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<p>WASHINGTON — The nation's recent Code Orange terror alert was triggered by a new U.S. intelligence source that, for the first time since the 9/11 attacks, allowed officials to get specifics about how al-Qaeda was planning to use international flights for imminent attacks in the USA, four top government officials say.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON — The nation's recent Code Orange terror alert was triggered by a new U.S. intelligence source that, for the first time since the 9/11 attacks, allowed officials to get specifics about how al-Qaeda was planning to use international flights for imminent attacks in the USA, four top government officials say.</p>

<p>The nation's terror alert level was raised to orange in the weeks leading up to the holiday season because of threats that Al Qaeda (search) was possibly looking to use explosives on Air France flights, Fox News has confirmed.</p> <p>For the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, a U.S. intelligence source was able to give officials such specific information about how Usama bin Laden's (search) terror group may be planning imminent attacks in the United States using commercial airliners, U.S. officials confirmed to Fox News. The source provided strategic and tactical details of how the terror network wanted to carry out terror attacks on American political and economic targets.</p>

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The possibility of a terrorist attack has diminished enough to reduce the nation's terror alert, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Friday, but he warned the threat was not over. "Critical resources and locales" will remain on heightened alert, and there still is concern about al-Qaida's interest in using commercial planes to mount an attack, Ridge said. Certain airports as well as the cities of New York, Washington and Los Angeles will continue to have increased security, said a Homeland Security official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Ridge said that after a careful review of intelligence...

BUTLER, N.J. (AP) - Rehab Elmoslemany had been at Newark Liberty International Airport for more than seven hours, waiting for a much-delayed flight to Egypt while security officials questioned her about who she was, where she was going and why. It was after midnight on Christmas by the time she, her husband and their two children were allowed to board their flight to Alexandria for a family wedding. The kids kicked off their shoes, and 6-year-old Kareem Abdel-Kader whined that he was hungry. Then two men walked up the aisle and ordered the family off the plane, refusing to say...

Homeland Security to announce at 11:30AM Eastern

<p>High Threat Alert Level over Holidays: Is America Any Safer?</p> <p>From this intercept, one thing you come away with is that these *chatterers* don't appear to be great fans of George W. Bush, with wave after wave of angry attacks on the White House, shattering hopes Saddam's capture would slow down such attacks. (Clearly these guys have been eating too much beef from Washington and Oregon).</p>

The Office of Homeland Security will announce at 11:30am today that the terror level will be lowered from Orange to Yellow. That is level BERT for those of you using the Sesame Street Level Indicators.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Colin Powell singled out Paris for praise following French cooperation in stepped up security checks on airline passengers as America remains on high alert for potential terror attacks. The top US diplomat also thanked war-on-terror ally Britain for its cooperation, as well as neighboring Mexico. "With respect to airline flights, we had some information over the holiday period with respect to certain individuals with names that hit our database," Powell said. "A lot of these names have not only duplicates, triplicates, but many similar names and it takes a while to sort through...

FRENCH authorities yesterday confirmed they were searching for an Afghan man who had failed to board one of the Air France flights cancelled amid fears of an imminent terror attack over the Christmas period. The man, named as Abdou Hai, was on a United States list of suspected terrorists - and a passenger with the same surname was due to fly from Paris to Los Angeles on Air France flight 68 on Christmas Eve. The news came as the US said it believed terrorists had been planning an attack at Christmas bigger than the atrocities on 11 September, 2001. Reports...

<p>PARIS — France said yesterday that the United States had asked it to track down an Afghan suspect behind an aviation scare that has forced a spate of cancellations and delays to U.S.-bound flights.</p> <p>The search comes as European countries study U.S. demands that airlines carry armed air marshals on some U.S.-bound planes to guard against September 11-style attacks, with some companies vowing to cancel flights rather than comply.</p>

Authorities across Europe are searching for a passenger who failed to show up for an Air France flight on Christmas Eve, ABC News reported. The network said US law enforcement officials believe the male passenger has connections with al-Qaeda and underwent terrorist training in Afghanistan. The ongoing search for the man who was traveling with a French passport is one of the factors contributing to the continuing security jitters about transatlantic flights, said the report, citing unnamed officials. French officials fear the suspect may have a small bomb whose components might get past airport security, ABC News reported. The man...

<p>With huge New Year's Eve celebrations and college football bowl games only days away, the U.S. government last month dispatched scores of casually dressed nuclear scientists with sophisticated radiation detection equipment hidden in briefcases and golf bags to scour five major U.S. cities for radiological, or "dirty," bombs, according to officials involved in the emergency effort.</p>

LONDON (AP) -- British pilots won assurances from the government Tuesday that they will be told when armed sky marshals are on board their flights, but demanded to know where the guard is seated and to be able to maintain regular contact. Meanwhile, a British Airways flight from London to Washington, which was canceled twice last week over security fears, was delayed for the fourth consecutive day Tuesday because of U.S.-requested security checks. On Tuesday, British Air Line Pilots' Association said it would advise its members - nearly 90 percent of Britain's 9,200 commercial pilots - not to fly with...

<p>January 7, 2004 -- Police in England and Europe are seeking al Qaeda terrorists planning to bomb trans-Atlantic jets departing Paris and London, security sources said yesterday.</p> <p>Two al Qaeda terrorists with American passports and non-Arab physical appearances are believed to be planning assaults on trans-Atlantic flights from London, a U.S. official told The Post.</p>

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The presence of U.S. security agents at Mexican airports as part of a crackdown on U.S.-bound flights has upset politicians, churchmen and rights groups who say Washington is infringing on Mexico's sovereignty. Mexico's human rights ombudsman said Tuesday it has lodged an official complaint with several government ministries demanding to know the legal basis for the presence of U.S. security agents at Mexico City airport in recent days. Witnesses say U.S. Transportation Security Administration agents are supervising extensive security checks on passengers and hand-luggage that have caused delays. The watchdog demanded the government respect the law...

Some European governments and pilots' organizations are stamping their feet because the U.S. has decided that all airlines flying to, from or over this country must be prepared to staff their flights with armed air marshals. If they don't want to, that's fine. They can stay home. The same goes for foreigners who don't like being fingerprinted and photographed upon landing here. Some seem to feel that verifying a visitor's identity is akin to violating the Geneva Convention. Quoth one Brazilian judge: "I consider the act absolutely brutal, threatening human rights, violating human dignity, xenophobic and worthy of the worst...

<p>Police in England and Europe are seeking Al Qaeda terrorists planning to bomb trans-Atlantic jets departing Paris and London, security sources said yesterday.</p> <p>Two Al Qaeda terrorists with American passports and non-Arab physical appearances are believed to be planning assaults on trans-Atlantic flights from London, a U.S. official told The Post.</p>

PORTLAND — The Casco Bay Bridge is still standing. That's despite a threat that something bad would happen at 12:59 p.m. The bridge over the Fore River between Portland and South Portland was shut down from 12:45 p.m. to 1:20 p.m. because of a threat overheard on a marine radio channel. Portland FBI Supervisor Jim Osterrieder said the Coast Guard overheard someone make a threat on the bridge over VHF Channel 16. That happened around 12:30 a.m. and the bridge was closed shortly thereafter. Officials searched the area and the bridge reopened around 6 a.m., in time for the morning...

Fear that "terrorists" might set off a dirty bomb prompted US authorities to raise the country's level of alert to "orange" or high, a US newspaper said. Based more on experts' belief that al-Qaeda might attempt to set off a dirty bomb during the end-of-year celebrations than real information, the Department of Energy sent scores of nuclear scientists with detection equipment to five major cities, The Washington Post reported. The scientists were disguised as normal citizens and their radiation detection equipment placed inside luggage, brief cases or golf bags, officials involved in the emergency effort told the daily. Beginning on...