Terrorism

Subterms

    More stories

    • 125 Shares119 Views

      in Elections

      German Prosecutors Say They Suspect Terrorist Link in Festival Stabbings

      by

      The police say they have arrested a man they believe killed three people and wounded eight others at a festival in the town of Solingen, in western Germany.An attack on a crowd by a man armed with a large knife at a festival that left three dead and eight wounded in the city of Solingen, in western Germany, is being treated as terrorism, the federal prosecutor’s office said on Sunday.The suspect is a 26-year-old man from Syria who was living in a refugee residence only a few hundred meters from where the attack took place, the police said on Sunday. The man, wearing bloodstained clothes, approached a police car and gave himself up after 11 p.m. Saturday, the police said.In the attack on Friday night, the assailant aimed for his victims’ necks to inflict as much damage as possible, the police said.Besides planning to bring murder and attempted murder charges in the case against the man, the federal prosecutor is looking into whether he was a member of a foreign terrorist organization, Ines Peterson, a spokeswoman for the office, said on Sunday in an emailed statement.The Islamic State extremist group praised the attacker as a “soldier of the Islamic state,” but it was unclear whether the group had any connection to this particular attack.The far-right Alternative for Germany party, which has campaigned largely on an anti-foreigner platform and is poised to make significant gains in three state elections next month, jumped on the news. Even before the identity of the attacker was confirmed by the police, one of its leaders called for changes to “migration and security policy.”The authorities had earlier arrested two people who were later determined unlikely to have been the actual attackers, Herbert Reul, the state interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, where Solingen is, said in an interview on Saturday with a German broadcaster, ARD.A 15-year-old boy, who was arrested early Saturday, is being investigated for not having alerted the police when he learned about imminent plans to attack, prosecutors said. A man arrested by a heavily armed police unit on Saturday evening in the refugee housing facility where the main suspect also lived is being treated as a witness, the police and Mr. Reul said.On Saturday, Solingen’s mayor, the state governor and other political leaders gathered on a downtown square several hundred yards from where the attack took place to mourn the victims. It was an eerie repeat of a similar impromptu service held in Mannheim, another town in western Germany, where only three months ago an Afghan refugee attacked an anti-immigrant rally with a knife and killed a police officer trying to intervene.On Sunday, which was supposed to be the final day of a festival celebrating a city best known for making knives and scissors, a group of mourners met at a service held in a church next to the site of the attack. More

    • 138 Shares199 Views

      in Elections

      Explosions Outside a France Synagogue Were a Terrorist Attack, Prosecutors Say

      by

      Politicians quickly condemned the attack, at a time when antisemitic incidents have been on the rise in France. A suspect has been arrested in the case.Two vehicles parked outside a synagogue exploded in a French town on Saturday in what prosecutors called an act of terrorism.The cars exploded outside the Ben Yacoov synagogue in La Grande Motte, a resort town on the southern coast of France. The synagogue’s doors were also set on fire, prosecutors said in a statement.Prosecutors are treating the attack as an attempted assassination by a terrorist organization intended to cause harm and destroy property, according to a statement from the antiterrorism unit in the prosecutor’s office.Gérald Darmanin, the French interior minister, announced on social media later Saturday that a suspect had been arrested in the case but did not provide further details.Five people, including the rabbi, were inside the synagogue at the time of the attack, around 8 a.m., as worshipers would have been making their way to the synagogue.No one was killed, but one police officer responding to the explosions was hurt when a gas bottle inside one of the vehicles exploded, the antiterrorism unit said in its statement.The attack is likely to heighten fears of growing antisemitism in France, which has the largest Jewish population in Western Europe. Attacks against Jewish people in France have increased in recent years, and the government said it had recorded more than 360 antisemitic episodes in the first three months of 2024. The Israel-Hamas war has further heightened tensions in a society increasingly divided by religion and ideology. President Emmanuel Macron vowed that the perpetrators would be tracked down, and that Jewish places of worship in France would be protected.“The fight against antisemitism is a constant battle,” Mr. Macron said, adding that it was a fight for “a united nation.”Officials in the municipality of Hérault, which includes La Grande Motte, said the city would be vigilant in protecting buildings associated with its Jewish community.The municipality also canceled a demonstration planned for Saturday in nearby Montpellier by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which seeks to mobilize economic and political pressure on Israel over its treatment of Palestinians.During France’s recent elections, the country’s left, particularly Jean-Luc Melénchon, the founder of France Unbowed, was accused of fanning antisemitism. After Saturday’s explosions, Mr. Melénchon described the attack as an “intolerable crime” and called on France to uphold principles of secularism. More

    • 50 Shares189 Views

      in Elections

      France explosions synagogue antisemitism

      by

      Politicians quickly condemned the attack, at a time when antisemitic incidents have been on the rise in France. Two vehicles parked outside a synagogue exploded in a French town on Saturday in what prosecutors called an act of terrorism.The cars exploded outside the Ben Yacoov synagogue in La Grande Motte, a resort town on the southern coast of France. The synagogue’s doors were also set on fire, prosecutors said in a statement. Five people, including the rabbi, were inside the synagogue at the time of the attack, around 8 a.m., as worshipers would have been making their way to the synagogue.No one was killed, but one police officer responding to the explosions was hurt when a gas bottle inside one of the vehicles exploded, according to a statement from the antiterrorism unit in the prosecutor’s office.Prosecutors are treating the attack as an attempted assassination by a terrorist organization intended to cause harm and destroy property, the antiterrorism unit said in its statement. No one had been arrested in the case as of Saturday afternoon. The attack is likely to heighten fears of growing antisemitism in France, which has the largest Jewish population in Western Europe. Attacks against Jewish people in France have increased in recent years, and the government said it had recorded more than 360 antisemitic episodes in the first three months of 2024. The Israel-Hamas war has further heightened tensions in a society increasingly divided by religion and ideology. President Emmanuel Macron vowed that the perpetrators would be tracked down, and that Jewish places of worship in France would be protected.“The fight against antisemitism is a constant battle,” Mr. Macron said, adding that it was a fight for “a united nation.”Officials in the municipality of Hérault, which includes La Grande Motte, said the city would be vigilant in protecting buildings associated with its Jewish community. The municipality also canceled a demonstration planned for Saturday in nearby Montpellier by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which seeks to mobilize economic and political pressure on Israel over its treatment of Palestinians. During France’s recent elections, the country’s left, particularly Jean-Luc Melénchon, the founder of France Unbowed, was accused of fanning antisemitism. After Saturday’s explosions, Mr. Melénchon described the attack as an “intolerable crime” and called on France to uphold principles of secularism. More

    • 150 Shares129 Views

      in Elections

      Amid Heightened Security, Taylor Swift Will Return to the Stage in London

      by

      Fans gathering at Wembley Stadium in London said they trusted British security officials to keep them safe.When Taylor Swift canceled three concerts in Vienna last week after officials there foiled a terrorist plot, Swifties soon expressed fears about the pop star’s next shows, in London.Would Swift go ahead with the concerts at the 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium? Given the pop star once said that her “biggest fear” was a terrorist attack on one of her shows, some fans had doubts. Was it even safe to attend those London dates?When Swift didn’t comment on the thwarted attack in Vienna or the upcoming London gigs, fan anxieties only grew.Yet at Wembley Stadium on Thursday afternoon before the first of five concerts there, worry seemed to have given way to excitement at the chance to see Swift perform the latest leg of her globe-spanning Eras tour.In interviews, over a dozen fans, including many from the United States, all said that they felt safe attending the event. Kyle Foster, 46 — wearing a Kansas City Chiefs jersey like Swift’s partner, Travis Kelce — said he had flown from North Carolina with his partner and two daughters for the show. “We didn’t think twice about coming,” he said, adding he felt confident that security would “be on high alert.”Maya Arbad, 18, who had traveled from Dubai, said two friends had decided not to attend the concert because of the foiled attack. “Their families were just too anxious to send them here,” Arbad said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 163 Shares129 Views

      in Elections

      Lawyer Who Tried to Set Off Bomb Outside of Chinese Embassy Pleads Guilty

      by

      Christopher Rodriguez tried to detonate a bag of explosives at the embassy in Washington, D.C., by firing a rifle at it but missed, prosecutors said.A Florida lawyer pleaded guilty on Friday to placing a bag of explosives near the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., and trying to detonate it with a rifle, according to court records.This was not the first time the lawyer, Christopher Rodriguez, had attempted a detonation, prosecutors said. He had previously set off explosives in 2022 that caused “significant damage” to a statue of the Communist leaders Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong in San Antonio, Texas, by shooting at canisters of explosives with a rifle, according to court records.But when Mr. Rodriguez, 45, of Panama City, Fla., employed a similar tactic by shooting at a 15-pound backpack of explosives that he dropped near the fence of the Chinese Embassy on Sept. 25, 2023, he missed, and the explosives did not detonate, according to court records.Federal authorities say a Florida lawyer tried to detonate a backpack with explosives outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington in September.U.S. District Court for the District of ColumbiaMr. Rodriguez pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to damaging property occupied by a foreign government, using explosive materials to cause malicious damage to federal property, and receipt or possession of an unregistered firearm.The charges cover his attack on the statue in San Antonio and his attempt to damage the Chinese Embassy.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 100 Shares99 Views

      in Elections

      Shapiro’s College-Era Criticism of Palestinians Draws Fresh Scrutiny

      by

      Gov. Josh Shapiro, Democrat of Pennsylvania, wrote in his college newspaper three decades ago that Palestinians were “too battle-minded” to achieve a two-state solution in the Middle East, prompting criticism as Vice President Kamala Harris considers him to be her running mate.Mr. Shapiro, 51, has embraced his Jewish identity and been one of the Democratic Party’s staunchest defenders of Israel at a moment when the party is splintered over the war in Gaza.But he says his views have evolved since publishing an opinion essay as a college student at the University of Rochester in New York, when he wrote that Palestinians were incapable of establishing their own homeland and making it successful, even with help from Israel and the United States.“They are too battle-minded to be able to establish a peaceful homeland of their own,” he wrote in the essay, published in the Sept. 23, 1993, edition of The Campus Times, the student newspaper. “They will grow tired of fighting amongst themselves and will turn outside against Israel.”Mr. Shapiro, who was 20 at the time, noted in his essay that he had spent five months studying in Israel and had volunteered in the Israeli Army.“The only way the ‘peace plan’ will be successful is if the Palestinians do not ruin it,” Mr. Shapiro wrote, adding, “Palestinians will not coexist peacefully.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 138 Shares199 Views

      in Elections

      Netanyahu Vows ‘Severe’ Response to Deadly Rocket Attack Tied to Hezbollah

      by

      Fears linger among Lebanese civilians after a strike killed 12 children and teenagers in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.Tensions were high on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border on Monday as Israeli leaders vowed to deliver a significant military blow against the armed group Hezbollah in response to a deadly rocket attack over the weekend.The attack on Saturday killed 12 children and teenagers in the Druse Arab village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia that dominates southern Lebanon and that has been firing rockets into Israel for months, denied responsibility for the strike. But Israel and the United States blamed the group, saying it was Hezbollah’s rocket that had been fired from territory it controls.Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who visited the site of the attack on Monday, said, “Our response is coming, and it will be severe.” Local residents heckled Mr. Netanyahu, telling him they had no security and chanting, “Murderer! Murderer!” videos posted on social media showed.Mr. Netanyahu’s visit to Majdal Shams came the morning after Israeli cabinet ministers authorized him and Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, to determine the nature and timing of the military response. The strike and Israel’s expected counterattack have raised fears that nearly 10 months of armed conflict between Israel and Hezbollah could spiral into an all-out war.Hezbollah began firing rockets, antitank missiles and drones into Israel in solidarity with Hamas after that group, which is also backed by Iran, led the deadly Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 163 Shares169 Views

      in Elections

      3 Men With White Supremacist Ties Sentenced in Plan to Attack Power Station

      by

      Two of the men met through a neo-Nazi online forum and recruited other people to join their scheme, which was rooted in white supremacist ideology, prosecutors said.Three men with white supremacist ties, including two former U.S. Marines, were sentenced to prison last week after plotting to destroy a power station in the northwestern United States, the U.S. Department of Justice said.The men, Paul James Kryscuk, 38; Liam Collins, 25; and Justin Wade Hermanson, 25; received separate sentences on Thursday for charges related to what the Justice Department described as a racially motivated scheme to attack a power grid.The men gathered information on weapons and explosives, manufactured firearms and stole military gear, prosecutors said.Mr. Kryscuk, of Boise, Idaho, was found in October 2020 with a handwritten list of about a dozen places in Idaho and surrounding states that were home to components of the power grid for the northwestern United States, prosecutors said.The Justice Department did not disclose details about where the men wanted to carry out an attack or their ultimate goal. Sentencing documents on the public court system were not available.Mr. Collins, of Johnston, R.I., received the longest sentence of 10 years for aiding and abetting the interstate transportation of unregistered firearms. Mr. Kryscuk was sentenced to six years and six months for conspiracy to destroy an energy facility. Mr. Hermanson, of Swansboro, N.C., was sentenced to one year and nine months for conspiracy to manufacture firearms and ship interstate.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More