I can personally attest; not having A/C is the pits but as long as one is adequately hydrated, no worries.

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - "Senior U.S. officials will consult allies in Europe next week on ways to intensify pressure on Iran amid suspicions Tehran is trying to evade sanctions by concealing the origin of financial transactions.

      U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday that with Iran becoming "increasingly dangerous," the United States and its allies are discussing new sanctions to further curb Tehran's access to the international financial system.

      While Washington is committed to a diplomatic solution, Iran must know "there are coercive elements to our policy as well," Rice said in an interview with Maria Bartiromo on CNBC's "Closing Bell" program.

      "We are working on financial measures that really will say to the Iranians, 'You cannot use the benefits of the international financial system and continue to pursue a nuclear weapon'," Rice added, according to an official State Department transcript.

      Undersecretary of Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey said he would visit London, Paris, Berlin and Frankfurt next week to "compare notes" about how Iran is using the international financial system to continue to pursue its nuclear program and support extremists.

      Assistant Secretary of State John Rood, who handles non-proliferation issues, will accompany him.

      "Some of the things we've been paying special attention to is how Iran has adapted financial practices that allow it to attempt to evade both controls of Islamic financial institutions as well as potentially to evade (U.N. and U.S.) financial measures that have been put in place," Levey told reporters.

      In some cases, Iranian state-owned institutions -- including the central bank and Bank Sepah, which is under U.N. and U.S. sanctions -- have asked other institutions they do business with to handle transactions without using their names, he said.

    MOSCOW (Fox) —  "Sixty years after the AK-47 went into production, Mikhail Kalashnikov says he does not stay awake at night worrying about the bloodshed wrought by the world's most popular assault rifle.

      "I sleep well. It's the politicians who are to blame for failing to come to an agreement and resorting to violence," Kalashnikov said Friday at a ceremony marking the birth of the rifle, whose initials stand for "Avtomat Kalashnikov."

       It was before he started designing the gun that he slept badly, worried about the superior weapons that Nazi soldiers were using with grisly effectiveness against the Red Army in World War II. He saw them at close range himself, while fighting on the front lines.

      While hospitalized with wounds after a Nazi shell hit his tank in the 1941 battle of Bryansk, Kalashnikov decided to design an automatic rifle combining the best features of the American M1 and the German StG44.

      "Blame the Nazi Germans for making me become a gun designer," said Kalashnikov, frail but sharp at age 87. "I always wanted to construct agriculture machinery."

      Since production began, more than 100 million AK-47s have been made — either at the home factory in the central Russian city of Izhevsk, under license in dozens of other countries, or illegally. Sergei Chemezov, director of the Russian arms export monopoly Rosoboronexport, said nearly a million a year are produced without license..."

      The find, made by Hans Kristensen, director of the Federation of American Scientists' Nuclear Information Project, confirms that China is progressing in its plan to build stealthier nuclear-powered submarines. It also illustrates how commercial satellite imagery adds to the debate over international security.

      The fresh image of China's Xiaopingdao submarine base near Dalian, snapped late last year by DigitalGlobe's Quickbird satellite, probably wouldn't tell the U.S. military anything it didn't know about the Jin-class sub, said  Lyle Goldstein, a specialist on Chinese maritime development and nuclear strategy at the Naval War College.

      "Any photo that Google Earth has, I'm sure the Pentagon already had a long time ago. ... The Department of Defense has much better capability," he told me. (Goldstein emphasized that he was voicing his own opinion and not speaking on behalf of the Pentagon or the U.S. Navy.)

      The picture's value has more to do with what people outside the government know about China's military capabilities. You can focus in on the sub yourself by starting from this wide-angle view of the submarine base, then aiming for the top of the "toe" in a boot of land sticking out from the shore.

      Goldstein said he knew of one other unclassified picture purporting to show the Jin-class submarine, but the evidence for the identification is not as solid. Thus, the newfound picture "does advance the ball in terms of public knowledge," he said. 

      "I sent it around to all my colleagues here," Goldstein said. "There's been speculation about this for a long time, but in the open press this is one of the first visual indicators that China is succeeding in the second generation [of its nuclear-powered sub program]."

      Kristensen said he was of the same mind about the picture's significance: "This enables the public to participate in this debate and ask better questions."

      The wider debate focuses on China's military capabilities and intentions. Experts say Beijing's first-generation nuclear missile sub, known as the Xia class, didn't quite make the grade because of its high noise levels and radiation leakage. Another drawback had to do with the nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles it was thought to carry: They had an estimated range of 1,100 miles (1,800 kilometers), not enough to project power globally.

      In contrast, the Jin-class sub is thought to be bigger and quieter, carrying missiles with a 5,000-mile (8,000-kilometer) reach. U.S. intelligence assets were said to have spotted the sub back in 2004, but the Pentagon has never released any pictures for public consumption. 

      Kristensen told me he makes routine checks for fresh imagery of sensitive sites on Google Earth, and when he spotted the new picture from Xiaopingdao, he assumed it was one of the Xia-class subs. "But then I started looking more carefully and comparing the dimensions," he said.

      He analyzed the new picture in his posting to the Strategic Security Blog, and surmises that the next-generation sub is still undergoing testing three years after the first reports. "The fact that it's at this particular base, where the missile testing base is located, just probably shows that it's not quite up to speed yet," Kristensen said.

      Kristensen found it interesting that the sub was just sitting out in the open. "The Chinese don't seem to be hiding this information in any particular way," he said.

      He noted that the Chinese have a Xia-class sub on display at another base, also visible via Google Earth. "That is an open drydock where the [missile] tubes have been exposed, and a portion of the hull has been cut open so you can see directly into the reactor compartment," Kristensen said. "That is normally some of the most sensitive information, if you ask the people on our side."

      He speculated that the Chinese might be leaving their subs open for satellite viewing as a kind of deterrent - in effect, letting the world know that they're moving forward with advanced weaponry.

      This isn't the first time commercially available satellite imagery has opened a window on weighty international issues: For years, GlobalSecurity.org has followed military developments in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, North Korea and elsewhere through its Public Eye satellite program. More recently, Google Earth and Amnesty International have documented Darfur's agonies using satellite data.

      Kristensen noted that whole communities of citizen analysts have grown up around the publicly available satellite imagery. "It has become an extraordinarily important resource for monitoring the earth and what's happening on it," he said.

      Goldstein agreed that publicly available imagery is a boon for analysts. "We have in our possession hundreds if not thousands of images of the PLA [People's Liberation Army] Navy, including the diesel-class submarines," he said. "These are all unclassified. We just get them off the Internet."

      However, Goldstein and other analysts still wish the Chinese would show more official openness about their naval aspirations - particularly when it comes to the nuclear submarine fleet, which one Chinese military leader has said would be the "most critical naval asset" in future conflicts.

      "I don't think Americans object to China building a strong navy, but the objection is, how do we understand where this is going? That's where most other naval powers are making all the data available on these programs," Goldstein said.

      "In 2004, we learned about a new class of Chinese submarine, the Yuan class. How did we learn about it? Some pictures turned up on the Internet," he continued. "Is this the way China wants to get the word out that it's building new capabilities? This is really the worst way of letting other countries know about new military capabilities, because surprise feeds these anxieties around the region and in the United States about China's long-term intentions."

      Last year, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice voiced concern about China's military buildup, saying it seemed "outsized" for Beijing's regional security role. Later, the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence estimated that China might build five Jin-class submarines. And just today, Australia seconded U.S. concerns in its own defense policy blueprint, warning that China's rapid military modernization could lead to "misunderstanding and instability" in the Asia-Pacific region.

      Goldstein said the new Jin-class submarines, which are "boomers" built for a nuclear doomsday, are still a subject of "serious debate among analysts." It's not at all clear whether they will play a significant role in China's future military, or whether they're merely a sideshow.

      "It's for saber-rattling - to say, 'Hey, we put our boomers to sea, and this could get very ugly,'" he said. "It's the ultimate trump card for the Taiwan scenario."

      The cat is out of the bag now.  The only question is, how many more do the Chi-Com's have?

    LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) -- "Forecasters predicted another sweltering day Friday for the Western United States, as heat warnings will remain in effect for some areas after Thursday's record-high temperatures.

      Records were set Thursday in desert areas of Southern California: Death Valley, 127 degrees; Baker, 125 degrees; and Palmdale, 113 degrees.

      The temperature at Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport reached 116 degrees Thursday -- tying a record high for the date set in 1985 at that station. The all-time high record temperature for the city was 117 degrees.

      The temperature reached a record-high 116 for the second straight day in Phoenix, Arizona. Mayor Phil Gordon said he was asking residents to check on their loved ones, especially seniors living alone, to make sure they are all right.

      The city -- where the temperature reached 111 degrees by 1 p.m. -- has opened several hydration centers and assigned firefighters and police officers to carry drinking water and distribute it to the homeless, he said.

       In northeastern Oregon, temperatures hit 107 in Hermiston and 106 in Pendleton.

      The high was 100 in Spokane, Washington, where the record of 108 was sent in 1928. In nearby Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, the day's high of 99 fell short of the forecast of 102 but threatened the record of 100 set in 1975.

       Boise, Idaho, reached 103 degrees Thursday, the Associated Press reported. A predicted high of 107 on Friday would shatter the date's record by six degrees, AP said.

       "Once it gets that high -- 105, 107, 109 -- it just feels hot," Rick Overton, a copywriter for a digital marketing firm, told AP..."

     MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- "About half of the staff of the National Hurricane Center have signed a petition calling for the ouster of the center's director, saying its "effective functioning" is at stake as the Atlantic hurricane season heads toward its peak.

      "An unfortunate public debate is now occurring over the ability of the National Hurricane Center to meet its mission," the petition, released Thursday, says. "The undersigned staff of the National Hurricane Center has concluded that the center needs a new director, and with the heart of the hurricane season fast approaching, urges the Department of Commerce to make this happen as quickly as possible."

      Twenty-three people signed the petition -- about half the center's total staff, but about 70 percent of those who were available and discussed the statement Thursday, said James Franklin, a senior hurricane specialist.

      The center's current director, Bill Proenza, took over in January after the retirement of Max Mayfield.

      Proenza caused an uproar last month with comments about a key hurricane satellite called QuikScat. The satellite is five years beyond its life expectancy and operating on a backup transmitter. Proenza said if it were to fail, forecast tracks could be thrown off by as much as 16 percent.

      He told CNN that Washington reprimanded him for the comments -- "They wanted me to be quiet about it."

      But one of the center's veteran forecasters said Proenza's comments were misguided..."

     SINGAPORE (Reuters) - "Oil prices held steady at $73 a barrel after briefly marking a new 10-month high on Thursday as dealers awaited weekly U.S. oil inventory data expected to show little change in crude or fuel stocks.

      London Brent crude currently seen as more representative of global oil prices, eased 5 cents to $73 a barrel at 0158 GMT, after having traded as high as $73.32 a barrel, the highest front month price since late August.

      U.S. crude eased 2 cents from its Tuesday close to stand at $71.39, with activity still thin following Wednesday's Independence Day holiday.

      Oil prices have risen to a series of 10-month highs over the past week as traders fret over thin U.S. gasoline supplies and fear a rapid drawdown in lofty crude stocks if OPEC maintains its supply curbs through the peak summer demand season.

      Weekly inventory data due out at 1430 GMT is unlikely to do much to change the medium-term outlook, according to a Reuters poll of analysts that shows an expected 100,000 barrels rise in distillate stocks and a 300,000 barrels increase in gasoline.

      Crude stocks were expected to have fallen by 300,000 barrels from a nine-year high, but analysts may be more focused on refinery utilization rates, which were expected to have risen by 0.9 percentage points from exceptionally low levels.

      "We will be keeping an eye on refinery production figures, as any indication of higher run rates would signal a drawdown on crude stocks," said Tobin Gorey, a commodities strategist with Australia's Commonwealth Bank.

      OPEC officials maintain that current high prices are the fault of insufficient refining capacity, not a lack of crude oil supplies, despite calls by consumer nations to lift supply now to avoid a squeeze ahead of the winter..."

      I need to buy a mountain-bike like pronto.

     ELOXOCHITLAN, Mexico (Reuters) - "The side of a sodden mountain collapsed on a bus carrying up to 60 passengers along a remote Mexican road on Wednesday and hours later rescuers could only pull a woman's corpse from the debris.

      Local rescuers said those on board were probably killed but the government held out hope for survivors.

      After days of heavy rain, part of an almost vertical hill tumbled on the bus as it wound through an indigenous area of the southern state of Puebla, burying it entirely under a sea of mud, fallen trees and jagged gray boulders.

      A second smaller mudslide hampered early efforts by bystanders to dig for survivors at the disaster site in the municipality of Eloxochitlan.

      As much as 23 feet of mud and rock lay on top of the vehicle, senior state rescue official German Garcia told Reuters.

      Soldiers heaved at the debris by night with digging vehicles but were only able to reach the body of a woman thought to be in her mid-twenties, according to state officials. No survivors were found.

      A few hundred villagers stared at the rubble while a handful prayed around candles in a nearby house.

      "We're so sad, we're destroyed. Just think how many souls we have lost," said 30-year old corn farmer Benito Cortes..."

      Russia (BBC) - "Russia has raised the idea of moving new missile forces to Kaliningrad, close to Poland and Lithuania.

      First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov linked the possible move to US plans for a missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic.

      Russia has already threatened to hit back by targeting missiles at Europe.

      Mr Ivanov said there would be no need to move extra forces to Kaliningrad if the US agreed to use Russian facilities instead of the Polish and Czech bases.

      Russia says the US plans for a limited missile defence shield, including bases close to Russia's borders, represent a threat to its security.

      It has proposed that the US should use a radar facility in Azerbaijan, and another installation currently being built in southern Russia.

      US President George W Bush has described the idea as "innovative" but indicated that the US will press ahead with the plans for a radar station in the Czech Republic, and a missile base in Poland.

      The US says its missile shield is not directed at Russia, but at what it considers "rogue states" such as Iran..."

    SINGAPORE (Reuters) - "Oil prices held just under $73 a barrel on Wednesday, hovering near their highest in 10 months on expectations of strong summer gasoline demand and low inventory levels in the world's top consumer.

      London Brent crude (LCOc1: Quote, Profile, Research), currently seen as more representative of global oil prices, fell 3 cents to $72.90 a barrel by 0617 GMT, although trading activity was expected to be muted due to the U.S. public holiday.

      U.S. crude (CLc1: Quote, Profile, Research) shed 8 cents to $71.33 after gaining 5 percent over the past five days. The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) trading floor will be shut on Wednesday, but electronic Globex trade continues as usual.

      Although gasoline inventories in the United States have been rising steadily in recent weeks, they remain well below seasonal norms following a heavy maintenance season this spring and a slew of unplanned shutdowns. But demand is stronger than ever.

      "Despite where prices are at the moment, there is no indication that demand is tapering off at the pump," said Andrew Harrington, commodities analyst from ANZ Bank in Australia.

      U.S. travel group AAA predicted last week that a record 41.4 million Americans would hit the roads for Fourth of July travel, up 0.8 percent from last year despite near-record high pump prices.

      "It's a lifestyle change that isn't going to change anytime soon -- they love their big cars, and would sooner give up something else than that," Harrington said.

      How long is this going to remain a feasible fuel source for EVERYONE?  It's becoming more and more clear that it won't be the 'Everybody' fuel for much longer.

     TOKYO (Reuters) - "The dollar held near a 26-year low against the pound on Wednesday and a two-month trough versus the euro, with trade quiet around the U.S. Independence Day holiday as investors awaited key central bank verdicts later this week.

      The yen edged up after ratings agency Moody's said it may upgrade Japan's sovereign rating of A2, saying the country had reached an "inflection point" in the government's efforts to improve its massive debt.

      But the yen's gains were fleeting as the Japanese currency remained dogged by its low 0.5 percent yield, the lowest among industrialized countries, and the Bank of Japan's repeated pledge to raise interest rates only gradually.

      Analysts said the euro would stay the strongest of top major currencies with the European Central Bank set to keep up its inflation-fighting talk and raise rates as much as twice more this year.

      "The ECB will keep a very hawkish stance even though the process of monetary normalization is coming to an end," said Kikuko Takeda, currency strategist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

     TOKYO/DETROIT (Reuters) - "General Motors Corp. (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Tuesday posted a steeper-than-expected 24 percent drop in June sales, as U.S. automakers lost share to Japanese brands and overall vehicle sales sputtered in the face of high gas prices and a weak housing market.

      Shares of GM dropped more than 4 percent after the holiday-shortened close of trade on the New York Stock Exchange in reaction to the sales shortfall and indications the largest U.S. automaker would have to respond with bigger discounts.

      Sales for GM's Detroit-based rivals also slid for June, while Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research), Honda Motor Co. (7267.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and Nissan Motor Co. (7201.T: Quote, Profile, Research) all gained ground after taking the unusual step of increasing spending on showroom discounts.

      "The sales boost (for the Japanese brands) came from the big incentives spending," said Atsushi Kawai, auto analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities in Tokyo. He added he expected a gentle rise at top Japanese brands on average for the rest of the year.

    WHITEROCKS, Utah (AP) -- "Aided by light winds, firefighters made "outstanding" inroads Monday against a wildfire that has killed three people and burned more than 54 square miles.

      About two dozen people in this town were allowed to return home as crews maintained fire lines near buildings in the sparsely populated area about 100 miles east of Salt Lake City, Utah.

      But away from homes and other buildings, the strategy mostly was to let the fire burn dead trees in the Ashley National Forest, said Jay Esperance of the U.S. Forest Service.

      "We've made outstanding progress," Esperance said. "It is substantially more manageable."

      The wildfire was 5 percent contained Monday morning.

      Since Friday, when three people were killed, the fire has burned 35,000 acres, about one-third in the national forest and the rest on private and public lands and the Uintah and Ouray Indian reservations, said Marc Mullenix, an incident commander.

      The cost so far: $1.6 million, half of it tied to helicopters and aircraft dropping water and retardant, he said. Video Watch man say he could have put out fire »

      About 300 people had to leave a handful of communities over the weekend, but Whiterocks, Utah, residents were allowed to return.

      On Monday, Marcus Perry, 23, said a lot of people don't want to leave their homes even when evacuation orders go out. His parents left for a few hours Saturday and then returned, he said.

      "It's happened before," said Perry, a municipal firefighter working outside his parents' home, of wildfires in the area. "Once you've seen one ... it's not too much to worry about."

      The fire, fed by dry pinon trees, knocked down at least 100 power poles and scorched roads.

      At least a dozen structures have burned to the ground, mostly on Indian land, Mullenix said, but he didn't know whether they were homes or barns.

      About 400 firefighters were summoned from across the country, authorities said. The Utah National Guard sent 100 people to keep roads closed and assist in law enforcement away from the fire.

      Temperatures were in the 90s Monday, with humidity at less than 20 percent. The National Weather Service predicted temperatures near 100 later this week..."

      Metal roof, check.  Brick Walls, check.  Trees 20 meters away from house and not closer,  check.   You should realize that most homes are insanely flammable.  They don't have to be.

      TOKYO (Reuters) - "The dollar hit a 26-year low versus sterling and hovered near a record trough against the euro on Tuesday as investors flocked to currencies whose interest rates are expected to climb further and erode the dollar's appeal.

      Investors were hesitant to buy the dollar ahead of the U.S. Independence Day holiday on concerns about the threat to the United States following an attack on Glasgow airport and foiled attempts to detonate car bombs in London late last week.

      High-yielding currencies remained well-supported, helping to keep the Australian dollar near an 18-year high hit against the dollar on Monday, while the New Zealand dollar hovered around its strongest since the currency was allowed to trade freely in 1985.

      "The U.S. currency is under pressure as central banks elsewhere, such as the Bank of England, could raise interest rates at policy meetings this week," said Masafumi Yamamoto, currency strategist at Nikko Citigroup in Tokyo. "A recent fall in U.S. long-term interest rates is also hurting the dollar."

      Interest rates remain a big driver of the market, and currencies whose rates are expected to rise will extend their gains, analysts said.

      This view will likely continue to batter the low-yielding yen, which many investors have been using to fund purchases of assets in higher-yielding currencies in carry trades..."

      Kansas got a break from the weather Monday, but more rain was scattered over Texas and eastern Oklahoma, the latest in nearly two weeks of storms. It was the 20th straight day that rain had fallen in Oklahoma City.

      “It’s such a dynamic situation,” said Parker County, Texas, spokesman Joel Kertok. “We get a break, and then it starts raining again.”

      A pumping malfunction during the weekend allowed 42,000 gallons of crude oil to escape from the Coffeyville Resources refinery into the swollen Verdigris River in south-central Kansas, producing a floating slick that could be seen and smelled from the air.

      The federal Environmental Protection Agency had teams on the scene, said Jim Miller, Montgomery County emergency manager. About a third of the homes in Coffeyville and a quarter of homes in Independence had been evacuated, he said, and water intakes for Coffeyville, Independence and Elk City had been shut down..."

     OSAWATOMIE, Kansas (AP) -- "Flooding worsened Sunday across parts of Kansas and Missouri, forcing more people from their homes, and meteorologists said it could be days before rivers return to normal following days of drenching rainfall on the Plains.

      The Kansas National Guard was sent to help with a mandatory evacuation of Osawatomie, a town of 4,600, as the overflowing Pottawatomie Creek inundated neighborhoods and workers struggled to reinforce a levee on the Marais des Cygnes.

      Mayor Philip Dudley said 40 percent of the town was under the evacuation order.

      "They came and told us to leave at 6:30 this morning," said Shanda Dehay, 17. "We weren't able to get anything out. These clothes I'm wearing are my aunt's."

      Despite the order, many residents waded through the water or paddled in rowboats for their belongings and to survey the damage, which included homes that were half underwater and nearly submerged vehicles. Video Watch the latest report on flooding in the region »

      Construction worker Joe Clark, 54, and his brother helped people retrieve items from their homes with their canoe. Clark couldn't get into his own home because the water had already risen to within a few feet of the eaves.

      "Might as well help people get out what they can," Clark said. "I can't get to anything of mine."

      Dudley corrected earlier reports that a levee had failed along the Pottawatomie Creek, saying storm waters had overwhelmed pumping stations along the creek but that levees and dikes are still holding.

      Storms across the southern Plains have claimed 11 lives in Texas since more than a week ago, and two Texans were missing. That state has gotten some of the worst of the lingering storm system, with the weather service measuring more than 11 inches of rain in June at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, about a half-inch shy of the 1928 record. The town of Marble Falls collected about 18 inches in one night last week..."

      I'm seeing a growing trend in Middle-America.  This doesn't bode well for the rest of the season.

      Rising interest rates and a slowing economy in the past year have seen default rates jump in the U.S. subprime mortgage market for less creditworthy borrowers, leading to a shrinking appetite for the debt vehicles known as CDOs.

      CDOs are a rapidly growing class of securities created by bundling portions of different types of debt to spread risk among investors around the world.

      "There is a lot of undistributed risk in the market and it's tough to get new deals done," said Vishwanath Tirupattur, a New York analyst at investment bank Morgan Stanley. "The current turmoil is likely to put a dampener on issuance going forward."

      Only $3 billion of new high-grade CDOs were marketed to investors in the latest week, compared to more than $20 billion a month ago, according to J.P. Morgan Securities Inc.

     WASHINGTON (CNN) -- "The United States is boosting security at airports across the country in light of the terrorism scares in Britain in the past two days, officials said.

      The heightened security is a precautionary measure, officials said. No indication of any threat has been received.

      On Saturday, a car was driven into the front of a terminal at Glasgow International Airport in Scotland. Eyewitnesses said the car became a fireball. Police said two people were arrested.

      A day earlier, police in London found two parked cars packed with fuel, gas canisters and nails. The discoveries of the cars in central London unnerved the British capital, with officials saying that hundreds of people could have been killed if the devices in the cars had been set off.

      President Bush was briefed on the situation, White House spokesman Tony Snow said Saturday. He said no information suggests there is a "credible threat" to the United States, but the White House has boosted security at U.S. airports as a precaution.

      New York Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said authorities "are paying close attention to events in Scotland and London both."

      "We are maintaining the additional safeguards that were put in place yesterday as an ongoing precaution against attacks here. We are also working closely with the Port Authority in matters related to airport security," Kelly said..."

      A bit jumpy; but better safe than sorry.

     GLASGOW (Reuters) - "Britain is at "critical" risk of a terrorist attack, the government said, after police linked an attack on Glasgow airport to two failed car bombings in London.

      Two men, one badly burned, were arrested in Glasgow on Saturday after a four-wheel-drive car was driven into the main door of the airport terminal where it burst into flames.

      Six people were taken to hospital and the arrested man is in a critical condition. Two more people were arrested later on a motorway in northern England.

      Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who took over from Tony Blair on Wednesday, convened a meeting of Britain's top security committee to discuss how he would deal with the first big test of his leadership.

      The Home Office (interior ministry) raised the national security alert level to "critical", the highest ranking and one which indicates further attacks are expected imminently.

      "I want all British people to be vigilant and want them to support the police and all the authorities.... I know the British people will stand together united, resolute and strong," Brown said..."