World News 22-12-2003 America On High Terror Alert who: Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge what: Says US is on Orange Alert over terror threat to "rival or exceed" September 11th 2001 where: Washington DC when: Yesterday snippet: "The US Government has raised the nation`s terror alert to its second-highest level," says the BBC. "Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge said the move followed a substantial increase in intelligence reports about possible threats." He told the media that there was evidence of a plot on a scale which could scale that could "rival or exceed" September 11th 2001, says The Financial Times. "Officials cited intelligence that extremists were still interested in using airplanes - as al Qaeda did to strike the World Trade Center and Pentagon more than two years ago, killing nearly 3,000 people." The increased alert "triggers draconian controls at government buildings, airports and other sensitive sites," explains The Telegraph`s Washington correspondent David Rennie. "Air travellers to and in America can expect stringent security checks. Airports have been told they may need to draft in state and local police forces." "It is the first time in seven months that the US has issued an orange alert," says The Guardian. "In Britain, a Home Office spokesman said the US warning had no bearing on Britain`s own state of alert, which has been at "heightened readiness" for weeks." [... more]

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