Leaders Express Condolences to France over Paris Attack

France: Hollande Blames ISIS for 'Act of War' against Paris

French President Francois Hollande gave a press conference from Paris, Saturday, after an emergency security meeting following Friday night's attacks across the French capital which left over 120 dead and at least 200 injured.

Le Président de la France : Déclaration à l'issue du Conseil de défense : Après les attaques à Paris, le président François Hollande s'est exprimé à l'issue du Conseil de défense ce matin »

France: 'We Are At War' - Sarkozy

Former President of France Nicolas Sarkozy said that "the terrorists have declared war on France" during a press conference in Paris, Saturday, following Friday night's attacks across the French capital which left at last 127 dead and 200 injured.

LIVE Outside the Bataclan Theatre in Paris Following Deadly Attack

Warning! Disturbing Images! Paris Attacks: People Clamber Out of Bataclan Concert Hall to Escape Gunfire

Le Monde journalist Daniel Psenny, who lives overlooking the Bataclan concert hall, has posted a video of people climbing out of windows and running from the emergency exit as gunfire breaks out. Psenny himself was shot in the arm as he attempted to help people shelter in his apartment, and is being treated at the Georges-Pompidou hospital.

THE GUARDIAN: Paris attacks: Hollande holds Islamic State responsible for 'act of war' – live »

President Obama Offers a Statement on the Attacks in Paris

Boston Terror Suspect Reportedly Targeted 'Draw Muhammad' Activist for Beheading

FOX NEWS: The knife-wielding terror suspect who was shot and killed by law enforcement outside Boston early Tuesday originally targeted the activist behind last month's "Draw Muhammad" cartoon competition before turning his sights on local police, according to several published reports.

CNN and NBC, citing law enforcement sources, reported late Wednesday that Usaama Rahim had planned to behead Pamela Geller, an activist and blogger who organized last month's cartoon contest for images of the Muslim prophet Muhammad in Garland, Texas. That event was targeted by two Muslim gunmen who were killed by police.

Geller was not identified in an FBI complaint against David Wright, a relative of Rahim, that was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court. However, investigators did say that Rahim had initially told Wright that he planned to behead an unidentified victim outside of Massachusetts. » | FoxNews.com | Thursday, June 04, 2015

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Terror suspect killed by FBI 'planned to behead Pamela Geller': Usaama Rahim allegedly planned to kill anti-Islam activist before his death in Boston on Tuesday » | David Lawler, Washington | Thursday, June 04, 2015

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: Knife-wielding Boston terror suspect shot dead planned to behead conservative blogger Pamela Geller: report » | Bev Ford, Nancy Dillon | New York Daily News | Wednesday, June 03, 2015

Boston Man Slain by Police Was Planning Terrorist Attack, FBI Says

LOS ANGELES TIMES: A Boston man who was shot and killed by members of a counter-terrorism task force had been planning an attack in the United States by beheading someone, possibly randomly chosen police officers, according to a federal criminal complaint filed Wednesday.

Usaamah Rahim, 26, a private security officer who lived in Boston, had been planning the attack since at least May 26 and had bought knives online from Amazon, according to court documents. Rahim, who was under law enforcement surveillance, was fatally shot Tuesday by members of a Joint Terrorism Task Force in the Boston neighborhood of Roslindale after he reportedly approached the officers with a large knife. (+ video) » | Matt Pearce | Wednesday, June 03, 2015

US Security Chief Warns Shoppers After Terror Threat

BBC AMERICA: US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has urged people to be vigilant following a terror threat to Western shopping centres, including one of America's largest malls.

He said he took the threat by the Somali-based group al-Shabab seriously.

In a video, the group urged followers to carry out attacks on shopping centres in the US, Canada and the UK.

Al-Shabab was responsible for the 2013 attack on Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi that killed 67 people.

Mr Johnson told CNN that the threat was part of "a new phase" of terrorism in which attacks would increasingly come from "independent actors in their homelands".

"Anytime a terrorist organisation calls for an attack on a specific place, we've got to take that seriously," he said.

In the video, a man with a British-sounding accent and full face covering calls on supporters of al-Shabab to attack "American or Jewish-owned" Western shopping centres. (+ BBC video) » | Sunday, February 22, 2015

Bill Maher: Obama Uses 'Orwellian' Speech to Sound Like NRA on Islamic Terror

HBO talk show host Bill Maher blasted President Obama on Friday for saying religion isn't responsible for terrorism, comparing the president's statement to a National Rifle Association slogan. Mr. Maher said Friday that when Mr. Obama said "No religion is responsible for terrorism. People are responsible for violence and terrorism," that statement bore a striking resemblance…

WESLEY PRUDEN: Obama's Blind Indifference to Islamic Terror

The threat of radical Islamic terrorism is so clear and plain that even a president could see it. But Barack Obama is blind, deaf or indifferent, and maybe all three, and determined to keep himself that way. At his White House conference on "extremism" - where it came from and where it wants to go left…

German Carnival Parades Go Ahead Despite Terror Threat

In the run-up to the parades, there were concerns that satirical
floats that poked fun at Islamist terror could provoke attacks

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Annual carnival parades mocking everyone and everything go ahead in Cologne and Düsseldorf despite a terror threat that saw a similar parade cancelled in Brunswick

Annual carnival parades that are among Europe’s biggest street parties went ahead in the German cities of Cologne and Düsseldorf on Monday, despite an Islamist terror threat that saw a similar parade in the city of Brunswick cancelled at the last minute.

Tight security was expected at the annual Rose Monday parades in Cologne and Düsseldorf, which each draw crowds of around a million people, and in nearby Mainz, which attracts around half a million.

A parade in the northern city of Brunswick on Sunday was cancelled just over an hour before it was due to start, after police said they received information about a “concrete threat of an Islamist attack”.

It emerged there was also a previously unreported high terror alert at Frankfurt airport on Sunday after police received a tip-off from an unnamed source who learned of an alleged planned attack in an internet chat, according to a report in Bild.

“Such a serious alert situation has only happened very, very rarely before,” Christian Altenhofen, a police spokesman, told the newspaper. » | Justin Huggler, Berlin | Monday, February 16, 2015

Canada PM Harper Calls for Expanded Terror Laws

"Violent jihadism is not a human right," Stephen Harper said.
"It is an act of war."

BBC AMERICA: Encouraging terror attacks against Canada will become a crime under legislation proposed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The measure will also expand the powers of the country's spy agency, allowing it to take direct action to stop attacks.

Work began on the bill after two attacks days apart last year. It is expected to be passed by Mr Harper's Conservative majority in Parliament.

Under current law it is a crime to make a specific threat. The new measure would make it crime to call for a terror attack against the country or Canadians generally, including online.

"We cannot tolerate this any more than we tolerate people that make jokes about bomb threats at airports," Mr Harper said.

"Anyone engaging in that kind of activity is going to face the full force of the law in the future."

The maximum prison sentence for those convicted under the new measure would be five years. » | Friday, January 30, 2015

The Female Face of Terror

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: If we don't act now, it may not be long before we see women committing acts of terror in Western cities

Since last summer, hardly a week has passed without news of a woman participating in extremism or terrorism. The violent group Boko Haram is using female suicide bombers to wreak havoc in Nigeria. From Denver to Vienna, "Caliphettes" – young girls pledging their support to Isil’s so called "Caliphate" on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr – are escaping to marry Jihadis in Syria.

And most recently, Hayat Boumeddiene, the wife of one of the perpetrators of the recent terrorist atrocities in Paris, is the most wanted terror suspect in the world today.

Despite this growing trend, women have largely failed to be incorporated into counter-extremism strategies.

For too long Western societies have viewed women, particularly Muslim women, singularly as victims of fundamentalist ideology. There is collective shock over the fact that they are now proving to be as much agents of that ideology as men – as proxy soapbox orators, encouraging those who cannot get to the battleground, to do as much damage as possible at home, as brutal, sometimes violent, enforcers of strict Islamic codes (the Al-Khansaa all-female moral brigade in Raqqa), and as the mothers of the next generation of Jihadists. Online, where Institute for Strategic Dialogue has been tracking the social media accounts of women living in Isil territory, a Jihadi girl power subculture has emerged: becoming a Caliphette is portrayed as empowering.
Indeed, the spectre of radicalised Western women streaming to the battlegrounds of Syria should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Isil’s highly sophisticated, tech[-]savvy radicalisation and recruitment machinery. They deploy peer-to-peer, in this case girl-to-girl, marketing strategies, Twitter amplification apps, iconic memes, gaming imagery and go-pro footage from the field. » | Farah Pandith and Sasha Havlicek | Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Egyptian TV Host Mostafa Sherdy on France Terror Attacks: We Told You So, Britain and Germany Are Next

New IS Video Calls On French Muslims To Carry Out Terror Attacks In France

Abu Maryam al-Faransi warns: "This is a message to all the
enemies of Islam and specifically France. The mujahedin
(militants) around the world will not hesitate to cut off
your heads."

RADIO FREE EUROPE: The Islamic State (IS) group's media wing, Al-Hayat, has released a new video calling on French Muslims to join Islamic State and go to Syria to fight, or if that's not possible to carry out terrorist attacks in France.

"Even poison is available, so poison the water and food of at least one of the enemies of Allah," one French militant says in the video.

The video -- titled What Are You Waiting For? -- is in French with Arabic and English subtitles. It's opening scenes show a group of French militants burning their passports to symbolize their rejection of the French government.

"As you have disbelieved in the Taghut [someone who worships anything except Allah], democracy, and man-made laws through your Hijra, today you disbelieve in these Tawagheet ['Taghut' leaders, i.e. the governments of the countries from which the militants have come] and their laws that they forced on us and these passports that they forced us to use," the French militant speaking in the video says.

The militant accuses the French government of oppressing Muslims and insulting the Prophet Muhammad. "And today, we disbelieve in you and your passports, and if you come here we will fight you," the militant adds.

"What are you waiting for? Why do you not perform Hijra [emigrate to Syria]," he asks. » | Joanna Paraszczuk | Thursday, November 20, 2014

Worlds Apart: Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch Director Interviewed by Oksana about Islamic Terror and the Jihad

A recent US report blamed Russia for the failure to prevent the Boston Marathon bombing, despite multiple warnings given to US authorities. And while the need for a foreign scapegoat is clear, perhaps the blame lies closer to home. What's fueling the global Jihad? Is it US foreign policy or Islam itself? Oksana is joined by Robert Spencer, an author and director of Jihad Watch, to untangle these issues.

Stakelbeck on Terror: Islam and the Battle For Our Minds

Islamist Terror Plot to Target UK Foiled

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Police are questioning four suspected Islamist terrorists amid fears they planned to attack public places in the UK armed with guns.

Armed police arrested the men in three separate areas of London in dramatic simultaneous raids last night.

The men are now being questioned on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

The men had been monitored by counter-terrorism police and MI5 for some time and the arrests were part of a pre-planned operation.

A large number of armed officers were deployed because it was feared the men may have had access to weapons, the Daily Telegraph understands.

The men had been under surveillance by police and MI5 for some time. » | Tom Whitehead, Security Editor | Monday, October 14, 2013

Charity Millions 'Going to Syrian Terror Groups'

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: People giving money to help millions of refugees from the civil war in Syria are inadvertently supporting terrorism, the charity watchdog has warned.

Some of their cash was “undoubtedly” going to extremist groups, said William Shawcross, the chairman of the Charity Commission.

Conditions on the ground in the midst of conflict made it difficult or impossible for charities to know where aid ended up, he said.

The Disasters Emergency Committee, which represents 14 of Britain’s biggest charities, has raised £20 million since the launch of its Syria Crisis Appeal in March. Its members include the British Red Cross, Oxfam and Save the Children.

But it said it was unable to guarantee that no cash was falling into the hands of terrorists. » | Christopher Hope, Senior Political Correspondent | Friday, October 04, 2013