Terrorism Watch

The   death   of   former   Libyan   leader   Muammar   Gadhafi ,  who   was   captured   and   killed   by   rebels   in October ,  may   have   been   a   war   crime ,  the   chief   prosecutor   of   the   International   Criminal Court ( ICC )  said   on   Thursday . " I   think   the   way   in   which   Mr   Gadhafi   was   killed   creates   suspicions   of  ...  war   crimes ,"  ICC prosecutor   Luis   Moreno-Ocampo   told   reporters . " I   think   that ' s   a   very   important   issue ,"  he   said . " We   are   raising   this   concern   to   the   national authorities   and   they   are   preparing   a   plan   to   have   a   comprehensive   strategy   to   investigate   all these   crimes ." Under   pressure   from   Western   allies ,  Libya ' s   National   Transitional   Council   has   promised   to investigate   how   Gadhafi   and   his   son   Mutassim   were   killed .   Mobile   phone   footage   showed   both

Doro — More than 20,000 people have fled bombs and violence in Sudan's Blue Nile state to Doro refugee camp in South Sudan to seek food and shelter. But after three weeks of going hungry and as about 1,000 people register at Doro each day, frail grandmother Kumke Lete says the able-bodied in her extended family have decided to make the difficult and dangerous trip back home to fetch grain from their farms to feed the increasingly malnourished children. With little to trade at the local market as most fled with the bare minimum or did not have the energy to carry goods too far, she hopes either food arrives soon or the war will end so they can stop sleeping in the dirt with no sanitation or shelter from the cold. "We ran from the war one month ago. Here, the problem is hunger. I have seven children and they are eating nothing, they stay hungry. "We left our home in Jindi because of the aerial bombardment near our village - it sounded like a roar and we were ver

Islamist parties in Egypt cannot be lumped together. The Vote Compass analysis reveals that four types of political Islam can be distinguished. While some of them only reluctantly embrace democratic values, others are more liberal in their economic and social stances. Islamic political movements in Egypt could come close to a parliamentary majority and stand a good chance of securing the presidency. In comparison to other parties, they have massive popular support and well organised party structures. The most important Islamist political movements present themselves as democratic and part and parcel of the democratic transition. But to what extent does their political program support liberal democratic ideas? And are they all the same? Four currents of political Islamism Radio Netherlands Worldwide and the Vrije Universiteit (Free University) introduced the Vote Compass in Egypt (www.bosala.org) as an online tool to help voters determine which parties they are closest to. T

MANILA  -  A   suspected   commander   of   the   terrorist   Abu   Sayyaf   Group   was   arrested   early   Friday morning   in   southern   Philippine   province   of   Basilan ,  police   said . Philippine   National   Police   spokesman   Agrimero   Cruz   Jr .  identified   the   suspect   as   Commander Kule   Mamagong ,  alias   Molis   Tahsin / Kule ,  who   was   nabbed   at   Tandung   Ahas   village   in   Lamitan City   at   around  2:15  am   Friday . Mamagong   is   a   member   of   the   Abu   Sayyaf   under   the   leadership   of   the   late   Abdurajak   Janjalani , he   said . He   was   allegedly   involved   in   the   bombing   incident   that   transpired   at   Kidapawan   City   sometime in  2006. The   suspect   was   brought   to   Zamboanga   City   for   documentation   and   proper   disposition ,  Cruz said . Source:  http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2011-12/16/content_14277893.htm

This story from The Sun is interesting: The device was left in a bag at a bus stop hours after Palestinian militants threatened revenge for Israeli raids in Gaza that left eight people dead. It is the first militant attack in Jerusalem for several years. Injured … police help a wounded man The blast happened as passengers were getting on and off the bus as many were leaving work. It was not believed to be the work of a suicide bomber, and police were searching for a suspect seen leaving the area. Speaking from the scene of the blast, Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said: “The bomb was inside a bag, which was left at the bus stop.” Video: Jerusalem bus explosion ONE woman dead and dozens of people injured in blast at crowded station Click here to download the latest flash player. Local police said “dozens” were injured in the blast. The attack comes amid rising tensions between Hamas extremists and Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netan

The Chinese authorities have confiscated copies of a new documentary about overseas Chinese Christians and detained a chief representative of the company that produced and distributed them, reports Barnabas. Jiang Yaxi, the “enterprise legal person” of the Beijing Shamozhihua (Flowers in the Desert) Television and Film Co., was seized from her home by special agents of the Domestic Security Department on 11 November. She had reportedly been under investigation since August over her company’s production and distribution of Beyond by Christian filmmaker the Rev Yuan Zhiming, who was once on the Chinese government’s most-wanted list for his part in the Tiananmen Square democracy movement in 1989. He fled to the United States, and became a Christian two years later. Beyond is a nine-part DVD series that tells the inspirational stories of Chinese people whose lives were transformed when they went to another country and found Christ. In early August, an inspection team from the Be

WUHAN  -  A   man   suspected   of   causing   an   explosion   near   a   State-owned   bank   in   Central   China   this month   was   arrested   on   Friday ,  local   police   said . According   to   Wuhan   police ,  Wang   Haijian ,  the  24 -year-old   suspect ,  confessed   that   his   motive for   the   explosion ,  which   left   two   people   dead   and  15  injured ,  was   to   rob   a   cash   truck ,  police   said The   blast   occurred   outside   a   branch   of   China Construction   Bank   about   5:30   pm   on   Dec   1   in   the Hongshan   district   of   Wuhan ,   capital   of   Hubei province . Lang   Ping ,  a   spokesman   for   the   Wuhan   public security   bureau ,  said   Wang   was   arrested   in Wuhan   General   Hospital   of   Guangzhou   Military Command   when   he   was   sleeping   in   the   waiting room   of   the   hospital . " Wuhan   is   cold   now ,  and   he   did   not   take   a   lot   of personal   belongings   when

It seems that our government has drastically expanded its definition of Domestic Terrorism to include some of the most common practices that millions of Americans engage in on an everyday basis. This is tyranny and subversion of our Constitution and Bill of Rights and all of us should be righteously outraged at the government's meddling in our personal lives. This will begin to sound like a   Jeff Foxworthy   parody of   "You might be  Redneck if""   -- but unfortunately, based on our reading of a recent   Activist Post , all of the above appears to be true and represents the inexorable trend that the United States is taking toward a Fascist/Authoritarian style of governance: You might be a Domestic Terrorist if: 1.  Tea Party Activists:  The political Left demonized peaceful Tea Party activists as right-wing extremists, leading to the second most powerful official in the U.S. government,  VP Joe Biden, to liken them to terrorists .   Do you sympathize with th

When Americans think about the threat from foreign missiles, it’s nearly always the catastrophic effect of a conventional nuclear blast that comes to mind. We think of the doomsday scenarios that have played out in so many movies and TV shows: a nuke explodes over a large city -- leveling buildings, crushing houses and creating a swath of destruction. But that’s not the only threat that can come from a missile fired from a rogue nation, or one that has fallen into the hands of terrorists. We could also fall victim to the devastating effects of an electromagnetic pulse. With an EMP, almost everything powered by electricity would be effectively wiped out -- not physically, but practically. They would simply cease to work. Imagine the havoc this could cause. Your cell phone? Useless. The same goes for your TV, radio and computer. Your car might still run, but good luck driving on roads with no working stoplights, accessing your GPS devices for directions, or buying gasoline from pu

A chimp, a horseman, a New York Times photographer and a high school football team are among the stars of the year’s best. One never really knows what to expect from the Academy’s quirky documentary branch, a portion of which selects the short list from which the five nominees are ultimately selected each year. Of the 15 on the list this year, I think that five stand apart from the rest: Critics’ Choice Award best doc nominee and Boston Society of Film Critics best doc winner  Project Nim ,  James Marsh ’s follow-up to his 2008 best doc Oscar winner  Man on Wire , which revisits a decades-long experiment on a chimpanzee to see whether or not he could communicate with humans; Critics’ Choice Award best doc nominee Buck ,  Cindy Meehl ’s profile of famed “horse whisperer”  Buck Brannaman ;  If a Tree Falls , a look at a landmark “eco-terrorism” case from 2005 best doc Oscar nominee  Marshall Curry ; Boston Society of Film Critics best doc runner-up  Bill Cunningham New York ,  Richa

More than 40 human rights organisations from around the world, including Amnesty International and Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), are marking the 63rd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by calling for international action to stop crimes against humanity perpetrated by North Korea’s dictatorship. The International Coalition to Stop Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea (ICNK), which was launched in Tokyo on September 8, 2011, is campaigning for the establishment of a United Nations Commission of Inquiry into crimes against humanity in North Korea. North Korea is widely recognised to have one of the worst human rights records in the world. As countries celebrate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on International Human Rights Day today (December 10), the ICNK calls on the international community to immediately investigate the widespread and systematic use of torture, arbitrary detention, abduction and public executions carried out by the North K

Two men have been treated for burns and fragment injuries following an explosion in the food court of the Westfield Belconnen Mall. Witnesses report the blast occurred at about 1pm near Donut King, breaking glass and producing a cloud of smoke.ACT Policing have cordoned off the area following the incident, which Sergeant Steve Booth said was caused by cap gun ammunition. Sergeant Booth said a 30-year-old man was in the food court when the bag of cap gun ammunition he was carrying was detonated. Sergeant Booth said ACT Policing could not confirm the reason for the detonation, but would be continuing their investigations to ensure it was not "untoward or malicious". "It's certainly unusual," he said. "We will be conducting a full investigation into the matter to determine exactly why this has happened and if there is any reasonable cause for it." One witness, Simon, said the explosion happened within two metres of the Donut King store.

The government's confused strategy has made little headway against the Boko Haram militia's shootings and bombings across northern Nigeria. The security services have turned the capital, Abuja, into an armed camp replete with spy cameras at major road junctions. On 13 December, President Goodluck Jonathan announced that the government would spend a staggering 921 billion naira (US$5.5 bn.) of the N4,749 bn. budget for 2012 on the armed forces and security services. This is a Boko Haram campaign bonanza for the generals and private security companies but the huge diversion of resources will not achieve its aims without a clear strategy to address the grievances that the militants exploit. Throwing money and soldiers at Boko Haram may in the short term deter it from more spectacular attacks on landmark buildings in the capital but will do little to hold back operations from its base in north-eastern Nigeria. Well targeted attacks by the Islamist militants exacerbate the