Showing posts with label Terrorism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Terrorism. Show all posts

Wednesday, 21 June 2017

Brussels Train Station Attack

The attack is considered to have failed.

The explosives didn't work as planned. No one was hurt.

Monday, 19 June 2017

Google VS Terrorism

Google's now going to be doing new things to reduce terrorist videos.

They'll be using a new algorithm to automatically find terrorism images, and will have more people working to monitor videos.

It will also effect educational and other videos that are about terrorism or include images that promote subjugation of religions or races. They'll have warnings now, and they won't have commenting available. This means that they will also have less engagement and will be harder to find.

Wednesday, 7 June 2017

Iran's Capital - Bombing Kills 13

ISIS claimed responsibility for the bombing, but they claim lots of attacks.

Gunmen, some reportedly dressed as women, but also wearing suicide vests, attacked the Tehran parliament building with guns. A standoff with police lasted hours.

6 attackers were killed, 5 arrested.

If ISIS was indeed responsible, it would be the first time their Sunni extremist group has successfully attacked Shia Iran, although they have been trying, reportedly. It is difficult for Sunni extremists to attack Iran because Iran is around 90% Shia, and Tehran is around 95% Shia, so there is not much of a reservoir of support for themthere.

ISIS would see an attack on Iran as a huge symbolic victory, according to analysts, as ISIS is against Iran like it's against the U.S.

Iran blamed Saudi Arabia for the attack and vowed retaliation. The longstanding conflict between Middle East countries continues.

Monday, 5 June 2017

Qatar Cut Off by Neighbors

Saudi Arabia and other neighbors of Qatar have accused Qatar of supporting terrorism and embracing Iran, and have cut it off.

Diplomatic communications and air transport was halted. Embassies, borders, air space, and maritime access (40% of Qatar's food supplies come from Saudi Arabia by boat) were shut off.

It is considered a dramatic escalation to a longer-term issue in the region.

Qatar says they are not sponsoring terrorism, but the nation does regularly (and currently) host prominent extremists.

Analysts have called it "almost an Arab region Cold War.'

Kuwait is seen as trying to mediate a solution to the crisis, and if they do, citizens of Qatar might not be expelled from their neighboring countries.

Saturday, 3 June 2017

Coordinated Attacks in London

The UK capital saw 3 notable attacks Saturday. including on London Bridge, at Borough Market, and at Vauxhall. London authorities are currently saying that the London Bridge and Borough Market are connected and are being treated as "terrorist" actions, but the Vauxhall is currently considered separate.

The attacks include a vehicle hitting pedestrians and stabbings.

There were fatalities in addition to many people being injured.

The use of vehicles as the weapon of choice for violent Muslim attackers in Europe is of a special concern as it doesn't even require the special and somewhat technical knowledge and supplies as do explosives, the other go-to weapon.

The last big attack in London was a week and a half ago (May 23) at the Ariana Grande concert. England has been on "serious" threat level of an Islamist attack for a long time now, but after the concert bombing the threat level was raised to "critical" because authorities feared attacks on public and cultural sites may be imminent. It was then reduced to "serious" again.

UK security officials have spoken about the phenomena, and the general tone is that they already stop a lot of attacks each year, but they can't stop them all.

Facebook Bans White Nationalist's Account Over Hate Speech

Facebook has joined other online platforms and has banned Christopher Cantwell's accounts. according to Facebook spokeswoman Ruchika Bud...