Posted on 22 February 2010
Two British plane spotters face up to three years in an Indian prison after allegedly hacking into conversations between pilots and airport authorities.
Stephen Hampton, 46, and Steven Ayres, 55, were arrested by police at the five-star Radisson Hotel in Delhi which overlooks the international airport.
Staff raised the alarm after concerns about their suspicious behaviour.
Reports claim binoculars, equipment to trace far-off aircraft, including military planes, and a map of the airport were found in their room last Monday.
The pair are denying the charges and claim they were in the capital on a plane-spotting trip.
Delhi police spokesman, Rajan Bhagat, said: ‘This plane-spotting that they were doing is illegal in India. They should have applied for permission before doing this. They have been charged for violating the rules.’
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Posted on 23 January 2010
LONDON — Britain raised its international terrorism threat level to ’severe’ — its second highest level of terror alert — from ’substantial’ on Friday, Home Secretary (interior minister) Alan Johnson said.
“The Joint Terrorism Analysis Center has today raised the threat to the UK from international terrorism from substantial to severe. This means that a terrorist attack is highly likely, but I should stress that there is no intelligence to suggest than an attack is imminent,” he said in a statement.
“JTAC keeps the threat level under constant review and makes its judgments based on a broad range of factors, including the intent and capabilities of international terrorist groups in the UK and overseas,” the statement said.
Britain hosts an international conference on Afghanistan on January 28 that London says may set a timetable for transferring responsibility for some areas to Afghan control.
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