Terrorism Watch

ATHENS, Greece - The Greek Golden Dawn party called for a boycott of Estee Lauder cosmetic products after World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder urged Greece to ban the neo-Nazi group. Due to the “hostile attack on Greek sovereignty, freedom, and interests, Lauder’s cosmetics monopoly Estee Lauder must be boycotted,” said a statement on the website of Golden Dawn’s New York branch. Lauder, speaking at a ceremony on March 17 to commemorate the destruction of the historic Jewish community in Thessaloniki by the Nazis, called on Greece to take a tougher stance against Golden Dawn. Golden Dawn erupted onto the political scene last year, winning 7 percent of the vote, or 18 seats, in the 300-member Parliament. Recent polls have indicated the party, which runs on a fierce anti-immigrant platform, now has between 14 to 18 percent of the population’s support. Jewish and international groups have condemned Golden Dawn as being racist and anti-Semitic. Golden Dawn slammed Laude

Supporters of the extreme-right Golden Dawn party hold flares as they chant the national anthem, during a rally over the crisis in Cyprus, outside the German emapassy Athens. Investigators said they had found neo-Nazi propaganda, a T-shirt and scarf from neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn and baseball bats at the home of two of the suspects, aged 17 and 21. Supporters of Golden Dawn have in the past protested over bailout deals imposed on Greece, and last week rallied in Athens against proposed EU-IMF terms to rescue ally Cyprus. Since then, a deal to rescue the debt-laden island has been reached that sees depositors with more than 100,000 euros in the top two banks --including Bank of Cyprus -- face losing some of their money. The three young people were detained as they were escaping by motorbike after having set on fire the subsidiary's ATM in the coastal port city of Volos. Golden Dawn has increased in popularity in Greece as the country suffers through its sixth year of rec

Myanmar President Thein Sein said yesterday his reformist government would not tolerate religious extremism, following a fresh wave of deadly sectarian violence. “I would like to warn all political opportunists and religious extremists who try to exploit the noble teachings of these religions and have tried to plant hatred among people of different faiths for their own self-interest: their efforts will not be tolerated,” he said in a televised address to the nation. Earlier, Myanmar’s Muslim leaders appealed to the president to take swift action to quell religious violence, accusing security forces of standing by as rioters went on a rampage. “These violent attacks include crimes such as arson and massacres which deserve heavy penalties,” four groups including the Islamic Religious Affairs Council and the Myanmar Muslim National Affairs Organisation wrote in an open letter to the president. “However, in this situation the authorities neglected to take swift and effective action aga

It’s not hard to find extremists on the internet. But it’s really hard finding out who’s the most successful at spreading extremism, which can make counteracting their influence difficult. Now a pair of researchers think they’ve figured out how to do it — which could make extremist threats easier to identify and block. The researchers also discovered some peculiar data about how extremists on both the far right and left use Twitter and how online extremist networks are organized. In a new report, terrorism analyst J.M. Berger his co-author Bill Strathearn found that traditional leaders on the far right are losing influence to new forms of extremist media, spread online by a small group of influential activists who are relative unknowns, but can communicate to a much larger audience of potential recruits. These activists are even attempting to make inroads into mainstream politics. The team began by collecting 12 Twitter accounts owned by prominent self-identified white supremacist

WASHINGTON - The United States is deliberately sparring with Al-Qaeda supporters and militants online aiming to shoot down extremist messages and win over hearts and minds, a US official said Wednesday. Seeking out the virtual spaces where "Al-Qaeda and its supporters lurk" is part of America's strategy to combat violent extremism, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara Sonenshine told students at the University of Maryland. "We robustly engage with them in chat forums in Arabic, Somali, Punjabi and Urdu," she explained. "By targeting the hardliners, we are really trying to reach the middle grounders, the fence sitters, the sympathizers and passive supporters." Last year, staff at the new Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications, which reports directly to Sonenshine, wrote some 7,000 posts on different online forums. "When we counter unfounded rumors, propaganda and conspiracy theories with facts, truth

Peshawar, Pakistan (CNN) -- The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for a blast that killed 10 people near the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar on Friday. A suicide bomber rode a motorbike up to a security checkpoint a third of a mile from the consulate and detonated 22 pounds of explosives attached to his body, police spokesman Mohammad Faisal said. Along with those killed, the strike also injured 31 others, Pakistani military officials said. Violent attacks occur frequently around Peshawar, which is in Pakistan's northwest near the border with Afghanistan and adjacent to Pakistan's tribal region. Among the dead were four men and two women. No one from the consulate was injured in the blast, military officials said. Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan passed along the claim of responsibility to CNN in a phone conversation. A week ago, a car bomb exploded at a nearby camp for internally displaced people, killing 12 and injuring 32 others. The Jalozai camp houses hundreds of

Associated Press | Updated: March 29, 2013 17:46 IST Baghdad: Iraqi officials say four car bombs have struck Shiite mosques in Baghdad, killing at least 19 people and wounding 72. A police officer says the deadliest bombing was in western Jihad neighborhood when a parked car bomb exploded as worshippers were leaving a mosque after Friday prayers. Seven people died there and 25 were wounded. Another police officer says four worshippers were killed and nearly 20 were wounded in a bombing in eastern Qahira neighborhood. He says three people died and 15 were wounded in the eastern Zafaraniyah district and that another car bomb killed five and wounded 14 in the northeastern Binook neighborhood. Three health officials confirmed the causality figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to talk to the media. Story first published: March 29, 2013 17:30 IST Source http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/car-bombs-kill-19-wound-72-in-baghdad-official

March 23, 2013 11:03 am Tak - The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Saturday dispatched two teams of rescue staffs to provide 800 tents to help over 2,300 Karen refugees whose shelters in a refugee camp were destroyed by a massive fire Friday night. A UNHCR official said Saturday 32 refugees were killed and four others were severely injured in the fire that ravaged through the Baan Mae Surin refugee camp, located in Khun Yuam district of Mae Hong Son. The official said the fire caused over 400 families of the refugees to have no shelter. Mae Hong Son Governor Naruemol Palwat Saturday visited the camp to hand out clothes to the refugees and held a meeting of government agencies concerned with NGOs and the UNHCR officials to discuss how to provide further assistance to the refugees. Source http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/UNHCR-provides-800-tents-to-help-Karen-refugees-30202584.html

March 29, 2013 12:32 pm Kuala Lumpur - Thailand and Muslim rebel negotiators have agreed to meet again next month after a meeting in Malaysia aimed at ending nearly a decade of insurgency that has killed thousands of people in southern Thailand, a joint statement said Friday. Peace negotiators for the Thai government and Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) said they have agreed on the terms of reference for the negotiations and have agreed to meet on April 29, the statement said. Thursday’s discussions focused on "approaches towards solving theissues of violence and stability in South Thailand," the negotiators said. Both sides exchanged views "in an open and sincere manner," it said.//DPA Source http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/Thailand-Muslim-rebels-agree-to-resume-peace-talks-30202970.html

Associated Press | Updated: March 29, 2013 11:33 IST Peshawar: Police say a suicide bomber attacked a security convoy in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least six people, including two women. Police official Dost Mohammed Khan says the attacker was targeting Abdul Majeed Marwat, the head of a paramilitary police force called the Frontier Constabulary. Marwat was not hurt in the attack, which occurred on Friday in the main northwest city of Peshawar. Khan says the dead included three members of the security forces and three civilians. Two of the civilians were women. Over 15 people were wounded. No group has claimed responsibility. Peshawar is located on the border with Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal region, the main sanctuary for Taliban militants in the country. The Pakistani Taliban have carried out many bombings in the city targeting both security forces and civilians. Source http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/suicide-attack-targets-pakistan-police-commander-six-

David E. Sanger and Nicole Perlroth, The New York Times | Updated: March 29, 2013 11:32 IST American Express customers trying to gain access to their online accounts Thursday were met with blank screens or an ominous ancient type face. The company confirmed that its website had come under attack. The assault, which took American Express offline for two hours, was the latest in an intensifying campaign of unusually powerful attacks on U.S. financial institutions that began last September and have taken dozens of them offline intermittently, costing millions of dollars. JPMorgan Chase was taken offline by a similar attack this month. And last week, a separate, aggressive attack incapacitated 32,000 computers at South Korea's banks and television networks. The culprits of these attacks, officials and experts say, appear intent on disabling financial transactions and operations. Corporate leaders have long feared online attacks aimed at financial fraud or economic espionage,

RANCHI /NEW DELHI: At least ten   Maoists including some senior leaders of the CPI (Maoist) were killed in a pitched gun battle with rival faction,   TritiyaPrastuti   Committee ( TPC ), in Jharkhand   on Thursday. This is one of the rare instances when Maoists have lost several of their top leaders in an internecine fight that has dealt a body blow to the banned outfit.   Among the 10 dead, security forces have identified three top leaders -Lalesh Yadav alias Prashant, state secretary (Madhya zone, Bihar Regional Committee) and closest aide of Latehar encounter leader Arvindji, Dharmendra Yadav alias Veeru, member of sub-zonal committee of Eastern Palamu zone and Jai Kumar Yadav, a 'platoon commander'. Prafulla, a sub-zonal committee member, is also suspected to be among the dead. But several bodies are still to be identified. Self-styled TPC area commander Ajayji, however, said that 15 Maoists had been killed and another 10 taken hostage, but police declined to confirm the

Last updated 9 hours ago Yaccoub admitted belonging to Hezbollah, but denied plotting attacks A Cypriot court has jailed a member of the Lebanese militant Shia movement Hezbollah for three years for plotting to attack Israeli targets there. Hossam Taleb Yaccoub, a Lebanese Swedish national, admitted collecting information on Israeli tourists, but denied planning to attack them. The court heard how Hezbollah paid him to carry out six missions since 2011. Israel says Hezbollah has been behind a string of attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world. Hezbollah, which has been designated a terrorist organisation by a number of governments, has denied the accusations. Yaccoub, 24, said he had been asked to record information about Israeli flights arriving on the island, and registration plates of buses carrying tourists from Israel. He said he did not know what the information was intended for. In convicting Yaccoub, the court in Limassol said: "There is

Last updated 9 hours ago Yaccoub admitted belonging to Hezbollah, but denied plotting attacks A Cypriot court has jailed a member of the Lebanese militant Shia movement Hezbollah for three years for plotting to attack Israeli targets there. Hossam Taleb Yaccoub, a Lebanese Swedish national, admitted collecting information on Israeli tourists, but denied planning to attack them. The court heard how Hezbollah paid him to carry out six missions since 2011. Israel says Hezbollah has been behind a string of attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world. Hezbollah, which has been designated a terrorist organisation by a number of governments, has denied the accusations. Yaccoub, 24, said he had been asked to record information about Israeli flights arriving on the island, and registration plates of buses carrying tourists from Israel. He said he did not know what the information was intended for. In convicting Yaccoub, the court in Limassol said: "There is

Last updated 28-Mar-2013 1:53 PM IST The divers are alleged to have cut a cable belonging to Egypt's main telecom company Egyptian authorities say they have arrested three divers trying to cut through an undersea internet cable. The men were caught on a fishing boat just off the port city of Alexandria, said military spokesman Col Ahmed Mohammed Ali. The damaged cable caused a drop in the speed of online services in Egypt and some other countries, said Egyptian news agency Mena. It was unclear whether the incident was linked to cables damaged last Friday. At the time, cable operator Seacom said several lines connecting Europe with Africa, the Middle East and Asia were hit, also slowing down internet services, reported Reuters news agency. The cable hit in Wednesday's apparent sabotage was the South East Asia Middle East Western Europe 4 (SEA-ME-WE 4) - one of the main cables snaking under the Mediterranean, Mena said. The attack took place some 750m (820 yards)

Last updated 11 minutes ago Eric Harroun had allegedly fought in Syria after crossing the border in Turkey A former US soldier has been charged with using a weapon outside the US as he fought against Syrian government forces, prosecutors say. Eric Harroun, 30, served in the US Army from 2000-2003, and allegedly fought in Syria with the al-Nusra Front. Al-Nusra is deemed a terror group by the US as an alias of al-Qaeda in Iraq. As the US calls for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, it has also expressed concern about militant groups fighting in Syria. If convicted, Mr Harroun would face a maximum sentence of life in prison. He was arrested as he returned to the US on Wednesday. 'Days are numbered' According to a criminal complaint, Mr Harroun is accused of crossing into Syria in January 2013 and fighting alongside members of Jabhat al-Nusra (the Nusra Front) against Mr Assad's forces. He is specifically charged with "conspiring to use a wea

Last updated 5 hours ago Eastern DR Congo has been gripped by war for some two decades The UN Security Council has approved the creation of a special combat force to carry out "targeted offensive operations" against armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It is the first time the UN has given an offensive mandate to its troops. The 2,500-strong brigade will be asked to "neutralise and disarm" rebels. The existing 20,000-strong UN peacekeeping force has been widely criticised as ineffective in ending the two-decade long war. Troops from Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa are due to form the bulk of the new brigade which is expected to be deployed by July. The region's mineral riches have been plundered by numerous groups and countries during the long conflict. The resolution, unanimously adopted by the Security Council, says the new force will operate "in a robust, highly mobile and versatile manner... to prevent expansion o

Last updated 54 minutes ago Campaigners in the US have been lobbying the White House to back a treaty Iran, North Korea and Syria have blocked what would have been the first treaty to regulate the $70bn (£46bn) global trade in conventional arms. The draft would require states to ensure that conventional weapons are not transferred across borders if they are to be used in human rights abuses. Supporters were hoping to secure the backing of all 193 UN member states. They are now expected to take the draft to the UN General Assembly, where it will likely pass by a large majority. "This is not a failure, today is success deferred and deferred by not very long," said the chief UK negotiator, Jo Adamson, who called the draft a "good, strong treaty". Diplomats have worked for nearly a decade to agree on a set of principles to stop the unchecked flow of arms, and the BBC's Nada Tawfik reports from New York that on Thursday many believed the treaty was clos

Most Britons may support killing terrorists by whatever means, a poll shows, but such acts always come with 'collateral damage' 'The bombing of Dresden in 1945 showed that in trying to destroy the bad guys, the good guys are inevitably affected – just as civilians in London and Coventry were killed by the German bombing campaigns.' Photograph: Walter Hahn/AFP/Getty Images A survey carried out for the defence policy thinktank RUSI has found that the British public is broadly supportive of the assassination of terrorists both at home and abroad. It is even more at ease with the targeting of kidnappers and pirates. Those polled seemed split on the concept of the assassination of scientists working on Iran's nuclear programme. This seems, on the whole, to suggest that our nation is happy to kill the bad guys as long as we miss the good guys. I would say that it never quite works out that way. The bombing

BAGRAM, Afghanistan (March 28, 2013) - Afghan and Coalition Forces found and safely cleared 13 improvised explosive devices and detained one suspected insurgent during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours, March 27. Ghazni Province Afghan National Security Forces found and safely cleared three IEDs during operations in the Waghaz District. Khowst Province Afghan and Coalition Forces found and safely cleared an IED during operations in the Bak District. Kunar Province Afghan National Security Forces found and safely cleared an IED during operations in the Sar Kani District. Paktika Province Afghan and Coalition Forces found and safely cleared five IEDs during operations in the Khoshamond District. Afghan and Coalition Forces found and safely cleared an IED during operations in the Shwak District. Afghan and Coalition Forces detained one suspected insurgent during operations in the Shwak District. The suspected insurgent was transferred to a base f

Obama administration reliance on drones to fight al-Qaida and Islamic militants sees drones spread to Africa New frontier ... A motorcyclist rides past a military base in Niamey, Niger. The hangar from which Predator drones operate can be seen on the right. Photograph: Craig Whitlock/The Washington Post The newest outpost in the US government's empire of drone bases sits behind a razor-wire-topped wall outside this west African capital , blasted by 40C heat and the occasional sandstorm blowing from the Sahara. The US air force began flying a handful of unarmed Predator drones from here last month. The grey, mosquito-shaped aircraft emerge sporadically from a borrowed hangar and soar north in search of al-Qaida fighters and guerrillas from other groups hiding in the region's deserts and hills. The harsh terrain of north and west Africa is rapidly emerging as yet another front in the long-running US

Al-Arabiya reported Thursday morning that the Syrian Free Army has shot down an Iranian cargo plane over Damascus Airport. The plane managed to land but burst into flames upon landing. Large parts of the airport were reported to be on fire, including the main arrivals hall. The report said the plane was en route from Iran and was loaded with weapons for the Syrian military. Al-Arabiya said the Syrian Free Army rebels used anti-aircraft missiles to shoot the plane down. Iran has not commented on the report. Damascus has been the scene of a fierce fighting between rebels and government troops in recent days. Al Arabiya has shown numerous videos of the fighting. At least 118 people were killed on Wednesday.  Source: http://www.uskowioniran.com/2013/03/syrian-rebels-shot-down-iranian-plane.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+UskowiOnIran+%28Uskowi+on+Iran%29

Syrian refugees protest against poor conditions in Turkish camps, throwing rocks at police and smashing windows. Camp residents said the protest began after a fire broke out in a tent due to faulty electrics [Al Jazeera] Syrian refugees threw rocks at Turkish military police who fired teargas and water cannon, the latest unrest in camps struggling to cope with a flood of people fleeing a civil war. Reuters TV filmed the scenes at the Suleiman Shah refugee camp on Wednesday, near the Turkish town of Akcakale on the Syrian border, as dozens of protesters threw stones and smashed the windows of a fire truck. Camp residents said young men started the protest after faulty electrics set a tent on fire which injured three brothers aged seven, 18 and 19. A Turkish official said a "commotion" had broken out after the fire, but that the situation was now under control and declined to give further details. Outraged refugees Another Turkish official said the

  Zupljanin (left) and Stanisic were found guilty of crimes committed across Bosnia in 1992   Two former top Bosnian Serb officials have been convicted by the war crimes tribunal in The Hague over atrocities committed during the Bosnian conflict of the 1990s. Both Mico Stanisic and Stojan Zupljanin were sentenced to 22 years in jail. Stanisic was interior minister of the Bosnian Serb republic and Zupljanin a senior security official. The court said both took part in a campaign to remove Muslims, Croats and other non-Serbs from the region. They were convicted of crimes against humanity including acts of murder, torture, unlawful detention, deportation and plunder in various parts of Bosnia in 1992. In its ruling, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said the two had taken part in a "joint criminal enterprise with the objective to permanently remove non-Serbs from the territory of a planned Serbian state". S

Increase in Arms Smuggling Portends Push on Capital On Monday, it was revealed that the CIA is overseeing what is being called a “sharp” increase in weapons being smuggled to the Syrian rebels from abroad. Officials are not only confirming this, but say it is part of a specific policy to set up an attack on the capita l. Syria’s government has mostly given up on fighting rebels in small battles nationwide, and has the bulk of its military forces in and around the capital city of Damascus. Arab officials say the surge in arms is part of a “master plan” to conquer Damascus militarily. Exactly when the attack will come is still unclear, and the officials say it would take “days or weeks” for the push to begin in earnest. With Syria’s military having plenty of time to dig in around the capital, it could be a bloody siege indeed. It does explain rebel interest in seizing the border zones with Turkey and Jordan, since the weapons are pouring in now on both fronts. Thoug

Elie is grateful that losing his arm won't stop him from kicking a football around [Azad Essa/AlJazeera] As Congolese rebel group M23 marched into the provincial capital of Goma last November, the city went limp with uncertainty. The ease with which Goma was taken sent shockwaves across the world, and shivers through central and east Africa. Once more, the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo had been thrust into an unseemly tug-of-war between the state and rebel militia. While analysts weighed the possible repercussions of the M23 occupation on the stability of the Congolese government, Goma residents struggled to go about their lives on the fringe of conflict.  And as mortars landed in the marketplace and stray bullets ripped through thinly walled mud-hut homes, the number of wounded piled up.  Doctors say the city was in complete lockdown in the days following the arrival of M23.  On the outskirts of the city, where some of the fiercest fight