Politico: Man Accused Of Taylor Swift Dance Class Murders Now Faces UK Terror Charge
“The teenager accused of murdering three children at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the U.K. earlier this year now faces an additional terror-related charge, British prosecutors announced Tuesday. Axel Rudakubana, 18, has already been charged with the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, Bebe King, 6, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, in an attack on the class in the English town of Southport in July. The killing was followed by widespread far-right rioting in the U.K. over the summer. The Crown Prosecution Service announced Tuesday that Rudakubana has now been charged with production of a biological toxin — ricin — contrary to the U.K.’s Biological Weapons Act. He has also been charged with possessing an Al-Qaeda training manual in contravention of anti-terror law.”
The Wall Street Journal: How The Houthis Went From Ragtag Rebels To Global Threat
“Iran’s “axis of resistance” has suffered a series of blows delivered by Israel over the past month, including operations targeting the leadership of Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah, and a strike last week on Iran’s missile-making facilities used, in part, to supply the groups. That hasn’t stopped Yemen’s Houthis from targeting more ships this week in the Red Sea with drones and missiles, the latest demonstration of how an escalating regional war appears to be boosting a once minor Iran-backed player in the region. The Houthis have so far avoided the type of Israeli strikes that killed Hassan Nasrallah, the charismatic Hezbollah leader who turned the Lebanon-based militant group into the world’s most powerful nonstate armed force. A few weeks after his death, Israel killed Hamas leaderYahya Sinwar, who orchestrated the Gaza-based militant group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.”
Jewish Chronicle: Eradicate Hate Follows The Money Of Extremist Groups
“... Moderated by Laura Ellsworth, summit founder and board co-chair, the panel included Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project; Mark Dwyer, extremism funding investigator at the Anti-Defamation League; and Alexander Ritzmann, senior advisor of the Counter Extremism Project. While hate groups were once self-funded organizations where a few people fronted the costs of printing flyers, creating pamphlets or burning CDs — often through donations or ticket sales at white power concerts — that dynamic has shifted, professionalizing the finances of many hate groups that embrace the newest technological trends. “Through the use of cryptocurrencies,” Schindler said, “we are already in the online sphere.””
Tagesspiegel: How Does Germany React To The Execution?
“There was no shortage of strong words immediately after the news broke. For Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the execution of German-Iranian dual citizen Jamshid Sharmahd is a "scandal". According to Annalena Baerbock, her Foreign Office campaigned "tirelessly" for the businessman, who was kidnapped in Dubai in 2020, and sent high-ranking teams to Iran to prevent the execution of the death sentence: "We have repeatedly made it unmistakably clear to Tehran that the execution of a German citizen will have serious consequences." […] According to Hans-Jakob Schindler, it is possible but not certain that "Tondar" was actually responsible. "After the attack, the German embassy in Tehran assumed that Islamists were more likely to be the perpetrators," says the senior director of the international Counter Extremism Project.”
BR 24: Fight Against Terror: Does Germany Rely Too Much On US Help?
“The slim man with short hair looks at the judge with a stern expression. For weeks, Moaaz A. has had to answer to the Higher Regional Court in Munich - 26 years old, born in Syria. […] Hans-Jakob Schindler from the international non-profit organization "Counter Extremism Project", which, among other things, evaluates court proceedings and monitors the social media activities of extremists worldwide, emphasizes that the USA has much greater capacity to investigate terrorism and many more legal options: "All of this, of course, allows the Americans to repeatedly give Germany information that is of key importance. And attacks have been prevented time and again over the last two decades."”
Associated Press: Kurdish Leader In Syria Calls For Diplomatic Solutions To Conflict With Turkey
“The leader of the U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in northeast Syria in an interview with The Associated Press called for international mediators to continue pushing for diplomatic solutions to the complex web of conflicts in the Middle Eastern country, including the escalating Turkish bombardment of Kurdish areas. Turkey has intensified its airstrikes in northern Iraq and northeastern Syria following an Oct. 23 attack on a defense company in Ankara that killed five people and wounded more than 20. Turkish airstrikes targeted dozens of sites believed to be linked to or affiliated with the Kurdistan’s Workers’ Party (PKK), which claimed responsibility for the attack. Mazloum Abdi, commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said that the attack in Ankara served as an excuse for a long-planned Turkish operation in Syria.”
“Israel’s attack on Iran likely damaged a base run by the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard that builds ballistic missiles and launches rockets as part of its own space program, satellite images analyzed by The Associated Press on Tuesday showed. The damage at the base in Shahroud raises new questions about Israel’s attack early Saturday, particularly as it took place in an area previously unacknowledged by Tehran and involved the Guard, a powerful force within Iran’s theocracy that so far has remained silent about any possible damage it suffered from the assault. Iran only has identified Israeli attacks as taking place in Ilam, Khuzestan and Tehran provinces — not in rural Semnan province where the base is located. It also potentially further restrains the Guard’s ability to manufacture the solid-fuel ballistic missiles it needs to stockpile as a deterrent against Israel.”
Voice Of America: Taliban Publicly Flog Afghan Woman, 3 Men Amid UN Outcry
“Taliban judicial officials said Tuesday that four people, including a woman, were publicly flogged in eastern Afghanistan for allegedly committing offenses such as "illicit relations" and "running away from home.” The United Nations has condemned such punishment being increasingly inflicted on Afghans under Taliban rule. The Supreme Court of the de facto radical Afghan rulers announced the latest punishments Tuesday, saying they were done in Nangarhar province after a local court sentenced the four "criminals" to 39 lashes each. The Taliban’s top court reported earlier this week that five Afghans, including a woman, were flogged in public 39 times each in Parwan and Faryab provinces for committing acts that are considered crimes in Afghanistan, including adultery and homosexuality.”
“Militants attacked a health center used in an ongoing anti-polio campaign in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, triggering a shootout that left two police officers dead, local authorities said. Three of the attackers were also killed in the exchange of fire. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Orakzai, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban. Local police officer Adnan Khan said the attack happened in the morning as health workers were gathering ahead of leaving for the door-to-door campaign along with police, who escort polio teams for their safety. No polio worker was harmed in Tuesday’s attack but another police officer who was wounded later died at a hospital, Khan added. The attack drew condemnation from the country’s top political leadership, including President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who paid tributes to the slain officers for bravely responding to the attack.”
Reuters: Yemen's Houthis Target One Ship In Red Sea, Strikes Miss, Source Says
“Yemen's Houthis targeted a Greek-operated, Liberia-flagged bulker but all three strikes against it missed, a maritime security source told Reuters on Tuesday. The Oct. 28 attack was the first against a commercial vessel in weeks following an escalation in Israel's campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon this month. The military spokesperson of the Iran-aligned Houthi militants, Yahya Sarea, said on Monday that the attack on the vessel, identified as Motaro, was part of their efforts to enforce a naval blockade on Israel. The vessel's manager was not immediately available for comment. The U.K. Maritime Trade Operations agency said on Monday it had received information about three explosions related to an incident 25 nautical miles south of Yemen’s port of Mokha. It added that the ship and crew were safe and proceeding to their next port of call.”
Politico: Christian Leader Sees Lebanon’s Moment To Defang Hezbollah
“There’s no love lost between Lebanese Christian leader Samir Geagea and Hezbollah. Geagea’s escaped his fair share of probable assassination attempts by the Shiite militant group over the years, with an extraordinarily close shave in 2012 when a sniper just missed him — because he abruptly bent over to pluck a flower. Since 1986, he has been the leader of the Lebanese Forces, a right-wing Christian political party. The 72-year-old is now a key player in Lebanon’s behind-the-scenes political moves to set a new course and haul the country out of another colossal crisis. Following an invasion by Israel aimed at smashing Hezbollah, the civil war-era militia commander is something of an outlier among Lebanese party chiefs when it comes to what should happen next. His views are heavily influenced by his hostility to Hezbollah and the militia’s paymasters in Tehran.”
Bloomberg: Israel Eyes Deal To End Lebanon Combat After Weakening Hezbollah
“Israel is considering a deal to end the conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon that would see the militant group’s fighters move away from the Israeli border, after assessing its rocket arsenal has been mostly expended or destroyed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met top aides late on Tuesday to discuss a US-shepherded cease-fire proposal, his spokesperson said. The White House is sending two of President Joe Biden’s most senior Middle East envoys, Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein, to Israel on Thursday, another Israeli official said. The plan, if agreed, will lead to a 60-day suspension of hostilities while mediators craft a lasting peace deal to remove Hezbollah from the border area and bolster the number of United Nations peacekeepers there, Israel’s Channel 12 TV reported. Many obstacles still need to be overcome, however, as myriad failed attempts to secure a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza have demonstrated.”
“A senior Hamas official said on Tuesday the Palestinian militant group was studying new proposals from mediators to end the Gaza war but reiterated that these should entail a complete Israeli military withdrawal from the enclave. "The movement has confirmed it is open to any deal or ideas that ends the suffering of our people in Gaza and achieve a permanent ceasefire, and the occupation's withdrawal from all of Gaza Strip," Sami Abu Zuhri said in a televised speech. He also said an agreement must end the Israeli-led blockade of the coastal enclave, allow unrestricted relief aid and a reconstruction of Gaza, and achieve a swap of Israeli hostages in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners in Israel. Abu Zuhri's statement signalled no change to the faction's outstanding conditions. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war can only end when Hamas is eradicated.”
Reuters: Israeli Strike Kills Dozens In North Gaza Residential Block, US Calls Incident 'Horrifying'
“At least 93 Palestinians were killed or missing and dozens wounded in an Israeli strike on a residential building in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya on Tuesday, the Gaza health ministry said, and the U.S. called the incident "horrifying". Medics said at least 20 children were among the dead. "A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defence crews cannot reach them," the territory's health ministry said in a statement. Later on Tuesday, Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Gaza government media office, put the number of fatalities at 93. There was no immediate Israeli comment. The Israeli military has frequently questioned figures on death toll published by the Hamas-run media office, saying they were often exaggerated. Israel's main ally the United States said it was concerned by the high casualty toll, with State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller calling it a "horrifying incident with a horrifying result".”
“Chad's President Mahama Idriss Deby has launched a security operation to track and neutralize several hundred Boko Haram fighters who attacked and killed on Sunday more than 40 Chad government troops in the Lake Chad Basin, shared by Cameroon, Nigeria, Niger and Chad. Deby visited the area on Monday and assisted in the burial of his soldiers. Chad state TV reports that President Mhamat Idriss Deby has ordered that flags be flown at half-mast and that all radio and tv stations in the central African states should play only religious music for three days from October 28 at midnight. Deby announced on Monday the three days of national mourning after visiting Ngouboua, a western village in Lake Chad, on the island of Bakaram, near the border with Nigeria where Boko Haram fighters killed at least 40 Chad government troops on Sunday night, according to Chad state TV.”
Reuters: Southport Stabbings: Teen Suspect Faces Ricin, Terrorism Charges
“A teenager accused of murdering three young girls in a knife attack in northern England in July has been further charged with a terrorism offence and the production of deadly poison ricin, police and prosecutors said on Tuesday. Axel Rudakubana, 18, is accused of killing the girls aged between six and nine at a Taylor Swift dance event in Southport, murders which shocked Britain and provoked days of rioting. Police said the incident was still not being treated as terrorist-related but said after searches of his home that Rudakubana had now been charged with production of the lethal biological toxin ricin, and the possession of an al Qaeda training manual. "We have worked extensively with partners to establish that there was a low to very low risk to the public – and I want to make that reassurance clear today," said Merseyside Chief Constable Serena Kennedy.”
Extremists: Their Words. Their Actions.
Fact:
On October 7, 2023, Hamas invaded southern Israel where, in the space of eight hours, hundreds of armed terrorists perpetrated mass crimes of brutality, rape, and torture against men, women and children. In the biggest attack on Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust, 1,200 were killed, and 251 were taken hostage into Gaza—where 101 remain. One year on, antisemitic incidents have increased by record numbers.
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