operatingsystem:poseidon

  • Shell Makes Large Deepwater Discovery in U.S. Gulf of Mexico – gCaptain
    http://gcaptain.com/shell-makes-large-deepwater-discovery-in-u-s-gulf-of-mexico


    Shell’s Dover discovery was drilled by the Deepwater Poseidon, a new build rig, in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
    Photo: Royal Dutch Shell

    Royal Dutch Shell has announced a large deepwater discovery in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico approximately 170 miles off the coast of Louisiana.

    Shell Offshore Inc. said Thursday the exploration discovery was made in the Norphlet geologic play at the 100 percent Shell-controlled Dover well.

    The well was drilled in Mississippi Canyon Block 612, located approximately 170 miles (273 kilometers) offshore southeast of New Orleans, in a water depth of 7,500 feet (2,280 meters) to a total vertical drilling depth of 29,000 feet (8,839 meters) measured depth. The discovery was more than 800 net feet of pay (244 meters), Shell said.

    The Dover discovery is Shell’s sixth in the Norphlet.

    Shell says the discovery is located approximately 13 miles from the Appomattox host platform, making it an attractive potential tieback.

  • China installs cruise missiles on South China Sea outposts: CNBC | Reuters
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southchinasea-china-missiles/china-installs-cruise-missiles-on-south-china-sea-outposts-cnbc-report-idUS


    FILE PHOTO: Chinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Fiery Cross Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea in this still image from video taken by a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft provided by the United States Navy May 21, 2015.
    U.S. Navy/Handout via Reuters/File Photo

    China has installed anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-air missile systems on three of its outposts in the South China Sea, U.S. news network CNBC reported on Wednesday, citing sources with direct knowledge of U.S. intelligence reports.

    The installations, if confirmed, would mark the first Chinese missile deployments in the Spratly Islands, where several Asian countries including Vietnam and Taiwan have rival claims.

    China has made no mention of any missile deployments but says its military facilities in the #Spratlys are purely defensive, and that it can do what it likes on its own territory.
    […]
    CNBC quoted unnamed sources as saying that according to U.S. intelligence assessments, the missiles were moved to Fiery Cross Reef, Subi Reef and Mischief Reef within the past 30 days.

    #mer_de_Chine_méridionale
    #Spratleys

  • Vom Profit mit der Not

    Weltweit sind rund 65 Millionen Menschen auf der Flucht. Es gibt so viele Flüchtlingslager wie nie zuvor. Eigentlich als Provisorien gedacht, sind viele Camps heute Dauereinrichtungen. Ein neues Geschäftsfeld ist entstanden, ein Geschäftsfeld, das private Unternehmen für sich zu nutzen wissen.

    https://www.srf.ch/play/tv/dok/video/vom-profit-mit-der-not?id=03b022a4-9627-48d9-90b1-bf04ed1b5069

    #camps_de_réfugiés #asile #migrations #réfugiés #profit #économie #privatisation #marché #business #vidéo #film #documentaire #technologie #ONU #nations_unies #ikea #biométrie #surveillance #HCR #UNHCR #Jordanie #IrisGuard #supermarchés #données #terrorisme #Dadaab #liberté_de_mouvement #liberté_de_circulation #apatridie #Kenya #réfugiés_somaliens #accord_UE-Turquie #Turquie #Poseidon #Frontex #Grèce #Lesbos #Moria #hotspots

    Les conseillers de #IrisGuard :
    #Richard_Dearlove : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dearlove (il a travailler pour les #services_secrets britanniques)
    #Frances_Townsend : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Townsend (conseillère de #Georges_Bush)

    L’entreprise IrisGuard a son siège aux #îles_Caïmans #Cayman_Islands (#paradis_fiscaux)

    #G4S assure la protection des travailleurs humanitaires à Dadaad... L’ONU a dépensé, selon ce documentaire, 23 mio de USD pour la protection de ses employés, le 2ème plus haut poste de dépenses après l’eau potable...

    • Market Forces: the development of the EU security-industrial complex

      While the European Union project has faltered in recent years, afflicted by the fall-out of the economic crisis, the rise of anti-EU parties and the Brexit vote, there is one area where it has not only continued apace but made significant advances: Europe’s security policies have not only gained political support from across its Member States but growing budgets and resources too.

      Transnational corporations are winning millions of euros of public research funds to develop ever more intrusive surveillance and snooping technologies, a new report by Statewatch and the Transnational Institute reveals today.

      The report, Market Forces, shows how the EU’s €1.7 billion ‘Secure societies’ research programme has been shaped by the “homeland security” industry and in the process is constructing an ever more militarised and security-focused Europe.

      The research programme, in place since 2007, has sought to combat a panoply of “threats” ranging from terrorism and organised criminality to irregular migration and petty crime through the development of new “homeland security” technologies such as automated behaviour analysis tools, enhanced video and data surveillance, and biometric identification systems.

      Key beneficiaries of this research funding have been companies: #Thales (€33.1m), #Selex (€23.2m), #Airbus (€17.8m), #Atos (€14.1m) and #Indra (€12.3m are the five biggest corporate recipients. Major applied research institutes have also received massive amounts of funding, the top five being: #Fraunhofer_Institute (€65.7 million); #TNO (€33.5 million); #Swedish_Defence_Research_Institute (€33.4 million); #Commissariat_à_l'énergie_atomique_et_aux_énergies_alternatives (€22.1 million); #Austrian_Intstitute_of_Technology (€16 million).

      Many of these organisations and their lobbies have played a significant role in designing the research programme through their participation in high-level public-private forums, European Commission advisory groups and through lobbying undertaken by industry groups such as the European Organisation for Security (#EOS).

      The report also examines EU’s €3.8 billion #Internal_Security_Fund, which provides funding to Member States to acquire new tools and technologies: border control #drones and surveillance systems, #IMSI catchers for spying on mobile phones, tools for monitoring the web and ‘pre-crime’ predictive policing systems are currently on the agenda.

      It is foreseen that the fund will eventually pay for technologies developed through the security research programme, creating a closed loop of supply and demand between private companies and state authorities.

      Despite the ongoing economic crisis, EU funding for new security tools and technologies has grown from under €4 billion to almost €8 billion in the 2014-20 period (compared to 2007-13) and the report warns that there is a risk of further empowering illiberal tendencies in EU governments that have taken unprecedented steps in recent years towards normalising emergency powers and undermining human rights protection in the name of fighting terrorism and providing “security”.

      Market Forces argues that upcoming negotiations on the next round of funding programmes (2021-27) provide a significant opportunity to reform the rationale and reasoning behind the EU’s development of new security technologies and its funding of tools and equipment for national authorities.


      http://statewatch.org/marketforces

      Lien vers le #rapport:
      http://statewatch.org/analyses/marketforces.pdf

    • #Burundi refugees refuse ’biometric’ registration in #DRC

      More than 2 000 Burundian refugees living in a transit camp in Democratic Republic of Congo are resisting plans to register them on a biometric database, claiming it would violate their religion.

      They belong to an obscure Catholic sect that follows a female prophet called #Zebiya and claim to have fled their homeland due to religious persecution.

      https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/burundi-refugees-refuse-biometric-registration-in-drc-20171207
      #résistance #Congo #camps_de_réfugiés #persécution_religieuse

    • The EU has built #1000_km of border walls since fall of Berlin Wall

      European Union states have built over 1,000km of border walls since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, a new study into Fortress Europe has found.

      Migration researchers have quantified the continent’s anti-immigrant infrastructure and found that the EU has gone from just two walls in the 1990s to 15 by 2017.

      Ten out of 28 member states stretching from Spain to Latvia have now built such border walls, with a sharp increase during the 2015 migration panic, when seven new barriers were erected.

      Despite celebrations this year that the Berlin Wall had now been down for longer than it was ever up, Europe has now completed the equivalent length of six Berlin walls during the same period. The barriers are mostly focused on keeping out undocumented migrants and would-be refugees.

      The erection of the barriers has also coincided with the rise of xenophobic parties across the continent, with 10 out of 28 seeing such parties win more than half a million votes in elections since 2010.

      “Europe’s own history shows that building walls to resolve political or social issues comes at an unacceptable cost for liberty and human rights,” Nick Buxton, researcher at the Transnational Institute and editor of the report said.

      “Ultimately it will also harm those who build them as it creates a fortress that no one wants to live in. Rather than building walls, Europe should be investing in stopping the wars and poverty that fuels migration.”

      Tens of thousands of people have died trying to migrate into Europe, with one estimate from June this year putting the figure at over 34,000 since the EU’s foundation in 1993. A total of 3,915 fatalities were recorded in 2017.

      The report also looked at eight EU maritime rescue operations launched by the bloc, seven of which were carried out specifically by the EU’s border agency Frontex.

      The researchers found that none of the operations, all conducted in the Mediterranean, had the rescue of people as their principal goal – with all of them focused on “eliminating criminality in border areas and slowing down the arrival of displaced peoples”.

      Just one, Operation Mare Nostrum, which was carried out by the Italian government, included humanitarian organisations in its fleets. It has since been scrapped and replaced by Frontex’s Operation Triton, which has a smaller budget.

      “These measures lead to refugees and displaced peoples being treated like criminals,” Ainhoa Ruiz Benedicto, researcher for Delàs Center and co-author of the report said.

      At the June European Council, EU leaders were accused by NGOs of “deliberately condemning vulnerable people to be trapped in Libya, or die at sea”, after they backed the stance of Italy’s populist government and condemned rescue boats operating in the sea.

      https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/eu-border-wall-berlin-migration-human-rights-immigration-borders-a862

    • Building walls. Fear and securitization in the European Union

      This report reveals that member states of the European Union and Schengen Area have constructed almost 1000 km of walls, the equivalent of more than six times the total length of the Berlin Walls, since the nineties to prevent displaced people migrating into Europe. These physical walls are accompanied by even longer ‘maritime walls’, naval operations patrolling the Mediterranean, as well as ‘virtual walls’, border control systems that seek to stop people entering or even traveling within Europe, and control movement of population.
      Authors
      Ainhoa Ruiz Benedicto, Pere Brunet
      In collaboration with
      Stop Wapenhandel, Centre Delàs d’Estudis per la Pau
      Programmes
      War & Pacification

      On November 9th 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, marking what many hoped would be a new era of cooperation and openness across borders. German President Horst Koehler celebrating its demise some years later spoke of an ‘edifice of fear’ replaced by a ‘place of joy’, opening up the possibility of a ‘cooperative global governance which benefits everyone’. 30 years later, the opposite seems to have happened. Edifices of fear, both real and imaginary, are being constructed everywhere fuelling a rise in xenophobia and creating a far more dangerous walled world for refugees fleeing for safety.

      This report reveals that member states of the European Union and Schengen Area have constructed almost 1000 km of walls, the equivalent of more than six times the total length of the Berlin Walls, since the nineties to prevent displaced people migrating into Europe. These physical walls are accompanied by even longer ‘maritime walls’, naval operations patrolling the Mediterranean, as well as ‘virtual walls’, border control systems that seek to stop people entering or even traveling within Europe, and control movement of population. Europe has turned itself in the process into a fortress excluding those outside– and in the process also increased its use of surveillance and militarised technologies that has implications for its citizens within the walls.

      This report seeks to study and analyse the scope of the fortification of Europe as well as the ideas and narratives upon which it is built. This report examines the walls of fear stoked by xenophobic parties that have grown in popularity and exercise an undue influence on European policy. It also examines how the European response has been shaped in the context of post-9/11 by an expanded security paradigm, based on the securitization of social issues. This has transformed Europe’s policies from a more social agenda to one centred on security, in which migrations and the movements of people are considered as threats to state security. As a consequence, they are approached with the traditional security tools: militarism, control, and surveillance.

      Europe’s response is unfortunately not an isolated one. States around the world are answering the biggest global security problems through walls, militarisation, and isolation from other states and the rest of the world. This has created an increasingly hostile world for people fleeing from war and political prosecution.

      The foundations of “Fortress Europe” go back to the Schengen Agreement in 1985, that while establishing freedom of movement within EU borders, demanded more control of its external borders. This model established the idea of a safe interior and an unsafe exterior.

      Successive European security strategies after 2003, based on America’s “Homeland Security” model, turned the border into an element that connects local and global security. As a result, the European Union Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) became increasingly militarised, and migration was increasingly viewed as a threat.

      Fortress Europe was further expanded with policy of externalization of the border management to third countries in which agreements have been signed with neighbouring countries to boost border control and accept deported migrants. The border has thus been transformed into a bigger and wider geographical concept.
      The walls and barriers to movement

      The investigation estimates that the member states of the European Union and the Schengen area have constructed almost 1000 km of walls on their borders since nineties, to prevent the entrance of displaced people and migration into their territory.


      The practice of building walls has grown immensely, from 2 walls in the decade of the 1990s to 15 in 2017. 2015 saw the largest increase, the number of walls grew from 5 to 12.

      Ten out of 28 member states (Spain, Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria, Austria, Slovenia, United Kingdom, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania) have built walls on their borders to prevent immigration, all of them belonging to the Schengen area except for Bulgaria and the United Kingdom.

      One country that is not a member of the European Union but belongs to the Schengen area has built a wall to prevent migration (Norway). Another (Slovakia) has built internal walls for racial segregation. A total of 13 walls have been built on EU borders or inside the Schengen area.

      Two countries, both members of the European Union and the Schengen area, (Spain and Hungary) have built two walls on their borders for controlling migration. Another two (Austria and the United Kingdom) have built walls on their shared borders with Schengen countries (Slovenia and France respectively). A country outside of the European Union, but part of of the so-called Balkan route (Macedonia), has built a wall to prevent migration.


      Internal controls of the Schengen area, regulated and normalized by the Schengen Borders Code of 2006, have been gone from being an exception to be the political norm, justified on the grounds of migration control and political events (such as political summit, large demonstrations or high profile visitors to a country). From only 3 internal controls in 2006, there were 20 in 2017, which indicates the expansion in restrictions and monitoring of peoples’ movements.


      The maritime environment, particularly the Mediterranean, provides more barriers. The analysis shows that of the 8 main EU maritime operations (Mare Nostrum, Poseidon, Hera, Andale, Minerva, Hermes, Triton and Sophia) none have an exclusive mandate of rescuing people. All of them have had, or have, the general objective of fighting crime in border areas. Only one of them (Mare Nostrum) included humanitarian organisations in its fleet, but was replaced by Frontex’s “Triton” Operation (2013-2015) which had an increased focus on prosecuting border-related crimes. Another operation (Sophia) included direct collaboration with a military organisation (NATO) with a mandate focused on the persecution of persons that transport people on migratory routes. Analysis of these operations show that their treatment of crimes is sometimes similar to their treatment of refugees, framed as issues of security and treating refugees as threats.

      There are also growing numbers of ‘virtual walls’ which seek to control, monitor and surveil people’s movements. This has resulted in the expansion, especially since 2013, of various programs to restrict people’s movement (VIS, SIS II, RTP, ETIAS, SLTD and I-Checkit) and collect biometric data. The collected data of these systems are stored in the EURODAC database, which allows analysis to establish guidelines and patterns on our movements. EUROSUR is deployed as the surveillance system for border areas.

      Frontex: the walls’ borderguards

      The European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) plays an important role in this whole process of fortress expansion and also acts and establishes coordination with third countries by its joint operation Coordination Points. Its budgets have soared in this period, growing from 6.2 million in 2005 to 302 million in 2017.


      An analysis of Frontex budget data shows a growing involvement in deportation operations, whose budgets have grown from 80,000 euros in 2005 to 53 million euros in 2017.

      The European Agency for the Border and Coast Guard (Frontex) deportations often violate the rights of asylum-seeking persons. Through Frontex’s agreements with third countries, asylum-seekers end up in states that violate human rights, have weak democracies, or score badly in terms of human development (HDI).


      Walls of fear and the influence of the far-right

      The far-right have manipulated public opinion to create irrational fears of refugees. This xenophobia sets up mental walls in people, who then demand physical walls. The analysed data shows a worrying rise in racist opinions in recent years, which has increased the percentage of votes to European parties with a xenophobic ideology, and facilitated their growing political influence.

      In 28 EU member states, there are 39 political parties classified as extreme right populists that at some point of their history have had at least one parliamentary seat (in the national Parliament or in the European Parliament). At the completion of this report (July 2018), 10 member states (Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Sweden) have xenophobic parties with a strong presence, which have obtained more than half a million votes in elections since 2010. With the exception of Finland, these parties have increased their representation. In some cases, like those in Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden, there has been an alarming increase, such as Alternative for Germany (AfD) winning 94 seats in the 2017 elections (a party that did not have parliamentary representation in the 2013 elections), the Law and Justice party (PiS) in Poland winning 235 seats after the 2015 elections (an increase of 49%), and Lega Nord’s (LN) strong growth in Italy, which went from 18 seats in 2013 to 124 seats in 2018.

      Our study concludes that, in 9 of these 10 states, extreme right-wing parties have a high degree of influence on the government’s migration policies, even when they are a minority party. In 4 of them (Austria, Finland, Italy and Poland) these parties have ministers in the government. In 5 of the remaining 6 countries (Germany, Denmark, Holland, Hungary, and Sweden), there has been an increase of xenophobic discourse and influence. Even centrist parties seem happy to deploy the discourse of xenophobic parties to capture a sector of their voters rather than confront their ideology and advance an alternative discourse based on people’s rights. In this way, the positions of the most radical and racist parties are amplified with hardly any effort. In short, our study confirms the rise and influence of the extreme-right in European migration policy which has resulted in the securitization and criminalization of migration and the movements of people.

      The mental walls of fear are inextricably connected to the physical walls. Racism and xenophobia legitimise violence in the border area Europe. These ideas reinforce the collective imagination of a safe “interior” and an insecure “outside”, going back to the medieval concept of the fortress. They also strengthen territorial power dynamics, where the origin of a person, among other factors, determines her freedom of movement.

      In this way, in Europe, structures and discourses of violence have been built up, diverting us from policies that defend human rights, coexistence and equality, or more equal relationships between territories.

      https://www.tni.org/en/publication/building-walls
      #rapport

      Pour télécharger le rapport:
      https://www.tni.org/files/publication-downloads/building_walls_-_full_report_-_english.pdf

      #murs_virtuelles #surveillance #murs_maritimes #murs_terrestres #EUROSUR #militarisation_des_frontières #frontières #racisme #xénophobie #VIS #SIS #ETIAS #SLTD

  • #Trident_lakes

    Your ultimate safe haven and private resort community providing luxury life assurance

    https://www.tridentlakes.com
    #underground #souterrain

    Going underground: The subterranean doomsday village complete with golf course, spas, helipads and an equestrian center that’s set to be built in Texas

    Detailed plans for a luxury underground doomsday village complete with golf courses and spas have been revealed in Texas.

    Trident Lakes is a $300million development in the small city of Ector, Texas, where investors are plotting to create the subterranean world over 700 acres of land.

    They plan to build enough bunkers for 1,000 people and accompany them with luxury amenities including an equestrian center, gun range and several white sand lagoons.

    The complex will be signposted above ground by a massive fountain with a statue of Poseidon towering 50ft in the air, making it visible from Highway 65.
    Detailed plans for Trident Lakes, an underground doomsday village in Ector, Texas, have been revealed. They include three lagoons, a golf course, chapel, shopping center, equestrian center and rifle range

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3928772/Texas-investors-build-community-doomsday-scenario.html
    #bunkers #Ector #Texas #USA #Etats-Unis #paranoïa #aménagement_du_territoire

  • Tensions between Washington and Moscow rise as Russia intercepts US spy planes over Black Sea - World Socialist Web Site
    http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/09/09/russ-s09.html

    Tensions between Washington and Moscow rise as Russia intercepts US spy planes over Black Sea
    By Jordan Shilton
    9 September 2016

    Moscow and Washington traded accusations yesterday over an incident involving US reconnaissance aircraft and Russian SU27 fighters in the Black Sea that once again demonstrates how perilously close a military clash between the two nuclear-armed powers is.

    Two US defense officials denounced Russia for carrying out an “unsafe and unprofessional” act by flying within 10 feet of two US spy planes conducting patrols over the Black Sea. A Pentagon spokesman told RT that a P-8A Poseidon aircraft was conducting “routine operations in international airspace” when it was approached by the fighter jets around 11:20 a.m.

    #rusie #états_unis #Mer_noire #crimée

    • Version russe : transpondeurs éteints…

      US spy planes intercepted near Russian border had transponders off – Russian MoD — RT News
      https://www.rt.com/news/358564-us-spy-planes-intercepted

      US spy planes have twice tried to approach the Russian border over the Black Sea with their transponders off, the Russian Defense Ministry said, adding that SU-27 fighter jets were scrambled in response.
      On September 7, the US P-8 Poseidon surveillance airplanes tried to approach the Russian border twice… with their transponders off,” Russian Defense Ministry’s spokesman, Major General Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

      The SU-27 fighter jets that intercepted the US aircraft were acting “in strict accordance with international flight rules,” the statement reads.

      Dans le sujet vidéo, il est rappelé que lorsque des avions de l’OTAN s’approchent d’avions russes survolant de trop près les frontières au dessus de la Baltique, il s’agit d’un acte agressif de la part des Russes. En revanche, que des avions russes survolent d’un peu près des avions de l’OTAN s’approchant des frontières russes, il s’agit d’un acte agressif de la part… des Russes.

  • The role of Frontex in Search and Rescue

    Search and Rescue (SAR) is always a priority for everyone operating at sea.

    International law obliges all captains of vessels to provide assistance to any persons found in distress at sea. SAR is also a specific objective of the operational plan of every Frontex joint maritime operation. For this reason, vessels deployed by Frontex to an operational area are always ready to provide support to the national authorities in SAR operations.

    It is important to stress that all SAR operations are coordinated by the national Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres (MRCC). The MRCC orders those vessels which are either the closest to the incident or the most capable ones (due to the specialised training of the crew, or the vessels specifications, etc.) to assist in the rescue. These may include national commercial or military vessels, vessels deployed by Frontex, private boats and other.

    During a standard border control operation, Frontex-deployed vessels operate under the command of the International Coordination Centre (ICC), but when contacted by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre and redirected to a SAR operation, it is the MRCC that takes command. Once Frontex assets reach people in distress, they first provide immediate medical assistance and give them food and water. Once a rescue operation is completed, migrants are disembarked and handed over to the national authorities for identification and registration. In Italy and Greece, Frontex officers assist in registration and identification of the large numbers of arrivals in hotspots.

    Between January and June 2016, Frontex-deployed assets rescued 24657 people within Operation Triton in the Central Mediterranean Sea and 34255 people within Operation Poseidon in the Aegean Sea.

    http://frontex.europa.eu/assets/Newsroom/Hottopics/SARJan-June.JPG
    http://frontex.europa.eu/pressroom/hot-topics/the-role-of-frontex-in-search-and-rescue-EQYKeH

    #naufrages #sauvetages #visualisation #cartographie #infographie #Frontex #asile #migrations #réfugiés #statistiques #chiffres #le_monde_à_l'envers

  • #Frontex launches rapid operational assistance in Greece

    Frontex initiated yesterday the deployment of 293 officers and 15 vessels to the Greek islands as part of a new operation called Poseidon Rapid Intervention after Greece requested additional assistance at its external borders in the Aegean earlier this month.

    Poseidon Rapid Intervention replaces the Joint Operation Poseidon Sea with a higher number of officers who will assist in identifying and fingerprinting of arriving migrants, along with interpreters and forged document experts. Poseidon Rapid Intervention aims to provide Greece with additional technical assistance aiming to strengthen its border surveillance, registration and identification capacity.

    In accordance with the Frontex Regulation, at the request of a Member State faced with a situation of urgent and exceptional migratory pressure at its external borders, Frontex may deploy European Border Guard Teams for a limited period on the territory of the requesting Member State. It should be noted that while participation in Frontex Joint Operations is voluntary, Member States are obliged to send border guards for rapid operational assistance deployments, unless they themselves face an exceptional situation substantially affecting the discharge of national tasks.

    The number of border guards deployed will gradually increase to over 400 officers as well as additional vessels, vehicles and other technical equipment to assist the national authorities in the management of the unprecedented migratory pressure at the Greek external borders.

    #Grèce #RABIT #asile #migrations #réfugiés #frontières #contrôles_frontaliers #Méditerranée #Mer_Egée

  • Problems with payment terminal communication protocol “ZVT” in Germany, allowing
    • to read payment cards from the LAN
    • to read PIN codes remotely

    https://srlabs.de/pos-vulns (Security Research Lab)

    Fraudsters can, among other things, refund money, or print SIM card top-up vouchers – all at the cost of the victim merchant.

    Details of this will appear at the Chaos Communication Congress
    https://events.ccc.de/congress/2015/Fahrplan/events/7368.html

    Full agenda: https://events.ccc.de/congress/2015/Fahrplan/events.html

    #ATM
    #fraud
    #ISO_8583
    #ZVT #Poseidon

  • Frontex accepts Greece’s request for Rapid Border Intervention Teams

    Frontex accepted today Greece’s request to deploy Rapid Border Intervention Teams (RABIT) on the Greek islands in the Aegean to assist the country in dealing with the record number of migrants coming to its shores. Following a required evaluation, Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri decided to activate the RABIT mechanism.

    Greece and Frontex now have five working days to agree on an operational plan to be signed by the Frontex Executive Director. The RABIT deployment requires Greece to provide a number of national officers and team leaders who will work alongside officers deployed by Frontex.

    “The RABIT deployment will allow us to increase the number of both sea and land patrols, which means more migrants will be identified and properly registered soon after they arrive on the Greek islands. In other words, launching RABIT means upscaling Operation Poseidon Sea,” said Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri.

    Out of more than 700 000 migrants who reached the Greek islands from Turkey so far this year, only one in five was intercepted upon reaching the shore.

    The RABIT deployment will increase the number of officers and technical equipment, such as boats and patrol cars, deployed on the Greek islands. The operation shall also have a new focus on security checks. Officers who will conduct security checks by consulting national and pan-European databases are to work alongside screening, debriefing and fingerprinting experts.

    The RABIT deployment will replace currently running operation Poseidon Sea and will cover similar operational area. Currently, in the Aegean islands, Frontex deploys 16 vessels and more than 260 officers assisting in the registration of new arrivals, as well as border surveillance officers, and debriefing and document experts.

    The 448 officers offered so far by Member States in response to the Frontex’s most recent request call for 775 border guards in October will now take part in the RABIT deployment. Unlike participation in regular Frontex operations, it is mandatory for member states to provide officers and equipment for RABIT deployments.

    So far, the RABIT mechanism had been activated only once, in October 2010, also by Greece. The operation at the Greek-Turkish land border in the Evros region started in November 2010 and ended in March 2011, when Frontex resumed Joint Operation Poseidon Land.

    http://frontex.europa.eu/news/frontex-accepts-greece-s-request-for-rapid-border-intervention-teams-
    #RABIT #Frontex #Mer_Egée #asile #migrations #réfugiés #contrôles_frontaliers #Méditerranée
    cc @reka

  • sevenseas | Citizen Science at the North Pole

    http://www.sevenseastravelmagazine.com/#!Citizen-Science-at-the-North-Pole/cqcy/55cab0750cf25051ca24a773

    Each boreal summer, Poseidon Expeditions runs trips for adventurous travellers to Franz Josef Land and the North Pole on nuclear icebreaker 50 let Pobedy. This year there is something new on board, in the form of a sea ice data collection project, conceived, set up and run by two of the expedition staff with the support of the company.

    Lauren Farmer and Alex Cowan have worked for several years on expedition cruise vessels in the Arctic and Antarctic and this summer will be the photographer and geologist respectively.

    They will be collecting measurements of sea ice thickness and extent, and melt pond distribution while breaking ice on the way to and from the pole. At the North Pole itself they will be measuring melt pond depth and salinity. These data are being provided to various researchers at The International Arctic Research Centre, McGill University and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ERDC Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, where they will be used to assess and model melting of the pack through the summer and also to validate thermodynamic models of the Arctic Ocean.

    #arctique #photographie #biodiversité

  • Un chasseur chinois frôle un avion militaire américain
    http://www.lapresse.ca/international/asie-oceanie/201408/22/01-4793845-un-chasseur-chinois-frole-un-avion-militaire-americain.php

    Comme d’habitude on ne connaîtra qu’une seule version,

    ...l’avion américain, un P8-Poseidon de surveillance maritime (...) effectuait une mission de routine, a déclaré le contre-amiral John Kirby, porte-parole du Pentagone.

    • China urges U.S. to stop close-in surveillance - Xinhua | English.news.cn
      http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-08/23/c_133578974.htm

      BEIJING, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) — Chinese Defense Ministry here on Saturday urged the U.S. side to stop close-in surveillance of China, and create a sound atmosphere for bilateral military ties.

      The ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said in a statement that one U.S. anti-submarine plane and one patrol aircraft flew to an airspace about 220 kilometers east of China’s Hainan Island to conduct close-in surveillance Tuesday morning, and then a Chinese fighter jet took off to make regular identification and verification.

      Commenting on relevant criticism made by the U.S. side, Yang said that was “totally groundless,” as the Chinese pilot, with professional operation, kept the jet within a safe distance from the U.S. aircraft.

      It was U.S. massive and frequent close-in surveillance of China that endanger the two sides’ air and marine security, and is the root of accidents, he said.

      China urged the U.S. side to abide by international law and international practice, respect concerns of the coastal countries, and properly deal with the differences between the two sides on air and marine security issues, he said.

      Yang said that the U.S. side should follow the principle of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, take concrete actions, reduce and finally stop close-in surveillance of China, so as to create a sound atmosphere for bilateral military ties.

  • The Search For Drinking Water In California Has Led To The Ocean
    http://www.npr.org/2014/02/26/281984555/the-search-for-drinking-water-in-california-has-led-to-the-ocean


    On the coast in Carlsbad, Calif., construction workers are building what will be the largest seawater desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere. When finished in early 2016, it is expected to provide up to 50 million gallons of fresh drinkable water every day.

    “That’s enough water for 112,000 households here in the region,” says Peter MacLaggan with Poseidon Resources, the developer of this $1 billion plant.

    [...]

    He says desalination helps, but it’s not a cure-all. It’s expensive, it does take a lot of energy and it can treat only so much water at a time.

    His agency gets about 30 percent of its water from Northern California through the State Water Project. “To replace that supply would require a Carlsbad plant every 4 miles between LA and San Diego,” he says.

    That would be 25 plants in that stretch. Statewide, 17 desalination plants are in some stage of planning on the California coast.

    #Californie #eau #sécheresse #désalinisation