Australia considers banning laptops from airliner cabins

Australia would “work very closely with our partners around the world” in constantly reviewing aviation security, he said.

Trump has been criticized for divulging classified information to Russians about the laptop threat posed by the Islamic State group.

Turnbull declined to say whether that information had also been shared with Australia, which along the U.S., Britain, Canada and New Zealand makes up the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing network.

“I can assure you the relationship between Australia and the United States in terms of intelligence sharing is as close as it possibly could be and we have no concerns about any other country … having privileged access to information we don’t have,” Turnbull told reporters.

The White House has defended Trump discussing with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak last week an Islamic State group threat related to the use of laptop computers on aircraft.

Critics argue that Trump’s disclosure of the highly classified information threatened to fray the U.S. intelligence partnership with Israel, which collected the information, and could be used by the Russians to find its source.

Turnbull met Trump for the first time in New York two weeks ago and hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Sydney in February, underscoring Australia’s close ties to both countries.

The U.S. ban on laptops and tablets affects flights from Amman, Jordan; Kuwait City; Cairo; Istanbul; Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Casablanca, Morocco; Doha, Qatar, and Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

The British security rules apply to flights from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.

Rod McGuirk, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Australia considers banning laptops from airliner cabins

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