Last year, Barack Obama, the US president, called Afghanistan the new frontline in America's fight against al-Qaeda linked groups.
Now Obama has explicitly linked the group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula with the attempt to blow up a US-bound passenger jet on Christmas Day.
Meanwhile, authorities in Denmark say a man who tried to kill a cartoonist has "close relations" with Islamic fighters in Somalia - the latest in growing international alarm about threats coming from new directions.
Owen Fay reports on the possible expansion of the the US's "war on terror".
