Belgium on Max Alert amid Muslim terror threats

Belgium on "maximum" alert for possible New Year's Eve attacks...

the Interior Minister Patrick Dewael said on television Monday. Extra security measures have been in place in Brussels since December 21 after a suspected escape plan emerged concerning jailed Tunisian Al-Qaeda sympathiser Nizar Trabelsi.

The Belgian capital's traditional New Year's Eve fireworks display has already been cancelled to minimise possible targets for any attack. "We're on the maximum level -- the maximum means beyond that which we would ordinarily apply for New Year's Eve, beyond the level that applies in other European capitals," the minister told the RTL-TVI station.

"There are other intelligence reports about which I cannot say any more," he added.