Germany plans to better protect its critical infrastructure as surging tensions with Russia stoke fears of sabotage attacks and other national security threats.
Proposed legislation would require power utilities, water companies and even some supermarket chains to reduce their vulnerability to terrorism, industrial accidents, natural disasters and public health emergencies.
The package, which aims to bring Germany in line with EU directives, would oblige essential services providers to step up physical security and alarm systems, carry out regular risk assessments and promptly report incidents.
Photo: AFP
The measures cover facilities that provide critical services to more than 500,000 people in sectors including energy, water, food, health, transportation, information technology, telecommunications, financial services and waste disposal.
A wake-up call came weeks ago in Berlin when a midwinter arson attack on a high-voltage power cable claimed by a far-left militant group plunged tens of thousands of households into icy darkness for nearly a week.
“The left-wing extremist attack on the Berlin power grid and all the many other attacks — both small and large — in recent months have shown that we simply have to protect our critical infrastructure better,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday.
Information about such infrastructure should no longer be so easily available to the public, he said, calling for a shift from “transparency towards greater resilience.”
German lawmaker Konstantin von Notz, a security expert, said that the government’s response to the mounting threats had been “wholly inadequate” and that the new package is “far too late and too poorly crafted.”
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order. During a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary, but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs — but
SCAM CLAMPDOWN: About 130 South Korean scam suspects have been sent home since October last year, and 60 more are still waiting for repatriation Dozens of South Koreans allegedly involved in online scams in Cambodia were yesterday returned to South Korea to face investigations in what was the largest group repatriation of Korean criminal suspects from abroad. The 73 South Korean suspects allegedly scammed fellow Koreans out of 48.6 billion won (US$33 million), South Korea said. Upon arrival in South Korea’s Incheon International Airport aboard a chartered plane, the suspects — 65 men and eight women — were sent to police stations. Local TV footage showed the suspects, in handcuffs and wearing masks, being escorted by police officers and boarding buses. They were among about 260 South
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) purge of his most senior general is driven by his effort to both secure “total control” of his military and root out corruption, US Ambassador to China David Perdue said told Bloomberg Television yesterday. The probe into Zhang Youxia (張又俠), Xi’s second-in-command, announced over the weekend, is a “major development,” Perdue said, citing the family connections the vice chair of China’s apex military commission has with Xi. Chinese authorities said Zhang was being investigated for suspected serious discipline and law violations, without disclosing further details. “I take him at his word that there’s a corruption effort under
RSS