UN urges more airline passenger info in anti-terror fight

The UN political chief Tuesday urged the world's nations to share information about airline passengers as part of a stepped up response to the growth of "transnational terrorism" sparked by the Islamic State group's expanding areas of attack. Jeffrey Feltman also told the UN Security Council that it is "critical" to improve the global response to "foreign terrorist fighters" leaving Syria and Iraq, even though many are still in conflict zones. He was briefing the council on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' latest report on IS — also known as ISIL and Daesh. It said European member states have reported that between 15 and 40% of their nationals and residents who traveled to Iraq and Syria to fight have returned — and some governments highlighted a rising number of female returnees. "A proportion of those returning present a significant threat and are facing appropriate legal and control measures," the secretary-general's report said. "Other returnees are reported to have become disillusioned with the fighting and the distorted ideology of ISIL and therefore represent a lower threat."<br/>