Spanish political party websites. A National Police statement said two servers used by the group in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic have been blocked. It said the four included the alleged manager of Anonymous' computer operations in Spain and Latin America, who was identified only by his initials and the aliases "Thunder" and "Pacotron. " The four are suspected of defacing websites, carrying out denial-of-service attacks and publishing data on police...

TRIPOLI, Libya - Moammar Khadafy's son, Saadi Khadafy, denied allegations of corruption and intimidation and called Interpol's decision to put him on the equivalent of its most-wanted list a political decision, according to an e-mail sent yesterday. Saadi Khadafy is under house arrest in Libya's neighbor, Niger, where he fled after Tripoli fell to revolutionary forces. His father and two of his brothers are in hiding, presumably inside Libya, as fighting between revolutionary forces and Khadafy's loyalists continues on three fronts.

Even with just two albums to their credit, the men in black of Interpol have honed a finely tuned live act. It goes something like this: They emerge dressed to the hilt in natty suits and/or ties, a flood of lights bathes the stage in sinister reds and cobalt blues as the band plays the first track from its new album, and inevitably someone brandishes a cigarette, takes impossibly long drags from it, and then blows feathered streams of smoke that...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan will ask Interpol for help in arresting Pervez Musharraf, the country's former president, for his failure to prevent the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, the interior minister said yesterday. Rehman Malik said the government was seeking Musharraf's arrest because he allegedly failed to provide adequate security for Bhutto, who was killed in a gun and suicide bomb attack in 2007. An Interpol spokeswoman said any eventual request from Pakistan would be "assessed in accordance with our rules and regulations.

The director of Interpol said Thursday there is no specific intelligence the 2012 Olympics will be targeted. Ron Noble, secretary-general of the international police agency based in France, also said that Britain does a good job of screening identification documents against the Interpol database as part of its security procedures. But he said the UK does not have enough immigration officers. London is hosting the Olympics this summer. Olympics security has been a primary concern since 1972, when 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were killed at the Munich Games.