Singapore arrests bomb hoaxer
April 22, 2013 by AFP
Filed under News, Southeast Asia
SINGAPORE, 22 April 2013: A 34-year-old man has been arrested in Singapore over an online threat to bomb several locations in the city-state in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon attack, police said Saturday.
The man, whose name and nationality were not disclosed, was arrested on Thursday after posting the threat as a comment on a news article about the deadly bombings in Boston, police said in a statement.
“Preliminary investigations indicated that the suspect had no intention or means to carry out his threats,” said the statement.
Sri Lanka keeps tabs on tourists
April 18, 2013 by AFP
Filed under News, South Asia
COLOMBO, 18 April 2013: Sri Lanka’s police will track foreign tourists to “ensure their own safety”, officials announced on Monday.
Hotels and guest houses have been told to submit weekly reports of their foreign guests as part of a new security plan for tourists, police spokesman Buddhika Siriwardena said.
Similar rules apply in Thailand where hotel and even guest house owners are expected to forward to local police a daily register of foreigners staying at their properties.
Minister calls for stronger security
April 5, 2013 by Wanwisa Ngamsangchaikit
Filed under Government, News, Thailand
BANGKOK, 5 April 2013: Tourism and Sports Minister, Somsak Phurisrisak, has identified safety as a top priority task at the ministry to regain travel confidence.
The minister said safety is now the top concern for the government to ensure Thailand is perceived as a safe destination to visit.
In the past, the travel industry failed to recognise that safety was an integral part of delivering a quality tourism product. It focused on delivering quality hotels, land tours and airline travel and tended to sweep under the carpet failures to match these components with safe passage.
France beefs up tourist security
PARIS, 1 April 2013: French Tourism Minister Sylvia Pinel last week pledged to ensure the security of travellers after 23 Chinese visitors were robbed of their cash and passports just after they arrived in Paris.
Pinel said “everything will be done to find the perpetrators” and underscored “the determination of the French government to ensure the security of tourists in France.”
China’s National Tourism Administration, which reports directly to the government, expressed concern after 23 tourists travelling in a group were robbed soon after they arrived at Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport outside Paris on Wednesday.
China calls for tourist protection
BEIJING, 27 March 2013: Beijing has urged French authorities to better protect Chinese tourists known for their big spending habits, citing “concern” over recent attacks on visitors to Paris.
The country’s National Tourism Administration — which reports directly to the government — made the call for heightened security earlier this week after 23 Chinese tourists travelling in a group were robbed soon after they arrived at Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport outside Paris.
“Their passports, plane tickets and cash were stolen and the group leader sustained an injury to the face,” the organisation said in a statement published by the state-run Xinhua news agency.
India’s tourist security questioned
March 21, 2013 by AFP
Filed under News, Southeast Asia
AGRA, INDIA, 21 March 2013: Two men appeared in an Indian court Wednesday accused of harassing a British tourist who jumped off her hotel balcony fearing a sex attack, with their lawyer saying they denied the charges.
The manager of the three-star Hotel Agra Mahal, Sachin Chauhan, and another member of staff were produced before the local magistrate in the northern city of Agra and were remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.
Prakash Narayan Sharma, lawyer for the hotel manager, told AFP his client would entre a “not guilty” plea before the court on Thursday and apply for bail.
Security soars over cutbacks
PARIS, 21 March 2013: The airport security sector is still expected to soar despite US budget cutbacks as air traffic grows and the threat of terrorism persists, analysts say.
Screening passengers and baggage as well as surveillance at airports is a business that has boomed as countries radically tightened security in the wake of the 11 September attacks.
While airport security is one of the areas to be hit in the United States by mandatory budget cuts, the expected growth of air travel is expected to drive increased spending on security.
Borneo standoff ends
March 12, 2013 by AFP
Filed under Government, News, Southeast Asia
KUALA LUMPUR, 12 March 2013: Malaysian police said Monday they had cleared a remote village at the heart of a month-long incursion by Filipino Islamists as another gunman was killed, raising the toll in the crisis to 63.
But the remaining followers of a self-styled Philippine Sultan were still being hunted in a neighbouring village and surrounding farmland a week after Malaysia sent in the army to root them out.
Last week, travel advisories were issued by various countries, warning citizens to avoid Sabah.
Baseball bats back in cabins
WASHINGTON, 11 March 2013: A decision to scrap a post-9/11 ban on pocket knives being carried by passengers on US aircraft has triggered an angry backlash from pilots, flight attendants and airline chiefs.
Starting from 25 April, travellers will be able to carry small knives with folding blades on US planes following a shift in security strategy by the federal Transportation Security Administration.
TSA chief John Pistole said the new guidelines would bring US security regulations into line with international standards and were designed to help airport staff find more dangerous items such as explosives.
Acapulco: Tourists at risk
ACAPULCO, MEXICO, 8 February 2013:Mexican investigators questioned eight people Wednesday in connection with the rape of six Spanish tourists in Acapulco, as officials scrambled to contain the potential damage on tourism.
Around five gunmen wearing masks burst into a beach bungalow where 14 tourists were staying late Monday, tying up seven Spanish men and raping the six Spanish women while sparing a Mexican woman.
The assault has further tarnished the reputation of Acapulco, a once glitzy haunt of Hollywood stars such as Frank Sinatra and Elizabeth Taylor that has been beset by drug violence in recent years.
