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Germany receives confidence vote on World Cup security:Posted By: Kirk Griffin By Mark Trevelyan BERLIN (Reuters) - Foreign security officials voiced strong confidence on Friday in Germany's plans for a trouble-free soccer World Cup despite the twin risks of terrorism and hooligan violence."I have the impression that they are very well-prepared and they have covered all the threats imaginable," said South Korean counter-terrorism official Min Jang, whose country co-hosted the 2002 tournament a year after the September 11 attacks on the United States. "We were very worried about big-scale terrorism using aircraft. On the German side they have more focus on hooliganism rather than extremism or terrorism, and I think they are doing very well to cope with threats facing their World Cup games." He was speaking to Reuters after the last big international planning meeting on security arrangements for the World Cup, which kicks off on June 9. German interior ministry official August Hanning said security planners were mindful of both the September 11 al Qaeda attacks and the Palestinian militant attack on the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, when 11 Israelis were killed. He repeated that authorities had no intelligence of specific threats to the month-long tournament, featuring teams from 32 nations. The British police officer overseeing England's army of traveling fans said they had shown at the Euro 2004 championship in Portugal that their long-standing hooligan reputation was "totally unfounded." "Our fans have got rid of that reputation and all the fans coming to Germany will be here to have a good time and enjoy the football," Stephen Thomas told reporters. He said only five people had been arrested at England's last nine games. By the time the tournament starts, travel bans will be in place against 3,800 known British troublemakers, who will have to surrender their passports and report to police stations, he said. Thomas estimated 100,000 England fans might travel to Germany for the World Cup, most of them there just to enjoy the atmosphere because tickets have long since sold out. German officials have stressed that all foreign visitors, even without tickets, are welcome to enjoy what they hope will be a month-long soccer party, projecting an open, tolerant and friendly image of their country to the world. "Despite all the security requirements, we think we will be able to realize the World Cup motto - "A Time To Make Friends,"" Hanning said. Courtesy Of: Yahoo! News The information reported above is property of Yahoo! inc. and reprinted or modified with legitimate permission. We thank Yahoo! inc. for the kind cooperation with us and other shareholders. |
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