Britain raised its terror threat alert to the second-highest level Friday, one of several recent moves the country has made to increase vigilance against international terrorists after a Christmas Day bombing attempt on a Europe-US flight.
The threat level was raised from "substantial" - where it had stood since July to indicate a strong possibility of a terrorist attack - to "severe," meaning such an attack is considered highly likely.
In making the announcement, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said the raised security level means that Britain is heightening its vigilance. But he stressed that there was no intelligence suggesting an attack is imminent.
