Heightened Security Ahead Of Thanksgiving

Travellers are being warned of long queues at airports as they head home for Thanksgiving amid heightened fears of a terrorist attack.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has said it expects this week to be the busiest travel season in its history.

More than two million passengers are expected to take a flight each day during the holiday period, the highest figure since 2007, according to Airlines for America.

Security has been tightened at transport hubs across the US in the wake of terror attacks in Paris and Mali and the bombing of a Russian passenger jet in Egypt.

Amtrak has said it will have a heightened police presence during the holiday, with the AAA predicting that 42 million people will travel at least 50 miles for Thanksgiving.

New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton has said security will be stepped up during the city's Thanksgiving parade, with a record number of people expected to attend.

That will include, for the first time, around 200 newly trained officers from the NYPD's Critical Response Command - a new counter-terrorism squad.

It comes after the US State Department issued a worldwide travel alert on Monday due to "increased terrorist threats".

The alert, which will remain in place until 24 February, advised Americans to avoid large crowds or crowded places and to "exercise particular caution during the holiday season".

President Barack Obama met with his National Security Council on Tuesday to discuss the response to recent attacks by Islamic State militants.

In a statement, the White House said: "The president was briefed that there is currently no specific, credible threat to the homeland."

He is set to meet with national security advisers again on Wednesday to review the "homeland security posture" after the IS attacks in Paris and "as we enter the holiday season", the White House added.

Mr Obama met with French President Francois Hollande at the White House on Tuesday to discuss escalate attacks on IS in Iraq and Syria, and to bolster the sharing of intelligence after the attacks in Paris, which saw 130 people killed .