An 8-inch knife found on board a Horizon flight that landed at Portland International Airport Monday has exposed airline security concerns. Officials with the Transportation Security Administration said a passenger handed the knife to a flight attendant as passengers were getting off the plane and said he found it between two seats.
The TSA said it’s possible that an employee working on the plane had left it behind after working on the plane. According to TSA spokeswoman Tina Burke, it appeared to be a kitchen knife. However, such knives aren't typically used by employees working on the plane. “Eight-inch knives are not in the toolbox for our mechanics, flight attendants or pilots,” said Jen Boyer, a spokeswoman for Horizon Air.
Jennifer Currier, president of the flight attendants' union for Horizon Airlines, said the knife incident is just one example that airline security needs to be tightened. Currier said she has heard of numerous prohibited items, including butane lighters, getting past security and onto planes. “A lot of people are granted access to the aircraft area that are not going through security, everybody from the maintenance, the rampers, the aircraft groomers, they have full access to all parts of the aircraft yet they are not having to go through security,” Currier said.
The Horizon Airlines plane landed at the Portland International Airport just before 5 p.m. from Ontario, California. The investigation continued
http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_032007_news_knife_horizon.2f494a6f.html
Air Arabia flight disrupted (United Arab Emirates)
Wednesday, March 21 - 2007
A passenger on board an Air Arabia flight to Saudi Arabia on Sunday, March 18, tried to force his way into the cockpit of the plane, forcing it to return to Sharjah International Airport, reported Gulf News.
The Sri Lankan passenger became violent towards other travellers and crew shortly after take-off and then tried to open the cockpit door. Police boarded the plane at Sharjah and arrested the man.
http://www.ameinfo.com/114235.html
Bomb Threat Against Swedish Nuclear Plant
March 21st 2007
Police were Wednesday investigating an anonymous bomb threat against one of Sweden's three nuclear plants. The threat was made against the Forsmark plant, 140 kilometres north of the capital Stockholm.
Police have erected roadblocks near the site and some non- essential staff at the plant have left the plant but the reactors were still operating, officials said. The nuclear watchdog agency, the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate (SKI) was also on the alert and was monitoring events.
Details of the threat were sketchy but Uppsala police spokesman Christer Nordstrom said that it had to taken seriously since it was aimed at a nuclear plant. Forsmark has in recent months generated numerous headlines and been under review by the SKI after a shut-down of one of the reactors late July 2006 after a short-circuit in a switchyard outside the plant. Subsequent reports have suggested a deterioration of security routines and as part of measures to reverse the trend, a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was slated to conduct a review under its so-called Operational Safety Review Team Programme.
http://www.playfuls.com/news_10_20159-Bomb-Threat-Against-Swedish-Nuclear-Plant.html
DHAKA: As Bangladesh prepares to hang six militants convicted of masterminding fatal bombings, a close associate arrested last week said about 5,000 members of banned Islamist groups were still active in the country.
Mostafizur Rahman Shahin, detained in northern district Pabna on March 14, gave the information under interrogation by security and intelligence agencies, police said on Wednesday. Shahin confessed to being a senior member of the outlawed Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, led by Shayek Abdur Rahman. Another banned militant group active in Bangladesh is Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh, headed by Siddikul Islam Bangla Bhai.
Both Bangla Bhai and Shayek, along with four other Islamist militants, are likely to be executed within weeks, police said. They were sentenced to death last year for masterminding countrywide bomb attacks in late 2005, which killed at least 30 people. The victims included judges, lawyers and police.
The Islamists are fighting to introduce sharia law in mainly Muslim Bangladesh, and threatened to strike again even if their leaders were hanged, police said. Police said security was tightened around the country of more than 140 million in view of the threat, but gave no details. Bangladesh's army-backed interim government, headed by former central bank chief Fakhruddin Ahmed, is planning to enact a law to ban any group linked to Islamist militants or other terror groups.
Shahin told interrogators Islamist militants in Bangladesh received money from sources overseas, including in the United States and Saudi Arabia, police said.
Muslim pupils kill teacher
22mar07
MUSLIM pupils at a secondary school in northeastern Nigeria beat a teacher to death today after accusing her of desecrating the Koran. Oluwatoyin Olusase, a Christian, was adjudicating an Islamic Religious Knowledge exam at the school in Gombe state when the incident occurred. The students attacked her outside the school compound after the exam and killed her, witnesses said.
It was not clear exactly what Olusase had done that angered the students. Police confirmed the killing and said their intervention had prevented the incident from turning into a riot. "We have received information that a female teacher has been lynched by her students. We are investigating the report," Gombe state police commissioner Joseph Ibi said.
Excerpted
http://www.ntnews.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,21426086%255E1702,00.html
Re the knife on the plane: "...found it between two seats."
That's a concern.
Thank you Oorang.
Three disturbing stories. Guess we're still at war. Quick, someone tell the Democrats.