Terrorism Watch

Beijing [China], May 1 (ANI): Chinese tech giant Huawei has become an unexpected symbol of "technological threat" as it poses danger to national security and economic integrity of the countries in which it operates, according to a report published in the Foreign Policy magazine. A report titled, "Huawei is risky for Business as well as Governments" said that Chinese company's extensive ties to the state have both raised sharp concerns and foreign-policy professionals have suggested serious risk to both national security and commercial activities. Referring to a recent report from the Netherlands, the article highlighted how Chinese telecom equipment supplier Huawei was accused of monitoring all the phone conversations made through the Netherlands's largest mobile network. "This is important not just for evaluating this one company but as a rubric to approach the threat stemming from the Chinese Communist Party's techno-nationalist development strate

  Turkey has added cryptocurrency trading platforms to the list of firms covered by anti-money laundering and terrorism financing regulation, according to a presidential decree. The Official Gazette said on Saturday the country’s latest expansion of rules governing cryptocurrency transactions would take immediate effect and cover “crypto asset service providers”, which would be liable to the existing regulations. Last month, Turkey’s central bank banned the use of crypto assets for payments on the grounds such transactions were risky. In the days that followed, two Turkey-based cryptocurrency trading platforms were halted under separate investigations – Thodex and Vebitcoin. Six suspects linked to the  Thodex probe  were jailed on Friday pending trial. The investigation into Thodex, which handled daily trades of hundreds of millions of dollars, initially led to the arrests of 83 people after customers complained of not being able to access their funds. Interpol issued a detention warra

  Tokyo [Japan], May 1 (ANI): Amid the growing concerns of human rights violations in China's Xinjiang province, Japanese companies are planning to suspend business relations with partners that are found to be forcing Uyghur Muslims to work. According to the Japan Forward news portal, there has been concern over Chinese threats to retaliate with boycotts against Japanese goods, which has put the companies in a tough position. A total of 14 Japanese companies are among the 80 of the world's leading firms that have done business with Chinese factories involved in the forced labour of Uyghurs, as per a report published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASIP). Last month, leading Japanese ketchup producer Kagome stopped importing raw materials from Xinjiang province, over the issue of rights abuses against Uyghur, Nikkei Asia reported. Joining the growing ranks of popular western brands, the leading Japanese ketchup producer has stopped the import of Xinjiang-grown toma

  Penpa Tsering remembered the 10th Panchen Lama who had died under mysterious circumstances in January 1989 of what Chinese government described as ‘heart attack’, following his strong and public criticism of China’s human rights record in Tibet. New Delhi:  Penpa Tsering, the Sikyong (President)-elect of the Tibetan government-in-exile, has announced that he and the Tibetan people will keep working tirelessly with governments, organizations and individuals around the world for the release of Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and all other political prisoners, held in Tibet by China. “We are not going to accept any interference from the Chinese government in the religious matters of Tibetan people, especially in matters related to the reincarnation of present Dalai Lama,” he said. Penpa Tsering was delivering his maiden speech at a webinar organized to mark the 32nd birthday of the Panchen Lama. The webinar, entitled “Panchen Lama’s Abduction by China and Its Significance” was organiz

No terrorist group immediately claimed the responsibility for the attacks. However, the modus operandi behind the attacks indicates that it is the handiwork of Islamic State group. The IS still has sleeper cells in Iraq in spite of the group's defeat in 2017. One attack targeted troops in Tarmiya, an agricultural suburb 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of the Iraqi capital. "IS fighters attacked an Iraqi army convoy at night and killed two officers and two soldiers," a security official said, on condition of anonymity.  Reinforcements were dispatched to the area but also came under fire, with "an officer and two soldiers" killed, the source said. A member of tribal fighters integrated into the regular forces that were then deployed to the scene was also killed, "along with a civilian caught in the crossfire", the source added. Further north, in the central Alton Kubre region, "six peshmerga (Kurdish fighters) were killed when Islamic State group jih

  Hong Kong, April 30 (ANI): A court in Hong Kong has convicted four pro-democracy activists, including Joshua Wong, for taking part in a memorial ceremony commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre victims. These four are among 24 people facing the charges for participating in a vigil on June 4 last year, when residents defied a government ban on gathering in public and flocked to Victoria Park to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, NHK World reported. The Japanese broadcaster had said Hong Kong police refused permission for the event, citing efforts to prevent the spread of the pandemic. On Friday, the four activists pleaded guilty to the charges at their trial and their sentencing is scheduled for next Thursday. China is tightening its grip on Hong Kong by taking actions against pro-democracy lawmakers, officials and activists. The protests erupted in June 2019 over the now-withdrawn extradition bill. The bill was deemed as an example of increasing Chinese influence in Hong K

India has been grappling with the worst health crisis as the second wave of COVID-19 spreads frantically. The sudden spike in cases has brought the nation’s healthcare system to its knees. There is an extreme shortage of hospital beds, oxygen and medicines. In these trying times, many brands and organisations have stepped forward to help India.  While there are many organisations that are genuinely pitching in to help in the time of need, there are many fraudulent organisations that have also mushroomed up. Such organisations are craftily prying upon ordinary people and scamming them in the name of Covid relief work. One such NGO in question is an America-based NGO Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA) Care.   IMANA gained immense popularity in India overnight a few days ago. The organisation is said to be targeting the youth of the country by running paid advertisements on Instagram and even coughing up money to paid influencers and promoters on the platform to share it

  The attack came on the eve of the official date set for the start of the final withdrawal of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan Kabul:  The death toll in a powerful suicide truck bombing that struck a guest house in eastern Afghanistan rose to 21 with as many as 90 others wounded, officials said Saturday. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the late Friday night bombing in Pul-e-Alam, the capital of Logar province. There was no indication why the guest house was targeted. In Afghanistan, guest houses are lodgings often provided for free by the government, usually for the poor, travelers and students. The Interior Ministry quickly blamed the Taliban. There was no immediate response from the Taliban. The attack came on the eve of the official date set for the start of the final withdrawal of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan. The Taliban, who had demanded that all U.S. troops pull out of Afghanistan by 1 May, have not offered any guarantees for the safety of the departing

A surge in attacks by armed militias and inter-communal violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have killed over 300 people since the start of the year as government troops and UN peacekeepers struggle to stabilise the mineral-rich territory.   Announcing Tshisekedi's decision, government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said, "The objective is to swiftly end the insecurity which is killing our fellow citizens in that part of the country on a daily basis."  He did not say what steps would be taken next under the state of siege in the two affected regions.  On Friday armed police in North Kivu’s regional hub of Beni dispersed students, who were staging an eight-day sit-in at the town hall to draw attention to the worsening security situation. Several students were wounded and others were arrested, according to a witness.  A Ugandan insurgent faction active in eastern Congo since the 1990s called the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) is believed to be responsible for much of

BISHKEK (Reuters) -Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan agreed what they called a complete ceasefire on Saturday after reports of fresh shooting and troop build-ups in the aftermath of border clashes earlier this week that killed 49 people. The heads of the countries' state security bodies announced the agreement in a joint briefing in Kyrgyzstan hours after Kyrgyzstan's border guard service said Tajik troops opened fire on Kyrgyz vehicles on their side of the border. The presidents of the two Central Asian nations also spoke on the phone on Saturday to discuss further steps, their offices said. "The tragedy that happened in the border area must never happen again," Saimumin Yatiyev, head of Tajikistan's State National Security Committee, said as he stood next to his Kyrgyz counterpart Kamchybek Tashiyev. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone with his counterparts in both countries, urging them to stick to the ceasefire agreement, the Russian Foreign Ministry

Inside Ms Sadat's Beauty Salon in Afghanistan's capital, Sultana Karimi leans intently over a customer, meticulously shaping her eyebrows. Make-up and hairstyling is the 24-year-old's passion, and she discovered it, along with a newfound confidence, here in the salon. She and the other young women working or apprenticing in the salon never experienced the rule of the Taliban over Afghanistan. But they all worry that their dreams will come to an end if the hard-line militants regain any power, even if peacefully as part of a new government. "With the return of Taliban, society will be transformed and ruined," Karimi said. "Women will be sent into hiding, they'll be forced to wear the burqa to go out of their homes." She wore a bright yellow blouse that draped off her shoulders as she worked, a style that's a bit daring even in the all-women space of the salon. It would have been totally out of the question under the Taliban, who ruled until the 20

  Protesters against military rule marched in Myanmar on Saturday three months after a coup ended a democratic transition, with several small blasts compounding a sense of crisis that a UN envoy warned could bring state administration to a halt. The military has tried to end dissent and impose its authority on a people largely opposed to the return of rule by the generals after 10 years of democratic reforms that included a government led by democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi. Despite a relentless crackdown in which at least 759 protesters have been killed, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) advocacy group, crowds come out day after day to reject the junta. "Our cause, democracy, our cause, a federal union. Free arrested leaders," protesters chanted at one of two rallies in the main city of Yangon. Also read:  Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi demands meeting with her lawyers in person Suu Kyi, 75, has been detained since the coup the along

Health officials said they were planning to roll out mandatory inoculations for the 370,000 domestic helpers in the city, mostly poorly-paid women from the Philippines and Indonesia. Those wanting to apply for work visas — or renew their current ones — would need to show they had been vaccinated, officials said Friday.  If the plan goes ahead it would be the first time Hong Kong has directly tied working rights for foreigners to vaccines.  “This is clearly an act of discrimination and stigmatisation against migrant domestic workers,” Dolores Balladares Pelaez, chair of United Filipinos in Hong Kong, told reporters.  Labour groups representing domestic workers said they were angered other foreigners — and locals working in environments such as care homes — were not also required to get vaccinated. “Again, we are being singled out and targeted,” Pelaez added. Health officials announced the vaccination plan after two domestic helpers were found to be infected with one of the more virulent

Gunfire crackled near the straw-woven home of Abraha Kinfe Gebremariam. He hoped it drowned out the cries of his wife, curled up in pain, and the newborn twin daughters wailing beside her. The violence had broken out in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region at the worst possible time for Abraha and his family. Their village of Mai Kadra was caught in the first known massacre of a grinding war that has killed thousands of ethnic Tigrayans like them. Abraha pleaded with his wife, writhing from post-childbirth complications, to be silent, as any noise could bring gunmen to his door. His two young sons watched in fear. “I prayed and prayed,” Abraha said. “God didn’t help me.” He was terrified his family would not survive. Five months after it began, the armed conflict in Ethiopia has turned into what witnesses describe as a campaign to destroy the Tigrayan minority. Thousands of families have been shattered, fleeing their homes, starved, murdered or still searching for each other across a regi

  The Irish media have been quick to vilify and accuse the Government of Evo Morales and the Bolivian police. Disappointingly, however, very little if any mention has been made of the killings and other acts of violence committed by groups opposed to the Morales Government in Santa Cruz. This omission by the media only plays in to the hands of a racist and self-serving opposition intent on impeding a legitimate process of social change in a country where the majority of the population continue to live in poverty.   Changing times in Bolivia  The first ever indigenous President on the continent, Evo Morales came to power three years ago and joined Venezuela and Ecuador in leading a Government committed to bringing an end to the structural inequality and poverty which has dominated Latin America for decades. In the last 20 years, poverty in Latin America has been increasing - in 1980 there were 136 million people on the continent living in poverty whereas today there are 200 million, tha