From
www.cnn.com :
French government cancels three Air France flights from Paris to L.A. due to terror fears, French Interior Ministry says. Details soon.
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Here's more:
3 Air France Flights Cancelled
U.S. Embassy Cited Security Concerns Over L.A.-bound Flights
Reuters
Wednesday, December 24, 2003; 2:07 PM
PARIS (Reuters) - France said Wednesday that national carrier Air France had canceled three U.S.-bound flights from Paris due to security concerns.
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 7:35 a.m. EST for Los Angeles had been grounded "for security reasons."
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 Sept. 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.
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.
France has not raised its security alert for the Christmas holiday period.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2003Dec24.html