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14 arrested for alleged bomb-making and plotting terrorist attack
in Denmark
FEB. 12, 2021 / 5:45 PM
Police officer in Denmark © Ritzau Scanpix / via REUTERS
On Saturday, police in Denmark and Germany have arrested seven people for allegedly trying to manufacture explosives and plotting terrorist attacks, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) said in a statement on Thursday.
On Monday, they arrested seven more.
All seven have been charged with planning one or more terrorist attacks or attempting to participate in terrorism.
The men allegedly procured components to make bombs and other weapons, the statement said.
Police in Denmark's Central and West Zealand region – home to the capital Copenhagen – detained six of the men in raids between February 6 and 8. The other suspect from the group was held in Germany.
The six arrested in Denmark are set to attend a pretrial court hearing on Thursday in the town of Holbæk.
"PET takes this type of case very seriously. It is our opinion that there are people who have the intention and capacity to commit terrorist attacks in Denmark," a spokesperson said.
They added that the risk of terrorist attacks in Denmark is considered "serious" and that the arrests would not change the state's current threat level.
Police and intelligence officials are scheduled to hold a press conference on Friday morning, they said.
‘Not tough enough’? Le Pen put in surprise position of defending Islam as Macron’s interior minister attacks from the right
12 Feb, 2021 21:53
© Reuters / Jean-Paul Pelissier
France’s National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, oft-criticized for her party’s positions on migration and Islam, was put in the unusual position of all but defending the minority faith amid a debate with Macron’s interior minister.
Gerald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior for the ruling Republique En Marche party, slammed Le Pen as having gone “a little soft” on the issue of Islam in France as the pair debated on Thursday on the France 2 channel.
“You’re not tough enough here,” Darmanin told Le Pen. “If I understand you right, you’re prepared to not even legislate on religion, and you say that Islam is not even a problem” but rather “ideology, the Salafists, the Muslim Brotherhood,” and so on, he argued, suggesting the right-wing candidate had gone soft since the last election.
Appearing visibly shocked at being attacked from the right, Le Pen responded that Islam was “a religion like any other” and that she had no plans of hamstringing its practitioners with punitive regulations. “I can confirm that I don’t intend to attack Islam,” she retorted.
Because I am strongly attached to our French values, I want to conserve total freedom of religion.
Le Pen slammed Macron’s government for “limiting everyone’s freedom to try to modify the freedoms of a few Islamists,” taking a swipe at the administration’s anti-“separatism” measures, which include a threatened ban on homeschooling that has been decried as excessively broad and intrusive.
The French government has struggled to deal with a surge in Islamic extremism over the last few months manifesting in a spate of horrific attacks, including the beheading of high school teacher Samuel Paty, who allegedly showed a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed to his class. The fallout from the violence has seen as many as half of French secondary school teachers consciously censor their lessons so as to avoid upsetting Muslim students (and presumably meeting a similar fate as Paty).
While Macron has attempted to appear bold and decisive in response, shutting down certain mosques deemed extremist and condemning Islamic extremism, his critics have argued he is merely pushing the problem out of sight, where it will become even more dangerous.
Le Pen and her party have long opposed the EU’s open-door policy on immigration, calling for referendums on several related topics in what she has called a bid to reclaim control of France’s borders. Le Pen, who is running against Macron again in next year’s election, had a slight lead over the incumbent president as of January 28, according to Politico, which had her at 26 percent and Macron at 24 percent.
U.S. revokes terrorist designation for Yemen's Houthi rebels
Houthi rebels are backed by Iran in this proxy war with Saudi Arabia. Isn't that curious?
By Danielle Haynes
Feb. 12 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Friday he's revoking the terrorist designation of Houthi rebels in Yemen one week after the Biden administration said it would no longer support military operations in the country.
The Trump administration applied the Foreign Terrorist Organization designation just before President Joe Biden took office, describing the Houthi movement as "a deadly Iran-backed militia group."
The group, known officially as Ansarallah, has been locked in a civil war with the Saudi-backed government of President Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi since 2014. The United States provided military support to a Saudi-led coalition fighting on behalf of the Hadi government, but Biden withdrew U.S. involvement Feb. 4.
"This war has to end," Biden said. "We are ending all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen, including relevant arms sales."
I agree completely that it has to end for the sake of the people. The history of Yemeni peoples go back almost to Noah's sons. But I am quite sure that Saudi Arabia will not take kindly to surrendering Yemen to Iran's proxy. To do so would mean Iran has Saudi Arabia nearly surrounded. I don't see how this is going to end well.
Blinken said the U.S. decision to end its designation of the Houthi rebels as a terrorist organization was in response to humanitarian groups' warnings that such a label and sanctions could prevent civilians from accessing basic needs such as food and fuel.
"The revocations are intended to ensure that relevant U.S. policies do not impede assistance to those already suffering what has been called the world's worst humanitarian crisis," Blinken said. "By focusing on alleviating the humanitarian situation in Yemen, we hope the Yemeni parties can also focus on engaging in dialogue."
Blinken's statement said the U.S. government "remains clear-eyed" regarding the rebels' "malign" actions, including the capture of much of western Yemen, including the capital of Sana'a, forcing Hadi to flee to the port city of Aden. About 80% of Yemen's population live in the Houthi-controlled area.
The State Department statement said Houthi leaders Abdul Malik al-Houthi, Abd al-Khaliq Badr al-Din al-Houthi, and Abdullah Yahya al-Hakim remain under sanction.
The FTO revocation comes amid an increase in violence by the Houthi rebels, many of which have impacted Saudi civilians, according to the State Department.
The war in Yemen between the Houthi rebels and the Saudi-backed Yemen government has devolved Yemen into the world's "worst humanitarian crisis," the United Nations has said, as it has resulted in some 24 million of its nearly 30 million population requiring some form of humanitarian need, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
In late November, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that Yemen was in danger of falling into the worst famine seen in decades.
A reduction in U.N. relief operations, a failure to sustain support for Yemen's economy and locusts and floods destroying crops have exacerbated issues caused by the civil war, he said.
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