Ethiopia Arrests Nearly 800 Suspects Over 'Terrorist' Plot - TV By Reuters StaffADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopian police have arrested some 796 people suspected of plotting “terrorist attacks” in the capital Addis Ababa for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the state-affiliated Fana broadcaster said on Monday.There was no immediate comment from Ethiopia’s government or the TPLF, who are waging a war in the northern Tigray region.Reporting by Addis Ababa and Nairobi newsrooms; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Maggie Fick and Alex Richardson   Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ethiopia-conflict-arrests/ethiopia-arrests-nearly-800-suspects-over-terrorist-plot-tv-idUSKBN2831R7...

KRON 4 ‘Don’t Try This at Home’ Thanksgiving tips from firefighters There are probably several reasons you should not have deep-fried frozen turkey for Thanksgiving.But if there was any doubt, Chicago firefighters have added one more: it could be dangerous.Video from the Chicago Fire Department shows how quickly a fire can spread “when attempting to fry a frozen turkey in boiling oil.”“Please stay safe this holiday season and make sure your turkey is completely defrosted before frying,” they added. Or maybe just roast the bird.   Full Story https://www.kron4.com/news/national/dont-try-this-at-home-thanksgiving-tips-from-firefighters/...

The Siasat Daily Researchers develop new tool to combat terrorism Sydney, Australia - Scientists are refining an innovative counter-terrorism technique that checks for environmental DNA in the dust on clothing, baggage, shoes or even a passport.Environmental DNA or eDNA is DNA that is collected from a variety of environmental samples such as soil, seawater, snow or even air rather than directly sampled from an individual organism.According to the study, published in the journal Forensic Science International, the research team developed a system to trace the source of dust on suspect articles to match a soil profile of a specific area or overseas country.“This could help provide evidence of where a person of interest might have travelled based on the environmental DNA signature from dust on their belongings,” said study author Jennifer Young from the Flinders University in Australia. “This microscopic environmental trace evidence, based on soil geochemical, bacterial and fungal...

Judicial Watch ISIS Terrorist Released by Feds in Oregon Town after Grand Jury Indictment An ISIS terrorist indicted by a federal grand jury for providing material support to the militant Islamist group has been released by federal authorities in Oregon. Even for the famously liberal west coast it may seem unbelievable, especially since a Republican appointee heads the Department of Justice (DOJ), the agency that made the bizarre decision. The defendant is Hawazen Sameer Mothafar, a 31-year-old U.S. resident charged with two counts of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization and one count of providing and attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2339B(a)(1). Mothafar has also been charged with making false statements—denying his terrorist ties—in an immigration application and one count of false statement to a government agency. Since 2015 up until...

  Deutsche Welle Vienna Terror Attack: Police Investigating 21 Potential Accomplices Police say it's not clear how the shooter managed to get to Vienna's city center armed with an assault rifle, handgun, machete and fake explosive belt. They're also still looking into how the weapons reached Austria. Austrian investigators have identified 21 suspected accomplices of an Islamist gunman who went on a deadly rampage in Vienna last week, officials said Friday.On November 2, the assailant, named as dual Austrian-Macedonian national Kujtim Fejzulai, shot dead four people and injured more than 20 others in the city center before he was killed by police.Michael Lohnegger, the police official leading the investigation, told a press conference that the 20-year-old was the sole perpetrator of the shooting spree. But he added that it was not yet possible to say "to what extent accomplices provided support before the act." A spokeswoman for the Vienna prosecutor's...

  American Military News US official admits misleading Trump on US troop numbers in Syria by Ryan MorganOutgoing Ambassador Jim Jeffrey, the U.S. special envoy for Syria, admitted in an interview with Defense One to misleading President Donald Trump about the true number of U.S. troops deployed in Syria and convincing the president not to withdraw troops.Jeffrey said, “We were always playing shell games to not make clear to our leadership how many troops we had there.” Jeffrey said the actual number of troops in northeast Syria is “a lot more than” the approximately 200 troops Trump agreed to keep in the country in 2019.According to anonymous sources who spoke with Defense One, the true number of U.S. troops in Syria is said to be around 900, though the precise number is classified and reportedly remains unknown even to Trump and other members of his administration hoping to bring U.S....

Voice of America EU States Push for Tougher Measures to Tackle Terrorism By Nicolas Pinault PARIS - After the recent attacks in southern France and Austria, some European leaders are pushing for tougher measures to tackle terrorism on the continent.After the shock comes action. That is what European leaders promise after the deadly terror attacks in Nice and Vienna.Pressure has been building ahead of the talks between French President Emmanuel Macron and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz for greater cooperation between members and for the EU to take the lead on counterterrorism.“The European Union has increased its powers, it has introduced new legislation, it has reinforced cooperation between member states, it has strengthened the role of the EU border agency, the EU police agency notably. Member states are seeing the European Union has a more helpful complement to what they’re doing at the national level, compared to the situation 20 years...

Clarion Project DHS: Twitter Censorship ‘Threat to Security’ Shutting down law enforcement’s ability to communicate leaves the public more vulnerable to ‘threat actors’ by Meira Svirsky On the eve of U.S. elections, where candidates have significant differences on U.S. immigration policy, Twitter censorship shut down the account of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Mark Morgan.Morgan had attempted to tweet out the following information, which was flagged by the tech giant for violating its rules on hateful and violent content:    Having banned the @nypost for daring to report on Joe Biden, Twitter is now banning the *U.S. government* from pointing out facts about border security and illegal immigration.    Walls work,     — Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) October 29, 2020Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf called the censorship a “threat to security” in a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, saying it served to “cut off an...

Austria arrests 30 in anti-terrorism raids, says no link to Vienna attack VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian police made 30 arrests in more than 60 raids on Monday as part of an anti-terrorism operation, but there was no link to a deadly attack in Vienna a week ago in which a convicted jihadist killed four people, prosecutors said.Austria has formally remanded in custody 10 suspects in connection with the attack by a 20-year-old gunman who had previously been convicted of trying to join Islamic State in Syria. Police shot him dead minutes after he opened fire on bars and bystanders in central Vienna.Monday's raids on apartments, houses, businesses and association premises in four Austrian provinces targeted people suspected of belonging to or supporting the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, the prosecutors' office in the southern city of Graz said."The suspicion is of belonging to a terrorist organisation, financing...

FOX 13 VIENNA (AP) - Gunmen opened fire on people enjoying a last evening out in Vienna before a coronavirus lockdown Monday in a terror attack that left at least two dead — including one of the attackers — and 15 wounded, authorities said.“I am glad that our police were able to neutralize one of the attackers,” Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said. “We will not never allow ourselves to be intimidated by terrorism and will fight these attacks with all means.”Police said that several shots were fired shortly after 8 p.m. on a lively street in the city center and that there were six shooting locations.Austria’s top security official said that authorities believe there were several gunmen involved and that a police operation was still going on hours later.“It appears to have been a terror attack,” Interior Minister Karl Nehammer told public broadcaster ORF, adding that the assailants were armed...

  Agence France-Presse THE LOCAL How France is struggling with a spiral of online jihadist hate As France reels from a string of jihadist attacks, the country is caught up in a perilous fight - protecting citizens against extremist propaganda whose potency seems to increase with each horrific killing.Social media has galvanized outrage among many Muslims over the renewed publications of cartoons of Mohammed by the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo -- with tragic consequences that even the heightened scrutiny of intelligence services was unable to prevent.The weekly put the cartoons on its front page in September to mark the trial opening for 14 suspected accomplices of the gunmen who massacred 12 people at its Paris office in January 2015, the beginning of a wave of terror that has left more than 250 people dead on French soil.Later in September, a Pakistani man seeking revenge wounded two people with a meat...

Clarion Project Another Beheading in France, More Attacks Amid Escalating Islamist Terror Why France? Why now? by Meira Svirsky In the past two weeks, France has seen three apparent Islamist terror attacks in the wake of the trial of the accomplices in the 2015 Charlie Hebdo massacres. On October 16, in broad daylight, French schoolteacher Samuel Paty, 47, was beheaded on a suburban street for teaching his students a required lesson about free speech. The community had been agitating against Paty for showing the Charlie Hebdo cartoons in the context of his lesson and the ongoing trial. False information had been circulating about him and what he was teaching. Paty was murdered close to the school where he taught, by an 18-year-old Chechen immigrant (identified only as Abdoulakh A.) who had come to France as a child refugee. On October 29, three people were stabbed to death inside a church in...

Jerusalem Post Mossad brought Chinese coronavirus vaccine to Israel The report comes as countries and companies around the world race to develop a vaccine. By YONAH JEREMY BOB, MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN The Mossad brought China’s coronavirus vaccine to Israel in recent weeks in order to study and learn from it, Channel 12 reported on Monday. Multiple government sources indirectly confirmed the report.The report comes as countries and companies around the world race to develop a vaccine, with cyberattacks and espionage reported against a number of developers.Israel is trying to reach agreements to purchase coronavirus vaccines from several other potential developers, according to a senior Health Ministry official who is in the know.“There are several diplomatic efforts going on behind the scenes,” he told The Jerusalem Post in a private briefing. “We are trying everything we can to ensure Israeli citizens have access to a vaccine as soon as possible.” However, it...

Daily Mail Syrian ISIS terrorist 'who stabbed tourist to death in Germany' wanted to slaughter Christians and cut out their tongues - and was under observation on the day of the attack Abdullah AHH, 20, is charged with murder and attempted murder for the attack Thomas L, 55, was stabbed to death and another man, 53, was seriously injured AHH had been released from juvenile prison five days before the Dresden attack While living in asylum in Germany he threatened members of other faiths   By Joe Davies For Mailonline A Syrian ISIS terrorist who is accused of stabbing a tourist to death in Germany while under observation wanted to cut out Christians' tongues, it has been revealed.Abdullah AHH, 20, was arrested on Wednesday for the attack which saw Thomas L, 55, stabbed to death and another man, 53, seriously injured in Dresden on October 4. Full story https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8871315/Syrian-ISIS-terrorist-stabbed-tourist-death-Germany-wanted-cut-Christians-tongues.html  ...

SKYNEWS Al Qaeda's second-in-command on FBI's most wanted list 'killed by Afghan security forces'Abu Muhsin al-Masri was charged with conspiracy to kill US nationals and providing resources to a foreign terrorist organisation. The man believed to be al Qaeda's second-in-command has been killed, Afghan security forces have said.Abu Muhsin al-Masri was on the FBI's most wanted list and was charged with conspiracy to kill US nationals. He was killed in a special operation in Ghazni province in eastern Afghanistan, the country's national directorate of security said in a tweet. It added that al-Masri was al Qaeda's supreme leader in the Indian subcontinent.He had also been charged in America with providing material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organisation.The FBI said he sometimes went by the name Husam Abd-al-Ra'uf and was an Egyptian national.It is 19 years this month since the US invaded Afghanistan in the wake of the 11...

Financial Times Islamist killing prompts French crackdown on militants Macron government to ban radical groups after beheading of history teacher by Victor MalletPresident Emmanuel Macron’s government has launched a crackdown on Islamists in France after the decapitation of a history teacher by a Chechen Muslim refugee, questioning dozens of militants suspected of promoting violence and announcing plans to ban radical organisations. “Islamists should not be able to sleep easy in our country,” Mr Macron said after an emergency inner cabinet meeting at the Elysée Palace on Sunday with Jean Castex, the prime minister, and Jean-François Ricard, the anti-terrorism prosecutor. “Fear is going to change sides.” Gérald Darmanin, interior minister, said on Monday he had ordered the closure of the Pantin mosque in Seine-Saint-Denis north of Paris after it re-broadcast a video condemning the teacher Samuel Paty.He also said he would propose a ban on several organisations deemed “separatist” for seeking...

U.S. News & World Report A Trial in Europe Examines Iran’s Terror Ties The trial of an Iranian diplomat may expose Tehran’s diplomatic networks as agents of terror. By Tom Ridge, Contributor Nov. 3 will be an important date for the American people, since they will elect their next president. Another day in November that will be important in the context of the next presidency's battle against terrorism will be Nov. 27.A trial is currently scheduled to begin in Belgium on that day for a senior sitting Iranian diplomat who was arrested as the mastermind behind what would have been one of the largest-ever terrorist attacks on European soil. Assadollah Assadi was stationed at the Iranian Embassy in Vienna in June 2018 when two Iranian-Belgian operatives allegedly attempted to carry 500 grams of TAPT high-explosives to a large international gathering of Iranian dissidents near Paris. It was later reported that...

  ABC News Grisly beheading of teacher in terror attack rattles France For the second time in three weeks, terror struck France, this time with the gruesome beheading of a teacher in a street in a Paris suburb By ELAINE GANLEY Associated Press PARIS -- For the second time in three weeks, terror struck France, this time with the gruesome beheading of a history teacher in a street in a Paris suburb. The suspected attacker was shot and killed by police.French President Emmanuel Macron denounced what he called an “Islamist terrorist attack” and urged the nation to stand united against extremism. The teacher had discussed caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad with his class, authorities said.The French anti-terrorism prosecutor opened an investigation for murder with a suspected terrorist motive. Four people, one a minor, were detained hours later, the office of anti-terror prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said without elaborating. Police typically fan...

Air Force Times by Justin Conrad  Al-Qaida’s attack against the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Cole ­­­occurred 20 years ago, but the powerful lessons of the tragedy reverberate today. The attack was unprecedented: a major U.S. warship targeted in peacetime by an extremist organization. Seventeen sailors dead and 39 injured.For those of us who have served in the U.S. Navy since that time, the attack is frequently invoked to warn young sailors about the dangers of complacency. The incident and its aftermath led to many important changes in how the Navy conducts business, and how it protects its forces. It also predicted America’s larger struggles with terrorism, extremism and indeed, its own place in the world. In many ways, the USS Cole foreshadowed the future more accurately than the attacks of Sept. 11 the following year.  In the short period of time between the two attacks, the country learned a...

Clarion Project Mapping Jihadi Ecosystems Across Social Media Platforms Caution against taking our eye off these extremists while focusing on domestic terrorists and COVID by Shireen Qudosi Even though the Department of Homeland Security just identified white supremacism as the most persistent and lethal threat facing the United States today, former al-Qaeda propagandist Jesse Morton cautions that we still need to be weary of jihadi ecosystems. Discussing why it’s important to keep a focus on jihadism as the counter terror focus shifts to domestic violent extremism, Morton sat down with Dr. Michael Krona to discuss jihadi propaganda across social media networks.Krona is an assistant professor at Malmo University and focuses on Islamic State propaganda. He is also the co-editor and author of The Media World of ISIS.Morton was an active extremist with al-Qaeda from 2003 through 2011 who now runs Light Upon Light and Parallel Networks, where he builds alternate...