- PARIS (Reuters) - France
said Wednesday that national carrier Air France had canceled three U.S.-bound
flights from Paris due to security concerns.
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- The French interior ministry said the flights were canceled
at the request of the U.S. embassy in Paris. The United States is on a
heightened state of alert ahead of Christmas and the Washington Post reported
that foreign airlines were under particular scrutiny.
-
- An Air France spokeswoman confirmed that a flight due
to leave Paris at 1235 GMT for Los Angeles had been grounded "for
security reasons."
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- The French prime minister's office said the cancellations
had been prompted by information obtained from anti-terrorism operations.
An interior ministry spokesman said that two other flights to the United
States had also been canceled. It was not clear whether these flights were
bound for Los Angeles or elsewhere.
-
- The U.S. government raised its terror alert to the second
highest level Sunday and warned Americans there was a high risk of attacks
around the holidays in the United States that could be bigger than those
of September 11, 2001.
-
- The Washington Post reported Wednesday that new U.S.
intelligence had prompted greater scrutiny into whether foreign airports
and airlines pose a security threat.
-
- U.S. security officials were thoroughly checking the
identities of foreign flight crews and had questioned a few people with
names that appeared to be similar to those on the FBI's "watch lists"
of suspects, the report said, citing administration sources.
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- Officials declined to identify the air carriers involved,
the newspaper reported.
-
- Passengers coming into at least one major U.S. international
airport on Air France and flights from Mexico will be subject to more security
procedures beginning Wednesday, the report said, citing industry sources.
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- France has not raised its security alert for the Christmas
holiday period.
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