Showing posts with label cruise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cruise. Show all posts

Frenchman 'planned attacks during Euro 2016' - Ukraine's SBU LIVE

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A Frenchman detained last month with a large cache of arms was planning mass attacks during the Euro 2016 football tournament, which starts on Friday, Ukrainian officials say.
The man, identified by French media as Gregoire Moutaux, 25, was arrested on the Ukrainian border with Poland.
Intelligence chief Vasyl Hrytsak said the man had planned 15 attacks and was driven by ultra-nationalist views.
He had amassed guns, detonators and 125kg of TNT, Mr Hrytsak said.
Mr Hrytsak listed bridges, motorways, a mosque and a synagogue among the suspect's potential targets. He was being prosecuted for arms smuggling and terrorism, he said. It was not clear if the tournament itself was being targeted.

'Threat exists'

News of the man's arrest on 21 May first emerged in a report by French TV network M6. The suspect was described as a worker at a farming co-operative from the Lorraine area of eastern France. He had no previous criminal record, reports said.
An SBU video showed the moment of arrest on the border with PolandImage copyrightAFP
Image captionAn SBU video showed the moment of arrest on the border with Poland
French authorities have been on high security alert ahead of the European championships, amid fears that the tournament could be targeted by Islamist militants. President Francois Hollande said on Sunday that "the threat exists" but that France should not be daunted.
Ukraine's SBU security service said it had been watching the suspect since December last year and that he had picked up five Kalashnikovs, two anti-tank grenade launchers, some 5,000 rounds of ammunition, 100 detonators, as well as a large quantity of explosives.
An SBU video was shown of the dramatic moment of the suspect's arrest along with the weapons that intelligence officials said they had found. The arrest was said to have taken place at a border crossing close to the Ukrainian town of Yagodyn.
The footage also revealed a second person being wrestled to the ground on the passenger side of the car.
A fan zone in Lille ahead of Euro 2016Image copyrightAFP
Image captionSecurity has been stepped up for the month-long Euro 2016 tournament
A search was carried out at the suspect's home in the tiny village of Nant-le-Petit and police sources told French media that explosive material and balaclavas were recovered.
An inquiry has been launched by France's organised crime agency, OCLCO, and by regional authorities in Nancy.
However, French police sources told AFP news agency that Ukrainian officials had yet to send them any details. There was some scepticism that the suspect could have been anything more than an arms trafficker.
Residents in Nant-le-Petit were stunned by the arrest of Gregoire Moutaux, who lives there with his grandfather and works as a cattle inseminator.
"He's a rather nice guy, who I think is actually rather well-educated. I've even invited him over for a glass of wine. I just can't understand this," neighbour Jean-Jacques Renck told France 3 TV.
Anti-terrorism specialist Alain Bauer said Ukraine had become a big source of arms because of the continuing conflict in the east of the country. He said the man detained did not fit the usual profile of an attacker, and it was not clear whether he intended to sell the arms or use them himself.
He pointed to the arrest last year of far-right activist Claude Hermant, accused of providing weapons to a jihadist who murdered four people at a Jewish supermarket in Paris in January 2015.
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China Hits At US 'Provocations', Says Doesn't Fear 'Trouble'

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The South China Sea encompasses vital global shipping routes and is believed to have significant oil and gas deposits.

HIGHLIGHTS

  1. US had warned China against more construction in the South China Sea
  2. Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam have competing claims to the area
  3. US has conducted patrols in the area to press for freedom of navigation


SINGAPORE:China on Sunday hit out at US "provocations" and said it does not fear "trouble" over its territorial disputes with neighbours in the South China Sea.

"The South China Sea issue has become overheated because of the provocations of certain countries for their own selfish interests," Admiral Sun Jianguo told a security summit in Singapore.

Sun spoke one day after US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter warned that Chinese construction on a South China Sea islet claimed by the Philippines would prompt unspecified "actions" by the United States and other nations.

On a visit to Mongolia Sunday, Secretary of State John Kerry also warned Beijing against setting up an air defence identification zone over the disputed waters, saying it would be a "provocative and destabilising act".

Rhetoric has escalated ahead of a ruling from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on a case brought by the Philippines, a longtime US ally and former colony, against China, which has shunned the proceedings and says it will not recognise any ruling.

The Chinese admiral, in a clear reference to Washington, said "freedom of navigation" patrols in the South China Sea were a display of "military muscles" and that China was being forced to "accept and honour" the tribunal's ruling.

"China firmly opposes such behaviour. We do not make trouble but we have no fear of trouble," Sun, the head of the Chinese delegation to the Singapore forum known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, said in prepared remarks.

In an open forum, he addressed Pentagon chief Carter's statement on Saturday that Beijing risks building a "Great Wall of self-isolation" with its military expansion in the contested waters.

"We were not isolated in the past. We're not isolated, and we will not be isolated in the future. Actually I am worried some people and countries are still looking at China with a Cold War mentality and prejudice," the Chinese admiral said in response questions from other delegates.

"They may build a wall in their mind and end up isolating themselves," he said.

In his speech, Sun said "any countries not directly concerned are not allowed to sabotage our path of peace for selfish gains."

Competing claims

Hong Kong's South China Morning Post has reported that China plans to establish an outpost on Scarborough Shoal, located 230 kilometres (140 miles) off the Philippines, which considers it part of its exclusive economic zone.

Beijing claims nearly all of the strategically vital sea and has developed contested reefs into artificial islands, some topped with airstrips.

Manila says China took effective control of Scarborough Shoal in 2012, stationing patrol vessels and shooing away Filipino fishermen, after a two-month stand-off with the Philippine Navy.

Carter declined to elaborate when pressed on Saturday over what "actions" Washington might take.

But he also proposed stronger bilateral security cooperation with China to reduce the risks of a mishap.

Admiral Sun on Sunday repeated China's pledges to seek a peaceful solution.

Apart from the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam also have competing claims in the sea, which encompasses vital global shipping routes and is believed to have significant oil and gas deposits.

Beijing's territorial claims, based on controversial historical records, have also pitted it against the United States, which has conducted patrols near Chinese-held islands to press for freedom of navigation.

Pentagon officials say two Chinese fighters last month conducted an "unsafe" intercept of a US spy plane in international air space over the South China Sea.
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World’s biggest cruise ship docks in Barcelona

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In this May 17, 2016 photo, the worlds largest cruise ship, Harmony of the Seas, arrives in port for her mayden voyage, in Southampton, Britain.

The French-built Harmony of the Seas is taller than the Eiffel Tower and is the widest cruise ship ever built. It can carry 6,360 passengers.

The world’s biggest cruise ship has arrived in Barcelona, which it will use as its summer base for Mediterranean journeys.
The $1 billion Harmony of the Seas docked in the Spanish port before dawn on Sunday at the end of its inaugural voyage from Southampton in the United Kingdom.
The French-built ship is taller than the Eiffel Tower and is the widest cruise ship ever built. It can carry 6,360 passengers.
The 16-deck ship is 362-metre-long (1,187 feet) and boasts more than 2,500 staterooms, 20 dining venues, 23 swimming pools and a park with more than 10,000 plants and 50 trees.


Before arriving in Barcelona the Harmony of the Seas docked in Vigo in the northwest and at Malaga, dwarfing the small Mediterranean port.
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