• The Entebbe rescue, 40 years later

    On 4 July 1976 — 40 years ago Monday — Israeli commandos carried out a daring raid to rescue over 100 Jewish and Israeli hostages held by Palestinian and German terrorists at the Entebbe airport in Uganda. A week earlier, two terrorists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and two German terrorists from the Baader-Meinhoff gang had hijacked Air France flight 139 as it took off from Athens bound for Paris, the final leg of its journey that had begun in Tel Aviv. When the plane landed in Uganda, the Jewish and Israeli passengers were separated from the others.

  • A legend is born

    On 6 July1976, two days after the daring Israeli commando raid which rescued more than 100 hostages who were being held by Palestinian and German terrorists at the Entebbe international airport in Uganda, the New York Times published an editorial, titled “A legend is Born.” “By this unprecedented action, the Israelis have demonstrated that the criminal terrorist practice of holding the lives of innocent civilians for ransom to achieve political ends can be successfully thwarted by application of sufficient amounts of resourcefulness, determination—and guts,” the Times wrote.

  • Aurora movie theater owner seeks $700,000 from families of mass shooting victims

    A Colorado jury ruled that Cinemark was not responsible for the 2012 massacre in an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater, in which twelve people were killed and seventy injured – and now Cinemax, the owner of the movie theater, is demanding that the families of the victims of the mass shooting pay $699, 187.13 to cover the company’s legal costs defending itself.

  • Brazil lends $895 million to Rio de Janeiro for Olympics security

    Brazil’s government has loaned 2.9 billion reais ($895 million) to the state of Rio de Janeiro to cover some of the security costs of the Olympic Games, which open on 5 August. The state of Rio de Janeiro last week declared a state of fiscal emergency. Government officials said the loan was meant to guarantee safety and security at the Olympic Games. As many as half a million foreign visitors are expected to arrive in Rio during the state’s worst financial crisis in decades.

  • Explaining the Istanbul bombing: Turkey’s six foreign policy sins

    The terror attack at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport overshadowed two major headline events: Turkey’s bridging the rifts with Russia and normalizing relations with Israel. Both these events had to do with Turkey attempting to change course on policies that may well have opened the door to the airport bombing. Turkey’s view of the Kurds – in both Turkey and Syria – as the major threat Turkey was facing had led it toturn a blind eye to Islamic radicalism brewing in its backyard. In fact, Turkey helped ISIS by buying oil from ISIS-controlled oil fields, and allowed thousands of foreigners to go through Turkey on their way to join ISIS. Turkey hoped that ISIS would defeat the Syrian Kurds, and also take out President Assad, Turkey’s nemesis, but ISIS has failed on both fronts. Turkey has begun to distance itself from ISIS, and in response the Islamist organization has begun to launch suicide attacks against Turkish targets. Burying the hatchets with Russia and Israel might make Turkey more secure in the region, and signal to the rest of the international community that more substantive positive changes in Turkish foreign policy are yet to come. Only time will tell if they would include a more resolved Turkish response against ISIS.

  • New tool to measure homeland security risks

    DHS has a broad and complex mission, with priorities that include preparing for and responding to a range of terrorist events, natural disasters, and major accidents.Researchers have applied a tool originally developed to address risks in environmental policy, the Deliberative Method for Ranking Risk, to aid in strategic planning for security.

  • House committee releases encryption report, laying foundation for a national dialogue

    Terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino have sparked a public debate on the use of encryption in the United States because the attackers used encrypted communications to evade detection, a phenomenon known as “going dark.” Earlier this week, the Majority Staff of the House Homeland Security Committee released a new report, titled Going Dark, Going Forward: A Primer on the Encryption Debate. The summarizes the committee’s findings, based on more than 100 meetings and briefings committee staff and members have held with key stakeholders over the past year.

  • Turkey identifies the three terrorists as a Russian, Uzbek, and Kyrgyz

    Turkish security officials have said that the three terrorists who attacked the Istanbul airport were foreign nationals – a Russian, Uzbek, and Kyrgyz. The officials, who spoke with Western news agencies, said that investigators faced difficulties identifying the bombers from their limited remains, but a pro-government Turkish newspaper had said the Russian bomber was from Dagestan, a restless province which borders Chechnya.

  • U.S. airstrikes kill more than 250 ISIS militants outside Fallujah

    A U.S.-led coalition airstrikes on Wednesday killed more than 250 ISIS Islamist militants as they tried to leave the Iraqi city of Fallujah in a 40-vehicle convoy. U.S. officials said that the number of casualties is likely to be higher. It was one the deadliest coalition’s strikes against ISIS.

  • New death threats targeted Charlie Hebdo’s editorial staff

    French security services are investigating death threats made towards the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Le Parisien reports that a source close to the investigation told the newspaper the first threat was posted on the magazine’s Facebook account before being removed by an unknown person.

  • 41 killed, 239 injured in three suicide explosions at Istanbul Atatürk airport

    Turkish authorities say that forty-one people have been killed and 239injured in a terrorist attack on Turkey’s largest airport, Istanbul Atatürk. The airport is Europe’s third busiest airport. The Turkish Ministry of Justice said that two terrorists blew themselves up outside the security checkpoint at the entry to the international terminal. A third terrorist blew himself up in the terminal’s parking lot. Recent months have seen an increase in terrorist attacks against Turkish civilians. These attacks have been carried out by both ISIS Islamists and PKK Kurdish separatists.

  • Supreme Court: Domestic violence perpetrators can be banned from buying, owning guns

    The supreme court has ruled that individuals convicted of a domestic violence “misdemeanor” can be prohibited from owning or purchasing a gun. Previous law stated that only those convicted of intentional abuse would be barred from owning weapons, but a “reckless” assault could be pardoned. In the United States, around five women a day are shot to death by current or former intimate partners. At least 52 percent of American women murdered with guns every year are killed by intimate partners or family members.

  • Don’t believe the Brexit prophecies of economic doom

    The shock and horror at the Brexit vote has been loud and vociferous. Some seem to be reveling in the uncertainty that the referendum result has provoked. But there are plenty of reasons to reject the consensus that Brexit will be costly to the U.K.’s economy. Even though markets appear stormy in the immediate aftermath of the vote, the financial market reaction to date has more characteristics of a seasonal storm than of a major catastrophe. There will undoubtedly be winners and losers from the U.K.’s decision to leave the EU. But indexes for volatility are already lower than they were in February this year, suggesting that markets are not abnormally worried about the outlook, and U.K. government borrowing costs are at an all-time low. This is further reason to reject the pre-referendum consensus that Brexit would bring economic doom.

  • Liberals, conservatives differ in response to Osama bin Laden’s death

    Conservative Americans remained unwaveringly suspicious of foreigners following Osama bin Laden’s death, while liberals dropped their guard briefly before returning to more vigilant beliefs, finds a provocative new study. The findings suggest conservatives and liberals respond differently to major events and may have implications for promoting peace and reducing conflict with people who challenge one’s core values.

  • Veils, headscarves may improve observers' ability to judge truthfulness

    Judges in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada have ruled that witnesses may not wear the niqab, which covers everything but the eyes, when testifying, in part because they believe that it is necessary to see a person’s face to detect deception. Contrary to the opinions of these courts, it is easier to determine the truthfulness of a woman wearing a headscarf or even a veil that leaves only her eyes exposed than a woman wearing no head covering at all, according to new research.