Homeland Security News

A woman has been killed and 10 other people wounded in a violent attack at a vocational school in the Finnish city of Kuopio, police say.

A witness told Finnish media that a student entered Savo college carrying a sword and stabbed several people.

Police said the suspect was carrying a "sabre-like weapon" and a gun.

An unnamed witness was quoted as saying that he stabbed the woman in the neck and the stomach. The suspect was later arrested by armed police.

Those wounded were aged between 15 and 50 and most of them were women, the head of the hospital said. The age of the woman who died was not yet known.

Police said officers used a firearm when detaining the man after arriving at the school, which is in a shopping centre south of the centre of Kuopio. A small fire had been started by the attacker but it was quickly put out.

No motive for the attack has been given but police have since searched the home of the man, who is described as a native Finn born in 1994 who was a student at the college.

Read more: BBC News

The U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration gave the initial green light for UPS to start delivering packages via drones on Tuesday. 

The UPS's Flight Forward company was awarded an air carrier and operator certification for drones following the success of a pilot program in North Carolina that delivered health care supplies, including blood, with drones around a hospital campus in Raleigh. 

"This is a big step forward in safely integrating unmanned aircraft systems into our airspace, expanding access to healthcare in North Carolina and building on the success of the national UAS Integration Pilot Program to maintain American leadership in unmanned aviation," Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao said in a statement.

The certification also means that UPS will be able to operate drones beyond the visual line of sight -- meaning that the drone operator will not have to keep an eye on a drone while it is delivering to its destination.

While initially used to transport medical supplies, UPS says it plans to expand its drone delivery services and uses, first to other hospitals and then to other industries as well. 

"This is history in the making, and we aren’t done yet," David Abney, UPS's CEO said in a statement. "Our technology is opening doors for UPS and solving problems in unique ways for our customers. We will soon announce other steps to build out our infrastructure, expand services for healthcare customers and put drones to new uses in the future."

The FAA's Part 135 Standard certification has not been attained by any other company yet, and has no limits in the "size or scope of operations," according to UPS. 

The certification allows UPS to send an unlimited number of drones to the skies, for their cargo load to exceed 55 pounds and for them to fly at night. 

Source: ABC News

Militants in northeastern Nigeria killed at least nine people in an attack on Sunday, sources told Reuters on Monday.

It was the latest in a series of attacks in the northeast that has coincided with the Nigerian military’s implementation of a new strategy of withdrawing to “super camps” that the military says can be more easily defended against Islamist insurgents.

Some security experts have expressed concerns that the areas vacated under the strategy announced by President Muhammadu Buhari in July are being filled by insurgents, leaving civilians vulnerable in a region that is grappling with a decade-long insurgency that has killed more than 30,000 people.

Read more: Reuters

Aircraft security is under the spotlight after the U.S. government confirmed a move to protect citizens from cyberattacks targeting aviation. It comes amid growing concern that aviation is a major target for terrorists, who could use cyberattacks to threaten planes and passengers.

The Department of Home Security is leading the revived program alongside the Pentagon and Transportation Department that aims to test airliners’ vulnerability to hacking, according to the Wall Street Journal. Few details are available, but DHS confirmed that the program would include testing actual aircraft for vulnerabilities.

The program is focusing on protecting the electronic systems of new and old airliners from cyberattacks. Concerns have been growing after cyberattacks on other connected so-called critical infrastructure such as power grids. A U.S. government program is in place to focus on power grids via the SEIA Bill, which mandates the use of specific technologies to help protect the systems underpinning them.

Read more: Forbes

Two former extremists are calling for violent extremism to be treated as a public health issue amid an uptick in high-profile mass shootings.

Mubin Shaikh, a former Islamic extremist turned national security and counter terrorism expert, insisted on Friday that such a move would help provide a much-needed comprehensive approach to address the issue.

“What you need to bring to bear is something that covers the spectrum — whether it’s mental health, whether it’s religious aspects, whether it’s psychosocial aspects,” Shaikh told Hill.TV during an interview on “Rising.”

“This is why it has to be a public health issues so to cover all the bases across the board,” he added.

Read more: The Hill