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Showing posts from July 24, 2016

‘500 observers to monitor Colombia deal’

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PressTV- Some 500 observers with the United Nations (UN) will monitor a demobilization and disarmament deal between Colombia’s government and FARC rebels, a Colombian official says. The deal was reached between the Colombian government and FARC — the largest guerrilla group in Colombia — in peace talks in the Cuban capital of Havana on June 23. Under the deal, the rebels would disarm and declare independence as a political party. A comprehensive peace accord is expected within weeks. “Five hundred international monitors from 15 countries will ensure” the ceasefire and disarmament deal once the comprehensive agreement is signed, Columbian Senate President Mauricio Lizcano said after meeting with Jean Arnault, the UN representative to the peace talks, on Wednesday. Fifteen percent of the observers will be European and 85 percent Latin American, Lizcano added. Reports say some further issues of disagreement are yet to be settled between the two sides, including the reinte

Munich shooter was far-right fan who 'hated Turks and Arabs':Investigators

The 18-year-old German-Iranian who killed nine people at a shopping mall in Munich last week before turning the gun on himself was a racist who may have targeted people with immigrant backgrounds, investigators told the German media on Wednesday. Ali David Sonboly, who was born to Iranian parents in the south-east town of Munich, killed nine people, all of them with immigrant backgrounds and six of them aged between 14 and 17. Sonboly had a “feeling of superiority” towards Arabs and Turks, and considered it a “distinction” that he was born on 20 April - the birthday of Adolf Hitler - sources close to the investigation told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) on Wednesday. People who knew Sonboly have told investigators that he was proud of his “Aryan” heritage – Iran is considered in Nazi ideology to be the birthplace of the Aryan race.   He used an unlicensed weapon bought from the Dark Web to launch the attack at a shopping mall in Munich last Friday. Sonbo

Austria’s far-right candidate leading in first re-run election poll

Far right Austrian Freedom Party (FPO) candidate Norbert Hofer has a four percent lead over his main rival according to early opinion polls, as he looks to win a repeat of the Austrian presidential election, which is due to be held in October. Hofer received 52 percent of support from respondents, while his opponent, Alexander Van der Bellen, a Green-backed independent, got 48 percent, according to a Gallup poll, commissioned by the Oesterreich newspaper. Van der Bellen defeated Hofer by a slender margin in the presidential run-off in May, after he had finished in second following the first round. However, May’s election results were declared void in July, after Hofer’s party challenged the result of the presidential election won by Van der Bellen by a mere 0.6 percent, with claims of irregularities in the procedure of counting postal ballots. If Hofer wins on October 2, Austria could look to follow in the footsteps of the UK and exit the EU. At the end of June, Hofer warn

Aide to Daesh leader slain in Iraq airstrike

A close aide to the leader of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group has been killed along with 12 senior figures from the terror outfit in an Iraqi airstrike in a town in Iraq’s embattled western province of al-Anbar. The Iraqi Joint Operations Command announced in a statement that Ahmed Hassan Abu Kheir, who was the brother-in-law of Ibrahim al-Samarrai, also known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Daesh leader, was killed in an Iraqi airstrike in the town of al-Qaim, situated about 500 kilometers (about 310 miles) west of the capital, Baghdad, on Friday. The statement added that tens of other Daesh extremists, including the 12 high-ranking ones, were killed and 11 others injured in the strike. Daesh’s self-proclaimed governors of Fallujah and Forat region as well as the terror network’s deputy war minister, identified by the nom de guerre Abu Qasourah, were among the slain militant commanders. The fatalities also included foreign militants from Russia and the North Caucasus region of Chechnya

Pakistan cracks whip on JuD over fundraising

PESHAWAR: Authorities in Pakistan have ordered a crackdown against Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jammat-ud-Dawa (JuD), calling its countrywide fundraising campaign illegal. Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), JuD's "charity wing", is seeking donations, trying to cash in on the recent unrest in Jammu and Kashmir. JuD is collecting funds through "Fitrana" (mandatory charity), "Zakat" (compulsory annual payment by the rich) and "Sadkaats" (charities). Its members have distributed pamphlets, put up posters at various locations, asking people to donate. The blatant campaign compelled Punjab's home department on Wednesday to direct top police officials to take strict action against JuD, and seek all fundraising details. Though Pakistan banned media coverage of JuD and FIF, the government did not stop their fund raising activities. JuD is a front for Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT), the terror outfit behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Pakistan

Experts confront multiple explanations for surge of killings

NEW YORK -- The relentless series of mass killings across the globe poses a challenge for experts trying to analyze them without lapsing into faulty generalizations. Terms like contagion and copycat killing apply in some cases, not in others, they say, and in certain instances perpetrators' terrorist ideology intersects with psychological instability. Some of the attacks, such as the coordinated assault on multiple targets in Paris last November, were elaborately planned operations by Islamic State adherents. However, they may have contributed to some of the other attacks by troubled individuals with no established ties to the militant group. J. Reid Meloy, a San Diego-based forensic psychologist who has served as a consultant to the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Program, said some of the attackers appear to have identified with Islamic State as an outlet for their own seething emotions. "In virtually every one of these cases, there was a deeply held personal grieva

US dossier bares Pakistan's role in Pathankot terror attack

NEW DELHI: In a boost to India's probe against Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammed handlers in the attack on the  Pathankot  IAF base, the US has handed over evidence, comprising over 1,000 pages of chats and conversations between handler Kashif Jaan and the four fidayeen who were eventually killed, to the NIA.  The conversations, as in the case of the Lashkar bosses who scripted the carnage in Mumbai in 2008 from a safe house in Karachi, make it clear that the terror strike on Pathankot was micro-managed from Pakistan.  The four fidayeen of JeM, identified as Nasir Hussain from Punjab, Abu Bakar from Gujranwala and Umar Farooq and Abdul Qayum from Sindh, were in regular touch with their handlers in Pakistan during the 80-hour attack.  Sources told TOI that the documents also include Kashif Jaan's conversations with other Pakistan-based JeM office-bearers apart from other exchanges over a period of time. NIA officials are analysing the documents.  The investigations reveal that apa

Excitement, hatred and belonging: why terrorists do it

Like most questions about terrorism, why large numbers of people join terrorist organisations can only be answered in political terms. However terrorism may be defined – and disputes about what counts as terrorism are largely political in their own right – we will be unable to understand how terrorist groups attract members if we don’t consider the politics of the societies in which the groups are active. But terrorism’s appeal is not always political for everyone involved in it. Richard English, in his wide-ranging new book, highlights some of what he calls the “inherent rewards” of terrorism gained by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA). According to some former members, involvement in PIRA operations brought adventure, excitement, celebrity in local communities and sometimes sexual opportunities. Terrorist activity also brought other intrinsic benefits. As one Belfast ex-PIRA man put it, “You just felt deep comradeship.” Or as another said, regarding invol

France's Muslims urged to attend mass in solidarity

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A leading Muslim group in France has called on its community to attend a church mass this Sunday to show solidarity with Christians after the recent jihadist killing of a priest.  The French Council for the Muslim Religion (CFCM) has urged the country's Muslims to take part in a church mass this Sunday to show solidarity with the country's Christian community and to honour the priest slain by jihadists this week. Following what the CFCM dubbed the "cowardly assassination" of Father Jacques Hamel on Tuesday, the group has called for unity between France's Muslim and Christian communities.  The CFCM called on all mosques in France to hold talks during prayer on Friday about "the pivotal role that Islam plays in respecting other religions", it said in a statement.  The group said it was calling on all heads of mosques, Imams, and the faithful to visit any nearby churches, particularly for Sunday Mass. The move is "to show our Christian br

Interview: Refugee problem should not be confused with terroristproblem: German expert

by Yuan Shuai BERLIN, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The refugee problem should not be confused with the terrorist problem, a German expert on terrorism and famous analyst on politically motivated violence said Monday in an interview with Xinhua. "We must be aware of not putting every refugee on the side of terrorism. That is not the truth," said Rolf Tophoven, head of the Institute for Crisis Prevention in Essen,  Germany . Germany has been one of the major destinations for refugees in recent years. In 2015 alone, more than 1.1 million refugees arrived in the country. This has already raised worries among quite a few Germans about potential security risks. Multiple attacks carried out by refugees concentrated in one week have once more disturbed German society. When asked about a possible association between recent attacks, Tophoven said there were neither connections between the attackers, nor clues indicating the violence can be directly traced to the Islamic State (IS).

Two Moroccan brothers are arrested in Spain accused of funding ISISafter a third brother died fighting alongside the terror group

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By Gerard Couzens In Spain and Gareth Davies For Mailonline  09:33 GMT 27 Jul 2016, updated 18:47 GMT 27 Jul 2016 The pair, aged 33 and 32, were arrested during raids in Arbucies, Girona A third sibling is understood to have died in  Syria  fighting alongside ISIS All three suspected of sending money to the terror group using fake IDs First investigation in Spain linking residents to financing ISIS's operations   Police in Spain have arrested two brothers accused of helping to finance  ISIS  after a third brother died fighting alongside the terror group. Armed officers detained the Moroccan pair, aged 33 and 32, during dawn raids in the village of Arbucies in the north-east province of Girona near Spain's border with  France . Police say the two siblings, and a third believed to have died in Syria, allegedly sent money to ISIS administrators using fake identities.  Spanish Civil Guard officers escort a Moroccan suspect (2-R) who was arrested during an o

France considering to ban foreign funding of mosques

Following recent terror attacks, the French government is considering a ban on foreign financing of mosques in the country, the media reported on Friday. According to Le Monde, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that the prohibition would be for an indefinite period but gave no further details. "There needs to be a thorough review to form a new relationship with French Islam," he added. "We live in a changed era and we must change our behaviour. This is a revolution in our security culture... the fight against radicalisation will be the task of a generation,"  the Independent  quoted Valls as saying. France was "at war" and further atrocities were predicted, Valls said, following the murder of a priest at a church in Normandy and the attack in Nice in Grench Riveira by Islamic State supporters. "This war, which does not concern only France, will be long and we will see more attacks," the Prime Minister said. "But we will win, beca

Money acquired through corruption funds terrorism, says Anti-CorruptionCommission chief

Speaking at a discussion on Sunday, ACC Chairman Iqbal Mahmood emphasised the need to eliminate ‘financial terrorism and militancy’. The issue of terror-financing has come to the spotlight once again after the recent terror attacks in several countries, including Bangladesh. On July 12, a court in Singapore convicted four Bangladesh nationals of financing terrorism and sentenced them to prison terms of two to five years. According to media reports, several hundreds of NGOs operating in Bangladesh are involved in funding militant activities. Citing a report by a financial intelligence body, a national daily recently ran a story, where it said NGOs collect funds of almost Tk 50 billion every year from overseas donors. But no details of the money spent is available with the government. “It’s clear that no one will put their hard-earned money into terrorism. So those who are funding militants are definitely corrupt,” ACC chief Mahmood told the discussion on Sunday. The A

SDPD Shooting: SWAT surround home near Southcrest in search of secondsuspect

SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - A SWAT standoff is underway with someone who was believed to have holed up inside a home at South 41st and Epsilon streets, according to police.  Police would not immediately confirm whether the standoff is related to a shooting in the same neighborhood overnight that left one San Diego police officer dead and a second wounded. This is a Breaking News Update to the previous story. SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - A San Diego police officers was killed and a second was wounded in a shooting during a traffic stop in Southcrest, authorities said Friday. The incident started around 11 p.m. Thursday night. San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said that the police officers were making a stop and requested "emergency cover" from other officers. When the officers arrived on scene, they found both officers had been shot multiple times in their upper bodies. "The investigation is ongoing right now as to exactly what happened,'' Zimmerman said at