Terrorism Watch

US protesters have staged a rally against police brutality in San Francisco, California, on the death anniversary of an African-American man killed by police. Community members and Mario Woods’ family marched on Friday to the location where the young black man was shot, chanting slogans and demanding justice for him. The Reverend Ben McBride opened the proceedings with a prayer and chants that energized the group. “Say his name!” McBride shouted. “Mario Woods!” the mourners shouted back. The rally comes at a time when anti-police sentiment is high across the US due to a surge of unjustified killings of unarmed African Americans and other minorities over the past several years. Last year, Woods, 26, was fatally shot by five San Francisco police officers, a shooting that sparked outrage, national attention and unprecedented police reform in the city after it was captured on video. Activists say the video showed police using excessive force, shooting at least 27 times

The rise of populist and extremist political forces in the West and racist attacks can be countered by addressing the concerns of the people who feel they did not benefit from globalisation, former British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Saturday. Cameron acknowledged he had lost his job because of a “populist upsurge” in Britain, and said the struggle against racism and intolerance is “never entirely won” and has to be fought by every generation. “I think the answer is you have to condemn the racism, the xenophobia, the discrimination, but you have to take away from the populists the mainstream issues that give them a proper platform,” he said at the second and final day of the 14th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit. Then, he said, “these people are left only with their unpleasant and discriminatory views”. Cameron was responding to a question on how extreme rightwing views were entering the political mainstream across the world, accompanied by a spike in attacks on min

French President François Hollande’s decision to not make a bid for a second term in office is unsurprising. In the last leg of a term marred by economic uncertainty, high unemployment rates, workers’ strikes, infighting within the ruling party and personal scandal, Mr. Hollande’s approval ratings are abysmally low — as low as 4 per cent in some polls. Moreover, several former cabinet colleagues have said they would run against him in the Socialist Party primaries. It would have been humiliating for a sitting President to go through the primaries to win party nomination. Now, with Mr. Hollande deciding to keep out, the Socialists have the opportunity to put up a united fight under another candidate, most likely Prime Minister Manuel Valls, in the April presidential elections. Still, the left is likely to find it difficult to win back popularity in a campaign in which the agenda is largely being set by the conservatives and the far right. Mr. Hollande’s administration must share some

Suu Kyi on Friday appealed for understanding of her nation's ethnic complexities, and said the world should not forget the military operation was launched in response to attacks on security forces that the government has blamed on Muslim insurgents. "I would appreciate it so much if the international community would help us to maintain peace and stability, and to make progress in building better relations between the two communities, instead of always drumming up cause for bigger fires of resentment," Suu Kyi told Singapore state-owned broadcaster Channel News Asia during a visit to the city-state. "It doesn't help if everybody is just concentrating on the negative side of the situation, in spite of the fact that there were attacks against police outposts." The violence in the northwest poses the biggest challenge so far to Suu Kyi's eight-month-old government, and has renewed international criticism that the Nobel Peace Prize winner has done

It was a passion for the Kurdish cause that drove Californian Michael Israel to fight on the front lines in northern Syria against the Islamic State group. Israel, 26, died fighting for that mission. Kurdish authorities late this week identified Israel and German national Anton Leschek as two foreign volunteer fighters killed last month while fighting with a Kurdish militia against IS. Israel, who called himself by a Kurdish name, Robin Agiri, was traveling November 24 with a Kurdish unit of the People's Protection Units, or YPG, near Arima, a village 13 miles northeast of the IS-held city of al-Bab. The unit came under attack from a Turkish airstrike. Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist organization and an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in Turkey. Ankara fears that a strong Kurdish entity in northern Syria will empower Kurdish rebels in Turkey who are engaged in a bloody conflict with Turkish forces. Foreign fighters Contacted by VOA,

But she has also called for global intervention to mitigate the crisis. The Myanmar army has declared the Muslim Rohingya-majority northern Rakhine state as an "operations zone", where it claims to be battling Islamist insurgents. The crackdown began after border police nine personnel were killed in attacks by 'insurgents' at three outposts on Oct 9. "I have instructed the intelligence agencies. If any of them (terrorist) enters Bangladesh, then they will be arrested," Hasina told a media conference on Saturday. Hundreds of Rohingya Muslims are trying to flee the crackdown in an attempt to escape an upsurge of violence. Authorities have confirmed 86 deaths and said that 69 of them were suspected militants. Rights groups claim the number of deaths is much higher. Myanmar has also rebuffed claims by human rights groups of rape, arson and killing of civilians. Speaking at the press conference, Hasina said that the global community needs to in

Police have detained a person over the arson at Bochaganj Upazila early on Saturday. The fire service said they were informed of the incident at a cleaners' colony around 3:45am. Fire-fighters managed to put out the flames within an hour, said Bochaganj Fire Service's Station Minister Shamsul Alam. He said that ten houses in the colony have been completely gutted. One 'Jewel' has been detained over the incident. "Jewel is a notorious criminal, who showed up with a sharp weapons and threatened the colony residents after the fire, but he  was nabbed and handed to police," said local Councillor Jahangir Alam Liton. One of the colony residents said Jewel had earlier threatened to evict them. "He had also beaten up the colony residents at that time," said Sohal Baskar, whose home was damaged in Saturday's arson. Additional Superintendent of Police Mahfuz Zaman said they have stepped up security measures following the incide

Better education and vocational training are not enough to steer young people in Somalia away from radical and violent groups such as al-Shabab. Instead they must be combined with opportunities to take part in community and civic projects in order to reduce violence, a new report has found. This is the main conclusion of the “ Critical Choices ” study by international aid agency  Mercy Corps , which collates the findings of an impact evaluation of their five year USAID-funded Somali Youth Leaders Initiative.   The report found that interventions that combined secondary education with civic engagement opportunities — such as taking part in local sanitation and hygiene campaigns or planting trees in school grounds — led to a 14 percent reduction in young people’s propensity to participate in violence, and a 20 percent drop in their likelihood of supporting violence.   In contrast, the results showed that while better access to secondary education by itself reduced actual particip

A biting winter's chill seeps through embattled Aleppo as a city braces itself for what could be the worst months of a war approaching its sixth year. Driving into government-controlled west Aleppo, through military checkpoints, a landscape of skeletal buildings is a monument to Syria's spiral into violence. The fate of Syria's second city now looms as a bellwether for the course of this confrontation - ominous for some, enticing for others. "By the end of December, we'll drink wine to celebrate a new year, and our triumph," says a young soldier standing by a green bus plastered with photographs of a smiling President Bashar al-Assad. Syrian forces, bolstered by Iranian-backed militias and Russian air cover, are advancing with speed across a swathe of rebel-held territory in eastern Aleppo. Many predict it is only a matter of time now before the whole city is in the government's grip. An array of opposition forces, including groups linked to