Attack on flight from Dutch airport raises security questions

Dutch coverage of the December 25 attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to set off an explosion on the Northwest Air flight from Amsterdam to Detroit has centered largely on security issues. As Dutch News reports, national papers devote much attention to reconstructing what happened on board flight 253, the actions of the passenger who overpowered…

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Ex-Guantánamo guard and now US-critic has been denied UK entry

A former Guantánamo guard who had flown to the UK to address a support group for inmates of the camp is to be deported back to the US this morning after being denied entry on arrival at Heathrow airport yesterday. Terry Holdbrooks, who has been an outspoken critic of the US government over the treatment…

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Fadéla Amera Announces New Goals in President Sarkozy’s “Hope Suburbs” Plan

Fadéla Amera, secretary of state for urban policies in the conservative UMP (Union for a Popular Movement) party, has announced new incentives for the government’s “Hope Suburbs” project. Among them are a 10% tax initiative for schools which accept students from “difficult” neighborhoods and more banlieusard (suburban-living) youths being hired at the Roissy airport. Those…

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JetBlue, TSA employees settle Arabic T-shirt case for $240,000

An air passenger on JetBlue who was forced to cover his t-shirt because it displayed Arabic script, has been awarded a payout of $240,000. Two TSA officials and JetBlue will be forced to pay the sum to Raed Jarrar, a US resident, who had accused them of illegally discriminating against him based on his ethnicity…

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Co-conspirators looked down on ‘Swot’ doctor

A Staffordshire doctor accused of helping finance a terrorist plot would not have been wanted in the gang behind the plan because he was a “swot”, a court has heard. Mohammed Asha, 28, was treated as an “outsider” and with a certain amount of disdain by two alleged co-conspirators, Woolwich Crown Court was told. Summing…

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