Donald Trump has announced that he will nominate former Justice Department official Christopher Wray to head the FBI. The announcement comes a day before former FBI Director James Comey is to testify to the Senate. US President Donald Trump announced on Twitter early Wednesday that he has selected former assistant attorney general Christopher Wray to lead the FBI, nearly a ... Read More »
Police have made a fresh arrest tied to last week’s attack in central London. With security in the spotlight ahead of elections, the UK’s prime minister has proposed undermining human rights to improve public safety. Police on Wednesday arrested a 30-year-old man in the east London suburb of Ilford in connection to a deadly terror attack that left seven people ... Read More »
Germany’s government has recommended pulling the Bundeswehr from the Incirlik air base. Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said earlier that the troops at Incirlik could be moved from Turkey to a base in Jordan. Germany’s cabinet on Wednesday recommended pulling troops from the Incirlik air base in Turkey. The Bundeswehr has about 280 military personnel stationed at Incirlik, from ... Read More »
![Two attacks have hit major targets in the Iranian capital killing at least 12 people. Armed men stormed the parliament while attackers detonated explosives at the tomb of Iran's former leader Ayatollah Khomeini. At least 12 people were killed and dozens more injured during two coordinated attacks targeting major landmarks in the Iranian capital of Tehran. Iran's Intelligence Ministry said authorities prevented a third assault from taking place. "This morning two terrorist groups attacked the parliament and Imam Khomeini's shrine ... Members of a third group were arrested before being able to carry out an attack," the ministry said in a statement circulated by state media. The self-styled "Islamic State" militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, according to terrorism watchdog SITE Intel Group. However, Middle East observers have expressed skepticism over the claim, saying the group may be seeking to capitalize on the attack. If confirmed, it would mark the Sunni militant group's first known attack in Iran, a Shiite-majority country that has been a major backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Shiite militia in Iraq battling IS. Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said Iran's actions against militants in Syria and Iraq proved they had become an enemy. "Iran is an active and effective pillar in the fight against terrorists and they want to damage it," he said. 'Significant targets' Holly Dagres, Iranian-American political analyst and curator of the weekly newsletter The Iranist, told DW that the attacks "appeared to be very well planned." "The attackers chose two very significant targets that symbolize the Islamic Republic, the parliament and the Imam Khomeini mausoleum. They were targeting the very core of the Iranian government," Dagres said. Dagres told DW that while the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, some observers suspect the involvement of different actors, including an Islamist leftist militant group known as People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), which has called for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. Attack on parliament One attack Wednesday targeted the parliament, where several armed assailants stormed the building. At least one of them detonated a suicide vest strapped with explosives within the building, according to local media reports. The other assailants wielded assault rifles. "A person entered Iranian parliament today and started shooting at the guards. He shot one of the guards in the leg and ran away," the Fars and Mehr news agencies reported in their Telegram messenger feeds. Press TV, Iran's international broadcaster, also showed footage of people fleeing parliament and gathering outside the building. Following an hours-long siege of the parliament, security forces shot dead the remaining assailants. Iconic leader's tomb targeted Press TV and other state-run news outlets reported that a suicide bomber detonated an explosive-laden vest near Khomeini's mausoleum, located in southern Tehran, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) away from the parliament building. Khomeini is a crucial figure in modern Iranian history. He effectively launched the Islamic Revolution in 1979 that witnessed the founding of an Islamic republic marked by the overthrow of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. During the attacks, authorities placed Tehran on lockdown, warning against using public transport and preventing journalists from reaching the site of Khomeini's tomb. Regional tensions The high-profile attacks are likely to raise tensions between rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia, who are battling for influence across the region in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and the Gulf Arab states. It also comes as Gulf Arab states spar with Qatar in part over its relations with Iran, and after US President Donald Trump met with Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia earlier this month urging a united front against extremism and Iran. Read: Saudi Arabia vs. Qatar vs. Iran Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards blamed Saudi Arabia and the United States for the attack in a statement run by Iranian media. "This terrorist attack happened only a week after the meeting between the US president and the [Saudi] backward leaders who support terrorists. The fact that Islamic State has claimed responsibility proves that they were involved in the brutal attack," it said in a statement. Opinion: Young princes in the Persian Gulf are playing with fire World reacts The EU's top diplomat Federica Mogherini expressed her "condolences to the victims" of the attack, saying her team is following the events "closely." Germany's foreign ministry condemned the attacks, saying "once again, unscrupulous criminals have killed many innocent people." "I condemn in the strongest terms the attacks in the Iranian parliament building and the tomb of the revolutionary leader Khomeini," Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said in a statement. France's foreign ministry also issued a statement expressing condolences to the families of the victims, noting that its embassy in Iran was monitoring the situation. Russian President Vladimir Ptuin said Russia "resolutely condemns" the violence, saying such incidents underscore the need for more international cooperation on uprooting terrorism. In a surprising statement, the UAE, which has accused Iran of creating instability in the region, condemned the attacks, saying: "Our position on terrorism is very clear … Any terrorist attack in any country, in any capital, directed at innocent people is something that the UAE abhors and the UAE condemns."](http://www.unitednews.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/twin-150x150.jpg)
Two attacks have hit major targets in the Iranian capital killing at least 12 people. Armed men stormed the parliament while attackers detonated explosives at the tomb of Iran’s former leader Ayatollah Khomeini. At least 12 people were killed and dozens more injured during two coordinated attacks targeting major landmarks in the Iranian capital of Tehran. Iran’s Intelligence Ministry said ... Read More »
Tuesday night’s friendly in Brondby was an experiment for Joachim Löw’s Germany team. But 25 years on from Denmark’s most famous victory, the contest was a reminder of Danish glory and pride. With a well-earned 1-0 lead against Germany at halftime, the red-and-white-clad players walked off the field to thunderous applause. Yet the clapping quickly grew to roaring cheers as ... Read More »
Rescue teams have reportedly found debris from a Myanmar transport plane that vanished en route to the southern city of Yangon. The Chinese-made aircraft was carrying over 100 people, mostly soldiers and their families. Authorities deployed navy ships and rescue planes to search for the missing aircraft on Wednesday, after the plane broke radio contact while flying over Andaman Sea. ... Read More »
The residents of Abu, on Japan’s west coast, started evacuation drills after the government asked local officials to prepare for a possible attack from North Korea. Pyongyang slammed the US and China over new sanctions. About 280 people took part in Sunday’s drill, with sirens sounding while a group children and their parents were cleaning up a field at the ... Read More »
Taiwan’s president has offered to help China shift into democracy on the 28th anniversary of Beijing’s crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. Thousands also gathered in Hong Kong for a vigil. Nearly three decades since Beijing ordered tanks and troops into the squareto crush the student-led pro-democracy uprising, and any public commemoration of the subject remains banned across the ... Read More »
![From anarchists to nihilists, militant Greek youth are increasingly networking with other global forces of violence. Left unchecked, they risk turning into loose cannons, disregarding all costs, reports Anthee Carassava. Greek extremists are fleeing to Syria to fight against the so-called "Islamic State" (IS) group, and the surge is stoking concerns among authorities in Athens that a fearless, new-fanged generation of militants could usher a fresh wave of domestic violence here. Although the flight has long been speculated among leading security circles here, concerns mounted recently as local media published pictures showing Greek anarchists fighting alongside the International Revolutionary People's Guerilla Forces in Rojava, near Syria's northern border with Turkey. Read more: Child refugees in Greece sell sex for smugglers' fees Brandishing AK-47s and wearing ski masks with military fatigues, the so-called Greek contingent is seen posing against a brick wall emblazoned with an ominous message: "From Rojava to Athens." In another picture, the extremists feature alongside a French team, part of the so-called 161 crew, warning in a separate banner: "No step back." Authorities contacted by DW said police were examining the pictures published in the Athens daily Eleftheros Typos to detect homegrown extremists evading arrest for years. "There is serious concern about this development and we are on alert as we are in the midst of a flare-up of domestic violence here," said a senior police official. The official refused to elaborate, but security experts said the Rojava recruits risked returning back to Greece with an updated cause. Worst yet, they could return with more dangerous means and methods to upgrade their long-standing fight to subvert the state. "There is a growing networking among violent anti-establishment forces," says Mary Bossi, professor of international security in Pireaus University. "The recruitment is extremely rigorous because unlike traditional terror groups of the past, these groups are open - posting, recruiting and spreading their messages freely," she explains. Regular attacks In a recent interview, a leading IRPGF member said the Rojava movement was bent on fighting IS. But its purpose, he explained, was also to "train [anarchists with] both guerilla and conventional warfare for their respective struggles back home and to gain experience in how a revolution functions on a social level." Greek anarchists are the latest to join in the Rojava movement since Amir Taaki, an Iranian-British Bitcoin coder, set out to Syria's northern border to fight against IS. For Greece, though, the stakes are high. Any revival of violence here could erase gains made after the successful bust up of November 17, a deadly terror group that evaded arrest for more than two decades. It could also add to lingering financial woes that have already dealt a devastating blow to Greek society. Experts are concerned. About 480 extremist groups, ranging from far-left anarchists to self-proclaimed nihilists, have emerged since the breakup of November 17, targeting symbols of wealth and the state as Greeks grapple with seven years of brutal austerity. With two to three militant groupings claiming responsibility for mainly low-grade attacks that rattle the country almost daily, a resurging tide of domestic terror is swelling, intelligence officials concede. "I don't want to think of the warfare these recruits in Rojava are going to bring back home and the situation that will transpire," said a senior intelligence official. Experts warn of deaths to come In recent weeks, conservative lawmakers and security experts have urged action, accusing authorities of not doing enough to crush a new generation of extremists feeding on resentment of the country's feckless political elite and seven years of austerity measures prescribed by Western monetary institutions. "Any state that wants to do away with its homegrown extremists, can do so," Bossi told DW. "Greece has both the technology and resources for the task. "Unfortunately, though, amateurism is at play. "Once an attack happens authorities scramble with crackdowns for a few days and then interest in addressing the real causes of the violence fade." Last week, and in a major escalation of violence, homegrown terrorists attacked former Prime Minister Lucas Papademos as he was being driven home, in Athens. Two members of his security entourage were also injured as the former central bank governor opened a booby-trapped envelope in his car, suffering major injuries from shrapnel that darted into his chest, groin and stomach as a result of the powerful explosion. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack but the hit bears the hallmarks of a homegrown militant anti-authority group of anarchists called the Conspiracy of the Cells of Fires. Known also for posting a similar parcel of explosives to German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble earlier this year, the small band of extremists has rapidly evolved into an urban guerilla force, upgrading its attacks from crude pressure-cooker bombs to more sophisticated explosives in recent years. Even so, Greece's new vintage of extremists remain dangerously reckless. Unlike the careful and calculating tactics used by older terror groups, their pursuit of disrupting and destabilizing the state comes at a high cost. Worse yet, any deployment of militarized techniques in upcoming attacks risks turning them into volatile loose canons, plunging Greece into a new reign of deadly terror. "Their complete disregard for any collateral damage is alarming," Bossi says. "That alone should have authorities on extra alert, trying to bust them up before it's too late. "Left unchecked," she warns, "any future hits are bound to come with a kill."](http://www.unitednews.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/re-150x150.jpg)
From anarchists to nihilists, militant Greek youth are increasingly networking with other global forces of violence. Left unchecked, they risk turning into loose cannons, disregarding all costs, reports Anthee Carassava. Greek extremists are fleeing to Syria to fight against the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) group, and the surge is stoking concerns among authorities in Athens that a fearless, new-fanged generation ... Read More »
The pro-Baghdad Popular Mobilization Forces have driven the “Islamic State” out of the Iraqi town of Baaj, cutting one of the group’s supply lines between Mosul and Syria. The Shiite fighters are endorsed by Iran. Iraqi air force backed the militia’s push into the border town, the Popular Mobilization group announced on Sunday. The victory over the self-styled “Islamic State” ... Read More »
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