• Apple refuses to comply with court order to help FBI investigate San Bernardino terrorists

    Apple’s encryption technology has placed the company at the heart t of the privacy vs national security debate, as the company said it would defy a court order which requires to company to help investigate the San Bernardino attack by helping the FBI crack the code of an iPhone , Syed Rizwan Farook, one of terrorists, used. The U.S. government, stunned by Apple’s refusal to help in investigating a terrorist attack on U.S. soil, persuaded a court to issue on order compelling Apple to cooperate in the investigation.

  • Video of Belgian nuclear official found in home of Paris attack suspects

    Belgian security agencies confirm that video footage of a high-level Belgian nuclear official was found in a home searched for possible connection of its occupants to the 13 November Paris terrorist attacks. Belgian prosecutors refused to offer any more details of the video, its target, and who took it “for obvious security reasons.”

  • ISIS may get its hands on “highly dangerous” nuclear material stolen in Iraq

    Iraqi security agencies are searching for “highly dangerous” radioactive material stolen last year.  Experts are worried that the material could fall into the hands of ISIS. The material – Ir-192 — is designated a Category 2 radioactive by the IAEA, and it could be used to build a “dirty bomb,” which combines nuclear material with conventional explosives to contaminate an area with radiation.

  • ISIS used mustard gas in Iraq: UN watchdog

    A source at the UN chemical weapons watchdog, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), said that in 2015 ISIS attacked Kurdish forces in Iraq with mustard gas. It was the first documented use of chemical weapons in the country since Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons against Kurdish civilians in 1998.

  • Immigration overall not a source of terrorism: Study

    Migration is overall not a source of terrorism, according to new research. In fact the study indicates that more migration could create a decrease in the number of terrorist attacks. However, the research suggests some terror attacks can be linked to migration from terror-prone states.

  • World powers agree on “full cessation of hostilities” in Syria within 1 week

    Major world powers have agreed to a deal which would end hostilities in Syria and allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, meeting in Munich, early Friday announced the agreement, calling for a broader ceasefire. The agreement raises hopes that a diplomatic breakthrough may be possible.

  • DNA of Paris attacks’ mastermind not on discarded suicide vest

    French police found no DNA traces of Salah Abdeslam, the fugitive terror suspect who helped mastermind the 13 November Paris attacks, on a suicide belt they thought he discarded in Paris. Another unidentified DNA found on two vests could be that of the bomb maker.

  • NYPD has used Stingrays since 2008 -- with lower-level court orders rather than warrants

    The NYPD has confirmed that it owns and operates Stingrays— surveillance devices that spy on cell phones nearby and which can be used to track location. In response to an NYCLU FOIL request, the NYPD disclosed it used Stingrays nearly 1,016 times between 2008 and May of 2015 without a written policy and following a practice of obtaining only lower-level court orders rather than warrants. This is the first time the extent of the use of Stingrays by the NYPD has been made public.

  • “Palestine” does not exist “because [Arabs] can't pronounce the letter ‘P’': Israeli MP

    Israeli politicians who oppose the creation of an independent Palestinian state have found a new argument to support their position: The fact the Arabic does not have the letter “P.” Linguists and Middle East scholars expressed surprise at this line of argument, noting that in Arabic, the name of the people – and their country – begin with the letter “F,” not “P.” In Arabic, “Palestine” is pronounced “Falastin.”

  • Spanish judge frees puppeteers jailed for glorifying Basque terrorism

    A judge has freed two Spanish puppeteers who were jailed Saturday for glorifying terrorism after they staged a violent puppet show which made references to Basque militant group ETA. ETA has killed more than 800 people since it launched its campaign in the early 1980s to establish a Basque state in northern Spain and southern France.

  • Encryption prevents FBI from cracking San Bernardino attackers’ phone

    U.S. law enforcement agencies have been unable to access a telephone used by the two Islamist attackers in the San Bernardino shooting, FBI director James Comey said Tuesday. Comey stressed that the post-Snowden end-to-end encryption some technology companies are now offering their customers make it impossible for law enforcement to learn more about terrorists and criminal networks, even after terrorist or criminal acts have been committed and even if a court has approved access to the information.

  • Intelligence agencies could use Internet-of-things to spy on people

    James Clapper, the director of U.S. national intelligence, told lawmakers the other day that the Internet of things — baby monitors, TV set, home security devices, voice recognition dolls – may be used by intelligence services to spy on people. Clapper, testifying yesterday before a Senate panel, said that intelligence agencies might be able to use this new generation of household devices to increase their surveillance capabilities.

  • Chechen special forces on the ground in Syria, infiltrated ISIS ranks: Chechen leader

    Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said that Chechen Special Forces loyal to Vladimir Putin are on the ground in Syria, operating in ISIS-controlled territory. He claimed that the operation is part of a Russian-led intelligence-gathering mission. The Kremlin refused to confirm or deny Kadyrov’s claims, but the fact that Kadyrov, a self-described “foot soldier for Putin,” made them offers evidence of disagreements in Russia over the Syria strategy and suggests Kadyrov is seeking a greater role for Chechnya in regional affairs.

  • Nearly 300,000 UAV owners register with the FAA

    Nearly 300,000 owners have registered their small unmanned aircraft in the first thirty days after the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) online registration system went live. Owners who registered in the first month received a refund for the $5 application fee.

  • Ending civilian use of highly enriched, weapon-grade uranium

    Efforts to convert civilian research reactors from weapon-grade highly enriched uranium (HEU) to low enriched uranium (LEU) fuels are taking significantly longer than anticipated, says a report from the National Academies of Sciences. The report calls for the federal government to take immediate steps to convert civilian research reactors currently using weapon-grade HEU fuel to a lower-enriched HEU fuel while awaiting the qualification of new LEU fuel.