Security teams began a full-scale tightening of surveillance and patrols yesterday in preparation for next month's Olympics, but work delays will block the "lock-down" of the main stadium complex until just days before the Games, Greece's top law enforcement official said.
"For us, the Olympic Games start today," said Public Order Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis. "They start today for the Greek police, the armed forces and the coast guard."
But the inability to seal off the stadium grounds could raise concerns from some nations that the round-the-clock construction may compromise the most elaborate and costly security network in Olympic history.
Voulgarakis said the stadium complex will likely miss the July 31 target date to have all venues and Olympic facilities under full police control. Some Greek officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the stadium work may not finish until Aug. 10 -- just three days before the opening ceremony.
About 11,000 police officers and others began moving into Olympic venues and facilities in the first stage of the "lock-down" process, which includes security sweeps and tests of all surveillance operations. Street patrols will also increase over the coming weeks, Voulgarakis said.
A total of 70,000 police, soldiers and other forces have been assigned to protect the Aug. 13-29 Games, which carries a record security budget of at least US$1.2 billion.
A seven-nation task force, including the US and UK, is assisting with the security blueprint.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion