Terrorism Watch

Muslim students can choose to be separated from their Christian classmates and given an hour-long class of Islamic studies. The government claims students will be taught more about the Koran based on a "moderate" reinterpretation based on equality and human rights. But critics say the guidelines will discourage Westernisation and integration - which they believe are better ideals to promote in order to combat Islamic extremism. The Spanish government has published new guidelines for tax-payer funded Islamic lessons in public pre-schools, primary and secondary schools across the country. GETTY The students will be taken out of classes and separated from their Christian classmates According to translations by the Gatestone Institute of the state gazette, the guidelines call for primary school children to "recognise Mohammed as the final prophet sent by Allah and accept him as the most important." It will also teach youngsters that "the Koran is a gu

GENEVA: The vast majority of victims of violent extremism worldwide are Muslims and the objective of extremists "is for us to turn on each other (and) our unity is the ultimate rebuke for that bankrupt strategy," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday. He underscored that the action plan he presented to the United Nations General Assembly in January contains concrete recommendations and could be the basis of a global partnership to defeat violent extremism. While it may be inevitable to draw on examples, such as Islamic State (IS) or Boko Haram, "the phenomenon of violent extremism conducive to terrorism is not rooted or confined to any religion, region, nationality or ethnic group," The Secretary-General told the Geneva Conference on Preventing Violent Extremism - The Way Forward, co-hosted by the Government of Switzerland and the UN. Ban stressed: "Let us also recognise that today, the vast majority of victims worldwide are Muslims." Violent e

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's top diplomat Sartaj Aziz was left red-faced when the Afghanistan envoy here accused Islamabad of being the main hurdle in achieving peace with the Taliban and blamed the tensions in bilateral ties for the lack of progress in the long-stalled peace process. Afghan Ambassador Omar Zakhilwal, who shared the dais with Aziz at a panel discussion at the Jinnah Institute here, said it was important to build an environment of trust given the main hurdle to peace in the region was a trust-deficit with Pakistan, embarrassing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Adviser on Foreign Affairs. "It was important for both sides to talk to each other, and not at each other," he said at the discussion titled 'From Winter to Spring: Revisiting the Afghan Question'. He said there was a need for genuine and frank dialogue between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Without peace in Afghanistan, there could be no peace in Pakistan, Zakhilwal said and added that his m

Extremists from Al-Qaeda in southern Yemen have executed at least 15 soldiers loyal to the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, Reuters reports, citing official sources. The soldiers were seized by the extremists, who were traveling via the city of Ahwar, in Abyan province, which is under control of the jihadists. The victims were taken to a remote island and killed by firing squad, locals and officials said, adding that other 17 soldiers were injured. Source:  https://www.rt.com/news/line/

Washington, April.9 : Warning that violence remains a significant threat in Pakistan, the United States has asked its citizens hold off on all non-essential travel to Islamabad. "Pakistan continues to experience significant terrorist violence, including sectarian attacks. Several foreign and indigenous terrorist groups continue to pose a danger to the US citizens throughout the country," Dawn quoted the State Department as saying on Thursday. The State Department's statement further tightens a previous warning issued on August 28 last year. It also said that the Pakistani government continued to enforce blasphemy laws and religious minorities had been victims of targeted killings and accusations of blasphemy. Noting that even heavily guarded facilities which included military installations and airports had faced armed assaults, the State Department asserted that terrorists had also attacked universities, schools, rallies, places of worship, and large marketplaces in sev

I used to be a feminist, but I gave it up so I could speak out for women’s rights. Even before the “intersectional”, “how many genders are there?” lunacy took over, feminism was filled to bursting with types who think men are misogynists who all secretly want to rape us (this despite the fact that men are among the greatest supporters of women’s rights) and a happily married mother is some kind of traitor. The kind of people, in other words, who nobody in their right mind could possibly get along with. While I will always speak out for women to maintain our just civil rights, I do want Sharia Watch to spend significantly more time on freedom of speech (we will run an autumn campaign ‘Islam Kills Free Speech’) and the impact of Islam on children, but before I do, I intend to spend the summer doing something very important – informing the ludicrous feminists of today of something they desperately need to know: Islam Kills Women. Islam Kills Women is a joint effort between Sharia

The killing of 28-year-old Nazimuddin Samad on Wednesday night follows a string of similar attacks last year, when at least five secular bloggers and publishers were killed allegedly by radical Islamists. According to SITE Intelligence monitoring group, Ansar al-Islam, the Bangladesh division of al-Qaida, or AQIS, said in a statement posted online on Friday that its members carried out the attack in “vengeance.” It said that Samad “abused” God, the Prophet Muhammad, and Islam. It cited three examples from Samad’s Facebook page without giving the text of his posts. “This operation was conducted to teach a lesson to the blasphemers of this land whose poisonous tongues are constantly abusing Allah, the religion of Islam and the Messenger under the pretext of so-called freedom of speech,” the statement said. It could not be verified independently. Bangladeshi police declined to comment about the statement Saturday, but said they were investigating.  Some Bangladeshi media on Saturday

A police operation is currently underway in the Brussels district of Etterbeek, local media have reported, adding that at least 50 police officers, including snipers and deminers have been deployed. Local residents have also reportedly been evacuated. Emergency services have been seen in the area, RTBF TV channel reports. RTBF info   ✔ ‎@RTBFinfo Une importante opération policière est en cours à Etterbeek http://www. rtbf.be/info/societe/d etail_une-importante-operation-policiere-est-en-cours-a-etterbeek?id=9264441  … 5:09 PM - 9 Apr 2016 Une importante opération policière est en cours à Etterbeek Une importante opération policière serait en cours à Etterbeek. Selon des témoins sur place, des riverains ont été évacués, une cinquantaine de policiers sont présents, dont des démineurs et des... rtbf.be RTBF reported that at 1.30pm local time (11:30 GMT) the deminers left the scene, but the area remains cordoned off. The operation comes less tha

TV broadcaster Nadine Al-Budair implores Muslims to acknowledge that "we are the ones who gave birth" to the terrorists who committed recent attacks in Europe. An anchor on a Saudi television news channel this week implored her fellow Muslims to acknowledge that "we are the ones who gave birth" to the terrorists who committed recent attacks in Europe.  In a fiery three-minute address allegedly interrupting routine broadcast on Sunday, the Rotana Khalijiya TV anchor Nadine Al-Budair went to task against apologists who claim terrorists have no connection to Islam or Muslims.  In a clip of the broadcaster's speech translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Al-Budair called for the Muslim world to stop "shedding their conscience" and start feeling a collective "shame."   "Whenever terrorism massacres peaceful civilians, the smart alecks and the hypocrites vie with one another in saying that these people do not represe

Former soldier Abigail Austen returns to Afghanistan 15 months after the troops withdrew, honouring this programme’s reputation for rigorous and humane reporting “When I left Kandahar, I thought we were winning.” Abigail Austen joined Nato’s forces in 2011 and served alongside US and Afghan forces for four years in the Helmand and Kandahar provinces. She returned there – along with director Will West – for last night’s  Unreported World (Channel 4) , to see how the place has fared since British and American troops withdrew 15 months ago. Not well, is the short answer, as you might have heard. But nothing ever compares to Unreported World, which is always rigorous, dynamic, dangerous, humane and a miracle of compression. In 24 minutes, Austen interviewed medics, pilots, generals and ordinary people caught in the warzone, outlined the history of the conflict, laid out the current problems both chronic and acute and accompanied soldiers on three missions. Helicopters collected c

By Yara Bayoumy, Noah Browning and Mohammed Ghobari DUBAI/CAIRO (Reuters) - Once driven to near irrelevance by the rise of Islamic State abroad and security crackdowns at home, al Qaeda in Yemen now openly rules a mini-state with a war chest swollen by an estimated $100 million in looted bank deposits and revenue from running the country's third largest port. If Islamic State's capital is the Syrian city of Raqqa, then al Qaeda's is Mukalla, a southeastern Yemeni port city of 500,000 people. Al Qaeda fighters there have abolished taxes for local residents, operate speedboats manned by RPG-wielding fighters who impose fees on ship traffic, and make propaganda videos in which they boast about paving local roads and stocking hospitals. The economic empire was described by more than a dozen diplomats, Yemeni security officials, tribal leaders and residents of Mukalla. Its emergence is the most striking unintended consequence of the Saudi-led military intervention in

PARIS (Reuters) - France's foreign minister on Friday ruled out launching air strikes or sending troops on the ground to tackle Islamic State in Libya, but said it could help secure the U.N.-brokered national unity government in Tripoli. Western powers are backing the unity government, hoping it will seek foreign support to confront Islamic State militants, deal with migrant flows from Libya to Europe and restore oil production to shore up Libya's economy. However, there are fears that direct military intervention could worsen the situation especially if a political vacuum remains in the country. "We shouldn't make the same mistakes as in the past. If you're imagining air strikes, ground troops, that's not on the table. It's not France's position anyway," Jean-Marc Ayrault told France Info radio. "However, to secure the government, if Mr (Fayez) Seraj (head of the unity government) asks for international help then we'll study

Baghdad (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry vowed Friday that America and Iraq will "turn up the pressure" on the Islamic State jihadist group, and said that retaking its stronghold Mosul is a "top" priority. "In the coming weeks and months, the coalition will work with Iraq to turn up the pressure even further. We will continue targeting and taking out (IS's) leaders, and we will train local forces to take and hold more ground," Kerry told journalists in Baghdad. Kerry said that retaking Mosul, the jihadists' main stronghold in Iraq, "is at the top of the list in terms of priority." But operations aimed at recapturing the city are still in the early phase, he said. Kerry arrived in Baghdad on Friday for an unannounced visit, his first to the country since 2014. He met with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Nechirvan Barzani, the prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdis