LONDON: The man responsible for the bombing of Manchester Arena in 2017, Salman Abedi, came to the attention of the UK’s domestic counter-intelligence and security service, MI5, at least 18 times, including for his links to Daesh fundraisers, UK daily The Times reported on Thursday.
The public inquiry into the bombing heard that Abedi, 22, had been flagged after associating with six MI5 subjects of interest (SOI), including a man previously linked to terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, who was under investigation for helping fundamentalists travel to Syria.
Abedi had also traveled to Istanbul, a city through which terrorists often travel on their way to Daesh territory, a year before he killed 22 people as they left the Manchester Arena.
The security service had also been informed twice of Abedi’s intentions to travel to Syria and his pro-Daesh extremist views. The information was disregarded after he did not travel to the country.
MI5 was also aware of the fact that one of Abedi’s contacts had links to a senior Daesh figure, The Times reported.
Lawyers representing the Home Office said that the decisions made in Abedi’s case were mostly “reasonable and understandable” after the families of victims asked why the police and MI5 had failed to take action that might have prevented the attack.
Home Office lawyer Cathryn McGahey said that the bomber came to MI5’s attention in 2010 and was made an SOI in 2014 because of his links to a Daesh recruiter. The case was closed that same year because there was “no intelligence indicating that he posed a threat to national security,” The Times reported.
The security service admitted that information had come to its attention in mid-2016 that led it to consider reopening the case, but a meeting to consider the step was scheduled on a date after the attack had taken place.
The bomber had also appeared on MI5’s radar on other occasions for his links to suspects affiliated with Daesh in Libya and his multiple trips to that country. However, the security services decided that this was not suspicious behavior, as Abedi had family there.
Abedi also visited convicted terrorist Abdalraouf Abdallah in British prisons twice, once in February 2015 and again in January 2017.
The inquiry also heard that intelligence was received by MI5 twice in the lead-up to the attack, but that it was dismissed as relating to “possibly innocent activity” or to “non-terrorist criminality.” While the intelligence was relevant to the Manchester attack, its significance was not fully appreciated.
McGahey said there were “enormous challenges in assessing intelligence, trying to work out what the risk is, who poses the greatest risk and seeking to predict what individuals are intending to do next,” and said that even if MI5 had taken different decisions in the months before the attack it still may not have stopped Abedi from carrying out the bombing.
Manchester bomber came to security service’s attention 18 times
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Manchester bomber came to security service’s attention 18 times
- The security service had been informed twice of Abedi’s intentions to travel to Syria and his pro-Daesh extremist views
- Abedi also visited convicted terrorist Abdalraouf Abdallah in British prisons twice
UK universities at risk as number of students from Pakistan, other nations plunge — report
- Students from Pakistan, India, Nigeria and China account for 70 percent of graduate visas
- The Migration Advisory Committee found no evidence of widespread abuse for graduate route
LONDON: Britain should avoid further restricting international student numbers or some universities may collapse, a government commissioned report said on Tuesday, after foreign registrations plummeted for next year.
High levels of legal migration have long dominated Britain’s political discourse and were one of the major drivers for the Brexit referendum in 2016.
Along with care staff and low salaried workers, the government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has sought to reduce the number of students coming to Britain, including preventing some post-graduate students from bringing family members.
The Migration Advisory Committee, an independent body which gives the government advice, said the number of international postgraduate students paying deposits to study at British universities this September had dropped by 63 percent, compared with the previous year, after the government put restrictions on education visas.
The report warned that further restrictions on the so-called graduate route, which allows foreign students to work in Britain for up to two years after graduation, would lead to job losses, course closures and a risk “that some institutions would fail.”
Britain boasts some of the most famous and sought after universities in the world, from Oxford and Cambridge to Imperial College London. Business leaders argue that they boost innovation, increase creativity and provide a form of soft power, as many world leaders have studied at British colleges.
The government commissioned the review after concerns that the graduate visa route was being abused. Some British politicians have complained that some students are applying for visas and then claim asylum or overstay.
Esther McVey, a minister in Sunak’s cabinet, said on Monday that some British universities were “selling immigration to international students rather than education.”
A spokesman for Sunak said the government would consider the report and respond. But the spokesman highlighted concerns about the scheme, pointing out that more than 40 percent of international students using the route were either not working or earning below 15,000 pounds ($18,834) a year after graduation.
The Migration Advisory Committee found there was no evidence of widespread abuse specifically for the graduate route. Students from four countries – India, Nigeria, China and Pakistan – account for 70 percent of graduate visas.
British business lobby group, the CBI, said British universities were one of the country’s biggest export successes, and with the Migration Advisory Committee saying the system was not being abused “it’s time to put its future beyond doubt and end this period of damaging speculation.”
8 dead, at least 40 injured as farmworkers’ bus overturns in central Florida
- The bus was transporting 53 farmworkers at about 6:40 a.m. when it collided with a truck
- The workers were being transported to Cannon Farms in Dunellon
FLORIDA: A bus carrying farmworkers in central Florida overturned on Tuesday, killing eight people and injuring about 40 other passengers, authorities said.
The bus was transporting 53 farmworkers at about 6:40 a.m. when it collided with a truck in Marion County, north of Orlando, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
Authorities say the bus swerved off State Road 40, a straight but somewhat hilly two-lane road that passes through farms. It crashed through a fence and ended up on its side in a field. The workers were being transported to Cannon Farms in Dunellon, which has been harvesting watermelons.
Photos taken by the Ocala Star-Banner at the scene show the bus lying on its side with both its emergency rear door and top hatch open. The truck that hit it shows extensive damage to its driver’s side.
There is no immediate indication that weather was a factor.
“We will be closed today out of respect to the losses and injuries endured early this morning in the accident that took place to the Olvera Trucking Harvesting Corp.,” Cannon Farms announced on its Facebook page. “Please pray with us for the families and the loved ones involved in this tragic accident. We appreciate your understanding at this difficult time.”
Cannon Farms describes itself as a family owned commercial farming operation that has farmed its land for more than 100 years, focusing now on peanuts and watermelons, which it sends to grocery stores across the US and Canada.
No one answered the phone at Olvera Trucking on Tuesday afternoon. The company had recently advertised for a temporary driver to bus workers to watermelon fields. The driver would then operate harvesting equipment. The pay was $14.77 an hour.
Harvard students end protest as university agrees to discuss Middle East conflict
- The student protest group Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine said in a statement that the encampment “outlasted its utility with respect to our demands”
- Students at many college campuses this spring set up similar encampments
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts: Protesters against the war between Israel and Hamas were voluntarily taking down their tents in Harvard Yard on Tuesday after university officials agreed to discuss their questions about the endowment, bringing a peaceful end to the kinds of demonstrations that were broken up by police on other campuses.
The student protest group Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine said in a statement that the encampment “outlasted its utility with respect to our demands.” Meanwhile, Harvard University interim President Alan Garber agreed to pursue a meeting between protesters and university officials regarding the students’ questions.
Students at many college campuses this spring set up similar encampments, calling for their schools to cut ties with Israel and businesses that support it.
The latest Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas and other militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking an additional 250 hostage. Palestinian militants still hold about 100 captives, and Israel’s military has killed more than 35,000 people in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Harvard said its president and the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Hopi Hoekstra, will meet with the protesters to discuss the conflict in the Middle East.
The protesters said they worked out an agreement to meet with university officials including the Harvard Management Company, which oversees the world’s largest academic endowment, valued at about $50 billion.
The protesters’ statement said the students will set an agenda including discussions on disclosure, divestment, and reinvestment, and the creation of a Center for Palestine Studies. The students also said that Harvard has offered to retract suspensions of more than 20 students and student workers and back down on disciplinary measures faced by 60 more.
“Since its establishment three weeks ago, the encampment has both broadened and deepened Palestine solidarity organizing on campus,” a spokesperson for the protesters said. “It has moved the needle on disclosure and divestment at Harvard.”
At least 15 injured in Russian strike on high-rise in Ukraine’s Kharkiv
- A fire broke out at another strike site, and at least ten garages were affected
KYIV: A Russian air attack on Kharkiv city center in Ukraine hit a high-rise residential building, injuring at least 15 people, including two children, local officials said on Tuesday.
It was not immediately clear what kind of weapon was used in the strike, but it landed on the 10th floor of the 12-story apartment block, officials said on Telegram.
Ihor Terekhov, the city’s major, said rescuers were searching for the injured.
One person was hospitalized in a serious condition, Oleh Syniehubov, the regional governor, added.
A fire broke out at another strike site, and at least ten garages were affected, Syniehubov said.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, and the surrounding region have long been targeted by Russian attacks but the strikes have become more intense in recent months, hitting civilian and energy infrastructure.
Two French prison officers killed in inmate's escape
- The incident took place late morning at a road toll in Incarville in the Eure region of northern France
- The inmate was being transported between the towns of Rouen and Evreux in Normandy
ROUEN, France: Gunmen on Tuesday attacked a prison van at a motorway toll in northern France, killing at least two prison officers and freeing a convict who had been jailed last week.
President Emmanuel Macron vowed that everything would be done to find those behind the attack as hundreds of members of the security forces were deployed for a manhunt to find the attackers and the inmate who were all still at large.
Two prison officers were killed in the attack and two others are receiving urgent medical care, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.
The incident took place late morning at a road toll in Incarville in the Eure region of northern France, a source close to the case added.
The inmate was being transported between the towns of Rouen and Evreux in Normandy.
A police source said several individuals, who arrived in two vehicles, rammed the police van and then fled.
One of them was wounded, the police source said.
It was not immediately clear how many attackers there were in total.
"Everything is being done to find the perpetrators of this crime," Macron wrote on X.
"We will be uncompromising," he added, describing the attack as a "shock".
Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti immediately headed to a crisis cell at his ministry.
"These are people for whom life counts for nothing. They will be arrested, they will be judged and they will be punished according to the crime they committed," he said.
Both the officers killed were men and they were the first prison officers to be killed in the line of duty since 1992, he added.
One of them was married and had two children while the other "left a wife five months pregnant", he said.
"I am frozen with horror at the veritable carnage that took place at the Incarville toll," said Alexandre Rassaert, the head of the Eure region council.
"I hope with all my heart that that the team of killers which carried out this bloody attack will be arrested quickly."
A unit of the GIGN elite police force has been despatched to apprehend the suspects.
Traffic was stopped on the A154 motorway where the incident took place.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on X he had ordered the activation of France's Epervier plan, a special operation launched by the gendarmerie in such situations.
"All means are being used to find these criminals. On my instructions, several hundred police officers and gendarmes were mobilised," he said.
Prosecutor Beccuau named the inmate as Mohamed Amra, born in 1994, saying that last week he had been convicted of aggravated robbery and also charged in a case of abduction leading to death.
The case has been handed to prosecutors from France's office for the fight against organised crime known by their acronym JUNALCO.
Law and order is a major issue in French politics ahead of next month's European elections and the incident sparked fierce reactions from politicians, especially the far right.
"It is real savagery that hits France every day," said Jordan Bardella, the top candidate for the far-right National Rally (RN) which is leading opinion polls for the elections.
