London on alert for terror attack ahead of Olympic Games - News.com.au
London is on alert ahead of the Olympics after reports of a planned terror attack following IOC president Jacques Rogge's decision not to hold commemorative ceremonies for victims of the 1972 Munich Games massacre. Source: Getty Images
ISRAEL fears an Iranian terror squad in Europe are planning to attack their athletes during the London Olympics, according to reports.
Agents from Israel’s elite intelligence organisation, Mossad, are hunting Iranian-backed terrorists in Europe, who are allegedly planning an “anniversary” attack 40 years after the Munich massacre, Britain's The Sunday Times reports.
The fears come as tensions rise over the International Olympic Committee refusal to commemorate the killing of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches by Palestinian terrorists on September 5, 1972.
In preparation for an Olympic terror assault, panic rooms for VIPs and spectators have been set up beneath London’s Olympic Stadium to protect them from being taken hostage or killed, according to The Sunday Times.
The paper also claims that if an attack occurred on the stadium, security forces would “invacuate” key people, rushing them to safety inside the attack zone.
An estimated 50,000 VIPs will attend the Games, including a reported 140 heads of state, 200 government ministers, 100 royals and 150 members of the International Olympic Committee.
A ring of steel has been set up to protect the Games, including snipers on the stadium roof and lighting towers and airborne radiation detecting equipment.
While M15 and Scotland Yard have reportedly raised the threat level against Israelis at the Games, Israel’s security squad Shin Bet has also been sent to protect the country’s 38 athletes living at the Athletes Village.
Concerns of an attack on Israel were heightened by the suicide bombing of a bus in Bulgaria last week, killing five Israeli tourists and the Bulgarian bus driver.
A man – carrying American travel documents – exploded a bomb on board the tourist coach just hours before an Israeli cargo plane carrying elite security teams landed nearby.
The blast was reportedly revenge for the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists, which Iran blames on Israel.
It confirmed intelligence Mossad had received that the Quds Force - Iran’s overseas hit squad – would use a suicide bomber disguised as a westerner.
The Israelis are now convinced the attack was a precursor to a bigger hit — with London’s Olympic Games as the suspected target, the paper claimed.
They allegedly believe Iran and Hezbollah, the militant Shi’ite Muslim group it arms and funds in Lebanon, plan to repeat the bloodshed of Black September.
The world watched in horror in 1972 when Palestinian terrorists scaled the fences of the Athletes Village in Munich and killed two Israeli athletes and took another nine hostage.
After German forces bungled an ambush at the military airport, the terrorists shot the athletes and threw a grenade into their helicopter to ensure they were dead.
A global campaign – backed by US president Barack Obama – has pushed for a minute of silence during London’s Opening Ceremony to honour the victims.
But IOC president Jacques Rogge rejected the proposals, saying that it was inappropriate to commemorate the deaths at the Olympics.
“We feel that the Opening Ceremony is an atmosphere that is not fit to remember such a tragic incident,” he told a press conference.
He added that some IOC delegates would attend a memorial on September 5 at the German military airport of Furstenfeldbruck where the killing took place.
“We are going to pay a homage to the athletes, of course, as we always have done in the past and will do in the future,” he said.
London 2012: Olympic torch tops the London Eye - The Guardian
The Olympic Torch reached new heights on Sunday as it was held aloft on the London Eye.
Amelia Hempleman-Adams, who became the youngest person to ski to the South Pole aged just 16, grinned from ear to ear as she held the flame on top of a capsule on board the giant wheel.
Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA Illuminated by early morning sunshine, the 17-year-old daughter of adventurer David Hempleman-Adams held on tight as she raised the torch above the sleepy capital shortly after 8am.
And she kept a tight grip as she posed with the flame at a height much greater than nearby Big Ben.
Amelia Hempleman-Adams poses with the Olympic Flame on top of the London Eye. Photograph: Lewis Whyld/AP The young explorer, who carried out her record-breaking expedition with her father last December, described it as a "once in a lifetime" opportunity.
The stunt was suggested to the teenager, who told the BBC: "I decided to see what I'd have to do, thought about it and decided to do it.
"It was amazing to look out and see the whole of London."
Amelia, who has tickets for the athletics and diving events, added: "The height was quite scary but you know you're safe so it's not too bad. It was a once in a lifetime experience, especially as the Olympics are in London. It makes it more special."
The flame will later be carried by former world heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis as it makes its way through the London boroughs of Redbridge, Barking & Dagenham, Havering and Bexley on day 65 of the relay.
It began the day at Redbridge Cycling Centre, where the first torchbearer of the day, Luke Benjafield, 20, from South Woodford, carried the flame through a corridor of cyclists from local clubs.
He was nominated for the role due to his dedication to the Air Training Corps 241 Squadron, where he has inspired and motivated many cadets to succeed in their flight training.
The torch was then taken across Fairlop Lake in a boat accompanied by London Youth Games sailors.
Later on Sunday, Britain's Got Talent-winning street dance troupe Diversity will carry the flame on to the stage at the Dagenham Town Show.
Havering will host the flame next, where Chinese concert pianist Lang Lang, 30, will take it on to a stage outside the Queen's Theatre in Hornchurch and Olympic rower Ben Hunt-Davies will also be a torchbearer.
Hunt-Davies, who competed in three Olympic Games and won a gold medal in Sydney in 2000, went on to volunteer at the Beijing Games and has been an ambassador for the London 2012 bid.
The torch will then become waterborne for the second time when it is transported across the Thames in a London Fire Brigade fireboat accompanied by a flotilla of smaller craft.
Once in Bexley, it will be carried to Danson Park, where Lewis will light a cauldron as part of the evening celebrations and pop duo Rizzle Kicks and dance act Twist And Pulse will perform.
The flame came within a stone's throw of the Olympic Park yesterday when it was carried through Stratford after starting its London journey earlier in the day at the Greenwich Royal Observatory.
London well prepared, says Johnson - The Guardian
The Mayor of London also suggested transport networks were "holding up", but he admitted it was too early to "count your chickens".
Mr Johnson dismissed the threat of strike action by UK Border Agency staff, claiming most workers would want to "get behind" the Games by turning up to work.
He told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show: "I don't think that whatever they do it will disrupt the Olympics or our preparations or disrupt our ability to get people through and in on time to their venues, get the athletes, the Olympics hierarchs, through to where they need to go.
"I do think if you look at the numbers who voted it is a very, very badly supported strike. I don't think people will want to let down the Olympics, I think the overwhelming majority of people working on the Borders Agency will want to get behind and come to work."
Mr Johnson said the Olympics were going to be a "gigantic schmoozathon" that would shine a spotlight on British business.
International Olympics Committee president Jacques Rogge believes London has met the standards set by other hosts, the mayor claimed.
Mr Johnson said: "If you look at what Jacques Rogge had to say last night, he's been in London for a few days, he thinks that our city is as well prepared as any city in the history of the Games."
He added: "So far the traffic system and the transport networks generally are holding up well, touch wood, you can never count your chickens or be complacent about this, but it's okay at the moment.
"I think possibly what we are going through at the moment as a nation, as a city, is that necessary pre-curtain up moment of psychological self-depression before the excitement begins on Friday. It is only natural that people should be tense, that they should be expectant and there are loads of things we need to get right."
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London 2012: Olympic Torch reaches new heights on London Eye - Daily Telegraph
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Amelia Hempleman-Adams, who became the youngest person to ski to the South Pole when aged just 16, grinned from ear to ear as she held the flame on top of a capsule on board the giant wheel. Illuminated by early morning sunshine, the 17-year-old daughter ...London 2012: Boris Johnson says capital is 'prepared' - BBC News
Boris Johnson says concerns over security and transport before the Olympics is a "necessary pre-curtain up moment of psychological depression".
London is as well-prepared as any city in Olympic history to host the Games, Mayor Boris Johnson has said.
Playing down concerns about the city's transport network, he also insisted the Games would make money.
"We are going to be selling London," he told the BBC, adding that the Games had already brought "fantastic investment".
Meanwhile, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has called a planned strike by UK border staff on the eve of the Games "an absolute disgrace".
It comes after International Olympics Committee president Jacques Rogge told reporters he was satisfied with security arrangements for London 2012.
Mr Johnson told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show: "If you look at what Jacques Rogge had to say last night, he's been in London for a few days, he thinks that our city is as well-prepared as any city in the history of the Games."
The mayor said: "So far the traffic system and the transport networks generally are holding up well, touch wood."
He added: "I think possibly what we are going through at the moment as a nation, as a city, is that necessary pre-curtain up moment of psychological self-depression before the excitement begins on Friday."
Montreal hosted the Olympics in 1976 and took 30 years to pay off the Games' bills, while the cost of staging the 2004 Olympiad is believed to have contributed to Greece's financial crisis.
'Selling London'But Mr Johnson said: "The heads of most of the world's great businesses are coming to London in the course of the next few weeks and we are going to be showing what London has to offer, making it clear there are fantastic opportunities for investment.... We are going to be selling London."
He said: "The Olympic Games have already been responsible for fantastic investment in this city. Pension funds from across the world are investing in the Olympic sites right now... to say nothing of all the transport investment, which is transforming London.
"I defy the critics of the Olympics to say that this is not producing economic benefits for the city."
He said 512,000 people were understood to have turned out to see the torch relay on Saturday and that most people in London were looking forward to the opening ceremony.
Meanwhile Mr Hunt lambasted members of the PCS union who have voted to go on strike on Thursday, the eve of the opening ceremony.
The action will involve staff across the Home Office, including the UK Border Agency, the Identity and Passport Service and Criminal Records Bureau.
Mr Hunt told BBC Radio Five Live's Sportsweek programme: "They are totally out of tune with the mood of the country."
He said: "I find it extraordinary. I mean we've got 600-odd staff who man the immigration terminals at Heathrow, and you've got 60,000 to 70,000 volunteers who are giving their time over the next six weeks, completely free of charge, and you know - they may or may not have a legitimate industrial grievance, but this is surely not the time to pursue it."
Mr Hunt added: "It's an absolute disgrace. It's totally out of sync with the way everybody else is behaving. If, you know, Labour and the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats can come together to unite behind the Olympics I think this is just a moment when you've just got to read the mood of the country a bit better."
He denied the strike would impact on preparations for the Games, adding: "We have a contingency plan in place and I am absolutely confident that we will get everyone into the country."
Asked by presenter Gary Richardson about the possibility of sacking the strikers, he replied: "I can tell you amongst ministers there have been people asking whether we should be doing that but I don't want to escalate things by talking about that right now because I know amongst those 600 people there are lots of people who want to do the right thing and turn up for work."
In other developments:
- IOC president Jacques Rogge played down the chances of people being prosecuted for displaying the logos of companies which are not Olympic sponsors.
- The head of the British Olympic Association called for any spare Olympics tickets to go to troops called in at short notice to help with venue security
- The Olympic torch is on the second day of its seven-day tour of London in the final countdown to the Olympic Games
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