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| Terrorist Group Claims Responsibility for Attack on Staffing Agency's German Office A terrorist organization called Morning Light Movement (Bewegung Morgenlicht) has claimed responsibility for a bomb attack Sunday, January 31, on the offices of staffing company Randstad in Frankfurt, Germany. The group sent a letter to the German tabloid Bild saying the attack was a protest against temporary employment , which it refers to as “modern slavery.” The letter said that “with this action we protest against temporary employment which is immoral, against common decency and exploits human beings.” Police spokesman Alexander Loehr told Bild that “at midnight on Sunday, masked people threw a lit petrol bomb into the letter box of Randstad Deutschland. Fire broke out and the heat destroyed a shopping window. The interior of the building filled up with smoke.” The fire brigade arrived within minutes, thereby limiting damages to €15,000 ($21,000). There were no injuries. The incident follows the recent “Schlecker Scandal,” in which Europe's largest drugstore chain laid off large numbers of employees and then re-employed them via an in-house temporary employment agency at vastly reduced rates. Randstad was not offering any comment on the attack while the police investigation is ongoing. 5 Feb 2010, Workforce Management Melbourne commuters face weapon scans A hi-tech portable body scanner will be used to search commuters at an inner-Melbourne railway station in a second blitz on people carrying knives. Victoria Police will trial the Gatescan-P metal detector to search commuters at the North Melbourne railway station between 5pm (AEDT) and 9pm on Friday. Commuters will be chosen at random to walk through the metal detector, similar to those at an airport, and if shown to be carrying metal will be searched with a hand-held scanner. Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe said the railway station had been chosen for Operation Omni II because intelligence had identified it as a "high knife" area. "Our intelligence tells us that the timing that we've set for tonight's operation is appropriate in accordance with what we understand and believe is the activity that occurs around this railway station," he said. "We've just looked at our intelligence, we've looked at the level of activity and we've determined this is the next railway station we'll target." Mr Walshe said the presence and use of knives in robberies had increased by about nine per cent in the last financial year, with people as young as 10 found carrying weapons. In the first random knife search in January, 182 people were searched around the Footscray railway station - seven people were found carrying 12 weapons, including a machete, knives and a knuckle duster. New laws enable police to conduct planned and unplanned weapons searches. A planned search, such as those at railway stations, must be advertised seven days in advance, while the unplanned searches enable police to search people during an incident. Mr Cameron said the government did not want to see a knife culture in Victoria. "We've seen knife attacks go down over the years but what concerned us last year was despite a decrease in robberies actually more knives were being used with robberies," Mr Cameron said. "So that's why we've introduced these laws, they're tough, we've been criticised for it, but we believe that people have no reason to fear if they're not carrying a knife." Mr Walshe said if the trial of the Gatescan-P was successful, Victoria Police would buy more to use around the state. 5 Feb 2010, Sydney Morning Herald Government statement on 'bomb detectors' ban The government Department for Business, Innovation & Skills issued this statement in response to a Newsnight investigation that reveals that a "bomb detector" sold around the world and particularly to Iraq by a British company cannot possibly work. "Tests have shown that the technology used in the ADE651 and similar devices is not suitable for bomb detection. As non-military technology it does not need an export licence, and we would not normally need to monitor its sale and use abroad. However, it is clearly of concern that it is being used as bomb detection equipment. As soon as it was brought to the attention of the Export Control Organisation and Lord Mandelson we acted urgently to put in place export restrictions which will come into force next week. We will be making an order, under the Export Control Act 2002, banning the export of this type of device to Iraq and Afghanistan. The reason the ban is limited to these two countries is that our legal power to control these goods is based on the risk that they could cause harm to UK and other friendly forces. The British Embassy Baghdad has raised our concerns about the ADE651 with the Iraqi authorities. We have offered cooperation with any investigation they may wish to make into the how the device came to be bought for their military as bomb detection equipment." 24 January 2010 Johnson raises UK terror threat level to 'severe' Home Secretary Alan Johnson has raised the threat level in the UK to ‘severe', an announcement that means a terrorist attack is now “highly likely”. Brian Sims reports. The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) is the organisation directly responsible for keeping the threat level under constant review. It makes its judgements based on a broad range of factors, not least the intent and capabilities of international terrorist groups in the UK and overseas. Severe is the fourth of five threat levels to the UK from international terrorism, with the UK threat level reduced to ‘substantial' last July for the first time in four years after a significant judgement was made that there had been a “chilling” effect on terrorism in and around Britain. Speaking on Sky News, the Home Secretary has been swift to play down any linkage between this latest announcement and the events that transpired in Detroit on Christmas Day, stressing that although the threat had indeed increased there was "no intelligence" to suggest an attack is actually imminent. Very real and serious threat “We still face a very real and serious threat to the UK from international terrorism,” said the Home Secretary, “so I would urge the public to remain vigilant and carry on reporting suspicious events to the appropriate authorities. I would also urge them to support the police and security services in their continuing efforts to discover, track and disrupt terrorist activity.” Johnson made his statement in the wake of briefings to the Prime Minister by the heads of the security services – MI5, MI6 and GCHQ – in addition to a meeting of the Government's Cobra Emergency Committee. At present, MI5 is said to be watching around 2,000 individuals across Britain, but the activity levels among domestic extremists are not thought to have risen significantly in recent months. More often than not, it appears, judgements about a given threat will be based on a wide range of “fragmentary” information. Elements considered include what is actually known about the capabilities of terrorists, the method(s) they may use and the potential scale of the attack, as well as the targets they would be considering. Confession to the FBI It's alleged that Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab, the individual who attempted to ignite a bomb sewn into his underwear in the Christmas Day attack, warned his US interrogators from the FBI that up to 20 more “like me” may be preparing further attacks. On the back of that, our own Government is now busily compiling an updated ‘Watch List' in a concerted effort to stop terror suspects from boarding planes. The Home Secretary continued: “In his statement to Parliament on security and counter- terrorism earlier this week, the Prime Minister said that the first and most important duty of Government is the protection and security of the British people. We have a very focused counter-terrorism facility in this country, and the public should be reassured by that fact.” The JTAC/UK Government decision to amend the threat level has been made as foreign ministers are preparing to meet in London this coming week to discuss the threat of terrorism in both the Yemen and Afghanistan. Attendees at the high-level gathering will include Afghan premier Hamid Karzai, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and, of course, current US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. 24 Jan 2010, Info4securityMan charged after bomb scare brings city centre to a standstill Shopping centres and station evacuated after suspicious package sparks alert in Aberdeen A 27-year-old man was charged last night in connection with a suspicious parcel which bought Aberdeen city centre to a standstill. Two shopping centres, the railway station and dozens of offices were evacuated following fears a bomb had been planted on the crossing between Guild Street and Bridge Street. The two-litre plastic soft drink bottle was wrapped in film and elastic bands and contained wires. It was examined and X-rayed by bomb disposal experts for more than 90 minutes before the area was declared safe. The device was placed in the spot in full view of a CCTV camera mounted on Bridge Street. Police said footage from the camera would form a “significant part” of their investigation. The package is also understood to have contained a reference to the city council's headquarters. Chief Inspector George MacDonald confirmed that the object – which was discovered just after 6am – was placed on the Guild Street Bridge and caused major disruption in the city. He said: “This incident has created disruption to the city centre of Aberdeen. “We are determined to identify who is responsible and bring them to justice.” The early-morning drama began when police were alerted to the package by a member of the public. Homeless man Robert Appleton, 37, was sitting just yards from the bottle when two police vans stopped on the bridge. He said: “The police asked if I had seen anyone dropping something on the bridge, but I only saw one person on it before that. He went to the train station about half-an-hour before it all started.” The Edinburgh-based Royal Logistic Corps Bomb Squad was alerted and Mr Appleton was removed from the bridge as police closed off Guild Street, Bridge Street, College Street and part of Carmelite Street. Thousands of commuters were left stranded soon after, at 8am, when First ScotRail closed Aberdeen station. Passengers travelling north to the city were having to get off trains at Stonehaven, and passengers heading south were able to get only as far as Dyce. Alarms Police told bosses at the new Union Square shopping centre to get everyone out of the building. A worker at Muffin Break in the complex said its alarms were sounded. And Brian Hakeem, who works at Hobbycraft, said workers did not know why they were being evacuated. At 8.30am the decision was taken to also evacuate the Trinity Mall, which has an exit on the bridge. The bomb squad arrived at the scene at 9am and within minutes sent a robot on to the bridge to inspect the package. At 9.40am a man dressed in protective clothing crossed the bridge to put lead plates behind the bottle to allow it to be X-rayed. The images captured clearly showed wires inside the device. The area was declared safe within an hour and normal train services resumed at 10.40am A spokeswoman for the Trinity Mall said it began letting customers back in at 11.30am, but it is understood the incident cost retailers based in the centre about £30,000. Union Square also re-opened fully at 11.30am, and shops there are also thought to have lost tens of thousands of pounds in business. The package was removed from the scene in a brown bag just before noon, following forensic inspection. Chief Insp MacDonald added: “Our inquiries are now focused on identifying when the item was placed there, who by and trying to piece together the jigsaw to make sense of it. “I would appeal to any members of the public who were in the Guild Street area who may have seen suspicious behaviour to contact us. “Similarly, if you have information that may be helpful to the inquiry, please pick up the phone.” Last night, Aberdeen City Council was unable to confirm whether there was a reference to the Town House on the package. Grampian Police Detective Chief Inspector Malcolm Stewart, who led the inquiry, said a report had been submitted to the procurator fiscal in connection with the incident. A man is expected to appear at Aberdeen Sheriff Court today. The local authority's St Nicholas House, which is across the street from the Town House, was the target of a bomb scare in November after officials received a call making a threat. 22 January 2010, Press & Journal Security scaled up at UK airports Body scanners are to be introduced at Heathrow Airport in about three weeks, Home Secretary Alan Johnson has said. He also told the House of Commons that all UK airports must have new "explosion trace detection equipment" by the end of the year. His comments follow an attempt to blow up a US airliner on Christmas Day. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is accused of trying to detonate a bomb on a plane from Amsterdam when it was about to land in Detroit. Gordon Brown has ordered a review of security at UK airports. BAA has begun training its staff in behavioural analysis techniques, which would be used to identify individuals requiring closer inspection. 'No guarantee' Transit passengers passing through UK airports will face increased screening, more sniffer dogs will be used and more passengers will face searches by hand. "It is clear that no one measure will be enough to defeat inventive and determined terrorists and there is no single technology which we can guarantee will be 100% effective against such attacks," the home secretary said. The government is also examining whether "additional targeted passenger profiling" could help enhance airport security, he added. “ Since the Detroit incident, working closely with our American colleagues our intelligence agencies have built up a fuller picture of the suspect ”Downing Street "We will be considering all the issues involved, mindful of civil liberties concerns, aware that identity-based profiling has its limitations, but conscious of our overriding obligations to protect people's life and liberty," he said. Civil rights groups warn that body scanners could produce illegal images of children and images of celebrities that could be leaked online. He said that a staff code of conduct was going to be developed. Mr Johnson also told the Commons there was only a 50 to 60% chance that a body scanner would have detected bomb materials allegedly carried by Mr Abdulmutallab. He said such machines were not a "magic bullet". Mr Johnson also announced an urgent review of the "robustness" of the UK Border Agency's watch list. And he said that while the UK government did provide information to the US linked to "wider aspects", no data shared suggested any attack on the US might have been imminent. Mr Johnson said Mr Abdulmutallab was known to the security service, MI5, but not as somebody "engaged in violent extremism". Information exchange Downing Street said on Monday that intelligence about Mr Abdulmutallab had been handed to the US prior to the Christmas Day incident. This disclosure has added to pressure on US security agencies to explain why they failed to identify him. But a Downing Street spokesman said relations between the US and UK remained "excellent". The spokesman said: "There is absolutely no suggestion that the UK passed any information to the US which they did not act on. "We routinely exchange large amounts of intelligence with the US on a two-way basis so that we can build up a shared picture of the potential threats we face. "Since the Detroit incident, working closely with our American colleagues our intelligence agencies have built up a fuller picture of the suspect in that case. "As is usual this information has been shared appropriately." Embassy re-opened Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said he supported the use of an "intelligence-led approach" to airport security. But he accused Mr Brown of breaking the convention of not commenting on intelligence matters and warned the "inaccurate and cavalier" way he had acted could damage the relationship with the United States. Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil rights group Liberty, said ethnic profiling would be "dangerous, self-defeating and downright irresponsible". Meanwhile, Britain's embassy in Yemen re-opened on Tuesday after a two-day closure for security reasons. Downing Street said the embassy in the capital Sanaa was operational with staff working inside, although it remained closed to the public. Britain was one of a number of western countries - including the US and France - which shut their embassy doors amid concerns over a possible threat from al-Qaeda militants. The US embassy has also re-opened. 5 January 2010, BBC FBI Investigating White Powder Sent To Alabama Gov't Offices The offices of Rep. Jo Bonner (R-AL) in Foley and Mobile on Monday received two letters, which were examined by authorities. "Official tests of the letters have found nothing harmful," Bonner said in a statement. The lawmaker had been quarantined together with his staff while the powdery substance in the letters was scrutinized, according to Politico . NBC reports that the first letter arrived on Sunday at the Vance federal courthouse in Birmingham. Letters were also sent to the offices of Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Richard Shelby (R-AL). Another federal building in Anniston was targeted, according WSFA, and employees there were evacuated on Tuesday. A spokesman for Sessions has told the Birmingham News that the U.S. Capitol Police has instructed them not to issue statements while authorities are investigating. The anthrax scare comes two months after letters with white powder were sent to three foreign missions in New York. 5 January 2010, Allheadlinenews Third Western Yemen embassy shuts France has become the third Western nation to shut its Yemen embassy, after threats from an al-Qaeda offshoot, the foreign ministry in Paris announced. The US and UK missions remain shut after their closure on Sunday. The US government has accused Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula of being behind last month's attempt to blow up a US airliner over Detroit. The group claimed responsibility last week and urged attacks on "crusaders who work in embassies or elsewhere". Meanwhile, all travellers flying into the US are to be subjected to tightened security measures, officials have said. Airport staff will now carry out extra screening of people from 14 countries, including those the US considers to be state-sponsors of terrorism - Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria. Yemen and Nigeria - which the alleged bomber travelled through - face the new restrictions. Passengers travelling from other countries will be checked at random. The US and UK embassies remained closed for a second day on Monday, with officials citing concerns about an imminent attack. "The embassy is still closed again today... We are continuing to make the security review," a US diplomat told the Reuters news agency. The Yemeni authorities have meanwhile tightened security measures at Sanaa's airport, as well as around several other embassies . On Sunday, the US embassy said it had closed in response to "ongoing threats by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to attack American interests in Yemen". The UK followed suit, with a Foreign Office spokeswoman saying the embassy had been closed "for security reasons". Hours earlier, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the BBC: "This is a new type of threat and it is from a new source which is obviously Yemen". The US embassy was the target of an attack in September 2008 in which 19 people died, including a young American woman. The attack was blamed on AQAP. On Sunday, the US deputy national security adviser for homeland security and counter-terrorism said there were "indications that al-Qaeda is planning to carry out an attack against a target inside of Sanaa, possibly our embassy". John Brennan told ABC the group had "several hundred members" in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, and was posing an increasing threat. "We know that they have been targeting our embassy, our embassy personnel," he added. Al-Qaeda threat Last week, AQAP urged Muslims to help in "killing every crusader who works at their embassies or other places" and said it was behind the failed attempt to destroy the Northwest Airlines Airbus A330 on Christmas Day. Speaking separately to CNN, Mr Brennan said there were "indications" that a radical American cleric of Yemeni origin had links both to the Nigerian accused of the bomb plot, and the man accused of the Fort Hood shootings in November. He said the cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, had had direct contact with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab while he was being trained by AQAP operatives last year. It was clear, he said, that Mr Awlaki had also been in touch with Nidal Malik Hasan, the US Army major charged with shooting dead 13 people at Fort Hood. Since going on the run in Yemen in 2007, Mr Awlaki's overt endorsement of violence as a religious duty in his sermons and on the internet is thought to have inspired recruits to Islamist militancy. On Saturday, the head of US Central Command, Gen David Petraeus, visited Yemen's President Ali Abdallah Saleh to pledge US support for its fight with al-Qaeda and would double its counter-terrorism aid. Yemeni officials meanwhile said they had sent more troops to hunt down al-Qaeda militants in the provinces of Abyan, Baida and Shabwa, and "tighten the noose around extremists" in the country. Correspondents say the security situation in Yemen is complicated by an abundance of firearms, an insurgency in the north and a secessionist movement in the south. But the prospects of re-asserting central government authority over the lawless areas where al-Qaeda is based look, in the opinion of some analysts, remote - even with beefed-up American support. 4 January 2010, BBC Labour want knife crime treated as seriously as gun offences Judges and sheriffs would be ordered to treat knife crime as seriously as gun offences under new plans from Labour. The party want those convicted of blade crimes to get a mandatory jail sentence. And they will move an amendment to include the measure in the Scottish government's Criminal Justice Bill. They say the policy should be in line with firearms law, under which courts hand out a prison sentence in all but "exceptional circumstances". Labour justice spokesman Richard Baker said: "Labour will amend this Bill to ensure there is a mandatory minimum sentencing for knife crime. "There are some 3500 charges of possession of an offensive weapon each year and higher rates of violent crime than in England. "That is why it is time to send out a clear message - carry a knife and go to jail. Communities want tougher action to improve their safety." Only a third of those convicted of handling a blade currently receive a jail sentence. Others receive community punishments or a fine. A Scottish government spokesman said: "This government is taking tough action on those who carry and use knives - doing more than ever before. "We've seen jail terms for knife carrying increase by a third, while the justice secretary has made clear that those who use a knife should expect to go to jail. "Courts have been given powers to impose four-year sentences just for carrying a knife. "And our proposed Sentencing Council can take a considered look at sentencing." Scottish Tory community safety spokesman John Lamont said: "We welcome Richard Baker's conversion to our policy but unlike Labour, we want a two year mandatory sentence to mean two years." 3 January 2010, Sunday Mail
Airport pat-downs often ineffective security stop With all the screening technology at US airports, the last line of defense is still the human hand: The pat-down search. But aviation experts say the pat-down is often ineffective, in part because of government rules covering where screeners can put their hands and how frequently they can frisk passengers. As a result, even if the man accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound US jetliner on Christmas Day got an airport pat-down, it probably wouldn't have found the explosives authorities say were hidden in his crotch. "To have people hold up their arms and just pat them – like I'm really going to carry a bomb there,'' said industry analyst Michael Boyd, arguing that pat-downs were often of little value. "You know where you're going to put it, and no one's going to go there.'' Most travelers at US airports never get a pat-down when they pass through security. A metal detector must be set off first and then screeners would need to find out what triggered the alarm. That often amounts to screeners just lightly tapping on a passenger's arms, legs and clothes. But even if they go ahead with a pat-down, it likely would not turn up something non-metallic, small and well-hidden. Unlike the frisking of suspects conducted by police – which involves officers running their hands firmly up and down the body, including sensitive areas like the groin, buttocks and breasts – the pat-downs at airports usually involve, well, patting down. A flood of complaints by women prompted the Transportation Security Administration in 2004 to list 'dos' and 'don'ts' on pat-downs, including barring screeners from touching female passengers between their breasts. The TSA hasn't publicly released that list. But a report by the Government Accountability Office, which said federal investigators were able to smuggle liquid explosives and detonators past security at US airports, appeared to prompt some changes last year in pat-down policies. In one instance cited in the report, an investigator placed coins in his pockets to ensure he'd receive a secondary screening. But after a pat-down and use of a hand-held metal detector, the screener didn't catch the prohibited items the investigator brought through a checkpoint. The TSA last year decided to permit what it describes as "enhanced pat-downs'' that include breast and groin searches. But these could be done only under limited circumstances and only after the use of metal detectors, less invasive pat-downs and all other tools had been exhausted. Still, even in those cases, screeners must use the back of their hands when touching the groin area and breasts, according to the TSA. "This new procedure will affect a very small percentage of travelers, but it is a critical element in ensuring the safety of the flying public,'' the agency said in a statement on its Web site. Since the Dec. 25 incident, some have been calling for more pat-downs at airports. But sensitivities on all sides mean any push for more frequent, thorough pat-downs would likely meet fierce resistance. 3 January 2010, APPlane diverted after 'suspicious package' found on board A Northwest Airlines flight in the U.S. had to be diverted Friday after a suspicious package was found onboard - although it turned out to be a harmless hallmark of the holidays. The flight was on its way from Detroit to Orlando when it landed in Tennessee at around 8 a.m. “A package was discovered and out of an abundance of caution, the crew decided to stop in Nashville,” said Carlos Santos, a spokesman for Delta Air Lines, which owns Northwest. “Passengers were taken off the plane of course, to ensure their safety, and after the investigation it was discovered it was a harmless item,” he added. “It was a Christmas ornament.” Santos could not say who found the package, or what made it “particularly suspicious.” It was one week ago that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, allegedly attempted to blow up a Northwest flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day. Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian engineering student, allegedly tried to ignite an explosive hidden in his underwear as the plane flew over southwestern Ontario. There were 75 passengers and five crew members aboard the Jan. 1 flight. The plane made it to its destination in Florida after the delay, said Santos. Transport Canada has banned all carry-on luggage on flights to the U.S. until further notice. Passengers travelling within the U.S. are still permitted to bring one bag on-board, said Santos 1 January 2010, Canada.com Police chief in airport scanner demand Scotland's top anti-terror police officer has called on the government to introduce full-body scanners in the country's airports to thwart would-be suicide bombers. The Scotsman, 1 January 2010 The U.S. gave Nigeria four full-body scanners for its international airports in 2008 to detect explosives and drugs, but none were used on the man suspected trying to blow up a Detroit-bound flight, Nigerian officials say. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, tracked by cameras through the security check, only went through a metal detector and had his bag X-rayed when he arrived at Nigeria's busiest airport to start his journey, the officials say. The scanners deliver 3-D images that would have shown something hidden under clothing. But a spokesman for the anti-drug agency, which operates the Nigerian machines, told The Associated Press that the one at Lagos airport is used sporadically and only on potential narcotics smugglers. After clearing security at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Abdulmutallab flew to Amsterdam, boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253, and allegedly lit an explosive device hidden in his underpants as the plane approached Detroit on Christmas Day. Even word of the scanners' presence in Nigeria's four main airports apparently hasn't reached top officials, including one responsible for airline safety. Harold Demuren, the head of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, told reporters Wednesday that his government would buy 3-D full-body scanners for the airports, and insisted there were currently none there. But on Thursday, Ofoyeju Mitchell of Nigeria's National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, told the AP that one of the machines sits in a room near the security checkpoint in Lagos' often chaotic international airport. He said they aren't used on every passenger. Instead, drug agents select frequent flyers, travelers heading to and from drug shipment points, and people who seem deceptive or under stress. Nigeria is a major transit point for Afghan heroin and South American cocaine. “The frequency of checks is determined by the risk level of our assessment ... (and) reasonable cause for suspicion,” Mitchell said. Such limited use is not what the U.S. State Department intended when it gave Nigeria the scanners. According to an April 30 U.S. State Department report, the scanners were installed in March, May and June of 2008 “to detect explosives and drugs on passengers.” The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria would not comment on the use of the scanners. Reuben Abati, a columnist at Nigeria's Guardian newspaper, highlighted a different risk factor — a culture of graft and favoritism that allows VIPs to bypass screening. “Big men and their wives and children are often piloted through security,” Abati wrote. “They could go straight to the tarmac to board the aircraft, depending on the scope of their influence. With the power of cash, anything can be taken onto an aircraft in Nigeria.” Abdulmutallab's father is a prominent banker. However, Demuren and the country's Information Minister have said Abdulmutallab did go through a metal detector and had his bag X-rayed, citing security camera footage which they refuse to release. Sam Adurogboye, a spokesman for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, did not deny that some passengers have been allowed to breeze past security checkpoints. “It is possible in the past that people may have gone above the law,” he said. However, he insisted that new rules and their strict enforcement would prevent such practices from recurring. Passengers can fly directly from this West African city to Europe and the United States. The most recent available statistics say some 2.1 million international travelers passed through the airport in 2006. In new information released Thursday, Information Minister Dora Akunyili said Abdulmutallab flew into Lagos from Accra, Ghana on Christmas Eve and “spent less than 30 minutes” in the airport before catching the flight to Amsterdam. Nigerian officials had said earlier that his round-trip ticket was bought in Accra for $2,831 in cash on Dec. 16. Akunyili's statement did not say how he spent the rest of the week before flying to Lagos. Abdulmutallab raised no alarms as he boarded the flight to Amsterdam. He also underwent a second set of searches in Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport that turned up nothing. Schiphol has 15 scanners, but the U.S. has discouraged their routine use on privacy grounds. Dutch authorities say Abdulmutallab raised no suspicions that would require a scan. Demuren, the civil aviation chief, said scanners Nigeria will buy are “very new machines” used in few airports worldwide. “Nigeria is determined to acquire these,” he said. He referred further questions to the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, the agency that oversees airport construction and maintenance. An agency spokesman could not be reached for comment Thursday. Since the attempted bombing, the police presence at the Lagos airport has noticeably increased, with officers cradling weathered assault rifles both inside and outside the terminal. Airline officials also are making a point of going through every bag presented to them at check-in. Associated Press, 1 January 2010 Terror scare after Dewsbury MP Shahid Malik receives suspect package An envelope containing suspicious white powder was sent to Dewsbury MP Shahid Malik – sparking an anti-terrorist investigation at the House of Commons. Security staff feared it may contain deadly anthrax. Comments on the envelope suggest it was a supporter of the far right or someone pretending to be that sent it. The envelope is currently being examined and detectives are trying to trace the sender. The MP said: “It is unusual but also worrying to get something like this. “I do get abusive mail, but this goes one step further as it was designed to intimidate and frighten.” A spokesman for Mr Malik said: “Mr Malik is grateful to the police and very grateful to the parliamentary authorities for their alertness and dedication in ensuring the safety of all correspondence to parliamentarians. “He has been in his Dewsbury constituency all week and will continue serving constituents and carrying out his ministerial duties.” In a recent expenses claim Mr Malik claimed for £850 in security improvements to his home in London with a note saying: “Being Justice Minister, Home Office minister at the time and a high profile Parliamentarian who is outspoken on the extremism, terrorism and white supremacists I hope you agree it is reasonable.” Mr Malik has been targeted by the extreme right in the past. Last June far-right supporters posted a video clip featuring BNP leader Nick Griffin and a shot of Mr Malik covered in blood with the message telling the communities minister not to “mess with the big boys”. He has also received hate mail from Muslim extremists and his offices in Westminster and Dewsbury regularly receive abusive messages. Back in May, a man from Reading, Anthony Coyle, admitted sending abusive emails to Mr Malik. 31 December 2009, Huddersfield Examiner Passengers to be scanned after details emerge about Somali bomb plotA man was arrested last month when he attempted to board an aircraft in Somalia carrying powdered chemicals, liquid and a syringe, in a potential forerunner of the Christmas Day bomb plot. Somali police said yesterday that they were still holding the man who was arrested by African Union troops at Mogadishu airport on November 13. He was trying to board a Daallo Airlines flight that was bound for the northern Somali city of Hargeisa, then Djibouti before landing in Dubai, which is a hub for international travel. He tried to bribe his way on to the aircraft after being stopped. Abdulahi Hassan Barise, a police spokesman in Mogadishu, said: “We don't know whether he's linked with al-Qaeda or other foreign organisations but his actions were the acts of a terrorist. We caught him red-handed.” Barigye Bahoku, a spokesman for the African Union force, said that the chemicals might have caused an explosion but would not have brought the aircraft down. The arrest will add to international security concerns that al-Qaeda in Yemen may have ordered a number of sleepers to attempt airline attacks. It carries echoes of the attempt by Richard Reid, the “shoe bomber”, to blow up an aircraft in December 2001. Reid was stopped by passengers but his accomplice, Saajid Badat, was not arrested until 2004. Badat, from Gloucester, had pulled out of the suicide mission and hidden the explosives in his parents' home. The Christmas Day plot failed when the explosive, PETN, hidden in underwear worn by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab caught fire but failed to detonate on board a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam that was landing in Detroit. The bomb attempt by Mr Abdulmutallab and the possibility that other would-be bombers are poised to strike have led to heightened airport security around the world. The Dutch authorities said that they would now require all passengers boarding flights to the US to go through body scanners. They said that they had been trying to install the machines for flights to the US since 2008, but had been blocked by US officials who wanted all passengers screened. The checks will not be introduced at British airports because the Government is unconvinced that they can successfully detect explosives while scanning a large number of passengers. “We have no immediate plans to mandate the use of body scanners at UK airports,” a spokesman for the Department for Transport said. Manchester airport is testing a body scanner that uses radiation to penetrate clothing and detect artificial substances. A four-year trial came to an end at Heathrow in 2008 but its operator has no plans to bring back body scanning. The 15 scanners at Schiphol airport, where Mr Abdulmutallab boarded his flight, were on trial. The Dutch Government agreed to extend their use, but some aviation experts questioned whether the response was little more than window dressing. “I fear that what we are doing today is to placate the general public rather than have effective security,” Philip Baum, the editor of Aviation Security International , said. “I would say, if we are going to use the technology let's use the technology that could detect not only what happened on Christmas Day, but what might happen in 2010 or after that.” He said that profiling should be used to determine which passengers should be subjected to specific screening methods. Guusje Ter Horst, the Dutch Interior Minister, said she hoped that the European Parliament would not use privacy concerns to block widespread use of the scanners. The European Commission is meeting next week to discuss the issue. At $190,000 (£118,000) each, the machines are more expensive than the metal detectors used to screen passengers and are more bulky. Mr Abdulmutallab, 23, a former student at University College London, has been charged with attempting to bring down an aircraft and is under guard in an American hospital. Security sources in Britain said that an investigation was continuing into whom he met and associated with in London. He was president of the Islamic society of the university in 2006-07 and became involved in radical politics, organising a conference that included a lecture on jihad. Files from MI5 held no evidence that he was involved in attack planning during his three years in Britain but his name cropped up as “a trace”, indicating that at some point he had associated with extremist elements. Sources confirmed that although Mr Abdulmutallab was refused entry to Britain this year when he applied to study life coaching at a non-existent college, his name was not added to any security watchlist. He was recorded on a Border Agency database of people to be monitored for future illegal immigration attempts but was not classified as a security risk. Patrick Mercer, the Conservative chairman of the Commons subcommittee on counter-terrorism, said he was shocked that MI5 had not been informed as a matter of routine that Mr Abdulmutallab had been barred from entering Britain. “It seems terrible that someone like that who has been put on an immigration watchlist is not included on a security watchlist. There's clearly a gap here,” he said. He planned to write to Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, to ensure that people barred from Britain were checked by MI5 and immigration. Mr Mercer added: “This is a loophole in the Government's security and immigration policy. There should be one, not two different, systems. It's an example of a lack of joined-up government 31 December 2009, Times Online Nigeria, Netherlands announce security plans; Somalia reports foiled bombing attempt In Yemen, where investigators suspect the alleged plot to bomb the Northwest plane originated, security forces stormed an al-Qaeda hideout Wednesday in the western part of the country and engaged in a shootout with militants, Yemeni officials said. The government said in a statement that at least one suspected al-Qaeda member was arrested in the fighting in Hudaydah province on Yemen's Red Sea coast and that security forces would keep attacking the group, known as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, "until it is totally eliminated." One of the suspected al-Qaeda militants was injured in the fighting, and Yemeni forces were pursuing several who fled, the Associated Press reported. A young Nigerian who spent time in Yemen, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, is accused of concealing bomb components, including the explosive PETN, in his underwear and smuggling the components aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport before trying to detonate the deadly mixture as the aircraft, carrying nearly 300 passengers and crew, was nearing Detroit. The device caused a small fire, and passengers subdued Abdulmutallab, who is now in federal custody. He began his trip in Lagos, Nigeria's largest city and commercial hub, where he took a KLM flight to Amsterdam. In response to the incident, Dutch Interior Minister Guusje ter Horst announced Wednesday that Schiphol would begin using full-body scanners within three weeks to check passengers flying to the United States. She said the decision to use the devices was reached after consultations with U.S. authorities. Such scanners, which have drawn opposition from some rights groups because of privacy concerns, could have enabled authorities to detect the hidden explosives allegedly carried by Abdulmutallab, ter Horst said. "It is not exaggerating to say the world has escaped a disaster," she told a news conference. In a preliminary report, the Dutch government called the plan to bomb the airliner "fairly professional," but ter Horst said the execution was "amateurish," AP reported. Abdulmutallab allegedly assembled the device, including 80 grams of PETN, in an aircraft toilet and attempted to detonate it with a syringe of chemicals. Following the Dutch announcement, Nigeria said it would equip its international airports in Lagos and the capital, Abuja, with full-body scanners next year. Harold Demuren, chief of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, told reporters that the process of acquiring the scanners is underway. "These are new machines," he said, according to Reuters news agency. "Not many airports in the world are operating them right now, but Nigeria is determined . . . to acquire them" because of the threat from concealed explosives that cannot be spotted by conventional metal detectors. In a statement issued in New York, Somalia's mission to the United Nations said the alleged bombing attempt on the Northwest Airlines jet "was exactly similar" to an effort by a young Somali man to board a plane in the capital, Mogadishu, in November "with the same chemicals, syringe and liquid." The Somali man, whose name has not been disclosed, "was arrested at the airport," the statement said. It indicated that the operation was coordinated with authorities in Yemen, which lies across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia. According to AP, the Somali was arrested Nov. 13 by African Union peacekeeping troops before the Daallo Airlines flight's scheduled departure en route to Dubai, with stops in Hargeisa, a city in northern Somalia, and Djibouti. "We don't know whether he's linked with al-Qaeda or other foreign organizations, but his actions were the acts of a terrorist," a Somali police spokesman, Abdulahi Hassan Barise, said of the suspect, AP reported. "We caught him red-handed." Barigye Bahoku, a spokesman for the African Union military force in Mogadishu, said the chemicals carried by the Somali could have caused an explosion that would have led to decompression inside the plane, but probably would not have brought the plane down, AP reported. The news agency said U.S. officials now are investigating the Somali case to check for any possible links to the Detroit incident. A Somali security official said the suspect in Mogadishu, the last passenger to try to board the aircraft, carried about 2.2 pounds of chemical powder and a container of liquid chemicals, AP said. Once security officials detected the powder chemicals and syringe, the suspect tried to bribe the security team that detained him, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official said the suspect had a white shampoo bottle with a black acidlike substance in it, as well as a clear plastic bag with a light green chalky substance and a syringe containing a green liquid, AP reported. Bahoku said the powdered material smelled strongly of ammonia and that samples have been sent to London for testing, AP said. The decisions to ramp up airport security in Nigeria and the Netherlands came a day after President Obama criticized U.S. government agencies for failing to share and piece together "bits of information" that might have averted the bombing attempt aboard Flight 253. Citing a "mix of human and systemic failures" that allowed the suspect to board the flight with concealed explosives, he ordered agencies to give him "preliminary findings" by Thursday on how air-travel screening and the U.S. terrorist watch-list system could be improved. Among those disparate pieces of information, U.S. officials said, were an alert that Abdulmutallab's father gave the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria last month about his son's extremist views, intelligence suggesting a possible attack on the United States by al-Qaeda around Christmas, and references to an unidentified Nigerian in National Security Agency intercepts of communications involving a radical Muslim preacher in Yemen. In Washington, Republicans pounced on Obama's response to the alleged bomb plot, renewing charges that Democrats are not aggressive enough in fighting terrorism. According to House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), the plot "exposed a near-catastrophic failure at every level of our government." He blasted "the administration's treatment of this matter as a mere law enforcement issue," adding, "We're fighting a war on terror, and this was a terrorist act." In a statement, Boehner went on to call the administration's response "consistent with its dangerous decision to close the terrorist prison at Guantanamo Bay," transfer some detainees to other countries and try others, including accused plotters of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, in U.S. civilian courts. He called on Obama to "halt terrorist transfers to other countries, including Yemen, and to reevaluate his decision to close the prison at Guantanamo." 31 December 2009, Washington Post Suspect sought after explosives found A Canada-wide warrant has been issued for a suspect after explosives were found inside an East Vancouver home. Police confirmed Tuesday that a suspicious package found at a home in the 2000-block East 45th Avenue on Monday contained explosives. The package was safely removed and detonated by a Vancouver Police Department explosives technician at about 11:30 p.m. on Monday. VPD spokeswoman Const. Jana McGuinness said the explosives technician initiated two controlled detonations outside the home. She wouldn't say what type of explosives the package contained. Mark Emile Trube, 37, was identified as the suspect. He is believed to be in the Greater Vancouver area and may be driving a black 1993 Pontiac Grand Prix with B.C. licence plate No. 964 FLK. According to McGuinness, Trube doesn't reside at the East 45th Avenue home but is a relative of the occupants of the upstairs part of the house. Trube is charged with two counts of uttering threats, one count of possessing explosives with intent to cause bodily harm and one count of making or possessing explosives. Trube is Caucasian, six feet five inches, 278 pounds, with a heavy build, brown eyes and short, thinning black hair. Anyone who sees him or his vehicle is advised not to approach him but to call 911 immediately. Residents of the quiet East Vancouver neighbourhood were shocked to hear explosives were found in the home. Alba Garofalo said she has been living near the home where the explosives were found since 1963. "I've never had a problem here before," she said. "It was after dinner and the police officer came to the door and said, 'You'll have to [evacuate], it is unsafe here.' "It was crazy. I asked, 'What is the matter?' and the police said they can't say." She said she was later told a suspicious package with a lock on it had been found in a freezer in the home. Zelia Pinto and husband Jose have been living on the street for 30 years. They watched as a half-dozen police were at the home Tuesday afternoon. The windows of the home's main floor were shattered, apparently from the detonation. "We've never had anything like this before in our neighbourhood," said Zelia. "It was scary. You never know these days." 30 December 2009, The Province Times Square, Nasdaq Reopened After ScareNew York City's Times Square was closed briefly and three buildings including the Nasdaq headquarters were evacuated in a security scare on Wednesday, a day before the traditional New Year's Eve festivities in the famed intersection. The street closings and evacuations were prompted by a police investigation of a suspicious van that local media reported had been parked on Broadway for two days. No explosives were found in the van, which police examined with robots and remote cameras. The typically busy Times Square intersection, Nasdaq building and two other buildings were cleared of people during the investigation which lasted about two hours. Times Square was already crowded with tourists and a heavy police presence ahead of the traditional New Year's Eve festivities and the dropping of a large lit ball at midnight on December 31. Trade on the Nasdaq stock market went uninterrupted and the impact was minimal. "There was a quick small sell-off in equities which would be more attributable to people closing some positions in fear of an electronic breakdown rather than initiating speculative short positions," said Joe Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist at TD Ameritrade. The incident took place less than a week after a botched attempt on Christmas Day to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner. The airline incident has prompted heightened air travel security. 30 December 2009, Reuters Shahid Malik was target of suspect package A package containing suspicious white powder was sent to Pakistani-origin UK Communities Minister Shahid Malik, triggering an anti-terrorist probe in the House of Commons. 30 December 2009, PTI Victim 'was playing around with the switch'The parcel bomb that maimed a 60-year-old man in Qormi last week exploded after the victim fiddled with the switch of the suspicious package "probably out of curiosity", police sources said. After receiving the parcel on Tuesday, Philip Cini opened it and saw that inside there was a hollowed out book that acted as a casing for a contraption with a battery pack and switch. Mr Cini, who was in his kitchen at the time, "played around with the switch", probably out of curiosity, before the parcel blew up, sources said. As a result of the explosion, Mr Cini lost his left hand and had to undergo an operation because of serious injuries to the left side of his torso. Until yesterday evening he was still battling for his life at Mater Dei Hospital's Intensive Therapy Unit after his condition turned for the worse on Christmas Day. The police are still trying to establish the motive behind the crime directed at Mr Cini, who works at his brother's food packaging company, C. Cini & Sons. Explosives experts have said that anybody with a basic sense of electronics, access to the internet and a lot of guts would have been able to manufacture a parcel bomb similar to the one that maimed Mr Cini. Such bombs have a basic circuit similar to a torch but instead of the bulb the circuit is connected to a detonator, which is then inserted into the explosive material. Hitting the switch would have caused the explosion. Police sources said the package, addressed "To Philip from Doris", was delivered on Tuesday morning and Mr Cini's wife found it behind the door of their Qormi home and took it upstairs to the kitchen. When Mr Cini arrived at about 1.30 p.m., he unwrapped it and the bomb soon exploded. His wife, who had warned him not to open the parcel, and eight-year-old grandson escaped uninjured despite standing close to him. The blast damaged the aluminium balcony door and shattered the glass panes of the windows in the kitchen. Investigations have excluded the possibility that the parcel was delivered by postal services. The blast rekindled memories of the politically motivated parcel-bomb attack which killed Karin Grech around Christmas time 32 years ago today. 28 December 2009, Times of Malta Metal Detectors Useless in Finding Powerful Explosive PETN The man who authorities say strapped a highly powerful explosive to his torso and tried to detonate it in midair never would have gotten aboard the plane if a different security detector had been used when he boarded the flight, security experts and officials say. "Puffer" machines, full-body imaging scanners, a simple frisk or bomb-sniffing dogs all would likely have detected the chemical explosive PETN, experts say. But Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian suspected of trying to blow up Northwest Flight 253 on Christmas Day, encountered none of those deterrents when he traveled from Nigeria to Amsterdam and ultimately to Detroit. Abdulmutallab may likely have passed through a magnetometer, the conventional metal detector used at most airports. It's a sophisticated device that detects firearms, box-cutters, belt buckles and nail clippers — but it's useless in finding a small amount of powder capable of bringing down an airliner packed with passengers. PETN is the primary ingredient in detonating cords used for industrial explosions and can be collected by scraping the insides of the wire, said James Crippin, a Colorado explosives expert. Used in military devices and readily found in blasting caps, the chemical is stable and safe to handle but requires a primary explosive to detonate it. PETN was a component of the explosive that Richard Reid — the convicted "shoe bomber" — used in 2001 in his failed attempt to down an airliner. It also was used in an assassination attempt on the Saudi counterterrorism operations chief in August, according to the Saudi government. Authorities say Abdulmutallab hid a quantity of PETN in a condom-like bag just below his torso when he boarded the plane in Amsterdam, and that he tried to create an explosion on board by injecting a liquid into it with a syringe. "Puffer" machines — which release several "puffs" of air to shake loose trace explosive particles on a passenger — are designed to detect chemicals like PETN, but U.S. officials have begun phasing out the machines they require frequent maintenance. A spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration was unable to provide figures on exactly how many "puffer" machines — Explosive Trace Portals (ETPs) — are currently in use in the United States and at what cost. But according to a TSA blog post from May, a total of 33 ETPs were deployed to 15 airports at the time of the posting. At the program's peak, 94 of the 207 units purchased by the TSA were deployed to 37 airports. But by the summer of 2008, TSA officials decided to cut back on the technology. In total, the TSA has spent roughly $29.6 million on the "puffer" machines, including $6.2 million on maintenance, since the program began in 2004. That equates to roughly $65,957 total maintenance costs per unit, or about $13,191 per unit per year. "TSA also determined that more reliable and effective screening technologies have become available since ETPs were first introduced," the blog post read. "For these reasons, TSA has decided to phase out this technology." Full-body scanners, which create an electronic image of passengers to detect weapons or explosives, are reportedly in use in at least six airports nationwide. The machines use radio waves to peer through clothing and have created privacy concerns for passengers who feel invaded as intimate aspects of their bodies are revealed. Despite last week's incident, a Utah congressman says his push to ban their usage has not changed. Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz proposed to ban the machines in legislation that passed the House earlier this year but has since stalled in the Senate. "It's a difficult balance between protecting our civil liberties and protecting the safety of people on airplanes," Chaffetz told The Salt Lake Tribune . "I believe there's technology out there that can identify bomb-type materials without necessarily, overly invading our privacy." Chaffetz said other law enforcement tools such as heat sensors could be used as alternatives to the full-body scanners and noted that his bill would ban only primary use of the body imaging machines. Under his bill, screeners would still be able to force a passenger through the machines as a secondary screening tool. According to reports, those machines have not been in use at the Amsterdam airport where Abdulmutallab originated from last week. "The [security scans] are still in the test phase," an airport spokeswoman told NRC Handelsblad . "European regulations tell us we can only put people through them on a voluntary basis. And objections have been raised with regards to privacy." But had other screening methods been deployed — such as "puffer" machines, full-body imaging scanners or a even a simple frisk — the powder would have been detected, said Andrew Thomas, an assistant professor at the University of Akron and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Transportation Security. "Theoretically, if everything was working well, it probably would have," Thomas told FoxNews.com. "But there's a lot of things that have to fall into place." Thomas said airport screeners should shift their focus away from so-called "bad items" like knives, guns and explosives and rather concentrate on "bad people" who seek to commit terrorist acts. "We need technology that helps people do their job, not the other way around," he said. "Threats are human and the response needs to be human with the help of technology." James Carafano, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, said a bomb-sniffing dog would also have likely uncovered the chemical. "That would've done it," Carafano said. "And there are no privacy issues in any of this stuff. There may be some inconvenience, but in terms of legal privacy protections, that's not really the issue here. The issue here is cost." Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Sunday that Abdulmutallab was on a broad U.S. terrorist watch list but was not designated for special screening measures or placed on a no-fly list because of a dearth of specific information regarding his activities. Had he been subjected to a secondary luggage check in Amsterdam, however, screeners would have likely found trace elements of PETN on his body, Carafano said. "What we really need to be focusing in is stopping the guy from ever getting to the airport," Carafano said. "There was clearly not enough done to connect the dots. We built a system to beat these guys, but unless we use the system that we built, it's not going to work. Throwing a half million people's name into a hat doesn't mean anything unless you do something with those names." Abdulmutallab did not go through full-body imaging machines in Nigeria or Amerstam, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., the top Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, told The Associated Press. King, who has been briefed on the investigation, said Amsterdam's airport has had a long reputation for good security while Nigeria's has been more of a concern. Both facilities have body scanners. According to the State Department, the U.S. provided full-body scanners to all four international airports in Nigeria. 29 December 2009, Fox News Airports step up security after failed airline attack Airports worldwide ramped up security after a botched attempt to blow up a US bound plane on Christmas Day, with the failed terror attack throwing the spotlight back onto flight safety. Amsterdam-Schipol airport was also investigating how the 23-year-old Nigerian with reported links to Al-Qaeda could smuggle onboard explosives that he tried to detonate as the flight approached Detroit before being overpowered. The United States quickly asked airlines worldwide to tighten security and airport authorities said they were complying with extra screening and strict baggage limits that heaped hours onto check-in times. "The extra measures will apply throughout the world on all flights to the United States for an unlimited duration," the office of the Dutch national coordinator against terrorism (NCTB) said. "It will involve, for example, frisking passengers and extra checks on hand baggage," NCTB spokeswoman Judith Sluiter told AFP. The measures came into force on Saturday morning in The Netherlands which received a formal request from the US authorities during the night, she said. Within the United States, the Department of Homeland Security tightened security checks for passengers on all domestic and international flights, putting additional screening measures into place. "These measures are designed to be unpredictable, so passengers should not expect to see the same thing everywhere," the department's statement said. In London a British Airways spokesman said, "The United States government has revised its security arrangements for all passengers travelling into the US. "This includes additional screening of all US-bound passengers and hand luggage before they board their flights," he said. "Passengers travelling to the US will only be allowed to carry one item of hand luggage." At Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport passengers were told that all hand baggage had to be checked into the hold, except for women's handbags, one passenger told AFP. Items required during the flight, such as books, had to be put into special plastic bags and, after normal security checks, passengers were frisked again just before boarding when their remaining hand luggage was reexamined, he said. Rome announced that all Italian airports had reinforced security checks on every flight to the United States, and Stockholm said more stringent security had also been introduced only for US-bound planes. Austrian Interior Ministry spokesman Rudolf Gollia told newspapers that passengers and luggage at Vienna airport will be "checked 100 percent". In Brussels, authorities said new safety measures for US-headed planes would be reevaluated after December 30. Flights to other destinations had not been affected but vigilance had generally been reinforced, an official said. Canada announced "immediate action" and warned that the tighter security could lead to delays. Air Canada urged travellers to arrive at the airport earlier and warned those with short connection times might miss their flights due to enhanced security, but would be rebooked at no charge. The European Commission in Brussels said it was investigating if proper security measures had been followed in Amsterdam where would-be bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had boarded the Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit. "This incident shows once again that vigilance is necessary at all times in the fight against terror," a commission vice president, Jacques Barrot, said in a statement. Abdulmutallab had been able to pass what US authorities have determined was the high explosive PETN through checks at Schiphol. "We are investigating from where he came, through which security barriers he passed and his travel itinerary," the NCTB spokeswoman told AFP. Since Al-Qaeda's suicide attacks with hijacked airliners on New York and Washington in September 2001 and an attempted "shoe-bombing" on a Christmas week flight a few months later, airline security has been increasing. In 2003, airlines reinforced cockpit doors to prevent terrorists from taking control of planes and in 2006 many countries introduced strict restrictions on liquids allowed in luggage. In 2008, the European Parliament authorised the presence of armed air marshals on commercial flights, following the US example. But experts point out that 100 percent terrorism-proof airports simply do not exist, as reporters have shown by smuggling weapons and explosives onto flights. Amsterdam's Schiphol meets all international security standards, a former security director for Northwest Airlines, Douglas Laird, told AFP. He recommends airports switch from X-rays and metal detectors to full-body scans -- although the difference in costs between the two is enormous. "I hate to say it, but you get what you pay for," Laird said. Terrorism analyst Peter Bergen said on CNN that the attacker may have chosen a holiday season to strike because it could be easier to dodge detection at this time. "Attacking during the holiday season is designed to terrorise," he added. 27 December 2009, France 24 Nigeria: Police - Lagos Parcel Bomb is Improvised More facts emerged yesterday on the parcel bomb that exploded at the premises of Superscreen Television, Lagos on Tuesday as the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Marvel Akpoyibo, said the bomb was an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). Akpoyibo also gave the name of the injured courier of the bomb as Mr. Olayiwola Ahmed. In the meantime, it has emerged that Superscreen TV is owned by Citi Trust Media Limited and not the President of Believers Love World aka Christ Embassy, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome. The chairman of the TV station, Otunba Otukayode Otufale, confirmed to THISDAY last night. Speaking at a press briefing at the Conference Hall of the state Police Command, Headquarters Ikeja, Lagos, Akpoyibo said the material allegedly neatly wrapped in a Christmas gift-parcel went off in the hands of the young man, aged 27years, while he was on the 4th floor of the building known as "Logemo House. " The police boss said a thorough search by detectives at the scene of the explosion also revealed that the suspect was still in possession of two additional explosive devices which were still very active as at the time of the incident. Akpoyibo, however, stated that the two devices were immediately diffused by police operatives after which the premises of the building housing the TV station was certified safe and fit for normal business. The CP further disclosed that the injured suspect had since been taken to a public hospital, where he is currently being treated. He said the state Police Command had also commenced investigations into the incidence, with a view to getting to the root of the matter. But he assured Lagosians of their continued safety at all times, as he said the command was determined to continue to deliver excellent security service to the citizens of the state. "Our capacity, logistics and combat-readiness are never in doubt and this was profoundly demonstrated by the prompt arrest of the suspect. As such, there is no cause for alarm," he said. An attempt to target some top management staff of Superscreen Television for bomb attack on Tuesday in Lagos had boomeranged as the merchant of death sent to deliver the items in the form of a gift item fell victim of his evil act following the explosion of one of the bombs while attempting to locate the exact office of the television outfit. The incident which occurred about 11. 30 am shook the entire 10-storey building on No 151 Ikorodu Road, Onipanu Bus Stop and sent occupants into pandemonium. Meanwhile, the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has expressed shock and dismay over the failed attempt to letter- bomb the TV station, saying it was surprised that anyone could employ such crude method of self help to settle grudges, 10 years into our democracy and rule of law regime. The NGE, in a statement issued last night by its President, Mr. Gbenga Adefaye, said: "It is particularly worrisome that rather than engage in dialogue and discourses, some evil minds would attempt to re-enact the horrors of October 19, 1986 when the first Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch magazine was letter-bombed in his Ikeja home. That murder has remained un-resolved. And we had thought that the era of darkness was gone until the serial killings of journalists like Godwin Agbroko and Abayomi Ogundeji of THISDAY and lately Bayo Ohu of The Guardian, amongst others. Now, this further descent into darkness". The NGE condemned what it called the obvious act of intimidation designed to overawe the media, discourage a free and unfettered press and promote democracy. It called on the police to get to the root of the dastardly attempt at violating Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution as well as committing a crime against the staff of Superscreen TV. "An attack on any journalist is an attack on the press as a whole. Anything short of getting to the root of this evil can only further undermine the confidence of the citizenry in the ability of the government to guarantee security of lives and properties," NGE said. In another development, the Lagos Police boss has said the command has recorded considerable achievement in its investigation into the gruesome murder of Mrs. Patricia Oby Chidiac, who was shot dead by unknown gunmen at the premises of Sacred Heart Catholic Church Apapa, Lagos, in May this year. Akpoyibo said the death had been a subject of discreet police investigation. He said he received an anonymous letter from a yet-to-be identified person which gave some detailed information on how the woman was killed, but that the information was still sketchy. He therefore urged the person responsible for the initial information to come forward with detailed information regarding the circumstances surrounding the incidence. Akpoyibo promised that the identity of the would-be informant would ever remain protected. "The person should come to the office of the Commissioner of Police Lagos State as I promise that his identity would be protected," he said. 24 December 2009, All Africa |
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