Latest news with #publicsecurity
Bloomberg
07-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Advent Gears Up for Sale of Idemia's Public Security Unit
Advent is moving ahead with a potential sale of French biometrics firm Idemia 's public security unit, people familiar with the matter said, following a deal to dispose the smart identity business. The US private equity firm is working with advisers including Rothschild & Co. on the transaction and could start a formal process as soon as September, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The unit, which provides services including airport security and facial recognition, could be valued at €2 billion ($2.3 billion) to €3 billion in a sale, the people said.
Malay Mail
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
China vows legal system crackdown following rare torture admission and reform pledge
BEIJING, June 25 — China's top prosecutor has issued a rare admission that torture and unlawful detention takes place in the country's justice system, vowing to crack down on illegal practices by law enforcement officials. China's opaque justice system has long been criticised over the disappearance of defendants, the targeting of dissidents and regularly forcing confessions through torture. The country's top prosecutorial body the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) has occasionally called out abuses while President Xi Jinping has vowed to reduce corruption and improve transparency in the legal system. The SPP announced yesterday the creation of a new investigation department to target judicial officers who 'infringe on citizens' rights' through unlawful detention, illegal searches and torture to extract confessions. Its establishment 'reflects the high importance... attached to safeguarding judicial fairness, and a clear stance on severely punishing judicial corruption', the SPP said in a statement. China has frequently denied allegations of torture levelled at it by the United Nations and rights bodies, particularly accusations of ill-treatment of political dissidents and minorities. But several recent cases involving the mistreatment of suspects have drawn public ire despite China's strictly controlled media. A senior executive at a mobile gaming company in Beijing died in custody in April 2024, allegedly taking his own life, after public security officials detained him for more than four months in the northern region of Inner Mongolia. The man had been held under the residential surveillance at a designated location (RSDL) system, where suspects are detained incognito for long stretches without charge, access to lawyers and sometimes any contact with the outside world. Several public security officials were accused in court this month of torturing a suspect to death in 2022, including by using electric shocks and plastic pipes, while he was held under RSDL. The SPP also released details last year of a 2019 case in which several police officers were jailed for using starvation and sleep deprivation on a suspect and restricting his access to medical treatment. The suspect was eventually left in a 'vegetative state', the SPP said. Chinese law states that torture and using violence to force confessions are punishable by up to three years in prison, with more serious punishment if the torture causes injuries or the death of the victim. — AFP
CBC
16-06-2025
- CBC
Why drones pose such a challenge in Quebec detention centres
On any given day, drones buzz in the skies above Quebec's detention centres looking to drop tobacco, drugs or cellphones to the inmates below. Statistics from Quebec's public security minister show staff reported 274 drones flying over provincial centres between January and March — or just over three per day. That doesn't include the 10 federally-managed prisons in the province. Corrections spokespeople and a drone expert say the problem is growing, dangerous and hard to stop, despite millions of dollars invested by provincial and federal governments. Stéphane Blackburn, the managing director for Quebec's correctional services, described the threat of airborne contraband as "something we face every day." The provincial figures show 195 of the 247 drones were seen dropping packages. Most of them — 69 per cent — were reported as seized. The province also seized 896 cellphones. But the data shows drone sightings have been growing gradually in recent years. There were 695 drone sightings logged from April 2021 to the end of March of 2022. For the same period between 2024 and 2025, there were 1,175. They're also increasingly being spotted outside Montreal. "A few years ago, it was mainly in the metropolitan region that we saw drone events," Blackburn said. "Montreal has been subjected to the problems for several years now, and now we see a rise in drone events in certain regions." WATCH | How Quebec is trying to keep drug-smuggling drones out of its jails: How Quebec is trying to keep drug-smuggling drones out of its jails 20 days ago Duration 2:33 Blackburn says the most common forms of contraband are tobacco and cannabis, although cellphones, tools and other drugs are also seized. In recent weeks, the province has announced an additional $38.5 million worth of measures aimed at curbing contraband smuggling. Those include technological solutions such as drone and cellphone detectors, and physical infrastructure including fencing or netting around windows and courtyards. Workers will also be using mobile X-ray scanners and body scanners to detect items once they've been delivered. The federal government also announced a pilot project in March that will allow correctional staff to use radio-frequency jammers to block wireless communication to drones and cellphones in federal and Quebec detention centres. Frédérick Lebeau, the national president of the Union of Canadian Correction officers, said the rise in drone drops in correctional facilities has been "exponential" in recent years. "We can talk about several drops a day — three, four, it depends," he said. He said drops happen often when inmates are in the yard, and packages are quickly snapped up and hidden in body cavities or elsewhere. Sometimes, drones are flown directly to windows where inmates have dismantled the bars. He said the presence of contraband — including drugs and weapons — can create debts among inmates and allow criminal networks to operate, resulting in increased violence for detainees and corrections staff alike. "It's really an ecosystem," he said. "If there are more debts, there's more violence. If there's more drinking, more drugs, there's violent (incidents) where we have to intervene." Lebeau said that while new announcements by the different levels of government are "a step forward," many of the measures have only been put in place in a few institutions. In particular, he says there's a need for more jammers to stop drones from reaching jails and prisons, as well as body scanners to catch the drugs once they're dropped. "It's not just detecting drones, we have to catch them," he said. WATCH | Drugs are flying into prisons. Why aren't inmates facing more punishment? Drones are flying drugs into prisons, but the inmates involved face little punishment 5 months ago Duration 2:14 The case of a convicted drug trafficker whose online drug-selling platform was connected to the death of a Quebec teen has some calling for stronger actions against inmates who commit crimes while in prison. They are 'ubiquitous,' expert says Jeremy Laliberté, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Ottawa's Carleton University, says drones are an ideal tool for delivering contraband because they're "ubiquitous, inexpensive," and can be launched from kilometres away. "The folks who want to do this can buy them for a few hundred dollars, modify them, remove any identifying information and launch them and not even worry about getting them back," he said. He said the war in Ukraine — as well as domestic concerns about malicious operators — have spurred a growing interest in counter-drone technology, including better detectors that can locate both the drone and the operator. However, these systems are expensive and complex to develop, while "the drones themselves are hundreds of dollars." Laliberté said physical barriers such as fencing and netting as well as the detectors, jammers, and scanners can all work to protect detention centres, though he notes determined operators can find a way around any one measure. That's why he says a layered model that combines different strategies — the so-called "Swiss cheese model" — has the best chance of success. "There isn't going to be just one strategy that's going to be the magic bullet that stops everything," he said. "It's going to have to be a mix of things, because the technology, it's like an arms race. There's always going to be people trying to get better at this."
LBCI
13-06-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
Sirens sound in Jordan's capital, people urged to stay home
Air raid sirens sounded in the Jordanian capital on Friday after Israel pounded Iran, while the public security directorate called on people to stay in their homes. "Adhere to the guidelines and stay in your homes," was the announcement made through loudspeakers in Amman, an AFP correspondent said. AFP
Reuters
05-06-2025
- Reuters
China's Guangzhou authorities issue bounty for hacker suspects linked to Taiwan
BEIJING, June 5 (Reuters) - The public security bureau in the Chinese city of Guangzhou has put up a bounty for more than 20 people it suspects carried out cyber attacks in China, the official news agency Xinhua said on Thursday. The authorities said the hackers were linked to the Taiwan government.
