Putin to the Western Elites: World War III Is Inevitable

(DC Clothesline)

In his strongest speech, ever, directed at the United States, in front of the rest of key members of the Western world, Putin drew a line in the sand with regard to American imperialism.

The following are excerpts of Putin’s speech delivered at the Valdai conference in Sochi, just a few days ago. The speech was directed at Western elites.

“Russia will no longer play games with the United States and engage in back-room negotiations… Russia is prepared for serious agreements, but only if these agreements are conducive to collective security… All systems of global collective security now lie in ruins. There are no longer any international security guarantees at all and the party responsible for the destruction of global collective security is The United States of America…

…The builders of the New World Order have failed by having built a sand castle…Russia favors a conservative approach to introducing innovations into the social order, but is not opposed to investigating and discussing such innovations, to see if introducing any of them might be justified…

…Russia has no intention of building an empire of their own, but will not go fishing in the murky waters created by America’s ever-expanding “empire of chaos…

…Russia’s challenges lie in developing her already vast territory)…Russia will not attempt to reformat the world in her own image, but neither will she allow anyone to reformat her in their image. 

Russia will not close herself off from the world, but anyone who tries to close her off from the world will be sure to reap a whirlwind. Neither is Russia willing to act as a savior of the world, as she has in the past…

…Russia does not wish for the chaos to spread, does not want war, and has no intention of starting one. However, todayRussia sees the outbreak of global war as almost inevitable, is prepared for it, and is continuing to prepare for it. Russia does not war, nor does she fear it…

…Russia does not intend to take an active role in thwarting those who are still attempting to construct their New World Order, However, Russia will oppose their efforts if they begin  to impinge on Russia’s key interests. Russia would prefer to stand by and watch them give themselves as many lumps as their poor heads can take. But those who manage to drag Russia into this process, through disregard for her interests, will be taught the true meaning of pain…

…Russia’s will rely not on the elites to set the tone for the future, and these decisions will result from the will of the people…”

Russia Is In War Mode

The RAF has intercepted Russian military aircraft as they neared UK airspace for the second time in the past week. This incident follows Norwegian interception of two Russian bombers last Wednesday.
 
The Baltic countries are also witnessing a dramatic increase in Russian military violations of NATO air space in which the Russians appear to be testing their ability to penetrate NATO’s air defenses.

Even the number of times that Japanese fighter jets have been forced to scramble to intercept Russian military aircraft has more than doubled in the last six months, amid the escalating diplomatic tensions between Japan and Russia.

Russia has even violated American airspace in Alaska with multiple air incursions designed to test and discover the sophistications of America’s ability to detect and intercept Russian fighters and nuclear bombers.


Coupled with the air incursions, Putin has the Russian economy in war mode. He even has the Russian military prepared to militarily seize the “resource rich” Arctic.

Conclusion

Putin has warned that “I want to remind you that Russia is one of the most powerful nuclear nations,” Putin said. “This is a reality, not just words.”

The United States would be wise to prepare in kind.

'Spying' on Islamic State instead of hacking them

BBC-Trending

In the wake of the Paris attacks, the vigilante hacker group Anonymous has declared war on so-called Islamic State using the internet and claims to have shut thousands of Twitter accounts used by IS operatives. But a much smaller online group has also emerged, with quite a different strategy - and they claim they've already thwarted at least one terror attack.

This group say they were fed up with what they saw as unsophisticated Anonymous tactics. Things came to a head after the Charlie Hebdo attack in January, and after that, the founding members of Ghost Security Group decided to make a clean break from Anonymous.

"They [Anonymous] don't have any counterterrorism experience whatsoever," said Ghost Security Group's executive director, who spoke to BBC Trending via phone, asking for anonymity to protect his safety. "We felt that not enough was being done and the Charlie Hebdo attack made it clear that ISIS was not confined to the Middle East."

Security agencies such as the US FBI have refused to comment on the group - and it's difficult to independently verify the claims they have made.

But the director of Ghost Security Group said volunteers live in the US, Europe, and the Middle East, and include linguists and "people familiar with intelligence gathering techniques."

Instead of trying to shut down accounts and attack jihadi websites with distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks - basically flooding a website with traffic to take it offline - Ghost Security Group members operate more like spies than hackers. They monitor suspected IS Twitter accounts and infiltrate militant message boards to find information, which they say they then pass along to law enforcement.

"We would much prefer to stop attacks than shut down websites," the executive director said. "I don't think DDoS attacks do a huge amount of damage to Islamic State. Anonymous are hitting some extremist forums that have intelligence value, but we would like forums to stay online so we can see what people are saying and gather intelligence from them."

The group claims that it has already helped to thwart one attack in Tunisia by picking up on what they say was online jihadi chatter which indicated that militants would attack a specific location on the island of Djerba. The plot, Ghost Security says, was designed to be a follow up to the June beach massacre which killed 38 people, mostly British tourists. Reports indicate that Djerba did indeed appear on a list of IS targets in Tunisia in July. Like the other claims the groups have made, though, it's difficult to verify that they thwarted an attack.

Michael Smith, chief operating officer of security consultancy Kronos Advisory, works with the group and says they spotted tweets that were being sent back and forth between IS accounts. Although the tweets would sometimes only exist for minutes before being deleted, Ghost Security Group operatives were watching. The group sent Trending screen grabs of examples of the types of messages it found on now-deleted Twitter accounts:

"They are not just identifying channels [of communication], they have put together a list of accounts which are utilised by people with influence," Smith said. "These people have saved lives."

Smith told Trending he works with the group to funnel the information they gather to security services, and said they came to him after realising they needed a conduit to pass along information, and to alert authorities to their operations so that they themselves wouldn't be targeted for investigation, thus wasting time and resources.

Homeless Man Finds Stolen Army Weapons: NYPD

A homeless man walking through a Bronx park near Yankee Stadium found several guns that had been stolen from an Army facility in Massachusetts, police said Sunday.

Investigators traced the weapons to a recent break-in at a military armory in Worcester.

The 51-year-old homeless man stumbled upon the weapons while collecting bottles and cans at Mullaly Park near Yankee Stadium. 

The man reported his find to police, who said the weapons included a fully automatic M4 carbine and two 9mm handguns.

James Morales, 34, a former army reservist accused of child rape in an unrelated case, faces federal charges accusing him of stealing the weapons. A surveillance video shows Morales leaving the armory with duffel bags and placing them in a black car, according to an FBI affidavit.

Blood drops found at the scene were tested and match Morales' DNA, authorities have said. 

A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in New York said Morales waived identity and probable cause hearings during an appearance in court Friday.

Chicago Area Digs Out From Record Storm

(CBS) — The first snow storm of the season was a record breaker, with some areas getting over a foot of snow. The snow storm was the biggest November storm in Chicago in more than 100 years.

11.2 inches of snow fell at O’Hare Airport, the second largest November total after an 1895 storm that dumped 12 inches on Chicago. Midway recorded 5.8 inches of snow.

Areas to the the north and west of the city were hardest hit. Mundelein received 16.9 inches of snow, Woodstock got 13.5 inches, Buffalo Grove got 11.5 inches and 9.5 inches of snow fell on Westchester. In Elgin, the storm toppled trees and took down electric lines.

WBBM 780’s Nancy Harty

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In Indiana, 7.1 inches of snow accumulated in Crown Pointe and Schererville received 6.3 inches.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled on Saturday at O’Hare and Midway. On Sunday,230 flights have been cancelled and there are 45 minute delays. There are no Sunday cancellations reported at Midway. To check the status of your flight, click here.

Meantime, Chicagoans also contended with frigid temperatures. For six hours, Shalena Needom braved subzero temperatures selling tickets for a big bus tour. But as bundled up Chicagoans pass by in mid-November, Shalena admits an odd mix of temperatures and timing fills air.

Who France Is Blaming For Paris Attacks!!

By RRJ
French government officials speaking in a personal capacity, but surely not without the knowledge of their government, have at least partially blamed US President Barack Obama and his ridiculous approach to the Middle East for the Paris attacks.

Steve Clemons, an editor for the Atlantic, has communicated with French officials who criticized lack of US support in the fight against terror, with one arguing that “ISIS has been incubated for two years with an absence of US leadership, and that the United States needs to take the security of its allies more seriously.”

Clemons said the French government is angry and frustrated, and wondering how in the world this could have happened.

“I got an email this morning saying … [that] ISIS has been incubated for two years with an absence of US leadership,” Clemons reported. “It was a direct implication that we had not done and acted in a way to take action.”

The French suggested that they would soon be invoking NATO articles demanding stronger military action from all nations in the alliances, including America.

And once again, here’s Obama claiming his non-existent strategy had somehow managed to “contain” ISIS, the day before 129 were massacred in Paris.
H/T: Breitbart
 

Govenors Say No to Syrian Refuges!

DETROIT (AP) -- Several U.S. governors are threatening to halt efforts to allow Syrian refugees into their states in the aftermath of the coordinated attacks in Paris, though an immigration expert says they have no legal authority to do so.

The governors are responding to heightened concerns that terrorists might use the refugees as cover to sneak across borders. Authorities said a Syrian passport was found near one of the attackers, and the Paris prosecutors' office says fingerprints from the attacker match those of someone who passed through Greece in October.

Millions of Syrians have fled to neighboring Middle Eastern countries and Europe, and President Barack Obama's administration has pledged to accept about 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next 12 months. The U.S. State Department said the refugees would be spread across the country. Republican presidential candidates have criticized the plan.

In response to the calls from governors to prevent Syrian refugees from coming to their states, Lavinia Limon, president and CEO of the U.S Committee for Refugees and Immigration, said under the Refugee Act of 1980 governors cannot legally block refugees from settling in their communities.

Here's a look at where some states stand:

ALABAMA

Republican Gov. Robert Bentley announced Sunday that he would refuse Syrian refugees relocating to the state, saying: "I will not stand complicit to a policy that places the citizens of Alabama in harm's way." Bentley's news release said the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency was diligently working with federal officials to monitor any possible threats. There has been no credible intelligence of terror threats in Alabama so far, according to the governor's office.

ARIZONA - Gov. Doug Ducey is joining a growing list of Republican governors calling for an immediate halt to the placement of any new refugees from the Middle East. And Ducey made it clear that the state is within its legal rights to do so, saying that he is invoking the state's right under federal law to immediately consult with U.S. officials on any new refugee placements. He also wants Congress to change the law to give states more oversight over refugee placement. Ducey says national leaders must react to protect its citizens.

ARKANSAS

Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson says he opposes Syrian refugees being relocated to Arkansas. Hutchinson, a former undersecretary of the federal Department of Homeland Security, said he doesn't believe the United States should be a permanent place of relocation for the refugees and that he thinks Europe, Asia or Africa are logically the best places for resettlement or temporary asylum.

CONNECTICUT

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy says Connecticut will continue to accept refugees from Syria. The Democrat told NBC Connecticut on Monday the state is committed to accepting the refugees and believes background checks could easily be performed and his spokesman, Devon Puglia, said the administration is continuing to work with federal officials and await guidance as "they develop procedures following the tragedy in Paris."

FLORIDA

Gov. Rick Scott is calling on Congress to block attempts by the Obama administration to relocate 425 Syrian refugees to Florida. The Republican governor on Monday wrote a letter to congressional leaders that asked them to take "immediate and aggressive action" to prevent the relocation of Syrian refugees without an "extensive evaluation" of the risk the refugees may pose to national security.

ILLINOIS

Gov. Bruce Rauner joined the growing list of Republican governors who announced they want to prevent Syrian refugees from relocating in their states. In a statement issued Monday, Rauner said the state will "temporarily suspend accepting new Syrian refugees and consider all of our legal options pending a full review of the process by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security."

IOWA

Saying he wants to protect residents of his state in the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris, Gov. Terry Branstad acknowledged that governors might not be have the legal authority to prevent the Syrian refugees from relocating to their states because "this is a federal program." Still, the Republican said he wants more information from the federal government about where people are being placed and the vetting process.

INDIANA

Republican Gov. Mike Pence announced Monday that he was ordering state agencies to suspend the relocation of any more Syrian refugees to the state until he received assurances from the federal government that proper security measures had been taken.

LOUISIANA

Gov. Bobby Jindal - a GOP presidential contender - said he wants more information from the White House "in hopes that the night of horror in Paris is not duplicated here." Jindal sent a letter to the White House on Saturday, demanding to know how many Syrian refugees have been resettled in his state. He also wants to know the extent of background screening before Syrians entered the U.S. United States as well as what monitoring would be done once the refugees make it to Louisiana.

MAINE

Gov. Paul LePage said it is "irresponsible" to allow Syrian refugees into the country in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris. The Republican governor, who said he does "not know for certain" if Maine has any Syrian refugees right now, plans to point out in a radio address on Monday that one of his first actions as governor was to prevent Maine from serving as a "sanctuary state" for people living in the country without legal permission.

MASSACHUSETTS

Gov. Charlie Baker says he's opposed to allowing more Syrian refugees into Massachusetts in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris and that he wants to know much more about the federal government's vetting process before allowing them into the state. Democratic Boston Mayor also says he wants to know about how the federal government screens refugees.

MICHIGAN

Gov. Rick Snyder had bucked many fellow Republican leaders by welcoming refugees to Michigan, which has a large Arab-American population. But he said Sunday that the state is postponing efforts to accept refugees until federal officials fully review security procedures and clearances. Snyder said that while he is proud of the state's history of immigration, its "first priority is protecting the safety of our residents."

MISSISSIPPI

Gov. Phil Bryant said Monday that he's trying to find out if there are any plans by the federal government to relocate any Syrian refugees in the state and if there are the Republican said he will "do everything humanly possible" to stop it.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan says the United States should halt the acceptance of Syrian refugees until intelligence and defense officials can assure a strong process for vetting refugees. Hassan also says more facts are needed on how the attackers got into Paris before the United States takes more Syrian refugees.

PENNSYLVANIA

Gov. Tom Wolf said his administration will keep working with the federal government to properly screen and resettle Syrian refugees in the state. The Democrat said Monday that the federal government thinks it can handle an additional 10,000 refugees that the White House said in September that it would accept from Syria.

TEXAS

Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday ordered Texas' refugee resettlement program not to accept any more Syrians in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks. In a letter to Obama, the Republican also urged scrapping federal plans to accept more Syrian refugees into the country as a whole. He said the federal government can't perform "proper security checks" on Syrians.

VERMONT

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin says other governors who say they won't allow Syrian refugees into their states are "stomping on the qualities that make America great." Shumlin says there is an extensive screening process in place for refugees. Since 1989 about 7,000 refugees have been resettled in Vermont, and while none of them are from Syria, there are plans to settle a small number in the state during the current fiscal year.

WISCONSIN

Gov. Scott Walker said in September that the United States should not take in any more refugees from Syria and now, in the wake of the terrorist attack in Paris, Republican leaders of the Wisconsin state Assembly are saying the same thing. They're circulating a letter they plan to send to President Barack Obama's administration saying they don't want any Syrian refugees.

Republicans Just SHUT DOWN Obama’s Plan for Bringing Terrorists to America!

By SOOPERMEXICAN 
One of Obama’s earliest promises was to shut down Guantanamo Bay and bring the detainees to prisons in America, but the Republican Congress has just passed a bill that aims to make sure he won’t be able to fulfill that threat!!

From the Associated Press:

Congress sent President Barack Obama a $607 billion defense policy bill Tuesday that bans moving Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States — something Obama has been trying to do since he was sworn in as president.

The Senate’s 91-3 vote gave final legislative approval to the measure. The House overwhelmingly passed it last week, 370-58.

Now, you might think that Obama is just going to veto the bill, but here’s why he may not:

Obama does not like the Guantanamo provisions, but so far has not threatened to veto it. The overwhelming House and Senate votes signal that should he veto the legislation, both chambers would be able to muster the two-thirds majorities needed to override it, an embarrassing blow presidents usually try to avoid.

Obama vetoed an earlier version of the defense policy bill over a dispute, later resolved, about whether defense spending increases should be accompanied by boosts in domestic programs.

I’m almost in shock that it appears that the Republicans have actually grown a spine and challenged Obama for once!!

He can either sign it, which would be terribly embarrassing for him but would save him some face, or he could be completely petulant and veto the bill, forcing them into a three-fourths overturn of his choice. That would be utterly humiliating for him.

To be honest, I’m not sure which one I’d like more!!
Here’ a little more on where the Gitmo detainees would end up if Obama got his way:

A Pentagon report expected as early as this week identifies prisons in Colorado, Kansas and South Carolina where Guantanamo detainees could possibly be housed so the military prison in Cuba could be shut down. That has raised the ire of lawmakers, especially those from the three states.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest hinted last week that the president might use his executive authority to close the prison. On Monday, Earnest said the White House is focused on working with Congress to shut down Guantanamo, but he left the door open on the president taking executive action.

So this is the way that Obama could slither out of it, and you can bet the media will barely report on it. And that’s why we need your help to get the story out!!

Dem Candidate’s Shocking Message About ISIS Leads to a Swift Dropout

By Katie LaPotin

A Minnesota Democrat learned the hard way that it’s not a good idea to tweet comments about ISIS when running for political office.

KSTP-TV reported that State Assembly candidate Dan Kimmel of Burnsville tweeted (and posted on Facebook) a message in which he wrote that:

“ISIS isn’t necessarily evil. It is made up of people doing what they think is best for their community. Violence is not the answer, though.”

The post quickly received some online backlash, prompting Kimmel to delete his earlier posts and reply with a new tweet acknowledging that he doesn’t defend ISIS’s acts:

I deplore the evil acts of ISIS. I do not defend their acts.

— Dan Kimmel (@KimmelDan) November 15, 2015

Ken Martin, the leader of the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party of Minnesota, issued a statement in response to Kimmel’s tweet, saying in part:

“On behalf of the Minnesota DFL, I strongly condemn his comments. I ask Dan Kimmel to apologize to all the families who have been torn apart by the terrorist organization and their senseless violence. In this time of enormous grief, we shouldn’t be making excuses for this barbaric behavior.”

Nonetheless, the damage was done. Kimmel ended up calling it quits on Sunday, apologizing to his supporters and volunteers saying:

“I am very sorry for ‘spreading ick’ on other candidates and the DFL party. I will do everything I can to help resolve the issue: most likely the best thing for me to do is shut up. The tweet was stupid. I’m sorry.”

I close my campaign. https://t.co/5SzWwePyOC via @KimmelD

— Dan Kimmel (@KimmelDan) November 15, 2015

The Associated Press suggested that Kimmel’s decision might have come in part from a statement by state House Minority leader Paul Thissen, who suggested that the Burnsville software developer suspend his second campaign in light of the posts.

At least 131 people died and hundreds more were injured in a series of coordinated terrorist attacks that shook Paris late Friday night.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks the following morning, and both French President Francois Hollande and U.S. President Barack Obama pledged to fight back in light of the attacks.

Suspects arrested in Brussels may have included members of a further murder squad who escaped from city during massacre

by Chris Green-Leo Cendrowicz
Terror suspects arrested in raids by heavily armed police in Brussels may have included members of a further murder squad who escaped from Paris late on 13 November, it has emerged.

Earlier, French authorities seemed to indicate that all those involved in the bloody attacks across the French capital, which left at least 129 people dead and 99 critically injured in hospital, had either blown themselves up, or been shot dead by police.

But Belgian officials said that at least one of five people arrested in the Molenbeek district of Brussels by police teams backed by bomb disposal units had been in Paris on the night of 13 November. Two other attackers may also have escaped.

Belgian justice minister Koen Geens confirmed that the arrests were linked to the Paris attacks. He said that they came after Paris police found a grey VW Polo rental car with Belgian number plates near the scene of the Bataclan concert hall, where the most brutal shooting took place. “There were arrests relating to the search of the vehicle and person who rented it,” Mr Geens said.

He said Belgian anti-terror services flagged up a possible terrorist connection as soon as the name of the car hirer was passed to them, because the hirer’s brother was on their watch list. The man who rented the car was “as far as we know, still alive”, he said. Paris police searching for another car with Belgian plates, a black Seat, later discovered it near the Père-Lachaise cemetery.

Molenbeek, on the east side of Brussels, is home to a large community of immigrants from Morocco and Turkey. It is also one of the poorest places in the country. In January, two suspected terrorists were killed there after a shoot-out with Belgian police, shortly after the Charlie Hebdo shootings.

Belgian police blocking a street during a police raid in connection with the attacks in Paris, in Brussels' Molenbeek district on 14 November.

Earlier Greek officials revealed that one of the terrorists who died during the onslaught may have entered the EU through the Greek island of Leros last month, among 69 refugees on a small vessel from Turkey. A Syrian passport, found near his body, had been linked with a passenger whose fingerprints were taken on his arrival in Greece. A second suspect among the attackers is very likely to have entered Europe though Greece, Greek government sources said,

Police said one terrorist had an Egyptian passport while another had been identified by his fingerprints as a 29-year-old French national, already known to security services, born in the Courcouronnes suburb south of Paris. He had previously been arrested, but not jailed, officials said.
François Molins, the Paris prosecutor, said three teams of terrorists worked together to co-ordinate the attacks. He said six terrorists had blown themselves up and a seventh was shot dead by police. 

On 14 November Islamic State claimed it had carried out the atrocities, which targeted mostly young people enjoying a night out in bars and restaurants, and at a rock concert and a football match. The group issued a statement saying the venues had been “carefully chosen” and warning that the attack by “brothers carrying explosive belts and guns” was “only the start of the storm”.

At least 35 reported dead, 100 hostages taken in Paris attacks

 

Published November 13, 2015

FoxNews.com

DEVELOPING - At least 35 people were killed and more than 100 hostages were being held in Paris Friday night, after at least three coordinated terror attacks rocked the French capital and prompted President Francois Hollande to order the entire nation's borders closed.

The attacks are believed to have involved at least two suicide bombers, including one who detonated near the city's Stade de France, soccer stadium where the French and German national teams were playing in a match attended by Hollande. Simultaneous attacks are a trademark of terrorist operations.

“There are lots of dead people," said a witness believed to have been at the bar of a restaurant that was the scene of one attack. "It’s pretty horrific to be honest. I was at the back of the bar. I couldn’t see anything. I heard gunshots. People dropped to the ground. We put a table over our heads to protect us."

No one immediately claimed credit, but a gunman at one of the attacks, at Petit Cambodge, a Cambodian restaurant in the city's fashionable 10th arrondisement, was heard shouting "This is for Syria!" as he sprayed gunfire at horrified patrons, witnesses said.

In a brief address, Hollande declared the entire nation under a state of emergency and ordered all borders closed, saying "unprecedented terrorist attacks were underway."

"What the terrorists want is for us to be scared," Hollande said.

The death toll was expected to rise, and the fate of 100 hostages reported held at a concert hall called Bataclan was unknown, The Associated Press reported.

The hostages were taken at the concert hall where the American rock band Eagles of Death Metal was playing. Julien Pierce, a Europe 1 journalist who was inside the Bataclan, described what he saw to the BBC.

"Several armed men came into the concert," he said. "Two or three men, not wearing masks, came in with what looked like Kalashnikovs and fired blindly on the crowd.
"It lasted between 10 and 15 minutes. It was extremely violent and there was panic. The attackers had enough time to reload at least three times. They were very young."

The soccer stadium where a match between France and Germany was going on as the attack began is shown.

Eyewitness Ben Grant said he was in a bar with his wife when the gunshots were fired and he had seen six or seven bodies on the ground. He told the BBC: “I was told people in cars had opened fire on the bar.

Economist columnist Jeremy Cliffe tweeted about the concert hall attack, "some escaped, describing pools of blood and attackers using pump-action shotgun against crowd inside."

Inside the soccer stadium, stunned spectators huddled together following the explosions, as word of what happened spread. French Football Federation President Noël Le Graët later issued a statement as midnight approached saying that the danger had passed for those in the facility.

"The Stade de France is secure," he said. "There is no longer any danger, people will leave normally."

The attacks spanned at least two Paris districts, the 10th and 11th arrondisements. The 10th arrondisement is a cosmopolitan district lined with restaurants and cafes. It also is the location of the two famed train stations Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est. The 11th arrondissement is located on the Right Bank of the River Seine and is one of the capital’s most populated urban districts, with nearly 150,000 residents. In recent years it also has emerged as one of the trendiest of the city's neighborhoods.

U.S. Homeland Security Department officials monitoring the attacks in Paris say there is no known, credible threat against the United States. President Obama, in a hastily-arranged address Friday evening, called the attack an act of terrorism by people with "a hateful vision."

"This is an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians," Obama said. "This is an attack not just on Paris, not just on France, but an attack on all of humanity and the values that we share."

Obama, who said he had spoken with Hollande earlier in the day about an upcoming economic conference, said the U.S. stands ready to help France, which he called "an extraordinary counter-terrorism partner," in the investigation.

A U.S. military and intelligence source told Fox News the coordinated attacks likely required "months of planning," based on their sheer number, the locations including a site where the president was present and the variety of weapons used.

Terror struck in Paris near the same neighborhood earlier this year, when two Islamic radical gunmen stormed the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 and wounding 11. The gunmen, brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, struck to avenge Muslims for the magazine’s publication of cartoons that they believed mocked the Prophet Mohammed. The brothers were killed two days later after a manhunt was capped when police shot the two in a standoff in Dammartin-en-Goele.

During the dragnet, Amedy Coulibaly, an associate of the pair, attacked a Jewish grocery store in Paris, taking more than a dozen hostage and killing four. Coulibaly had killed a policewoman the day before. Couliably was killed when police stormed the kosher market.
 

US airstrike targets notorious ISIS militant 'Jihadi John'

November 13, 2015

FoxNews.com

BREAKING NEWS –  The Pentagon said late Thursday it had launched an airstrike in Syria targeting "Jihadi John", a British national seen in videos depicting the beheading of hostages held by ISIS.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook confirmed that the airstrike in Raqqa was directed at the notorious militant, also known as Mohamed Emwazi. It was not immediately clear whether Emwazi died in the airstrike, but a senior U.S. military official told Fox News, "we are 99 percent sure we got him." The Pentagon was monitoring the aftermath of the strike before making a definitive announcement.

A senior U.S. defense official told Fox News that a drone was used in the airstrike. According to a senior military source, the drone had been tracking Emwazi for most of the day Thursday while he met with other people. The source said the strike took place shortly after Emwazi came out of a building in Raqqa, when he was "ID'd and engaged."

Emwazi is seen in videos showing the beheading of journalists Steve Sotloff and James Foley, American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, and a number of other hostages.

In the videos, a tall masked figure clad in black and speaking in a British accent typically began one of the gruesome videos with a political rant and a kneeling hostage before him, then ended it holding an oversize knife in his hand with the headless victim lying before him in the sand.

Emwazi was identified as "Jihadi John" last February, although a lawyer who once represented Emwazi's father told reporters that there was no evidence supporting the accusation. Experts and others later confirmed the identification.

Emwazi was born in Kuwait and spent part of his childhood in the poor Taima area of Jahra before moving to Britain while still a boy, according to news reports quoting Syrian activists who knew the family. He attended state schools in London, then studied computer science at the University of Westminster before leaving for Syria in 2013. The woman who had been the principal at London's Quintin Kynaston Academy told the BBC earlier this year that Emwazi had been quiet and "reasonably hard-working."

Officials said Britain's intelligence community had Emwazi on its list of potential terror suspects for years but was unable to prevent him from traveling to Syria. He had been known to the nation's intelligence services since at least 2009, when he was connected with investigations into terrorism in Somalia.

The beheading of Foley, 40, of Rochester, New Hampshire, was deemed by IS to be its response to U.S. airstrikes. The release of the video, on Aug. 19, 2014, horrified and outraged the civilized world but was followed the next month by videos showing the beheadings of Sotloff and Haines and, in October, of Henning.

Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin and The Associated Press contributed this report.

 

Putin Associate Found Dead in DC Hotel

• By Mike Levine
  
• JUSTIN FISHEL

Nov 6, 2015, 6:42 PM ET

A prominent Russian millionaire with high-level ties to the Kremlin has been found dead inside a Washington hotel, a Russian official and a senior U.S. official told ABC News.

Mikhail Lesin, the former head of media affairs for the Russian government who's been accused of curtailing the country’s press freedoms, had been staying at Hotel Dupont when he was found Thursday, according to officials.

It's unclear why the long-time adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin was in Washington, but the Metropolitan Police Department is now investigating his death. On Thursday, U.S. authorities notified the Russian embassy in Washington that one of its citizens had died, and Russian officials are now working with American authorities to determine the circumstances of the death, the embassy told ABC News in a statement.

Citing an ongoing investigation, an MPD spokesman would only confirm the department is conducting a “death investigation."

Lesin is credited with creating Russia Today, the English-language news network backed by the Russian government. Now known as RT, the network “provides an alternative perspective on major global events, and acquaints an international audience with the Russian viewpoint,” according to its website.

Lesin “led the Kremlin’s efforts to censor Russia’s independent television outlets,” one U.S. lawmaker charged last year.

In fact, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), called on the Justice Department to launch an investigation into Lesin over allegations of corruption and money laundering.

In a letter to then-Attorney General Eric Holder, Wicker said Lesin had “acquired multi-million dollar assets” in Europe and the United States “during his tenure as a civil servant,” including multiple residences in Los Angeles worth $28 million.

“That a Russian public servant could have amassed the considerable funds required to acquire and maintain these assets in Europe and the United States raises serious questions,” Wicker wrote.

It's unclear if the FBI ever begun a probe.

From 1999 to 2004, Lesin served as Russia’s Minister of Press, Television and Radio, often traveling with Putin on official trips. In 2013, he became head of Gazprom-Media Holding, the state-controlled media giant that describes itself as one of the largest media groups in Russia and Europe. Lesin resigned the next year, reportedly citing family reasons.

San Francisco sheriff known for 'sanctuary city' defense loses re-election bid

November 04, 2015

FoxNews.com

The San Francisco sheriff who over the summer became embroiled in a national debate over "sanctuary city" policies on Tuesday lost his bid for re-election amid a host of local controversies. 

Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, 54, was defeated by Vicki Hennessy, a former sheriff's official who had the endorsement of San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and the sheriff deputies association. As of early Wednesday morning, Hennessy had received 62 percent of the vote to just 31 percent for Mirkarimi. 

Mirkarimi was the subject of national criticism after Mexican illegal immigrant Francisco Sanchez allegedly shot and killed 32-year-old Kate Steinle on San Francisco's waterfront July 1. Sanchez had been released from Mirkarimi's jail in March even though federal immigration officials had requested he be detained for possible deportation. 

But since then, the sheriff's oversight of the department has been plagued by other high-profile mishaps and controversies seen as contributing to his defeat. He had his driver's license briefly suspended for failing to properly report a minor accident while driving a department-issued car, and he also flunked a marksmanship test. 

Before those two incidents, a drug gang leader escaped from jail, and guards were accused of staging and gambling on inmate fights. 

In November 2014, Mirkarimi also was forced to apologize for the bungled search for a San Francisco General Hospital patient whose body was found in a stairwell weeks after she wandered from her room. The sheriff is in charge of the hospital's security, but deputies didn't search the building until nine days after her disappearance. The city paid the patient's family $3 million to settle a lawsuit. 

But Mirkarimi is now known nationally for his strident defense of sanctuary city policies, taking the practice to a new level under his leadership. 

San Francisco declared itself a sanctuary city in 1989, passing an ordinance that bans city officials from enforcing immigration laws or asking about immigration status unless required by law or court order. A follow-up ordinance in 2013 allows detention only under a court order targeting violent felons. Last month, San Francisco's board of supervisors unanimously approved a resolution to maintain the city's sanctuary status. 

San Francisco and other cities and counties have routinely ignored requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to keep people in custody. The jurisdictions say they can't hold arrestees beyond their scheduled release dates without probable cause. 

Hennessy has previously said the sheriff's order barring the San Francisco jail from cooperating with immigration officials is misguided. There are cases, she said, when federal immigration officials should be notified that the jail is about to release an inmate who is in the country illegally. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Antarctica is actually gaining ice, says NASA. Is global warming over?

image by Ian Joughin/AP

By Lonnie Shekhtman

A new NASA study found that Antarctica has been adding more ice than it's been losing, challenging other research, including that of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that concludes that Earth’s southern continent is losing land ice overall.

In a paper published in the Journal of Glaciology on Friday, researchers from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the University of Maryland in College Park, and the engineering firm Sigma Space Corporation offer a new analysis of satellite data that show a net gain of 112 billion tons of ice a year from 1992 to 2001 in the Antarctic ice sheet.

That gain slowed to 82 billion tons of ice per year between 2003 and 2008.

Climate scientists caution that these findings don’t mean it’s time to start celebrating the end of global warming. More than anything, the paper shows how difficult it is to measure ice height in Antarctica and that better tools are needed.

It could take only a few decades for the ice melt in Antarctica to outweigh the ice gains, the paper's authors say.

“I don’t think there will be enough snowfall increase to offset these losses,” Jay Zwally, NASA glaciologist and lead author of the study, said in a press release.

For now, the study authors say, these findings challenge current explanations for sea level rise, much of which is attributed to melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica.

"The good news is that Antarctica is not currently contributing to sea level rise, but is taking 0.23 millimeters per year away," said Dr. Zwally.

"But this is also bad news,” he added. “If the 0.27 millimeters per year of sea level rise attributed to Antarctica in the IPCC report is not really coming from Antarctica, there must be some other contribution to sea level rise that is not accounted for."

The paper calls attention to how difficult it is for scientists to measure small changes in ice height, particularly in East Antarctica, the largest part of the polar continent and the one that showed discrepancies with previous measurements.

“We’re essentially in agreement with other studies that show an increase in ice discharge," in other parts of the continent, Zwally said.

“Our main disagreement is for East Antarctica and the interior of West Antarctica; there, we see an ice gain that exceeds the losses in the other areas,” he explained in a NASA announcement.

The scientists calculated this gain by looking at the height of the Antarctic ice sheet as measured by radar instruments on two European Space Agency satellites from 1992 to 2001, and by laser sensors on a NASA satellite from 2003 to 2008.

Other scientists have observed gains in land elevation in East Antarctica, explains NASA, but they’ve attributed this to snowfall in the region. But Zwally’s team used meteorological data dating back to 1979 to show that the snow accumulation in East Antarctica has actually been declining, showing that the increase in elevation must be the result of thicker ice.

NASA explains that this has been possible because at the end of the last Ice Age about 10,000 years ago, warming air carried more moisture across the continent, doubling the amount of snowfall that has been accumulating and compacting it into solid ice.

The agency is developing new tools – due to launch in 2018 – that will help more accurately measure long-term ice changes in Antarctica.

“ICESat-2 will measure changes in the ice sheet within the thickness of a No. 2 pencil,” said Tom Neumann, a glaciologist at NASA.