India Places Nuclear Plants Under Alert

Reuters news reports that India has put its nuclear power plants under alert and tightened security around them after intelligence about possible attacks, a report said on Monday.

The step comes after a man arrested in the United States on charges of plotting attacks in India was found to have travelled to Indian states that have nuclear installations.

The Press Trust of India quoted unnamed sources in the home ministry as saying that state governments had been asked to step up security around their nuclear plants as a “precautionary measure”.

“The step is precautionary in nature. The states have been asked to increase the vigil and patrolling to thwart any sabotage attempt aimed at these vital facilities,” a home ministry official was quoted as saying.

Indian media often reports security alerts based on unnamed intelligence sources.

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6 Passengers Faint on British Airways Flight

Ambulance staff were called to treat six passengers at Heathrow airport after they fainted while on a British Airways flight from the US and authorities say they found nothing suspicious.

None of those assessed needed hospital treatment and all were able to continue their journeys, the airline said.London Ambulance Service was asked to meet the flight from Newark at Terminal Five at 0650 GMT on Saturday.

Emergency services teams initially wore protective suits as it was unclear what had caused the passengers to faint.A British Airways spokeswoman said: “A handful of passengers on the aircraft fainted during the flight.”As a precaution, medical services met the aircraft.”

An investigation is under way into what caused the passengers to faint.

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UK Drops Terror Alert Level To Lowest Level In 2 Years

Britain’s government reduced its terror alert level Monday to its lowest level since the July 7, 2005 bombings of the London transport system but warned that the threat remains serious.

The government did not explain its decision to downgrade the threat from “severe,” which Britain’s domestic spy agency MI5 describes on its Web site as a “high likelihood” of future terror attacks” to “substantial,” which means that such an attack remains a “strong possibility.”

Terror experts were divided on the thinking that lay behind the change.

Bob Ayers, a London-based former U.S. intelligence officer, said officials may have reduced the threat level in an effort to show that the war in Afghanistan — where British soldiers are engaged in an increasingly bloody fight with Taliban rebels — is helping keep the country safe from extremists. But he said the move sat uneasily with dire warnings voiced last year that British security services were tracking 2,000 people and dozens of suspected terrorist plots.

“Where did they go? Have they just disappeared?” Ayers asked.

via The Associated Press: UK drops terror alert level to lowest in 2 years.