Lindbergh Terminal Closed After Suspicious Passenger Goes Missing

Lindbergh Field’s Terminal 2 was shut down for nearly two hours Saturday after a would-be passenger left a screening area when authorities wanted to conduct a hand inspection of a bag, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration said.

The incident began about 10:30 a.m., and the terminal was reopened about 12:40 p.m., said TSA spokeswoman Carrie Harman.

Passengers who had already been screened had to leave the secured area, and passengers on one flight were deplaned and rescreened when a sweep of the terminal by TSA officers, canines and San Diego police was completed.

Harman said she did not know how many flights or passengers were affected.

The suspect bag had been through the initial X-ray screening, but TSA officers wanted to do a hand search of the bag.

“The passenger left the checkpoint before we were able to do that, so that prompted us to shut down the terminal,” she said.

Asked if the person ran from the checkpoint, Harman said, “there was no indication that someone ran away.” However, the person was not located, she said.

Harman said she could not disclose what was seen in the X-ray screening that prompted a call for the bag to be searched by hand. She said she did not immediately know if the would-be passenger was a man or a woman.

Harman said there also was an incident at Lindbergh’s Terminal 1 on Saturday when a female passenger who had already been through initial inspection inadvertently left before completing a secondary screening. Screening was suspended at one security checkpoint from 10:41 a.m. to 11:07 a.m. until the woman and her traveling companions were relocated and rescreened, Harman said.

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Bali Bombers To Face Firing Squad in Central Java

Three Indonesian militants convicted of the October 2002 Bali bombings will be executed in Central Java province but no specified date is available, officials said Friday.

Minister of Justice and Human Rights Affairs Andi Mattalata said he has approved a request from the Attorney General’s Office to pick the Central Java town of Cilacap for the execution place.

“I have replied that we don’t mind the execution to be carried out there (Central Java),” he told reporters at his office here. Read more

Nuclear Bomb Blueprints For Sale On World Black Market, Experts Fear

Nuclear bomb blueprints and manuals on how to manufacture weapons-grade uranium for warheads are feared to be circulating on the international black market, according to investigators tracking the world’s most infamous nuclear smuggling racket.

Alarm about the sale of nuclear know-how follows the disclosure that the Swiss government, allegedly acting under US pressure, secretly destroyed tens of thousands of documents from a massive nuclear smuggling investigation. Read more

Anacortes Oil Refinery Receives Bomb Threat

A threatening message was posted on the Shell refinery’s Web site Friday evening.

The company did not reveal the contents of the threat, but authorities didn’t take any chances and they were searching the premises for any sign of a bomb.

The U.S. Coast Guard set up a marine safety zone 200 yards from the facility. Read more

FBI Boosts Efforts To Find American al Qaeda Suspect Adam Gadahn

Although we believe Adam Gadahn was most likely killed in an airstrike earlier this year, the FBI has launched a publicity campaign in Afghanistan to announce a $1 million reward for information about his whereabouts.

Adam Yahiye Gadahn, 29, grew up in Riverside County. He is “an integral part of al-Qaida’s media and recruitment branch (and) has endorsed terrorist activity,” FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said Friday. Read more

FBI in Zambo Philippines For Bomb Probe

Agents of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation have arrived here to re-evaluate the site of Thursday’s blast that killed two people and injured more than 20 others.

This developed as local police bomb experts claimed that the components used in the bomb that ripped through the offices of the US-funded Alliance for Mindanao Off-Grid Renewable Energy (Amore) and of Representative Ma. Isabel Climaco was similar to those used in the 2002 bombings here that killed an American soldier.

Rebecca Thompson, US Embassy information officer, told the Inquirer that the FBI personnel were sent not because Washington was dipping its hands in the investigation but “providing assistance at the request of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.”

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Chertoff: Hezbollah Makes Al Qaeda Look Minor League – Greatest Risk To National Security

Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff warned Thursday that the radical Islamic group Hezbollah “makes Al Qaeda look like a minor league team,” and poses the greatest threat to national security.

“Someone described Hezbollah like the A-team of terrorists in terms of capabilities, in terms of range of weapons they have, in terms of internal discipline,” Chertoff told FOX News. “To be honest, they make Al Qaeda look like a minor league team. Read more

Did Chinese Officials Copy U.S. Government Laptop Data To Hack Into Computers

The U.S. government is looking into allegations that Chinese officials snagged a laptop left unattended by a top U.S. official there, copied the data and then used it to try to hack into U.S. government computers.

The incident is alleged to have happened during Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez’s trip to Beijing in December. Gutierrez told the AP wire service he couldn’t comment on an ongoing investigation.

Since then, the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, known as US-CERT, responded to computer network break-ins at least three times, the report says.

“The Pentagon, State Department and Commerce Department all have been victimized by widespread computer intrusions blamed on China since July 2006,” with the Commerce Department even having to unplug itself from the Internet, as a result, the article says.

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Truck Rigged To Steal Large Quantity of Diesel Fuel – Ohio

Police have linked the large-scale theft of diesel fuel from a western Pennsylvania convenience store to a specially equipped pickup truck trailer with a trap door and a vacuum hose.

No one has been charged, but the truck and trailer were found on the property of a man who owns a small asphalt and trucking company in Ohio, police said. Read more

Search Is Urged for Additional Syrian Nuclear Sites

The Bush administration is pressing U.N. inspectors to broaden their search for possible secret nuclear facilities in Syria, hinting that Damascus’s nuclear program might be bigger than the single alleged reactor destroyed by Israeli warplanes last year. Read more

Report: Iran, al Qaeda in Secret Talks

ABC News reports that senior U.S. officials are stating that in recent months there have been secret contacts between the Iranian government and the leadership of al Qaeda. It’s a development that has caught the attention of top officials in the White House, the Pentagon and the intelligence community.

There are several theories floating about as to why Iran would engage al Qaeda. Most of the theories point to Iran using several high-level operatives loosely detained in Iran, as pawns or bargaining chips. Those al Qaeda operatives include two of bin Ladens sons. Read more

Copter Crash Kills 8 Returning From UN Terrorism Conference – Chile Chief of Police Among Dead

At least eight people including Chile’s chief of police were killed Thursday when a helicopter crashed into a building in a busy neighborhood of Panama City, officials said.

Mayor Juan Carlos Navarro said that visiting Chilean officials were aboard the helicopter when it crashed, causing “a considerable number of mortal victims.”

In Santiago, Chile’s Interior Minister Edmundo Perez Yoma confirmed that the the fatalities included the head of Chile’s national police, Jose Alejandro Bernales, and his wife, as well as four other Chileans.

Panamanian police confirmed the death of two Panama nationals.

But officials had not yet released an official death toll amid an investigation into the cause of the crash.

Civil aviation sources said that at least 12 people including three crew members were aboard the aircraft, belonging to Panama’s National Air Service.

Bodies covered in blue blankets were visible at the scene of the accident, and several people were rushed to hospital, authorities said.

Eyewitnesses told local media that the helicopter pitched wildly before plunging and starting a fire in the building it hit.

Police cordoned off the area and the mayor urged people to stay away from the area to “avoid more deaths.”

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Radioactive Cargo Rejected By Greece Returned To Macedonia

A radioactive waste shipment, rejected by Greece, has returned back to Macedonia.

Greek Ethnos daily said the cargo entered Greece at Evzoni crossing point. The cargo was uncovered in Thessaloniki, shortly before melting.

Greek Atomic Energy Commission has not yet confirmed the initial news reports indicated that the shipment contained radioactive waste from Kosovo. The Commission hinted at old iron – parts of kitchen appliances and industrial equipment.

Macedonian truck that carried the cargo crossed the Macedonian-Greek border on 22 May. The vehicle was subjected to security checkup and later it was allowed to cross the border despite the high radiation levels.

Five customs officers have been dismissed. The head of Greek customs office assumed the responsibility for the event and demanded replacement.

Ethnos daily says Greek authorities remained tightlipped over the incident.

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No Bomb Found After Threat at Kansas City Airport

A spokesman for Kansas City International Airport said operations were back to normal after a bomb threat Thursday night.

Spokesman Joe McBride said all 134 passengers and crews members were safely removed from a plane after a bomb threat had been called in.

The Kansas City Fire Department inspected the plane with bomb-sniffing dogs and found nothing dangerous, McBride said.

According to Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Ashley Rogers, the threat was specific to Flight 46, headed to Chicago, set to depart at 9:40 p.m.

The phone call was received about 9:35 p.m McBride said.

The plane had come from Dallas after making several other stops during the day. It was unclear if any passengers had gotten off or boarded since the plane arrived in Kansas City.

The plane was isolated from the terminal before passengers began exiting the plane, McBride said.

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