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Showing posts from June 30, 2019

Kenyan Women Unite Their Voices to Prevent Extremism

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FILE - Kenyans walk past closed shops in the capital after an attack on a hotel complex, claimed by al-Shabab, in Nairobi, Kenya, Jan. 18, 2019. NAIROBI - The U.S. Institute of Peace is training and working with Kenyan women as they build trust within their communities to prevent violent extremism. The program comes as Kenya struggles to halt the recruitment efforts of Islamist militant group al-Shabab. The organization Sisters Without Borders was formed in 2014. One of its missions is to bridge the mistrust between Kenyan security agencies and families of terrorism suspects. The organization includes at least 20 women’s groups from Nairobi, Mombasa and Garissa, all of which have seen deadly terrorist attacks by the Islamist militant group al-Shabab. Sureya Hirsi, a member of the sisters' group from Mombasa, attended the conference in Nairobi. She says it is time for women to take an active role in the fight against terrorism. "The reason I joined this sisters gr

Extremism, corruption fueling instability: Ethiopian PM

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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia  Ethiopian prime minister on Monday said his nation continues to face challenges that come in many forms -- including terrorism, extremism, economic sabotage, human trafficking, organized crime and corruption.  “These dangers are fueling instability in Ethiopia,” Abiy Ahmed said on Monday in a report of his government’s performance during the 2018/2019 fiscal year ending July 7. He said 48 terror suspects, 799 corrupt officials, 34 economic saboteurs and 51 human traffickers had been apprehended during the fiscal year, as part of efforts to ensure the supremacy of the law. The prime minister pinned blame on extremist ideas, floods, droughts and climate change for internal displacement of millions of people in the country. Prior to the reform that he launched since April last year, Abiy said, 1.2 million people were displaced from their homes for three consecutive years during which the nation had been rocked by incessant anti-government protests tha

Four soldiers left Dutch army over right-wing extremism accusations: report

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By Janene Pieters on July 2, 2019 - 09:16 In the past five years, four soldiers left the Dutch armed forces due to right-wing extremist statements or behavior. Military intelligence service MIVD launched a total of 21 investigations into possible extremism in the armed forces, the vast majority of which involved suspicions of right-wing extremism, the Volkskrant reports based on a list the MIVD drew up after the newspaper appealed to the Intelligence and Security Services Act.  At least four soldiers are no longer active in the armed forces after the MIVD investigated them for right-wing extremism. In 2015 a reservist was dismissed because of links with right-wing extremist groups. In 2016 a solider who moved "in right-wing extremist circles" left the army while the investigation into him was still ongoing. Defense also sent a temporary worker away who turned out to be a right-wing extremist. And a soldier was fired last year after photographs of "extreme right-w

Left Wing Extremism has shrunk in last 5 years: Govt

There has been a consistent decline in violence and spread of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected area in the last five years, officers observed at a high-level meeting here on Tuesday. The government has excluded 44 districts from the list of Security Related Expenditure Scheme (SRE) due to the shrinking impact of the LWE effect. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Tuesday held a meeting with the Chief Secretaries and DGPs of the affected states, DIB, DGs of the CAPFs to review the prevailing LWE situation. "The review of LWE affected districts in 2018, resulted in a reduction of Security Related Expenditure Scheme (SRE) districts from 126 districts to 82. However, 8 new districts have been added to the list as a pre-emptive measure," a press release said. Making mobile communication more effective and improvement in the working conditions of the security forces deployed in the LWE theatre were also discussed at the meeting. It was decided to carry forward the res

SLOVAK ANTI-FASCISTS DIVIDED OVER HOW TO FIGHT EXTREMISM

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Miroslava Germanova Play nice or get tough? That is a question vexing activists in Slovakia alarmed at growing support for far-right extremism. Progressive politicians are on a winning streak in Slovakia, triumphing in recent presidential and EU elections. But such victories belie a groundswell of support for far-right extremists,  especially among disenchanted rural voters . In a country where a party known for its neo-Nazi leanings has more than a dozen seats in parliament, anti-fascist activists take their job seriously. But they are deeply divided on strategy. In one camp are those who take the battle to the streets, organising noisy protests and engaging in direct action. This is the traditional “Antifa” model favoured by more militant campaigners. In the other camp are those who prefer to seek long-term solutions to the smouldering resentments that fuel far-right extremism in the first place. By playing “nice”, they hope to starve fascism of the oxygen

Is white extremism the biggest domestic terror threat in the US?

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For years US terror warnings have focused on groups like Al Qaeda or Daesh, but the latest warnings from US law enforcement agencies point to homegrown terrorists as the most immediate danger. Is white extremism the biggest domestic terror threat in the US? For years US terror warnings have focused on groups like Al Qaeda or Daesh, but the latest warnings from US law enforcement agencies point to homegrown terrorists as the most immediate danger. The United States has been in a permanent state of war since the attacks of September 11, 2001, finding itself voluntarily involved in military operations and theatres that span multiple continents. A war-weary American public has become accustomed to the routine terror warnings issued by law enforcement agencies in advance of national holidays and major sporting events. The coming 4th of July festivities to celebrate the country’s independence from Britain, however, marks a new reality in its never-ending and self-defeatin

French MPs back bill giving online platforms 24 hours to remove hate speech

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Social media sites that fail to comply with the law risk fines of up to €1.25 million. AFP  French MPs on July 4 backed a bill giving online platforms just 24 hours to remove hate speech or face hefty fines, the latest initiative in Europe to tackle online racism, anti-Semitism, sexism and homophobia. Members of the lower house of parliament voted by 31 in favour to six against adopting the bill tabled by President Emmanuel Macron’s party, which is modelled on a similar German law. Four MPs abstained. Social media sites that fail to comply with the law risk fines of up to €1.25 million ($1.4 million). “We should not tolerate on the internet what we do not tolerate on the street,” Laetitia Avia, the Afro-French MP who drafted the bill, told parliament on July 3, adding that she herself could no longer bear being racially abused by social media trolls. Critics say the law places too much power in the platforms’ hands by making them arbiters of online speech. MPs debated the

2 Charity Workers connected to Sikh Youth UK Arrested In Counter-Terrorism Probe In UK

London:  Two persons, including a woman -- having links with a Sikh youth group, have been arrested by Britain's counter-terrorism police in connection with an alleged fraud relating to the group's charitable funds. West Midlands Police said a 38-year-old man and a 49-year-old woman were arrested in Birmingham on Wednesday in connection with an ongoing investigation by dating back to September last year. The UK's Charity Commission is investigating the receipt and use of charitable funds by the Sikh Youth UK which has raised "a number of regulatory concerns". The Sikh Youth UK is not a registered charity but the independent regulator has jurisdiction over it because the funds being scrutinised in the investigation are charitable. "Two people have been arrested by detectives from West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit (WMCTU), this resulted following the examination of evidence obtained during searches which took place in September 2018," a West

'Cosmetic steps': India dismisses Pakistan's action against Hafiz Saeed

NEW DELHI: India on Thursday slammed  Pakistan 's crack down on Mumbai attack mastermind  Hafiz Saeed  and his close aides, calling it "cosmetic steps" and half-hearted measures undertaken to hoodwink the international community.  Addressing a press conference, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that Pakistan's sincerity to take action against terrorists and terror groups will be judged on the basis of their ability to demonstrate verifiable, credible and irreversible action against terror groups operating from their soil and not on the basis of half-hearted measures which they undertake sometimes to hoodwink the international community.  MEA's response came amid reports that Saeed and 12 of his close aides were  booked by Pakistani authorities  yesterday for committing multiple offences of  terrorism  financing and  money laundering .  The  Imran Khan  government is under pressure as it appears keen to fulfill its obligations on te

Nepalese Journalists Pushed to Avoid Reporting on China, Tibet

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WASHINGTON - Government officials in Nepal are pushing journalists to avoid critical reporting on China, one of the nation’s largest investors as part of Beijing’s One Belt, One Road project, a Nepalese journalist told VOA. Anil Giri, foreign affairs correspondent for the Kathmandu Post , said journalists are discouraged from covering Tibetan affairs to mollify China and that government officials shy away from commenting on China-related issues. China sponsors junkets for Nepalese journalists and “that’s why probably we don’t see lots of criticism about China’s growing investment in Nepal, Chinese doing business in Nepal and China’s growing political clout in Nepal,” Giri said. He said Nepali government officials shy away from reporters seeking comments on China-related stories. Map of Nepal Conduct found ‘unsatisfactory’ The sensitivities extend beyond the press. The Kathmandu Post reported earlier this week

Tensions Simmer After Swedish Town Elects Far-Right Mayor

HORBY, SWEDEN - The town of Hörby seems a peaceful slice of the Swedish idyll: a market square, an ornate church, a few stores and restaurants, and beyond the suburbs, farms and fields stretching to the horizon. Below the surface, however, are simmering tensions. Hörby is the only Swedish town to have elected a mayor from the far-right Sweden Democrats party, which wants severe restrictions on immigration and dramatic cuts in government spending on migrant support programs – with the money redirected toward repatriating migrants. Niclas Nilsson is the Sweden Democrats' group leader on the nearby Kristianstad city council. Both Kristianstad and Hörby are part of the local Skäne region and Nilsson says the area has taken in a large number of migrants due to its location in the south of Sweden. "People are concerned about the cost, the social stability, crime, and segregation," he says. While the center-left Social Democrats retained the top spot in Ma

Four injured after gunman opens fire in San Francisco-area shopping mall

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The shopping mall in San Bruno, located south of San Francisco, was closed after the gunfire, police said on Twitter. Two people were shot and two others hurt on Tuesday when at least one gunman opened fire at a mall in the San Francisco suburb of San Bruno before apparently fleeing on a nearby train, police said. Two people were taken to San Francisco General Hospital with gunshot wounds to their lower bodies in stable condition, San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini told reporters at a late-afternoon news conference. “It was a senseless act,” Barberini said, adding that opening fire in a crowded shopping mall near a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station showed a “true disregard for human life.” Two other people were treated at the scene for minor injuries they suffered in fleeing from the gunmen. Barberini said police were searching for one or possibly two gunmen who may have fled the scene by getting on a BART train headed for Oakland. The shopping mall in San Bruno,

A Taliban attack on children causes outrage, everywhere but at peace talks

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Damage at the Uzair High School near the site of a Taliban car bomb in Kabul, Afghanistan, July 2, 2019. (Fatima Faizi/The New York Times) Written by Fatima Faizi and Rod Nordland Even by the standards of Afghanistan’s long war, the Taliban attack near a school that wounded dozens of schoolchildren Monday stood out as unusually brutal, and expressions of outrage came thick and fast from governments around the world. But from Doha, the Qatari capital where U.S. negotiators were meeting with Taliban officials in a seventh round of talks, now in their fourth day, there was publicly only silence on the assault. Several of the earlier rounds of talks, which began in earnest this year, also coincided with attacks in Afghanistan, where more than 32,000 civilians have been killed in the last decade of the war, now in its 18th year. Most of those deaths have been blamed on the insurgents, a result of indiscriminate bombings and suicide attacks. In earlier rounds this year