Europe just scrambled NATO jets over a wave of bomb hoaxes

A wave of bomb hoaxes just hit newsrooms and flights across Europe.

And now NATO has sent fighter jets to patrol near the Hungarian-Romanian border because of it.

So what happened? Emails landed about a day ago. Bulgaria's Nova TV and Ireland's RTE both got a bomb threat signed "Mikhail Andropov". Headlined "Message to the West".

RTE evacuated its Dublin building. Radio and TV presenters included. Sky, the British broadcaster, got a threat too and ran its own security check with the police. Virgin Media, Newstalk radio and The Irish Independent were hit as well.

And here's the thing. No bomb was found anywhere. Not one newsroom. Not one plane.

The Irish government says it seems likely this is a coordinated campaign of disruption. Simon Harris, Ireland's deputy prime minister, says quote "we don't yet know whether it's an individual behind this effort or some part of a coordinated effort". Micheál Martin, Ireland's prime minister, said the situation is worrying and that nobody yet knows if this is one person or an operation.

The same day, Hungary scrambled jets. Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, Hungary's Defence Minister, says Hungarian fighters escorted a Brussels-to-Sofia flight near Kaposvár. And two flights out of Prague, headed for Cyprus and Bucharest, through Hungarian airspace.

Then NATO stepped in. The alliance ordered an air patrol near the Hungarian-Romanian border. That's the first confirmed NATO response to any of this. NATO also sent jets to the Serbian border once the Brussels-Sofia flight had cleared Hungarian airspace.

So a NATO member just called in its air defences over an email.

This is the third wave this week. Wire reports count about half a dozen flights hit earlier in the week and more than two dozen a few days ago. Eurocontrol's own numbers are lower, seven and 14, and neither count is final. More than a dozen flights were hit again a day ago.