Round-up of news stories from across the EU 1.4.16

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AUSTRIA: Further Nazi allegations made against Austrian extremist (The Local, link): "An Austrian photographed making an fascist Islamic salute while standing on a concentration camp monument has now been accused of posting a photo of someone making a Nazi salute online.

 

Abdurrahman A. was first in the news a few weeks ago after a photo emerged online of him making the fascist ‘Grey Wolf’ salute at Mauthausen concentration camp. The two fingered salute is used by members of a Turkish nationalist party to imply that Turkish Islamists will one day control the world.

Abdurrahman A. is a leading member of the Linz-based organisation Avarsya, who are closely related to the right-wing extremist group Grey Wolves from Turkey."

AUSTRIA: Iran cancels after Austria refuses to ban protest (The Local, link): " A trip by the Iranian President to Vienna was cancelled this week after Austria refused to carry out Iran’s request to shut down an anti-regime protest, according to media sources.

The Austrian President had said that Iran had cancelled the trip planned for March 30th and 31st due to security concerns, although the Interior Ministry has since said there were “no signs of a threat”. "

DRONES: Hacker reveals $40 attack that steals police drones from 2km away (The Register, link): "IBM security guy Nils Rodday says thieves can hijack expensive professional drones used widely across the law enforcement, emergency, and private sectors thanks to absent encryption in on-board chips.

Rodday says the €25,000 (US$28,463, £19,816, AU$37,048) quadcopters can be hijacked with less than $40 of hardware, and some basic knowledge of radio communications.

With that in hand attackers can commandeer radio links to the drones from up to two kilometres away, and block operators from reconnecting to the craft."

ITALY: Man linked to terror cell detained at Rome airport (The Local, link): "A Lebanese man was detained by border police at Rome’s Fiumicino airport on Thursday after they realized he had been reported as a member of a terrorist cell.

The man, who was carrying €20,000 in cash, was about to board a flight to Dusseldorf when he was detained during a routine check, Ansa reported, citing sources.

Police are working to gather more information about the man’s identity, the report said."

Poland to introduce a register of sexual offenders (Radio Poland, link): "The bill envisions the creation of two separate parts of the register. One of them would comprise detailed data, including a photograph and the current residence of the offenders. It could be accessed solely by the courts, the police, and special forces.

The other part would consist of less detailed data of paedophiles and repeat offenders, and it would be publicly available."

UK: Investigatory Powers Bill: UK terror watchdog to leave post next year (Ars Technica, link): "David Anderson QC has confirmed that he will quit his job as the UK government's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation in early 2017—a period of time when the Investigatory Powers Act (if passed) will be in its infancy."

UK: Still the enemy within: the strike that split Britain (OpenDemocracy, link): "We are London-based filmmakers exploring the reasons behind the strike, what happened that year and what we can learn today from the miners. For our film, Still the enemy within, we have interviewed front line pickets, women and men who organised the soup kitchens, and members of support groups to get some insight into the dispute 30 years on."

UK: Underpaid in the UK? The state probably isn’t going to help you (OpenDemocracy, link): "The government spends nine times more investigating benefits claimants than it spends probing employers who pay less than the minimum wage."

UK setting dangerous precedent in refusing basic information about drone use (Drone Wars UK, link): "In response to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request from Drone Wars, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has again refused to detail the number of armed British Reaper drones undertaking operations in Iraq and Syria, the location of their base in the Middle East or whether they have been involved in missions over Libya. The UK is known to have ten armed Reaper drones in service."

 

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