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Showing posts from November 25, 2018

G20 Summit: Narendra Modi says terrorism, radicalisation 'biggest' challenges, calls on nations to stop terror networks

Buenos Aires: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said terrorism and radicalisation were the biggest challenges the world was facing and underlined the need for the BRICS and G20 countries to work together to strengthen the UN counter terrorism framework to stop terrorist networks, their financing and movement. Addressing an informal meeting of the leaders of BRICS countries on the margins of the G20 Summit in Argentina, he also asked the countries to work together against the economic offenders and fugitives, who said were posing a serious threat to the world's economic stability. "We all agree that terrorism and radicalisation are the biggest challenges that the whole world is facing today. They are not only a threat to peace and security, but also a challenge for economic development," he said. He urged all the countries, including BRICS and G20, to work together in implementing the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards and to strengthen the UN counter

Inside the Hunt for the World’s Most Dangerous Terrorist

This text is excerpted from the book Dawn of the Code War: America’s Battle Against Russia, China, and the Rising Global Cyber Threat, by John P. Carlin with Garrett M. Graff Copyright © 2018 by John P. Carlin with Garrett M. Graff. Reprinted by permission of PublicAffairs, New York, NY. All rights reserved. Junaid Hussain originally wanted to be a rapper. As it turned out, the Pakistani kid in Birmingham, England, lived life instead on the internet, and at internet speed. In just a decade, from age 11 to 21, he went from gaming to hacking to killing, an arc the world had never seen before, unfolding faster than anyone might have imagined. For the first half of his digital life, the hacker operated with impunity, bragging in an interview that he was many steps ahead of the authorities: “One hundred percent certain they have nothing on me. I don’t exist to them, I’ve never used my real details online, I’ve never purchased anything. My real identity doesn’t exist online—and no, I don’

The terror–cyber–crime nexus and terrorists’ innovation

Despite herculean efforts, countering  terrorist financing  has proven to be hard. The reasons for that include the complexity of the international financial system, some states’ reluctance to enforce existing measures, and terrorist groups’ ability to innovate and diversify to obtain new sources of funds and hide what they have. While the terror–crime connection is very old (from Russian anarchists in the 19th century to the US Weathermen in the 1970s), new technologies mean that we now face a terror–cyber–crime nexus. Islamic State promoted what  Magnus Ranstorp  has called ‘microfinancing’ of the caliphate and encouraged ‘ gangster jihad ’, enabling it to  amass  nearly US$6 billion in 2015 (including about $500 million from oil and gas, $360 million from ‘taxes’ and extortion, and $500 million from looting bank vaults in Mosul). The cash allowed it to invest in its ‘Committee for Military Manufacturing and Development’, which distributed weapons and ammunition across the

Report lists homegrown terror, cyber attacks as greatest threats to Maine

PORTLAND, Maine — Homegrown extremists, lone offenders and cyber-attacks are among the top threats to Maine, the Maine Information and Analysis Center said in its 2018 Maine State Threat Assessment. The annual report identifies international, national and state threats like terrorism and cyber terrorism. Most importantly, the report said there are no credible terror threats to the state of Maine, but there is the threat that homegrown terrorists may take advantage of the state's rural geography. The report also said Maine, like all other states, is susceptible to cyber threats. While there is no evidence home-grown terrorists are in Maine, the report said because Maine is close to larger cities, a terrorist could visit a larger city and then return to Maine "where detection by state, local and federal law enforcement is minimized." Two Maine-based homegrown violent extremists have been radicalized and have traveled overseas in the past five years, the report sa

Man Fleeing From ISIS Surrenders In Syria. He Recruited 9/11 Hijackers

There was nothing about the hungry, bedraggled man who surrendered at a remote desert checkpoint belonging to the United States' Kurdish allies this year to suggest he had once played a part in one of the biggest events in American history. He was limping from injuries to both knees, his beard was matted and teeming with lice, and he was fleeing from the Islamic State. After he identified himself and checks were run, the confirmation came back. This was Mohammed Haydar Zammar, the man who recruited the hijackers who carried out the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, killing over 2,900 people and propelling the United States into unending conflict. In his first interview with a U.S. news organization since 2001, conducted in the presence of the Kurdish guards who are holding him at a prison on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Qamishli, Zammar recounted his extraordinary journey. It was one that took him from the earliest days of the al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan to the battlefields

Suu Kyi calls for peace in speech which avoids Rohingya crisis

KATHMANDU: Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi , who is facing international criticism over her country's crackdown on Rohingya Muslims, called Saturday for "a culture of peace" to end conflict between communities. The Nobel Peace prize winner did not mention the Rohingya crisis- which has led the United Nations to call for a genocide investigation- in her keynote address to an international meeting organised by a group linked to the Unification Church. "At the basis of conflict is ill-will which seeks to hurt and to destroy and thus to open the way to conflict, which in turn spews out an ever-renewing cycle of hate and fear, snuffing out the light of peace," Suu Kyi said. Suu Kyi called for cooperation between nations to seek peace and mutual prosperity. "Only by promoting a culture of peace in this world of interdependence will it be possible to create harmony between diverse countries and societies," she said. Suu Kyi, whose

China's Uighur Muslims told to share bed, meals with govt-appointed Han relatives as party infiltrates homes to spy on community

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Istanbul:  The two women in the photograph were smiling, but Halmurat Idris knew something was terribly wrong. One was his 39-year-old sister; standing at her side was an elderly woman Idris did not know. Their grins were tight-lipped, mirthless. Her sister had posted the picture on a social media account along with a caption punctuated by a smiley-face. An Uighur woman drives past propaganda of Chinese president Xi Jinping holding hands with a group of Uighurs. AP “Look, I have a Han Chinese mother now!” his sister wrote. Idris knew instantly: The old woman was a spy, sent by the Chinese government to infiltrate his family. There are many like her. According to the ruling Communist Party’s official newspaper, as of the end of September, 1.1 million local government workers have been deployed to ethnic minorities’ living rooms, dining areas and Muslim prayer spaces, not to mention at weddings, funerals and other occasions once considered intimate and private. All this is