The backgrounds of up to 500,000 people are being scrutinised in an unprecedented security screening designed to stop the Olympic Games being disrupted by criminals or terrorists, the Guardian has learned.
In what is understood to be the biggest vetting process since the second world war, the Home Office has so far refused about 100 applications for Games accreditation, mostly because of concerns about the extent of people's criminal records.
However, some people have been denied accreditation on the advice of MI5, which has to assess whether a person might pose a significant threat to national security.
The 500,000 figure includes anyone seeking employment at the Games, as well as athletes, coaches and officials from more than 200 competing nations.
The Guardian has been told the threshold for refusing accreditation has been set high, which means some of those working at the Olympics this summer will have "come to the notice of" the police or MI5 in the past.
"To be rejected, they have to pose a significant potential threat to the safety of the Games," said a source. "They won't be rejected on the basis that information is held about them.
"A judgment has to be made, not on the basis that there is an official record, but does this person pose a significant threat to security."
Police and MI5 have been taking a careful look at all those who may end up working at the Olympic sites. It is an obvious way for would-be terrorists to gain access to venues, and police are aware that terrorists may masquerade as casual workers looking for temporary jobs.
However, those involved in the security of the Games say they have found no evidence so far that al-Qaida sympathisers have tried to infiltrate the civilian workforce.
The vetting process began in earnest last October and officials are more than two-thirds of the way through the process, which is expected to be completed in the coming weeks.
It has been one of the core tasks of counter-terrorism officials but the scale of the operation, and the depth of the checks required, has made it a drawn-out affair.
Among those still to be vetted are many of the 10,000 security guards who will be employed by G4S, the private firm which is contributing 23,700 personnel at the Olympic venues.
A big recruitment drive was launched by G4S when the number of guards it was expected to provide grew from 2,000 to 10,000, after it emerged that the Games organisers, Locog, had seriously underestimated the number required. The 70,000 volunteers recruited by Locog, who are considered crucial to the success of the Games, are also being screened.
Home Office officials said that many of the 10,500 athletes taking part in the Games and those accompanying them were used to travelling to international events and were unlikely to pose any security problems.
There remain outstanding questions surrounding a handful of high-profile individuals, including members of the Syrian Olympic committee with close links to the Assad regime.
It is believed that discussions are continuing over whether to bar General Mofwaq Joumaa, the president of the Syrian national Olympic committee, from entering the UK.
Scotland Yard and MI5 are understood to have hundreds of investigations "live", with the Olympic security operation likely to reach a new pitch as teams arrive for training before the event.
It is understood that the security service has not set up a separate Olympic security unit, believing it would be wrong to draw a distinction between terrorism and Olympic terrorism.
The security service is said to be bracing for a possible deluge of intelligence from foreign police forces and intelligence agencies, who will not want to sit on any information just in case it reveals a potential threat to the Games. MI5 remains confident it will be able to cope, and the Home Office said it will leave nothing to chance when it comes to security.
"We are undertaking stringent checks on all those seeking accreditation," a Home Office spokesman said. "This rigorous process has been designed to ensure those working at the Games are fit to do so. We will leave nothing to chance in our aim to deliver a safe and secure Games that London, the UK and the whole world will enjoy."
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
London 2012 Olympics: Bramham last chance as selectors make their choice - Daily Telegraph Blogs
Despite its disrupted schedule, next week eventing will become the first equestrian discipline to announce its team for London 2012. Selectors ripped up their protocols after the costly wet-weather cancellations of Badminton and Chatsworth, and the further loss of a month’s worth of national competitions due to waterlogging will have played havoc with the prep of even those who privately expect to be named.
Received wisdom is that four of the five eventers will be William Fox-Pitt (exact horse t.b.d. as he has so many), Mary King (Imperial Cavalier), Nicola Wilson (Opposition Buzz) and Piggy French (Jakata, who won confidently at Houghton Hall last week), with the remaining slot between five riders. These are Lucy Weigersma (choice of three, and hoping Granntevka Prince will make up for his fall at Kentucky), Zara Phillips (High Kingdom), Francis Whittington (Sir Percival), Sarah Cohen (Treason) and Tina Cook (Miners Frolic, the 2008 bronze medallist still with a little to prove after absence due to his life-threatening colitis last year).
All run at Bramham this weekend (June 7-10) which has doubled capacity, because UK-based overseas riders are inevitably short of match practice too (incredibly, Mark Todd only got his Olympic qualifying result on NZB Grass Valley two weeks ago). Bettina Hoy, once the doyenne of the German team and who controversially lost Olympic gold in 2004 on a technicality, has an outside chance if Lanfranco TSF can produce the goods on his seasonal international debut at Bramham.
Fox-Pitt starts Lionheart at Bramham. He and Oslo are among the less experienced in Fox-Pitt’s enormous string but he is thought to favour for them for the unusual challenge of Greenwich. It would be hard to think of any other rider that is in a position to discount a Burghley and Kentucky winner (the racing-bred galloper Parklane Hawk.) But the cross-country obstacles at Greenwich will be slightly under height – as Olympics often are, for the benefit of the emerging nations – and the real test will be selecting a “handy pony” suited to the relentless turns and cambers in between.
Greenwich will undoubtedly be the twistiest cross-country ever seen at a championship. A LOCOG executive told me that if you walked directly across the Park you would cross the jumping track eight times; at Badminton the pedestrian would cross just once or twice.
In dressage, the obvious team of three, Carl Hester, Charlotte Dujardin and Laura Bechstolsheimer, are merely on tick-over, having all scored personal bests this spring. Only the fourth “courtesy” slot remains, which rider doubles as team reserve. This is between Richard Davison (Hiscox Artemis), who scored a promising 74.4% at Munich last week in the reduced Grand Prix Special test devised for London 2012, and Emile Faurie (Elmegardens Marquis), who will aim to better it at Fritzens this coming weekend. The squad will be confirmed in the first week of July.
In show jumping too, three of the quartet is popularly assumed to be decided – Ben Maher (Tripple X), Scott Brash (Hello Sanctos) and Nick Skelton (Carlo or Big Star), Skelton being the rider that Eric Lamaze also tips to succeed him on now that his own chance of a successful gold medal defence has evaporated with the death of Hickstead.
However, while last week’s Rome Nations Cup seemed mostly to rule riders out of the British jumping squad, St Gallen brought a “new” and very serious prospect into the frame.
Last October, Tim Stockdale was prone on his hospital bed, contemplating life as an invalid with three broken vertebrae. However, London 2012 spurred him to recovery and although he frightened his fans by falling off at Royal Windsor two weeks ago, with Fresh Direct Kalico Bay he jumped a double clear in the St Gallen Nations Cup, and a further two clears gave them second place in the Grand Prix.
St Gallen was an arguably more influential track than Rome, yet Stockdale showed no ring-rustiness whatsoever. He will now almost certainly contest the final observation event at Rotterdam (June 20-24). If they can reproduce even 90% of last weekend's form, the 2010 King George V Gold Cup winners cannot be over-looked.
On paper there was an impressive top league debut in St Gallen by John Whitaker’s new partner, Maximillian, in only their 13th competition start. Whitaker usually produces his own champions but, fearing the prodigious Argento might not be quite ready, he quietly purchased a half-made jumper from Sweden in December. Maximillian showed his inexperience in the first round, but visibly grew in confidence and delivered a second-round clear. Yet in the Grand Prix two days later he accrued 21 faults. Maybe fast-tracking him to the big occasion had taken its toll mentally, or maybe Maximillian just felt tired – something selectors also have to consider with the Olympic team and individual jumping contests decided concurrently over six days.
Whitaker has won 21 championship medals, but none of them as an Olympic individual, and that still grates. In 1988, his legendary Milton was prevented from travelling to Seoul by his owners. In 1980 Ryan’s Son won team and individual silver at Rotterdam but John feels this was never recognised: Rotterdam was an “alternative” Olympic event following the mass political boycott of Moscow by all show jumping nations bar 11 from the soviet bloc that would never have got within 100 yards of a podium on any other occasion. Whitaker celebrates his 57th birthday during London and much sentimentality would be attached to his participation, but it’s hard to see how even this magician can pull something out of the hat with only three weeks to a decision.
Show jumpers from the new eastern Europe are still not a major threat, by the way, despite massive investment. The Ukraine has qualified for London but this is largely a contrived operation funded by billionaire enthusiast Alexander Onyshencko. Like the Saudis, Ukraine has bought in ready-made horses – to the extent that some were seized by authorities investigating Mr Onyshekco's financial affairs and sold at public auction earlier this spring. But, unlike the Saudis, Ukraine seems to have bought in the riders as well, notably Katharina Offel and Bjorn Nagel (formerly of Germany) and Gregory Wathelet (ex Belgium). This certainly adds to the "universality" of equestrian participation at London - at the expense of proper players such as Ireland and Italy under the strict quota applied in western Europe. What this this Formula 1-style, commercial team system will do for grass roots participation in the countries is not yet clear.
Source: blogs.telegraph.co.uk
London Bridge Tests Olympic Queueing System During Jubilee - Londonist
Amid the frustrations of people struggling to get the train home after Sunday’s Jubilee pageant, what might not have been clear was that crowds at London Bridge were actually taking part in an Olympics test.
The SE1 website has photos of people queuing down Tooley Street and at the Duke Street Hill entrance, some rather unhelpful signage and a glimpse at the planned queueing system. Passengers wanting to use the tube were directed to Duke Street Hill, those wanting trains were asked to enter via the bus station main concourse and anyone wanting to leave was ushered towards Tooley Street or Joiner Street. If you use London Bridge take note: this system will be in action again this Thursday, when the station has a workday Olympics test run.
SE1 has also discovered that Olympics travel changes are still being made: a Network Rail briefing given to MPs indicated that London Bridge will likely be exit only 6-10pm on 30 July, and Southeastern services may not stop at the station to ease overcrowding. Neither measure is mentioned on the Get Ahead of the Games website which, annoyingly, has separate maps for tube and rail.
London Bridge isn’t the only station changing how it works during the games; Waterloo will have a queueing system in place for trains towards Weymouth, St Pancras will have queues for the Javelin service and you won’t be able to get to the station from the northern ticket hall, plus numerous changes to stations around Olympic venues in south east London. We can’t find information on any other stations running tests though – anyone with better information, please let us know in the comments.
Photo by The Green Odyssey from the Londonist Flickr pool
Source: londonist.com
Queen's Jubilee wrapping up in London - United Press International
LONDON, June 5 (UPI) -- British Queen Elizabeth II's four-day Diamond Jubilee celebration in London began wrapping up Tuesday with a church service and procession.
Elizabeth, 86, is the second British monarch -- after her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria -- to reign for at least 60 years.
Wearing a mint-green silk tulle ensemble, the queen participated in a service at St. Paul's Cathedral where trumpeters lined the stone steps and the Archbishop of Canterbury paid tribute to her "lifelong dedication," the BBC said. Prime Minister David Cameron gave a reading at the service.
After the religious ceremony, onlookers outside the church sang the national anthem as the queen headed to a reception at nearby Mansion House, the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London, followed by lunch at Westminster Hall, the BBC said.
She and other senior royals then returned by carriage through cheering crowds to Buckingham Palace ahead of a planned Royal Air Force flypast.
Spotted at Tuesday's events were the queen's son, Prince Charles; his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall; her grandson Prince William and his wife Kate; and her grandson Prince Harry.
The queen's 90-year-old husband Prince Philip missed out on the events after he was hospitalized Monday for a bladder infection.
Source: www.upi.com
Safe-haven seekers propel prime London house prices to new highs - The Independent
Last month's increase means the prices of prime London houses are now 47.3 per cent higher than at their post-credit crunch low in March 2009, according to research from Knight Frank, the estate agent.
The increase came despite an increase in the stamp duty rate to 7 per cent for properties worth £2m or more.
Liam Bailey, Knight Frank's head of residential research, said: "While it looks very much that the surge in Greek buyers has fallen off sharply since the beginning of the year – those who have had the funds to buy have done so – we are now seeing a noticeable uptick in interest from France, Italy, Spain and even German-based purchasers looking at the prime London market.
"If the crisis in the Eurozone leads to a break-up, will this flow of funds continue to London? The final form of the break-up will dictate that," Mr Bailey added.
Any country that seems to be at imminent risk of ejection from the Eurozone is likely to see a massive outflow of capital, some of which is ending up in expensive bricks and mortar in London, says Mr Bailey.
Last month's 0.7 per cent jump in prices means that prices are now 10.7 per cent than a year ago. It follows a 1.1 per cent increase in April and leaves prices 12.1 per cent above their previous peak in March 2008.
Analysts said the figures presented further evidence that the London property market was one of three safe havens for cash, alongside gold and the swiss franc.
On Saturday, upmarket estate agency Savills reported that it has seen web searches from France increase by 16 per cent, compared with six months ago, with Spain up 10 per cent and Italy rising by 9 per cent.
Furthermore, the falling value of the euro against the pound, making property purchases relatively more expensive, seems to have had little impact on rising prices, analysts said. Rupert des Forges, a partner at Knight Frank, said: "Recent weeks have seen an even greater influx of European buyers looking to purchase property in the Prime London market.
"We have recently sold examples including two substantial flats in a premier Knightsbridge block with asking prices in excess of £15m.
We have also seen a sharp rise in interest from French investors looking to move quickly before [new president François] Hollande's newly proposed wealth tax."
Source: www.independent.co.uk
London Luxury-Home Price Gains Slow After Property-Tax Increase - Bloomberg
Luxury-home prices in central London rose the least in nine months in May, after the British government increased a tax on purchases of 2 million pounds ($3.1 million) or more, Knight Frank LLP said.
Values of houses and apartments costing an average of 3.7 million pounds climbed 10.7 percent from a year earlier, the London-based broker said in a report today. That was the smallest gain since August 2011. Prices rose 0.7 percent from April, bolstered by buyers from mainland Europe.
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne raised the tax, known as stamp duty, to 7 percent from 5 percent in March. The threshold for the new tax rate is now the average asking price of a home in Kensington and Chelsea, one of London’s most affluent neighborhoods, property-listings website Rightmove Plc said when the government announced the change.
“The market has absorbed the 7 percent duty rate fairly well,” Liam Bailey, head of residential research for Knight Frank, said in the report. Prices for homes valued at more than 2 million pounds rose 1.6 percent in the past two months, while those for all luxury properties gained 2.7 percent, he said.
Europe’s debt crisis has prompted overseas investors to acquire real estate in London to preserve their wealth. Luxury- property prices in the city have increased about 12 percent since the market’s peak in 2008, including 4.7 percent this year, as a scarcity of homes for sale drove up values.
German Buyers
“We are now seeing a noticeable uptick in interest from France, Italy, Spain and even German-based purchasers,” Bailey said in the report. That contributed to the 19th monthly price increase in a row.
The crisis, now in its third year, threatens to destroy Europe’s 17-nation currency union as Greece contemplates exiting the euro and Spain sees its bond yields rise and banking industry falter. The euro zone’s collapse could cause prime central London property values to fall as much as 50 percent, Development Securities Plc (DSC) said in a May 31 report, as capital flows out of the city to less expensive markets.
“The ‘safe-haven’ effect has clearly played its role in attracting foreign money into London’s most desirable post codes,” Chief Executive Officer Michael Marx said in the report. “However, the property industry knows -- perhaps better than most -- that nothing goes on forever.”
Foreign Residents
Foreign buyers accounted for about 60 percent of home purchases in London’s most expensive districts in the four years through 2011, according to London-based Development Securities. As a result, more than half of the residents of Kensington and Chelsea and the City of Westminster are from outside the U.K.
House prices across the country rose in May for the first time in three months as a lack of homes for sale supported values, Nationwide Building Society said May 31. Values gained 0.3 percent from April and fell an annual 0.7 percent to an average of 166,022 pounds.
Knight Frank compiles its luxury-homes index from its own appraisal values of a sample of the same properties in the 13 most expensive neighborhoods of central London, including Belgravia and Knightsbridge.
To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Spillane in London at cspillane3@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Blackman at ablackman@bloomberg.net.
Source: www.bloomberg.com
Thanet beaches closed after sewage spill - BBC News
Thanet's beaches have gone from blue flag to red flag as cleaners work to clean the sand
More than 20 Kent bathing beaches have been closed to swimmers after sewage was discharged into the sea.
The closure of all beaches in Thanet was caused by a failure at the Southern Water Foreness Point Sewage Pumping Station after heavy rain.
Spokesman Jon Crooke said the pumping station discharged water which could otherwise have flooded homes.
Red flags are being flown at the beaches, many of which had recently won Blue Flag awards for cleanliness.
Visitors have also been told not to cross the high tide line.
The beaches have been closed since Monday but raw sewage started to enter the sea last Wednesday.
'Pumps blocked'Thanet District Council said they would stay shut for at least two days as a precautionary measure and it had been forced to act following more downpours on Sunday night.
Last month, it was revealed Thanet had more Blue Flag beaches than any other area in England.
“Start Quote
End Quote John Crooke Southern WaterThe pumps became blocked and to prevent flooding of the local properties the station then spilled out to the sea”
The awards recognise high water quality and facilities.
Beach cleaners and litter pickers are on site while officers from the council and representatives from the Environment Agency and Southern Water Services fully assess the situation.
RNLI Lifeguards are also informing the public of the situation.
Jon Griffin, senior environment officer at the Environment Agency, said it was carrying out an investigation and working with Southern Water and Thanet District Council "to reduce the impact of the spillages as much as possible".
"We will continue to monitor the bathing water quality over the coming days and will advise Thanet District Council accordingly," he said.
Southern Water said the pumping station failed following heavy overnight rain last Wednesday.
"The pumps became blocked and to prevent flooding of the local properties the station then spilled out to the sea," Mr Crooke said.
"Stations are designed to do this, if they become overwhelmed by water or through the failure of the works themselves, then the first thing they'll do is spill to the sea."
He said there was a possibility that more raw sewage could enter the water if there was further heavy rainfall but the aim was to get the beaches reopened to swimmers as soon as possible.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
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