NATION NEWS BRIEFS

NATIONWIDE / Mullen: Group's threat serious

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says he believes Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula's boast that it will try to carry out more cheap, small-scale attacks. Adm. Mike Mullen says the terrorist group in Yemen has grown and is dangerous, and that counterterrorism efforts should focus on its activities. In an online magazine, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula boasts that it's using cheap and easy methods to attack U.S. targets, pointing to a failed plot to bomb two U.S.-bound cargo planes. The group says it can "bring down America" with smaller attacks that play on what it calls the "security phobia that is sweeping America." Mullen told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday he considers the threat to be serious.

NATIONWIDE / Saudi king on medical trip

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz will travel to the U.S. on Monday to receive medical treatment for a herniated spinal disk. The monarch will travel on the recommendation of his doctors that he be examined and treated, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported Sunday. Physicians advised the 86-year-old king to rest after tests last week showed the slipped disk had caused a blood clot that put pressure on some nerves. The impending medical trip has renewed attention on the kingdom's aging leadership and raised questions of succession in the world's leading oil exporter, a U.S. ally. Crown Prince Sultan, 82, who has been recuperating in Morocco after being treated for what is believed to be cancer, has returned home to act as king in Abdullah's absence.

NEW JERSEY / Vet honored at Jets game

Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, the first living Medal of Honor recipient from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, has received a standing ovation from the crowd during the second quarter of the New York Jets' game against the Houston Texans. Giunta, 25, was brought out to one of the end zones with his wife, Jennifer, just before halftime and waved to the cheering crowd at the New Meadowlands Stadium on Sunday. Giunta received the Medal of Honor for retrieving a wounded comrade under gunfire three years ago in Afghanistan.