Snakes on a train: Vietnam on alert

Snakes are protected by law in Vietnam.Four bags of venomous cobras are found on a train bound for Hanoi, local press reports sayThey cause a panic among passengersThe reptiles are handed over to a forest protection agency and releasedAuthorities increase patrols searching for animal smugglers

(CNN) -- Vietnamese authorities are on alert for animal smugglers after four bags of deadly snakes were found on a train from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi, according to local press reports.

The bags contained an undetermined number of snakes including some king cobras, the on-line news service VnExpress reported.

A guard and a conductor found them while inspecting the train when it made a stop at Quang Ngai railway station on Thursday, the website reported. The guard and conductor were not injured.

Passengers panicked when they heard about the snakes, VnExpress said.

The snakes, which are protected by law in Vietnam, were handed over to the Quang Ngai forest protection agency on Friday and released into the wild.

Some of the snakes weighed more than one kilogram (2.2 pounds) each, said Nguyen Van Han, chief of the forest protection unit.

Officials in Quang Ngai will increase patrols and inspection the North-South railway, roads and restaurants to prevent the smuggling of wild animals, according toTuoitrenews, an online publication of a Vietnamese newspaper.

The king cobra is the world's longest venomous snake with a length up to 13 feet (4 meters) according to New York's Bronx Zoo, which had an Egyptian cobra escape earlier this year. That cobra was found in the zoo's reptile house a week after it escaped from its enclosure.

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Europe on alert for Icelandic volcano ash cloud (Reuters)

By Omar Valdimarsson and Ingolfur Juliusson Omar Valdimarsson And Ingolfur Juliusson – 2 hrs 17 mins ago

REYKJAVIK (Reuters) – An eruption by Iceland's most active volcano put Europe on high alert on Monday as a billowing ash cloud drifted toward Scotland and threatened to shut down airports across the northern edge of the continent.

Northern Europe's fringe was affected first, though experts saw little chance of a repeat of last year's six-day travel chaos caused by the eruption of another Icelandic volcano.

People living next to the glacier where the Grimsvotn volcano burst into life on Saturday were most affected, with ash shutting out the daylight and smothering buildings and vehicles.

An Icelandic Met Official said ash from the volcano could touch northwest Scotland as early as Monday evening.

Europe's air traffic control organization has said that if volcanic emissions continued at the same rate then the cloud might reach west French airspace and north Spain on Thursday.

Authorities have backed more relaxed rules on flying through ash after being criticized for being too strict last time.

Then, closing European air space forced the cancellation of 100,000 flights, disrupted 10 million passengers and cost the industry an estimated $1.7 billion in lost revenues.

"I think the regulators are a bit more sensible than they were last year," Michael O'Leary, chief of budget airline Ryanair, told a conference call. "We would be cautiously optimistic that they won't balls it up again this year."

Nevertheless, airline shares fell between 3 to 5 percent.

German Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer said he did not expect the eruption to disrupt air traffic to the same degree as last year, adding however there would be a flight ban for jet planes should particles from the ash cloud reach a higher concentration than 2 milligrammes per cubic meter.

Speaking to Sky News, British Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said authorities could hopefully work with airlines to "enable them to fly around concentrations of ash rather than having to impose a blanket closure."

Grimsvotn erupted on Saturday, with dark plumes of smoke shooting as high as 20 km (12 miles) into the sky.

The outburst is the volcano's most powerful since 1873 and stronger than the volcano which caused trouble last year, but scientists say the type of ash being spat out is less easily dispersed and winds have so far been more favorable.

"The difference in impact on aviation comes down to three factors: the ash being produced by the eruption, the weather patterns blowing the ash around, and new rules about planes flying into ash," University of Edinburgh volcanologist John Stevenson wrote on his blog.

SMOTHERED IN ASH

But some were expecting problems. "It's too early to tell if Europe will be affected. What's certain is that when it is affected, there will be flight cancellations," French Transport Minister Thierry Marianai told Europe 1radio.

Europe's air traffic control organization, which set up a crisis unit after bad coordination was blamed for worsening last year's crisis, said no closures outside Iceland were expected on Monday or Tuesday.

Airlines as far away as Australia were monitoring the cloud. Norway's civil aviation body said the one or two flights a day to the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard would shut tonight. A small part of Greenland's eastern airspace was also closed.

Iceland's aviation authority said however it hoped it might be able to re-open the island's main airport by the evening as the tower of smoke above the volcano appeared to have fallen.

The Icelandic met office said the plume from Grimsvotn, which last exploded in 2004, had fallen to just below 10 km (6 miles), well below its maximum so far of 25 km.

The volcano lies under the Vatnajokull glacier in southeast Iceland, the largest glacier in Europe. People living in districts close by have been smothered in ash.

"Yesterday between 2 and 3 (pm in the afternoon) it brightened up a bit until 8 in the evening, then it became black again," said Sigurlaugur Gislasson, 23, whose family owns a hotel near the town of Kirkjubaejarklaustur.

"It is like being in a sandstorm," he said. All the tourists who were staying at the hotel have also gone, he added.

(Writing by Patrick Lannin; Additional reporting by Tim Hepher, Niklas Pollard, Kate Kelland, Christopher Le Coq, Ingolfur Juliusson, Michael Smith, Harry Suhartono, Alison Leung; Editing by Maria Golovnina)

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Trove of data found at bin Laden hideout provides first specific alert

Washington (CNN) -- With the architect of the September 11, 2001, attacks dead, U.S. commandos in Osama bin Laden's Pakistan compound quickly came upon another prize: A trove of hard drives, DVDs and thumb drives that might provide evidence of other al Qaeda operations.

Those materials, seized after bin Laden and four others were killed, have provided the first specific alert to come out of Monday's raid.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a notice tied to rail security Thursday.

The unclassified notice to "federal, state, local and tribal partners" says that, in February 2010, al Qaeda members discussed a plan to derail trains in the United States by placing obstructions on tracks, according to a law enforcement source who received the notice.

Pakistan reacts angrily to tone of U.S. questions

The plan was to be executed this fall to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. But no specific city or rail system was identified in the notice, the source told CNN.

Although a U.S. official cautioned that the information doesn't appear to suggest an imminent plot against U.S rail systems, the discovery may be the tip of the iceberg of potential plots.

The haul included "lots" of paper documents, 10 hard drives, five computers and more than 100 storage devices, such as disks, DVDs and thumb drives, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.

Since Monday, intelligence experts and others have pored over the find.

A task force was set up at the CIA to comb through the evidence seized in the raid, according to a senior intelligence official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.

More details emerge about the raid

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said of evidence taken from the residence, "As we glean information from that material, we will make appropriate decisions with regard to who might we add to the terrorist watch list, the no-fly list, all those things."

The U.S. official who spoke Thursday of the data said, "We take every possible threat seriously, so we are running all of this to ground."

When asked if there were any indications that bin Laden had signed off on the rail operation, the official said, "There is no information to suggest that there was some kind of 'blessed operation' attached to U.S transportation systems."

The same U.S. official says the al Qaeda scheme, which included derailing trains over bridges and valleys, "doesn't appear to be anything more than an idea on paper at this point."

Material also indicated that al Qaeda was particularly interested in targeting cities -- Washington, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, the official said. Authorities sifting through the material learned al Qaeda has considered striking on significant dates such as July 4, Christmas and the opening day of the United Nations, according to the official.

Osama's wife: We lived there 5 years

Department of Homeland Security spokesman Matt Chandler echoed the belief that there was no imminent threat to the rail system. But officials "wanted to make our partners aware of the alleged plotting," he said. "We want to stress that this alleged al Qaeda plotting is based on initial reporting, which is often misleading or inaccurate and subject to change."

Since Sunday, Chandler said, the department and other agencies have reviewed potential terror targets and deployed additional officers to nonsecured areas at U.S. airports.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told federal lawmakers Wednesday a "number of actions" have been taken in response to the killing of bin Laden, among them "surging some resources" to U.S. ports, airports and borders.

"These include issuing advisories to fusion center directors, Homeland Security advisers, major city chief intelligence commanders, private sector critical infrastructure owners and operators and other law enforcement entities," she said at a Senate hearing.

"We are and have been reviewing all open cases of potential al Qaeda core, AQAP (al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) and AQIM (al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) operatives possibly in the U.S. in conjunction with the FBI," she added.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent who is chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, asked Napolitano about the data removed by the Navy SEALs from the bin Laden compound. "I assume that as this material is gone over, anything related to Homeland Security will be shared immediately with your department?" he asked.

Napolitano responded, "It is being shared (already)."

Earlier this week, former CIA Director Michael Hayden told CNN's "The Situation Room" that the "diffuse" nature of al Qaeda is among its strengths.

"Keep in mind this is a network, not a hierarchy," Hayden said. "So you've got still very active, very talented cells around the world."

CNN Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve and Jim Barnett contributed to this report.

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New terrorism alert system will offer specific warnings

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says the new alerts will contain "as many details as we can provide." STORY HIGHLIGHTSNEW: Secretary Napolitano says people ignored the old systemNapolitano says the new system will take effect April 26The new system has only two levels, compared to the previous system's fiveThe alerts have an expiration, unless new information comes to lightRELATED TOPICSTerrorismJanet NapolitanoU.S. Department of Homeland SecurityDomestic Security Policy New York (CNN) -- A new terrorism warning system will provide the public with information on specific threats, replacing the color-coded alerts put in place after the September 11, 2001, attacks, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday.

In announcing the new system at New York City's Grand Central Terminal, commonly known as Grand Central Station, Napolitano said a main goal was to provide better understanding of the nature of the specific threat, what people should do in reaction to it and how they could help security officials in responding.

"It will provide alerts based on specific, credible information about potential terrorist activity," Napolitano said, adding that the alerts would contain "as many details as we can provide."

Right now, she said, there is no threat that would reach the level to warrant one of the new alerts, which will take effect on April 26.

Napolitano made the announcement in the city where more than 2,700 people were killed when two hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center's twin towers.

She was joined by New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Republican Rep. Peter King of New York, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, who both praised the new National Terrorism Advisory System as an upgrade that enhances current security efforts.

However, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the top Republican on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, cautioned that the new system must "effectively disseminate threat information in a timely manner and provide sound guidance to the public and affected homeland security partners on the actions they should take to protect themselves and the nation."

Collins urged Napolitano's department "to keep communication lines open with our state and local homeland security officials and with the private sector so that implementation of the system meets the vision" set by the secretary.

The new system has two levels of alerts, compared to the previous system's five levels, Napolitano said.

The two alert levels of the new system are "elevated threat," which "warns of a credible terrorist threat" to the United States; and "imminent threat," which "warns of a credible, specific and impending terrorist threat," according to a Department of Homeland Security statement.

Any alert will automatically expire after a two-week period, although they could be extended if new information shows a threat persists, DHS said.

Napolitano told reporters in a morning briefing that the alerts posted on a department website -- www.dhs.gov/alerts -- will provide details to show the nature, location and other information about terrorism threats. Therefore, she said, a specific warning may apply to a particular address, community, city or region, rather than the non-specific general warnings of the color-coded system.

Alerts also will be announced by her office and made public via traditional media such as television announcements and radio broadcasts, as well as social media, Napolitano said.

She conceded that the color-coded system "has faded in utility except for late-night comics," noting that the warning level at airports had been at orange since 2006.

"That's one of the reasons why people (stopped) paying attention to them," Napolitano said. Instead of a constant state of undefined warning, she said, the new system will react to actual threats.

"We don't want people to live in fear," she said. "We want people to live in a state of alert and awareness."

Her department is asking the public to be on alert for any suspicious activity, incorporating the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority's trademark slogan "If You See Something, Say Something" into its alerts.

Evaluating the current threat for Wednesday under the old system, the Department of Homeland Security put it at yellow, or elevated. Under the new system, it does not warrant an alert.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve contributed to this story.

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