Via euronews: Danish police operation temporarily shuts major bridges, ferries to Sweden, Germany
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Showing posts with label . Terrorism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label . Terrorism. Show all posts
9/28/18
5/19/16
France is deploying anti-drone technology to protect football fans at Euro 2016
An unidentified drone buzzes a soccer stadium crammed with spectators
at the European Championship. It might just be carrying a camera. Or
something more sinister. Toxic chemicals, perhaps.
Either way, the unauthorized flying machine is violating a no-fly zone in place for Europe's biggest sports event since deadly attacks in Paris last November.
Taking no chances, Euro 2016 organizers said Tuesday that new technology will be deployed at the June 10-July 10 tournament in 10 French cities to protect against unwanted airborne intruders.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Euro 2016 security chief Ziad Khoury said no-fly zones will be declared over all 10 stadiums as well as training grounds for the 24 teams.
"We've noted the general proliferation of drone-usage in society," Khoury said in his Paris office.
"So no-fly zones will be defined over every training ground and every stadium, and in most stadiums and for most matches anti-drone measures — which are quite innovative — will be deployed, working with the state, which will interfere with drones and take control of them if they are spotted."
French authorities have been alarmed by dozens of mystery drone overflights of sensitive sites — mostly nuclear facilities, but also military installations and even the presidential palace. In response, the government is funding research into technology that could interfere with or jam signals that control drones, or even destroy them.
The government's General Secretariat for Defence and National Security confirmed to the AP that anti-drone measures will be in place for Euro 2016 but said the exact type of technologies to be deployed will be decided in coming days.
The French gendarmerie already has powerful but not particularly sophisticated portable equipment that could help steer drones away from stadiums by interfering with GPS signals; its drawback is that it could also interfere with GPS signals for civil use, including for aircraft.
Microwave technology that could bring down drones is also being looked at, as are other ground-based technologies to cut or jam signals to the flying machines.
French authorities have trained for the possibility of drones being used to disperse chemicals over spectators.
A training exercise in April in Saint-Etienne, a Euro 2016 city in southeast France, imagined that a drone carrying chemical agents had plunged into crowds at the Geoffroy Guichard Stadium, which will host three group matches in June and one game in the knockout round.
Read more: France is deploying anti-drone technology to protect football fans at Euro 2016
Either way, the unauthorized flying machine is violating a no-fly zone in place for Europe's biggest sports event since deadly attacks in Paris last November.
Taking no chances, Euro 2016 organizers said Tuesday that new technology will be deployed at the June 10-July 10 tournament in 10 French cities to protect against unwanted airborne intruders.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Euro 2016 security chief Ziad Khoury said no-fly zones will be declared over all 10 stadiums as well as training grounds for the 24 teams.
"We've noted the general proliferation of drone-usage in society," Khoury said in his Paris office.
"So no-fly zones will be defined over every training ground and every stadium, and in most stadiums and for most matches anti-drone measures — which are quite innovative — will be deployed, working with the state, which will interfere with drones and take control of them if they are spotted."
French authorities have been alarmed by dozens of mystery drone overflights of sensitive sites — mostly nuclear facilities, but also military installations and even the presidential palace. In response, the government is funding research into technology that could interfere with or jam signals that control drones, or even destroy them.
The government's General Secretariat for Defence and National Security confirmed to the AP that anti-drone measures will be in place for Euro 2016 but said the exact type of technologies to be deployed will be decided in coming days.
The French gendarmerie already has powerful but not particularly sophisticated portable equipment that could help steer drones away from stadiums by interfering with GPS signals; its drawback is that it could also interfere with GPS signals for civil use, including for aircraft.
Microwave technology that could bring down drones is also being looked at, as are other ground-based technologies to cut or jam signals to the flying machines.
French authorities have trained for the possibility of drones being used to disperse chemicals over spectators.
A training exercise in April in Saint-Etienne, a Euro 2016 city in southeast France, imagined that a drone carrying chemical agents had plunged into crowds at the Geoffroy Guichard Stadium, which will host three group matches in June and one game in the knockout round.
Read more: France is deploying anti-drone technology to protect football fans at Euro 2016
4/2/16
Brussels Airport to partially reopen after bombings - by Katie Forster
Passenger flights could take off again from Brussels Airport on
Friday for the first time since two deadly bomb attacks hit the check-in
area on 22 March.
Despite widespread damage caused by the blasts, Zaventem is now ready to run a service at 20% of normal capacity, said the company who runs the airport in a statement.
The fire service and aviation authorities have given the airport the all-clear to partially reopen less than two weeks after attacks on the Belgian capital, which killed more than 30 people and injured hundreds at the airport and Maelbeek Metro station.
All that remains is for formal political approval to be given and passenger flights could restart as soon as Friday evening. A temporary check-in zone will allow 800 departing passengers an hour to pass through the airport as permanent structures are rebuilt.
But it would take ‘months’ before the airport is able to fully reopen, the airport CEO Arnaud Feist has said.
Passengers arriving in Belgium will be able to use existing arrivals and baggage reclaim facilities, which were not damaged in the attacks.
Note EU-Digest: Security scanners must be installed at the entrances to all European airports
Read more: Belgium: Brussels Airport to partially reopen after bombings | Europe | News | The Independent
Despite widespread damage caused by the blasts, Zaventem is now ready to run a service at 20% of normal capacity, said the company who runs the airport in a statement.
The fire service and aviation authorities have given the airport the all-clear to partially reopen less than two weeks after attacks on the Belgian capital, which killed more than 30 people and injured hundreds at the airport and Maelbeek Metro station.
All that remains is for formal political approval to be given and passenger flights could restart as soon as Friday evening. A temporary check-in zone will allow 800 departing passengers an hour to pass through the airport as permanent structures are rebuilt.
But it would take ‘months’ before the airport is able to fully reopen, the airport CEO Arnaud Feist has said.
Passengers arriving in Belgium will be able to use existing arrivals and baggage reclaim facilities, which were not damaged in the attacks.
Note EU-Digest: Security scanners must be installed at the entrances to all European airports
Read more: Belgium: Brussels Airport to partially reopen after bombings | Europe | News | The Independent
3/30/16
Tourist Industry: Tourists Steer Clear of Turkey After Bombings, Russia Clash - by Yeliz Candemir and Emre Peker
A string of terrorist attacks blamed on Islamic State or Kurdish
militants, on top of a diplomatic feud with Russia, are battering
Turkey’s vibrant tourism industry, which had been one of the few bright
spots in a slowing economy.
Bookings for this summer are down 40% from last year, and hotel occupancy rates have plunged more than half, according to industry figures. Hundreds of hotels, bed-and-breakfasts, and boutique resorts have been put up for sale.
And there is no end in sight to the turmoil. On Saturday, another bombing blamed on Islamic State killed four foreigners on a busy Istanbul shopping street.
“We didn’t dream of such a terrible situation,” said Bora Adali, a 35-year-old hotelier in Antalya, who is trying to sell his three-star resort. “We are facing a big crisis, and its scope hasn't yet been recognized.”
Tourism revenues tripled between 2001 and 2014, reaching a record
$34.3 billion. In 2012, Istanbul joined the world’s top-five tourist
destinations, according to the MasterCard
Global Destination Cities Index.
For eight years, Mr. Adali tapped into that growth. His 43-room hotel in the seaside town of Belek, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted the Group of 20 summit in November, was often filled by Russian tourists.
But just weeks after that summit, Turkish jets shot down a Russian warplane along the Turkey-Syria border that Ankara claimed had violated its airspace. Moscow denied the allegation and hit back with a trade embargo, including an effective ban Russian tours to Turkey. About four million Russians normally visit Turkey each year, the second-biggest group after Germany.
Turkey’s hotels and tourism-related businesses might have weathered the punitive Russian steps. But a series of suicide bombings frightened off a much broader stream of tourists from Europe.
Islamic State was blamed for twin-suicide bombings in Ankara last fall that killed more than 100 people at a peace rally. In January, an Islamic State suicide bomber killed a dozen German tourists in Istanbul near the Blue Mosque, one of the city’s most popular attractions.
Two car bombings over the past month in the capital killed dozens of people. Both were tied to Kurdish militants, signaling the insurgency was shifting its decades-old battle toward attacking urban centers and civilians instead of military targets in the mostly rural southeast.
The government has launched operations across predominantly Kurdish areas in southeastern Turkey to stamp out Kurdish separatists, including areas like Mardin and Diyarbakir, where tourism had thrived until the recent violence.
Officials have also tried to shore up the industry, which has seen almost 2,000 facilities catering to tourists listed for sale online in recent months.
Tourists Steer Clear of Turkey After Bombings, Russia Clash - WSJ
Bookings for this summer are down 40% from last year, and hotel occupancy rates have plunged more than half, according to industry figures. Hundreds of hotels, bed-and-breakfasts, and boutique resorts have been put up for sale.
And there is no end in sight to the turmoil. On Saturday, another bombing blamed on Islamic State killed four foreigners on a busy Istanbul shopping street.
“We didn’t dream of such a terrible situation,” said Bora Adali, a 35-year-old hotelier in Antalya, who is trying to sell his three-star resort. “We are facing a big crisis, and its scope hasn't yet been recognized.”
For eight years, Mr. Adali tapped into that growth. His 43-room hotel in the seaside town of Belek, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted the Group of 20 summit in November, was often filled by Russian tourists.
But just weeks after that summit, Turkish jets shot down a Russian warplane along the Turkey-Syria border that Ankara claimed had violated its airspace. Moscow denied the allegation and hit back with a trade embargo, including an effective ban Russian tours to Turkey. About four million Russians normally visit Turkey each year, the second-biggest group after Germany.
Turkey’s hotels and tourism-related businesses might have weathered the punitive Russian steps. But a series of suicide bombings frightened off a much broader stream of tourists from Europe.
Islamic State was blamed for twin-suicide bombings in Ankara last fall that killed more than 100 people at a peace rally. In January, an Islamic State suicide bomber killed a dozen German tourists in Istanbul near the Blue Mosque, one of the city’s most popular attractions.
Two car bombings over the past month in the capital killed dozens of people. Both were tied to Kurdish militants, signaling the insurgency was shifting its decades-old battle toward attacking urban centers and civilians instead of military targets in the mostly rural southeast.
The government has launched operations across predominantly Kurdish areas in southeastern Turkey to stamp out Kurdish separatists, including areas like Mardin and Diyarbakir, where tourism had thrived until the recent violence.
Officials have also tried to shore up the industry, which has seen almost 2,000 facilities catering to tourists listed for sale online in recent months.
Tourists Steer Clear of Turkey After Bombings, Russia Clash - WSJ
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