The Netherlands: Peter R de Vries:Journalist and Dutch crime reporter who defied death threats dies from shotwounds following an earlier assassination attempt, by hardcore criminals

The 64-year-old crime journalist has thrived off solving cold cases and investigating mob bosses without fear or favour, earning him plaudits and a glowing reputation.

Mr de Vries was gunned down on a busy street in central Amsterdam as he left a TV studion on Tuesday night,last week,leaving him fighting for his life. Two suspects are in police custody.

The shooting has stunned the Netherlands, where gun violence is rare but killings linked to organised crime are a grim fixture of life .

Read more at: Peter R de Vries: The Dutch crime reporter who defied death threats - BBC News

The Netherlands - criminals out of control and it must be open "hunting season" against them: As Peter R de Vries: Dutch crime journalist wounded in Amsterdam shooting

A prominent Dutch crime journalist has been seriously wounded after being shot on a street in Amsterdam.

Police said Peter R de Vries was taken to hospital in a serious condition after being gunned down in the city centre on Tuesday evening.

National broadcaster NOS said he was attacked minutes after appearing on a TV chat show.

Read more at: Peter R de Vries: Dutch crime journalist wounded in Amsterdam shooting - BBC News

Terrorism: UK court sentences Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary for supporting ′Islamic State′

British judge Timothy Holroyde on Monday announced a court decision to sentence Anjem Choudary, Britain's most well-known Islamist preacher, to five years and six months in prison for inviting support for the "Islamic State" militant group on social media.

Prosceutors claimed that Choudary used online lectures and messages to bolster support for the militant group, which rose to notoriety in 2014 when it seized large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria.

The preacher's name appeared on an oath declaring legitimacy for the "proclaimed Islamic Caliphate State," calling on Muslims to obey or provide support for its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, prosecutors said.

Note EU-Diges: a very weak sentence by the British judge.


Read more: UK court sentences Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary for supporting ′Islamic State′ | News | DW.COM | 06.09.2016

Britain Chilcot Report: Blair Should Be 'Stripped Of All Honors' if He Lied About Iraq

Tony Blair should be “stripped of all honors” if the long-awaited Chilcot Report reveals he lied about Iraq, a senior Tory backbencher has said.

The 2.6 million word-long inquiry, due to be published Wednesday, is expected to criticize the former Labour prime minister for misleading Parliament and the public over the 2003 conflict.

The report collected evidence from more than 150 witnesses and over 200 cabinet meetings, and has analyzed 150,000 government documents.

Note EU-Digest: When will the US Republican controlled congress set up a similar investigation inquiry for the former US President George Bush who committed the same crimes which ultimately caused all the refugee mess the EU finds itself in today. 

Read more: Chilcot Report: Blair Should Be 'Stripped Of All Honors' if He Lied About Iraq

Brussels Attack - Inadequate security - live updates: manhunt under way for airport suspect – by M.Weaver, H Siddique, R. Jalab

• There were several terrorist attacks this morning: two explosions in Zaventem and one in Maalbeck, which many killed and wounded.
• Two of the three men in the CCTV photo “very likely committed a suicide attack.’
• Van Leeuw confirmed that there is an active manhunt underway for the third man seen in CCTV footage at Zaventem airport dressed in white.
• Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack through its media wing, but it was still “too early to make a direct connection between the attacks in Paris [in November] and today’s attacks”, Van Leeuw said. Isis’s claim of responsibility has not yet been formally verified, he said.
• There are several raids under way across the country, but Van Leeuw warned of the risks of reporting details of active operations.
• Witnesses are currently being questioned, with more were being sought.
• Several explosions were heard at the airport after the initial two blasts, but these were controlled detonations by security forces, Van Leeuw said, before warning that there may yet be more controlled detonations of suspect packages.
• And with that, Van Leeuw declined to give any further information so as not to affect the ongoing investigations.

Note EU-Digest: It is remarkable how inadequately many European airports and train stations are protected . With a few exceptions,  there are no baggage controls or security gates/checks at most of the entrances into main airport terminals or train stations. European airports which have train stops below the airport or main train terminals usually do not have security checks for passengers and their luggage going into the main terminal. It is a disaster waiting to happen and the EU and local governments  better take immediate action to avoid even more of these horrible events.

 Read more: Brussels attacks: manhunt under way for airport suspect – live updates | World news | The Guardian

Social Media: YouTube's Battle Against ISIS - by Jaweed Kaleem

On a Thursday night late last fall, after leaving the Manhattan office where he works as a digital products specialist, Aman Ali -- a well-known comedian in American Muslim circles -- received an unusual email from YouTube.

“We need you,” read the note, which invited Ali to the company’s sprawling, 41,000-square-foot production facility in Los Angeles and promised a free flight and two nights in a hotel. “Muslim community leaders [are] struggling to have their voices heard against the overwhelming extremist and bigoted content currently surfacing the web.”

The words “Islamic State” appeared nowhere in the note asking Muslims like Ali to “change the discourse,” but the message was clear. The terrorist organization's vast media arm, with its slick recruitment videos, was winning the propaganda war. Muslims needed to figure out a way to fight back and “get your voices heard.”

\YouTube, facing pressure after unwittingly hosting execution clips before the company could realize and take them down, was offering its helping hand.

Nearly two months later, on a Saturday in January, about 70 Muslims arrived at a closed-door meeting at YouTube’s studios. They comprised a who’s-who of imams, scholars, activists, Muslim vloggers and entertainers from across the U.S. Many had witnessed extremism first-hand, such as imam Suhaib Webb, who was the face of the Boston Muslim community in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings. For nine hours, experts, many of them Muslims, briefed participants and brainstormed how to combat online extremism.

Imams were paired with entertainers; scholars were seated with a few of YouTube’s non-Muslim power users, who peppered the crowd and gave tips on how they had built up millions of subscribers with pop culture commentary. Mimicking a tech startup camp, attendees broke into small groups to debate what technologies and strategies worked best.

YouTube's Battle Against ISIS

Terrorists - ISIS - Criminals: Ransom payments are major income for extremist groups - by Paul Koring

In the murky and conflicted world of paying huge ransom to free hostages, there are no right answers and often precious little time to make life-and-death decisions.

The grisly beheading of James Foley, the American journalist killed this week by an Islamic State jihadi in retaliation for President Barack Obama sending U.S. warplanes back into action in Iraq has raised the stakes in the grim calculus of whether paying ransoms frees innocent hostages or only makes others more likely to be seized.

Holding hostages for ransom ranges from common criminal enterprise in some Latin American countries, to the economic mainstay of failed states like Somalia where piracy flourishes, to a major source of income for extremist groups such as Islamic State.

A host of middlemen operate in the shadows, delivering and laundering payments, so governments and corporations can claim they don’t deal (at least not directly) with hostage-takers.

As for the families, they are often left attempting to raise astronomical sums while coping with nightmarish stress and attempting to stay inside the law which – for instance in the United States – makes it a crime to send funds to designated terrorist groups.

Those holding Mr. Foley initially demanded €100-million Euro (roughly $132-million U.S.) or the release of Muslim prisoners held by the United States.

Read more: Ransom payments are major income for extremist groups - The Globe and Mail

The Netherlands: 'Ban EU criminals from the Netherlands'

The opposition Socialist Party SP wants to bar convicted criminals from other EU countries from returning to the Netherlands.

The Volkskrant newspaper reports that the measure is intended to crack down on criminal gangs from Eastern European countries. SP MP Sharon Gesthuizen:

EU-Digest