Obama to announces security team nominees

CHICAGO, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's security team is shaping up with Sen. Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates taking the lead, officials said.

Obama was expected to name his nominations as his national security team Monday during a news conference in Chicago.

Obama also plans to name retired U.S. Marine Gen. Jim Jones as his national security adviser, CNN reported Monday. However, other sources indicated Jones wanted another meeting with Obama before an announcement was made.

Expected to also be nominated as part of the team are Susan Rice as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as homeland security secretary an Eric Holder as attorney general, transition team officials said.

Retiring U.S. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., released a statement praising the trio of Clinton, D-N.Y.; Gates; and Jones, before Monday's announcement of their expected nominations.

"The triumvirate of Gates, Clinton and Jones to lead Obama's 'national security team' instills great confidence at home and abroad; and further strengthens the growing respect for the president-elect's courage and ability to exercise sound judgment in selecting the 'best and the brightest' to implement our nation's security policies," Warner said in his statement.

Obama taps policy adviser for U.N. post

CHICAGO, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- President-elect Barack Obama has tapped his foreign policy adviser Susan Rice as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Democratic Party officials said.

Rice's nomination to the diplomatic post is expected to be announced Monday during a news conference in Chicago where Obama plans to introduce his choices for his national security team.

Obama's selection of Rice as the U.S. representative to the United Nations is a pick of a forceful advocate of stronger action to end genocide, such as that in Darfur, The New York Times reported Monday.

Obama also indicated he plans to restore the ambassador's post to Cabinet rank, as it was during President Bill Clinton's administration, officials close to the Obama transition team told the Times.

"She's obviously one of Obama's closest advisers, so it underscores how much of a priority he's making the position," said Nancy Soderberg, a senior U.S. diplomat at the United Nations during the Clinton years. "If you look at the last eight years, we obviously need to be more engaged at the U.N. and realistic about what the U.N. can do."

Nuke, bioterror attack called likely

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- The United States and other nations need to act urgently to prevent a nuclear or biological terrorism attack in the near future, a bipartisan panel says.

A report to be released Monday by the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism says urgent security measures need to be taken soon or the world is likely to undergo an incident of terrorism using weapons of mass destruction within the next five years, The New York Times reported.

"Unless the world community acts decisively and with great urgency, it is more likely than not that a weapon of mass destruction will be used in a terrorist attack somewhere in the world by the end of 2013," the report states in the opening sentence of the executive summary.

The panel was created by Congress as part of the recommendations of 9/11 Commission, and its nine members include several Democrats who are active in U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's transition team.

It cited Pakistan as a trouble spot where extremism, terrorism and nuclear capabilities intersect and urged that Iran and North Korea's nuclear programs be contained, even if it means taking military action, the Times reported.

Thai protesters allow some flights

BANGKOK, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Anti-government protesters let 37 empty planes fly out of Bangkok's main airport Monday, bound for other airports to pick up passengers stranded in Thailand.

The People's Alliance for Democracy-led protesters, who have been occupying the Suvarnabhumi international airport, allowed Thai Airways jetliners and those of other airlines to travel to other airports to pick up the stranded passengers, the Thai News Agency reported. A total of 88 aircraft had been stuck at Bangkok's main airport, The Daily Telegraph reported.

CNN, quoting an airport authority spokesman, reported 37 planes had departed on this mission to help about 100,000 passengers reach their homes.

Many headed for provincial airports, intending to catch regional flights. Others took buses and trains to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Singapore.

"This is my first time in Thailand and I probably won't come back," said Glen Squires, 47, one of the stranded travelers. "What they've done is shot themselves in the foot."

The protesters occupied both Suvarnabhumi and the domestic Don Muang airport last week to press their demand for the resignation of the government led by Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, which they see as a proxy for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in a military coup in 2006. The protesters also have occupied Bangkok's federal government complex for the past three months.

On Sunday, a blast from a grenade suspected of being tossed by counter-demonstrators reportedly injured about 50 protesters on the government compound.

Mumbai attacks stir public anger

MUMBAI, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government sought to control political damage Monday amidst rising public ire over the Mumbai terrorist carnage.

As authorities assessed the death toll and damage from the 50-plus-hour-long siege of India's financial capital that began last Wednesday night, Singh's coalition-led government in New Delhi forced out Home Minister Shivraj Patil, replacing him with Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.

Singh, a noted economist, assumed the Finance Ministry charge, as the country grapples with high inflation, liquidity crisis and the buffeting winds from the global financial turmoil.

On TV talk shows, people vented their anguish and anger against what they see as government's failure to contain the worsening terror menace and politician apathy.

With Patil's departure, more political heads could roll, the Press Trust of India reported, adding Vilasrao Deshmukh, chief minister of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, could be next to go along with his deputy.

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