“The government of French President Emmanuel Macron aims to deploy algorithms
and other technology to monitor the web-browsing of terror suspects amid

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


April 29, 2021

 

The Wall Street Journal: France’s Macron Eyes Artificial Intelligence To
Monitor Terrorism
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“The government of French President Emmanuel Macron aims to deploy algorithms
and other technology to monitor the web-browsing of terror suspects amid
growing tensions over a group of retired generals who recently warned the
country was sliding toward a civil war. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Jean
Castex said the government plans to submit a bill to parliament seeking
permanent authority to order telecommunications companies to monitor not just
telephone data but also the full URLs of specific webpages their users visit in
real time. Government algorithms would alert intelligence officials when
certain criteria are met, such as an internet user visiting a specific sequence
of pages. Mr. Macron has come under intense pressure to crack down on terrorism
as well as Islamist separatism, an ideology his government says fuels attacks
by radicalizing segments of France’s Muslim minority. A middle-school teacher
was beheaded in a terrorist attack in October, and on Friday an administrative
police worker was stabbed to death in a terrorist attack on a police station.
The same day, Marine Le Pen, leader of the anti-immigrant National Rally party,
threw her support behind a group of retired generals who published a letter in
the far-right magazine Valuers Actuelles, saying the spread of Islamism and
other ideologies was pushing France toward a civil war.”

 

Reuters: Mozambique To Form Special Unit To Prosecute Terrorism Cases -
Attorney General
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“Mozambique’s government, which is facing a growing Islamist insurgency, will
create a special unit in the attorney general’s office to investigate and
prosecute cases of terrorism, the attorney general said on Wednesday. The
insurgency broke out in the country’s northeast in 2017 and the rebels have
stepped up attacks in the past year. Last month, they assaulted the coastal
town of Palma, near natural gas projects worth $60 billion that are meant to
transform Mozambique’s economy. Dozens of people were killed, the government
says. Presenting her annual report to parliament, Attorney General Beatriz
Buchili said a new special unit would be dedicated to investigating and
prosecuting complex crimes, including terrorism. “One cannot face the crime of
terrorism disassociated from other legal types of crime that are related to
them, such as trafficking in weapons, drugs and people, illegal exploitation of
mineral, forest and wildlife resources, money laundering and financing of
terrorism, which are other facets of crimes associated with violent extremism,”
she said. Buchili spoke as foreign ministers from Zimbabwe, Botswana, South
Africa and Mozambique prepared to meet on Thursday to discuss a report from a
regional team that was sent to Mozambique to assess the security situation and
identify immediate ways to help it deal with insurgent attacks.”

 

United States

 

USA Today: 'White Supremacy Is Terrorism': Biden Urges Vigilance Against
Home-Grown Violence After Jan. 6 Attack
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“President Joe Biden identified white supremacy as a domestic terror threat
that the country must remain vigilant against in his first joint address to
Congress on Wednesday. In discussing his order to withdraw American troops from
Afghanistan, Biden noted global terror networks have largely moved beyond the
country and that white supremacists posed a bigger threat than foreign actors.
“We won't ignore what our intelligence agencies have determined to be the most
lethal terrorist threat to our homeland today: White supremacy is terrorism,”
Biden cautioned Biden made his comments while speaking in House chamber, which
just three months ago was infiltrated by a pro-Trump mob in an effort to
overthrow the 2020 presidential election. Rioters carried Confederate flags and
nooses, and wore shirts saying the deaths of 6 million Jews during the
Holocaust weren't enough. “White supremacy is terrorism, and we're not going to
ignore that either. My fellow Americans, look, we have to come together to heal
the soul of this nation,” Biden said. Federal law enforcement and analysts
within the Department of Homeland Security warn that the threat from white
supremacist organizations will remain a persistent threat in the country in the
coming years.”

 

Associated Press: Navy SEALs To Shift From Counterterrorism To Global Threats
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“Ten years after they found and killed Osama bin Laden, US Navy SEALs are
undergoing a major transition to improve leadership and expand their commando
capabilities to better battle threats from global powers like China and Russia.
The new plan cuts the number of SEAL platoons by as much as 30 percent and
increases their size to make the teams more lethal and able to counter
sophisticated maritime and undersea adversaries. And there will be a new,
intensive screening process for the Navy’s elite warriors, to get
higher-quality leaders after scandals that rocked the force and involved
charges of murder, sexual assault and drug use. Rear Adm. H. Wyman Howard III,
top commander for the SEALs, laid out his plans in an exclusive interview with
The Associated Press. He said the Navy’s special operations forces have been
focused on counterterrorism operations but now must begin to evolve beyond
those missions. For the past two decades, many have been fighting in the
deserts of Iraq and mountains of Afghanistan. Now they are focused on going
back to sea.”

 

Pakistan

 

Associated Press: Bomb Targets Police Van In Southwest Pakistan, Kills Officer
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“A powerful roadside bomb went off near a police vehicle in southwestern
Pakistan on Wednesday, killing an officer and wounding five others, police
said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in the town of
Qilla Abdullah in Baluchistan province. The town is located 75 kilometers (30
miles) north of Quetta, the provincial capital. Police officer Abdullah
Achakzai said the victims were taken to a nearby hospital. The attack came as
Prime Minister Imran Khan was in Baluchistan on a day-long visit. The premier
was far from where the attack happened. Baluchistan has been the scene of a
low-level insurgency by small separatists groups demanding more autonomy and a
greater share in the region's natural resources, such as gas and oil. Militants
from the Pakistani Taliban and the Islamic State group are also active in the
province.”

 

Lebanon

 

The Jerusalem Post: Hezbollah Exported Drugs, Weapons, With Lebanon Government
Knowledge
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“Saudi Arabia on Sunday imposed a ban on the import or transit through the
kingdom of all fruits and vegetables from Lebanon after a series of seizures,
drugs and weapons in shipments coming from the Land of the Cedars to the Gulf
countries. On Friday, Saudi authorities intercepted over 2.4 million
amphetamine pills, concealed in a shipment of pomegranates coming from Lebanon.
Walid al-Bukhari, the Saudi ambassador to Beirut, tweeted on Sunday that his
country had seized more than 600 million narcotic pills and hundreds of
kilograms of hashish smuggled from Lebanon over the last six years. In
addition, Greece announced on Thursday evening, following information received
from the US Drug Enforcement Administration, that it had seized four tons of
cannabis in Piraeus Port, which was hidden in a shipment of industrial
cupcake-making machines bound from Lebanon to Slovakia. The decision, which
will also affect Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates,
will lead to more than $70 million in estimated annual lost sales, NGOs
concerned with agriculture in Lebanon told local media outlets. Four Gulf
countries issued statements of support for the Saudi decision by press time,
namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and the UAE, while Qatar had yet to issue a
reaction.”

 

Nigeria

 

Africanews: Boko Haram Fighters Hoist Flag, Forcefully Grab Wives In Nigerian
Town
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“The Islamist group Boko Haram has reportedly hoisted a flag in Nigeria’s
Niger State and gone further to seize the wives of fleeing residents, according
to the region’s governor. The Niger State Governor Abubakar Bello said close to
3,000 people flee the region following increased terror and armed gang
activities. “Their towns have been taken over by bandits and Boko Haram
elements... Their wives have been seized from them and forcefully attached to
Boko Haram members,” the governor said. “I am confirming that we have Boko
Haram elements in Niger State, around Kaure. They have taken over the
territory... They have installed their flag,” the governor added. The governor
further warned that the increased terror elements in the region poised a
greater threat to Nigeria's capital city Abuja, which Niger borders to the
east. “The Boko Haram elements are trying to use this area as their home, just
as they did in Sambisa. Sambisa is hundreds of kilometers away from Abuja. But
Kaure is less than two hours drive to Abuja. So nobody is safe anymore... Not
even Abuja is safe,” Governor Bello warned.”

 

Mali

 

The Defense Post: 26 Militants ‘Neutralized’ In French-Malian Army Operation
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“A military operation this week by Malian and French forces in war-torn
central Mali eliminated 26 militants, the Sahel state’s army said on Tuesday.
Mali’s military command said in a statement that the operation took place early
Monday in Alatona, near the border with Mauritania. The operation targeted
militants who had staged an ambush on Saturday, according to the statement,
which did not provide details on that attack. French and Malian troops launched
a counter-attack after determining their location. Soldiers “neutralized 26
terrorists” in the joint operation, according to Mali’s army, and also
destroyed two pick-up trucks and captured “a large quantity” of arms. Mali has
been struggling to contain a brutal jihadist insurgency that first emerged in
the north in 2012, before spreading to the center of the country and
neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger. Thousands of soldiers and civilians have
been killed in the conflict and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes.
Former colonial power France, which intervened in Mali in 2013 to beat back the
jihadists, has 5,100 soldiers deployed across the semi-arid Sahel region.”

 

Africa

 

The New York Times: 2 Spanish Journalists And An Irish Ranger Killed In
Burkina Faso Ambush
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“Two Spanish journalists making a documentary about anti-poaching efforts and
an Irish ranger were kidnapped and killed in Burkina Faso, according to the
Spanish government and a wildlife conservation organization, following recent
warnings by the authorities about a possible resurgence of attacks in the West
African nation. The killings on Monday came as violence is increasing in
Burkina Faso and the security situation in the Sahel is deteriorating,
especially in the border area of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Burkina Faso has
seen attacks from many armed groups, several of them linked to the Islamic
State and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Attackers on motorbikes have stormed
countless villages, forcing residents to convert to Islam and sometimes killing
them even when they do. Others have ambushed military patrols and killed
members of the armed forces, and hundreds of schools have been forced to close
because of the violence. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain
confirmed the deaths of the two Spanish journalists, whom he identified on
Twitter as David Beriain and Roberto Fraile. The conservation organization
Chengeta Wildlife said its co-founder and chief executive, Rory Young, was the
third victim. Mr. Beriain and Mr. Fraile were following Mr. Young, a
Zambia-born Irish national, for their documentary, Chengeta Wildlife said on
Facebook.”

 

The Washington Post: What Chad’s Crisis Means For Fighting Jihad In Africa
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“The impoverished country of Chad used to be derisively referred to as a “nil
state.” It shook off that label eight years ago, according to the then-foreign
minister, when its military became a major player in the fight against
jihadists in the Sahel, a semi-arid stretch of West and Central Africa, south
of the Sahara desert. Now, however, Chad is facing an escalation of its own
security and stability crises after the death in April of long-time President
Idriss Deby, the result, according to the army, of injuries sustained in a
rebel attack. His sudden demise -- followed by a military takeover -- have
raised questions about the continuation of Chad’s role as an ally of France,
the U.S. and other powers in the battle against violent Islamism. 1. Who was
Deby? A herder’s son from the minority Zaghawa ethnic group, Deby joined the
military and climbed through its ranks to become its commander-in-chief. He
assumed the presidency in 1991 after leading a rebellion against autocratic
leader Hissene Habre -- who was later convicted of crimes against humanity by a
special court in Senegal. Initially hailed as a liberator, Deby’s popularity
slipped as his rule grew increasingly authoritarian. Despite Chad’s oil wealth
-- its daily output of 127,000 barrels is the seventh biggest in sub-Saharan
Africa -- it remains one of the world’s poorest countries, with about 80% of
its 16 million people reliant on subsistence farming and herding to survive.”

 

France

 

The New York Times: France Arrests Leftist Militants Convicted Of Terrorism
Long Sought By Italy
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“The French police on Wednesday arrested seven former members of Italian
left-wing extremist groups who had been convicted of terrorism crimes in Italy
decades ago, but were given refuge in France. A court will now decide if the
militants, arrested at the request of the Italian authorities, can be
extradited to Italy, a decision that could take several years depending on
appeals. Dozens of Italian leftist extremists were given refuge in France
decades ago by the socialist government at the time if they agreed to renounce
violence, a move that long poisoned the diplomatic relationship between France
and Italy. The government’s announcement of the arrests on Wednesday signaled
an easing of that troubled relationship, with Prime Minister Mario Draghi of
Italy and President Emmanuel Macron of France managing to establish closer ties
in recent months. “France, also hit by terrorism, understands the need for
justice for the victims,” a statement from Mr. Macron’s office said, adding
that the arrests followed “important bilateral work.” The statement said that
the Italian government had initially put forward the names of 200 individuals
but that French prosecutors decided to focus on those convicted of “the more
serious crimes,” eventually arresting seven former militants.”

 

Germany

 

The Times Of Israel: Germany To Spy On COVID Skeptics Over Concerns Of
Extremist Ties
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“Germany’s domestic intelligence agency will monitor leading protesters
against COVID restrictions, the interior ministry says, over concerns they pose
a threat to democracy and have ties to right-wing extremism. The monitoring
will focus on members of Germany’s “Querdenker” (Lateral Thinkers) movement,
which has emerged as the loudest voice against coronavirus curbs and an active
promoter of conspiracy theories that deny basic facts about the pandemic. Some
protest organizers “have clearly demonstrated that their agenda goes beyond
simply mobilizing protests against the government’s corona measures,” a
ministry statement says. Their main aim appears to be to “permanently undermine
trust in state institutions and their representatives,” it adds. They are also
suspected of seeking links with right-wing extremists such as “Reichsbuerger”
(Citizens of the Reich) who question the legitimacy of the modern Federal
Republic of Germany, and of spreading antisemitic messages and QAnon myths, the
ministry says. The extremists encourage supporters to ignore official orders
and challenge the state monopoly on the use of force, it adds.”

 

Australia

 

ABC News Australia: Spy Boss Says ASIO Anticipating Terrorist Attack In The
Next Year From Either Right-Wing Or Islamic Extremists
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“The head of the nation's domestic intelligence agency has told a
parliamentary inquiry that it is anticipating there will be a terrorist attack
in Australia sometime in the next year. The director-general of the Australian
Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), Mike Burgess, said while the main
security threat remained from Sunni Islamic extremist groups, the growth in
right-wing extremism was also a major concern. “Obviously, terrorism threat
level remains probable,” he said. “Given the growth we've seen in nationalist
and racist violent extremism we anticipate there will be a terrorist attack in
this country in the next 12 months. “It can come from either ideology and
therefore for me doesn't really matter, because they're both capable of
conducting acts of violence and that's where we focus.” Mr Burgess was later
asked to clarify his comments, that he believed an attack could happen within
the next year. “We have credible intelligence that individuals and small groups
have the capable intent and we, on that basis, assess that there is likely to
be a terrorist attack sometime in the next 12 months as we've seen in the last
12 months,” he said. “Unfortunately there were two terrorist attacks in this
country last year and it resulted in two Australians being killed.”

 

Europe

 

The Local Denmark: Six Arrested In Denmark Raid For Suspected Isis Links
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“Six men suspected of being members of the so-called Islamic State (Isis)
group or funding it were arrested in an anti-terror raid in Denmark on Tuesday,
police said. The suspects, whose identities were not disclosed, are aged
between 27 and 35, police in East Jutland said. Two of the suspects were
arrested in the Danish capital Copenhagen and the four others in Aarhus,
Denmark’s second-biggest city. “Two of the people arrested, a man aged 29 from
the region of Aarhus and a 30-year-old man living in Copenhagen, are suspected
of penal code violations… for having travelled to Syria in 2014, where they
were recruited by the terrorist organisation Islamic State,” police said in a
statement. The 29-year-old is also suspected of having tried to return to Syria
in early 2015 to rejoin Isis. Under his instruction, the four other suspects
are accused of having acted as “intermediaries” and having sent money to the
organisation. According to Danish intelligence service PET, at least 160 people
have travelled from Denmark to fight in Syria or Iraq. About a third of them
have been killed in action, 32 are still there and around half of them have
either returned to Denmark or another country. Jihadism is considered the
biggest threat to Denmark’s national security, according to PET.”

 

Technology

 

Deutsche Welle: EU Passes Law For Quick Removal Of Online 'Terrorist Content'
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“The European Parliament on Wednesday approved a measure that will compel
online platforms to swiftly remove or block access to online content deemed
“terrorist” in nature. If the company fails to do so, it would risk a fine that
could go up to 4% of its global turnover. That applies even if the order comes
from a different EU state. However, the host country would have 72 hours to
assess if the request was justified and whether or not it breached fundamental
rights. Exceptions can be made for content posted for educational,
journalistic, artistic or research purposes. The law also provides exceptions
for smaller or non-commercial operators. MEPs backed the legislation without a
vote, having offered no amendments to an agreement struck between EU member
countries in December. “This regulation will make it more difficult for
terrorists to abuse the internet to recruit online, to incite attacks online,
to glorify their atrocities online,” EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva
Johansson said as the legislation was presented. Patryk Jaki, an EU legislator
from Poland who served as rapporteur on the legislation, said the law would
prove to be a great tool and noted how the internet is often employed by
terrorists trying to spread their messages.”



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