Tag Archives: threat

Ridge: Bush officials sought to raise terror alert before ’04 vote

Former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge says he successfully countered an effort by senior Bush administration officials to raise the nation’s terror alert level in the days before the 2004 presidential vote. “An election-eve drama was being played out at the highest levels of our government” after Osama bin Laden released a pre-election message critical of President George W. Bush, writes Ridge in his new book, “The Test of Our Times.” Attorney General John Ashcroft and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld strongly advocated raising the security threat level to “orange” — even though Ridge believed a threatening message “should not be the sole reason to elevate the threat level.” The former Pennsylvania governor also writes that he saw no reason for the move, which he now calls a bad idea, because additional security precautions had already been taken in advance of the election

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Global terror warning as Somali militants flex muscles

An Al Qaeda-linked militant group waging war against Somalia’s fragile government is becoming an increasing threat to Western ally Kenya and could potentially destabilize the region with dire consequences for global security, officials and analysts warn. Al-Shabaab, one of the strongest Islamic militias battling for control of Mogadishu, has gained ground in recent weeks, according to officials, and has started to flex its muscles beyond Somalia’s border with terror strikes, kidnappings and recruitment drives.

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Britain downgrades terror threat level

Britain on Monday downgraded its international terror threat level from "severe" to "substantial." The notice was issued by The Joint Terrorism Analysis Center (JTAC), which operates independently of ministers. According to the British Home Office Web site, the change means that a terrorist threat remains a strong possibility and an attack might occur without further warning. JTAC assesses the threat from international terrorism by considering all relevant intelligence and information.

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Schools Close as Spike in Swine Flu Cases Hits Japan

In a sudden surge that took Asian health officials by surprise, the Japanese health ministry confirmed on Monday at least 125 new cases of the A virus — or swine flu — in the country’s western prefectures of Osaka and Hyogo. Officials have shut down around 1,000 schools since many of the infected were high-school students. Japan, along with the United Kingdom and Spain, is now one of the few countries outside of North America where the World Health Organization fears sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus could lead to the onset of a full-blown pandemic

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Time running out to stop Iran nuclear pursuit, investigator says

A man who spearheaded financial investigations of Iran said Wednesday the Islamic republic is "deadly serious" about developing nuclear weapons and long-range missiles — and there’s not much time to stop it before it does. New York District Attorney Robert Morgenthau told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that although he’s not an expert on proliferation, many such experts were consulted in the financial probes “and it comes out loud and clear: It is late in this game and we don’t have a lot of time to stop Iran from developing long-range missiles and nuclear weapons.” Morgenthau helped uncover a multibillion-dollar scam that Iran used to move money through U.S. financial institutions to help buy materials for its nuclear and missile programs

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Demi Moore responds to Twitter suicide threat

Actress Demi Moore’s frequent postings on Twitter put her in the middle of a life-and-death drama Friday when a woman sent her an online message threatening suicide. Moore, who was in southern France where her husband, actor Ashton Kutcher, is filming a movie, quickly replied to the threat saying, “Hope you are joking.” Twitter followers who saw the message tracked it to a San Jose, California, home, where police found a 48-year-old woman.

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