SEATAC, Wash. -- A Northwest Airlines flight returned to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Wednesday after a man said there was a bomb on the plane.
Airport spokeswoman Terri Anne Betancourt said a passenger who had cleared a security checkpoint told an employee at the gate that a bomb was on the flight. The man was arrested, but it was not immediately clear why the flight was allowed to take off before being ordered back.
Betancourt said Northwest Airlines flight 980 was scheduled to fly to Memphis but returned to Sea-Tac just after 1 p.m. The Airbus A320 taxied to the West side of the runways and was met by police and fire department personnel. Betancourt said the man was ticketed to be on the flight but did not board and did not check any luggage. Investigators do not believe the threat was credible, she said.
Thanks Oorang.
U[pdates appreciated including the suspect’s name.
CAIRO -- Egypt stepped up security at Cairo's International Airport because of fears of possible terrorist attacks, a security source said on Wednesday. In light of Egyptians abroad returning to the country for vacation and the flow of Arab tourists, taking these precautionary measures was a must, Assistant for Interior Minister for Airport Security Major General Jamal Al-Jouhari told Middle East News Agency (MENA).
Recent attacks that hit Britain and Algeria were not conducted by individuals but by organizations with a set agenda, which urged the taking of such precautions, he added.
Excerpted
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1830191&Language=en
Stolen Device Contains Radioactive Material (Maryland)
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
An electronic gauge that contains small amounts of two radioactive elements was stolen from a construction site in Waldorf on Sunday night, causing Maryland authorities to issue a public alert yesterday.
The device, used to measure the density and moisture of such substances as soil and asphalt, contains less than a teaspoon each of cesium-137 and americium-241, officials at the Maryland Department of the Environment said. Both elements are radioactive, but officials said there is little cause for alarm. The tiny amounts taken would not be enough to fuel a radiation-spewing "dirty bomb."
"There would need to be quantities about 1,000 times that found in one of these devices . . . to be a true hazard," said Ray Manley, an official dealing with radiological devices at the Department of the Environment.
Excerpted
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/24/AR2007072400695.html