Terrorism Watch

Terrorism is one of the greatest and most potent threats to humanity of the present times. Terrorism is the unlawful use of violence or intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims. Due to a variety of reasons the quantum and damage caused by terrorism globally is increasing exponentially. It is estimated that the number of terrorist deaths increased NINE FOLD in fourteen years from 2000 to 2014. This is indeed alarming! Some of the major reasons for this escalation are very easy to define and comprehend. One is the growing religious intolerance and conflicts. This is a major factor for friction in the global population and is a major cause of increasing terrorist activity. This type of terrorism can be dubbed as religious terrorism. The second cause is the growing disparity in the “haves” and the “have not’s”, the world over. As the rich grow richer and the poor grow poorer – this applies both for individuals and nations – the fault lines grow dee

United Nations: UN General Assembly President  Maria Fernanda Espinosa  has stressed the need to ensure that UN resolutions on countering  terrorism  are strictly complied with, saying that the implementation gap has to be narrowed amid a shared understanding that terrorism is a global threat.  She noted that while the progress on adopting the Comprehensive Convention against International Terrorism (CCIT) has been slow, it does not mean the UN is not doing anything or that there is lack in progress on counter-terror initiatives.  "There is shared understanding that terrorism is a global threat and that the efforts to counter terrorism have to be put in place. This is not a one-country initiative. It has to be a collective responsibility," Espinosa told PTI in an exclusive interview here.  "There are things happening of course, there is engagement and commitment as well. We have to really narrow the implementation gap that we have in the house. I have to acknowledge tha

BEIRUT, October 12 (Reuters):  U.S.-led air strikes destroyed much of Syria’s Raqqa while crushing Islamic State last year, but the coalition has done little to help it recover, rights group Amnesty International said on Friday. Nearly a year after the battle, 80 percent of the city is in ruins and thousands of bodies lie in the rubble, with funding to recover them poised to run out, said Anya Neistat, Amnesty’s senior director of global research. “It’s absolutely shocking in Raqqa how little over this last year has actually been done to bring life back to the city,” she said at a news conference in Beirut after visiting Raqqa. “The coalition, given that they have the money to carry out this very, very expensive military campaign, should have enough money to work with its consequences,” she added. Raqqa was the Syrian capital of Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliphate and was retaken last year by a group of Kurdish and Arab militias supported by air strikes from a U.S

Minister quits Al Houthi “government” due to threats Ramadan Al Sherbini, Correspondent Cairo: Yemeni government forces, supported by an Arab Saudi-led coalition, have advanced against Al Houthis in the Iran-aligned militants’ stronghold in the country’s north, military sources said on Friday. The advances were reported in the province of Saada, a main stronghold of Al Houthis near the Saudi border. Government forces gained further territory in Saada’s districts of Al Daher, Baqim and Kitaf, the sources told Al Arabiya. Several brigades from the Yemeni army mounted a synchronised against Al Houthis in Baqim on the northern side of Saada, resulting in a push towards the centre of the district, they said. The Saudi-led coalition also carried out a series of air strikes against military reinforcements called in by Al Houthis for the Saada frontlines. The Iran-allied extremists have often used Saada as a launch pad for missiles fired towards Saudi Arabia. Al Houthis plu

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The capital of China’s Xinjiang region, home to the mostly Muslim Uighur minority, has launched a campaign against halal products to stop Islam penetrating secular life and fuelling “extremism”.   In a meeting on Monday, the Communist Party leaders of Urumqi led cadres to swear an oath to “fight a decisive battle against ‘pan-halalization’,” according to a notice posed on the city’s official WeChat account.  Everyday halal products, like food and toothpaste, must be produced according to Islamic law.  China has been subject to heavy criticism from rights groups and foreign governments amid reports of a punitive crackdown that has seen the detention of as many as 1 million mostly Muslim ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang.  Beijing has denied it is systematically violating the rights of Xinjiang’s Muslims, saying it is only cracking down on extremism and “splittism” in the region.  The official Global Times said on Wednesday that the “demand that things be

Other/Patatas Adam Thomas and Claudia Patatas gave their child the middle name Adolf, the trial has heard A couple accused of being in a banned British neo-Nazi group kept machetes, crossbows and other weaponry at home, a court has heard. Prosecutors say Adam Thomas, 22, and Claudia Patatas, 38, also had a greetings card which featured Ku Klux Klan figures and read "May all your Christmases be white". The pair are charged alongside Daniel Bogunovic, 27, with being members of banned group National Action.  All three deny being in the group. Birmingham Crown Court heard that the Oxfordshire couple,  who named their child after Adolf Hitler , had two machetes, one with a serrated 18in (46cm) blade, in the bedroom where their baby son slept. A police search of their home in January also found one of two crossbows just a few feet from the baby's crib, the jury was told. Ms Patatas sent offensive messages on WhatsApp, the court has heard It was said officers also

Sections of the ultra-Left allegedly joining forces with backward caste presents a socio-political and security challenge By Sanjib Kumar DasSenior Pages Editor Image Credit: AP Dubai: On August 28 police from India’s sprawling city of Pune arrested five people — in different cities across the country — for their alleged role in fomenting caste-based violence. The communal violence had occurred at Bhima-Koregaon, in Maharashtra, on January 1 this year. Pune police and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) alleged that those arrested in the nationwide raids — Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira — were associated with ultra-Left Naxalite and Maoist organisations. The also charged them with direct involvement in inciting members of the Dalit (backward caste) community to stage violent protests against the state administration across Maharashtra. They have also been linked to a reported plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Mo

China’s far-western Xinjiang region has revised its legislation to allow local governments to “educate and transform” people influenced by extremism at “vocational training centres” – a term used by the government to describe a network of internment facilities known as “re-education camps”. The change to the law, which took effect on Tuesday, comes amid an international outcry about the secretive camps in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. But observers said writing the facilities into law did not address global criticism of China’s systematic detention and enforced political education of up to 1 million ethnic Uygurs and other Muslims in the area. Chinese officials had earlier denied the existence of such arbitrary detention and enforced political re-education bases, but said some citizens had been sent to vocational centres for minor criminal misdemeanours. The revision, issued by the regional legislature, recognises the use of such centres as part of the government’s ef

In a three-part series, the Star looks at the rise of white nationalist and right-wing extremist groups in Canada, and what authorities are doing to identify and suppress these threats. This is part 2. To read the first part, click  here , and to read the third part, click  here . OTTAWA—Canada’s top soldier frankly acknowledges there are members within the Canadian Armed Forces who harbour right-wing extremist and white supremacist beliefs. Gen. Jonathan Vance told the Star: “It is entirely possible that we are not sufficiently aware of the indicators or the insidious, corrosive effect of having extremism in our ranks.”   ( Justin Tang  /  THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO ) It’s obvious Gen. Jonathan Vance has given the issue much thought. “Clearly it’s in here,” Vance told the Star. Over a 40-minute interview at National Defence Headquarters, Vance repeatedly stressed that nobody holding extremist beliefs is welcome in the Canadian Forces. But despite pre-recruitmen

Military spokesman Hanif Rezaie says the troops died in Kunduz province when the Taliban attacked a military outpost in the district of Archi on Friday morning. At least eight people-  four soldiers and four civilians were killed in attacks by the Taliban in Afghanistan's northern area on Friday. Military spokesman Hanif Rezaie says the troops died in Kunduz province when the Taliban attacked a military outpost in the district of Archi on Friday morning. He says six were wounded in the assault.  Rezaie says the civilians were killed on Thursday, when a car bomb targeting an election campaign headquarters in Faryab province exploded prematurely. He says several Taliban fighters died in both incidents. Afghanistan is holding parliamentary elections on October 20. The campaign has already been marred by violence. On Tuesday, a suicide bomber struck the home of an election candidate in the city of Lashkar Gah, in Helmand province, killing the candidate and seven others.

Girls feel there is little point in reporting sexual harassment to authorities since there is hardly any action, according to a report which shows that young women suffer relentless abuse in cities worldwide, including Delhi. The report from child rights organisation Plan International, based on more than 21,000 testimonials of girls and young women living in Delhi, Kampala, Lima, Madrid and Sydney, found that in all five cities, boys and men grope, chase, stalk, leer at, verbally insult, and flash girls and young women. While such behaviour is condoned by society, bystanders and authorities rarely take action, according to the report by researchers including those from Monash University in Australia. This forces girls to adjust their behaviour to protect themselves. CEO of Plan International Australia, Susanne Legena, said the research provides a previously unseen glimpse of the impact of harassment and abuse on the lives of girls and young women. “Constant harassment

German historians on Wednesday accused far-right leader Alexander Gauland of paraphrasing Adolf Hitler in a newspaper column taking aim at a “globalised class” that he claimed  threatens all that is good in his “homeland”. The co-leader of the far-right AfD rejected allegations of parallels with a 1933 speech by Hitler, but the latest episode is yet another controversy raising questions over his anti-migrant party’s views on the Nazi-era. In a guest commentary for Saturday’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), Gauland wrote that the “globalised class” occupies positions in mainstream organisations from international corporations to the media to universities, and are also in key political parties.Echoing “Their members live almost exclusively in big cities, speak fluent English, and when they move from Berlin to London or Singapore for jobs, they find similar apartments, houses, restaurants, shops and private schools everywhere. “This group socialises among itself but is cul

A Pakistani extremist Islamist party is demanding the country’s Supreme Court uphold the death sentence for a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy. Asia Bibi has appealed her sentence and the court earlier this week postponed ruling on the final appeal. Her lawyers say she was falsely accused. The Tehreek-e-Labbaik party said on Wednesday that if the court’s three-judge panel frees Bibi, the judges will face “consequences”. The party also says its supporters will rally on Friday to demand death for Bibi. The charge against Bibi dates back to a hot day in 2009 when she went to get water for fellow farm workers. Two Muslim women refused to drink from a container used by a Christian. Bibi was later accused of insulting Islam’s prophet, a charge which carries the death penalty.        Source:  https://www.dailypioneer.com/2018/world/pak-extremists--don---t-free-christian-woman-on-death-row.html

 India became a full member of the China-dominated grouping last year and New Delhi's entry into it is expected to increase the bloc's heft in regional geo-politics and trade negotiations. (Photo: Twitter | @MEAIndia)  Dushanbe:  External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday urged the SCO member countries to join hands to address global challenges and highlighted the need to fight terrorism, address climate change and promote connectivity and regional peace. Swaraj, who is here to attend a two-day conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)'s Council of Heads of Government (CHG), called on Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon along with the heads of delegation from other SCO countries.  Swaraj, speaking at the Restricted Format Meeting of the SCO Heads of Government Council, highlighted the need to join hands to fight terrorism, address climate change, promote connectivity and regional peace, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar

Alex Turnbull has lashed out at the factions within the Liberal Party that helped sink his father's prime ministership urging voters to reject the party at the upcoming Wentworth by-election.  Appearing on a Facebook video ahead of the October 20 vote, the Singapore-based fund manager said the Liberal Party had been taken over by "extremists" of the hard right.  The by-election in the Sydney seat was called following his father's resignation as a result of a leadership coup which saw Scott Morrison assume the prime ministership. Malcolm Turnbull (left) with his son, Alex on July 2, 2016 at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth hotel.  AAP "This (leadership spill) isn't exactly a first for Australian politics, but it does lead you to the conclusion that a stable government might not be as stable as some people would like you to think," he said.  "To me, this particular event seems to show the Liberal party has been taken over, frankly from extre