The Jim Bakker Show

A New York Tale, Two men find bag, remove bomb, take bag

By Dan Whitcomb

(Reuters) – New York City police investigating a bombing in Manhattan over the weekend said on Monday they wanted to question two men who appeared to stumble over a second device made from a pressure cooker that had been left inside a bag lying on a city street.

In a lucky break that helped authorities to thwart a second detonation on Saturday, the men walked away with the bag after taking out what turned out to be a homemade bomb and leaving it exposed on the pavement on 27th Street.

Police discovered the device soon after a bomb exploded four blocks away on 23rd Street in the Chelsea neighborhood and left 29 people injured.

The two men, caught on surveillance video footage, are considered potential witnesses, not suspects, in the bombing, said Robert Boyce, chief of detectives for the New York City Police Department.

“They looked like they were two gentlemen just strolling up and down Seventh Avenue at the time. We have no information that would link them to this at all,” Boyce said at a briefing. “However, we still want to talk to them, obviously.”

Boyce said the two men were seen picking up the bag containing the device, removing it and then leaving with the bag, for reasons that remains unclear. Police provided no specific description of the men who they said took the bag.

“Once they picked up the bag, they seemed incredulous they had actually picked this up off the street and they walked off with it,” Boyce said. “So we’ll find out, we’ll put their images out. Hopefully we can get them identified.”

Earlier on Monday an Afghanistan-born American suspected of detonating the bomb in Chelsea and of planting other devices in New York and New Jersey was arrested following a gun battle with police.

Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from Elizabeth, New Jersey, was taken into custody hours after authorities identified him as the prime suspect in the Saturday night blast.

Police suspect Rahami was also behind a bomb that exploded in a New Jersey beach town on Saturday, as well as leaving the device found on the sidewalk after the New York blast. On Sunday, five more devices were found in Elizabeth, the suspect’s hometown.Police in Linden, New Jersey, which neighbors Elizabeth about 20 miles (32 km) west of New York, captured Rahami after responding to a complaint by a bar owner of a man sleeping in the closed establishment’s hallway.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Frank McGurty and Mary Milliken)

Authorities identify suspect in New York explosions US-USA-ATTACKS

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other security officials mark evidence near the site of an explosion which took place on Saturday night in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York,

By Alex Dobuzinskis

(Reuters) – Authorities have identified a suspect in the Manhattan explosion case as a 28-year-old New Jersey resident of Afghan descent who may be armed and dangerous, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday.

The New York Police Department released a photo of Ahmad Khan Rahami, who was wanted for questioning in the Saturday night explosions in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, de Blasio said on CNN.

“He could be armed and dangerous,” de Blasio said, warning that residents should be vigilant and report sightings to authorities.

Ahmad Khan Rahami in a photo released by the FBI. REUTERS/FBI

In Elizabeth, New Jersey, on Monday, the FBI was executing a search warrant, Mayor Christian Bollwage told CNN earlier.

“They will be there for the next few hours, going through this location to find any evidence possible, whether it’s in relation to this incident or the Chelsea incident,” he said.

An explosive device left near a train station in Elizabeth, blew up earlier on Monday when a bomb squad robot cut a wire on the mechanism, one of as many as five potential bombs found at the site, the city’s mayor said.

No one was injured in the blast that followed a series of attacks in the United States over the weekend, including the Saturday night bombing that hurt 29 people in Manhattan.

The device had been left in a backpack placed in a trash can near a train station and a bar, Bollwage told reporters earlier.

As many as five potential explosive devices tumbled out of the backpack when it was emptied, Bollwage said. After cordoning off the area, a bomb squad used a robot to cut a wire to try to disable the device, but inadvertently set off an explosion, he said.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the investigation was focusing on a person of interest in the case.

“The evidence might suggest a foreign connection,” Cuomo said in television interviews on Monday morning.

The Chelsea blast followed a pipe bomb explosion on Saturday morning along the route of a running race in the New Jersey beach town of Seaside Park. No one was injured in that blast.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles, Doina Chiacu and Susan Heavey in Washington; Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

New York City shaken by ‘intentional’ explosion, 29 injured

firefighters near the site of the explosion

By Simon Webb and David Ingram

NEW YORK (Reuters) – An explosion rocked the bustling Chelsea district of Manhattan on Saturday night, injuring at least 29 people in what authorities described as a deliberate, criminal act, while saying investigators had found no evidence of a “terror connection.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and other city officials said investigators had ruled out a gas leak as the cause of the blast, but they stopped short of calling it a bombing and declined to specify precisely what they believed may have triggered the explosion.

Neha Jain, 24, who lives in the neighborhood, said she was sitting at home watching a movie when she heard a huge boom and everything shook.

“Pictures on my wall fell, the window curtain came flying as if there was a big gush of wind,” she told Reuters. “Then we could smell smoke. We went downstairs to see what happened, and firemen immediately told us to go back.”

Police said a sweep of the neighborhood following the blast had turned up a possible “secondary device” four blocks away consisting of a pressure cooker with wires attached to it and connected to a cell phone.

Residents living nearby were advised to stay away from windows facing the street as a precaution, and the item was later safely moved to a police firing range for further examination, officer Christopher Pisano said.

As of Sunday morning, police were still seeking to determine whether the item was an explosive and had not detonated it, said New York police Lieutenant Thomas Antonetti.

Pressure cookers packed with explosives and detonated with timing devices were used by two Massachusetts brothers in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people and wounded more than 260.

The latest blast came less than a week after law enforcement agencies around the country were on heightened alert for the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, airline-hijacking attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

Remaining circumspect about the exact nature of the explosion in Chelsea, De Blasio said early indications were that it was “an intentional act.” He added that the site of the blast, outside on a major thoroughfare in the fashionable West Side Manhattan neighborhood, was being treated as a crime scene.

“There is no evidence at this point of a terror connection,” the mayor said at a news conference about three hours after the blast. “There is no specific and credible threat against New York City at this point in time from any terror organization.”

The mayor also said investigators did not believe there was any link to a pipe bomb that exploded earlier on Saturday in the New Jersey beach town of Seaside Park. No injuries were reported in that blast, from a device planted in a plastic trash can along the route of a charity foot race.

But a U.S. official said that a Joint Terrorism Task Force, an interagency group of federal, state and local officials, was called to investigate the Chelsea blast, suggesting authorities have not ruled out the possibility of a terror connection.

A joint task force also took the lead in investigating the New Jersey incident.

ONE PERSON SERIOUSLY INJURED

A law enforcement official told Reuters an initial investigation suggested the Chelsea explosion occurred in a dumpster. CNN cited law enforcement sources as saying they believed an improvised explosive device caused the blast.

President Barack Obama, attending a congressional dinner in Washington, “has been apprised of the explosion in New York City, the cause of which remains under investigation,” a White House official said.

New York City Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said 29 people were hurt in the blast, and 24 of them had been taken to hospitals, including one he described as seriously injured. The rest suffered various cuts, scrapes and other minor injuries, Nigro said.

The explosion, described by one neighbor as “deafening,” happened outside the Associated Blind Housing facility at 135 W. 23rd Street. The facility provides housing, training and other services for the blind.

Hundreds of people were seen fleeing down the block as police rushed to cordon off the area.

Tsi Tsi Mallett, who was driving along 23rd Street when the explosion took place, told Reuters the blast blew out her vehicle’s rear window. Her 10-year-old son in the back seat was unhurt, she said.

“It was really loud, it hurt my eardrums,” she said.

Even before the explosion, New York was tightening security for the start of this week’s U.N. General Assembly session, which is expected to bring 135 world leaders and dozens of foreign government ministers to the city.

The explosion quickly became an issue in the presidential race, with Republican candidate Donald Trump remarking about the explosion when he appeared at a Colorado rally.

“Just before I got off the plane, a bomb went off in New York, and nobody knows exactly what’s going on,” Trump said a hours before New York officials spoke publicly about the blast.

“We better get very tough, folks.”

Democratic rival Hillary Clinton made a statement on her campaign plane on the ground in New York, saying she had been briefed on “the bombings in New York and New Jersey.” But she said she would wait until she had more information before commenting further.

(Additional reporting by Frank McGurty and Angela Moon in New York, Alex Dobuzinksis in Los Angeles, Tim Ahmann and Mark Hosenball in Washington; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Mary Milliken, Robert Birsel and Raissa Kasolowsky)

Man wielding meat cleaver slices New York City patrolman’s head

Police investigate the scene where a man was shot by police in Manhattan, New York, U.S., September 15, 2016

(Reuters) – An assailant wielding a meat cleaver struck a New York City police officer in the head on Thursday in midtown Manhattan, and two other officers chasing the suspect were also hurt during the incident, police said.

The attack occurred after two on-duty officers were responding to reports of a crime in progress just before 5 p.m. local time near Madison Square Garden, NYPD spokeswoman Sophia Mason said.

Three officers were taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Mason said the man drew the cleaver from his waist band after two of the officers confronted him, and then the suspect ran. A stun gun had no apparent affect on him, Mason said.

A third officer, who was off duty and in the area at the time, helped chase the suspect, who ran down the street with the large butcher’s knife in his hand, Mason said.

At one point, the suspect jumped on top of a police car and, as officers attempted to subdue him, the off-duty officer was struck in the head by the cleaver, causing a gash, Mason said. It was not immediately clear how or when the other two officers were injured.

After the officer was struck, police opened fire on the suspect, striking him multiple times, Mason said. The man was in police custody and being treated at an area hospital, she added. The extent of his injuries was not immediately available.

“They shot him up,” the New York Daily News quoted a witness as saying. “He was hit five or six times. He was laid up on the sidewalk. It looked like he was dead.”

(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Dan Grebler, David Gregorio and Bill Rigby)

Families remember 9/11 victims 15 years after attacks

By Melissa Fares

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Americans remembered the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on Sunday at a ceremony marking 15 years, with the recital of their names, tolling church bells and a tribute in lights at the site where New York City’s massive twin towers collapsed.

As classical music drifted across the 9/11 Memorial plaza in lower Manhattan, family members and first responders slowly read the names and delivered personal memories of the almost 3,000 victims killed in the worst attack on U.S. soil since the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Relatives in the crowd embraced and some held photos of loved ones and signs that read: “Never to be forgotten,” “We miss you,” and “Gone too soon.”

Tom Acquarviva’s 29-year-old son Paul was one of 658 employees of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald who perished after the first plane struck the north tower just below where they worked on the 101st to 105th floors.

“Not a day goes by that we don’t remember him,” Acquarviva told Reuters.

Angela Checo honored her brother, Pedro Francisco, 35, who was a vice president at investment and wealth manager Fiduciary Trust on the 96th floor of the south tower.

“He was coming down but forgot someone and went back upstairs to save them,” Checo said. “That’s why he never made it down.”

The ceremony paused for six moments of silence: four to mark the exact times four hijacked planes were crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon near Washington D.C., and a Pennsylvania field. The last two record when the North and South towers of the Trade Center crumpled.

It was held by two reflecting pools with waterfalls that now stand in the towers’ former footprints, and watched over by an honor guard of police and firefighters.

More than 340 firefighters and 60 police were killed on the that sunny Tuesday morning in 2001. Many of the first responders died while running up stairs in the hope of reaching victims trapped on the towers’ higher floors.

“PIECE OF THEIR HEART”

At the Pentagon, a trumpet played as U.S. President Barack Obama took part in a wreath-laying ceremony.

“Fifteen years may seem like a long time. But for the families who lost a piece of their heart that day, I imagine it can seem like just yesterday,” Obama said.

No public officials spoke at the New York ceremony, in keeping with a tradition that began in 2012. But many dignitaries attended, including Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Trump said in a statement that it was a day of sadness and remembrance, but also of resolve.

“Our solemn duty on behalf of all those who perished … is to work together as one nation to keep all of our people safe from an enemy that seeks nothing less than to destroy our way of life,” Trump said.

Clinton said in a statement that the horror of Sept. 11, 2001 would never be forgotten, and paid tribute to the victims and first responders.

She fell ill after about 90 minutes at the service, becoming “overheated,” aides said, and was taken to her daughter Chelsea’s apartment in Manhattan. She emerged later and told reporters she was “feeling great.”

TRIBUTE IN LIGHT

Houses of worship throughout the city had tolled their bells at 8:46 a.m. EDT (1246 GMT), the time American Airlines Flight 11 slammed into the North Tower.

A second pause came at 9:03 a.m. (1303 GMT), when United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower. American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. (1337 GMT), then the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m. (1359 GMT).

At 10:03 a.m. (1403 GMT) United Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and the final moment of silence was observed at 10:28 a.m. (1428 GMT) when the North Tower fell.

As evening falls across New York City on Sunday, scores of 7,000-watt xenon light bulbs will project two giant beams of blue light into the night sky to represent the fallen twin towers, fading away at dawn.

The “Tribute in Light” was first set up in 2002, six months after the attacks, and has become part of the annual memorial service. The beams reach four miles (6.4 km) into the sky and can be seen as far as 60 miles (96.6 km) away on a clear night, organizers say.

In the twin towers’ place now rises the 104-story 1 World Trade Center. Also known as the Freedom Tower, it is the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere, at 1,776 feet (541 meters). Fifteen years after the attack, the U.S. government marked its return to the site on Friday, moving its New York City offices there.

Nineteen hijackers died in the attack, later claimed by Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, which led directly to the U.S. war in Afghanistan and indirectly to the invasion of Iraq.

In Kabul, the top American commander in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, paid tribute to members of the NATO-led coalition and Afghan security forces who had been killed since the Taliban regime fell.

But in an address which touched on his own experience as an officer in Afghanistan, stretching back a decade, he also underlined how far from peace the country remains.

“As we know, sadly, the number of terrorist groups has only grown since 9/11,” he said. “Of the 98 groups now designated globally, 20 are in this region, the Afpak region.”

(Reporting by Melissa Fares; Additional reporting by Yeganeh Torbati in Washington and James Mackenzie in Kabul; Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Mary Milliken and Jeffrey Benkoe)

Sorrow, selfies compete at New York’s 9/11 memorial 15 years on

By Gina Cherelus

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The memorial in New York City at the site where the Twin Towers fell in the Sept. 11 attacks 15 years ago straddles two worlds: one of the living and one of the dead.

A marker for where more than 2,600 people were killed, it attracts tourists from around the world. Some are drawn there to pause and reflect, others to satisfy a morbid fascination with the site of the worst attack on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941.

Clutching cell phones, cameras and selfie sticks, visitors generally take their time around the National September ll Memorial Museum. They are expected to turn out in droves on Sunday for the 9/11 anniversary.

More than 23 million people have seen the memorial and 4 million have been to the museum since they were opened five years ago, leaving some local people thinking the significance of the site as a place for mourning is fading.

Rosanne Hughes’ husband died on Sept. 11, 2001, while he was on a work visit at the Windows on the World restaurant high in the World Trade Center’s North Tower.

Now a board member of the New Jersey 9/11 Memorial Foundation, she said it was hard for victims’ relatives to sometimes see insensitive or even rude behavior at the plaza in Lower Manhattan.

“It’s very disrespectful for people to go there and take selfies and smile for the cameras and in the background is where the towers collapsed,” Hughes said.

“I saw people with their kids running around, you know laughing, having fun. I guess people just don’t understand that it’s just not that type of museum.”

Early on that bright Tuesday morning in 2001, two hijacked planes were slammed into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center. A third plane was flown into the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., and a fourth crashed in a Pennsylvania field.

MELANCHOLIC MUSEUM

The memorial and museum, which cost more than $700 million to build, feature twin pools with waterfalls, each covering nearly an acre. The pools stand in the footprints of the towers.

Flanking the pools are platforms dotted with Swamp white oak trees and ivy beds. The names of every person who died in the 9/11 attacks are inscribed on bronze panels that rim the pools.

Coins glistened from the inner ledges of the pools, sharing space with paper napkins, bottle caps and even a plastic coffee cup one recent Sunday.

A security guard, who declined to give his name, said that during patrols he had to ask children to not sit on the names of the dead and stopped adults from stubbing out cigarettes on them.

The mood inside the museum, beneath “Ground Zero,” is more solemn, its 110,000 square feet bearing witness to the attacks. People’s identification cards, blood-stained shoes, photographs of fathers, wives, brothers and co-workers, intimate stories of loss and recovery tell the story.

Outside once again, Hughes said it was upsetting to see hotdog vendors and souvenir stands near the memorial.

“We still have anger over what happened too, and we’ve moved forward from that. But this is something that just doesn’t go away,” she said.

“It may be a photo-op for them but for us it is still very painful to watch.”

Kenneth T. Jackson, a New York City historian and professor at Columbia University, said the attacks made the World Trade Center the most famous place in the world, and he believes visitors instantly realize its significance.

“It now joins the long list of New York City tourist attractions and, for better or worse, it is one,” he said. “Even if there was no memorial, even if they left some broken stuff there, people would visit.”

(Reporting by Gina Cherelus; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Toni Reinhold)

Three arrested at New York-New Jersey tunnel with weapons cache

By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Three people were arrested on Tuesday morning with an arsenal of weapons, including a military-style assault rifle, after police stopped them near the Holland Tunnel, a major crossing that connects New Jersey and New York City.

Police pulled over a vehicle for a cracked windshield at a toll plaza on the New Jersey side around 7:40 a.m. ET (1140 GMT) and found several guns inside, according to a spokesman for the Port Authority Police Department, which patrols the tunnel.

Police recovered five pistols, an AR-15 assault rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun, as well as a small amount of marijuana and a marijuana pipe, according to the Port Authority. Some of the guns were loaded.

John Cramsey, 50, Dean Smith, 53, and Kimberly Arendt, 29, all from Pennsylvania, were charged with weapons possession and drug paraphernalia charges.

“At this time, the investigation is continuing, but the agency does not believe the incident is terrorism-related,” said the Port Authority spokesman, Joseph Pentangelo.

Local news outlets, citing law enforcement sources, reported that Cramsey told police he was driving to New York City to rescue a young girl from a drug den.

Police also recovered several knives, extra ammunition, body armor and a camouflage helmet from the vehicle, local media reported.

U.S. law enforcement, including New York City’s massive counter-terrorism apparatus, has been on high alert since a gunman killed 49 people at an Orlando gay nightclub on June 12 in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

New York has some of the nation’s strictest gun laws, including a ban on military-style assault weapons that on Monday survived a U.S. Supreme Court challenge.

Those weapons have sometimes been used in mass shootings, including in Orlando and in the 2012 Newtown, Connecticut, school massacre that killed 20 children and six adults.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Dan Grebler)

Number of roadway deaths nationwide on increase while NYC safest year on record

A car is seen driving along Queens Boulevard in the borough of Queens in New York, U.S.,

By Daniel Trotta

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The “Boulevard of Death” is getting a makeover, part of a New York City initiative that made 2015 the safest year on record for traffic accidents even as the number of roadway deaths nationwide shows a steep increase.

Engineers are redesigning a stretch of Queens Boulevard, which earned its notorious nickname due to the 185 people killed on the road over 25 years. Cars, bicycles and pedestrians are being routed into more clearly marked lanes with wider buffer zones between them, more stop signs and smarter parking rules.

Adopting a Swedish program known as Vision Zero, New York City officials are trying to eliminate traffic deaths through more than 100 initiatives that include curbing speed limits, boosting enforcement with speed cameras and high profile ticketing campaigns, as well as driver outreach and education.

Although 18 U.S. cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and Washington already have put in place some form of Vision Zero, states and the federal government have lagged in their coordination and implementation of the latest safety measures, which is frustrating to international experts.

“It surprises many people who are involved in road safety that the richest, most successful nation on earth allows many of its citizens to die because they don’t take advantage of basic engineering,” said Michael Woodford, chairman of the Safer Roads Foundation, which aims to reduce road casualties globally.

Woodford, who was ousted as head of Japanese optical equipment maker Olympus after blowing the whistle on a major fraud case, said he has spent millions of dollars of his own money on the initiative.

He contrasted the immense U.S. sensitivity over airline safety with the relative inattention to the roadside carnage.

“It’s got to become a political issue,” Woodford said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio made New York the first U.S. city to adopt Vision Zero when he launched it shortly after taking office on Jan. 1, 2014.

By 2015, annual traffic fatalities in New York City had fallen to a record low of 231, a 22 percent drop from 2013 and the lowest since record-keeping began in 1910, the mayor’s office said. Pedestrian deaths, which are high in New York City given how may people walk as part of their public transport commute, fell 27 percent over the same two years to a historic low of 134.

Because so many cities are new to Vision Zero, they lack the before-and-after data that New York has, said Leah Shahum, director of the national Vision Zero Network.

Although some drivers inevitably complain about slower traffic and more tickets, there was a “transformative shift in prioritizing safe mobility” under way across the country, Shahum said.

“No one is against zero traffic deaths. That said, the reality is that behaviors can be hard to change. There will likely be more pushback,” Shahum said.

‘BELTS, BOOZE AND SPEED’

Vision Zero starts from the premise that all accidents are preventable. Traffic engineers and driver safety experts know how to reduce casualties, which are largely related to poor road design, speeding, alcohol and the lack of seat belts.

Still, tens of thousands of people die on U.S. roads every year. The toll fell from 44,599 in 1990 to 32,675 in 2014, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

In the agency’s latest report, covering the first nine months of 2015, traffic deaths nationwide rose 9.3 percent versus the same period of 2014.

Experts warn against reading too much into any short-term fluctuation in those national statistics, saying traffic deaths are affected by gas prices, employment and other factors independent of safety standards. But they stress that the main causes can all be addressed through public policy.

“We’ve seen a huge amount of success in the past few decades, but when you look at belts, booze and speed those are some persistent problems,” said Jake Nelson, director of traffic safety advocacy and research with the American Automobile Association (AAA).

In the New York City borough of Queens, officials focused on a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) stretch of Queens Boulevard where 47 people were killed or seriously injured between 2010 and 2014.

Such campaigns are more difficult in rural areas, where narrow highways typically lack a median, are poorly lit at night, and attitudes are more lax about using seat belts or driving while intoxicated, Nelson said.

Road engineering for safety has reduced fatalities in New York City by 34 percent, the city said, twice the rate of improvement at other locations, but it also requires money. The first phase of the Queens Boulevard redesign cost $1.4 million and the price tag for citywide safety related changes planned this year is $115 million.

“Our interstate infrastructure is crumbling. We can’t afford to even fill potholes and repair bridges, which is why Vision Zero is so important because we have scarce resources and we need to invest wisely,” Nelson said.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Diane Craft)

ISIS Threatens New York City in Latest Video; World Report Says Boko Haram Deadlier Than ISIS

The latest propaganda video that ISIS has posted online warns of an impending attack on New York City.

According to CNN, the video mentions Time Square and shows an explosive device being built and a bomber putting on a jacket over a suicide belt. CBS News adds that the video featured clips of French President Francois Hollande speaking after the attacks on Paris while the terrorists make remarks in the video.

Additional members of the NYPD’s newest anti-terrorism squad have been deployed throughout the Big Apple as a precaution.

“While some of the video footage is not new, the video reaffirms the message that New York City remains a top terrorist target,” a statement of the NYPD read. “While there is no current or specific threat to the city at this time, we will remain at a heightened state of vigilance and will continue to work with the FBI, the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the entire intelligence community to keep the city of New York safe.”

However, Mayor Bill de Blasio urged citizens to continue going about their normal business and not to give into fear.

“The people of New York City will not be intimidated,” he said late Wednesday, according to CNN. “We understand it is the goal of terrorists to intimidate and disrupt our democratic society. We will not submit to their wishes.”

Police officials stated that this video was nothing new as ISIS released a similar video back in April. They realize that New York City continues to be a target for terrorist organizations. However, they assured news agencies that they are taking note of the video.

Along with the latest video, Reuters reports that ISIS also released a photo on Wednesday, showing in their official magazine how they brought down the Russian airliner over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula last month, killing all 224 people on board. The photo shows a Schweppes soft drink along with a detonator and other bomb components.

In other ISIS related news, a world report by the Institute for Economics and Peace stated that Boko Haram is a deadlier terrorist organization than ISIS, according to multiple news agencies including NPR and the Huffington Post. Out of the 32,000 people killed by terrorism in 2014, Boko Haram was responsible for 6,644 of those deaths, more than any other terrorist group. The Islamic State killed around 6,000 people in 2014. Together, the two organizations are responsible for 51% of all claimed terrorist attacks in 2014, and the majority of deaths came from the few nations of Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Syria. Nigeria experienced a 300% increase in terrorist attacks in 2014. In the past, Boko Haram has claimed to be a branch of ISIS.

Pope’s Visit Brings Security Concerns, Including Police Impersonators

Law enforcement personnel are worried that the Pope’s visit to the United States could attract terrorist attacks and even go as far as impersonating police officers, EMTs, and firefighters to launch such attacks.

“The impersonators’ main goals are to further their attack plan and do harm to unsuspecting citizens as well as members of the emergency services community,” said the bulletin, titled “First Responder Impersonators: The New Terrorist Threat.”

The Pennsylvania State Police’s Criminal Intelligence Center distributed a memo to law enforcement throughout the northeast that imposters could use false identification to enter secure areas or to get away undetected from a crime scene. Pennsylvania State Police stated that the memo was not specifically meant for the Pope’s visit and officials confirmed that there were no credible threats known against Pope Francis at this time. The New York State Police Department and the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington also confirmed there were no known threats tied to Pope Francis’ visit.

FBI and Homeland Security reports based the premises for the memo, which made statements that suspects in the U.S. and abroad were in possession of police uniforms. In the past, authorities have arrested potential terrorists who were in possession of U.S. military uniforms, fake IDs, and police uniforms.

“A wide variety of products such as clothing, weapons and tactical gear can be purchased on the Internet by any consumer, regardless of a confirmed affiliation to emergency services, government or law enforcement agency,” the statement read. The document also advised that police be on high alert for theft of uniforms, credentials, and emergency vehicles.

Police officials are also warning citizens to be aware of their surroundings during the Pope’s visit, especially when in large crowded areas. The memo states that event locations and public transit are high risk areas because of the large groups of people and the amount of attention the city will have during the papal visit.

According to House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, the U.S. has stopped at least one threat against Pope Francis last week.

During the Pope’s visit, security preparations include screening checkpoints, airspace restrictions, and a ban on selfie sticks and backpacks at the events. Along the motorcade routes there will be multiple airport-style screenings and extensive street closures in every city he visits. There will also be a significant increase in the amount of first responders deployed in the cities.

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