Reuters: Twenty Armed People Board Cargo Ship Off Somalia, Security Firm Says

“Twenty armed people have boarded a cargo ship off the coast of Somalia and have taken control of it, a maritime security firm said on Tuesday. The vessel is the latest to be targeted following a resurgence of attacks by Somali pirates in recent months although the maritime security firm, Ambrey, did not specify that it was Somali pirates who boarded the ship. Ambrey said the ship was a Bangladesh-flagged bulk carrier - a type of merchant ship used to transport large amounts of cargo - that was heading from Mozambique to the United Arab Emirates. The incident happened about 600 nautical miles east of Somalia's capital Mogadishu, it said. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency also flagged the boarding incident, putting the number of the armed people who had boarded the vessel at 22. UKMTO did not specify that it was Somali pirates who boarded the ship but said the ship was heading in the direction of the Somali coast, citing a report from the company security officer. It also said the crew were unharmed.”

Daily Mail: Islamist Preacher Anjem Choudary Appears In Court Accused Of Leading And Directing Banned Militant Network Al-Muhajiroun

“Radical preacher Anjem Choudary appeared in court today accused of leading and directing the banned militant network Al-Muhajiroun. Choudary, 57, and Canadian national Khaled Hussain, 28, were arrested last July for membership of the proscribed organisation. The cleric was taken into custody by Metropolitan Police counter terrorism detectives in east London, while Hussain was arrested at Heathrow Airport.”

CEP Mentions

CapX: Will More Czars Make Britain Safer?

“What’s the point of a ‘czar’? By this I mean independent experts appointed for a fixed term, usually part time, to provide independent advice to ministers on matters of national importance. The process, at its best, can circumvent Whitehall bureaucracy and risk aversion to make good things happen at speed. Louise Casey is a prime example, at least in her iteration as homelessness czar during the Covid pandemic, where decisive action provided emergency accommodation for rough sleepers. Yesterday’s newspapers revealed that the Government is after another czar, this time to tackle anti-Muslim hatred, after the first choice bailed out this weekend citing intolerable abuse from Islamists and the far right. This man is Fiyaz Mughal, founder of the Muslim counter-extremism charity Tell Mama. He is one of the bravest voices of moderate and mainstream Muslim opinion in this country. A champion of peaceful coexistence who has rightly been rewarded for his inter-faith work with an OBE. While I don’t know the specific circumstances of this withdrawal, I do know just how much intimidation he has endured from extremists for simply being a voice of moderation.”

United States

Bloomberg: Terrorist Threat To US Has Reached ‘Whole Other Level,’ FBI’s Wray Warns

“Terrorist threats toward the US have reached a “whole other level” from the already heightened situation before the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel and its response, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday. “You’ve seen a veritable rogue’s gallery of foreign terrorist organizations calling for terrorist attacks against us in a way that we haven’t seen in a long, long time,” the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigations told the House Intelligence Committee in an annual presentation on the biggest “worldwide threats” facing the US. Wray, speaking alongside other top US intelligence officials, said the FBI is also concerned about the risk of violent attacks by lone actors inspired by calls for violence from the Middle East. “This is a time not for panic, but for heightened vigilance given the risk,” Wray said. The Oct. 7 Hamas attacks were the deadliest in Israel’s history, sparking a war between Israel and the group, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the US and European Union. Israel’s response in Gaza has resulted in more than 30,000 deaths, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. President Joe Biden has backed Israel, although warning increasingly that its response has been “over the top.”

New York Times: White House Denies Biden Has Set ‘Red Lines’ For Israel-Hamas War In Gaza

“The White House denied on Tuesday that President Biden had set any “red lines” for Israel in its campaign against Hamas in Gaza but warned again that Israel should not attack the city of Rafah, the southernmost city in the enclave, without protections for more than a million people sheltering there. “The president didn’t make any declarations or pronouncements or announcements,” said Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser, referring to an interview Mr. Biden gave over the weekend in which he was asked whether he had a “red line” Israel should not cross in its prosecution of the war. In the interview, with MSNBC, Mr. Biden rebuked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel over the rising civilian death toll in Gaza, saying that “he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost” and that “he’s hurting Israel more than helping Israel.”

Iraq

Reuters: Talks To End US-Led Coalition In Iraq May Take Until After US Election, Iraqi Official Says

“Talks between the United States and Iraq on ending the U.S.-led military coalition in the country may not be concluded until after the U.S. presidential election in November, a senior Iraqi government official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Washington and Baghdad in January initiated talks to reassess the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, formed in 2014 to help fight Islamic State (IS) after the extremist Sunni Muslim militant group overran large parts of the country. The decision to wind up the military coalition came after U.S. forces and Shi'ite Muslim armed groups engaged in tit-for-tat attacks amid regional conflict linked to Israel's five-month-old war in Gaza. Those clashes have now ceased for over a month to allow breathing space for the negotiations. Backed by Shi'ite parties and armed groups, the government in Baghdad, a rare ally of both Iran and the U.S., is trying to prevent the country again becoming a battlefield for foreign powers. The technical talks via a joint military commission are seen by politicians as a way to buy time in the face of differing views over how U.S.-Iraqi military relations should evolve.”

Yemen

Associated Press: Yemen Houthi Rebels Target A Liberian-Flagged Ship In Red Sea With Missiles; No Damage Reported

“Yemen’s Houthi rebels have targeted a Liberian-flagged container ship in the Red Sea with missiles, producing an explosion near the vessel but causing no damage, authorities said. The master of the vessel reported the explosion Monday and said no one was hurt, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. The UKMTO later identified the vessel as the Pinocchio, managed by a Singaporean firm. The Houthis used two anti-ship ballistic missiles in the attack, the U.S. military’s Central Command said. Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed the attack early Tuesday in a prerecorded statement, claiming the Pinocchio was an American ship without offering evidence to support the assertion. He said the Houthis would continue their attacks, aimed at pressuring an end to the Israel-Hamas war ithe Gaza Strip. However, the Houthi attacks targeting vessel since November have increasingly had little or no connection to Israel, the United States or other nations involved in the war. Monday’s attack comes after a Houthi missile struck a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden last week, killing three of its crew members and forcing survivors to abandon the vessel.”

Lebanon

Wall Street Journal: Israel And Hezbollah Exchange Fire As Tensions Flare On Lebanon Border

“Hostilities flared between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, threatening to broaden Israel’s war to its northern border amid an impasse in negotiations to reach a cease-fire in Gaza.  Hezbollah launched about 100 Katyusha rockets at northern Israel on Tuesday, the heaviest barrage since Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas—an ally of the Lebanese group—began five months ago. Hezbollah said its rockets were a response to an Israeli airstrike Monday night in Baalbek in northeastern Lebanon. Israel retaliated later Tuesday with more strikes against two Hezbollah military command centers and weapons depots, also in Baalbek, which residents of the area say had been used to support its war efforts in Syria. Israel said the Monday strike in Baalbek was retaliation for drones dispatched to the Golan Heights. President Biden’s special envoy Amos Hochstein visited Beirut last week in an effort to halt the cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israel. Hezbollah has said it would halt attacks on Israel if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, but Hochstein said a truce in the enclave didn’t guarantee calm in Lebanon, and that a diplomatic solution between the militia and Israel is necessary.”

Reuters: Israeli Jets Hit Lebanon's Bekaa Valley For A Second Day

“Israeli warplanes struck deep into Lebanon for a second consecutive day on Tuesday, hitting a facility belonging to Hezbollah in the Bekaa Valley, sources in Lebanon said. Two Hezbollah members from the Bekaa Valley were killed, the Iran-backed group said in a statement late on Tuesday. The Israeli military said its fighter jets had "struck two Hezbollah military command centers" in the Baalbek area, in response to Hezbollah rocket launches towards northern Israel earlier in the day. The violence marked an uptick of the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel which has been fought in parallel to the Gaza war and fuelled fears of an all-out conflict between the heavily-armed adversaries. Hezbollah said in a statement it had fired more than 100 Katyusha rockets at 7:00 a.m. (0500 GMT), targeting several Israeli military posts, in response to Israeli shelling of the Bekaa Valley region on Monday night. At least one civilian was killed and several others were wounded in Monday's strikes by Israel, one of which hit the southern entrance to the city of Baalbek, about 2 km (1.2 miles) from its ancient Roman ruins, two security sources in Lebanon and the Baalbek governor, Bashir Khader, said.”

Nigeria

ABC: Bandits Kidnap Dozens Of School Children In Nigeria

“Armed bandits in Nigeria have kidnapped over 100 school children in Kuriga, north-western Nigeria, oaccording to officials. The bandits are reported to have stormed into the LEA Primary School in Kuriga town, Kaduna state, on Thursday seizing scores of pupils before marching them into the forest. The incident is reported to have happened at around 8 a.m. on Thursday shortly after the morning assembly. The headmaster of the school along with some other members of staff are reportedly among the victims. “With pain in my heart, I visited Kuriga, Chikun Local Government, where bandits kidnapped primary and secondary school pupils and students," wrote Senator Uba Sani, Governor of Kaduna State, in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Proactive measures need to be taken to safeguard our schools against terrorists.” Residents told ABC News that most of the pupils ran out of their classes when they sighted the bandits on the school premises. The armed gunmen are reported to have driven into the school grounds on motorcycles.”

Somalia

Associated Press: British Military Reports A Suspected Piracy Attack Off The Coast Of Somalia

“Several people boarded and took control of a vessel in a suspected pirate attack in the Indian Ocean nearly 700 miles (1,100 kilometers) east of Somalia’s coastal capital Mogadishu, the British military reported Tuesday. The vessel was boarded by several people from two craft, “one large and one small,” said a statement from the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operation. “Unauthorised persons now have control of the vessel,” the statement said. It gave no other details. British maritime security company Ambrey reported that 20 armed assailants took control of the vessel while it was going from the Mozambique capital Maputo to Hamriya in the United Arab Emirates. Once-rampant piracy off the Somali coast diminished after a peak in 2011, but concerns about new attacks have grown in recent months. In December, at least two incidents were reported. One involved a trading vessel seized by heavily armed people near the town of Eyl off the coast of Somalia. The other involved a Maltese-flagged merchant vessel that was hijacked in the Arabian Sea last and moved to the same area off Somalia’s coast.”

Voice Of America: New US Airstrike in Somalia Kills Three al-Shabab Fighters

“The U.S. military said Tuesday it conducted an airstrike in southern Somalia that killed three al-Shabab militants. The U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM, said it made a “collective self-defense” airstrike against al-Shabab on March 10 at the request of Somalia’s federal government. AFRICOM said the initial post-strike assessment indicates that no civilians were harmed as a result of the strike, which occurred in the vicinity of Ugunji in Lower Shabelle region, about 71 kilometers (44 miles) southwest of Mogadishu.”

United Kingdom

BBC: Archbishops Of Canterbury And York Criticise Gove's Extremist Definition Plans

“Justin Welby and Stephen Cottrell said the government's response, to what Rishi Sunak has called a shocking rise in extremism, "risks vilifying the wrong people". The pair added it threatened freedom of speech and worship. A government spokeswoman said it would ensure no "extremist organisations or individuals" were given a platform. Currently the government defines extremism as "vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs". Mr Gove is expected on Thursday to set out a new official definition of extremism which will be used by the government to cut ties or funding to any groups deemed to have crossed the line. On Sunday, he warned some pro-Palestinian events "have been organised by extremist organisations". It follows a statement by Rishi Sunak at the start of the month in which he said the UK must face down extremists undermining British democracy.”

Germany

Reuters: Germany's Far-Right AfD Seeking To Overturn Extremist Designation In Court

“The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on Tuesday attempted to delay a court hearing on whether it can be treated as a suspected extremist organisation, accusing judges of bias and seeking to summon a raft of top officials as witnesses. The AfD brought the case after the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), one of Germany's security agencies, made the classification in 2021, meaning it could deploy intelligence tools such as phone taps and informants against the party. A ruling in favour of the BfV would allow that to continue and would deal the party a blow just six months ahead of regional and European elections. The party polls in first place in several of the poorer, post-industrial eastern states where its anti-establishment, anti-immigration message is particularly resonant. The AfD, which has 78 of the 735 seats in the Bundestag federal parliament, says it is a democratic, non-extremist formation. Regional branches of the party have already been formally declared extremist threats.”

Europe

Associated Press: A Belgian Court Sentences A Prominent Far-Right Activist To 1 Year In Prison For Spreading Hate

“A court in Belgium sentenced prominent far-right activist Dries Van Langenhove to a year in prison on Tuesday for running an organization that a judge said spread “racist, hateful, Nazi and negationist speech,” in a major ruling on how the nation deals with extremism. Five members of the extremist group that Van Langenhove led received suspended sentences, including two who work for the far-right Flemish Interest party, which is slated to make big gains in June elections.”