https://www.scmp.com/rss/322364/feed Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the deadly Brussels attacks at Zaventem airport and a train at Maelbeek metro station, near the European Union headquarters, on March 22 - days after the arrest of Paris bombing suspect Salah Abdeslam. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com If Industry 4.0 is about how every device and industry is now connected, “Terrorism 4.0” is about how we are all now connected in a battlefield that looks to span the entire globe. This does not mean we are all soldiers in that war; it merely means we are all in the line of fire. Where terrorism was once predominantly about relatively localised violence in pursuit of relatively localised goals, it now does not seem to matter where the victims are located, as long as they fit a broad profile. If... https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3009354/line-fire-how-terrorism-links-world-internet-age?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3009354/line-fire-how-terrorism-links-world-internet-age?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 May 2019 00:30:11 +0000 The Paris and Brussels attacks, a botched shooting on a high-speed train and a foiled plot in Belgium may have all been part of one big Islamic State (IS) operation, Belgium’s federal prosecutor said Monday. Speaking on the second anniversary of the November 13 Paris attacks, chief prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw confirmed for the first time what investigators have been saying privately about the possible links. “We indeed realise that Verviers, Thalys, November 13 and the March 22 attacks may... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2119756/islamic-state-attacks-france-and-belgium-may-have-been-part-one?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2119756/islamic-state-attacks-france-and-belgium-may-have-been-part-one?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Nov 2017 00:50:28 +0000 Belgian soldiers shot dead a man in the centre of Brussels on Friday evening after he came at them with a knife shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is great), in a case authorities are treating as a terrorist attack. The man, a 30-year-old Belgian of Somali origin, died after being rushed to hospital. Federal prosecutor spokeswoman Esther Natus said “the suspect is dead” in the clash Friday night and one soldier was “slightly injured.” The soldiers were not seriously hurt in the attack; one had a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2108380/man-shot-brussels-after-attacking-soldiers-state-broadcaster?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2108380/man-shot-brussels-after-attacking-soldiers-state-broadcaster?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Aug 2017 19:30:45 +0000 The Hong Kong police bomb disposal squad has stepped up training for frontline officers, including anti-terrorism units, by using real cases in drills and strengthening information exchange with counterparts worldwide through a local bomb data centre. In a first for Hong Kong police and MTR, anti-terrorism officers patrol city’s railway network The fatal suicide bombings by Islamist terrorists at Brussels Airport which killed at least 11 people last year was one of the scenarios used in... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2070201/hong-kong-police-step-anti-terror-training-amid-increased?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2070201/hong-kong-police-step-anti-terror-training-amid-increased?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Feb 2017 16:03:16 +0000 The jihadists behind the Paris and Brussels terror attacks had planned to kidnap well-known “personalities” in a bid to trade them for their brethren jailed in Belgium, media outlets reported Wednesday. Investigators came to the conclusion after discovering a recorded conversation in a laptop found in a dustbin in the Brussels neighbourhood of Schaerbeek, from where the perpetrators of the March 22 attack on the Belgian capital’s airport had left, public broadcasters RTBF and VRT reported. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2065665/brussels-terrorists-also-planned-kidnap-well-known-personalities?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2065665/brussels-terrorists-also-planned-kidnap-well-known-personalities?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Jan 2017 05:00:15 +0000 A machete-wielding man shouting “Allahu akbar” (God is the greatest) wounded two policewomen in southern Belgium before being shot dead, in what appeared to be the latest in a string of jihadist attacks in Europe. The attack Saturday outside the main police station in the city of Charleroi, around 60 kilometres south of Brussels, left one of the policewomen with “deep wounds to the face” while the other was slightly injured, Belga news agency said. Syrian refugee hacks woman to death with... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2000349/two-belgian-police-hurt-machete-wielding-assailant-shouting-allahu?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2000349/two-belgian-police-hurt-machete-wielding-assailant-shouting-allahu?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Aug 2016 05:06:35 +0000 Belgian police investigating the Brussels airport and metro attacks have arrested a man in connection with “terrorist murders”, the federal prosecutor said on Friday. The 31-year-old man, identified only as Ali EHA, was detained on Thursday during a house search in the Schaerbeek area of the capital, the prosecutor’s office said. Several people have previously been charged over the March 22 suicide bombings at Zaventem airport and Maalbeek metro station which killed 32 people. “In connection... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1971871/belgium-arrests-new-brussels-attacks-suspect-during-house-search?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1971871/belgium-arrests-new-brussels-attacks-suspect-during-house-search?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Jun 2016 13:02:31 +0000 The Maalbeek metro station in Brussels hit by a suicide attack last month that killed 16 people reopened to passengers on Monday. Suicide bomber Khalid El-Bakraoui blew himself up at the station on March 22, an hour after two other bombers killed 16 other people at Brussels airport. A total of 32 people lost their lives in the bombings on Europe’s symbolic capital that were claimed by the Islamic State group, and 300 injured. “I’m thinking of everything that happened here, I’m thinking of the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1938451/brussels-metro-station-reopens-one-month-after-deadly-suicide?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1938451/brussels-metro-station-reopens-one-month-after-deadly-suicide?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Apr 2016 12:26:52 +0000 Thousands of people walked through central Brussels on Sunday in “a march against terror and hate”, almost one month after two co-ordinated attacks by Islamic State-affiliated suicide bombers struck the Belgian capital killing 32 people and injuring more than 300. Also taking part in the march, which had been previously been postponed on security grounds, were some victims of the attacks and their families. It was a crowd as diverse as Brussels, with politicians, city officials and metro drivers... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1936787/thousands-march-through-brussels-against-terror-and-hate-wake?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1936787/thousands-march-through-brussels-against-terror-and-hate-wake?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Apr 2016 02:24:04 +0000 The extremists who struck Brussels last month and killed 32 people initially planned to launch a second assault on France in the wake of the November attacks in Paris, authorities said Sunday. But the perpetrators were “surprised by the speed of the progress in the ongoing investigation” and decided to rush an attack on Brussels instead of going back to France, the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement. It didn’t provide any details on the initial French plot or its... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1935095/brussels-bombers-planned-hit-france-instead-rushed-action-net?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1935095/brussels-bombers-planned-hit-france-instead-rushed-action-net?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 Apr 2016 00:15:15 +0000 Mohamed Abrini, who has admitted being the “man in the hat” captured on CCTV before the Brussels airport bombings, is a long-time petty criminal who grew up with Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam in Belgium’s troubled Molenbeek area. Nicknamed “Brioche” after his days working in a bakery, Abrini is thought to have given up training as a welder at the age of 18 before eventually gravitating towards the extremist milieu. Already the target of a manhunt over the November terror assaults in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1935034/mohamed-abrini-petty-criminal-brussels-attacks-man-hat?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1935034/mohamed-abrini-petty-criminal-brussels-attacks-man-hat?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Apr 2016 11:25:07 +0000 The arrest Friday of five men suspected of links to the Brussels bombings, including the last known fugitive in last year’s Paris attacks, raised new questions about the extent of the Islamic State cell believed to have carried out the intertwined attacks that left 162 people dead in two countries. After weeks of speculation about a mysterious “man in the hat” who escaped the Brussels attacks while three suicide bombers blew themselves up, authorities were checking whether that man was indeed... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states/article/1934788/five-linked-brussels-bombings-arrested-including-attacker?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states/article/1934788/five-linked-brussels-bombings-arrested-including-attacker?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Apr 2016 22:30:45 +0000 Belgian prosecutors on Thursday launched a fresh appeal for help in finding the suspected surviving attacker in last month’s Brussels airport bombings, releasing a video of the escape route taken by the so-called “man in the hat”. Police have been desperately searching for the third suspect ever since he was seen on CCTV next to the two suicide bombers who blew themselves up at the airport in coordinated attacks that also struck a Brussels metro station. A total of 32 people died. The newly... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1934584/new-video-shows-brussels-terror-suspect-man-hat-making-getaway?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1934584/new-video-shows-brussels-terror-suspect-man-hat-making-getaway?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Apr 2016 01:14:30 +0000 Brussels Airport partially reopened Sunday, 12 days after it was hit by Islamic State attacks, with tearful staff applauding the first departure and an initial trickle of passengers undergoing strict new security checks. The key travel hub has been closed since two men blew themselves up in the departure hall on March 22 in coordinated blasts that also struck a metro station in the Belgian capital, killing a total of 32 people. A Brussels Airlines plane bound for the Portuguese city of Faro... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1933436/tears-tarmac-staff-celebrate-re-opening-brussels-airport-wake?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1933436/tears-tarmac-staff-celebrate-re-opening-brussels-airport-wake?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Apr 2016 01:29:43 +0000 I have lost track of the number of times I have read that a terrorist network carried out the lethal attacks in Brussels. Terrorists used to belong to “groups” and “organisations”. Increasingly, however, we say they belong to networks. Networks cannot be beheaded, any more than the Hydra of Greek mythology could be killed by a single blow This is more than a matter of semantics. For we stand no chance whatsoever of defeating Islamic State (IS) if we fail to understand the significance of its... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1932885/brussels-bombings-make-clear-terrorist-networks-cannot-be?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1932885/brussels-bombings-make-clear-terrorist-networks-cannot-be?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Apr 2016 03:18:32 +0000 Plans and photographs of the home and office of Belgium’s prime minister, Charles Michel, have been found on a computer abandoned near a terrorist hideout in Brussels, according to Belgian sources. The laptop was found in a bin near a flat in the Schaerbeek district that had been a makeshift bomb factory for the terrorists who killed 32 people and injured at least 340 in last week’s suicide bombings at Brussels airport and the city metro. The find was first reported by several Belgian... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1932277/laptop-containing-plans-belgian-prime-ministers-home-found-bin?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1932277/laptop-containing-plans-belgian-prime-ministers-home-found-bin?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 31 Mar 2016 04:38:43 +0000 In a stunning setback to the investigation into last week’s Islamic State attack in Brussels, investigators have released the sole suspect in the blasts, saying they got the wrong man. The blunder raises fresh questions about the handling of the case by under-fire Belgian authorities. Prosecutors had charged Faycal Cheffou on Saturday with “terrorist murder” and were investigating whether he was a third airport attacker - the so-called “man in the hat” - who fled after his bomb did not go off,... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1931403/brussels-blunder-belgium-frees-attacks-suspect-admitting-hes-not-man-hat?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1931403/brussels-blunder-belgium-frees-attacks-suspect-admitting-hes-not-man-hat?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Mar 2016 23:48:45 +0000 Terrible stories of mayhem and mass murder dominated news media last week. Islamic terrorists hit the heart of Europe with twin attacks on Brussels, the capital of Belgium and headquarters of the European Union and of the Nato military alliance. Some commentators say there is no real reason to worry because, statistically, in developed countries you are 400 times more likely to be killed in a car accident than by a terrorist. But terror is, of course, terrifying – that’s the aim. Much more... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1931310/understanding-must-be-our-weapon-choice-beat-terrorism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1931310/understanding-must-be-our-weapon-choice-beat-terrorism?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Mar 2016 08:50:25 +0000 Police used water cannon to control hundreds of rowdy protesters in central Brussels on Sunday after they ignored an official call for solidarity marches following Tuesday’s bomb attacks to be postponed. Local media said about 450 protesters noisily faced off with white-helmeted riot police in front of the city’s colonnaded stock exchange building where wreaths and flowers had been laid out in a tribute to the victims of the attacks. The crowd, many of whom media described as right-wing... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1931204/riot-police-clash-far-right-hooligans-brussels-attacks-vigil-turns?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1931204/riot-police-clash-far-right-hooligans-brussels-attacks-vigil-turns?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Mar 2016 15:15:43 +0000 “The man in the hat” is how Belgium has come to know the country’s most wanted suspect in the Brussels attacks, seen in a CCTV picture with two others who were about to blow themselves up at Brussels airport on Tuesday. The man may be a self-styled Belgian freelance journalist called Faycal Cheffou, who was charged on Saturday with “terrorist murder” and has served time for conspiracy to murder, according to Belgian state broadcaster RTBF and other media including European media group RTL. While... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/1931077/charged-brussels-suspect-may-be-mystery-man-hat-bomber?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/1931077/charged-brussels-suspect-may-be-mystery-man-hat-bomber?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Mar 2016 03:30:45 +0000 Deng Jingquan, the sole Chinese national to date confirmed to have been killed by Islamic State’s attacks in Brussels on Tuesday, died at a local hospital on Friday and four relatives and a friend arrived in the Belgian capital on Saturday, the Post has learned. The Shenzhen-based man, less than a month shy of his 25th birthday, was one of 31 people killed in the attacks claimed by Islamic State. Suicide blasts hit the main terminal of Zaventem airport and another explosion struck a subway... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1931056/chinese-victim-brussels-terrorist-attacks-died-hospital-his?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1931056/chinese-victim-brussels-terrorist-attacks-died-hospital-his?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Mar 2016 15:45:15 +0000 Belgian police shot a suspect as part of a huge European terror crackdown that netted several arrests on Friday as France’s president said a jihadist network that targeted both Paris and Brussels was being “destroyed”. Grieving Belgians held prayers in the rain in a central Brussels square carpeted with flowers and tributes to the 31 dead and 300 wounded in Tuesday’s carnage, but there was also growing anger at the government for letting a string of militants slip through the net. The raids came... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1930975/belgian-police-shoot-suspect-europe-wide-raids-francois-hollande?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1930975/belgian-police-shoot-suspect-europe-wide-raids-francois-hollande?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Mar 2016 03:36:25 +0000 Police conducted more raids in a Brussels suburb on Friday in an operation the mayor said was linked to both the airport and subway bombings that killed 31 people earlier this week and to the arrest of a man in the Paris suburbs who may have been plotting a separate attack in France. Belgium’s state broadcaster said one person carrying a bag of explosive material was wounded and arrested in the raid in Schaerbeek. Prime Minister Charles Michel skipped a wreath-laying ceremony at the airport with... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1930952/explosions-and-arrest-after-belgian-police-conduct-more-raids?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1930952/explosions-and-arrest-after-belgian-police-conduct-more-raids?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Mar 2016 15:14:40 +0000 Deng Jingquan from China was among the casualties from Tuesday’s Islamic State suicide bombings at Brussels airport, the South China Morning Post has confirmed. Chinese government officials said yesterday that a Chinese national with the surname Deng had been killed in the attacks, without providing any further details. At least 31 dead after terrorist attack on Brussels; bomb blasts hit airport and metro station However, he is now known to have been transiting to a country in Eastern Europe at... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1930913/deng-jingquan-named-chinese-national-transit-airport-when-brussels?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1930913/deng-jingquan-named-chinese-national-transit-airport-when-brussels?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Mar 2016 11:30:00 +0000 The bombings in Brussels, the de facto capital of the European Union, bring to mind the November 13 attacks in Paris as well as the terrorist attacks in London in 2005 and Madrid in 2004. Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for the coordinated attacks on Tuesday at Brussels international airport and a subway station, which killed at least 31 people and wounded scores more. Prior to the Brussels blasts, Belgian authorities had been aware of the imminent danger of terrorist attacks,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1930572/brussels-bombings-expose-europes-stark-choice-between?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1930572/brussels-bombings-expose-europes-stark-choice-between?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Mar 2016 07:08:26 +0000 A Frenchman in the “advanced stages” of a plot to attack the country was arrested on Thursday northwest of Paris and security forces locked down the area during a major search, France’s interior minister said. Bernard Cazeneuve said there were no links “at this stage” between the plot and the attacks against Brussels this week or Paris in November. Cazeneuve said bomb squads were on site. The raid took place in Argenteuil, on the northern outskirts of the French capital. He noted that the person... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1930564/france-arrests-man-advanced-stages-terror-plot-bomb-squads-lock-down?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1930564/france-arrests-man-advanced-stages-terror-plot-bomb-squads-lock-down?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Mar 2016 05:14:58 +0000 Six people have been arrested in a series of police raids in Brussels, federal prosecutors said, two days after jihadist attacks in the Belgian capital left 31 dead. The arrests on Thursday came as Belgian ministers faced fire for intelligence failings over Tuesday’s Islamic State-claimed suicide blasts admitted “errors” and offered to quit. Prime Minister Charles Michel refused to accept the resignations of the interior and justice ministers, who have been severely criticised for allowing the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1930502/brussels-attacks-six-arrested-anti-terror-raids-security-failings-emerge?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1930502/brussels-attacks-six-arrested-anti-terror-raids-security-failings-emerge?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Mar 2016 02:01:55 +0000 Hong Kong’s terrorist threat level remains “moderate”, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said on his blog on Thursday, two days after suicide bomb attacks rocked Brussels. But Leung cautioned that Hongkongers were facing regional security risks amid a complex and volatile international situation, adding that the administration must stay on high alert and make preparations to protect Hong Kong residents. “We cannot take good order for granted,” Leung said. In the past three years, the police have... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1930234/hong-kongs-terrorist-threat-level-remains-moderate-despite?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1930234/hong-kongs-terrorist-threat-level-remains-moderate-despite?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 Mar 2016 13:40:40 +0000 The Islamic State group has trained at least 400 fighters to target Europe in deadly waves of attacks, deploying interlocking terror cells like the ones that struck Brussels and Paris with orders to choose the time, place and method for maximum carnage, officials have claimed. The network of agile and semi-autonomous cells shows the reach of the extremist group in Europe even as it loses ground in Syria and Iraq. The officials, including European and Iraqi intelligence officials and a French... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1929994/islamic-state-has-trained-400-fighters-attack-europe-wave-bloodshed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1929994/islamic-state-has-trained-400-fighters-attack-europe-wave-bloodshed?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 Mar 2016 06:56:03 +0000 Long before blowing themselves up in crowds of innocent people, suicide bomber Ibrahim El Bakraoui and his brother Khalid lived the lives of the classic Brussels hoodlum. Carjackings, robberies and shoot-outs with police were just some of the convictions collected by the Belgian brothers who killed themselves in the metro and airport assaults in Brussels claimed by the Islamic State group. Both were said to have links with top Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam, while the third identified... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1929891/blood-brothers-brussels-suicide-bomber-siblings-abandoned-street-crime?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1929891/blood-brothers-brussels-suicide-bomber-siblings-abandoned-street-crime?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 Mar 2016 00:28:07 +0000 Three Hong Kong government ­officials narrowly escaped the deadly attack in Brussels on Tuesday after passing through airport security shortly before the bombing took place. Alice Choi, deputy representative of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Brussels, along with two colleagues were due to board a plane to Milan for a duty visit on Tuesday morning, but were unable to fly due to the attack at Brussels airport. “I saw a big group of people running into the waiting area beyond the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1929873/3-hong-kong-officials-narrowly-escape-islamic-state-bombing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1929873/3-hong-kong-officials-narrowly-escape-islamic-state-bombing?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Mar 2016 14:45:45 +0000 Dignitaries, Belgians and Hongkongers condemned Tuesday’s attacks in Brussels and expressed sympathy and support for people in Belgium as a book of condolence was signed at the nation’s consulate in Hong Kong. Among mourners were Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, Consul General of Belgium in Hong Kong Michèle Deneffe, and Head of Office of the European Unionto Hong Kong and Macao Vincent Piket. Lam expressed sympathy for the victims of the terrorist atrocity, writing in the condolence... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1929831/brussels-bomb-attacks-hong-kong-chief-secretary-among?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1929831/brussels-bomb-attacks-hong-kong-chief-secretary-among?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Mar 2016 11:07:22 +0000 Hong Kong travel agents feared on Wednesday that the deadly bombing attack in Brussels the day before would further dampen Hongkongers’ appetite for European travel. The number of tours to Europe had already almost halved since the Paris attacks last November. “It definitely will affect future European tours,” said Steve Huen Kwok-chuen, executive director of local travel agency EGL Tours, adding Brussels usually occupies one day of their tours’ itinerary. He said since the Paris attacks, the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/1929448/brussels-bomb-attack-another-blow-demand-european-travel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/1929448/brussels-bomb-attack-another-blow-demand-european-travel?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Mar 2016 09:30:30 +0000 The identities of the Brussels bombers is becoming clearer after three blasts – two at the airport and one in the metro train system – killed 34 and wounded more than 100. An image of three men walking through the terminal building at the airport which was to suffer two massive explosions was released. The man in the middle wearing dark clothes are reported to be Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui, the man dressed in lighter clothes is believed to be Najim Laachraoui, according to a police source... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1929407/brussels-terror-attacks-man-arrested-police-source-names-el?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1929407/brussels-terror-attacks-man-arrested-police-source-names-el?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Mar 2016 06:00:15 +0000 Surviving a major bombing is the extraordinary — and repeated — situation that one Utah teen can live to tell about. Mason Wells, a 19-year-old from Sandy, Utah, is expected to make a full recovery from the bombing attack at the Brussels airport Tuesday, which left him with a surgery scar, severed Achilles tendon, head gash, shrapnel injuries and severe burns. Brussels terror attacks: What we know now Wells had once again found himself at the centre of a major attack — standing within metres of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1929400/first-boston-now-brussels-meet-teenager-who-survived-two-deadly?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1929400/first-boston-now-brussels-meet-teenager-who-survived-two-deadly?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Mar 2016 05:45:15 +0000 Brussels was struck on Tuesday by major, apparently coordinated terrorist bombings, at the airport and on the metro system, that killed at least 31 people and injured hundreds. The attacks at the heart of the de facto capital of the European Union occurred only four days after the arrest in the city of Salah Abdeslam, Europe’s “most wanted man” and one of the Belgians linked to the Paris atrocities in November. He was caught after an intense police shoot-out, and Belgian authorities had... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1929392/do-brussels-bombings-signal-shift-islamic-state-focus?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1929392/do-brussels-bombings-signal-shift-islamic-state-focus?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Mar 2016 05:33:06 +0000 Europe’s leaders pledged a united front against Islamic State after the bomb attacks that killed at least 31 people in Brussels, but the jihadist group’s latest and powerfully symbolic strike may only widen the continent’s divisions. The synchronised explosions during Tuesday morning’s rush hour targeted the core of the European Union at a time when a deluge of refugees from the Middle East is testing the bloc’s dedication to open borders and stirring up anti-foreigner demagoguery. Dozens dead... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1929338/brussels-terror-attacks-isis-jihadists-strike-heart-fraying-europe?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1929338/brussels-terror-attacks-isis-jihadists-strike-heart-fraying-europe?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Mar 2016 03:15:00 +0000 Police in Brussels are hunting for a young man seen with two suspected suicide bombers who are believed to have blown themselves up in the terrorist attacks on the Belgian capital that claimed at least 34 lives on Tuesday. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the blasts at Brussels’ airport and a rush-hour metro train. Dozens dead after terrorist attack on Brussels; bomb blasts hit airport and metro station Police issued a wanted notice for a young man in a hat who was caught on CCTV... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1929325/brussels-terrorist-attack-police-hunt-man-hat-seen-airport-suspected?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1929325/brussels-terrorist-attack-police-hunt-man-hat-seen-airport-suspected?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Mar 2016 23:45:45 +0000 The yuan extended its losses on Tuesday to hit a one-week-low against the US dollar which bounced back this week against most other currencies, barring the yen after a terrorist attack in Brussels during the afternoon. Offshore yuan fell to 6.4960 to the US dollar in early afternoon trade, down 0.2 per cent from Monday when it dropped 0.33 per cent which was the biggest single day drop in seven weeks. It bounced back to 6.4928 in the evening, but was still down 0.15 per cent. Yuan rises to fresh... https://www.scmp.com/business/markets/article/1928829/yuan-extends-losses-tuesday-yen-surges-after-bomb-attack-brussels?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/markets/article/1928829/yuan-extends-losses-tuesday-yen-surges-after-bomb-attack-brussels?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Mar 2016 11:04:29 +0000 Multiple blasts have killed and injured scores in the Belgian capital of Brussels, as transport hubs were hit. Twenty-six people have been confirmed dead and some agencies report up to 34 may have perished in the dual blasts at Brussels airport and a separate explosion in the city’s Metro. Islamic State have claimed responsibility for the attack, Reuters reported. The Brussels public transport operator said 15 were killed on board the metro train and 55 injured. Pierre Meys, a spokesman for the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1928781/dozens-dead-after-terrorist-attack-brussels-bomb-blasts-hit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1928781/dozens-dead-after-terrorist-attack-brussels-bomb-blasts-hit?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Mar 2016 07:45:15 +0000