Chinese Police, U.S. Soldiers Conduct First Joint Patrol in Port-au-Prince
Chinese peacekeeping riot police and U.S. troops Thursday carried out their first joint patrol in the quake-battered Haitian capital, as designated by the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). [english.cri.cn] Hendre Ciprian, a Romanian police officer with MINUSTAH who coordinated the patrol, told Xinhua that the operation, the first one joined by U.S. soldiers at […]
AUTONOMOUS SPACE FOR MIGRANTS AND ACTIVISTS OPENS IN CALAIS
Press Release 28 January, 2010, London NoBorders Activists from the transnational No Borders network and the French organisation, SôS Soutien aux Sans Papiers, have opened a large warehouse for migrants in Calais[1]. The building is to be an autonomous space for migrants and activists struggling for the right to freedom of movement. It will be […]
France and NATO C3 Agency to Develop C4ISR Cooperation
Brussels and The Hague | On 27 January, the General Manager of the NATO C3 Agency (NC3A) visited Paris to discuss cooperation on command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance with senior defence officials. The visit was an important stepping stone to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding that will enable a more efficient […]
Draft Council Decision Frontex and surveillance of the sea borders
Brussels, 21 January 2010 From General Secretariat of the Council To Council Draft Council Decision supplementing the Schengen Borders Code as regards the surveillance of the sea external borders in the context of the Operational Cooperation at the External Borders
State Project Europe
Brief project description [staatsprojekt-europa.eu] The research project is a contribution to the analysis of the transformation of statehood in the context of globalisation. As a regional response to the latter the European integration has led to supranational institutions whose functions and competences had been core elements of nation states till then. The development since 1998 […]
EU police mission in Afghanistan still understaffed
VALENTINA POP On the eve of an international conference on Afghanistan, the commanders of the EU’s police mission in the country have asked MEPs to press their governments to send more police trainers. [euobserver.com] "I ask for your help in convincing national members of parliaments and governments to staff our mission in full, it is […]
Pentagon seeks bids for 3D-surveillance system
by David DARPA are seeking bids for a high resolution three-dimensional battlefield surveillance system. The so-called Fine Detail Optical Surveillance (FDOS) program is looking to develop “a fundamentally new optical ISR capability that can provide ultra high-resolution 3D images for rapid, in-field identification of a diverse set of targets… for use in an active battlefield […]
GMES Services for Haiti
The major natural disasters (hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, forest fires, volcanic eruptions, etc.) that strike our planet every year cause heavy damages and many human casualties. [gmes.info] In such situations, where every minute gained can save lives, rescue teams must operate rapidly and efficiently. In particular, they must be able to identify as quickly as […]
Expulsions From EU Rise Sharply
David Cronin BRUSSELS, Jan 22 (IPS) – The number of asylum-seekers and other migrants expelled from the European Union in joint operations between its governments has grown three times in as many years, IPS has learned. [ipsnews.net] At least 1,570 individuals were removed from the EU’s territory in 31 flights coordinated by the bloc’s external […]
EU gendarmes to help build law and order in Haiti
ANDREW RETTMAN EU foreign ministers have opted to send 300 or so military police to support the aid effort in Haiti, on top of a massive US security force. [euobserver.com] France and Italy pledged to send over 100 gendarmes each at the ministers‘ meeting in Brussels on Monday (25 January). Portugal is to contribute around […]
CCTV in the sky: police plan to use military-style spy drones
Arms manufacturer BAE Systems developing national strategy with consortium of government agencies [guardian.co.uk] Police in the UK are planning to use unmanned spy drones, controversially deployed in Afghanistan, for the "routine" monitoring of antisocial motorists, protesters, agricultural thieves and fly-tippers, in a significant expansion of covert state surveillance. The arms manufacturer BAE Systems, which produces […]
UK’s secret national flying camera strategy
If there was any doubt left, it seems the British government has finally given up all pretense of trying to balance civil liberties and security. A plan has been revealed by The Guardian newspaper for a national strategy for surveillance by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). And we are not just talking the micro-helicopter UAVs used […]
Full Spectrum Resistance!
Events and protest against the 13th European Police Congress In 2010 the European Police Congress, a meeting of international police functionaries, politicians and various actors of the security industry, is again going to take place in Berlin. It is the 13th convention and just like the Congress on European Security & Defence, it is being […]
Libya strives for European cooperation on immigration issues
Valletta, Malta – Libya’s foreign minister Wednesday appealed for more help in managing floods of migrants, telling European officials they do not understand the scope of the problem. "We are acting as guards to Europe, and Libya might not be able to continue to do this. You don’t know what the problem is. The problem […]
INTERPOL to create task force against maritime piracy
The first-ever international conference on maritime piracy financing which has opened at INTERPOL with the aim of fighting maritime piracy through closer global co-operation in financial investigations has heard that INTERPOL is to create an anti-maritime piracy task force. [afrol.com] Hosted by INTERPOL’s General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon, the two-day conference (19-20 January) aims to […]
Educational counter-terrorism “game” to teach kids about EU security and defence policy
[neoconopticon.wordpress.com] On 22 December 2009 Stichting DubbelX-Alternative View in Amsterdam launched a new internet game about the EU’s Security and Defence Policy. It was developed with the support of the ‘Europe Fund’ of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It’s objective is “to reach people who don’t read books or articles about the subject but who may be tempted […]
Airport security tops EU and US home affairs meeting
VALENTINA POP [euobserver.com] US home affairs chief Janet Napolitano will join EU interior ministers gathering in Toledo to discuss enhancing security in European airports, including via full body scans, following the thwarted airline bomb attempt on Christmas Day. Ms Napolitano is "firm in her view that scanning is a tool that can be used," but […]
Olympic surveillance cameras causing concern
Security personnel are installing hundreds of closed circuit surveillance cameras around downtown Vancouver in preparation for the Olympics, but questions remains about whether or not many of the cameras will be removed after the Games. [cbc.ca] By the time the installations are completed over the next 10 days, an estimated 900 RCMP cameras will be […]
Libya-Malta Mixed Commission to meet this week
Malta will be hosting the 26th Libya-Malta Joint Commission meeting this week. During a Mixed Commission meeting, high officials from both governments discuss various topics of importance to the two countries. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Tonio Borg will head the Maltese team. [independent.com] Various topics will be discussed this week, […]
Frontex patrols code-named Chronos start again in April
Emphasis to return immigrants to country of origin Ivan Camilleri, Brussels [timesofmalta.com] The European Union’s patrols aimed at controlling the flow of illegal immigration in the central Mediterranean will resume in April and end in October. The mission this year would focus on returning illegal immigrants to their country of origin from member states and […]