Lobe Log by Kaveh L. AfrasiabiOn December 6, Iran’s Chabahar port was the target of a terrorist attack when a vehicle laden with explosives was detonated in front of a police station, killing two and injuring more than 30 civilians. Although no one has so far claimed responsibility, Iranian officials strongly suspect the Pakistan-based Ansar al-Furqan. This Sunni Baloch militant group has carried out attacks before in Iran’s southeast province of Sistan and Beluchistan, which has a sizable Sunni minority in the predominantly Shiite Iran. Iran’s intelligence minister has pinned the ultimate blame on “regional sponsors of terrorism and spy services.”As expected, the terrorist attack has fueled an Iranian suspicion that it is part of a foreign-orchestrated plan to foment instability inside Iran. Some pundits have tried to connect the dots between the attack and the U.S. sanctions exemptions for India’s investment in Chabahar, the trilateral efforts of Iran-India-Afghanistan centered...

IndependentThe fevered conspiracy theories that emerged after Tuesday's violence show how a generation of radicalised criminals has sown distrust in societyby Kevin McDonald The attack at the Strasbourg Christmas market has highlighted the changing face of radicalised violence in Europe.Early on Tuesday morning, a man wanted on a charge of attempted murder following a botched armed robbery, succeeded in evading French police after they raided his flat. Later that evening he launched a rampage attack on the Christmas market, armed with an automatic pistol and knife. Three people were killed, one left brain dead and 12 others wounded, some with life-threatening injuries.Last night the suspect, Cherif Chekatt, was killed in the Neudorf district of Strasbourg following what police described as a counter terror operation. Chekatt was on France’s S-list of potential security threats. He has 27 previous convictions, served two prison sentences in France, and most recently was released from...

News 4 Jax Strasbourg shooting suspect killed by police, Paris authorities say Man accused of killing at least 3 people By CNN'S BIANCA BRITTON, LAURA SMITH-SPARK AND HELEN REGAN CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT. (CNN) - The man responsible for the Strasbourg terror attack was killed by police Thursday after a two-day manhunt, a spokesman for the Paris prosecutor's office said.Cherif Chekatt, 29, is accused of killing three people and wounding 13 others in the terrorist attack near the Christmas market in Strasbourg. French prosecutors said the suspect shouted the Arabic phrase "Allahu Akbar," meaning "God is greatest," at the time of the attack.Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said police recognized a man who looked like Chekatt walking on the street in the Neudorf district in Strasbourg on Thursday night and approached him. He opened fire on officers when they tried to question him, he said.Police returned fire, killing the suspect, Castaner...

Orlando Sentinel Lori Hinnant and Elaine Ganley - Associated Press Hundreds of security forces combed eastern France for a 29-year-old man with a long criminal record who shouted "God is great!" in Arabic and sprayed gunfire during a deadly rampage in Strasbourg's famous Christmas market, officials said. Tuesday night's attack at France's largest Christmas market, which killed two people, left a third brain-dead and injured 12, was a stark reminder to a nation wounded by previous assaults that terrorism remains a threat, even as anti-government protests roil the country. National police distributed a photo of the wounded fugitive, identified as Cherif Chekatt, with the warning: "Individual dangerous, above all do not intervene." Interior Minister Christophe Castaner told lawmakers that the French native had run-ins with police starting at age 10 and his first conviction at age 13. Chekatt had been convicted 27 times, mostly in France but also in Switzerland...

Jonathon Gatehouse · CBC News France's terror problemLast night's attack on a busy Christmas market in the French city of Strasbourg killed two people and wounded 12 others, including one victim who doctors say is clinically brain dead.Although the suspect is still at large, French prosecutors have characterized the shooting and stabbing spree, which lasted for minutes on end, as an act of terrorism, citing witnesses who heard the man shout "Allahu Akbar."The alleged attacker, identified by authorities as 29-year-old Chèrif Chekatt, was born and raised in Strasbourg, and has been on police radar since the age of 10.Christophe Castane, France's interior minister, told a news conference today that Chekatt's first criminal conviction came when he was 13. At least 26 more, mostly for robbery and assault, have since followed in France, Germany and Switzerland. Chekatt has been on France's security watch list, known as Fiche-S, since 2015.He shares that...

Nehanda Radio The Strasbourg gunman yelled “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest” in Arabic) as he opened fire on people enjoying an evening out at a Christmas market, the Paris public prosecutor told reporters. Rémy Heitz said two people had been killed and one left brain-dead after the attack in the eastern French city on Tuesday.Twelve were wounded, six seriously.The man, named by local media as Chérif Chekatt, was known to authorities as having been radicalised in prison. The 29-year-old was armed with a gun and a knife and escaped the area in a taxi, Mr Heitz said.The attacker boasted to the driver – who has spoken to police – that he had killed 10 people, and said he had been injured in a firefight with soldiers.Four people connected to the suspect had been detained overnight in Strasbourg, Mr Heitz added. Sources close to the investigation quoted by Reuters news agency...

Chicago Tribune by Eli Rosenberg - Washington Post An Ohio man was arrested on charges that he attempted to support the Islamic State by planning an attack on a synagogue in Toledo after the Pittsburgh massacre, federal officials announced Monday.Damon Joseph, 21, of Holland, Ohio, was arrested Friday and charged with one count of attempting to provide material support to ISIS.The case began after Joseph posted photographs of weapons and messages in support of ISIS on his social media accounts, according to a news release about Joseph's arrest from the U.S. attorney's office in Ohio's Northern District.Undercover FBI agents began corresponding with Joseph. In some of these discussions, Joseph said he supported ISIS and made propaganda "in support of ISIS recruitment," which included videos to recruit people, according to the release. And he expressed his support for violence, officials said. Read more: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-fbi-ohio-synagogue-attack-isis-20181210-story.html...

France 24 A source at the prosecutor’s office said the motive behind the shooting was not immediately clear and that an investigation was under way to see if it was terrorism-related. The interior ministry called on the public to remain indoors amid a "serious security event" in the city centre while local authorities in the Grand-Est and Bas-Rhin region tweeted for the public to "avoid the area of the police station", located close to the city's Christmas market. Reporting from Strasbourg, FRANCE 24's Catherine Bennett said people in restaurants were told to shelter in place and remain quiet. The shooter started near Place Kléber and advanced toward the Grand'Rue, one of the city's main shopping streets,said Bennett. The European parliament, which was holding its plenary session before the winter holidays, also went on lockdown, with MEPs told to stay inside. French President Emmanuel Macron cut short a meeting with parliamentarians...

BloombergA new study shows that Europe is safer than it was, but Afghanistan and Southeast Asia are in increasing peril. by Tobin Harshaw What, actually, is terrorism? It seems strange question to ask 17 years after President George W. Bush told Americans we were at war with it. But it’s a slippery issue to this day.We tend to think of terrorists as being non-state actors such as al-Qaeda and al-Shabab in Somalia. Yet we call Islamic State a terrorist group even though it (at one point) ruled over a vast territory, imposed taxes, had courts of law and engaged in sophisticated conventional military operations. How can we designate as terrorist groups Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which are uniformed services of national armies? Or consider Yemen’s Houthi rebels — in truth a self-governing tribal group now in control the capital city of a failed state. Yet the...

by Tom Ridge - Fox News For many, particularly those often critical of President Trump’s behavior, it can be hard to look dispassionately at issues, scrutinize administration policies, and arrive at conclusions that, despite one’s personal aversion to presidential conduct and tactics, require giving credit where credit is due. Iran is a critical case in point.There is a general perception in Europe and among many in the U.S. that the decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was a policy blunder which Europe now needs to mitigate. This is based on the European view that the deal was succeeding within its intentionally limited scope and offered the best foundation for future negotiation with Iran on other foreign policy matters. It may be true that, in the technical sense of the word, Iran is complying with the JCPOA, and that it is...

Shopfloor.org By Laura Berkey-Ames - National Association of Manufacturers The countdown clock has begun for the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program, as it will sunset on January 18, 2019 — unless Congress acts first to reauthorize it. Unfortunately, with Congress set to adjourn in a matter of weeks and a limited number of days remaining on the legislative calendar, manufacturers are becoming increasingly concerned that CFATS will lapse and our nation’s security will be at risk. This is an issue of critical importance to the NAM: our members operate 2,152 CFATS-regulated facilities spanning a range of major industrial sectors — such as oil and gas refining; chemical production and distribution; mining; agricultural goods and services; and electrical utilities — and they are counting on Congress to act expeditiously and reauthorize this program without delay.Operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the CFATS program relies on a multitiered risk...

By Travis Fedschun | Fox News French President Emanuel Macron, his political career in peril and his country engulfed in increasingly violent protests, pleaded with the country's employers Monday to give their workers a bonus and also promised a reduction in taxes in a bid to restore order after demonstrations have deeply shaken the nation during the past month. In a pre-taped address broadcast on television, Marcon criticized the "inadmissible violence" of the protests and promised to use "all means" to restore calm. "When violence is unleashed, freedom stops," he said.The French president promised to speed up tax relief and urged companies to give bonuses to struggling workers by the end of the year."I would ask all employers who can, pay an end-of-year bonus to their employees," he said.Among his pledges Monday, Macron reiterated his promises to raise the minimum wage and abolish taxes on overtime pay starting Jan. 1...

Franklin County PD: The male then went back towards the wall, and was heard yelling, “I’m sorry, I got nothing left; I’m just done” as he attempted to jump over the wall. Deputy Ball was able to grab ahold of the subject’s legs and pull him back onto the roadway when the subject began resisting. After a struggle that lasted for several seconds, "On December 2, 2018 at approximately 6:18 a.m., Deputy William Ball, who is a Crisis Intervention Tactics trained deputy, was on routine patrol in the area of Georgesville Road and Interstate 270, when he witnessed a male looking over the wall of the overpass. Deputy Ball quickly backed up, exited his cruiser and approached the male. Deputy Ball attempted to get the male subject away from the wall by engaging him in conversation." ...

The Jerusalem Post Jewish Voice for Peace runs a national campaign, “End the Deadly Exchange,” claiming the seminar promotes “discriminatory and repressive policing in both countries.” By JTA Two New England police departments withdrew from a training seminar in Israel following a public protest from pro-Palestinian activists.The activists are claiming the withdrawals as a significant victory in their efforts to stop police security seminars in Israel conducted by the Anti-Defamation League and others, which they say promote punitive police practices and racial profiling.The Vermont State Police, as well as the Northampton, Mass. Police Department, pulled out of the ADL’s New England’s leadership seminar in Israel, titled “Resiliency and Counterterrorism.” That followed pressure from residents and the pro-Palestinian groups Vermonters for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace.JVP runs a national campaign, “End the Deadly Exchange,” claiming the seminar promotes “discriminatory and repressive policing in both countries.”When contacted, Vermont State...

The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center At the Israeli Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Center On December 4, 2018, Operation Northern Shield began along Israel’s border with Lebanon. Its objective is to expose and neutralize Hezbollah terrorist attack tunnels penetrating from Lebanon into Israeli territory. According to the IDF spokesman, so far IDF forces have located a tunnel from the southern part of the village of Kafr Kila penetrating forty meters (43.7 yards) into Israeli territory (the outskirts of the northern town of Metulla). He added that there are larger tunnels in the area. According to the IDF, the operation will last a number of weeks. This past week a “return march” and a mini-flotilla were held along the Gaza-Israeli border without exceptional violence towards the IDF. Fathi Hamad and other Hamas spokesmen explained Hamas’ expectations from the arrangement with Israel (salaries, money, fuel, etc.), and threatened that if...

by Clarion Project Federal authorities are now investigating possible terrorism charges against the New Mexico jihadi cultists, reported the Albuquerque Journal. The cult members are currently being held on firearms and conspiracy charges.Based on evidence found at their compound in New Mexico (on land which they illegally occupied between December 2017 and August 2018) as well as testimony by some of the older of the 11 starving children whom local police rescued from the compound, federal prosecutors say the group had “a common plan to prepare for violent attacks on government, military, educational and financial institutions.”The teenage children said they were being given military training to carry out jihadi school shootings, among other attacks.Defense attorneys are petitioning the court to remove any language in the indictment that speaks of jihad and martyrdom, saying it could encourage prejudice in the jury during a possible trial.Clarion Project’s National Security Analyst and director...

NTV ABC by Lauren Kummer KEARNEY, Neb. —  Two special agents from the FBI Omaha Division made a stop in Kearney on Tuesday to talk about domestic terrorism and other topics.The FBI said domestic terrorism does in fact happen in central Nebraska.Although they do everything they can to obtain information to prevent attacks, it 's the "see something, say something" that helps in many cases.Tuesday's event was the very first for the Kearney Police and Buffalo County Sheriff's Citizen's Police Academy Alumni Association.Elected officials, alumni of the citizen's police academy and law enforcement members gathered to learn more about law enforcement at the federal level.Organizers for the seminar said this was important because of recent events around the United States."We wanted to have a topic that was timely and unfortunately nationwide, there have been nationwide some recent domestic terrorism attacks. We thought this was appropriate to have. It's not that...

CTV News CTVNews.ca Staff An attack on a mosque in Quebec City, which left six people dead, has pushed Canada up to its highest place ever on a global ranking of terrorist activity.The newest edition of the Global Terrorism Index, which was released Wednesday, lists Canada as having the 57th-highest level of terrorist activity in the world, up nine places from its position one year earlier.The index is compiled by the Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace based on five years’ worth of data from 163 countries representing 99.7 per cent of the world’s population.Canada’s previous peak position had been 58th, which it reached in 2009. This year’s ranking was obtained despite the country falling below the global average in each of the criteria used in the ranking: number of terrorist incidents, deaths attributable to terrorism, injuries attributable to terrorism and property damage attributable to terrorism.  “Canada experienced six terror-related...

NBC News Afghanistan becomes world's deadliest country for terrorism, overtaking Iraq Worldwide deaths linked to terrorism fell for the third consecutive year, but Islamic State remained the group that killed the most people. By Alastair JamiesonAfghanistan has overtaken Iraq to become the world’s deadliest country for terrorism, according to a report released Wednesday.One-quarter of all worldwide terrorism-related deaths during 2017 occurred in Afghanistan, according to the latest Global Terrorism Index. It cited a surge in attacks by the Taliban and the Islamic State group.America's longest war began after the 9/11 attacks when the U.S. invaded Afghanistan and toppled the ruling Taliban, which was sheltering Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The country still hosts around 14,000 U.S. troops, although President Donald Trump has expressed impatience with the military mission. In total, Afghanistan endured 4,653 fatalities across 1,168 terrorist incidents last year, the report said. The Taliban was responsible for 77...

ABC News By The Associated Press - HONOLULU The Latest on sentencing for a Hawaii-based solider who pleaded guilty to trying to help Islamic State (all times local):9:15 a.m.A judge is sentencing a solider based in Hawaii to 25 years in prison for trying to help the Islamic State group.Sgt. 1st Class Ikaika Kang pleaded guilty in August to four counts of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He says he provided classified military documents, a drone and other help.Kang says at his sentencing hearing Tuesday that he knows what he did was wrong.Prosecutors say he met with undercover agents he believed were part of the group. Prosecutors say he pledged allegiance to the group in Arabic and English and kissed an Islamic State flag.Kang is trained as an air traffic controller. Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/latest-soldier-sentenced-25-years-terrorist-aid-59604496...