US to step up security at hotels and malls

The United States is stepping up security at "soft targets" like hotels and shopping malls, as well as trains and ports, as it counters the evolving Al-Qaeda threat, a top official said Sunday. A year after a foiled plot to bomb a US-bound passenger plane, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told CNN's "State of the Union" program that other places and modes of transportation must now be scrutinized.

"We look at so-called soft targets -- the hotels, shopping malls, for example -- all of which we have reached out to in the past year and have done a fair amount of training for their own employees," Napolitano said.
Since an attempted bombing on a packed Saturday night in Times





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Mumbai braces for follow-up terrorist attack

A MANHUNT was under way in Mumbai yesterday for four alleged members of the same Islamist group that attacked the city in 2008, amid warnings of a strike on foreign targets over Christmas and the new year.
Roads were closed in and around the luxury Taj Mahal Palace Hotel - focus of the deadly siege two years ago that killed 166 - while armed police were out in force at high-profile sites, including overseas consulates.
Mumbai police warned on Friday that four operatives of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant outfit were preparing a ''violent attack'' during the festive season and called for residents to be vigilant.

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Al Qaeda threat involving hotels buffets 'credible,' report says

According to a Monday CBS report receiving much attention today, al Qaeda terrorists have talked about poisoning salad bars and hotel buffets at various U.S. hotels and restaurants over a single weekend. Department of Homeland Security officials have deemed the threat as a "credible" one.

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