The Latest from National Terror Alert Response Center

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• Sebelius On Swine Flu, We’re Preparing For The
  Worst
  
  
• Mexico Sacks Border Officers, Brings In The
  Army
  
  
  
• Russia Orders Nuclear Subs To Find Pirated Ship,
  Mystery Cargo
  
  
• North Korea On Special Alert Over Military
  Drill

Sebelius On Swine Flu, We’re Preparing For The Worst Posted: 16 Aug 2009 09:16 PM PDT Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Sunday that it would likely be Thanksgiving before the most vulnerable, high priority populations are completely vaccinated against the H1N1 or swine flu virus. In the meantime, Sebelius said parents and schools need to make back-up plans to deal with possible illness. “We’re playing out a whole variety of scenarios,” Sebelius said on CNN’s State of the Union. “We’re preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.” Sebelius told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King that the administration was “optimistic” it would have a vaccine available by around mid-October. “But the regimen will take about five weeks,” Sebelius said, “A first shot, three weeks delay, second shot, and then about two weeks for full immunity. So we’re really need to work between now and Thanksgiving with lots of social mitigation – keeping kids home from school if they’re sick. I would urge every family have a back-up child care plan.” “If a parent gets sick, was is the plan?,” Sebelius also said Sunday, “because we know the disease spreads quickly and we will not have fully immunized even priority populations until about Thanksgiving.” via CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive – Sebelius on swine flu: ‘We’re preparing for the worst’ « – Blogs from CNN.com. 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. Sebelius On Swine Flu, We’re Preparing For The Worst

Mexico Sacks Border Officers, Brings In The Army Posted: 16 Aug 2009 09:12 PM PDT More than 700 customs officers at airports and land crossings have been replaced in Mexico in a crackdown on corrupt agents who allow drugs and weapons to flow across the country’s borders, a spokesman for the customs service said yesterday. Reforma newspaper had reported earlier that the contracts of 1,100 agents were allowed to expire on Saturday as part of a plan to modernise the customs service, according to tax and customs sources. A new force of 1,470 agents is being sworn in to replace the former workers. Soldiers took control of at least one border crossing at Ciudad Juárez, across from Texas, to assist with the transition, the paper reported. Pedro Canabal, a spokesman for the tax administration service, said the agency had decided not to rehire the officers when their contracts expired. They were replaced by agents who had undergone months of training and background checks to ensure they had no criminal records. “This change is part of our response to new demands in the fight against contraband,” he said. Mexico’s rival drug cartels are fighting for control of lucrative smuggling routes into the US. More than 13,000 people, mostly gang members, police and soldiers, have died in the violence since Felipe Calderón became president in December 2006, pledging to crush the smugglers. 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. Mexico Sacks Border Officers, Brings In The Army

Russia Orders Nuclear Subs To Find Pirated Ship, Mystery Cargo Posted: 16 Aug 2009 08:51 PM PDT Seems like a lot of attention is being paid to this ship by more than just the Russians. The Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, has instructed his nation’s military to do whatever it takes to trace and, if necessary, recapture a cargo ship that has mysteriously disappeared amid fears pirates have hijacked it. Russian warships and nuclear submarines have been scrambled in a search for the Arctic Sea as suspicions mount that it could be carrying arms or drugs. Mr Medvedev ordered the Defence Minister, Anatoly Serdyukov, to ”take all necessary measures to locate, monitor and, if necessary, to free the missing vessel”, a statement issued by the President’s office said. ”All Russian navy ships in the Atlantic have been sent to join the search for the Arctic Sea,” said Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky, the navy commander. The 3988-tonne ship, crewed by Russians and sailing under the Maltese flag, is officially carrying a cargo of Finnish timber. It left Finland on July 23 bound for the Algerian port of Bejaia. Swedish police say the ship was hijacked in the Baltic Sea on July 24, when masked men claiming to be anti-drug police boarded the ship, tied up the crew and searched the vessel. But the men reportedly left after about 12 hours. Since the Arctic Sea’s disappearance, however, maritime experts are questioning whether the hijackers remained in control of the ship as it passed through the English Channel and headed out to sea. Raed Full Article $1 Million Ransom Demand For Russian Ship The ransom demand came as The Mail on Sunday established radiation tests were carried out at the port of Pietarsaari in western Finland, where the Maltese-flagged ship Arctic Sea started its voyage. The Turkish-built vessel, which was carrying £900,000 worth of timber, is feared to have been stormed by pirates looking for a ‘secret cargo’. The fact that nuclear tests were conducted will fuel speculation that the ship did have a hidden cargo. Enquiries by this newspaper have established that no checks were carried out on what was being transported in the hold prior to its departure from Finland on July 23. And the FSB, the Russian security service, as well as MI5 have been involved in the investigation into the hijacked vessel. 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. Russia Orders Nuclear Subs To Find Pirated Ship, Mystery Cargo

North Korea On Special Alert Over Military Drill Posted: 16 Aug 2009 08:36 PM PDT The top command of North Korea’s Korean People’s Army ordered all nationals and military forces Monday to be on “special alert” over a joint U.S.-South Korean military drill that began the same day, the official Korean Central News Agency said. The order from the Supreme Command, whose supreme commander is North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, suggests an unusually tough stance on the Ulji Freedom Guardian joint military exercises, which run through Aug. 27. North Korea will retaliate against any military provocation with “a merciless and prompt annihilating strike at the aggressors with all offensive and defensive means including nuclear deterrent involved,” the KPA’s top command was quoted by KCNA as saying. Along with all military forces, the top command ordered militia groups such as the Worker-Peasant Red Guards and the Young Red Guards to “closely follow all the moves” by the U.S. and South Korean forces with “high vigilance” and “make an immediate strong attack on perpetrators of any hostile act” against North Korea. North Korea calls the U.S.-South Korea drill a prelude to an invasion, but Washington and Seoul refute such a claim, saying it is purely defensive. The top command urged all nationals to “bring about a new leaping forward” in North Korea’s “150-day campaign” to step up the building of a prosperous and powerful socialist nation, KCNA said. In the campaign, which will run through Sept. 16, North Korea plans to lift the economy by developing four key sectors — power generation, coal, steel and metal, and railway transport. Read 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. North Korea On Special Alert Over Military Drill

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