Terrorism Watch

 HONG KONG: Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been charged under the city's national security law , amid a widening crackdown on dissent, according to local media reports. Lai, who founded the Apple Daily tabloid , was charged on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces and endangering national security, local broadcaster TVB reported Friday. He is the most high-profile person to be charged under the law since it was implemented in June. Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/china/hong-kong-media-tycoon-jimmy-lai-charged-under-security-law/articleshow/79675005.cms

ISLAMABAD: At least 138 journalists have been killed in Pakistan since 1990, according to the International Federation of Journalists ( ICJ ). On Friday, the ICJ issued the 'White Paper on Global Journalism' which listed five nations -- Iraq, Mexico, the Philippines, Pakistan, and India -- as the "most dangerous countries for practice of journalism in the world", Dawn news reported. According to the White Paper, in the Indian sub-continent, murders of journalists in Pakistan (138) and in India (116) have featured almost every year in the killed list since 1990, making up 40 per cent of the total deaths in the Asia Pacific region. In 2020, the IFJ has recorded 42 killings of journalists (49 in 2019) and media staff so far in targeted attacks, bomb blasts and cross-fire incidents in 15 countries since the start of the year. This year, four Pakistani journalists -- Aziz Menon , Javedullah Khan, Anwar Jan, Shaheena Shaheen -- lost their lives. Following Jan

An estimated 1,642 Rohingya were moved to the flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal before the UN could assess the safety of the refugees. A United Nations human rights expert has called for an independent assessment on the conditions at Bhasan Char, the remote island in Bangladesh where more than a thousand Rohingya were taken earlier this month, as he condemned the world’s “failure” to take action to help the refugees return home to Myanmar. The 1,642 Rohingya refugees were moved to Bhasan Char island before the UN could even determine whether or not the island was “suitable to safely host this vulnerable population”, said Tom Andrews, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. “These verifications and assessments are in the best interest of all,” he said in a statement. “They will assure the government of Bangladesh of the suitability of Bhasan Char to host refugees or identify changes that might be necessary. It will also assure that

Why is the Commission proposing a new Counter-Terrorism Agenda? Terrorism remains a real and present threat. As announced in the EU Security Union Strategy for 2020 to 2025, a new Counter-Terrorism Agenda is needed to effectively counter extremist ideologies, prevent radicalisation and better protect the public spaces terrorists target, while promoting full implementation of existing rules and tools. The Agenda draws lessons from the evolving terrorism threat to step up cooperation at EU level, reinforce the available tools and where necessary fill policy and operational gaps, with the aim to better anticipate, prevent, protect and respond to terrorism. What has the EU done to counter terrorism so far? The EU has adopted laws and developed tools to combat terrorism in many important ways:   Taking terrorist content off the web In 2018, the Commission had proposed legislation ensuring that terrorist content is taken off the web within an hour and that online service provi

The woman behind the wheel of the BMW sedan was detained for questioning by law enforcement, the New York City Police Department said. A woman is taken into police custody after a vehicle she drove plowed into a crowd of about 50 people at a protest Friday afternoon in Manhattan, New York, with multiple people injured, according to a spokesman for the New York City Police Department, in the US(via REUTERS) A car plowed into a crowd of about 50 people at a protest that spilled into the streets of Manhattan on Friday afternoon, injuring several people, according to New York City police and local news media reports. The woman behind the wheel of the BMW sedan was detained for questioning by law enforcement, the New York City Police Department said. The incident occurred just after 4 p.m. at the corner of 39th Street and Third Avenue in the Murray Hill neighborhood adjacent to Midtown Manhattan, police said. N

  Though the country has made progress in several areas, some remain unresolved. Font size: A - | A + Slovakia should improve the education of Roma, notably by adequately preparing children for compulsory schooling, and to develop an action plan for LGBTI persons in order to protect them against discrimination, hate crimes and hate speech. This stems from a recent report of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) of the Council of Europe. Some improvements noted Since the adoption of ECRI’s last report in 2014 , Slovakia has made progress in certain areas. There has been a significant increase in the budget of the National Centre for Human Rights, an action plan against racism was adopted, and penalties for hate speech have been imposed on some politicians and media. Related article ECRI report praises Dubovcová Read more  In addition, the Criminal Code provisions on hate crimes have been stre

Reuters News Agency says proposed sale to Morocco includes four US-made drones and precision-guided munitions. The Trump administration is moving ahead with a $1bn weapons sale to Morocco, Reuters News Agency reported on Friday, a day after the United States announced that Morocco had agreed to normalise diplomatic ties with Israel. Citing unnamed sources familiar with the deal, Reuters said the Trump administration sent a notification to Congress about the proposed arms sale. The proposal includes four US-made drones, as well as precision-guided munitions, the sources said. Reuters first reported on the arms deal on Thursday after US President Donald Trump hailed the normalisation agreement between Morocco and Israel. That agreement, which was condemned by Palestinian leaders, was reached after Washington recognised Morocco’s claim to the disputed territory of Western Sahara . Morocco is the fourth Arab country to agree to normalise relations

Germany said Friday it would allow deportation of Syrians to their war-ravaged homeland from 2021 if they are deemed a security risk, five years after a massive refugee influx. The EU's biggest economic power and most populous member allowed in hundreds of thousands of people fleeing Syria's devastating civil war in 2015-16 but security officials said it was time to lift blanket protections against expulsion. "The general ban on deportations (to Syria) will expire at the end of this year," Hans-Georg Engelke, state secretary at the interior ministry, told reporters. "Those who commit crimes or pursue terrorist aims to do serious harm to our state and our population should and will have to leave our country." The decision, which drew vehement criticism from human rights groups, was ta ken at a telephone conference between federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, a hardline conservative who had long called for an end to the depo

 KABUL: A series of rockets struck the Afghan capital on Saturday, killing one person and wounding another, the interior ministry said, the second such attack to rock Kabul in less than a month. "Four rockets were fired from Labe Jar neighbourhood of Kabul," ministry spokesman Tariq Arian told reporters, adding that two landed near Kabul airport. He said one person was killed and another wounded. Kabul police confirmed the early morning attack, saying most of the rockets struck the eastern part of the capital. On November 21, eight people were killed when 23 rockets slammed Kabul in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/one-killed-as-multiple-rockets-hit-kabul-interior-ministry/articleshow/79690283.cms

The politics are the same; protesters' demands are, too. But this time — due to demographics, falling oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic — it's different, locals in Iraqi Kurdistan say. It is usually considered one of the safest areas in Iraq. But, over the past week, a spate of deadly violence has swept through Sulaymaniyah. Buildings have been burned, a curfew and travel ban enforced and the internet cut off.   Since early December, locals in this part of the autonomous northern region of Iraqi Kurdistan have been holding anti-government protests. These began because local authorities have not paid public sector employees' full salaries since April. The protests are ongoing, despite a ban on demonstrations.  Over the past week, they have become more violent. Demonstrators, who accuse local politicians of corruption, embezzlement and nepotism, set fire to the headquarters of various political parties — they didn't seem to care which. Live ammunit

Bloc heeds calls from Greece and France to prepare sanctions on Turkey, and will discuss arms exports with the NATO and the US. European Union leaders plan to discuss arm exports to Turkey with the NATO allies and the United States, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday after Greece pushed for an arms embargo on Ankara. Merkel spoke after a summit where the bloc’s 27 leaders agreed to prepare limited sanctions on Turkish individuals over an energy exploration dispute with Greece and Cyprus but postponed any harsher steps until March. “We also spoke about how questions about arms exports must be discussed within NATO. We said that we want to coordinate with the new US administration about Turkey,” Merkel told a news conference. The EU and the NATO are planning to hold a summit with US President-elect Joe Biden after he takes office in January. Many EU states are also members of the NATO alliance. Commenting on the sanctions, the Turkish Foreign Ministry in

Four journalists accused by the Houthis of ‘spying’ are facing the death penalty. October 15 was supposed to be a happy day for the families of imprisoned Yemeni journalists Abdul-Khaleq Amran, Akram al-Walidi, Hareth Humaid and Tawfiq al-Mansouri. A prisoner exchange deal was set to take place between the Houthi armed group and the internationally recognised government of Yemen in which more than a thousand people were to be released. The families had longed for years to be reunited with their loved ones and expected to see them among the released prisoners, but by the end of the day their hopes had turned into disappointment and fear. The four journalists, who worked for various local media outlets, have been arbitrarily detained since 2015 by the Houthi authorities, apparently for reporting on abuses by the Houthis as the armed group took over the capital, Sanaa, and much of western Yemen in September 2014. At the time, the Houthi armed group was waging an aggressive

  WASHINGTON - The U.S. military killed eight al-Shabab fighters and wounded two others in airstrikes Thursday in Somalia, Lt. Cmdr. Christina Gibson, U.S. Africa Command spokeswoman, told VOA. “We will continue to apply pressure to the al-Shabab network. They continue to undermine Somali security, and need to be contained and degraded,” Africa Command (AFRICOM) head Gen. Stephen Townsend added in a statement announcing the strikes. The AFRICOM statement said two strikes in the vicinity of Jilib targeted terrorists “who were known to play important roles in producing explosives for al-Shabab, to include vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices.” The al-Qaida-affiliated terror group conducts dozens of car bombings across Somalia each year, including against citizens, government and American targets.  US Troops to Withdraw From Somalia Amid Ongoing Terror Threat Senior US military spokesman says terror threat remains but 'is contained' According to AFRICOM, al-Shabab has conduc

Security and other challenges in Central Africa affect West Africa, the Great Lakes and other subregions on the continent, speakers warned during a Security Council videoconference meeting on 9 December, calling for greater regional cooperation and coordination to address the root causes of instability and safety threats posed by the Boko Haram insurgents and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). “Insecurity across Central Africa continued to be a source of concern,” said François Louncény Fall, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), in his briefing on the Secretary-General’s latest report on the mission (document  S/2020/1154 ).  These security threats, he said, have negatively affected the Lake Chad Basin and the Gulf of Guinea, as well as the internal situation in some Central African countries. On Cameroon, he deplored that violence in the country’s north-west and south‑west is now targ