Posts

Showing posts from November 21, 2021

Daughter of ISIS hostage David Haines stares down terrorist linked to his death

Image
  The daughter of a British aid worker killed by ISIS has come face to face with one of the men accused of being a member of the   ISIS gang known as "The Beatles"   and conspiring to murder her father, David Haines. At a pretrial hearing in the US, Bethany Haines saw El Shafee Elsheikh for the first time. She has since explained how her life was turned upside down by the killing of her father and said she would tell the court that she wanted Elsheikh, who is due to stand trial in January, to reveal where the bodies of ISIS hostages were buried. She said she felt “nothing but disgust” for Elsheikh, who is accused of involvement in the murder of several British and American hostages in Syria between 2014 and 2015. Ms Haines plans to tell Elsheikh in court to "give up the location of the remains of our loved ones". She will urge him to "do it for my son who can finally say goodbye to his grandad", she said. At the pretrial hearing she, and the relatives of o

Burkina army says three soldiers killed in combat with militants

  OUAGADOUGOU  -Three Burkina Faso soldiers died and 11 militants were killed during an attack on the troops in the north of the Sahel West African nation on Wednesday, the army said in a statement. “The army detachment in Thiou, in the Yatenga Region was the target of an attack by armed individuals. Eleven terrorists were neutralised. However, three soldiers fell during combat and dozens were wounded,” the army said in the statement. The attack is the latest of three since Nov. 14 that have killed over 60 Burkina Faso security forces and over a dozen civilians, sparking nationwide anger and protests, with calls for President Roch Marc Kabore to resign. Opponents urged fresh protests on Saturday against the government’s inability to contain a four-year insurgency by militants linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State which has killed thousands and displaced over a million. United Nation’s special representative for West Africa and the Sahel said on Thursday that the situation in Burkina

Beware! Third wave of Islamist radicalisation is unfolding globally and in India too

The chief minister of Assam recently said that hundreds of youths of a particular community are missing, especially after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan There was a headline in a local newspaper of Assam on 8 November 2021. The chief minister of Assam informed that “efforts (are) on to radicalise (the) youths in (the) state” and that reportedly hundreds of youths of a particular community are missing! The news was worrying because there have been, of late, especially after the  Taliban takeover of Afghanistan  and the events in  Bangladesh , reports that radicalisation efforts in Assam were being expedited. Indeed, the phenomenon of radicalisation that is being felt all over India can be attributed to the growing influence of the Hanbali School in the country by way of the resurgence of the Popular Front of India (PFI).  Although PFI — whose leadership are mostly from Kerala — refutes the allegation that the outfit has any links with the Hanbali Sect (another name for Wahabi and/o

UK Bans Palestine's Hamas As Terrorist Organisation

Hamas - full name the 'Islamic Resistance Movement' - has political and military wings. Founded in 1987, it opposes the existence of Israel and peace talks, instead advocating "armed resistance" against Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories.   London:  Britain's interior minister Priti Patel on Friday said she had banned the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in a move that brings the UK's stance on Gaza's rulers in line with the United States and the European Union. "Hamas has significant terrorist capability, including access to extensive and sophisticated weaponry, as well as terrorist training facilities," Patel said in a statement. "That is why today I have acted to proscribe Hamas in its entirety." The organisation will be banned under the Terrorism Act and that anyone expressing support for Hamas, flying its flag or arranging meetings for the organisation would be in breach of the law, the interior ministry confir

Norman Paech: listing PKK as terrorist a political decision in favor of Turkey.

  Professor Norman Paech says there is a widespread solidarity with the resistance put up by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, in the struggle for dignity and freedom. In an ANHA interview with Norman Paech it went as follows: This organization, consisting of Kurds and children of peoples, is adopting a great struggle against the occupation of Kurdistan. How do you evaluate this struggle of the peoples and the PKK ? The social, economic, cultural and political situation of the Kurdish people has changed considerably in the last 40 years, but it is still characterized by discrimination, oppression, violence and war. It is not much different from the situation of the colonized peoples of Africa before their liberation. The struggle of the Kurdish people is therefore also comparable to the struggle of these peoples at all levels of society, both civilian and military, when it comes to defending themselves against the attacks of the Turkish army . This organization, consisting of Kurds and

Over 10M Android Users Infected by GriftHorse Trojan

  A mobile premium services campaign infected over 10 million Android users with the GriftHorse Trojan. More Than 200 Malicious Apps in Play Discovered by  Zimperium , the GriftHorse Trojan operation used more than 200 Trojan apps to target Android users all over the world. The largest proportion of those Trojanized apps used entertainment as a theme at 12.7%. This was followed by personalization, lifestyle and simulation at 5.6%, 5.6% and 4.2%, respectively. Once installed, a GriftHorse’s app began by pushing notifications on the infected device at least five times an hour. The campaign used that to attract the user’s attention and lure them into using the app. In the end, Trojan campaign used one of two variants to subscribe the victim to several paid and premium SMS services. The first version required the user to interact with a ‘Continue’ or ‘Click’ button. Doing so sent an SMS text message subscribing the victim to those services. The second variant performed the same function as

Italy takes in National Geographic’s green-eyed ‘Afghan Girl’ a refugee

The government intervened after Sharbat Gula asked for help to leave Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of the country in August, a statement said, adding that her arrival was part of a broader programme to evacuate and integrate Afghan citizens.   Italy has given safe haven to Sharbat Gula, the green-eyed “Afghan Girl” whose 1985 photo in National Geographic became a symbol of her country’s wars, Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s office said on Thursday. The government intervened after Gula asked for help to leave Afghanistan following the  Taliban takeover of the country in August , a statement said, adding that her arrival was part of a broader programme to evacuate and integrate Afghan citizens. US photographer Steve McCurry took the picture of Gula when she was a youngster, living in a refugee camp on the Pakistan-Afghan border. Her startling green eyes, peering out from a headscarf with a mixture of ferocity and pain, made her know internationally but her identity was only di

BSF personnel among 5 held, Jharkhand police say supplied arms to Maoists, terror groups

The Jharkhand Police Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) said on Thursday that a serving BSF head constable and a retired BSF personnel were among five persons arrested for allegedly supplying arms and ammunitions to CPI(Maoist) cadres and “organised terror gangs” across the country. This comes less than a fortnight after the ATS arrested a CRPF personnel and three others for allegedly supplying arms and ammunition to banned ultra outfits and others. Identifying the BSF head constable as Kartik Behra, a resident of Jharkhand, police claimed to have recovered “pilfered” ammunition, magazines and detonators from the BSF’s 116 Battalion compound in Ferozepur, Punjab, where he was posted. The retired BSF personnel, Arun Kumar Singh, a resident of Bihar, was also posted with 116 Battalion earlier, police said. The three others who have been arrested — Kumar Gurlal, Shivlal Dhawal Singh Chauhan and Hirla Guman Singh — are from Madhya Pradesh. “We have been conducting raids to ascertain the nexus of s

Maoists blow under-construction police station Gumla

  CPI (Maoist) rebels blew an under-construction police station in Kurumgarh in Chainpur block of Gumla, about 40km from the district headquarters, at I am on Friday soon after the three-day bandh concluded.  The banned extremist outfit had called the bandh from November 23 to 25 in Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Odisha to protest against the arrest of top Maoist leader Prashant Bose alias Kishan Da, his wife and four others. Advertisement Jharkhand police were on high alert during all these three days, but the outlawed outfit triggered the explosion that damaged an upcoming Kurumgarh police station building located in the heavily rebel infested region only after the  bandh  period ended i.e Thursday midnight. Owing to security reasons, the district police dispatched teams to the blast site only on Friday morning, said police sources. Gumla SP Dr Ehtesham Waquarib confirmed the incident. Talking over the phone, he said, “As per information, the blast occurred at around 1 am. There are no c

Cryptocurrency Bill | India’s first step to exercise its sovereignty over digital currency

  The   recent government decision   to introduce the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021 in the upcoming winter session of Parliament has created a furore in the market. The outcry is expected because India’s digital currency market was worth $6.6 billion in May, compared with $923 million in April 2020, according to 2021 Chainalysis’   Global Crypto Adoption Index . The Bill intends to “create a facilitative framework for the creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India”. The Bill also seeks to “prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India; however, it allows for certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses.” This would be India’s first step towards regulating cryptocurrency. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi while speaking at the  Sydney Dialogue urged co-operation between the democracies to ensure cryptocurrencies do not end up in the wrong hands. Countries have

186 NPA supporters yield in Leyte town: Philippines

CARIGARA, Leyte   – A total of 186 supporters of the New People’s Army (NPA) from 10 villages of Carigara, Leyte surrendered to government authorities on Friday. Among the surrenderers is 24-year-old Jonnel Anos, the lone NPA fighter among those who yielded. Traumatized by clashes with soldiers in the outskirts of Hilongos, Leyte, and sleepless nights and hunger, Anos decided to return to his family in December 2018. "We were told that the fight is for the welfare of the poor, but I realized that it's all about their propaganda," said Anos, of Canlampay village here. The NPA persuaded him to join as a combatant when he was 20 years old in 2017. The ceremony for the surrender of Anos and 185 NPA mass base supporters at the town gymnasium was witnessed by members of the regional and local Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (ELCAC). Three of the surrenderers belonged to the NPA's Yunit Militia, 25 were underground mass organization members, and 157 were mas

13 years of 26/11: India summons Pakistan diplomat, seeks expedited probe

People hold placards as they pay tribute to victims of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks at the Gateway of India in Mumbai "A senior diplomat from the High Commission of Pakistan in India was summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs today. A Note Verbale reiterating India’s call for an expeditious trial in the Mumbai terror attacks case, and calling on the Government of Pakistan to abide by its commitment to not allow territories under its control for terrorism against India was handed over to him," the MEA statement read.  India called it a "matter of deep anguish" that Pakistan has shown little sincerity in bringing the perpetrators to justice, even 13 years after the incident.  The MEA statement also pointed to a former Pakistan Prime Minister (Yusuf Raza Gilani) being on record to say that the conspiracy was hatched in Pakistan, and the attackers too were Pakistani nationals.  "This is not just a matter of Pakistan's accountability to the families of t

Israel Cuts Down List Of Countries Allowed To Import Cyber Tech Products In The Wake Of Pegasus

Amid mounting international pressure to restrict the sale of spyware, Israel has more than halved the list of approved countries that can do business with local cyber tech companies, according to a report by Israeli newspaper  Calcalist . The list has been slimmed down to 37 countries from 102, and India still figures on it. In a statement to the newspaper, the Ministry of Defense refused to “specify its policy for supervising defense exports” but said that it constantly reassesses them and only allows the export of cyber products to countries where it would be used for fighting crime and terror. There have been calls to regulate the spyware industry ever since it was revealed that multiple governments across the world, including India, used Israel-based company NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware to target political leaders, journalists, human rights activists, businessmen, military officials, intelligence agency officials, and several others. Full list of countries that can still buy Israeli

Opinion: Securing data amidst cybercrimes

Image
Not a day passes without a report on cybercrime. A recent news item reported that Punjab National Bank has compromised customer data for over seven months. Every organisation using a digital platform asks for personal details like Aadhaar number (this number is auto connected to Permanent Account Number of Income Tax). Billions are lost in well-organised cybercrimes. Only a few lucky get back their money after months of investigation. How and when did all this start? And can there be no end to it? Stewart Brown traces cybercrime to 1870, the first spam to 1978 and the first virus attack on Apple computers to 1982. From 2005 to now, ransomware, click-fraud, identity theft, and highly organised cybercrimes have been occurring with regularity costing an estimated $500 billion annually. Some 15 types of cybercrimes are: hacking (credit card), denial of service attacks, identity theft, virus dissemination, computer vandalism, cyber terrorism, online fraud, software piracy, forgery, maliciou