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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- U.S. authorities have charged a man with attempting to board a flight from Puerto Rico with weapons including a stun gun, a switchblade knife and four box cutters. ~ snip ~ Pol was scheduled to take a JetBlue flight to Boston when he was arrested on Monday. In addition to the knives agents found pepper spray and a flight simulator program in his luggage.

BOSTON (AP) — A woman on a trans-Atlantic flight diverted to Boston for security concerns passed several notes to crew members, urinated on the cabin floor and made comments the crew believed were references to al-Qaida and the Sept. 11 attacks, according to an affidavit filed Thursday. Catherine C. Mayo, 59, of Braintree, Vt., was to appear in federal court later Thursday on a charge of interfering with a flight crew after disrupting United 923 as it flew from London to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. The flight, with 182 passengers and 12 crew members, landed safely with the escort of...

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will begin enforcing a ban, beginning today, on all types of lighters from the secure areas of airports and onboard airplanes. The policy is in response to a requirement in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. TSA announced the ban in February and set aside 45 days to educate the traveling public about the ban. "Terrorists constantly seek innovative means to cause harm, and this requires appropriate risk mitigation," said Rear Adm. David M. Stone, USN (Ret.), Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for TSA. "This policy provides another layer of protection in...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Airline passengers, who already are prohibited from carrying torch-like butane lighters onto commercial aircraft, will be prohibited from carrying any type of lighter on planes and into secure areas of airports beginning April 14, the Transportation Security Administration announced Monday. But the TSA is not prohibiting matches, at least not yet. The TSA says it is considering banning matches, but will seek public comment before making any change. The butane lighter ban was mandated by Congress as a provision in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, which was signed into law by the president...

Lighters to be banned on airline flights 2 hours, 38 minutes ago By Kimberly Morrison, Knight Ridder Newspapers WASHINGTON - Airline passengers will have to ditch their lighters or lose them to airport security screeners when a new ban on lighters takes effect in April. The ban reflects Congress' fear that lighters could be used to ignite bombs on planes or otherwise damage or destroy them. The Transportation Security Administration until now had banned all but butane lighters and said each passenger could carry no more than two. TSA's new ruling extends the ban to all butane lighters, effective April...

U.S. to ban flame sources aboard airliners Administration will prohibit lighters, matches on all flights By Pete Williams Justice correspondent NBC News Feb. 15, 2005 WASHINGTON - In a move intended to further improve airline security, the Bush administration is preparing to ban matches, as well as lighters, for all air passengers, beginning in April.

FORT WORTH, Texas - (KRT) - In what could become a major hassle for air travelers who smoke, the Homeland Security Department will ban all cigarette lighters beyond airport checkpoints beginning Feb. 15. The Intelligence Reform Bill that President Bush signed Dec. 17 orders the Transportation Security Administration to review its banned-items list and to prohibit passengers from carrying butane lighters aboard planes. Legislation stipulates that the ban must be in place in 60 days. "We are reviewing the necessary changes that the Transportation Security Administration will need to make based on the new intelligence legislation," TSA spokeswoman Andrea McCauley...

Israel seizes lighters showing Bin Laden and WTC attack The Israeli government says it has seized weapons and cigarette lighters depicting Osama bin Laden. The items were found in shipping containers bound for a company in the Palestinian Authority. The containers were marked "toys" and were found during a random customs check at Israel's port in Ashdod. The cigarette lighters depict bin Laden alongside the World Trade Centre as planes slam into the towers. A government official says Israel decided to time the disclosure with the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The lighter is ignited by flicking a switch...

A judge has called for a ban on cigarette lighters that resemble guns after a replica was used in two carjackings. Lanray Busari, 19, from Hackney, east London, was sentenced to six years detention for taking two cars at gunpoint within the space of four days. There were calls for the lighters to be banned after police shot dead Brixton man Derek Bennett as he brandished a replica in July last year. The Old Bailey heard both of Busari's victims were terrified when confronted with the realistic silver gun-shaped lighter. "In the current climate what the justification is for the...