Australian counter terrorism force arrests seven teenagers after Sydney bishop stabbing

People hold candles during the Community Candlelight Vigil, recognising the victims of a fatal stabbing attack at Bondi Junction Westfield shopping centre, in Sydney. (File/Reuters)
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Updated 24 April 2024
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Australian counter terrorism force arrests seven teenagers after Sydney bishop stabbing

  • A team of more than 400 police and security personnel were involved in the operation
  • Police said they took the teens into custody because they posed an “unacceptable risk” to society

SYDNEY: An Australian counter terrorism team arrested seven teenagers on Wednesday linked to a boy charged with a religiously-motivated terror attack on a Sydney bishop and questioned another five people.
Police said a team of more than 400 police and security personnel were involved in the operation, which arrested associates of a 16-year-old boy charged with a terrorism offense for the knifing of Assyrian Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel during a live-streamed church service on April 15.
Police said they took the teens into custody because they posed an “unacceptable risk” to society. They will allege the teens believed in a religiously motivated violent extremist ideology. A further five people are being questioned by police.
“I can assure the community there is no ongoing threat to the community, and the action we have taken today has mitigated any risk of future or further harm,” said New South Wales state Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson at a news conference following the arrests.
Police said in a statement that the operation was ongoing.
Coming only days after a deadly mass stabbing in Bondi, the attack on Emmanuel and fears of further attacks or reprisals against the city’s Muslim community have put the normally peaceful Sydney on edge. Gun and knife crime is rare in the city, one of the world’s safest.
The Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JTT) operation, which involved 13 raids in Sydney and the regional town of Goulburn, was a combined effort between state and federal police as well as the domestic intelligence agency.
A significant amount of electronic material was seized in the raids, police said in a statement.
Australia’s top domestic spy chief on Tuesday asked technology companies to give it access to user messages in limited circumstances so it could fight extremists.


Zelensky says Ukraine would do ‘everything’ but cannot budge on Crimea

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Zelensky says Ukraine would do ‘everything’ but cannot budge on Crimea

Kyiv could not recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea

PRETORIA: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Kyiv would do “everything” its allies wanted but could not recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea, considered illegal under Ukraine’s constitution.
“We do everything that our partners have proposed, only what contradicts our legislation and the constitution we cannot do,” Zelensky told reporters during a visit to South Africa in response to a question about Ukraine’s position on ceasefire talks.

Spain scraps purchase of Israeli bullets after internal pressure

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Spain scraps purchase of Israeli bullets after internal pressure

  • Spain, a long-time critic of Israel’s policies in the occupied Palestinian territories, pledged in October 2023 to stop selling weapons to Israel over its war with Hamas in Gaza
  • The purchase, worth $7.53m, includes the acquisition of more than 15 million 9-mm rounds from Israel’s IMI Systems

MADRID: The Spanish government has unilaterally canceled a contract to purchase ammunition rounds for its police force from an Israeli firm, a government source said on Thursday, ceding to pressure from its hard-left junior coalition partner Sumar.
Spain, a long-time critic of Israel’s policies in the occupied Palestinian territories, pledged in October 2023 to stop selling weapons to Israel over its war with Hamas in Gaza and last year widened that commitment to include weapons purchases from Israel.
However, on April 17 as Spaniards geared up for the Easter holiday weekend, the government filed paperwork confirming the deal on the government tenders website.
The purchase, worth 6.6 million euros ($7.53 million), includes the acquisition of more than 15 million 9-mm rounds from Israel’s IMI Systems, owned by Elbit Systems and represented in Spain by Guardian LTD Israel.
The decision drew a sharp rebuke on Wednesday from coalition partner Sumar, with one of the groups within Sumar, Izquierda Unida, threatening to withdraw from the minority coalition government.
The Interior Ministry responded that it had been advised by the state attorney that breaking the contract would mean paying the full amount without receiving the shipment.
On Thursday, a government source said it had decided to stick to its October 2023 commitment not to provide Israeli companies with arms or revenue flows “and nor will it do so in future.”
The source said the Israeli company would be denied permission to import the defense material by the Spanish authorities on “public interest” grounds, the Interior Ministry would rescind the contract and government lawyers would respond to any subsequent legal claims.
Internal divisions over defense spending have already rattled the ruling coalition, threatening to deprive Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of precious votes in parliament to pass legislation.
On Tuesday, Sanchez further angered Sumar, a platform of left-wing parties that controls five ministries led by deputy premier Yolanda Diaz, by announcing a wider plan to boost defense spending by 10.47 billion euros to meet NATO targets.
The minority government has struggled to pass legislation since securing a new term by cobbling together an alliance of left-wing and regional separatist parties in 2023.


US deports Iraqi man at center of debate on refugee policy

Updated 24 April 2025
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US deports Iraqi man at center of debate on refugee policy

  • Omar Abdulsattar Ameen, who was granted refugee status in the US in 2014, denied Iraqi charges that he murdered a police officer as a Daesh operative
  • Ameen was sent to Rwanda earlier this month according to the US official who spoke on condition of anonymity

NAIROBI/WASHINGTON: The United States has deported to Rwanda a resettled Iraqi refugee who it long tried to extradite in response to Iraqi government claims that he worked for Daesh, according to a US official and an internal email.
Omar Abdulsattar Ameen, who was granted refugee status in the US in 2014, denied Iraqi charges that he murdered a police officer as a Daesh operative, and a judge found in 2021 that the version of events in the case against him was “not plausible.”
But the administrations of Joe Biden and Donald Trump both pursued his removal from the country, accusing him of lying on his refugee application by saying he had not interacted with terrorist groups.
After the start of his second term in January, Trump launched a sweeping crackdown on immigration and attempted to freeze the US refugee resettlement program.
Ameen was sent to Rwanda earlier this month, according to the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, and the internal email seen by Reuters.
A US State Department spokesperson declined to comment on Ameen’s case, and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rwanda’s government spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Online news outlet The Handbasket, which broke the news of Ameen’s deportation, cited a leaked cable from the US embassy in Kigali as saying that Rwanda had agreed to receive additional third-country nationals under a “new removal program.”
Reuters was not able to confirm the contents of the cable or any deal between the United States and Rwanda.
The central African country has positioned itself as a destination country for migrants that Western countries would like to remove.
It signed an agreement with Britain in 2022 to take in thousands of asylum seekers from the UK before the deal was scrapped last year by then newly-elected Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
After his arrest in 2018 following murder charges in Iraq, Ameen’s case was cited by the first Trump administration and some Republicans in Congress as an example of security risks posed by refugees and an argument against resettling them in the US
A US magistrate judge refused to allow his extradition to Iraq in 2021, saying there was overwhelming evidence Ameen was living as a refugee in Turkiye at the time of the alleged murder, but the US government continued to push for his deportation to a third country.
Human Rights Watch said in 2021 that his treatment showed “a system of arbitrary detention and cruel enforcement.” 


India PM vows to pursue Kashmir attackers to ‘ends of the Earth’

Updated 24 April 2025
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India PM vows to pursue Kashmir attackers to ‘ends of the Earth’

  • Modi’s statement comes after 26 people were shot dead at the tourist hotpot of Pahalgam
  • He promised to make the perpetrators ‘pay beyond their imagination’ in a speech to a crowd

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed on Thursday to punish all those responsible for a gruesome attack in Kashmir that killed 26 men.
“I say to the whole world: India will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backer,” he said in his first speech since Tuesday’s attack in the Himalayan region. “We will pursue them to the ends of the Earth.”
The shooting in the tourist hotpot of Pahalgam was the deadliest attack on civilians in the contested Muslim-majority territory since 2000.
Of the men killed, 26 were Indian and one was Nepali.
India accused Islamabad on Wednesday of supporting “cross-border terrorism” and downgraded ties with its neighbor with a raft of diplomatic measures.
Pakistan has denied any role in the Pahalgam attack.
Modi, who was speaking in Bihar state to launch development projects, first led two minutes of silence in memory of those killed.
“I say this unequivocally: whoever has carried out this attack, and the ones who devised it, will be made to pay beyond their imagination,” he said, speaking in Hindi in front of a large crowd.
“They will certainly pay. Whatever little land these terrorists have, it’s time to reduce it to dust. The willpower of 1.4 billion Indians will break the backbone of these terrorists.”
He finished his speech with rare comments in English, directing them to an audience abroad.
“Terrorism will not go unpunished,” Modi said. “Every effort will be made to ensure that justice is done.”
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947, with both claiming the high-altitude territory in full but governing separate portions of it.
Rebel groups have waged an insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989, demanding independence or a merger with Pakistan.
Indian security forces have launched a vast manhunt in Kashmir for the attackers, with large numbers of people detained in the operation.


Zelensky cancels part of South Africa trip, returns to Kyiv after Russian attack

Updated 24 April 2025
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Zelensky cancels part of South Africa trip, returns to Kyiv after Russian attack

KYIV: President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday he was canceling a part of his program in South Africa and returning to Ukraine after intense Russian missile and drone attacks on Kyiv.

Zelensky said on the Telegram app that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha would conduct all necessary meetings in South Africa to inform leaders about the situation in Ukraine.