• China’s People’s Liberation Army is setting up a special counterterror unit for the 2008 Olympics. Part of its duties will be to monitor airspace and sea areas where events will take place

• A Qantas pilot who triggered an alarm at a security checkpoint at Darwin Airport in Australia has been suspended for refusing to remove his shoes

• The recent security scare at London’s Heathrow Airport created a backlog of some 20,000 pieces of baggage

• An air rescue exercise in Paranaque, The Philippines, turned into a real-life drama when a Philippine Navy helicopter caught fire. No one was injured

• Security at South Africa’s OR Tambo International Airport is being beefed up after complaints from some foreign diplomats that they were tracked when leaving the airport by criminals who then robbed them, in some cases beating them up as well