Officials in the US say 72 people from 14 countries have been apprehended for their involvement in a child pornography network.

JAPAN issued a travel alert for Europe yesterday, joining the United States and Britain in warning of a possible terrorist attack by al-Qaida or other groups, but tourists appeared to be taking the mounting warnings in their stride.

The US government has ordered airlines to check updated no-fly lists within two hours of being notified of changes in the wake of the failed Times Square bomb attack.

Blocked toilets, crying babies and airless cabins make air travellers furious – and the US government says they don’t have to take it any more.

Former US homeland security secretary Tom Ridge claims in a new book that he was pressured by other members of George Bush’s Cabinet to raise the US terror alert level just before the 2004 presidential election.

Hurricane Gustav is expected to make landfall on the US Gulf coast today, three years after Katrina devastated New Orleans.

HOMELAND Security Secretary Michael Chertoff yesterday said the world is facing a critical test as it seeks to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists, and that there will be no way “to put that genie back in the bottle” if it fails.

Top European Union officials today said, on the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks, that the 25-nation bloc was more determined than ever to fight terrorism, and that closer co-operation was key to thwarting new attacks.

MICHAEL BROWN, director of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), has been removed from his role managing relief efforts for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and is returning to Washington.

His second term secured, President George Bush is reaching out and asking the 55 million people who voted to oust him from office to get behind the ambitious agenda he’s laid out for the next four years.

The United States is tightening security in the face of a steady stream of intelligence indicating that al-Qaida may seek to mount an attack aimed at disrupting the November elections, the White House says.

British Airways was seeking advice from the British government today on whether to operate its afternoon flight to Washington, after cancelling it for two days running because of fears over security.

HONG KONG plunged deeper into crisis yesterday after the resignations of two top Cabinet ministers added fuel to demands for democratic change and put further pressure on leader Tung Chee-hwa.