AUSTRALIA will target people from 10 countries for stringent new visa checks in a push to prevent terrorists getting through the security net.

Visa applicants from countries identified as high-risk will soon have to submit to fingerprinting and facial imaging, known as biometric checking.

The move will be announced today by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd when he releases the government's white paper on counter-terrorism.

The biometric checks come after the government recently announced $200 million to strengthen aviation security, and amid heightened terrorism concerns in Western countries following the attempt by a Nigerian man with explosive powder in his underwear to bring down a commercial flight in the US on Christmas Day.

In January, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown singled out Yemen, Somalia and the Sahel - areas from Eritrea across Africa to Nigeria - as regions vulnerable to terrorist influence. The US has also increased airport checks, with all citizens from Afghanistan, Algeria, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen subjected to a pat-down search and extra baggage checks before boarding US-bound planes.

People from nations deemed by the US to be state sponsors of terrorism - Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria - are also singled out.

Indonesia is not singled out by either the US or Britain, and Australia is likely to follow suit, given its close ties on counter-terrorism with Jakarta.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/rudds-new-terror-trap-20100222-oruf.html


Am ashame that we are now being grouped with contries like afghanistan, iran, somalia, Sudan etc. The case of Nigerian has become like that of an orphan with no father to speak for her in a time like this.