Connect with us

Travel

Fed up of flying with only 100ml liquids? Good news as European airports bring in high-tech scanners

Published

on

New 3D scanners could spell the end of frustrating liquid limits at airports. Here’s how they’ll keep flying safe.

Mini shampoo bottles have long been a staple of the European holiday. But that could change as airports begin to ease security measures later this year.

High-tech CT scanners will eliminate the need for the 100 ml liquid rule at major hubs, promising to streamline security checks and slash queue times.

But why was the 100 ml rule implemented in the first place – and will removing it make flying less safe? Here’s everything travellers need to know.

Why is the 100 ml liquid rule in place at airports?

Since 2006, airline passengers around the world have been limited to carrying liquids no larger than 100 ml in their hand luggage.

The rule was introduced after British police uncovered a terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives disguised as soft drinks on a series of transatlantic flights.

The conspirators intended to assemble and detonate a device mid-flight, with hydrogen peroxide and other substances injected into 500 ml soda bottles, leaving the caps sealed. If mixed to a specific strength with other ingredients, the common bleach product can become explosive.

If the plot had been successful, it is believed it would have been far more deadly than the 9/11 attacks. It would have targeted multiple flights heading from the UK to at least five US and two Canadian airports.

Immediately after the discovery, hand luggage was completely banned on planes as a precautionary measure. This was later relaxed after tests were carried out to determine what amount of liquid was safe to carry, and a 100 ml container limit was introduced.

Experts found that mixing the smaller containers into a larger one to create a highly damaging explosive device on board was not realistic. They determined this would either fail or prematurely detonate, injuring the perpetrator but doing little to no damage to the aircraft.

Passengers are now limited to taking a maximum of one litre of liquids through security in containers no larger than 100 ml each. These must be separated into a clear resealable bag and removed from hand luggage when passing through the security scanners.

Why is the 100 ml liquid rule ending?

After 18 years, the 100 ml liquid rule will soon be ditched in some countries thanks to advanced new security scanners.

Using Computed Tomography (CT) X-ray technology, similar to that used in the medical field, they provide a clear 3D image of what’s inside passengers’ bags.

The images can be rotated 360 degrees and zoomed in on, allowing thorough analysis that’s likened to ‘digitally unpacking the bag’, device manufacturer Smiths Detection explains. This is an improvement on the current 2D imaging used at most airports.

The scanners also deploy sophisticated threat detection algorithms that can detect explosives – including liquids – and other hazards, according to the UK’s Department for Transport.

Existing 2D scanners can discriminate between organic and inorganic materials, displaying items in different colours, but CT scanners take this a step further.

With the help of AI technology, they can differentiate liquids – such as water, hydrogen peroxide, or high-strength alcohol – and offer a more complete view of electronics, according to equipment manufacturer Sens-Tech.

“The newest screening technology that is being deployed can detect explosive compounds in larger quantities,” a US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spokesperson further explains.

If an item appears suspect, the bag will face further screening by security officers, who will inspect it for prohibited items.

Will removing the 100 ml liquid rule make flying less safe?

Removing the 100 ml liquid rule will not make flying less safe. On the contrary, the new scanners will improve security, according to the UK’s Department for Transport.

This is because they provide more detailed images of what people are carrying, allowing them to detect potential threats and prohibited items with greater ease.

It will also streamline the airport experience, cutting security check times and making travel more convenient for passengers.

An added benefit is the reduction of plastic waste, as passengers abandon using dozens of disposable toiletry bottles in favour of larger containers.

The new tech could also save passengers money, as they will be allowed to bring in water and other drinks from outside, rather than relying on expensive airport shops.

When will the 100 ml liquid rule be removed in Europe?

Some European airports have already scrapped the 100 ml liquid rule. The new scanners are already in use at Teesside International Airport in County Durham, UK; Schiphol in Amsterdam; and Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Rome.

Various UK airports, including London Gatwick and Heathrow, have trialled the scanners in recent years. The UK government has set a June 2024 deadline to roll out the new security technology, though some airports have said early 2025 is more realistic.

Once the machines have been installed, the 100 ml rule will be phased out over the following two years. Until then, passengers may not experience the time-saving benefit of the new tech. But ultimately, the simplified system could help airports process 30 per cent more passengers per hour, according to Sens-Tech.

In future, UK passengers will be permitted to carry up to two litres of liquids in their hand luggage with no restrictions on container size. They will not be required to place liquids in a plastic bag or separate them from their luggage when passing through security.

Do airports outside of Europe have CT scanners?

Even when the new measures are in place, passengers are advised to check the rules for countries they are transiting through or travelling back from, as many destinations are yet to implement this new technology.

If 3D scanners are not installed in the airport you are returning from, you could be forced to throw away liquids over 100 ml in your hand luggage.

Only a handful of European airports have plans to install 3D scanners. Elsewhere, some US airports like Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, Chicago O’Hare and New York’s LaGuardia have started using the new tech.

However, TSA says it will take many years to deploy the technology across the entire system in the US, meaning the 100 ml rule (known there as 3-1-1) will remain in place to ensure transportation is secure.

Qatar’s Hamad International Airport in Doha has also stepped up its security with the new scanners.

How do 3D airport scanners impact electrical items?

Tablets and laptops must currently be removed from cabin baggage before passing through the security scanners at most airports.

CT scanners will eliminate the need for this, as they allow electrical items to be studied in detail while still inside a bag.

Film camera enthusiasts have noted that increased radiation emitted by the new scanners could damage analogue film, leading to fogging and colour degradation. Some Reddit users say they ask for their film to be examined by hand, though this is at the discretion of airport staff.

Author

  • Daniela Daecher is a twenty-something bookworm and coffee addict with a passion for geeking out over sci fi, tv, movies, and books. In 2013 she completed her BA in English with a specialization in Linguistics. In 2014 she completed her MA in Linguistics, focusing on the relationship between language and communication in written form. She currently lives in Munich, Germany.

Continue Reading

Travel

ICC launches outside investigation into its top prosecutor

Published

on

The International Criminal Court will launch an external probe into sexual misconduct accusations against its top prosecutor Karim Khan.

The external probe will keep alive a case that the court’s internal watchdog had closed within five days.

Karim Khan has categorically denied the accusations that he tried to coerce a female aide into a sexual relationship, and the claims come amid reports of an ongoing Israeli intelligence campaign to discredit the court’s prosecution of Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

The external investigation was approved this week at a meeting of the court’s oversight body, the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door deliberations.

It was unclear exactly who would conduct the probe, the people said, noting that possibilities included law enforcement officials from Europe and a law firm. The United Nations’ internal watchdog has also been discussed for such a probe but that could be fraught with conflict-of-interest concerns because Karim’s wife, a prominent human rights lawyer, had previously worked at the agency in Kenya investigating sexual harassment.

Neither Päivi Kaukoranta, a Finnish diplomat currently heading the ICC’s oversight body, nor Khan’s attorney immediately responded to requests for comment.

An AP investigation found that two court employees in whom the alleged victim confided came forward with the accusation in May, a few weeks before Khan sought arrest warrants against Netanyahu, his defence minister and three Hamas leaders on war crimes charges. A three-judge panel is now weighing that request.

AP reported that Khan travelled frequently with the woman after transferring her to his office from another department at the ICC’s headquarters in The Hague.

During one foreign trip, Khan allegedly asked the woman to rest with him on a hotel bed and then “sexually touched her,” according to whistle-blower documents shared with the court’s watchdog and seen by the AP. Later, he came to her room at 3 a.m. and knocked on the door for 10 minutes.

Other allegedly non-consensual behaviour cited in the documents included locking the door of his office and sticking his hand in her pocket. He also allegedly asked her on several occasions to go on a vacation together.

After the two co-workers reported the alleged behaviour, the court’s internal watchdog interviewed the woman but she opted against filing a complaint due to her distrust of the watchdog, according to the AP investigation. Khan was never questioned and the watchdog’s inquiry was closed within five days.

While the court’s watchdog could not determine wrongdoing, it nonetheless urged Khan in a memo to minimise contact with the woman to protect the rights of all involved and safeguard the court’s integrity.

Under Khan, the ICC has become more assertive in combating crimes against humanity, war crimes and related atrocities. Along the way, it has added to a growing list of enemies.

Last September, following the opening of a probe into Russian atrocities in Ukraine, the court suffered a debilitating cyberattack that left staff unable to work for weeks. It also hired an intern who was later criminally charged in the U.S. with being a Russian spy.

Israel has also been waging its own influence campaign ever since the ICC recognised Palestine as a member and in 2015 opened a preliminary investigation into Israel’s actions.

London’s The Guardian newspaper and several Israeli news outlets reported this summer that Israel’s intelligence agencies for the past decade have allegedly targeted senior ICC staff, including putting Khan’s predecessor under surveillance and showing up at her house with envelopes stuffed with cash to discredit her.

An external probe would go further than what Khan proposed when, following the AP report, he called on the ICC’s internal watchdog to investigate the matter and said he would fully cooperate.

Author

  • Daniela Daecher is a twenty-something bookworm and coffee addict with a passion for geeking out over sci fi, tv, movies, and books. In 2013 she completed her BA in English with a specialization in Linguistics. In 2014 she completed her MA in Linguistics, focusing on the relationship between language and communication in written form. She currently lives in Munich, Germany.

Continue Reading

Travel

Inundated Pompeii plans a limit of 20,000 tourists a day

Published

on

The Pompeii archaeological park plans to also introduce personalised tickets in a bid to protect the world heritage site, officials have said.

The move comes after what authorities called a record summer that saw over four million people visiting the world-famous remains of the ancient Roman city, buried under ash and rock following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

The park’s director Gabriel Zuchtriegel said visitors to the main archaeological site now exceed an average of 15,000 to 20,000 every day, and the new daily cap will prevent the numbers from surging further.

“We are working on a series of projects to lift the human pressure on the site, which could pose risks both for visitors and the heritage (that is) so unique and fragile,” Zuchtriegel said.

Starting 15 November, tickets to access the park will be personalised to include the full names of visitors. A maximum of 20,000 tickets will be released each day, with different time slots during the peak summer season.

The park’s management is also trying to attract more tourists to visit other ancient sites connected to Pompeii through a free shuttle bus under the “Greater Pompeii” project, including Stabia, Torre Annunziata and Boscoreale sites.

“The measures to manage flows and safety and the personalisation of the visits are part of this strategy,” Zuchtriegel said.

“We are aiming for slow, sustainable, pleasant and non-mass tourism and above all widespread throughout the territory around the UNESCO site, which is full of cultural jewels to discover,” he added.

Author

  • Daniela Daecher is a twenty-something bookworm and coffee addict with a passion for geeking out over sci fi, tv, movies, and books. In 2013 she completed her BA in English with a specialization in Linguistics. In 2014 she completed her MA in Linguistics, focusing on the relationship between language and communication in written form. She currently lives in Munich, Germany.

Continue Reading

Travel

Spain aims to ban golden visas from January – but one country is reintroducing its scheme

Published

on

The EU is turning its back on golden visas – but one country is reintroducing its scheme.

Getting the right to live and work in another country can be a long and difficult process. But that’s not always the case for those with money to spend.

Golden visas offer the opportunity for wealthy people to essentially ‘buy’ the right to residency – sometimes without even having to live in the country.

And their popularity in the European Union is growing as people look to move away from countries facing instability and political decisions such as Brexit that may limit their safety and rights.

With the unsettled political and social environment in the US in recent years, applications for golden visas from Americans were also projected to increase.

But golden visas are now gradually being phased out across Europe.

Spain has finally secured a legal route to ending golden visas via property investment, with reports suggesting the ban could come into force by January 2025. The ban, which is still being debated, could also affect other investment pathways.

Portugal removed real estate investment as a basis for golden visa applications back in October 2023 in the hope of reducing property speculation.

The Netherlands followed suit, ending its golden visa scheme in January 2024.

But Hungary has bucked the trend by reintroducing its golden visa scheme, with applications open as of this month.

So what exactly are these golden visa schemes and why has the EU raised questions about their safety in recent years?

What is a golden visa?

Residence by investment schemes, otherwise known as ‘golden visas’, offer people the chance to get a residency permit for a country by purchasing a house there or making a large investment or donation.

Any applicants must be over the age of 18, have a clean criminal record and have sufficient funds to make the required investment.

There are also golden passports, known officially as citizenship by investment programs, that allow foreigners to gain citizenship using the same means.

For countries in the EU, this also means gaining access to many of the benefits of being a resident of the bloc – including free movement between countries.

Why is the EU against golden visas and passports?

In 2022, the European Commission called on EU governments to stop selling citizenship to investors.

Though this is different to golden visas, which offer permanent residency rather than citizenship, the call came as part of a move to crack down on this combined multi-billion euro industry. In the wake of the Ukraine war, there were concerns that these schemes could be a security risk.

Brussels also called for countries to double-check whether people sanctioned due to the war were holding a golden passport or visa that they had issued.

In the past, the EU has also said that schemes of this kind are a risk to security, transparency and the values that underpin the European Union project.

In October 2022, the European Commission urged Albania to “refrain from developing an investors’ citizenship scheme (golden passports)”. Such a scheme would “pose risks as regards security, money laundering, tax evasion, terrorist financing, corruption and infiltration by organised crime, and would be incompatible with EU norms,” it warned in a report. The country has since suspended its plans to introduce a golden visa.

Threats also come from outside the bloc. Also in October 2022, the European Commission proposed a suspension of Vanuatu‘s visa waiver agreement due to golden passport risks. This is because the scheme enables nationals of third countries to gain Vanuatu citizenship, which then earns them visa-free access to Schengen zone countries.

Which other countries have scrapped their golden visa schemes?

In February 2022, the UK government scrapped its golden visa scheme that allowed wealthy foreign nationals to settle in the country in exchange for bringing part of their wealth with them. The decision to end the scheme came as part of a move to clamp down on dirty money from Russia.

In February 2023, Ireland also axed its golden visa scheme – the Immigrant Investor Programme – which offered Irish residence in return for a €500,000 donation or three-year annual €1 million investment in the country.

Ireland had already suspended the scheme for Russian citizens in March 2022 as part of sanctions imposed on the country for the invasion of Ukraine. The following month, the European Parliament warned that the programme was vulnerable to tax abuse. The final decision to end the scheme was the outcome of various international reports and internal reviews.

Which EU countries still offer golden visas and what are the requirements?

There are only a few places that still offer golden passports in the EU. One of these countries is Malta. Here, the minimum investment amount starts at €690,000 and offers citizenship for between 12 and 36 months.

Many others, however, still offer golden visa schemes. Here are a few examples of exactly how much it costs to get residence by investment in these countries.

Does Spain still offer a golden visa?

Spain launched its residence by investment scheme in 2013. It allowed wealthy people from outside the EU to obtain residency permits on investing more than €500,000 in real estate or certain types of business.

However, in April, the country’s government said it plans to scrap the real estate route – which accounts for 94 per cent of applications – to reduce pressure on the housing market.

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the reform was part of his minority coalition government’s push to make housing “a right, not a speculative business”.

The road to banning the visa has been a long and rocky one, having failed to secure parliamentary support from major opposition parties.

According to local media reports, a ban could be on the horizon in January 2025 but applications made before then are likely to be honoured.

The government says over 15,000 such visas have been issued since the measure was brought into law in 2013 by a previous right-wing Popular Party government as a means to attract foreign investors.

Since Spain announced plans to end its golden visa, Chinese investors have rushed to buy property in the country, a report by Spanish state broadcaster RTVE revealed.

The visa can also be gained by starting certain types of business in Spain, holding company shares or bank deposits with a minimum value of €1 million in Spanish financial institutions, or making a government bonds investment of at least €2 million. The ban could extend to these types of investments, also.

Hungary golden visa scheme

Bucking the trend, Hungary announced plans to reintroduce its golden visa scheme in July 2024, after having ended it back in 2017.

The so-called Guest Investor Program (GIP) offers three routes to residency, including through real estate investment funds (minimum €250,000), purchasing a residential property (minimum €500,000) or donating at least €1 million to a higher educational institution in the country.

The visa is extended to the spouse and dependent children of the applicant and grants visa-free travel in the EU.

Initial applications opened at the end of October, with further real estate investment funds expected to be released by the end of the year.

Italy’s golden visa scheme

Italy is another popular destination for those looking to get residence by investment. Introduced in 2017, its golden visa grants non-EU nationals a residence permit for two years in exchange for an investment in Italy.

The minimum investment here is €250,000 which must be done through an Italian limited company. Those holding these visas can also include their family in the application and benefit from a special tax regime.

Once those using the scheme have lived in Italy for 10 years, they can be eligible for citizenship.

Greece’s golden visa scheme

Greece offers golden visas, with one of the quickest processes for gaining residency. Qualifying foreigners can get a permit within 60 days of applying.

It used to have one of the lowest thresholds for investment at just €250,000 spent on property in the country. But the country raised this to €800,000 in September in areas facing severe housing shortages, such as Athens, Mykonos and Santorini.

Elsewhere, it only rose to €400,000 to encourage investment in a wider range of places.

Golden visa holders aren’t required to stay in Greece to keep their visas.

By the end of 2021, the country had seen 9,500 applications for these residence by investment schemes, one of the highest numbers in Europe.

Author

  • Daniela Daecher is a twenty-something bookworm and coffee addict with a passion for geeking out over sci fi, tv, movies, and books. In 2013 she completed her BA in English with a specialization in Linguistics. In 2014 she completed her MA in Linguistics, focusing on the relationship between language and communication in written form. She currently lives in Munich, Germany.

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2023 EuroTimes

Exit mobile version