Reader’s links for Dec. 17 – 2015

Daily Links Post graphic

In order to preserve the flow of conversation about various posted items, and also in order to make it easier for visitors to find the list of related links being shared by other readers, regulars and interested parties in one place, each day a post is automatically created at a minute past midnight ET.

This way, under the various posts of the day, conversation can take place without as much ‘noise’ on the various links and articles and ideas in the main posts and all the news links being submitted can be seen under these auto-posts by clicking on the comments-link right below these ones.

Thank you all for those that take the effort to assist this site in keeping the public informed. Below, typically people can find the latest enemy propaganda, news items of related materials from multiple countries and languages, op-eds from many excellent sites who write on our topics, geopolitics and immigration issues and so on.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

64 Replies to “Reader’s links for Dec. 17 – 2015”

  1. Five suspects arrested in connection to Nangarhar tragedy (khaama, Dec 17, 2015)
    http://www.khaama.com/five-suspects-arrested-in-connection-to-nangarhar-tragedy-4399

    “Security forces have arrested five suspects in connection to the tragedy that took place in Nangarhar province this week.

    Ataullah Khogyani, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province said on Thursday that the detained suspects have been put behind the bars and further investigation is underway from them to get to the killers.

    The tragedy took place in Mirza Qala area of Behsood District where an entire family was shot dead.

    Three guests had reportedly visited Yousuf’s house in Mirza Qala area of Behsood District and during the night all eight members of the family were shot dead including a two-month-old child.

    Killers then locked the door from outside and fled the area. When neighbors got to know about the incident they informed police about it.

    Besides Yousuf, other people killed in the incident were Yousuf’s mother, wife, son and four daughters.

    Yousuf who was originally from Paktia province had been living in Nangarhar from the past four years.

    It is yet unknown whether Yousuf had enemies or it was a terrorist attack but he had worked at Nangarhar Airport which is the main military base of foreign forces in eastern part of the country.”

  2. Facing radicalism: Standing up against radical cleric lands protesters in jail (tribune, Dec 17, 2015)
    http://tribune.com.pk/story/1011329/facing-radicalism-standing-up-against-radical-cleric-lands-protesters-in-jail/

    “A civil society protest on Wednesday against radicalism, held outside Lal Masjid, was disrupted.

    After police officials rounded up a number of protesters, who were shouting slogans against the controversial mosque cleric.

    The activists were issuing ‘reminders’ directed at Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Aziz that the nation stands united against the gruesome attack on Army Public School in Peshawar and has not forgotten his now-infamous statement days after the attack, where he refused to recognise the victims as martyrs or refer to the attackers as terrorists.

    The gathering remained peaceful until it was disrupted by the police, who claimed to be taking protesters into protective custody to maintain law and order.

    The city administration had initially tried to persuade the organisers of the protest to change the venue. After failing to do so, the police took them to Aabpara Police Station and released them after a while.

    Khurrum Zaki, a rights activist, had come with his wife and teenage daughter. They were joined by roughly half-a-dozen other activists in front of Lal Majid at around 2pm. They chanted slogans against terrorist sympathisers and demanded the arrest of Aziz.

    The police were already present there, cordoning off the mosque….”

  3. Sweden

    The nationalist Sweden Democrats are still gaining support, despite recent measures by Sweden’s Social Democrat-Green coalition to limit the number of people granted asylum.

    The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats scored 18.9 percent, the largest figure they have got so far in a poll by Ipsos.

    http://www.thelocal.se/20151217/more-support-for-nationalists-despite-refugee-cuts

    Norway

    Norway’s Prime Minister has appointed a politician from the populist Progress Party as the country’s first ever Immigration Minister, as her government seeks to bring in an ever-tougher asylum policy.

    http://www.thelocal.no/20151216/norway-populists-win-new-immigration-ministry

    Denmark

    Denmark wants to seize jewelry and cash from refugees

    “The bill presented on 10 December 2015 provides the Danish authorities with the power to search clothes and luggage of asylum seekers — and other migrants without a permit to stay in Denmark — with a view to finding assets which may cover the expenses,” the Danish ministry of integration said in an email to The Washington Post.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/12/17/denmark-wants-to-seize-jewelry-from-refugees/

  4. UN resolution seeks to curb Islamic State funding (BBC, Dec 17, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35120441

    “Finance ministers from the 15 nations on the UN Security Council are expected to adopt a resolution aimed at starving the so-called Islamic State of funds.

    The draft resolution is based on one that was first passed in 1999 to target the rival jihadist group, al-Qaeda.

    It urges countries to “move vigorously and decisively to cut the flow of funds” to IS, such as by preventing its smuggling of oil and antiquities.

    The militant group is widely believed to be the world’s wealthiest.

    A recent study estimated that it its monthly revenue was $80m (£53m).

    ‘Comprehensive strategy’

    Thursday’s summit of finance ministers of the UN Security Council in New York will be the first in the international body’s 70-year history.

    The US and Russian-drafted resolution they are expected to be approve unanimously will rename the committee monitoring sanctions against al-Qaeda as “the Isil (Daesh) and al-Qaeda sanctions committee”, using acronyms based on the group’s previous name in English and Arabic…”

  5. Turkey security forces kill 23 PKK militants in Cizre (BBC, Dec 17, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35120148

    “Security forces in Turkey have killed 23 suspected members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in two days of operations in Cizre and Silopi, authorities say.

    Twenty-two were killed in Cizre while one was killed in Silopi, state-run Anatolia news agency said.
    Curfews have been imposed and tanks deployed in some areas.

    Cizre was placed under curfew in September, with Turkey describing the town as a hotbed of PKK activity.

    Up to 10,000 police and army members have been deployed in the two towns, in south-east Turkey, since operations began earlier this week…”

  6. Putin pours fresh scorn on Turkey for downing Russian jet (BBC, Dec 17, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35118927

    “Russian President Vladimir Putin has used crude language in a furious new attack on Turkey over the downing of a Russian combat jet last month.

    “The Turks”, he said, had “decided to lick the Americans in a certain place”.

    He was giving his wide-ranging annual news conference.

    Touching on next year’s US presidential election, the Russian leader called Donald Trump a “very colourful, talented person” and the “absolute frontrunner in the presidential race”…”

      • Back when the classical liberals had control of the educational system things were good, now that the far left controls them things are bad. This is one reason I think civilization is going to fall, while I don’t think this idea would work back in the 60s Robert Heinlein wrote the novel Starship Troopers about a future when only veterans were allowed to hold public office or to vote. Read the book, it explores several things in criminology and political science that are interesting, for that matter read H. Beam Pipers A Planet for Texans, this is another thought experiment in political science. Many of the old SciFi authors explored various types of government from organized anarchy to Inherited Monarchy and all things in between. The good thing about them was they were all products of the old educational system and had studied history and knew what had worked in the past and what the logical conclusion of the various moves being made were going to be. Most of the modern SF authors are now soft science and push dream worlds that will never work.The hard science authors are still exploring various types of government.

  7. As lawmakers clash over refugees, Syrian immigration quietly tops 100,000 since 2012

    http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/12/16/as-lawmakers-clash-over-refugees-syrian-immigration-quietly-tops-100000-since/

    A proposal to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees to the United States has ignited a bitter debate in Washington, but more than 10 times that number of people from the embattled country have quietly come to America since 2012, according to figures obtained by FoxNews.com.

    Some 102,313 Syrians were granted admission to the U.S. as legal permanent residents or through programs including work, study and tourist visas from 2012 through August of this year, a period which roughly coincides with the devastating civil war that still engulfs the Middle Eastern country. Experts say any fears that terrorists might infiltrate the proposed wave of refugees from United Nations-run camps should be dwarfed by the potential danger already here.

    “The sheer number of people arriving on all kinds of visas and with green cards, and possibly U.S. citizenship, makes it impossible for our counterterrorism authorities to keep track of them all, much less prevent them from carrying out attacks or belatedly try to deport them,” said Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies.

  8. ‘I started the Arab Spring. Now death is everywhere, and extremism blooming’
    Faida Hamdy confiscated a vegetable stall in Tunisia five years ago today. Neither she nor the rest of the world could have imagined the consequences

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/tunisia/12054657/I-started-the-Arab-Spring.-Now-death-is-everywhere-and-extremism-blooming.html

    It is hardly surprising that when Faida Hamdy wonders whether she is responsible for everything that happened after her moment of fame she is overwhelmed.

    “Sometimes I wish I’d never done it,” Mrs Hamdy told The Telegraph, in her only interview to mark the occasion.

    Hers is a voice that has been rarely heard: the family of the young man, Mohammed Bouazizi, became unwilling celebrities in the weeks after his lingering death, but a nervous regime arrested Mrs Hamdy when the protests began.

    By the time she was acquitted of all charges and released, President Zine el-Abedine Ben Ali had fallen, and media attention was focused on Egypt, Libya and Syria.

    “I feel responsible for everything,” she went on. Her voice was shaky as she spoke of the traumatic consequences, five years that have transformed the Middle East but seemingly changed very little in poor, provincial towns like Sidi Bouzeid.

    “Sometimes, I blame myself and say it is all because of me. I made history since I was the one who was there and my action contributed to it but look at us now. Meanwhile, Tunisians are suffering as always.”

    • The far left had been looking for an excuse to install MB controlled governments and seized on this incident they are going to keep seizing on anything they can use to ensure the destruction of western civ.

  9. French railways test software to track suspicious behaviour

    http://news.yahoo.com/french-railways-test-software-track-suspicious-behaviour-064933234.html

    Software that monitors suspicious behaviour and luggage could eventually be integrated into 40,000 surveillance cameras across France as the country tightens security after last month’s deadly Paris attacks.

    The new software being tested by France’s state-owned SNCF tracks changes in body temperature, raised voices and jerky body movements that can indicate heightened levels of anxiety, the rail firm’s general secretary Stephane Volant told AFP. In addition, cameras that detect packages left unattended for too long are also under evaluation.

    The SNCF will also launch a new app in the spring allowing passengers to raise an alert from their smartphones and a law could come into effect giving SNCF security agents powers to perform security pat-downs and luggage searches.

  10. Team led by Middle Eastern Woman Caught Surveilling U.S. Facility on Mexican Border

    http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2015/12/team-led-by-middle-eastern-woman-caught-surveilling-u-s-facility-on-mexican-border/

    A Middle Eastern woman was caught surveilling a U.S. port of entry on the Mexican border holding a sketchbook with Arabic writing and drawings of the facility and its security system, federal law enforcement sources tell Judicial Watch.

    The woman has been identified as 23-year-old Leila Abdelrazaq, according to a Customs and Border Patrol (CPB) report obtained by JW this week. Abdelrazaq appeared to have two accomplices, a 31-year-old man named Gabriel Schivone and a 28-year-old woman named Leslie Mcafee. CBP agents noticed the trio “observing the facilities” at the Port of Mariposa in Nogales, Arizona on December 2. Schivone was first noticed inside the entrance of the pedestrian area while the two women stood outside by the entry door, the CPB document states.

    When federal officers asked Abdelrazaq why she was drawing sketches of the facilities she “stated because she’s never been to the border,” according to the CBP report. Abdelrazaq resisted showing officers the sketchbook, citing personal reasons, but subsequently handed it over. “During the inspection of the Abdelrazaq sketching book, CBPOs noticed the book contained writings in English and Arabic language,” federal officers write in the document. “There were drawings of what appeared to be vehicle primary inspection area and an additional drawing of pedestrian turn stile gate depicting video surveillance cameras above the gate.” The report proceeds to reveal that the drawings were “partial and incomplete.”

    This distressing information comes on the heels of two separate—and equally alarming—incidents in the same vicinity. A few weeks ago JW reported that five young Middle Eastern men were apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol in Amado, an Arizona town situated about 30 miles from the Mexican border. Two of the men were carrying stainless steel cylinders in backpacks, alarming Border Patrol officials enough to call the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for backup. DHS officially denies this ever occurred, but law enforcement and other sources have confirmed to JW that the two men carrying the cylinders were believed to be taken into custody by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

  11. FBI alerted about group of men asking about Bagnell Dam

    http://fox2now.com/2015/12/16/fbi-alerted-about-group-of-men-asking-about-bagnell-dam/

    CAMDEN COUNTY, MO – Police are revealing more about a report of a group of men asking about the Bagnell Dam. Miller County Sheriff Bill Abbott tells Lake News that the Camden County Sheriff’s Office forwarded a security tip regarding the hydroelectric facility to the FBI.

    Police tell KMIZ-TV that the incident happened about two weeks ago at the Golden Corral in Osage Beach. A deputy was eating lunch and the wait staff told him about the group of men. Staffers said the men were asking questions about the dam. They wanted to know if they could rent a boat and tour the dam.

    The Camden County Sheriff’s Office tells Lake News that they received a tip about a group of “Middle Eastern” men asking about Bagnell Dam. The police department forwarded that report to the FBI and a joint task force on terrorism.

  12. If the dam is broken/blown it would put a 150 to 175 foot head of water down the river, it would clean out all locks and dams between southern Missouri and the gulf of Mexico. During WWII the brits took out three dams, it drained the canals for several months and knocked out electricity for a large portion of Germany for months. There has never been a good count of how many died because so many towns disappeared taking all of their records with them.

  13. Two Canadian universities make indigenous studies a requirement

    Starting next fall, every undergraduate student at the University of Winnipeg and Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont., will be required to take a course in indigenous studies.

    It’s a plan that university administrators hope will allow every student to learn the basics of the traditions, history, and modern-day issues of First Nations, Metis and Inuit people.

    “And what they came up with was that education could play a role in fighting racism – education toward combating ignorance,” Kinew told CTV’s Canada AM from Winnipeg Thursday.

    There’s been a lot of positive reaction to the announced change, he said, especially since it comes so soon after the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report.

    “A lot of people are recognizing that learning about indigenous people is crucial to be an active and engaged citizen in our country,” he said.

    http://canadaam.ctvnews.ca/two-canadian-universities-make-indigenous-studies-a-requirement-1.2704100

      • I have never understood how the left can so glamorize the stone age existence since it was a hard and brutal time when you fought strangers moving through because they were eating your food. Life was short, dangerous and usually dirty, the American Indians usually moved camps when the garbage became too smelly.

  14. REUTERS – UK review says Muslim Brotherhood membership a possible indicator of extremism

    A British government review into Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood published on Thursday concluded that membership of or links to the political group should be considered a possible indicator of extremism but stopped short of recommending that it should be banned.

    The long-delayed review into the organization was first commissioned in April 2014 by Prime Minister David Cameron with a remit to examine whether the group put British national security at risk.

    “Parts of the Muslim Brotherhood have a highly ambiguous relationship with violent extremism. Both as an ideology and as a network it has been a rite of passage for some individuals and groups who have gone on to engage in violence and terrorism,” Cameron said in a statement.

    He described the group as “deliberately opaque, and habitually secretive”.

    “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,” he said.

    Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi launched the toughest crackdown on Islamists in Egypt’s modern history after toppling President Mohamed Mursi of the Brotherhood in 2013.

    Sisi classifies the Brotherhood as a terrorist group, but on a visit to Britain in November he said it could again play a role in public life if Egyptians wanted it to return.

    The Brotherhood, the Middle East’s oldest Islamist movement and long Egypt’s main political opposition, said the review was neither fair nor based on credible evidence.

    The group, which says it is committed to peaceful activism, said the British position suggested it backed the military’s overthrow of Mursi who was democratically elected president after the 2011 uprising.

    “If Britain sees peaceful protests and activities that reject the military coup, the killing of civilians and the detentions and disappearances as extremist then certainly Britain has a defect it needs to remedy,” it said in a statement.

    British lawmaker Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrat Party, also criticised the report, saying it had been carried out to pacify Britain’s Middle East ally Saudi Arabia, which sees the Brotherhood as a threat to regional stability.

    “We should decide these things based on real and credible intelligence and not pressure from Riyadh,” Farron said in a statement

    Cameron said Muslim Brotherhood-associated and influenced groups had sometimes characterised Britain as fundamentally hostile to Muslim faith and identity and expressed support for attacks conducted by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

    “Aspects of the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology and activities therefore run counter to British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, equality and the mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs,” he said.

    Cameron said the government would keep under review the views and activities of Muslim Brotherhood associates in Britain and whether the group met the legal test for proscription as a terrorist organisation.

    Britain will also continue to refuse visas to members and associates of the group who have made extremist comments, he said, and intensify its scrutiny of the views and activities Muslim Brotherhood members, associates and affiliates promote overseas.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-politics-muslimbrotherhood-idUSKBN0U01EB20151217

  15. USA: Sanders slams ‘bigoted’ Trump during mosque visit

    U.S presidential candidate Bernie Sanders participated in a roundtable at the Masjid Muhammad mosque in Washington DC, Wednesday.

  16. CNN – Afghan refugees wait for chance to enter Europe

    CNN’s Sara Sidner meets a group of Afghan refugees waiting for their chance at a better life.


  17. Man pleads not guilty to arson, hate crime at California mosque

    http://www.oann.com/man-pleads-not-guilty-to-arson-hate-crime-at-california-mosque/

    A 23-year-old man suspected of setting a fire at a Southern California mosque in a hate attack following the massacre of 14 people by a Muslim couple pleaded not guilty on Wednesday, officials said.

    Carl James Dial pleaded not guilty to charges of arson, burglary and committing a hate crime in connection with Friday’s fire in the entrance of Islamic Society of the Coachella Valley, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office said.

    Authorities said the fire caused no injuries. But it charred the building’s stucco front entrance, leaving it with chunks of plaster torn out and littered with debris.

    The local Desert Sun newspaper reported on Wednesday that Dial’s parents are seeking a lawyer to take the case, which they said was complex, pro bono.

    The blaze heightened concerns about an anti-Islamic backlash in the wake of the Dec. 2 massacre of 14 people by U.S.-born Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and his Pakistani-born wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, at a holiday party in San Bernardino, about 75 miles (121 km) northwest of Coachella.

    The FBI has said it is treating the shooting as an act of terrorism, citing the couple’s declaration that they were acting on behalf of the Islamic State militant group.

  18. Talks to reform Ferguson, Missouri police make progress

    http://www.oann.com/doj-ferguson-missouri-close-to-deal-on-police-dept-nyt/

    The U.S. Department of Justice and the mayor of Ferguson, Missouri on Wednesday said that they have made progress on a deal to overhaul the city’s police department following the 2014 fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown.

    Justice Department spokeswoman Dena Iverson said that while the department could not comment on the content of negotiations, “the talks with the City of Ferguson to develop a monitored consent decree have been productive.”

    Iverson added that “an agreement needs to be reached without delay.”

    Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III said the two sides had made “a tremendous amount of progress from where we started – we were worlds apart.” When reached, an agreement will be filed in federal court.

    • The policeman did noth9ing wrong but they are going to reform the police so the next time it will be the policeman killed.

  19. Chicago Mayor Emanuel meets with federal officials about police

    http://www.oann.com/chicago-mayor-emanuel-meets-with-federal-officials-about-police/

    Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday met with federal officials on their investigation into the city’s police, more than three weeks after a video showing the fatal shooting of a black teenager prompted calls for the mayor to resign.

    Emanuel’s meeting came the morning after a visit by U.S. Justice Department officials with the interim Chicago police superintendent and command staff about policies and practices. The agency said last week that it would look at the police department’s use of deadly force, among other issues.

    Use of force by law enforcement officers has become a focus of national attention due to a series of high-profile police killings of black men, mostly by white officers in U.S. cities.

    Baltimore police also are under federal scrutiny after the death of a black man injured in police custody. A Baltimore jury on Wednesday failed to reach a verdict on one of the six officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray, resulting in a mistrial.

    Emanuel spokesman Adam Collins said after the meeting on Thursday that the mayor welcomes the investigation “because their work will be an important piece of our efforts to restore trust between residents and the police.”

  20. CANADA – Montreal teen convicted of terrorism-related offences

    A Montreal teen [ born in Algeria ] has been found guilty of two terrorism-related charges.

    Youth court Judge Dominique Wilhelmy handed down the verdict this morning.

    The boy was facing two charges: committing a robbery in association with a terrorist organization and planning to leave Canada to participate in the activities of a terrorist group abroad.

    The case stems from a convenience store robbery in October 2014 the Crown suggested was linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and was committed to finance a trip to take part in the conflict in Syria.

    His lawyer said the evidence only suggested his client merely wanted to go to Syria to help fellow Muslims, while the Crown argued the teen, who also engaged in Twitter conversations with jihadist sympathizer Martin Couture-Rouleau, was determined to get to Syria.

    Couture-Rouleau fatally rammed Canadian Forces Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent with a car in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., in October 2014 and was eventually killed by police.

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/montreal-teen-convicted-of-terrorism-related-offences/article27801220/

    CBC Montreal teen found guilty of two terror-related offences
    Conviction makes 16-year-old first Canadian to be found guilty of trying to travel to join terror group

    A Montreal teenager has become the first person in Canada to be convicted of trying to leave the country to participate in terrorist activities abroad.

    The 16-year-old from Lachine was also found guilty Thursday of committing a crime in association of a terrorist organization.

    The conviction for trying to leave Canada to participate in terrorist activities abroad was a first under new federal anti-terror laws passed in 2013.

    Quebec Youth Court Judge Dominique Wilhelmy said the youth's parents likely saved their son's life by going to authorities to report him.

    "This sad story is one of a young boy invaded by messages of violence, vengeance and war transmitted by Islamic State," Wilhelmy said in her decision.

    "How many others out there are dreaming of leaving Canada for the ranks of Islamic State like the accused?"

    Crown prosecutors said the teen tried to rob a convenience store in October 2014 for the benefit of a terrorist organization.

    The teen pleaded guilty to robbing the store, but denied the terrorism link. The defence tried unsuccessfully to have the two terror charges thrown out.

    During the trial, Prosecutor Lyne Décarie tried to show the teen's escalating interest in Syria, jihad and ISIS.

    She said information pulled from the teen's computer showed he started looking at websites about those subjects in 2012.

    Décarie also noted how the teen tried unsuccessfully in February 2014 to use his parents' credit card to donate to an organization fighting the Assad regime in Syria.

    The prosecutor told the court that in May 2014, the teen tried again to use his parent's credit card, this time to buy a one-way airline ticket to Turkey.

    The parents twice changed their credit card numbers and confiscated the teen's computer during the summer of 2014.

    Décarie also told the court how the boy's mother found a phone number on a scrap of paper in her son's pants pocket. That number was later found to belong to Martin Couture-Rouleau.

    Couture-Rouleau killed a Canadian soldier and wounded another in an attack in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu last October before he was killed by police.

    The teen was interrogated hours after that incident.

    Judge Wilhelmy ruled that most of the police interrogation was inadmissible as evidence in court. She said police never offered a full explanation of the teen's rights and the law.

    Sentencing hearing set for new year

    Crown prosecutor Marie-Eve Moore said she would wait for the results of psychological and pre-sentencing reports before recommending a sentence.

    "We'll wait for the results of the report to be able to evaluate what's appropriate considering it's a youth who was convicted today," she said.

    "We have to promote his rehabilitation, his reintegration into society while continuing to protect the public from such terrorist acts."

    Radio-Canada reported that the youth could face up to three years in prison for a conviction on terror-related charges.

    A hearing to determine the date of his sentencing will be held Jan. 5.

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-terror-teen-verdict-travel-court-1.3368964

  21. Turkey: Diyarbakir police use tear gas as Kurdish protesters defy curfew

    Kurdish protesters clashed with police in the south-eastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, Thursday, during a protest rally. The protesters took to the streets to denounce a curfew imposed by Turkish authorities across several neighbourhoods of the city’s historic Sur district.

    Protesters marched on the streets chanting Kurdish nationalist slogans before coming under fire with tear gas from police vehicles. Hundreds of demonstrators in the city have mobilised against the killings of Kurdish lawyer and human rights activist Tahir Elci on November 28 and the subsequent curfew, which is in its 12th day now.

  22. Putin says Russia wants to develop ties with U.S. whoever wins election

    http://www.oann.com/putin-says-russia-wants-to-develop-ties-with-u-s-whoever-wins-election/

    MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia wanted to develop relations with the United States, irrespective of who will become the next American president.

    “We are ready to work with any president, for whom the American people will vote,” Putin told his annual news conference.

    “It’s them (the Americans) who try all the time to prompt us who to vote for,” Putin said.

    (Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova, Alexander Winning and Christian LOwe; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Maria Kiselyova)

  23. ‘No fingerprints!’ chant migrants in Italy as EU cracks down

    http://www.oann.com/no-fingerprints-chant-migrants-in-italy-as-eu-cracks-down/

    Some 200 mostly Eritrean migrants protested against asylum rules on the island of Lampedusa on Thursday as the European Union steps up pressure on frontline countries to enforce the regulations.

    A video posted on a Sicilian news site showed a group of men, women and children wearing jackets and winter hats marching along the island’s cactus-lined roads and chanting in front of city hall.

    “We are human beings! No fingerprints! We want freedom! We want to move from the camps! Italia respect our rights!” they shouted in English. Some also carried signs in both English and Italian. One read: “We are refugees. No fingerprints”.

    Humanitarian organization Arci in Sicily said some of the protesters had been on the island for more than a month, held there because they had refused to give their fingerprints as EU law requires. Some have also begun hunger strikes, it said.

    European law says migrants must stay in the country where they first enter the bloc, and that is determined by where they give their fingerprints. Until recently, most migrants have simply refused to be identified, moving north from Greece and Italy by foot, train or bu

  24. Hezbollah Slams Saudi-Led Anti-Terror Alliance (abcnews, Dec 17, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/hezbollah-slams-saudi-led-anti-terror-alliance-35823045

    “Lebanon’s Hezbollah group has denounced the new Saudi-led “Islamic military alliance” and the Lebanese prime minister’s decision to join the coalition announced this week.

    The Shiite militant group said in a statement Thursday that the coalition was a “U.S. project” and accused Saudi Arabia of supporting “terrorist groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.” Hezbollah also said the kingdom is “responsible for spreading extreme terrorist ideology all over the world.”

    On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia announced the 34-member coalition, saying it will have a joint operations center based in the kingdom’s capital, Riyadh.

    Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam welcomed the Saudi move and said it is only “natural” for Lebanon to be part of such an alliance against terror.

    Hezbollah said Salam’s remarks “represent his personal opinion.””

  25. Obama says no specific, credible terror threat over holidays

    McLEAN, Va. — President Barack Obama says U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials don’t have any specific, credible information suggesting a potential terrorist attack against the U.S. during the holidays.

    Obama made the comment during a visit at the National Counterterrorism Center in Virginia, where he got a briefing Thursday.

    The president is trying to reassure Americans that the government is doing all it can to protect them. Obama also says the country must be vigilant during the holidays.

    Obama says the types of threats have evolved, and that people acting on their own and in small groups are harder to detect. He’s pointing to the shooting in San Bernardino, California as an example.

    http://abc11.com/news/obama-says-no-credible-terror-threat-over-holidays/1126468/
    ======================================================
    12/17/2015 Obama delivers counter terrorism message. President Barack Obama makes remarks on counter-terror efforts after a closed briefing at the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, Virginia.

  26. EGYPT – Man rapes grand-daughter, mom kills her

    Mother drowns her in water bucket to avert scandal

    An Egyptian man pulled his two-year-old granddaughter from her mother’s arms while she was asleep and raped her, prompting the mother to kill her daughter to avert a scandal, newspapers in the Arab country reported on Thursday.

    The 59-year-old grandfather, identified as Faraj, waited for his daughter Merfat, 23, to go to bed before pulling her daughter out of bed and raping her in his room at their house in the East-central town of Sohag.

    Newspapers said the mother, after discovering what happened, drowned her daughter in a water bucket to avert a scandal in the conservative countryside town.

    Police arrested the mother and her father on murder and rape charges, they added.

    http://www.emirates247.com/crime/world/man-rapes-grand-daughter-mom-kills-her-2015-12-10-1.613537

  27. DAILY MAIL – Calais migrants ‘armed with iron bars and hammers’ storm roads near Channel Tunnel and clash with French riot police

    Migrants and refugees block traffic near the Channel Tunnel in Calais
    Some were reportedly ‘armed with iron bars, stones and hammers’
    Riot police clashed with migrants as dozens tried to climb into lorries

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3364502/Calais-migrants-armed-iron-bars-hammers-storm-roads-near-Channel-Tunnel-clash-French-riot-police.html
    =====================================================
    More than 800 migrants try to storm Channel Tunnel in France

    Some 800 to 1,000 migrants try to break into the Channel Tunnel

    Some 800 to 1,000 migrants tried on Thursday to break into the Channel Tunnel near France’s port city Calais in a desperate bid to reach Britain, local officials said.

    “We noted the presence of 800 to 1,000 migrants” near the tunnel, a local official told AFP, as a police source described the number seeking to cross the Channel as “unprecedented” for a single day.

    “As they approached the tunnel, several migrants tried hard to slow down the flow of traffic so they could climb into the trucks,” the source said.

    An AFP journalist at the scene saw some people climb on top of trucks heading towards Britain.

    “Security forces were deployed … objects were being thrown at them, and they had to resort to using tear gas,” police said in a statement.

    Some 4,500 people fleeing war and poverty in Asia, the Middle East and Africa live in notoriously squalid conditions in a makeshift camp in Calais known as the “Jungle”.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/12056994/More-than-800-migrants-try-to-storm-Channel-Tunnel-in-France.html

  28. Ex-Neighbor Of San Bernardino Shooter Charged As ‘Straw Purchaser’ Of Assault Rifles

    […]The affidavit recounts a recent interview with Marquez in which he is said to have admitted making plans with Farook to attack the library or cafeteria at Riverside Community College (RCC), where both men had been students.

    The plan allegedly was to throw pipe bombs into the cafeteria area from an elevated position on the second floor, and then to shoot people as they fled, according to prosecutors.

    Marquez and Farook also allegedly planned to attack eastbound lanes of State Route 91 (SR-91) during afternoon rush hour, according to the affidavit. Marquez told investigators that they chose a particular section of the freeway because there were no exits, which would increase the number of targets in the eastbound lanes.

    The plan, prosecutors say, was for Farook to throw pipe bombs on to the freeway, which they believed would disable vehicles and stop traffic. Farook allegedly planned to then move among stopped vehicles, shooting into them, while Marquez shot into vehicles from a position on a nearby hillside.

    Marquez allegedly said that he would watch for law enforcement and emergency vehicles, and his priority was to shoot law enforcement before shooting life-saving personnel.

    Prosecutors say the two moved forward with their plants by purchasing firearms, ammunition and other tactical gear, as well as going to local firing ranges.

    http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015/12/17/ex-neighbor-of-san-bernardino-shooter-reportedly-taken-into-custody/

  29. Turkey arrests 2 IS suspects at airport, seizes 150 passports

    Istanbul (AFP) – Turkish authorities detained two suspected Islamic State militants (IS) at Istanbul’s main international airport carrying at least 150 original European passports, an official said Thursday.

    Counter-terror police detained the suspects, a Syrian and a Turk, at Ataturk Airport after they flew in from a European country, finding they had stuffed the passports into pizza ovens, media reports said earlier.

    “Airport police… found at least 150 fake passports among their personal belongings,” a Turkish government official, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

    The private Dogan news agency said the police seized a total of 148 European passports hidden inside “five mini-pizza ovens”.

    The suspects have been taken to the anti-terror headquarters of Istanbul police for questioning, it added.

    Two hidden cameras, scores of memory cards and SIM cards were also seized, it added. Dogan had said that the passports were all original.

    Long criticised for not doing enough to stem the flow of jihadist fighters across its volatile border with Syria, Turkey has stepped up fight after a number of deadly attacks on Turkish soil blamed on IS, making almost daily arrests of would-be jihadists.

    “Today’s arrests exemplify how effective the anti-ISIS measures have been,” said the official, using a different acronym for IS, which is also called ISIL or Daesh.

    “We look forward to working more closely with source countries to keep ISIS fighters away from Syria.”

    Interior Minister Efkan Ala said Thursday that Turkey has imposed entry bans on 33,746 terror suspects from 123 countries since the Syria conflict began.

    In addition, 2,783 jihadist suspects from 89 countries have been detained in Turkey and deported.

    http://news.yahoo.com/turkey-arrests-2-suspects-airport-seizes-150-passports-200614939.html

    in Turkish – + pic

    http://www.milliyet.com.tr/ataturk-havalimani-nda-isid-gundem-2165373/

  30. Germany: Man suspected of having worked for Islamic State arrested at refugee center

    BERLIN — German authorities say a man suspected of having worked for the Islamic State group has been arrested at a refugee accommodation center.

    The Dortmund prosecutor’s office said the 31-year-old was arrested in the western town of Unna on Thursday, news agency dpa reported. It stressed that the investigation is at a very early stage.

    The Bild newspaper had previously reported on the arrest. Without citing sources, it said the man came from Syria and that anti-IS activists from that country had posted pictures of the suspect online.

    Germany has seen around a million refugees and other migrants arrive this year.

    http://www.startribune.com/germany-man-suspected-of-having-worked-for-is-arrested/362840421/

    B I L D :
    http://www.bild.de/politik/inland/isis/terrorverdaechtiger-dortmund-43843950.bild.html

  31. FOX – Russia more effective than U.S. in fight against ISIS?

    Former Air Force Assistant Vice Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney on efforts to stop ISIS’ funding, Russia’s role in the fight against ISIS, Vladimir Putin’s comments on Donald Trump and reports one of the Paris attackers may have evaded Belgium police before the attack.
    Watch Deirdre Bolton talk about Middle East on Risk And Reward.