• Minnesota banks to stop money transfers to Somalia

    In an effort to cut off funds to Somali terrorists, banks in Minnesota will no longer support money transfers via local businesses called “hawalas”; Minnesota has the largest concentration of Somalis in the United States and officials fear that money sent from relatives living in the United States could be funding terrorist groups like al Shabaab

  • EU wants tech firm to stop selling surveillance gear to despots

    Following the revelations in the Wikileaks “Spy Files” last week, the EU digital agenda commissioner Neelie Kroes will urge European technology firms to develop a strategy to avoid “selling despots the tools of their repression,” a practice she describes as “to say the least, bad PR.”

  • Early Egyptian election returns confirm Islamist trend

    The immediate results of the Arab Spring so far have complicated the manner in which the United States protect its interests and negotiate regional issues, but these results also offer new opportunities; the news is not all bad for the United States: the Islamist parties which won in Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt may use anti-American rhetoric, but their rise to power also means an increase in the influence of Saudi Arabia in the region; this will likely mean a more robust Sunni Arab containment posture vis-à-vis Iran and its Shi’a and non-Sunni allies (Hezbollah, Syria)

  • Chinese rare earth embargo would be “disastrous,” says mining executive

    Mike Parnell, the CEO of U.S. Rare Earths, Inc., recently took the time to chat with Homeland Security NewsWire’s executive editor Eugene K. Chow; in the interview Parnell discusses the potential consequences of a full Chinese rare earth metal embargo, efforts to develop alternatives to rare earth metals, and the progress made in making the drilling process more environmentally friendly

  • U.S. probing use of U.S.-made surveillance technology in Syria

    U.S. Department of Commerce officials are seeking to determine whether Blue Coat Systems of Sunnyvale, California, knew its equipment and software were being used by the Syrian government to monitor anti-government demonstrators. If Commerce find that Blue Coat knowingly violated technology export and licensing rules, it could fine the company up to $1 million.

  • Syria: the end game

    The willingness of the Assad regime in Syria to unleash a brutal suppression campaign against the anti-regime movement, and the reluctance of outside forces openly to intervene – as they did in Libya — to curb the regime’s ability to use its military superiority to suppress the insurgency, have led analysts to argue that the Assad government can outlast its opponents and emerge victorious, if bloodied, from the this latest challenge; the emergence of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) – especially if aided by Saudi Arabia – and the move by Turkey to assume a more active role in Syria, may well spell the end of the regime

  • U.S. working closely with U.K. to secure 2012 Olympics

    Yesterday U.S. and U.K. officials met in Washington, D.C. to discuss security plans for the upcoming 2012 Olympic Games in London; the United States will have more than 500 federal agents on hand at the event and is working closely with British authorities

  • Rumor of war: Is Israel about to attack Iran?

    There is an increasingly heated debate in Israel, accompanied by leaks from high ups in the government, about a coming Israeli military attack on Iran; four developments have created a climate more hospitable to an Israeli military action: the progress Iran has made in its effort to build nuclear weapons — and the exposure of this progress in an IAEA report due out this week; changes at the top of the Israeli national security establishment — changes which saw individuals more favorable to an attack on Iran replace individuals who were adamantly opposed to military action; growing understanding between Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan; and the coming elections in the United States; these developments have convinced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense minister Ehud Barak — both proponents of an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities — that a window has been opened for an Israeli military action against Iran

  • EU and U.S. hold joint cybersecurity drill

    On Thursday, the United States and the European Union held their first joint cybersecurity exercise in Brussels, Belgium; the exercise, dubbed “Cyber Atlantic 2011,” was aimed at strengthening efforts to protect international critical infrastructures

  • Terrorism in Africa: Kenyan troops invade Somalia

    On Wednesday, Kenya sent its troops some 100 miles inside Somalia to take the battle to the Islamic Al Shabaab organization, killing some 75 militants; yesterday, AU troops stormed a stronghold of Al Shabaab militant group on the outskirts of Mogadishu, while a militia backed by Kenyan troops simultaneously attacked another Shabaab stronghold along the Kenya-Somalia border, taking it over and forcing Shabab fighters to flee; Somalia’s nominal government relies on Ethiopian and Kenyan troops to fight Islamic terrorists in Somalia

  • Qaddafi killed – 42-year rule over

    See video

    There are reports from Libya that Col. Muamar Qaddafi was killed while trying to escape his besieged hometown of Sirte; NATO says that a convoy of several vehicles was attacked as it was trying to make its way out of the city, and that when rebel forces approached the destroyed cars, they found Col Qaddafi in one of the vehicles; there are conflicting reports about whether he was killed by NATO airstrike on the convoy, or killed by rebel forces which pulled him out of his car

  • Arab Spring is different thing for different people

    New research shows true picture of what and who is behind the political uprisings; although the idea of the “Arab Spring” is accepted by a large proportion of people in Arab countries, the reasons they are aligning themselves with it are very different and have grown more diverse the longer it has gone on

  • Fences make good neighbors

    Often, peace depends on boundaries — well chosen, not arbitrarily set — that separate groups; boundaries that give groups some amount of autonomy can serve to mitigate conflict where people naturally seek to live near others of their own group

  • Israel-Hamas prisoner exchange goes through

    Earlier today, the initial phase of prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas has taken place; Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas operatives more than five years ago and held incommunicado since — even the Red Cross was not allowed to visit him — returned to Israel in exchange for 450 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails; in total, 1,027 Palestinian (1,000 men and twenty-seven women) will be released in the exchange; the deal was reached after both Israel and Hamas agreed to major compromises; analysts say that one of the main reasons prompting Israel to show more flexibility was the desire to “clean the table” of troublesome and divisive issues in preparation for a possible Israeli military attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities

  • The Israel-Hamas prisoner exchange

    If everything goes according to plan, then this coming Tuesday will see Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas operatives more than five years ago and held incommunicado since – even the Red Cross was not allowed to visit him — return to Israel in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails (1,000 men and twenty-seven women); the deal was reached after both Israel and Hamas agreed to major compromises; analysts say that one of the main reasons prompting Israel to show more flexibility was the desire to “clean the table” of troublesome and divisive issues in preparation for a possible Israeli military attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities