February 10, 2017

Alert – Hong Kong: Subway Fire Injures Over a Dozen

On Friday evening in Hong Kong, 17 people were injured after a man threw a Molotov cocktail onto a crowded subway train en route to the Kowloon peninsula’s busy Tsim Sha Tsui station. According to police, there is no evidence to suggest it was terrorism.

According to The New York Times:

Seventeen people were injured when a man believed to be mentally disturbed started a fire on a crowded subway train during the Friday evening rush in Hong Kong, according to the police.

The police said in a post on Facebook that one man had been detained in connection with the episode. The fire occurred at 7:14 p.m., according to Kwok Pak-chung, a police district commander.

One of the injured, a 60-year-old man with the surname Cheung, claimed while in an ambulance en route to the hospital that he had started the fire. He was arrested on suspicion of arson.

“The suspect was believed to be speaking nonsense,” Mr. Kwok said, explaining that the man was mentally ill. “What he said didn’t make a lot of sense.”

Local television stations reported that the suspect was carrying a document identifying him as a psychiatric patient, though officials did not confirm that account.

Mr. Kwok added, “At this stage, we’re certain that there’s no evidence suggesting it was terrorism or an attack targeting mass transit system.”

The Fire Department said an initial investigation suggested that the fire was caused by the ignition of a combustible material. Employees and commuters helped put out the flames after the train arrived at Tsim Sha Tsui.

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February 9, 2017

Alert – American Airlines Flight 534 (CMH to PHX) Diverted to St. Louis after an Unspecified “Security Issue”

American Airlines flight 534 was diverted in St. Louis after an unspecified “security issue.” The flight’s original

route was from Columbus, Ohio, to Phoenix, Arizona.

According to WHIO:

Flight 534, headed to Phoenix from Columbus, Ohio, was diverted to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport

around 8:15 a.m. CST due to an unspecified “security issue,” according to multiple reports. Officials said at

10:30 a.m. that a security sweep of the plane turned up no evidence of a credible threat.

A spokeswoman for the FBI’s St. Louis Division told WCMH that “some kind of threat” led to the stop,

although she did not elaborate.

Airport operations were not affected. The plane had five crew members and 113 passengers on board.

Please contact the PR Team if you have any questions or concerns: TravelLeadersGroupPR@TravelLeaders.com.

February 9, 2017

Alert – Israel: ISIS Claims Responsibility for Eilat Attack/Attack Near Tel Aviv Considered Act of Terror

On Wednesday, Israel shot down three missiles from the Sinai peninsula that were targeting Eilat, a popular resort

and port city on the Gulf of Aqaba immediately adjacent to Egypt and Jordan. ISIS has now claimed responsibility

for the attempted attack. Then today, a shooting and stabbing incident in Petah Tikva just outside of Tel Aviv is

being treated as an act of terror; four were hurt.

Regarding the failed missile attack, the UK’s Independent reports:

Isis has claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on the southern Israeli port town of

Eilat. Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system shot down three missiles fired from

neighbouring Sinai late on Wednesday, the Israel Defence Force (IDF) said. Up to seven

are thought to have been launched during the attack – in which no one was hurt – in

total.

Gazan media reported that Isis, rather than Hamas, was responsible. Isis’ official media

channels confirmed the group was behind the attack later on Thursday. The branch of

the jihadist group based in restive Sinai province in Egypt is believed to have attacked

Israeli targets multiple times in the past.

As well as the Sinai rockets, Israel has been hit by projectiles launched from Gaza this

week, and in what the IDF described as not unusual “spillover” from the Syrian civil war,

several rockets landed in the Golan Heights.

The IDF struck a target in the Syrian Golan in response.

The incident in Eilat marks the first time the Iron Dome has intercepted rockets aimed

at the city since the 2014 war against Hamas.

As of Thursday morning, police had lowered Eilat’s threat level back to normal.

Also on Thursday, Palestinian officials said that two people had been killed in a predawn

airstrike whilst smuggling goods through a tunnel linking Gaza to the Egyptian

Sinai.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the claims.

Regarding the failed missile attack, the Jerusalem Post reports:

Travel Leaders • 3033 Campus Drive Ste W320 • Plymouth, MN 55441

At least four people were wounded in what police were treating as a terrorist attack at a

market in the central Israeli town of Petah Tikva on Thursday afternoon. Magen David

Adom said its emergency responders have evacuated three adults with gunshot wounds

and one adult male with stab wounds to a nearby hospital.

Police said that the suspect, who was arrested at the scene, is likely from the West Bank.

Authorities were investigating the motives surrounding the incident.

Several shots were fired during the shooting, police added. It was not initially clear if

more people were wounded in the incident.

 

February 8, 2017

France: Paris Metro Evacuated after Electrical Explosion

In Paris this evening, a reported electrical explosion occurred at a Metro Station, injuring at least eight from smoke inhalation. The incident occurred at the Metro’s Line 6 Place d’Italie stop. Police were quick to say that it was not a terror attack.

According to news.com.au (Australia):

A JITTERY France already on high terror alert has been set on edge after an electrical explosion at a metro train station which has left eight people with injuries. Dozens of passengers were evacuated from the Paris train station after a ‘huge explosion’.

Police moved quickly to dampen fears of a fresh terror attack.

The incident, on Line 6 in or near to the Place d’Italie subway stop, was due to a technical fault, police say. “This was not a (terrorist) attack,” the spokesman said. A spokesperson for the Paris metro operator RATP added: “There was a release of smoke. Maintenance workers are on the spot. Traffic has been interrupted on part of the line.”

It is unclear at this time exactly what caused the explosion, but security personnel have sealed off the area.

Early reports are that eight people have been injured, some suffering smoke inhalation.

France has been on high alert since the shooting of a knife-wielding attacker outside the Louvre museum at the weekend. A 29-year-old Egyptian, identified as Abdullah Reda al-Hamamy, was shot several times on Friday after he set upon soldiers with a pair of machetes in what French President Francois Hollande described as a terrorist attack.

Please contact the PR Team if you have any questions or concerns: TravelLeadersGroupPR@TravelLeaders.com.

 

 

February 8, 2017

Alert – Computer Issues Delaying Flights for United Airlines

 

United Airlines flights continue to be delayed, at various airports around the country, due to a computer issue affecting flight plans.

 

According to the Chicago Tribune:

 

United Airlines is experiencing delays at airports across the country Wednesday because of a systemwide computer problem affecting flight plans.

 

“The system that creates these flight plans for our crews and employees is experiencing a delay,” United Airlines spokeswoman Erin Benson said.

 

Benson said the problem arose early Wednesday morning, and she gave no timetable for resolution. She said there are a “small number of delays,” but the airline has not canceled any flights.

 

At Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, the totals continue to climb, with 80 United flights listed as delayed as of 11 a.m., according to the live flight-tracking website FlightAware.

 

Similar delays are reported at airports across the country, with 87 United flights delayed at Newark Liberty International; 75 at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental; and 37 at Washington’s Dulles International, among others.

 

“We are working as quickly as we can to resolve it,” Benson said.

 

The flight plan delay is the latest computer issue to affect United and its passengers. On Jan. 22, the airline was forced to ground all domestic flights for 2½ hours because of a problem with the system used to send pilots technical information needed before flights can depart.

 

KMGH-TV in Denver is reporting:

 

Computer issues caused nationwide delays for United Airlines flights Wednesday, including several at Denver International Airport.

 

The airline says a software program used to create flight plans went down and has led to the delays. Issues have been ongoing since around 8 a.m. Mountain Time, the airline said, however they appeared to be resolved just after noon.

 

Many of the major airports across the country, including DIA and airports in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington and San Francisco, experienced delays, and the ripple effect is likely to be seen the rest of the day.

 

As of 11 a.m., no cancelations were reported in Denver.

 

 

Please contact the PR Team if you have any questions or concerns: TravelLeadersGroupPR@TravelLeaders.com.

 

Monday, February 06, 2017

Alert – InterContinental Hotels Group confirms a credit card breach at 12 of its U.S. hotels.

According to Fortune.com (via Reuters):

InterContinental Hotels Group said on Friday that a malware in the servers at 12 of its hotels in the United States tracked payment card data if the card was used at the hotels’ restaurants and bars between August and December last year.

The company said that the malware searched for track data—the cardholder’s name, card number, expiration date, and the verification code—read from the magnetic stripe of a card as it was being routed through the affected server.

InterContinental said payment cards used at the front desk of the 12 hotels were not affected and that it was still conducting an investigating on its other hotels in the Americas region.

Business Travel News lists the 12 properties, along with the restaurants and bars identified in the breach:

InterContinental Hotels Group has discovered malware on point-of-sale systems at 12 of its U.S. hotels. IHG first began investigating its systems in late December after reports of suspicious activity on cards used at IHG properties. The malware targeted payment cards between August and December and collected information including cardholder name, card number, expiration date and CVV number. In August, multiple IHG properties were similarly targeted as part of a broader malware attack on POS systems at HEI Hotels & Resorts.

Atlanta – InterContinental Buckhead (Aug. 1–Nov. 9)

Bourbon Bar and Southern Art Restaurant

Chicago – InterContinental Magnificent Mile (Aug. 1–Dec. 15)

Center Court, Eno, and Michael Jordan’s Steak House

Los Angeles – InterContinental Century City (Aug. 1–Dec. 11)

Copper Lounge and Mari Los Angeles

Nashville – Former Holiday Inn Nashville Airport (Aug. 1–Sept. 1)

(Restaurant)

San Francisco –

Holiday Inn-Fisherman’s Wharf (Aug. 1–Dec. 11)

Bristol Bar & Grille

InterContinental Mark Hopkins (Aug. 17–Dec. 15)

Nob Hill Club and Top of the Mark

InterContinental (Aug. 18–Dec. 15)

Bar 888 and Luce

Silicon Valley – Crowne Plaza San Jose (Aug. 1–Dec. 20)

Sevens Bar & Grill

Toronto – InterContinental Yorkville (Aug. 1–Nov. 28)

Proof Vodka Bar, Signatures Restaurant, and SkyLounge

Washington, D.C. – The Willard InterContinental (Aug. 1–Dec. 2)

Cafe du Park and Round Robin

Aruba – Holiday Inn Resort (Aug. 1–Nov. 28)

Corals Restaurant, Da Vinci Ristorante, Oceanside Bar & Grill, Palm Bar, Pizza Now, and Sea Breeze Restaurant & Bar

San Juan, Puerto Rico – InterContinental (Aug. 1-Nov. 28)

Akua Bar, Ciao Mediterranean Café, La Bodeguita Café & Wine Bar, Ottanta Bar, Q-Bar, Trattoria Italiana, and Sak-i

 

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February 6, 2017

Alert – Executive Order on Visas

A U.S. Federal Court Judge ruled against the immigration ban on Friday (February 3), effectively halting it. The Executive Order would’ve barred citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. for 90 days, all refugees for 120 days and indefinitely halted refugees from Syria.

On Saturday (February 4), the Department of Homeland Security resumed standard inspections of travelers, and the U.S. State Department issued an “Executive Order on Visas” alert.

According to the alert:

An order issued by a U.S. District court in the state of Washington on February 3 bars the U.S. government from enforcing certain provisions of Executive Order 13769, “Protecting the Nation from Terrorist Attacks by Foreign Nationals,” including those related to visas and travel for nationals of Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.

The Department of State had, under the Executive Order, provisionally revoked all valid visas of nationals of those seven countries, with limited exceptions. That provisional revocation is now lifted, and those visas are now valid for travel to the United States, if the holder is otherwise eligible. Individuals whose visas are expired, or were physically cancelled, must apply for a new visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate, absent a Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) decision to grant parole or waive the visa requirement at the port of entry. We are looking further into this issue and will revise this site with any updates.

We are working closely with the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security and we will provide further updates as soon as information is available.

On January 27, 2017, President Trump signed Executive Order 13769 on Protecting the Nation from Terrorist Attacks by Foreign Nationals which directs us to review current screening procedures, while protecting national security – our top priority when issuing visas.

The U.S. government’s national security screening and vetting procedures for visitors are constantly reviewed and refined to improve security and more effectively identify individuals who could pose a threat to the United States. We welcome every opportunity to continue to review and improve our systems and procedures. In implementing this executive order, the Department of State had temporarily stopped scheduling appointments and halted processing of immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applications for individuals from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, with limited exceptions. Processing of those applications has now resumed and appointments will be scheduled.

 Information on the Executive Order and Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR) – DHS

 FAQs on the Executive Order – Department of Homeland Security

Please contact

 

Saturday, February 4, 2017

Alert – United States: Department of Homeland Security Suspends Travel Ban

According to CNN:

President Donald Trump’s government moved swiftly Saturday to comply with a federal judge’s order halting his immigration ban — even as Trump denounced the judge. The Department of Homeland Security announced it has suspended all actions to implement the immigration order and will resume standard inspections of travelers as it did prior to the signing of the travel ban.

Also, a State Department official tells CNN the department has reversed the cancellation of visas that were provisionally revoked following the President’s executive order last week — so long as those visas were not stamped or marked as canceled. The State Department has said fewer than 60,000 visas were revoked since the signing of the order. It was not immediately clear how many from that group will continue to be without their visas because their visas were physically canceled.

 

Following the judge’s ruling — before the government’s announcements Saturday morning — the International Air Transportation Association, a leading airline industry group, wrote to its members to follow procedures “as if the executive order never existed.”

 

The whirlwind turn of events set up the nation for a second straight weekend of widespread uncertainty over the controversial ban, this time with the administration on defense. Friday night, the White House announced the Justice Department would file an emergency motion to stop the halt, but it had yet to do so as of late Saturday morning.

 

Trump’s order bars citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US for 90 days, all refugees for 120 days and indefinitely halts refugees from Syria.

Federal Judge James Robart, a George W. Bush appointee who presides in Seattle, halted the enforcement of Trump’s order Friday night, effective nationwide.

Robart, ruling in a lawsuit brought by the attorneys general of Washington state and Minnesota who sought to stop the order, said the states “have met their burden of demonstrating that they face immediate and irreparable injury as a result of the signing and implementation of the Executive Order.” He said the order adversely affects residents in areas of education, employment, education and freedom to travel.

 

 

 

 

 

Please contact the PR Team if you have any concerns: TravelLeadersGroupPR@TravelLeaders.com.

February 3, 2017

ALERT: French Soldier Wounds Attacker at Paris’ Louvre (February 1, 2017)

A French soldier shot and wounded a machete-wielding man outside Paris’ Louvre this morning. Authorities are treating this as a possible terrorist incident.

Hundreds of visitors were in the Louvre at the time and were gradually evacuated after security checks.

Reuters is reporting:

A French soldier shot and wounded a man armed with a machete and carrying two bags on his back on Friday as he tried to enter the Paris Louvre museum in what the government said appeared to have been a terrorist attack.

The man shouted Allahu Akbar (God is greatest) and rushed at police and soldiers before being shot near the museum’s shopping mall, police said, adding a second person had also been detained after acting suspiciously.

The attacker was alive but seriously wounded, the head of Paris police Michel Cadot told reporters at the scene, adding the bags he had been carrying contained no explosives.

“It was an attack by a person … who represented a direct threat and whose actions suggested a terrorist context.”

The soldier who fired the bullets was from one of the patrolling groups that have become a common sight around the capital since a state of emergency was declared across France in November 2015. An anti-terrorism inquiry has been opened, the public prosecutor said in a statement.

Police cordoned off and evacuated the area around the museum for a time on Friday but began to allow traffic to pass less than two hours after the incident. Louvre officials closed the museum and kept visitors inside for a time before beginning to let them leave.

 

February 1, 2017

Alert – Delays at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport Due to Air Traffic Control Computers

Technical issues with the air traffic control system at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport are causing delays. Some flights are being rerouted to airports in Rotterdam and Munich, Germany.

Reuters is reporting:

Passengers at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport faced long waits Wednesday due to a serious computer problem at air traffic control, causing scores of flights to be diverted, canceled or delayed.“We are not sure yet what the cause is or how long it will take to fix it,” said spokesman Paul Weber. A reboot of computer systems at one of Europe’s largest flight hubs failed to resolve the issue.

Delay times had mounted to more than 60 minutes, three hours after the problem was first discovered. Flights were being redirected to Germany’s Munich airport and Rotterdam, he said.

According to the UK’s Independent:

Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, which normally handles 160,000 passengers a day, has been hit by what Eurocontrol described as a “critical system problem.”The fault appears to be with radar correlation software, which compares and assesses information from primary and secondary radar.

Eurocontrol said: “Successive system re-starts have failed to rectify the problem and the system remains unstable.” It warned pilots to “anticipate possible diversions if the situation continues”.

KLM, the Dutch airline based at Schiphol, has been experiencing long delays for much of the day, and is making dozens of cancellations. The afternoon service from Amsterdam to Birmingham and back was grounded, as were the evening departures to Heathrow and Manchester.

Flights from Bristol, Cardiff, Durham Tees Valley, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Heathrow, Humberside, Leeds/Bradford, and London City airport were running at least three hours late.

The “hub and spoke” model used by KLM is especially susceptible to disruption. Many British passengers are connecting to and from worldwide services, and while long-haul operations were less badly affected, it is likely that many people will miss their connections and be stranded in Amsterdam.

The airport said: “Unfortunately passengers will face delays due to a system failure at the Air Traffic Control. At this moment, it is uncertain how long the outage will last. The Air Traffic Control is working on a solution.”