American Government Intercepts, Reads Private Correspondence!

And it's a good thing the CIA did.

On September 11 of this year, the CIA intercepted an email to a top member of Al Qaeda in Islamic North Africa, Salah Gasmi. The message brought up the possibility of an attack on the sewage system of Paris.

With no dates or specific places, there's not much to go on. Considering the very real risk, "we can't afford to take the luxury of ignoring it — but it's so vague," a French official said.

Paris isn't alone. London and cities in Italy and Germany are threatened, too.

Don't feel bad if you don't recognize the name Al Qaeda in Islamic North Africa. It's a new name of a Salafist group that's part of an Islamic insurgency in Algeria. That lot now says they're allied to Osama bin Laden's network.