European airports tighten security, France calls urgent meeting

PARIS (AP) -- Airports around Europe tightened security Monday, some requiring passengers to send their shoes through X-ray machines, after a passenger allegedly tried to ignite explosives hidden in his sneakers on a flight from Paris to Miami.

The French government, meanwhile, planned an urgent meeting to review security at its airports, particularly at Charles de Gaulle international airport outside Paris, where the American Airlines flight originated on Saturday.

Paris airports beefed up security starting Sunday, increasing the number of patrolling officers and bomb-sniffing dogs at check-in counters and passport control stations, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Switzerland's Zurich airport said it would tighten controls beginning Christmas Day and require all passengers on U.S. airlines to remove their shoes to be X-rayed along with carry-on luggage.

In Austria, a spokeswoman for Vienna's international airport said that "shoe controls" would be made more thorough.