Headline

U.S. Woman Charged With Aiding IS, Planning Attacks

Published

4 years ago

January 29, 2022

An American woman who allegedly led an all-female Islamic State battalion in Syria has been charged with providing material support to a foreign terrorist group, the US Justice Department announced Saturday.

The woman, identified as Allison Fluke-Ekren, formerly of the US state of Kansas, had been named in a sealed criminal complaint filed in 2019 in a federal Virginia court, the government statement said.

Among other things, it said she had planned an attack on a US college campus and spoke of organizing a devastating attack on an American shopping mall.

The statement said the 42-year-old Fluke-Ekren — who has used at least five aliases — had been apprehended previously in Syria but was transferred into FBI custody on Friday.

She is expected to make her initial appearance before the US District Court for Eastern Virginia, in the Washington suburb of Alexandria, on Monday at 2:00 pm (1900 GMT), the statement said.

– All-female IS unit –
Fluke-Ekren traveled to Syria

“several years ago for the purpose of committing or supporting terrorism,” the government statement said, adding that she had “allegedly been involved with a number of terrorism-related activities on behalf of ISIS from at least 2014.”

Those activities included planning and recruiting operatives for a possible attack on a US college campus, the statement said, though it provided no further details.

It also said she was the appointed leader and organizer of an all-female IS military battalion, where she trained women in using AK-47 assault rifles, grenades and suicide belts. Called the Khatiba Nusaybah, the members were all married to male IS fighters.

As battalion leader, the Justice Department alleges, she prepared the women to defend themselves during the 2017 siege of the IS stronghold of Raqqa, Syria.

Her other work for IS, the department said, included training children in the use of AK-47 rifles and suicide belts.

The statement said at least six individuals had observed Fluke-Ekren’s “alleged terrorist conduct from at least 2014 through approximately 2017.”

They said she had spoken of her desire to attack an American shopping mall by parking an explosives-packed vehicle in a basement garage.

“Fluke-Ekren allegedly considered any attack that did not kill a large number of individuals to be a waste of resources,” the statement said.

ABC News, citing court papers, said Fluke-Ekren had moved to Egypt in 2008. She traveled frequently to the United States over the next three years but had not been back since 2011.

If convicted of the charges, Fluke-Ekren faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Women make up only about 10 per cent of people charged by the United States with supporting the Islamic State group, according to a study by the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. This is the first case involving someone accused of holding such a powerful position in IS.

AFP

Headline

Putin Says Russia Ready For War, Blames Europe For Sabotaging Peace

Published

15 hours ago

December 2, 2025

Editor

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia was “ready” for war if Europe seeks one, accusing the continent’s leaders of trying to sabotage a deal on the Ukraine conflict before he met with US envoys.

The comments came as US envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were in Moscow for high-stakes talks on ending the nearly four-year war, which were preceded by days of intense diplomacy.

“We are not planning to go to war with Europe, but if Europe wants to and starts, we are ready right now,” Putin told reporters in Moscow.

“They have no peaceful agenda, they are on the side of war,” he added, repeating his claim that European leaders were hindering US attempts to broker peace in Ukraine.

He added that European changes to Trump’s latest plan to end the war “aimed solely at one thing — to completely block the entire peace process and put forward demands that are absolutely unacceptable for Russia”.

Washington has presented a 28-point draft to end the conflict, later amended after criticism from Kyiv and Europe, which viewed it as heeding to many of Russia’s maximalist demands.

The plan to end the war is championed by Trump, but European countries fear it risks forcing Kyiv to cave in to Russian demands, notably on territory.

Fearing further Russian aggression, Europe has repeatedly said an unfair peace should not be imposed on Ukraine.

The Trump envoys are now seeking to finalise the plan with the approval of Moscow and Kyiv.
AFP

Headline

US Senator Proposes Bill To End Dual Citizenship

Published

15 hours ago

December 2, 2025

Editor

A United States lawmaker has introduced a bill seeking to abolish dual citizenship for American nationals, a move that could affect thousands of Nigerians who hold both US and Nigerian passports.

Bernie Moreno, a Colombian-born US senator, announced the proposed legislation — titled the Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025 — arguing that the current system, which allows Americans to hold multiple nationalities, creates “conflicts of interest and divided loyalties.”

“One of the greatest honours of my life was when I became an American citizen at 18, the first opportunity I could do so.

“It was an honour to pledge an Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America and only to the United States of America! Being an American citizen is an honour and a privilege—and if you want to be an American, it’s all or nothing. It’s time to end dual citizenship for good,” Moreno said.

Moreno, who has since renounced his Colombian citizenship, maintains that exclusive allegiance is essential to national integrity.

If passed, the bill could have far-reaching implications for prominent figures such as US First Lady Melania Trump, who holds both US and Slovenian citizenship. It would also significantly impact Nigerians with dual citizenship.

According to a July naturalisation flow report by the US Department of Homeland Security, 38,890 Nigerians became naturalised American citizens between 2021 and 2023. Nigeria ranked 13th among countries with the highest number of new US citizens and was the only African nation in the top 20.

Nigerian law allows citizens by birth to hold dual nationality without relinquishing their Nigerian citizenship.

This development comes months after President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at denying automatic US citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants born in the country.

The order was immediately challenged by 18 states and multiple rights groups, who argued it violates the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship. Ongoing legal battles have prevented the order from taking effect.

Headline

12 Die, 30 Missing In Peru Landslide

Published

2 days ago

December 1, 2025

Editor

At least 12 people, including three children, died in a landslide at a river port in central Peru on Monday, and 30 were reported missing, officials said.

The landslide submerged a boat with about 50 passengers on board, and another with none, as they were docked at the port of Iparia in the Amazon jungle region of Ucayali, according to a police report cited by the Andina news agency.

Six people were injured, it added, and a search and rescue operation was underway at the start of the Peruvian rainy season.

Without giving a toll, Peru’s COEN national emergency operations centre said on X that tragedy struck at dawn due to “erosion” of the bank of the Ucayali river.

It said the navy has been called in to help.

AFP