World Digest: Britain raises its terror threat level to 'severe'

BRITAIN

Terror threat level elevated to 'severe'

Britain raised its international terrorism threat level Friday from "substantial" to "severe," its second-highest level, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said.

"This means that a terrorist attack is highly likely, but I should stress that there is no intelligence to suggest that an attack is imminent," Johnson said in a statement. He added that Britain's Joint Terrorism Analysis Center "makes its judgments based on a broad range of factors, including the intent and capabilities of international terrorist groups in the UK and overseas."

A Home Office advisory said the threat level meant people should remain on alert for danger, including looking for suspicious bags on public transport, but added that the risk of being caught up in an attack was very low.

Britain will host an international conference on Afghanistan on Thursday.

-- Reuters

IRAQ

Biden in Baghdad for long-planned visit

Vice President Biden arrived in Baghdad on Friday night for meetings with U.S. and Iraqi officials and to get a ground view ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for March 7.

Biden's visit, which many Iraqi officials have interpreted as an attempt to weigh in on a brewing electoral crisis, was planned weeks in advance, White House officials said. They said Biden did not travel to Iraq to broker a deal over the dispute caused by the barring of more than 500 candidates because of their alleged allegiance to Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.

"We are not proposing solutions" to the Iraqis, Biden's national security adviser, Antony Blinken, told reporters Friday night. "We are listening to them."