LONDON // As the British police struggled to contain demonstrators at last week's G20 summit in London last week, organisers of the 2012 Olympics picked up tips ahead of "probably the highest risk Games to be held".
The London Games are expected to attract not only many world leaders but also 500,000 spectators a day and will act as a magnet for protest groups keen to publicise their message in front of a global television audience running into billions.
The G20 meeting of the world's most advanced and emerging economies was described by the city's Metropolitan Police as their "most complex and challenging" operation to date but it was all over in little more than 48 hours.
The 2012 Games, lasting more than two weeks in July and August, are predicted to be Britain's biggest security peacetime operation. Organisers at police presentations were advised on managing public order, gathering intelligence, command and control, and protection.
Threats to recent Games have mainly involved domestic groups such as the Greek November 17 guerrilla organisation - dismantled just before Athens 2004.
Britain faces a number of potential threats, one of the most high-profile being from al Qa'eda after the country's support of US military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. London has been a victim of militants in the recent past. In July 2005, four young British Islamists carried out suicide bomb attacks killing 52 commuters on the capital's transport network, a day after the city was awarded the Games.
The country has since been on severe threat level, the second highest status.
"The fact that we know that a potential attack could be imminent and that we have remained at a severe status level for a considerable period of time means that there is every risk that we [London] could be targeted," security expert Will Geddes, chief executive of International Corporate Protection (ICP), said. "At this particular time and moment we are probably the highest risk Olympic Games to be held."
Security experts have accused the government of not doing enough to protect the 14,000-plus athletes, the spectators and venues.
A much-delayed interior ministry strategy report in February fuelled concerns that time was running out to build security elements into the venues' infrastructure.
"The government's security statement was very broad in outline and did little to dispel the fear that London's security planning is behind schedule," said Hugh Robertson, an opposition Olympics spokesman.
The army, expected to provide specialist support, have also expressed concern about a lack of detail. "I would like to accelerate the decision-making so we know more precisely, not necessarily what areas we might be required to help in, but the scale," general David Richards, commander-in-chief of land forces, told a committee of lawmakers in January.
It has not helped that the policeman who had been responsible for the early planning of Olympic security, Tarique Ghaffur, quit after a race discrimination row with his employer.
Security costs are not expected to exceed the US$895 million (Dh3.29bn) budget, the interior ministry said in February, despite some experts predicting costs will have to double.
In London, up to 10,000 extra policemen will be on duty each day of the Games. Security measures will include CCTV, a secure tetra radio network and, according to media reports, special blast-proof material.
Authorities are also working on biometric fingerprinting and smart ticketing. Other possible tools are airborne video surveillance, acoustic monitoring and automatic ID-recognition for people and vehicles, the media reports added.
* Reuters
Asia Cup Qualifier
Final
UAE v Hong Kong
TV:
Live on OSN Cricket HD. Coverage starts at 5.30am
SEMI-FINAL
Monterrey 1
Funes Mori (14)
Liverpool 2
Keita (11), Firmino (90 1)
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle%20front-axle%20electric%20motor%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E218hp%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E330Nm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle-speed%20automatic%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EMax%20touring%20range%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E402km%20(claimed)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh215%2C000%20(estimate)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeptember%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Venue: Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Date: Sunday, November 25
The biog
Favourite book: Men are from Mars Women are from Venus
Favourite travel destination: Ooty, a hill station in South India
Hobbies: Cooking. Biryani, pepper crab are her signature dishes
Favourite place in UAE: Marjan Island
Panipat
Director Ashutosh Gowariker
Produced Ashutosh Gowariker, Rohit Shelatkar, Reliance Entertainment
Cast Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Kriti Sanon, Mohnish Behl, Padmini Kolhapure, Zeenat Aman
Rating 3 /5 stars
LEAGUE CUP QUARTER-FINAL DRAW
Stoke City v Tottenham
Brentford v Newcastle United
Arsenal v Manchester City
Everton v Manchester United
All ties are to be played the week commencing December 21.
Turkish Ladies
Various artists, Sony Music Turkey
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
Pad Man
Dir: R Balki
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Radhika Apte
Three-and-a-half stars
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The biog
Age: 46
Number of Children: Four
Hobby: Reading history books
Loves: Sports
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Match info:
Wolves 1
Boly (57')
Manchester City 1
Laporte (69')
In Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement
John Heminway, Knopff
RESULTS
6.30pm: Emirates Holidays Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (Dirt) 1,900m
Winner: Lady Snazz, Richard Mullen (jockey), Satish Seemar (trainer).
7.05pm: Arabian Adventures Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Zhou Storm, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
7.40pm: Emirates Skywards Handicap (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Rich And Famous, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
8.15pm: Emirates Airline Conditions (TB) Dh 120,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Rio Angie, Sam Hitchcock, Doug Watson.
8.50pm: Emirates Sky Cargo (TB) Dh 92,500 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Kinver Edge, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
9.15pm: Emirates.com (TB) Dh 95,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Firnas, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
The chef's advice
Troy Payne, head chef at Abu Dhabi’s newest healthy eatery Sanderson’s in Al Seef Resort & Spa, says singles need to change their mindset about how they approach the supermarket.
“They feel like they can’t buy one cucumber,” he says. “But I can walk into a shop – I feed two people at home – and I’ll walk into a shop and I buy one cucumber, I’ll buy one onion.”
Mr Payne asks for the sticker to be placed directly on each item, rather than face the temptation of filling one of the two-kilogram capacity plastic bags on offer.
The chef also advises singletons not get too hung up on “organic”, particularly high-priced varieties that have been flown in from far-flung locales. Local produce is often grown sustainably, and far cheaper, he says.