Laptop flight ban discussed

EUROPEAN governments alarmed at a proposed expansion of the US ban on in-flight laptops and tablets on planes from the EU were to hold urgent talks yesterday with the US department of homeland security. Chief among the concerns were whether any new threat prompted it, said European Commission transport spokesperson Anna-kaisa Itkonen, who said the EU had no new information about a specific security concern. US officials have said the decision to bar laptops and tablets from some international flights, mostly from the Mideast, was not based on a specific threat but on long-standing concerns about extremists targeting jetliners. The talks involved France, Britain, Germany, Spain and Italy. – AP