The Latest from National Terror Alert Response Center

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• Recruiter Shooter Suspect - Islam Justified Killing
  
• High School Mixes Algebra, Homeland Security
  
• Bizarre Kidnap Warning In Canada
  
• Swine Flu Pandemic - WHO Preparing To Announce?
  
• Pipeline Inspection Gauge ‘PIG’ Cited As Terror Threat
  
• Blast at Luxury Pakistan Hotel Kills Several
  
• Acid Thrown on Crowd In Hong Kong Shopping District
  
• PATH Stations To Screen Passengers For Explosives
  
• North Korea Threatens Merciless Nuclear Offensive
  

Recruiter Shooter Suspect - Islam Justified Killing Posted: 09 Jun 2009 11:36 PM PDT Muslim convert charged with fatally shooting an American soldier at a military recruiting center said Tuesday that he doesn’t consider the killing a murder because U.S. military action in the Middle East made the killing justified. “I do feel I’m not guilty,” Abdulhakim Muhammad told The Associated Press in a collect call from the Pulaski County jail. “I don’t think it was murder, because murder is when a person kills another person without justified reason.” Pvt. William Andrew Long, 23, of Conway had just completed basic training and was volunteering at the west Little Rock recruiting office before starting an assignment in South Korea. He was shot dead June 1 while smoking a cigarette outside the building, and a fellow soldier, Pvt. Quinton I. Ezeagwula, 18, of Jacksonville was wounded. Ezeagwula spoke briefly at a news conference at a Jacksonville recruiting center Tuesday, saying he had wounds in his back, head and buttocks from the shooting. The private, who also had just completed basic training, said he hopes to become a heavy equipment operator in the Army and later serve as a drill instructor. An Army captain repeatedly stopped Ezeagwula from answering questions about what happened during the shooting or his thoughts about the suspect. Muhammad told the AP he admitted to his actions to police and said he was retaliating against the U.S. military. “Yes, I did tell the police upon my arrest that this was an act of retaliation, and not a reaction on the soldiers personally,” Muhammad said. He called it “a act, for the sake of God, for the sake of Allah, the Lord of all the world, and also a retaliation on U.S. military.” Source This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information.

High School Mixes Algebra, Homeland Security Posted: 09 Jun 2009 11:30 PM PDT Flanked by hand-drawn posters about terrorist groups, from Al Qaeda to the Ku Klux Klan, Tina Edler solemnly addressed her ninth-grade students. “One new vocabulary word today is ‘agro-terrorism’,” she said. The meaning — deliberate sabotage of agriculture or food supplies — flashed on a screen behind her. Opening their school-issued laptops, the teens quickly found a possible example on the Internet. In 1989, a group calling itself the “Breeders” hit headlines when it threatened to release thousands of crop-killing Mediterranean fruit flies in Southern California unless the government halted aerial pesticide spraying. The spraying continued, and scientists never could determine whether the group played a role in the Medfly infestation that year. Its members were never identified. “That counts,” Edler said. “It’s part of history.” Meade High School, where Edler teaches, made its own history this year. The long-troubled public high school become one of the first in the nation to offer a four-year course in domestic security. The goal: to help graduates build careers in one of America’s few growth industries. “This course will help me get a top-secret security clearance,” said Darryl Bagley, an eager 15-year-old. “That way I can always get a job.” Meade offers its 2,150 students a standard high school curriculum, including electives like advanced calculus and carpentry. But the 90 ninth-graders who chose the new homeland security program this past school year focused on topics torn from the headlines: Islamic jihadism, nuclear arms, cyber-crime, domestic militias and the like. New themes even were added to their science, social studies and English classes. “There’s a lot of homeland security issues in ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ ” said Bill Sheppard, the program coordinator. “Like, how do you deal with infiltration in your own family?” Read Full Article - Los Angeles Times. This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information.

Bizarre Kidnap Warning In Canada Posted: 09 Jun 2009 11:21 PM PDT This ranks among one of the strangest news stories I have seen. ~Martin Mounties in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond, B.C., have issued an unusual warning about a potential child kidnapping plot. Cpl. Jennifer Pound says they have information to believe an abduction may happen in the next several weeks. She calls the information “minimal” but advises parents to be vigilant, urging them to tell their children to walk in groups in well lit, high-traffic areas. “If approached, kids need to know that it is okay to misbehave,” Pound said. “Talk to your kids and ensure them that it is important for them to draw attention to themselves. It is okay to yell and scream and do whatever they can do to get the attention of passer-bys.” Pound would not specify how the RCMP received the information, but stresses the importance of the warning. “We understand parents will be panicked about this,” Pound said. “We don’t want them to be panicked but we want this information to get out there because it’s a child, and we need to get out that info to a large group.” Bruce Beairsto, superintendent of the Richmond School District, says he was informed of the threat on Tuesday afternoon. Beairsto says the Richmond School Board intends to take “prudent precautions around schools” and will also relay safety tips to students about the danger of strangers. Linda McPhail of the Richmond School Board says a letter, translated into several languages, will be sent home to parents Wednesday. “It will contain the notice by RCMP about a possible situation and how parents can take action,” McPhail said. “And if they notice anything strange to contact both the school and the RCMP.” The RCMP believes the potential victim is Asian and attends one of the Richmond elementary schools. Pound says the potential perpetrator knows who the child is, but they have been unable to identify the potential victim. The RCMP Serious Crimes Unit, as well as the Youth Section, General Duty, and Bike Sections have all been alerted, and are all participating in the joint investigation. via CTV British Columbia- RCMP issue warning about child kidnapping plot - CTV News, Shows and Sports — Canadian Television. This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information.

Swine Flu Pandemic - WHO Preparing To Announce? Posted: 09 Jun 2009 01:39 PM PDT The World Health Organization is preparing to declare a swine flu pandemic, officials hinted Tuesday, saying that the goal now is to prevent countries and populations from panicking. “One of the critical issues is that we do not want people to panic if they hear that we are in a pandemic situation,” Feiji Fukuda, WHO’s acting assistant director-general, said in a media call Tuesday. “We know the virus is spreading and we are now seeing activity picking up in a number of countries. We know that we are getting closer to probably a pandemic situation,” Fukuda said. The number of countries reporting lab confirmed cases of human swine flu stood at 73 Tuesday, with 26,563 cases, including 249 deaths. Fukuda says WHO “has been working extremely hard in terms of preparing countries, preparing populations for what a potential move to Phase 6 would entail.” The virus continues to be sensitive to anti-viral drugs, he says. The majority of infections are occurring in younger people, under age 60, which is different than normal season flu. WHO is concerned about the “disproportionate number” of serious cases occurring in the outbreak of HIN1 at St. Theresa Point, a remote First Nation in northern Manitoba, where hundreds of people have reported symptoms in the community of 3,200 and at least 20 have been treated in hospital. These are observations of concern to us,” Fukuda said. Source This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information.

Pipeline Inspection Gauge ‘PIG’ Cited As Terror Threat Posted: 09 Jun 2009 01:10 PM PDT A pig is a device used by pipe contractors to clean or detect weaknesses in pipelines used for oil and gas, water or sewage. The device gets its name not only because of the acronym for pipeline inspection gauge but because it makes a squealing sound while traveling through a pipeline. Pigs come in various sizes and can travel remotely at high speeds. Contractors routinely use pigs in maintaining their pipelines. U.S. security experts believe terrorists are capable of using pigs to infiltrate the pipeline networks in the United States and create havoc and destruction. Read Full Article WND This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information.

Blast at Luxury Pakistan Hotel Kills Several Posted: 09 Jun 2009 01:07 PM PDT Homicide attackers in a truck launched an assault Tuesday on a luxury hotel commonly used by foreigners in Peshawar, firing guns as they stormed past guards and then setting off a huge blast that killed at least five people and wounded 65 more, Pakistani officials said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in the largest city in Pakistan’s restive northwest, but it fit the pattern of recent Taliban attacks the militants said were in retaliation for a military campaign against militants in the Swat Valley region. Local television networks showed part of the Pearl Continental Hotel had been demolished in the blast, reduced to concrete rubble and twisted steel. The scene was pandemonium, with armed police rushing around and Pakistani men standing by looking stunned. One man held a bloodied rag to his head. Source This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information.

Acid Thrown on Crowd In Hong Kong Shopping District Posted: 09 Jun 2009 07:26 AM PDT A bottle of acid thrown into a crowd in one of Hong Kong’s popular shopping districts injured 24 pedestrians, police said Tuesday, the third in a series of attacks that have injured nearly 100 people. None of the victims were seriously burned when a bottle filled with a corrosive liquid was thrown at pedestrians in the busy Mong Kok district on Monday night. Police were investigating all three incidents and have posted a $116,097 reward for information leading to an arrest. On the same street last month, 30 people suffered burns when two plastic bottles filled with acid were thrown down into a crowd. Another 46 were injured in a similar attack around the area in December. Police superintendent Edward Leung told the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong’s English-language newspaper, that it was possible the same person had carried out all three attacks. Read Full Article This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information.

PATH Stations To Screen Passengers For Explosives Posted: 09 Jun 2009 07:16 AM PDT New security technology to detect threats like explosive devices will be tested at PATH train stations over the next month. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the trans-Hudson River commuter train system, announced Monday that the pilot program will start June 10 and run through July 10. The program will test passive millimeter wave technology, which can detect explosives hidden under clothing. The Port Authority says all passengers entering a station where the testing is taking place will be tested, and anyone who does not want to be tested will have to use another station. Source This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information.

North Korea Threatens Merciless Nuclear Offensive Posted: 09 Jun 2009 06:59 AM PDT North Korea today said it would use nuclear weapons in a “merciless offensive” if provoked — its latest bellicose rhetoric apparently aimed at deterring any international punishment for its recent atomic test blast. The tensions emanating from Pyongyang are beginning to hit nascent business ties with the South: a Seoul-based fur manufacturer became the first South Korean company to announce Monday it was pulling out of an industrial complex in the North’s border town of Kaesong. The complex, which opened in 2004, is a key symbol of rapprochement between the two Koreas but the goodwill is evaporating quickly in the wake of North Korea’s nuclear test on May 25 and subsequent missile tests. Pyongyang raised tensions a notch by reviving its rhetoric in a commentary in the state-run Minju Joson newspaper today. “Our nuclear deterrent will be a strong defensive means…as well as a merciless offensive means to deal a just retaliatory strike to those who touch the country’s dignity and sovereignty even a bit,” said the commentary, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. It appeared to be the first time that North Korea referred to its nuclear arsenal as “offensive” in nature. Pyongyang has long claimed that its nuclear weapons program is a deterrent and only for self-defense against what it calls US attempts to invade it. Read Full Article This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information.

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