PrairiePundit

Telegraph: Belgian riot police used tear gas and water cannon on Sunday to disperse thousands of people protesting in Brussels against a UN migration pact. Demonstrators held aloft banners bearing slogans including "Our people first" and "We have had enough, close the borders." The protest outside the European Union headquarters in Brussels was organized by Flemish Right-wing parties and had initially been banned, but the ban was overturned this weekend by Belgium's high court, which cited the right to protest. A minority of the estimated 5,500 demonstrators became violent when they were asked to disperse and began throwing paving stones, street furniture and firecrackers at security forces near the European Commission building. Police responded with tear gas and water cannon. ... The UN pact was agreed in July by all 193 UN members except the US, but only 164 formally signed it at a meeting last Monday in Morocco. Critics say the deal could increa...

Express: 'Army deployed' as anti-terror police launch raid in Molenbeek, Belgium ARMED troops are taking part in an anti-terror raid in the notorious Brussels neighbourhood of Molenbeek this evening. That particular neighborhood was used as a base of operations for the Paris attacks as well as an attack on the Brussel's airport.

Telegraph: The jihadists suspected of carrying out the bomb and gun attacks in Paris and Brussels used British benefits payments to fund international terrorism, a court has heard. Mohamed Abrini - who became known as the "man in the hat" following the deadly attack on Brussels airport in March, was handed £3,000 by two men in Birmingham before flying to Paris and disappearing. He had been sent to collect the money by Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who is suspected of being one of the ringleaders of the attacks across the French capital just months later in which 130 people were killed. Zakaria Bouffassil, 26, from Birmingham is accused of handing over the cash which had been withdrawn from the bank account of Anouar Haddouchi, a Belgian national, who had been claiming benefits while living in the West Midlands with his wife. Kingston Crown Court heard how thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money continued to be paid into Haddouchi's bank account, even after he had lef...

BBC: A Belgian-Moroccan jihadist operating in Syria is believed to have organised the deadly attacks on Paris and Brussels, sources say. For months intelligence teams have been trying to identify a man known as Abou Ahmad, involved in recruiting a number of Islamist militants for attacks across Europe. They now believe they have identified him as Oussama Ahmad Atar. He is linked to bombers who targeted Paris in 2015 and Brussels in March. Jihadist gunmen and bombers murdered 130 people on 13 November last year, in a series of almost simultaneous attacks in the heart of Paris. Bomb attacks at Brussels airport and on the city's metro claimed 32 lives on 22 March. One source told Belgian media that Oussama Atar was the only ringleader in Syria to have been identified in both inquiries. A distant cousin of two of the Brussels bombers, Oussama Atar has for years been known to Belgian authorities. He first travelled to Syria in 2002 and then went back in 2004 before travelling to Iraq,...

BBC: Two police officers have been injured by a machete-wielding assailant in the Belgian city of Charleroi. The attacker was shot and wounded, Charleroi police said on Twitter (in French). The assailant is said to have shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("God is great" in Arabic) during the assault outside the city's main police station. ... Clearly, the attackers oppose the occupation of Belgium by non-Muslims.   If only the Europeans would just leave or die and let the Muslims have it there would be peace.  At least that is what the liberals would say if the attack happened in Israel.

Washington Post: Belgian authorities arrest 12 in sweeping anti-terrorism raids The late-night raids on dozens of houses and 152 garages came at a time of heightened terrorism fears in Europe. At least they are not blaming the problem on guns.  Europe already has the strict gun laws that the Democrats want, and it has not stopped the terror attacks.  They are at least dealing with the enemy inside the gates, unlike the Obama administration and the Democrat party. The Democrat response to the terror attack by a registered Democrat who pledged allegiance to ISIL is to blame the Republicans, Christians and gun laws. It is hard to have any respect for such dishonesty.  Making excuses and rationalizing the acts of a mass murder for Allah is a fools errand.

Washington Post: One woman helped the mastermind of the Paris attacks. The other turned him in.   Documents obtained by The Post show how one Muslim woman helped authorities find and stop Abdelhamid Abaaoud while another tried to help him escape. This is another demonstration of the importance of having a police presence in the neighborhood where relationships can be developed that can lead to the finding of terrorists.   Ted Cruz was right about that.

NY Times: France Said to Have Been Brussels Group’s Original Target Surprised by how quickly investigators were moving, the group decided to strike targets in Brussels instead, the Belgian federal prosecutor said. I sensed that the authorities were hot on the jihadis'  trail but not close enough to stop this attack. It was like the TV series 24  as those trying to stop the mass murderers closed in.  It does point out the value of using counterinsurgency tactics in neighborhoods where the jihadis congregate.  Political correctness is not going to stop a mass murderer.

Daily Mail on Sunday: Revealed: Second man held over Brussels attacks posted Facebook pictures of himself with ISIS in Syria but was STILL able to sneak back into Europe with a fake passport The second man arrested by Brussels police alongside Mohammed Abrini is believed to be a Swedish national who snuck back into Europe with a false passport after fighting with ISIS in Syria Europe may be so overwhelmed it is not bothering to check social media on people coming from Syria, but clearly they should be.

Fox News: Arrested terror suspect Mohamed Abrini has been positively identified as the “man in the hat” wanted in connection with the bombing last month at the Brussels Airport, Belgian prosecutors said Saturday. The Federal Prosecutor's Office in Brussels said Abrini confessed to being the third man present at Brussels Airport during the March 22 suicide bombings there. Authorities have been frantically seeking the "man in the hat" ever since he was captured on video alongside the two bombers just before the airport attack that killed 16 people. Belgian authorities recently released more footage of the man leaving the airport in the wake of the bombings, walking down sidewalks and past a hotel. Abrini was arrested Friday in Brussels in a police raid. The prosecutor's office said Saturday that Abrini "confessed his presence at the crime scene" after being confronted by investigators. “He explained having thrown away his (explosive) vest in a garb...

Washington Times: One of the suicide bombers involved in the deadly attacks in Brussels last month had previously worked as a clearer at the European Parliament, officials said Thursday. The news comes as Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel admitted that the terrorist attacks, which killed 31 people and injured hundreds more, represented a security “failure,” the BBC reported. Officials did not name the attacker, but sources told the BBC he is Najim Laachraoui, one of the two men who blew themselves up at the Brussels airport. The EU Parliament said Laachraoui worked as a cleaner in 2009 and 2010. The Parliament said that the cleaning firm had provided proof that the person hired for the job had no criminal record at the time. ... This appears to be more evidence of the lax screening of people in sensitive jobs in the EU.   With his job, he could have possibly planted bombs in trash receptacles within the building.

Daniel Greenfield: BELGIAN SOLDIERS DEPLOYED TO FIGHT TERRORISTS HAD NO BULLETS IN RIFLES At least, Andy Griffith's deputy was allowed to carry one bullet in his pocket.  In Belgium the show of force after a terror attack on Jews  really was just a show.

Daily Mail: Terror suspect shot and held by Brussels police 'had been jailed for seven years for helping Taliban assassinate Afghan leader two days before 9/11'  According to reports, Abderaman Ameroud, left, who was shot in the leg at the tram stop in Schaerbeek because police believed he had a bomb, helped the Taliban to kill an Afghan leader in 2001. Ameroud, who is of Algerian descent, lived in Afghanistan and was convicted of helping the Taliban to assassinate the commander Ahmed Shah Massod. Mr Masood, who was a prominent Afghan leader in the north of the country, was blown up two days before the 9/11 attacks on the U.S., by two men posing as journalists. It is a mistake to release killers, period.  Not many of these people change their attitude after they set on this path.   What kind of vetting, if any, did they do before allowing him in the country?

Daily Mail: Two Belgian nuclear power plant workers have joined ISIS leading to fears the jihadis have the intelligence to cause a meltdown disaster  Belgian security services are fearful that ISIS operatives may have been looking to target a nuclear plant as it emerged a security guard was murdered at a nuclear research centre. They need to have the military patrolling the facilities and the area around it.  They also need to do a better job of vetting their employees.

CBS News: In the wake of the bombings in Belgium this week -- and increasing criticism of officials for their inability to thwart those attacks -- police in the last 24 hours have made at least four arrests in a series of raids in Belgium and four other countries across Europe. New evidence shows disturbing evidence of just how big the terror network is across Europe. CBS News' Allen Pizzey reports from Brussels that, as the effort to break the terrorist cell that carried out the bombings goes on, Belgian officials are coming under increased scrutiny and criticism for what is being seen as a series of intelligence failures. In an operation that played out in full view, Belgian police shot a man who was spotted with a suspicious bag at a tram stop Friday. ... The raids have uncovered what is being described as "alarming" evidence of a Europe-wide jihadist cell connected to the attacks in Belgium as well as those in Paris in November. ... Belgium is still comin...

NY Times: Belgium Fears Its Nuclear Power Plants Are Vulnerable Belgian authorities are worried that ISIS is seeking to attack, infiltrate or sabotage nuclear plants or obtain nuclear or radioactive material, an especially worrying possibility in light of a history of security lapses at Belgian nuclear facilities. Have the military secure the power plants and patrol the area around them.  They should be well suited for that.  Europe needs to come to the understanding that ISIL has made their continent a war zone and they have to treat it as such and not just have the police chasing the terrorists.  In counterinsurgency operations, the military has to have an adequate force to space ratio around vulnerable targets to make them impassable to the enemy. Despite the hysteria of the left, the military and the police should also patrol Muslim neighborhoods in the same way the US military did during the surge in Iraq that successfully defeated al Qaeda in Iraq.  Th...

AFP/Breitbart: The brothers who carried out the airport and metro suicide bombings in Belgium’s capital this week were known to US authorities and listed in American terrorism databases, television network NBC reported. The report cited two unnamed US officials as saying that Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui were listed as a “potential terror threat” in US databases but that they would not specify on “which of the many US terrorism databases the brothers were listed.” The National Counterterrorism Center, which coordinates US intelligence on extremist threats, did not respond to requests for comment from AFP. Prior to the deadly attacks, the Belgian brothers had long rap sheets with criminal convictions related to carjackings, robberies and shoot-outs with police. Details now emerging show that the three Brussels attackers were known to Belgian authorities but somehow able to slip through security. Ibrahim El Bakraoui, who blew himself up at the Brussels airport, was deported...

Daily Mail: Revealed: Bungling Belgian anti-terror police quizzed 'mastermind' Abdeslam for just ONE HOUR before Brussels bloodbath as he was 'TOO TIRED' for questioning Belgian police questioned prime terror suspect Salah Abdeslam for just one hour between his arrest on Friday and the devastating Brussels attacks four days later because he was 'tired', it has emerged. This is what happens when liberals are in charge of fighting the enemy without a sense of urgency.  You can see the same concern for terrorist rights in the US in reaction to comments made by Ted Cruz about finding and stopping the enemy.  They act like community policing is a rebirth of the SS.

Meanwhile, Obama went to a Cuban baseball game and Trump tried to take credit for prescients after signaling he wanted to retreat from NATO.

NBC News: At least two explosions rocked the check-in zone of Brussels Airport Tuesday, killing and wounding several people, while another blast shook a metro station in the Belgian capital. Officials raised the terror threat level, shut down all public transport in the city and advised locals to stay indoors after what appeared to be coordinated attacks. Federal police later confirmed that an explosion occurred at Maalbeck metro station, which is located near European Union institution buildings. Passengers fled the airport's departures hall after the first incident around 8 a.m. local time (3 a.m. ET). Pictures from the smoky terminal showed bloodied victims, shattered glass and debris. ... Police in Belgium arrested a suspect in the Paris mass murder attacks and just missed one other potential terrorist who escaped.  They identified him through DNA tests at the scene of the capture.    They were frantically trying to find him when the latest mass murder at...