This past summer the Transportation Security Administration rolled out new uniforms for its transportation security officers (TSOs) working at the nation's air and sea ports. Now it seems that not all these uniforms were created equal and ones manufactured in Honduras are causing health concerns for some TSOs. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that some "workers are reporting severe skin rashes, lightheadedness, swelling and redness in and around the eyes and lips as a result of the [new] blue uniforms..."

In December, NICE Systems announced it had won a contract to provide its NiceVision Net IP video surveillance solution to the Canaveral Port Authority in Florida. The NiceVision Net solution will replace the legacy analog system and be used to monitor waterside and landside areas at the port.

It is being reported that on Sunday the French warship Jean de Vienne foiled two attempted hijackings in the Gulf of Aden and captured 19 alleged pirates.

This comes only a few days after the French navy arrested 8 suspected pirates and turned them over to Somali authorities, and other EU forces scared off a group of pirates who twice tried to hijack the Greek oil tanker Kriti Episkopi.

Reuters reports that according to Nigerian security sources, gunmen in five speedboats on Sunday (1/4) hijacked a vessel belonging to French oil services group Bourbon as it made its way towards a Royal Dutch Shell offshore oilfield.

A Japanese sailor went missing overboard from the whaling ship the Kyoshin Maru No. 2 Monday. The remote location of the accident in the Antarctic made it impossible to mount an aerial search in time to rescue the man alive. The ship-based search has been called off.

A boat carrying at least 40 people and maybe more than 50 has capsized in Nepal's Koshi River. According to a CNN report, over 30 people have survived, but the rest may have drowned.

In much the same way the U.S. realized in the wake of 9/11 that cooperation and communications between various departments were vital to defending the country from terror attacks, India is now developing its new "maritime security architecture". A component of the new structure will be the Maritime Security Advisory Board (MSAB), which one official describes as a "single-window apex federal agency" created to handle all maritime security issues, including cohesive policy-making and coordination among different agencies. The MSAB will include officials from all military forces, ministries and departments connected with maritime affairs.

Early Friday (1/2) evening the U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search for the cruise ship employee who went overboard early New Years Day morning. Several other ship employees witnessed the entertainer falling overboard off the Carnival Sensation while the vessel was about 20 miles off the East Coast of Florida.