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Showing posts from December 18, 2016

Charge-sheet against 8 held on terror conspiracy charge

The Hyderabad unit of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday filed charge-sheet against eight Hyderabadis, who had been arrested about six months ago on the charge of conspiring terror attacks at public places in the city.  While five of the accused had been arrested in simultaneous raids in different parts of Hyderabad, the remaining had been caught in subsequent searches. Semi-automatic firearms, air rifle, pellets and knives had been seized from their possession.  Different types of explosive chemical substances meant for preparation of Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP), nitrate and equipment used for making Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and bundles of wire had been recovered from them then, according to an NIA press release. Investigators said the accused had got radicalised online having watched video clips of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), ‘Bayans’ (discourses and lectures) of radical Islamic preachers including Anwar Awlaki, Abdul Sami, M

Backing far-right Swede, Trump proxy shuns top Israeli official

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Delegation cancels meeting with Tzipi Hotovely after Foreign Ministry nixed participation of Kristina Winberg due to her party’s ‘neo-Nazi tendencies’ By   Raoul Wootliff December 21, 2016, 2:04 pm Exclusive Becky Norton Dunlop, deputy to the senior adviser on President-Elect Donald Trump's transition team for policy and personnel, speaking at the Jerusalem Leaders Summit, December 19, 2017. (Courtesy) A senior member of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team and a delegation of US Republican and European lawmakers canceled a briefing Thursday with Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely over a refusal to allow a Swedish far-right member of the group into the meeting, The Times of Israel has learned. Becky Norton Dunlop, deputy to the senior adviser on Trump’s transition team for policy and personnel, is in Israel as part of the three-day Jerusalem Leaders Summit, a gathering of conservative parliamentarians from the US and Europe. As one of

Passengers from hijacked plane leave Malta for home

The passengers from a Libyan flight that was hijacked and diverted to Malta left the Mediterranean island Saturday to return home, as authorities prepared to arraign the two hijackers who surrendered. Afriqiyah Airways sent an aircraft to Malta to bring the more than 100 passengers back to Libya. Malta’s interior minister, Carmelo Abela, said the passengers had been interviewed by police before leaving early Saturday.P The two Libyan hijackers had diverted the domestic flight Friday to demand asylum in Europe and create a new political party in honor of the late dictator Moammar Gadhafi, officials said. After hours of negotiations, the standoff ended peacefully with the hijackers freeing all 117 people on board and walking off the plane to surrender. Police had said it was likely the hijackers, who had threatened to blow up the plane with hand grenades, would be arraigned Saturday. But police officials said no date or time had been set and that the investigation was contin

Germany’s Far Right Rises Again

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By  Yardena Schwartz December 21, 2016 AP Photo MUNICH—Five days after Donald Trump became the next president of the United States, the South Munich chapter of Germany’s far-right party, Alternative for Deutschland, held its first meeting since the U.S. election. In a traditional Bavarian tavern on a quiet residential street, 50-some party members and supporters drank beer and celebrated the victory that they felt was, in many ways, their own. The theme of the meeting was supposed to be the local elections in May, when the AfD is expected to pick up seats in several of Germany’s state parliaments. (The party currently holds seats in 10 of Germany’s 16 state parliaments, up from five one year ago.) But instead of local elections, talk that night centered almost exclusively on Donald Trump. Story Continued Below Dirk Driesang, a member of AfD’s federal board, stood to address the packed restaurant, where party placards reading “AfD Loves Deutschland” adorned every

Extremist Cleric Banned in Pakistan but Welcomed to the UK

An extremist preacher banned in Pakistan but allowed into the UK has been booted from the mosque in Scotland where he was scheduled to speak. An extremist preacher banned in Pakistan but allowed into the UK has been booted from the mosque in Scotland where he was scheduled to speak.  An extremist preacher banned in Pakistan but  allowed into the UK has been booted from the mosque in Scotland where he was scheduled to speak. Syed Muzaffar Shah Qadri was due to speak at the Falkirk Central mosque, but after a public outcry about the  imam  ensued and an expose on the imam was published by the  Sunday Post , mosque leaders have dumped Qadri and thanked the newspaper for alerting them to Qadri’s extremism. “The mosque would never knowingly give a platform to views that counter our beliefs of tolerance and non-violence,” said committee member Khalid Saeed. “We would like to take this opportunity to thank The Sunday Post for raising this issue and would like to reiterate our community’s zero

The real terrorist risk in Europe is 'reciprocal radicalisation', where far right and Islamist extremists boost each other's popularity

Thursday 22 December 2016 The recent terror attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, where a 23-year-old Pakistani asylum seeker was wrongly arrested, will have major spillover effects on the refugee community in Germany, as well as in wider Europe. We will have to be careful of, and equip ourselves against, the risk of “reciprocal radicalisation”, also known as ‘”cumulative extremism”. Reciprocal radicalisation occurs when right-wing extremist groups and Islamist organisations feed off each other, occasionally escalating into violence against what each group perceives as the “other”. The space in which reciprocal radicalisation occurs is most clear when we examine each group’s attitude towards refugees. Both Islamist extremist groups and far right groups benefit from the “refugees as terrorists” conspiracy theory. For Islamist extremists, refugees are traitors for leaving a Muslim “state” or country (“ dar al-Islam” ) to escape to the “ dar al-kufr ” or “the land of infidels”.

European Commission tackles terrorism financing

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The EU wants to cut off terrorists' finances more quickly. And money laundering is to be criminalized throughout the EU. What took so long? Bernd Riegert reports from Brussels. If you want to fill out a bank transfer or send money to the so-called "Islamic State" (IS), it's not particularly difficult. The Raqqa branch of the "Commercial Bank of Syria," which is controlled by "IS," is still part of the international banking system's SWIFT code registry. One can find it on the homepage of the SWIFT payment service provider, which operates its database from La Hulpe, south of Brussels. According to the SWIFT website, the bank's current status is active. How does that square with the European Union's loudly-proclaimed aim of combatting the financing of terrorism? Not well at all, says EU Parliamentarian Fabio De Masi, a representative of Germany's Left Party. "It is scandalous that banks under the control of 'IS

Blunders that let Berlin Christmas terror suspect go free: He was under surveillance for months, arrested and freed three times, and not deported because of a clerical error

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By Allan Hall and Martin Robinson and Julian Robinson and Stephanie Linning for MailOnline and Stephen Wright In London and Lucy Osborne and Tom Kelly and Emine Sinmaz In Berlin For The Daily Mail  07:47 GMT 21 Dec 2016, updated 01:36 GMT 22 Dec 2016 Police continue to hunt for failed Tunisian asylum seeker Anis Amri in connection with Berlin terror attack Security services face difficult questions after it emerged that he should have been deported months ago Lifelong criminal was jailed for four years in Italy and convicted of aggravated theft with violence in Tunisia  German security officials had Amri under close surveillance between March and September this year  He was suspected of dealing drugs and planning robberies to finance the purchase of assault rifles  His ID was found in the footwell of the truck used in Monday's attack which claimed 12 lives and injured 48 Most wanted: Police today revealed they are hunting Anis Amri, 24, pictured, a refugee wh