USA: Senate approves cruise safety bill

The Senate voted unanimously Thursday to require the cruise industry to be more transparent in reporting cruise ship crime and comply with new cabin security and surveillance measures. The House must approve some legislative changes the Senate made to the bill, before it goes to the president for his signature.

Source: Travel Weekly; find article here>>.

Australia: advertising campaign to accompany tough new laws on sex tourism

The Australian government has promised to fight the sexual exploitation of children wherever it occurs. Adverts have been placed in national newspapers that warn offenders they can be prosecuted in Australia even if their crimes are committed elsewhere. The measures include jail terms of up to 25 years for Australians found guilty of sex crimes against children in foreign countries.

Source: bbc.co.uk; find article here>>.

New Zealand: German tourist jailed for smuggling geckos

A German tourist was sentenced to jail after he admitted trying to smuggle native New Zealand geckos out of the country — the second such case in five weeks. He was caught with 13 adult geckos and three immature animals in the southern city of Christchurch on Feb. 16 by Conservation Department inspectors. The District Court in Christchurch was told nine of the 11 females were pregnant and expected to give birth to one or two young in the next few weeks. The animals had a value of 192,000 New Zealand dollars ($134,000) on the European market.

Source: Christchurch Court News; find article here>>.

United Nations: use of military force against pirates reauthorized

Days after pirates shot at an Oceania Cruises ship, the United Nations renewed the authorization for countries to use military force against pirates operating in waters off Somalia. The 15-nation council unanimously voted to extend the right of countries’ military forces to seize and dispose of “boats, vessels, arms and other related equipment used or suspected of being used for piracy, which has recently reached a peak off the coast of the Horn of Africa country.” for one year.

Source: Travel Weekly; find article here>>.

USA: Department of Homeland Security advises against unauthorized Visa Waiver websites

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has warned that unauthorized third parties have established websites seeking to charge Visa Waiver Program travelers for electronic travel authorization. The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) enables eligible citizens or nationals of certain countries to travel to the United States for tourism or business for stays of 90 days or less without obtaining a visa. The program is administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) becomes a mandatory program on Jan. 12. The system purports to verify whether travelers from VWP nations pose a law enforcement or security risk. Travelers fill out applications for free at ESTA's website.

Use of a private service to apply for travel authorization via ESTA will not expedite the granting of approval, said the DHS. Some of the scam websites charge fees for application.

Source: Travel Weekly; find article here>>.

Caribbean: beaches shrink as thieves steal sand

Caribbean round grains, favored in creating smooth surfaces for plastering and finishing, are being hauled away by the truckload late at night. On some islands, towns and ecologically sensitive areas get exposed to tidal surges and rough seas.

Among the hardest hit is Grenada, where officials are building a $1.2 million seawall to protect the 131-square-mile island. Large-scale sand thefts have exposed north-coast towns to rough seas.

About 706,000 cubic feet of sand were taken from private property beaches in the northwest of Jamaica in late July.

Source: The Boston Globe; find article here>>.

France: judge orders US airline to stand trial for Concorde crash

A French judge has ordered Continental Airlines and five individuals to stand trial on charges arising from the crash of an Air France Concorde that killed 113 people in 2000. The defendants include two employees of the U.S. carrier, two employees of Aerospatiale, the company that made the supersonic Concorde, and a French aviation official. All are charged with manslaughter.

The crash in 2000 was a factor in the subsequent decision to remove all Concorde jets from service three years later.

Source: eTurboNews; find article here>>.

USA: cruise safety bill rejected

A California state Assembly committee Tuesday rejected a bill strongly opposed by cruise companies that would have placed peace officers on passenger ships sailing from California ports.The bill already had been approved by the state Senate but failed to move past the Assembly's Public Safety Committee on concerns that it would create a jurisdictional and legal mess.
It would have been the most stringent regulation in an industry that victim-rights advocates contend is governed by a vague web of federal and international rules that allows crime and crime reporting to fall through the cracks.

Source: LA Times; find article here>>.

USA: Lawmakers discuss crimes on cruise ships

As reported by Los Angeles Times the Assembly Judiciary Committee in California voted 7 to 1 on Tuesday in favor of a bill to place peace officers aboard cruise ships, bringing the legislation closer to a full vote in the chamber; it has already passed the state Senate.

Meanwhile, in Washington, a U.S. Senate subcommittee will hold its first hearing on the issue Thursday, a possible precursor to federal legislation to tighten crime reporting requirements.
Currently, cruise ships are not required to have law enforcement on board and there is only a voluntary agreement in place to report the most serious crimes, such as homicide and rape, to the FBI.

Read article here>>.

Guarded gates for Malaysian travelers?

Malaysian travelers may soon face the unpleasant prospects of being barred from entering European countries because of the increase in arrests due to crimes.
The 90-day free visa access in European countries that Malaysians are now entitled under the Schengen Agreement may now be in jeopardy following reports of increasing numbers of Malaysians arrested or are in jail in China, Taiwan, the US and even South America.

Source: eTurboNews; full article available here>>.

"Crimes Against Tourists"

As reported by Kotie Geldenhuys, at the Servamus, "South Africa is a country with many tourist attractions. Local as well as foreign tourists enjoy the sunny, pleasant climate that South Africa offers. Not only do they visit the many wildlife sanctuaries, indigenous forests and wilderness areas, they also enjoy the unspoilt landscapes and golden beaches of this paradise. Unfortunately in every paradise there is a snake, and the snake in this paradise is crime." Read more>>

"Tourists not safe in incredible India"

As reported by Hemendra Singh Bartwal, of the Hindustan Times, "Rising Incidents of crimes against foreign tourists has pushed the Tourism Ministry to send a communication to all states asking them to speed up the process of creating a special tourist police force.
The urgency was highlighted by an incident in Mumbai earlier this week where a Latvian national was raped by a driver who offered her a lift.
The ministry had reminded the states to speed up the matter in June at the chief secretaries meet. Today, only 10 states have implemented the measure — the communication had first been sent last year — while the rest continue to drag their feet" Read more>>

Spain: 15th Century Spanish Maps Stolen from Madrid now recovered by FBI

The FBI announced the return of two 15th century maps that were stolen from the Spanish National Library in Madrid, Spain, earlier this year. The FBI assisted in the recovery of the maps at the request of the Spanish National Police and Civil Guard. The two maps, from an edition of Ptolemy's Geographia, were recovered by a special agent assigned to the New York FBI's major theft squad and the FBI's Art Crime Team. Director Robert S. Mueller, III, presented the maps today to Joan Mesquida Ferrando, Director General of the Spanish National Police and Civil Guard in a ceremony at FBI Headquarters.

Read full article here.

New Zealand: Tourist Attackers Sent To High Court For Sentence

Two men who admitted a brutal attack on a Dutch honeymoon couple in the Bay of Islands will be sentenced in the High Court. They pleaded guilty in the Kaikohe District Court in March to a raft of serious offences against the young tourists, who were held at gunpoint in their campervan last November. But the Crown asked for the case to be referred to the High Court, which can order preventive detention.

Source: www.newswire.co.nz, read full story here.

Child Porn Trial in Atlanta: Sex Tourism charges dropped

A Gainesville anesthesiologist who vehemently proclaimed his innocence in jailhouse interviews went on trial this Monday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta on child pornography charges. In April 2004, his arrest at New York's JFK airport was heralded by federal prosecutors as a major case in the battle against so-called "sex tourism." He was indicted under a new law that allowed U.S. citizens to be prosecuted for sex crimes against children committed in other countries. Prosecutors believed the anesthesiologist traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia, and Prague, Czech Republic, to have sex with young boys.
But the government through a series of revised indictments dropped the sex tourism and molestation charges, replacing them with child pornography charges.

Read the full story in Gainesville Times here.

"How to fight terrorism and crime more effectively and enhance protection for citizens? The Commission adopts a green paper on detection technologies"

As stated by the EU Press Room, "The Commission has adopted a Green Paper on detection technologies for law enforcement, customs and other security authorities to further enhance the interaction between public and private sectors and help Member States acquire the best tools available at the lowest possible cost.
'Recent events in the UK have further underlined that detection devices must be continuously improved in order to reflect the ever changing threat posed by terrorists and criminals and to ensure that people are able to travel safely. Modern detection technologies have therefore an important role to play in the fight against crime and terrorism', said Vice-President Franco Frattini, Commissioner responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security.
Vice-President Frattini believes it is vital to establishing an effective public-private dialogue on security for better focussing investments on standardisation, research, certification and interoperability of detection systems and for transforming research results into useful and applicable tools. From this perspective the Vice-President attached great importance to a conference on 'Enhancing the Security of Explosives' that will be held in Brussels 9-10 October 2006, and which he will open formally. It will bring together the public and private sectors to tackle areas such as: components of explosives including liquids, detection, traceability and transport & storage.
The Green Paper aims at further stimulating the public-private partnership, in order to promote the development of an advanced market in certified detection technology which should lead to greater availability of products and services at lower cost, more effectiveness and better protection of privacy.
Detection technologies are increasingly used in the daily work of law enforcement authorities to fight terrorism and other forms of crime and play an important role in the daily lives of Europeans (boarding airplanes, taking a ferry, attending sports events, drinking water and food supply safety etc) as these technologies are used to protect our borders and check goods entering the territory of the European Union. Moreover they are essential for guarding private property and critical infrastructure.
The Green Paper is available at the website."

Afghahistan: Statues of Budha Attacked

It has been reported that the Taleban have begun the demolition of two statues of the Budha, the largest rock hewn in the world. The statues date back to 2-5th centuries, when Afghanistan was an important centre of Budhism. The Taleban have condemned the statues as "idols" and an "insult to Islam". They have also begun to destroy statues in the country's museums. UNESCO chief, Koichiro Matsuura, has condemned these as acts of vandalism.

(Originally posted by John Downes)

Tourism Minister may Face Charges

A Congressional Committee will determine on April 10 whether to remove immunity from prosecution from Tourism Minister, Oscar Espinosa. Mr Espinosa faces allegations of corruption amounting to 45 million dollars when Mayor of Mexico City.

(Originally posted by John Downes)

Killing of French Tourists

The killing of three French children on holiday in North East Namibia early in January has led to a serious fall-off in business for the tourist industry. Safari lodges in Caprivi and Kavago have had to dismiss staff and close.

(Originally posted by John Downes)

Sex Tourism Charge

Philip Williams from Edinburgh has been charged with having sex or perfomring sexual acts with under age children whilst working as a school teacher in Cambodia. The case has been raised under a law introduced in 1992 which enables the Scots courts to hear cases of child sex abuse committed whilst the accused was abroad.

(Originally posted by John Downes)