Wide use of U.S. airport body scanners depends on Obama
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The path toward rolling out wider use of whole-body security scanners in U.S. airports runs through the White House. The failed Christmas Day attack aboard a Detroit-bound U.S. airliner has created congressional calls for greater use of body scanners that advocates say would have detected non-metallic items such as the explosives an Islamic militant from Nigeria is accused of smuggling on board.
Dutch, Nigerians to use full-body scans for flights
THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The Netherlands and Nigeria said on Wednesday they would use full-body scanners at airports after a failed Christmas Day attack on a U.S.-bound plane by a 23-year-old Nigerian suspect who passed through both countries. Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport will begin using the scanners -- which "see" through clothing -- within three weeks to check people traveling to the United States, after consultations with U.S. authorities, the Dutch interior minister said.
Times Square, Nasdaq reopened after scare
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City's Times Square was closed briefly and three buildings including the Nasdaq headquarters were evacuated in a security scare on Wednesday, a day before the traditional New Year's Eve festivities in the famed intersection. The street closings and evacuations were prompted by a police investigation of a suspicious van that local media reported had been parked on Broadway for two days.
Times Square security a preview of September 11 trials
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A $75 million plan to protect New Year's Eve revelers in Times Square is a template for how New York City will secure Manhattan during the trials of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other suspected September 11 plotters, police say. Critics have accused the U.S. Justice Department of endangering America's most populous city by choosing to try Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the United States, and four others in a lower Manhattan court.
U.S. spy chief in spotlight after botched plane attack
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence chief Admiral Dennis Blair faced tough questions about his future on Wednesday as the Obama administration fended off criticism over the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner on December 25. Publicly, the White House was standing by Blair, the United States' top spymaster who is responsible for coordinating intelligence gathering between 16 agencies, saying the four-star admiral had the full confidence of the president.
Bernard Madoff returns to prison cell