Netherlands Twitter: Airports step up security

Showing posts with label Airports step up security. Show all posts

Monday, January 18, 2010

Greece's debt crisis dominates talks among EU finance ministers

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Worries over Greece's swelling debt will dominate two days of talks between European Union finance ministers that started Monday, as the euro fell to a ten-day low against the dollar.

Greece is trying to assure financial markets - and other EU governments - that it will reduce debt with a program of deep spending cuts and higher taxes.

It is aiming to bring its massive deficit down to the EU limits intended to underpin the stability of the euro.

EU officials have stressed that Greece has to take action because its problems were also a problem for the entire euro area. Wouter Bos, the Netherlands' finance minister, told reporters before the talks Monday that it was "a good thing that the Greeks realize their responsibility."

Greece's ability to manage its debt crisis is being called into question by markets, who see a higher risk that the government could default or need to seek a bailout - the first in the eurozone - from reluctant richer nations such as Germany.

A Greek default would trigger deeper problems for the currency union, highlighting the failure of allowing each country to manage its own economy. At the very least, a default would also raise borrowing costs for other indebted eurozone governments.

Such speculation has seen the euro tumble to $1.4336 on Monday, the lowest since Jan. 8 - and some relief for exporters who fear that the continued high value of the currency has depressed demand for German cars and machine parts and French luxury goods.

The 16 eurozone finance ministers met Monday to discuss their economy and differences between how each state is faring.

The economic crisis has exacerbated these divergences, with Spain's jobless rate of 19.4 per cent almost five times higher than the Netherlands', at 3.9 per cent. Each country is tackling the crisis in its own way. Some, like France, are borrowing heavily to stoke demand, while others, like debt-laden Ireland, are shunning economic stimulus for debt reduction.

The head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, warned Monday that governments should carefully time the end of stimulus programs that are driving economic growth because the global recovery "remains very fragile."

Finance ministers from all 27 EU nations meet for talks Tuesday that will likely criticize Greece in the wake of a report from the EU statistics agency last week that said the country had falsified official economic statistics to make its deficit look smaller in the past.

The new centre-left Greek government has promised reforms to make statistics collection independent of political interference.

However, the EU executive has hinted that it may take legal action because Greece did not fulfil its duty to report quality data to the EU commission. That could lead to a court ruling forcing Greece to make reforms under threat of daily fines.

Source:AFP

Friday, January 1, 2010

Top Netherlands Twitters

Monday, December 28, 2009

Schiphol airport reviews security

What people really care about
( A Security Theater Crap for brains Freedom Technology )
The new machines being proposed for airplane security give results like this:

Never mind What TSA Really Stands For, that almost for certain it can never be effective security, and it costs billions each year that could be spent on something more effective, the response is:

After the machines were introduced at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport last year, officials there said they had few complaints from passengers, saying most approved because lines moved faster.

Source:blog.joehuffman.org/

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Passenger check-in security is under intense scrutiny after the foiled attempt to blow up a plane en route from Amsterdam to Detroit, Dutch media report.

The failed bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, went through security checks at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport when he transferred onto Northwest Airlines flight 253, an Airbus A330. A report by Radio Netherlands Worldwide said that Dutch Anti-Terrorism Coordinator Erik Akerboom admitted the airport's security checks are not watertight.

It is not clear whether all transfer passengers are checked by sniffer dogs, the radio report said.

In May 2007 Schiphol became one of the first international airports to introduce the latest body-scanning technology at security checkpoints. Security Scan is a machine that produces an image of body contours using millimeter wave-reflection technology. The image tells security staff whether a passenger is carrying prohibited items on his or her body. Security Scan is also unlike the more familiar Body Scan in which X-rays pass through the body to trace swallowed items.

Dutch members of Parliament are demanding an account of the situation at Schiphol, and the far-right Freedom Party is calling for an emergency debate on the issue.

U.S. authorities have charged Abdulmutallab with bringing explosives on board and attempting to blow up an aircraft. Both charges carry sentences of up to 20 years in prison.

Dutch media are also reporting fulsome praise by readers for Jasper Schuringa, the passenger whose quick thinking averted a major air disaster. He was first to notice something suspicious and made moves to overpower the Nigerian and wrest a burning device from the would-be bomber. Schuringa was later helped by other passengers and flight crew to put handcuffs on the man.

Dutch Deputy Prime Minister Wouter Bos reportedly telephoned Schuringa to thank him for his part in affair.

In the United Kingdom police are searching several London properties linked to the Nigerian, who was an engineering student at University College London between 2005 and 2008, the BBC reports. According to government sources, Abdulmutallab, whose father is a prominent Nigerian banker, was denied a new visa this summer by the U.K. Border Agency after attempting to apply for a course at a bogus college.

His father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, said he knew that his son had left London where he was a student to travel, but he did not know where he was going. "I believe he might have been to Yemen, but we are investigating to determine that," a BBC report quoted him as saying. The former minister and chairman of First Bank in Nigeria has been meeting with Nigerian security officials in the capital Abuja.

Police in London have cordoned off a basement apartment and have been conducting searches. Apartments in the area have been sold for upwards of $3 million, the BBC said.

At British airports travelers are undergoing pat-down searches before boarding and being restricted to one item of hand luggage. Several flights bound for the United States from London's main airports, Heathrow and Gatwick, were delayed up to three hours to allow for extra security checks.

Despite the delays, few passengers were complaining, the BBC reported.

Source:upi.com/

Laura Dekker, 13, must wait before trying to sail around the world alone

As expected, a court in The Netherlands has decided that Laura Dekker, 13, is too young to try to sail around the world by herself. She can continue living with her father, who supported a controversial journey she had planned to begin next week, but under the scrutiny of a social services agency pending another hearing in two months.

Most people probably would agree that the court ruled properly. Dekker, despite her vast sailing background, has not fully developed physically or mentally; she cannot be suitably prepared for the types of situations she'd likely face.

Or so the thinking goes. Her planned voyage has been criticized by the media from the outset. Dekker was not present during the ruling but in a television interview she said, “All the media are horrible."

This isn't over yet. There is a mandated psychological review, and the next hearing. Dekker believes she can do this; it has been her dream since she was 6. She and her father have planned a two-year voyage that would not have her at sea for longer than three weeks at a time.

Dekker, in all likelihood, will ultimately embark on her quest to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world, and with plenty of time to spare.

That record belongs to British sailor Mike Perham, 17, who this week replaced Thousand Oaks sailor Zac Sunderland, also 17, in the record book.

Australia's Jessica Watson, 16, plans to leave in a few weeks on what she hopes will be a nonstop journey; and Zac's sister Abby Sunderland, who will turn 16 in October, is planning to set sail in November for a nonstop odyssey.

Sunderland and Perham, who both left when they were 16, proved up to the task, but both sailors overcame several harrowing situations.

Can the girls do what they did, only faster? That will be for Mother Nature to decide.

-- Pete Thomas
Photo: Laura Dekker and her father (left) are seen at the court house in Utrecht, The Netherlands, before a second hearing determined she cannot tackle the world in a sailboat by herself--just yet. Credit: EPA/Valerie Kuypers

Source:latimesblogs

Sudan ships first export of ethanol

KHARTOUM — Sudan, angling to become Africa's leading exporter of ethanol, has sent out its first shipment of the bio-fuel to the Netherlands, an official with the state-owned Kenana company said on Monday.

"The first cargo of five million litres of ethanol was exported yesterday. It left for Rotterdam and is intended for the European Union," said Kenana sales manager Majdi Hassan.

Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir announced last year that the company, which produces sugar and molasses, would oversee a project to lead Africa in bio-fuel production.

The price of the shipment was 3.3 million dollars (2.29 million euros), at 660 dollars a cubic metre, but the price of further shipments would vary depending on the market, Hassan said.

Kenana's plant, located in the White Nile State south of Khartoum, was built by the Brazilian ethanol supplier Dedini.

Hassan said negotiations were ongoing with European companies for the sale of Sudanese ethanol.

It can produce 65 million litres a year, with plans to increase production to 200 million litres a year by 2012, Hassan said.

Source:AFP

Airports step up security

'The extra measures will apply throughout the world on all flights to the United States for an unlimited duration,' the office of the Dutch national coordinator against terrorism (NCTB) said. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

PARIS - WORLD airports stepped up security on Saturday in the wake of an attempt to blow up a US airliner on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, authorities said.

'The extra measures will apply throughout the world on all flights to the United States for an unlimited duration,' the office of the Dutch national coordinator against terrorism (NCTB) said.

The NCTB said in a statement that US authorities had asked airlines to take extra security measures. 'It will involve, for example, frisking passengers and extra checks on hand baggage,' NCTB spokesman Judith Sluiter told AFP. The extra measures came into force on Saturday morning in the Netherlands, which received a formal request from the US authorities during the night, she said.

A Nigerian who reportedly claimed to have links with Al-Qaeda tried to detonate an explosive device aboard the plane as started its descent to Detroit on Friday before being overpowered by fellow passengers and crew.

The European Commission in Brussels said on Saturday it was investigating if proper security measures had been followed in Amsterdam, as checks were tightened in other major airports, including Paris, Rome and London.

In London a British Airways spokesman said, 'The United States government has revised its security arrangements for all passengers travelling into the US. 'This includes additional screening of all US-bound passengers and hand luggage before they board their flights. This applies to all carriers. Passengers travelling to the US will only be allowed to carry one item of hand luggage. -- AFP

Source:straitstimes