Britain faces a new terrorism threat from "extreme violence carried out by loners, misfits, young men in their bedroom", Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said, following the guilty plea by a teenager who murdered three girls in a knife rampage that sparked riots.
Mr Starmer highlighted systematic failures over the handling of Axel Rudakubana, who had been referred to the government's anti-extremism Prevent scheme three times between 2019 and 2021 over concerns about his obsession with violence, but was never recommended for further intervention. The Prime Minister said the failure of state institutions “frankly leaps off the page”.
Experts have also told The National that much of the government's approach to de-radicalisation in its Prevent programme needs to rapidly change to deal with the rise of the new extremism.
Hinting at laws to tackle a "tidal wave of violence" on the internet, Mr Starmer said there were tougher rules for movies in cinemas than for material freely available online.
Rudakubana, 18, who was born in Wales to Rwandan parents, admitted murder before his trial was due to start on Monday. He also pleaded guilty to 10 charges of attempted murder and possessing the poison ricin and a terrorist manual. He will be sentenced on Thursday.
His guilty pleas prompted the government to announce a public inquiry into the events leading up to the killings in the north-west town of Southport on July 29 last year.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told parliament that the government would bring in new laws to protect children using the internet but that “companies should take responsibility before then”.
She would contact big tech to remove “dangerous material” that Rudakubana had accessed. “Companies should not be profiting from hosting content that puts children's lives at risk,” she added.
Getting worse
The threat from online radicalised individuals is going to get worse, said Dr Antonio Giustozzi of the Rusi think tank, therefore rapid action is required in what has become a “global debate”.
“We have this entire new generation of people socialised essentially on social media, online gaming all the time,” Dr Giustozzi said. “It's not surprising that within this category of millions of people some might pick up the vulnerable who become easy to exploit.”
While there is a threat to freedom of speech, young people need to have a more critical awareness of media they consumed, he said.
Terrorism has changed
Mr Starmer said the Southport murders last summer showed terrorism has changed and he will alter the law if necessary to tackle the “new and dangerous” threat.
"The blunt truth here is that this case is a sign Britain now faces a new threat," he added. "Terrorism has changed. In the past, the predominant threat was highly organised groups with clear political intent, groups like Al Qaeda.
"That threat, of course, remains but now, alongside that, we also see acts of extreme violence perpetrated by loners, misfits, young men in their bedroom accessing all manner of material online, desperate for notoriety, sometimes inspired by traditional terrorist groups but fixated on that extreme violence, seemingly for its own sake."
He added that the law needs to change rapidly to recognise the new threats alongside a review of Britain's "entire counter-extremist system to make sure we have what we need to defeat it". He warned that with "just a few clicks, people can watch video after horrific video" that sometimes are never removed. "That cannot be right," he said.
Reform Prevent
A law change is “long overdue”, as well as reforms at Prevent, which is “underfunded and likely out of date”, said Gareth Westwood, of the Sibylline intelligence company. Both the law and the organisation have to be “brought into the 21st century”.
Prevent is too focused on people with extreme ideologies, rather than those “obsessed by violence”, said Jonathan Hall, the UK government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation. Two decades ago the threat was “Islamist terrorism coming from Al Qaeda” with preachers and a radicalising ideology that could be targeted usually with de-radicalisation.
“But we’re living in a different world now, which is the internet world, where people don’t go to individuals, they’re not part of groups,” he said. “They just become obsessed by violence." He used the example of school massacre-fixated individuals in America who were “really, really dangerous”.
The Prevent system was not designed for those individuals so the inquiry need to look at “how do you pick up these people”.
Laws not agile
Mr Westwood said it was vital to allow the security services and police to prosecute terrorism without having to prove allegiance to specific groups, such as religious extremists like ISIS.
“The security services have been knocking on this door because the burden of proof under current counter-terrorism laws is high and not agile enough to deal with these folks who are increasingly radicalised, not just being sent videos by Al Qaeda but computer games, forums and substantial disinformation,” he said.
Another method of tackling online incitement could be through large-scale media resilience training for the public, said Dr Giustozzi. “We need to get people more aware of the risk of social media as many are naive about what they find there.”
Ms Cooper said she has ordered a “thorough review” of Rudakubana’s referrals to the Prevent anti-terror programme “to identify what changes are needed to make sure serious cases are not missed”. There are "grave questions" about how a network of government agencies failed to identify and act on the risks, she said.
"There were so many signs of how dangerous he had become, yet the action against him was far too weak. So, families need the truth about why the system failed to tackle his violence for so many years."
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
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Profile of Tarabut Gateway
Founder: Abdulla Almoayed
Based: UAE
Founded: 2017
Number of employees: 35
Sector: FinTech
Raised: $13 million
Backers: Berlin-based venture capital company Target Global, Kingsway, CE Ventures, Entrée Capital, Zamil Investment Group, Global Ventures, Almoayed Technologies and Mad’a Investment.
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Tips to keep your car cool
- Place a sun reflector in your windshield when not driving
- Park in shaded or covered areas
- Add tint to windows
- Wrap your car to change the exterior colour
- Pick light interiors - choose colours such as beige and cream for seats and dashboard furniture
- Avoid leather interiors as these absorb more heat
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
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More coverage from the Future Forum
The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
T20 World Cup Qualifier A, Muscat
Friday, February 18: 10am - Oman v Nepal, Canada v Philippines; 2pm - Ireland v UAE, Germany v Bahrain
Saturday, February 19: 10am - Oman v Canada, Nepal v Philippines; 2pm - UAE v Germany, Ireland v Bahrain
Monday, February 21: 10am - Ireland v Germany, UAE v Bahrain; 2pm - Nepal v Canada, Oman v Philippines
Tuesday, February 22: 2pm – semi-finals
Thursday, February 24: 2pm – final
UAE squad: Ahmed Raza (captain), Muhammad Waseem, Chirag Suri, Vriitya Aravind, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Raja Akifullah, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Zafar Farid, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Rahul Bhatia
All matches to be streamed live on icc.tv
FORSPOKEN
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Starfield
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WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
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GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
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