Skip to main content

Australia faces permanent terror threat: PM

Tuesday, February 23, 2010
SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has warned that his country is now under a permanent and increased threat of militant attack.

He also announced plans to fingerprint and face-scan visitors from 10 high-risk countries.

Mr Rudd said there was a growing threat from Islamist radicals born or raised in Australia.

Last week, five Australians of foreign origin received heavy sentences for conspiring to launch a jihadist attack.

Mr Rudd said that many "home-grown terrorists" were inspired by what he called international jihadist narratives, as he released a new report compiled by intelligence agencies.

"The threat of home-grown terrorism is now increasing," he said.

"This white paper is clear: some of the threat we now face comes from the Australian-born, Australian-educated and Australian residents."

"Terrorism continues to pose a serious threat and a serious challenge to Australia's security interests. That threat is not diminishing," Mr Rudd said.

"In fact, the government security intelligence agencies assess that terrorism has become a persistent and permanent feature of Australia's security environment. These agencies warn that an attack could occur at any time."

He said the 10 countries to face more stringent entry procedures would not be named yet. "There may be a diplomatic effort required in regards to some of those countries, as you would expect," he said.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

India's swine flu death rate is increasing

Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...

Snake bite deaths

Monday, July 06, 2009 COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government recorded some 33,000 snake bites in 2008, with most of the victims coming from remote villages.The Department of Government Information said in a statement that most of the snake bite cases could be fatal if neglected.The statement said snake bites are often neglected in Sri Lanka as victims do not seek treatment at hospitals where advanced medication is available. Instead, the victims rush to traditional type of treatment which could be a risk, reports Xinhua.Snake bites death at domestic level, outside hospitals, go unrecorded, said the statement.Most victims of snake bite are from the rural and remote villages where there is no electricity after dusk.Statistics show that Sri Lanka has over 90 species of snake with around 10 species possessing venom capable of killing a human being.In Sri Lanka the annual death rate due to snake bite envenoming is one of the highest in the world being 6 in 100,000 population.