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Tunisia arrests nephew, two others linked to Berlin suspect: ministry

2016-12-25T01:06:00.000-08:00

Tunis (AFP) - Tunisia arrested the nephew of the suspected Berlin truck attacker and two other jihadist suspects who are "connected" to the Tunisian assailant Anis Amri, the interior ministry said Saturday.

A statement said the three suspects, aged between 18 and 27, were arrested on Friday and were members of a "terrorist cell... connected to the terrorist Anis Amri".

It made no direct link between the suspects and Monday's deadly attack on a Berlin Christmas market.

The interior ministry said that Amri had sent money to his nephew and encouraged him to pledge allegiance to the Islamic State group.

"One of the members of the cell is the son of the sister of the terrorist (Amri) and during the investigation he admitted that he was in contact with his uncle through (the messaging service) Telegram," it said.

Amri allegedly urged his nephew to adopt jihadist "takfiri" ideology "and asked him to pledge allegiance to Daesh (IS)," it said.

The nephew also told investigators that Amri "sent him money through the post... so that he could join him in Germany," the statement added.

1/38 SLIDES © Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images

Photographers, Cameramen and Journalists stand in Piazza Maggio on December 23, 2016 in Sesto San Giovanni, Italy. Anis Amri, the main suspect in the recent Berlin Christmas market attack in which 12 people were killed and dozens injured, has been shot dead by Italian police while one police officer was injured in the shootout.

The unnamed nephew was reported in the statement to have said that his uncle was the "prince" or leader of a jihadist group based in Germany and know as the "Abu al-Walaa" brigade.

Amri, 24, is believed to have hijacked a truck and used it to mow down holiday revellers at a Berlin Christmas market on Monday, killing 12 people in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

He was shot dead after pulling out a pistol and firing at two Italian policemen who had stopped him for a routine identity check Friday near Milan's Sesto San Giovanni railway station.

He lightly wounded one of the policemen before being killed by the other.

The Tunisian interior ministry did not specify where the three suspects were arrested but said that the "terrorist cell" was "active" between Fouchana, south of Tunis, and Oueslatia, hometown of Amri's family in central Tunisia.

© Provided by AFP German Federal Police Office are on the hunt for a Tunisian man identified as Anis Amri, suspected of being involved in the Berlin Christmas market attack that killed 12 people on December 19Credit: AFP

Vote on Israel could spur further action -- or trouble for UN

2016-12-25T01:04:00.004-08:00

UNITED NATIONS — The U.S. green light that allowed the U.N. Security Council to condemn Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem could spur moves toward new terms to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But it also poses dangers for the United Nations with the incoming Trump administration and may harden Israel's attitude toward concessions.

The Obama administration's decision to abstain and allow the U.N.'s most powerful body to approve a long-sought resolution calling Israeli settlements "a flagrant violation under international law" was a sharp rebuke to a longstanding ally and a striking rupture with past U.S. vetoes.

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said "it is because this resolution reflects the facts on the ground — and is consistent with U.S. policy across Republican and Democratic administrations throughout the history of the state of Israel — that the United States did not veto it."

She cited a 1982 statement by then-President Ronald Reagan that the United States "will not support the use of any additional land for the purpose of settlements" and that "settlement activity is in no way necessary for the security of Israel."

The Security Council vote Friday, however, was anything but routine for Washington, which traditionally vetoes all resolutions related to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict on grounds that differences must be solved through negotiations. It was the first resolution on the conflict approved during President Barack Obama's nearly eight years in office and shone a spotlight on his icy relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The U.S. decision to abstain on the 14-0 vote followed months of intensely secret deliberations in Washington, a spate of fresh Israeli settlement announcements that sparked exasperation and anger from American officials, and recent attempts by Israel's government to have parliament legalize thousands of homes built on privately owned Palestinian land.

After Egypt suddenly postponed a scheduled vote on the resolution Thursday, reportedly under pressure from Israel and supporters of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, four new sponsors stepped up and pushed it through — Malaysia, New Zealand, Venezuela and Senegal, each representing a different region and reflecting the wide support for the measure.

Trump demanded that Obama veto the resolution and tweeted after the vote, "As to the U.N., things will be different after Jan. 20th" — when Trump takes office.

It would be virtually impossible, however, for Trump to overturn the resolution. It would require a new resolution with support from at least nine members in the 15-member Security Council and no veto by one of the other permanent members — Russia, China, Britain or France, all of whom supported Friday's resolution.

© The Associated Press In this photo provided by the United Nations, Samantha Power, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, addresses the United Nations Security Council, after the council voted on condemning Israel's settlements in the…Republicans, who control Congress, immediately threatened consequences. Sen. Lindsay Graham, who heads the Senate panel in charge of U.S. payments to the U.N., said he would "form a bipartisan coalition to suspend or significantly reduce" funding. He added that countries receiving U.S. aid could also be penalized for supporting the resolution.

Under U.N. rules, failure to pay dues leads to the loss of voting privileges in the General Assembly.

The vote on settlements sparked behind-the-scenes discussion in the usually divided Security Council on what else might be achieved on the Israeli-Palestinian issue while Obama is still in the White House.

New Zealand has been pressing for the council to consider a resolution that would set out the parameters for a settlement of the conflict, and its draft ideas remain on the table.

But Israel's U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon warned the council after the vote that the resolution would not spur peace efforts.

"By voting 'yes' in favor of this resolution, you have in fact voted 'no,'" Danon said. "You voted 'no' to negotiations. You voted 'no' to progress, and a chance for better lives for Israelis and Palestinians. And you voted 'no' to the possibility of peace."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately retaliated against some of the nations that proposed Friday's resolution. He recalled his nation's ambassadors to New Zealand and Senegal for consultations, canceled a planned January visit to Israel by Senegal's foreign minister and ended Israeli aid programs to the West African nation.

"Israel rejects this shameful anti-Israel resolution at the U.N. and will not abide by its terms," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

The Israeli leader blamed Obama for failing to "protect Israel against this gang-up at the U.N." and even colluding with its detractors. He said, "Israel looks forward to working with President-elect Trump and with all our friends in Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, to negate the harmful effects of this absurd resolution."

By contrast, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat hailed the result as a "victory for the justice of the Palestinian cause." He said Trump's choice was now between "international legitimacy" or siding with "settlers and extremists."

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, urged the Security Council to "stand firm by this decision" and "not be cowed by negative threats or spin."

Credit: AP

Celebrated Afghan Woman Pilot Requests Asylum in U.S.

2016-12-25T01:03:00.003-08:00

As the first female airplane pilot in Afghanistan, Niloofar Rahmani became a powerful symbol of what women could accomplish in the post-Taliban era. But in the ultraconservative country, the limelight also brought threats, sending her into hiding from insurgents and vengeful relatives.

Now, more than three years after she earned her wings, the 25-year-old Afghan air force pilot hopes to start a new life in the U.S. where she has applied for asylum, saying her life would be in danger if she returns home.

Capt. Rahmani went to the U.S. in the summer of 2015 to train on C-130 transport planes with the U.S. Air Force. The course ended Thursday, and under the terms of her training stint, she was due to go back to Afghanistan on Saturday. She won’t be going.

“I would love to fly for my country—that is what I always wanted to do,” Capt. Rahmani said from Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas, where she completed the flight training. “But I’m scared for my life.”

Capt. Rahmani is the highest-profile member of Afghanistan’s armed forces seeking asylum in the U.S. or neighboring Canada. Three Afghan soldiers were detained after fleeing a training exercise in Massachusetts in 2014 and heading for Canada. One was granted asylum and another immigrated to Canada. The third soldier has been denied asylum and is appealing the decision, his lawyer said.

The head of Afghanistan’s air force, Maj. Gen. Abdul Wahab Wardak, recently warned pilots training in the U.S. against applying for asylum, saying they would be deported to Afghanistan and arrested if they attempted it, Capt. Rahmani said.

Asked Friday to comment about Capt. Rahmani’s decision to seek asylum, Lt. Jalaluddin Ibrahimkhel, a spokesman for the Afghan air force, said pilots must return home after completing their training abroad.

If she is granted asylum in the U.S., Capt. Rahmani says she will continue flying, either with the U.S. Air Force or as a commercial pilot.

“Everything I went through, all my suffering, was because I really wanted to fly. That was my dream,” she said.

Her asylum request comes just weeks before Donald Trump takes office as U.S. president and is expected to tighten restrictions on immigration, particularly on Muslims.

During the election campaign, Mr. Trump called for a total ban on Muslims entering the U.S. On Wednesday, he appeared to suggest that the deadly truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin had justified the controversial proposal.

“You know my plans,” Mr. Trump told reporters who asked if the Berlin attacks would lead him to reassess his proposals to stop Muslim immigration to the U.S. or to create a national registry for Muslims. “All along, I’ve been proven to be right. One hundred percent correct.”

It wasn’t clear whether Mr. Trump was reconfirming his call for a complete ban on Muslim immigration or his subsequent clarification that he would block only those Muslims entering from countries with a history of Islamic extremism.

Last year, Mr. Trump was asked in a CNN interview whether the proposed ban would apply to people like Capt. Rahmani, a Muslim pilot fighting extremists.

“Good, good,” he said of her achievements, declining to say whether it would apply to her.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul didn’t immediately respond to comment on Friday.

Capt. Rahmani came of age in Kabul after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan toppled the Taliban in 2001, ushering in an era that promised unprecedented opportunities and freedoms for women in a country where few work outside their homes.

The U.S. and its allies spent millions of dollars in a bid to help narrow the gender gap by promoting women’s education and employment, including in the male-dominated military. The decision by Capt. Rahmani to seek asylum is emblematic of the limitations of those efforts, which drew the ire of extremists, including Taliban insurgents.

Despite those obstacles, Capt. Rahmani in 2013 became the first woman to graduate from the pilot-training program run by the U.S.-led military coalition in Afghanistan and became a public figure, even a celebrity, in Afghanistan.

But she soon received threatening phone calls and a written death threat from the same branch of the Pakistani Taliban that notoriously shot and wounded the schoolgirl and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai.

The biggest danger, however, came from distant relatives, who believed her career choice had brought dishonor to the family. They wanted her punished and repeatedly tried to track her down in Afghanistan.

They also viewed Capt. Rahmani’s father and brother as accomplices to her offense and sought to punish them, forcing them to move every few months along with her and other members of her immediate family. Her brother was attacked twice, once in a shooting and then by a car that sped away.

The U.S. State Department last year gave Capt. Rahmani an International Women of Courage Award, acknowledging the dangers she has faced because of her career.

The threats to members of Capt. Rahmani’s immediate family have continued since she moved to the U.S., forcing them to move three times since she left Afghanistan.

Her superiors in the Afghan military have given her no support and instead have encouraged her to quit, according to Capt. Rahmani, her father and Western officials familiar with her case. Pressure from the U.S.-led coalition helped her keep her posting.

Under U.S. immigration law, an applicant for asylum must show a well-founded fear of persecution because of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion.

Capt. Rahmani’s lawyer, Kimberly Motley, who worked in Afghanistan for years, said her client’s asylum application meets those criteria.

“There are great concerns for her safety if she returns. The threats she has received have been well documented,” she said. “Unfortunately, some of her superiors within the Afghan military have failed in their duty to protect her.”

Credit: The Wall Street Journal

Winter weather may be a bummer for jolly holiday travelers

2016-12-25T01:02:00.003-08:00

CHICAGO (AP) — It'll be a white Christmas for the northern Plains and some Western states, but it's likely to cause troublesome travel.

Forecasters cautioned drivers to keep alternate routes in mind and prepare for possible delays.

Southern California even got a dose of snow, with about 2 inches falling in a mountainous region about 75 miles north of Los Angeles. It shut down the state's main north-south interstate — I-5 — for nearly four hours Saturday.

In the coming days, a large swath of the Dakotas is under a blizzard warning, with the National Weather Service forecasting heavy snow and strong winds Sunday and Monday. The Dakota Access pipeline protest encampment in southern North Dakota will be affected. Though many left during a blizzard earlier this month, Morton County Sheriff's Department spokesman Rob Keller said, there could be at least 500 people still at the camp.

To the east, parts of central Minnesota are under an ice storm warning. To the west, snow is also forecast for much of Idaho, Montana, Utah and northeast Colorado.

Air travel wasn't yet impacted Saturday at the nation's major airports. But snowy conditions Friday in Appleton, Wisconsin, caused the Minnesota Vikings' team plane to slide off a runway.

The Storm Prediction Center cautioned that warm, humid air could cause severe weather in the lower Plains, Arkansas and Oklahoma on Sunday.

A man walks along the ice covered pier at the South Haven Lighthouse on Saturday, Dec. 24, 2016, in South Haven, Mich. (Don Campbell/The Herald-Palladium via AP)Credit: AP

Five Republicans who could buck Trump in 2017

2016-12-25T01:01:00.002-08:00

Donald Trump's biggest hurdles next year might not come from Democrats but from within his own party.

With a narrow 52-seat majority in the Senate, the president-elect will need to keep Republicans unified if he wants to clear nominations and legislation through the upper chamber in the face of likely Democratic opposition.

Many Senate Republicans tepidly embraced Trump during the campaign, and a handful refused to endorse him altogether. Trump's ability to get his agenda cleared through Congress will largely depend on whether he can get some of his biggest critics on his side.

Here are five Republicans who could buck Trump in 2017:

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine): Collins is one of the caucuses' more moderate Republicans and will be crucial for getting Trump's agenda through the upper chamber.

The Maine Republican didn't support Trump's campaign, coming out early for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

She signaled for months that was uncomfortable with Trump's campaign rhetoric and announced in August that she couldn't support the real estate mogul because he "does not reflect historical Republican values nor the inclusive approach to governing that is critical to healing the divisions."

Since then, Collins has signaled that she's willing to work with Trump on areas of common agreement-like infrastructure spending-but also told a local TV station that the real estate mogul has an "obligation" to show that he's moved past his controversial remarks.

But she's also continued to break with Trump on a number of policy issues. She told the Portland Press-Herald that she was "concerned" with Trump dismissing reports that Russia meddled in the U.S. elections.

She separately told the paper that she also has "reservations" about a possible push to privatize Medicare and is undecided on whether to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement plan.

Republicans are planning to use the reconciliation process to repeal large parts of ObamaCare, meaning they can only afford to lose up to three GOP senators.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.): The Arizona Republican appears most likely to break with Trump on foreign policy and the military, where McCain has substantial sway as Armed Services Committee chairman.

The two were at odds from nearly the start of the presidential campaign, when Trump mocked McCain's military service and years as a prisoner of war saying "I like people who weren't captured."

McCain formally dropped his support for the real estate mogul in early October and has refused to answer questions about Trump for months-a policy he says he'll change come Jan. 1.

The two repeatedly clashed over the issue of torture as Trump floated bringing back interrogation methods like waterboarding.

McCain doubled down after the election, saying at the Halifax International Security Forum that: "I don't give a damn what the president of the United States wants to do. We will not torture people."

They are also already on opposing sides over Russia, with McCain leading the push for a select committee to investigate the CIA's finding that Russia intervened in the election to help Trump.

Trump has dismissed those claims, arguing that Democrats are grasping for reasons to explain why they lost the presidential race.

McCain is likely to be joined in the fight by Sen. Lindsey Graham, his closest Senate ally. Speaking to dozens of reporters after the election, the South Carolina senator warned he would be a "hard ass" on Moscow.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.): The Senate's top Republican largely avoided weighing in on Trump's slew of controversies, regularly declining to answer questions about his party's standard bearer in 2016.

But McConnell made headlines during his book tour for sharply criticizing the GOP nominee and denounced his 2005 comments about groping and kissing women without their consent. McConnell quickly demanded the real estate mogul take "full responsibility" for the leaked remarks.

"As the father of three daughters, I strongly believe that Trump needs to apologize directly to women and girls everywhere, and take full responsibility for the utter lack of respect for women shown in his comments on that tape," he said at the time.

McConnell-like the rest of GOP leadership-is projecting unity with Trump, eager to prove that Republicans can govern as they control both Congress and the White House for the first time in a decade.

But as the Senate's top lawmaker he also has the ability to effectively kill any proposal he disagrees with. He's pushed back against two of Trump's more controversial campaign proposals-banning Muslims from entering the country and building a border wall at Mexico's expense.

He also reiterated his support for not criminalizing flag burning after Trump floated revoking the citizenship of flag burners. McConnell's also laying down early goalposts as Trump eyes deep tax cuts.

"I think this level of national debt is dangerous and unacceptable," he told reporters. "My preference on tax reform is that it be revenue neutral," he said.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.): Paul ultimately backed Trump during the campaign-after ending his own failed White House bid-but he's drawing early lines over some of the real estate moguls' nominees.

Paul, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, played hardball on the State Department, and is now threatening to block former U.N. ambassador John Bolton from taking the No. 2 spot.

Paul told ABC's "This Week" that he is an "automatic no on Bolton," who he called a "big cheerleader for the Iraq War" with a "naive understanding of the world."

Paul's opposition would be enough to block Bolton from getting through the Foreign Relations Committee if every Democrat also votes against him.

He also took aim the rest of Trump's picks in his annual "Festivus" tweetstorm, quipping: "New administration is lookin good. Haven't seen this many billionaires in 1 place since I staked out Bilderbergs w/ Alex Jones. Good times."

The Kentucky Republican is also warning he won't vote for a budget that doesn't balance within five years.

Paul isn't the only GOP senator who regularly votes against budget and funding bills. GOP Sen. Mike Lee (Utah) also frequently votes against the money bills.

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.): The Nebraska Republican has been a perennial critic of Trump, frequently comparing the 2016 White House race to a "dumpster fire" and spending months voicing concerns about his party's standard bearer.

In a Facebook letter directed at Trump supporters, he warned that the real estate mogul was too divisive and could ignore constitutional checks and balances aimed at preventing executive overreach.

"Have you noticed how Mr. Trump uses the word 'Reign' - like he thinks he's running for King? It's creepy, actually. Nebraskans are not looking for a king," he said during the GOP presidential primary.

Sasse-whose criticism of Trump is frequently delivered in evening tweetstorms-has signaled he's willing to work with the incoming administration in some areas, like filling the Supreme Court vacancy, without caving on other issues.

He wrote in an Omaha World Herald op-ed after the election that while he's seen positive signs from Trump since his White House win there "are absolutely some things that worry me."

"There will be disagreements - between neighbors, between the executive and legislative branches, between political parties. This is a good thing. This is an intentional feature of our system, not a bug," he added.

Credit: The Hill

For Liberated Iraqi Christians, Still a Bleak Christmas

2016-12-25T00:59:00.000-08:00

1/4 SLIDES © Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times

Kurdish fighters replaced the cross on the dome of the Immaculate Cathedral last month in Qaraqosh.

QARAQOSH, Iraq — Despite their hometowns having been recently freed from the Islamic State, the Christians of Iraq are still in a state of mourning as Christmas approaches.

Old towns on the edge of Mosul, where Christians lived for many centuries, have become wastelands. Most churches are still standing, but badly damaged and ransacked. When a liberating soldier hoists a cross atop a church, or a priest returns to take stock of the losses and light a candle, the scenes feel more sad than hopeful — especially when weighed against the widely felt sentiments of displaced Christians that they will never go home.

Some of the early gains in the campaign to retake Mosul from the Islamic State, which began in mid-October and is grinding into its third month, were the liberations of historically Christian villages and towns, including Qaraqosh, Iraq’s largest Christian city, and Bartella.

There were early feelings of jubilation. Some families returned to celebrate alongside some of the Christian militia fighters who participated in the battles. But just as quickly it became apparent that rebirth for the Christian community in Iraq is unlikely, given how few seem to want to return.

1/3 SLIDES © Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times

The ransacked sanctuary at St. George’s church in Qaraqosh.

“There is no guarantee that we can go back and be safe,” said Haseeb Saleem, 65, a Christian from the Mosul area who left more than two years ago and now lives in the Kurdish city of Erbil, the regional capital.

Mr. Saleem echoed a deeply felt belief among Iraq’s minorities that the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, by removing a dictatorship that at least promised them security, marked the beginning of the community’s demise in their own country.

“Before 2003, believe me, my neighbor didn’t know what I was,” he said. “No one could ask, are you Sunni? Or Shia? Or Muslim? Or Christian?”

In 2003, an estimated 1.5 million Christians lived in Iraq. By the time the Islamic State swept through northern Iraq in 2014, that figure had fallen to roughly 400,000.

1/5 SLIDES © Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times

Zarifa Bakoos, left, and Badrea Gigues, Christian refugees from Mosul.

Since then, many thousands more have left the country, or fled from Mosul to the relative safety of the Kurdish region. There, in Erbil, Christians are clustered in the neighborhood of Ainkawa, and many of the displaced were taken in by local churches. The neighborhood is perhaps the last center of a vibrant Christian culture in Iraq; shops these days are filled with Christmas decorations, and it is always easy to find wine or pork.

When the Islamic State seized Mosul and outlying areas in the summer of 2014, the militants stole the money, jewelry and property of Christians, and gave them a choice if they wished to stay: either convert to Islam or pay a special tax. Nearly every Christian left home and joined Iraq’s growing community of the displaced.

But there were two Christians, two old women in their late 70s, who stayed. Cut off from their families during the chaos of two summers ago, Badrea Gigues and Zarifa Bakoos found themselves left behind in Qaraqosh. Then, each had ailing husbands.

But soon after their hometown fell to the Islamic State, their husbands died. The two widows, old friends, found themselves living together, and facing together the brutality of new rulers who stole their money and demanded they renounce their faith and convert to Islam.

“Sometimes we prayed, and sometimes we cried,” said Ms. Gigues, who is blind and largely deaf, in a recent interview after Qaraqosh was liberated and the security forces found her. “We talked about our husbands, our memories, our children, what it was like when we were young.”

The women said that Islamic State fighters forced them to spit on a cross and to stomp on a picture of the Virgin Mary.

“Sorry, Mary, that I did that,” Ms. Bakoos recalled thinking. “Please forgive me.”

Even for former residents of Qaraqosh who might wish to return and stay, it is not yet safe. Rubble and destruction are everywhere. Weeks after the battle to retake the city, Christian militia fighters who secured the town are still on alert for possible counterattacks.

The Christians of Iraq may have lost much to the Islamic State — houses, gold, money. But some say the experience has strengthened their faith.

“They can destroy our houses, our things, but not our souls,” said Huda Khudhur, a nun from Qaraqosh.

Credit: The New York Times

Why attacks by Boko Haram are likely to continue even though it lost its last stronghold

2016-12-25T00:36:00.001-08:00

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari announced Saturday that the extremist Islamist group Boko Haram had been driven from its final stronghold in the Sambisa Forest on the border with Cameroon. But that is unlikely to end the violence.

“I am delighted at, and most proud of the gallant troops of the Nigerian army, on receipt of the long-awaited and most gratifying news of the final crushing of Boko Haram terrorists in their last enclave in Sambisa Forest,” Buhari said in a Christmas message to the nation.
Camp Zero, its main base deep in the forest, was destroyed Friday by Nigerian security forces, he said.

Still, its leader remains at large, 196 kidnapped schoolgirls remain unaccounted for, and the group’s deadly suicide attacks on markets, bus stations and other civilian targets are likely to continue.

For years, Nigerian soldiers frequently abandoned their posts rather than fight Boko Haram, an affiliate of Islamic State, allowing the group to gain control of a large expanse of northern Nigeria by 2014.

But in the last 18 months, Nigerian forces have consolidated their attack on the militants, forcing them to leave the major towns they controlled and to pull back to the dense Sambisa Forest.

The government has been pursuing them there, carrying out intensive airstrikes, sending in ground forces and building roads into the forest to clear out insurgent bases.

Between Dec. 14 and Dec. 21, Nigerian forces rescued 1,880 prisoners of Boko Haram who were being held in the forest. During that same period, 564 Boko Haram fighters were arrested, according to Maj. Gen. Leo Irabor.

As the militants fled, some simply blended into the local communities, making them difficult to trace.

“The terrorists are on the run and no longer have a place to hide,” the president said in his statement Saturday.

He also called for a redoubling of efforts to rescue the schoolgirls.

They are among 276 girls abducted by the militants in April 2014. Some escaped soon after they were seized, and a group of 21 were freed in October. Some of the 196 who are unaccounted for are believed to have died of disease or in airstrikes on the forest.

Nigerian authorities have frequently boasted of defeating Boko Haram or killing its leader, Abubakar Shekau, only to be proved wrong.

The group, which emerged in 2003 and is fighting to impose an Islamic state across Nigeria, has proved to be resilient. It has been almost wiped out more than once, notably in 2009, only to regroup.

Even as pressure on Boko Haram intensified, the group continued to carry out devastating suicide bombings, often using girls — teenaged and younger.

At least 56 civilians people died in a twin suicide bombing at a busy market in the town of Madagali in northeastern Nigeria this month.

Now Boko Haram will probably intensify use of its tactics of suicide bombings and assassinations. Six bombers, including five women, were killed Friday trying to detonate suicide vests, according to authorities.

Extremists continue to drive farmers from their land, making it impossible for them to plant crops, and many areas of the northeast remain too dangerous for humanitarian workers to access, as the region faces a severe hunger crisis caused by the conflict.

Among those worst affected by the crisis are people who fled their homes. About 14 million Nigerians are in need of humanitarian assistance because of the violence, according to the United Nations.

Credit: Los Angeles Times

Residents flee as Nock-ten Christmas Day typhoon approaches Philippines

2016-12-25T00:34:00.003-08:00

Manila, Philippines (CNN)Thousands of residents of low-lying areas of eastern provinces in the Philippines have been moved by authorities as Super typhoon Nock-ten nears the Southeast Asian country.

Officials say over 1,000 families have been evacuated from the eastern province of Camarines Sur, and the provinces of Catanduanes and Albay have been declared under a "state of imminent danger/disaster."

The storm is growing stronger as it bears down on the Bicol region, tropical storm monitors report. The storm is expected to make landfall in the evening of Christmas Day in Catanduanes, an island province in the Bicol region.

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) reports that Nock-ten, locally known as Nina, currently has maximum sustained winds of 250 kph (155 mph) and gusts of up to 305 kph (190 mph).

The storm's last recorded location was 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of Catanduanes, and it is forecast to move west at 15 kph (9 mph).

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reports 11,476 passengers, over 1,000 cargo ships and over a dozen other vessels were stranded in various ports in the region.

The Philippines' tropical cyclone warning signal number 4 has been hoisted for Catanduanes and neighboring Camarines Sur. The warning signal, the second-highest level on the scale of alerts, indicates the storm could cause "heavy damage" to high-risk structures. Rice, corn and coconut plantations will likely suffer severe losses.

The Philippines Atmospheric, Geological and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) reports a possible storm surge of two to three meters in coastal areas.

Forecasters warned that the storm could bring lashing winds and dump heavy rain in several areas across of the country, including the capital, Manila.

There are fears that Nock-ten could potentially bring flooding to the capital, one of the most densely populated urban centers of the country, during the busy holiday weekend.

PAGASA reports that the typhoon will cause moderate to heavy rainfall in a 500-kilometer (311-mile) radius.

The typhoon warning center projects that the typhoon will gradually weaken "as the system begins to interact with land," but warned it could still retain typhoon intensity.

The governor of the eastern seaboard province of Camarines Sur, Miguel Villafuerte, posted on Twitter that nearly 50,000 family evacuations had been scheduled by 7 p.m. Saturday local time (6 a.m. ET).

Camarines Sur is roughly 181 kilometers (112 miles ) away from the projected landfall location of the typhoon but also is a potential target.

As an added incentive to push people out of their homes and into shelters ahead of Christmas in this Catholic-majority country, Villafuerte has promised to provide the traditional dish of lechon (roasted pig) for his constituents if they proceed to evacuation centers, CNN affiliate ABS-CBN reported.

The Philippines has been battered by devastating typhoons in recent years, most notably Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 -- considered to be among the strongest storms to make landfall. Haiyan killed more than 6,000 people and forced nearly 4 million people from their homes.

Typhoon Nock-ten is expected to approach with rain bands moving onshore, which could cause floods, landslides and storm surges. It is projected to pass through Southern Luzon and could go through Manila.

Meanwhile, authorities in the Philippines hoisted storm warnings over parts of the eastern Philippines, including Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Sorsogon, Masbate (including Ticao and Burias Islands), Northern Samar and Eastern Samar.

Credit: CNN

Nigerian breweries in Iganmu gutted by fire

2016-12-25T00:33:00.001-08:00

A raging fire has ripped through the Nigerian Breweries at Orile Iganmu area of Lagos State.

It is not clear what caused the fire and the extent of damage, but according to a video circulated on Twitter by @gidi_traffic, it appears the incident is grave.

The fire, which reportedly started in the early hours of Sunday, December 25, is still destroying the facility as at the time of filing this report.

Pulse cannot immediately confirm if there are casualties.

Details later.

Credit: Pulse Ng

Texans survive wild one over Bengals, win AFC South title

2016-12-25T00:32:00.004-08:00

The Texans drafted Randy Bullock hoping he’d help them to the playoffs.

He finally did.

The now-Bengals kicker missed a 43-yard field goal as time expired, allowing the Texans to escape with a 12-10 win.

That gives the Texans (9-6) the AFC South title and a playoff berth, believe it or not.

The game proceeded at a snail’s pace (and we just got hate mail from one of the snails — in the mail — on Christmas Eve) until the fourth quarter.

That’s when they traded haymakers, with Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton’s 86-yard touchdown to Brandon LaFell was followed two minutes later by Texans running back Alfred Blue’s 24-yard touchdown run.

Of course, the extra point was blocked.

The Bengals drove, and had Bullock in position for the game-winner against the team which chose him in the fifth round of the 2012 draft. But his attempt missed wide right, allowing the Texans to survive a horrid offensive night. They gained just 250 yards, which was actually not bad considering they had 34 at halftime.

Trump says he’s closing foundation, but Democrats want more

2016-12-25T00:32:00.001-08:00

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President-elect Donald Trump says he will dissolve his charitable foundation before taking office to avoid conflicts of interest. The Democratic Party says that’s not enough and is calling for the billionaire businessman to put his assets in a blind trust.

The New York attorney general’s office has been investigating the foundation following media reports that foundation spending went to benefit Trump’s campaign. A spokeswoman says the foundation cannot close until the investigation is complete.

Trump said in a statement Saturday that he has directed his counsel to take the necessary steps to implement the dissolution of the Donald J. Trump Foundation, saying that it operated “at essentially no cost for decades, with 100 percent of the money going to charity.”

“The foundation has done enormous good works over the years in contributing millions of dollars to countless worthy groups, including supporting veterans, law enforcement officers and children,” he said in a statement.

“I will be devoting so much time and energy to the presidency and solving the many problems facing our country and the world. I don’t want to allow good work to be associated with a possible conflict of interest,” he said.

Trump said he will pursue philanthropic efforts in other ways, but he didn’t elaborated on how he’d do so.

The Democratic National Committee criticized Trump for what it called “a wilted fig leaf to cover up his remaining conflicts of interest and his pitiful record of charitable giving.”

The statement from party spokesman Eric Walker also took a jab at the president-elect over his controversial business holdings: “Shuttering a charity is no substitute for divesting from his for-profit business and putting the assets in a blind trust — the only way to guarantee separation between the Trump administration and the Trump business.”

A 2015 tax return posted on the nonprofit monitoring website GuideStar shows the Donald J. Trump Foundation acknowledged that it used money or assets in violation of IRS regulations — not only during 2015, but in prior years.

Those regulations prohibit self-dealing by the charity. That’s broadly defined as using its money or assets to benefit Trump, his family, his companies or substantial contributors to the foundation.

The tax filing doesn’t provide details on the violations. Whether Trump benefited from the foundation’s spending has been the subject of an investigation by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

In September, Schneiderman disclosed that his office has been investigating Trump’s charity to determine whether it has abided by state laws governing nonprofits.

Documents obtained by The Associated Press in September showed Schneiderman’s scrutiny of The Donald J. Trump Foundation dated back to at least June, when his office formally questioned the donation made by the charity to a group supporting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Bondi personally solicited the money during a 2013 phone call that came after her office received complaints from former students claiming they were scammed by Trump University, Trump’s get-rich-quick real estate seminars.

The Trump Foundation check arrived just days after Bondi’s office told a newspaper it was reviewing a lawsuit against Trump University filed by Schneiderman. Bondi’s office never sued Trump, though she denies his donation played any role in that decision.

Trump later paid a $2,500 fine over the check from his foundation because it violated federal law barring charities from making political contributions.

Amy Spitalnick, press secretary for Schneiderman’s office, said Saturday that the foundation “cannot legally dissolve” until the investigation is complete.

The charitable foundation was ordered to immediately stop fundraising in New York just weeks before the general election, Schneiderman’s office saying it wasn’t registered to do so. The N.Y. attorney general’s office said in October the Trump Foundation had a registration for an organization with assets in New York, but the law requires a different registration for those that solicit more than $25,000 a year from the public. It complied with the order and stopped its fundraising activities.

Trump was highly critical of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s family charity, the Clinton Foundation, saying without evidence that she ran “a vast criminal enterprise run out of the State Department” while she was secretary of state. At the final presidential debate, he challenged Clinton to “give back the money” that came from donors in countries that fail to respect various human rights.

More than half the people outside the government who met with Clinton while she was secretary of state gave money — either personally or through companies or groups — to the Clinton Foundation. The proportion indicated possible ethics challenges had she been elected president.

Trump’s announcement to dissolve his own foundation came a day after the president-elect took to Twitter to declare it a “ridiculous shame” that his son Eric will have to stop soliciting funds for his charitable foundation, the Eric Trump Foundation, because of a conflict of interest.

“My wonderful son, Eric, will no longer be allowed to raise money for children with cancer because of a possible conflict of interest with my presidency,” Trump tweeted. “He loves these kids, has raised millions of dollars for them, and now must stop. Wrong answer!”

Trump was spending the Christmas weekend at his South Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, his retreat for most holidays. He and his wife, Melania, attended services Saturday night at an Episcopal church in Palm Beach.

Credit: The Washington Post

China's first aircraft carrier sets off for Western Pacific

2016-12-25T00:30:00.002-08:00

FILE - In this undated file photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, China's aircraft carrier Liaoning berths in a port of China. (AP)

BEIJING – China's first aircraft carrier has set off for the Western Pacific for an open-sea training exercise, the Defense Ministry said.

State media said Sunday that it is the first time that the Liaoning, which was commissioned by the Chinese navy in 2012, has headed to "distant sea waters." The Western Pacific region stretches from China to New Zealand and encompasses countries in the Pacific, Oceania and parts of Asia.

The statement said a navy formation including the Liaoning set off Saturday for training in the Western Pacific, without elaborating on the location, as part of an annual training plan.

The exercise takes place at a time of tension between China and the United States, the Pacific Ocean's dominant power, over the sensitive issue of Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing claims as its territory.

President-elect Donald Trump took a congratulatory Dec. 2 phone call with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, marking the first time an American president or president-elect has publicly spoken to Taiwan's leader since Washington broke of its formal diplomatic relationship with Taiwan in 1979. To outrage in Beijing, Trump later suggested he could reevaluate U.S. policy on Taiwan.

China seized a U.S. Navy underwater glider in the South China Sea on Dec. 16 in what was seen by Chinese analysts as a warning to Trump.

China said last month that its aircraft carrier, purchased as an incomplete hull from Ukraine more than a decade ago, was ready to engage in combat. The Liaoning recently completed its first live-fire exercise along with fighters in the Bohai Sea in eastern China and, on Friday, the military announced it had carried out a series of fighter launch, recovery and air combat exercises slightly farther afield in the Yellow Sea.

On Saturday morning, the Liaoning carried out training in the East China Sea, according to footage shown on state broadcaster China Central Television. A separate statement from the Defense Ministry said that several carrier-based fighter jets and helicopters took off one after another and returned after completing an air tactical confrontation and air refueling exercise.

The Japanese Defense Ministry said it spotted the Liaoning as part of a fleet of eight Chinese warships that included destroyers and frigates, in the central part of the East China Sea for the first time. It said there was no incursion into Japanese waters.

China hasn't described specifically how it intends to use the Liaoning, but it is seen as helping reinforce China's increasingly assertive claims over almost all of the South China Sea, which is home to key shipping lanes, rich fishing grounds and a potential wealth of mineral resources.

Five other governments claim the maritime space either in part or in whole, and the Philippines and Vietnam in particular have sought assistance from the U.S. and others in beefing up their ability to resist China, including its construction of seven islands by piling sand atop coral reefs

Credit: Fox News

Russian military plane crashes in Black Sea near Sochi

2016-12-25T00:29:00.002-08:00

A Russian military plane with 92 people on board has crashed into the Black Sea, Russia's defence ministry says.

The plane disappeared from radar 20 minutes after taking off from the resort of Sochi at 05:20 (02:20 GMT). Fragments have now been found and one body has been retrieved.

The defence ministry said the Tu-154 was carrying soldiers, 64 members of the famed Alexandrov military music ensemble and nine reporters.

It was flying to Latakia in Syria.

The flight originated in Moscow and had landed at Adler airport in Sochi for refuelling.

The defence ministry said in a statement: "Fragments of the Tu-154 plane of the Russian defence ministry were found 1.5km (one mile) from the Black Sea coast of the city of Sochi at a depth of 50 to 70m (165-230ft)."

So far no survivors have been found, local rescuers told the Interfax news agency.

Defence ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov confirmed that the "body of a person killed as a result the crash... was found 6km off the coast of Sochi".

Who are the Alexandrov Ensemble?

Image captionMembers of the Alexandrov Ensemble performing in Paris in 2015

Alexandrov Ensemble is the official choir of the Russian armed forces
It was founded in 1928 during the Soviet era
The group also includes an orchestra and dancers
It takes its name from its first director, Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov, who wrote the music to the national anthem of the Soviet Union
Holds the right to use the term Red Army Choir, although the interior ministry's MVD Ensemble also uses it
Listen to the Alexandrov Ensemble here

The defence ministry has published a passenger list (in Russian), showing that 64 of those on board were from the Alexandrov Ensemble.

There were nine journalists, eight soldiers, two civil servants, an NGO member and eight crew members.

Reports in the area said flying conditions were favourable. An investigation has been launched to determine whether any violations of air transport safety regulations had taken place.

Mr Konashenkov said the plane was carrying passengers to a New Year's performance for Russian troops deployed in Syria.

The performance was scheduled to take place at Russia's Hmeimim air base, near Latakia.

Russia has been carrying out air strikes in support of Syrian government forces who are battling rebels opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Tupolev-154: Russian workhorse

The backbone of Soviet and Russian airlines for decades
Three engines, narrow-bodied and medium range
Designed in the mid-60s, came into service in 1972 and was modernised in 1986 with new engines and equipment
Has seen 39 fatal accidents, although few were due to technical problems. Many were as a result of difficult weather conditions and poor air traffic control. A few were lost in conflicts including in Lebanon, Georgia and Afghanistan
Phased out since the turn of the century. Aeroflot retired its fleet in 2010. Only about 50 in service worldwide

In April 2010, a Tu-154 plane crashed in Smolensk, western Russia, killing all 96 people on board, including the Polish President Lech Kaczynski.

A Tu-154, operated by Siberian Airlines, was shot down over the Black Sea in October 2001, killing 78 people.

The plane was travelling from Tel Aviv in Israel to Novosibirsk in Russia, and most of the passengers were Israeli.

The Ukrainian military initially denied involvement but officials later admitted the plane could have been hit accidentally during a training exercise.

Alabama police officer in critical condition after being shot in head

2016-12-21T13:22:00.001-08:00

An Alabama police officer was in critical but stable condition Wednesday afternoon after she was shot in the head while responding to a domestic violence call, FOX10 reported.

The gunman, 27-year-old Matthew Blake Richardson, led police on a short foot chase; however, he was wounded during his capture and later died of the injuries.

“He immediately opened fire when the officers arrived, striking one of the police officers in the head,” Saraland Police Chief James West said during a news conference. “My officer is in critical condition and we ask the community and everyone for their prayers.”

Tucker’s husband is a member of the Mobile Police Department.

Authorities had been called to the residence due to a fight between Richardson and his grandfather. Police had responded to previous calls involving Richardson, FOX10 reported.

Saraland is located in Mobile County, near the southern tip of Alabama.

Credit: Fox News

A Muslim student in Michigan claimed a man threatened to set her on fire. Police say it’s a hoax.

2016-12-21T13:21:00.004-08:00

A University of Michigan student who told police that a stranger threatened to set her on fire if she didn’t remove her hijab could soon face a felony charge for false reporting.

Police say there is no evidence proving the student’s report to authorities in November, when she claimed that an intoxicated man threatened her outside the Ann Arbor campus. The investigation will be turned over to the Washtenaw County prosecutor’s office, which will decide if the student should be charged.

Lt. Matthew Lige, a detective with the Ann Arbor Police Department, told The Washington Post Wednesday that because the act of intimidation the student reported to police is considered a felony, she could be charged with a felony charge of filing a false report. Under Michigan law, that crime is punishable by up to four years in prison or a fine of not more than $2,000.

The student, whose name is not being released at this time, told police that a man in his 20s or 30s approached her between 5:30 and 7 p.m. on Nov. 11 and threatened to set her on fire with a lighter. She also said the man had an average height, an athletic build and an unkempt appearance.

[University of Michigan student wearing a hijab was threatened with being set on fire, police say]

After interviewing witnesses and reviewing surveillance videos, investigators with the Ann Arbor and University of Michigan police departments and the FBI found “numerous inconsistencies” with the student’s statements, according to a news release.

Lige said the identity of the student, previously identified as a 19-year-old woman, will not be released until she’s charged with a crime.

The findings come about a week after an 18-year-old Muslim woman from Long Island, N.Y., was arrested on misdemeanor charges of filing a police report and obstructing government administration.

The woman in that case, Yasmin Seweid, told police and media outlets earlier this month that she was riding the subway home from Baruch College, where she is a student, when three drunk men cornered her and began screaming “Donald Trump!” The men yanked on her bag and tried to pull her hijab off her head, Seweid told the New York Daily News on Dec. 3.

Shortly after, dozens of New Yorkers turned up at Grand Central Terminal in midtown Manhattan in solidarity with her, carrying signs that read “Fight hate” and “#notinourcity.”

[She claimed she was attacked by men who yelled ‘Trump’ and grabbed her hijab. Police say she lied.]

On Dec. 7, Seweid disappeared in Long Island, prompting a missing persons investigation by Nassau County police, who said she was last seen leaving her New Hyde Park home at about 8 p.m. Seweid was found that same week, police said.

New York Police Department spokesman Adam Navarro later told The Washington Post that Seweid is facing charges for false reporting.

The incidents involving Seweid and the University of Michigan student occurred amid other reports of threats and harassment in several parts of the country after the election of President-elect Donald Trump.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has tallied 1,094 incidents of harassment and intimidation against immigrants, Muslims, blacks and other minorities since the presidential election. The incidents were reported on the news, on social media and directly to the organization’s website.

The center, however, cautioned that not all incidents involved direct references to Trump and that not every incident could be independently verified. Many involved vandalisms, while others were direct attacks.

Credit: The Washington Post

NATO's 2nd-largest military is 'bending' to Russia — and leaving the US out in the cold

2016-12-21T13:19:00.003-08:00

The US was not invited to a meeting held Tuesday in Moscow between Turkish, Russian, and Iranian officials aimed at solving the crisis in Syria — and it's not the first time Washington has been left out in the cold.

The US was also shut out of negotiations between Russian officials and Syrian rebel factions hosted by Turkish officials in Ankara earlier this month. Those talks ultimately led to a fragile cease-fire and evacuation deal in Syria's largest city, Aleppo, where fighting intensified in recent weeks.

Though the two countries are on opposite sides of the war in Syria — with Turkey supporting the opposition and Russia supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad — Turkish officials reportedly signed a Russian proposal to end the conflict, titled the "Moscow Declaration," during their meeting in the Russian capital on Tuesday.

"This is Turkey bending to Russia," Aaron Stein, an expert on Turkey and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told The New York Times on Wednesday. "This is putting a fine point on Turkey's policy of 'Assad must go' no longer being the policy."

The Turkish-Russian rapprochement — which has been ongoing since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan apologized to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, for Turkey's shooting down a Russian warplane in November 2015 — is likely to continue after the assassination of Russia's ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, in Ankara on Monday.

Statements released by Russian and Turkish officials in the aftermath of Karlov's death suggested the countries were determined not to let the incident derail their renewed friendship, while Erdogan and Putin said the assassination had only strengthened their resolve to jointly fight terrorism.

Officials and lawmakers in both countries, meanwhile, have implied that the US may have played a role in Karlov's assassination, an insinuation the US State Department has vehemently denied.

Andrey Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey, at the art gallery in Ankara, Turkey, on Monday before he was killed by an assassin. Burhan Ozbilici/AP

In any case, analysts say, those declarations both explain and foreshadow the countries' increasing coordination in the Middle East — and their evolving hostility toward the US.

At this point, "Moscow has almost everything it wants from Ankara in Syria," said Soner Cagaptay, the director of the Turkish program at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "Including Turkish acquiescence to Aleppo's fall."

Forces backing Assad, including Iranian-led Shia militias and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, recently took back the rebels' last enclave in eastern Aleppo amid heavy airstrikes from Russian and Syrian warplanes.

Turkey has long been staunchly opposed to Assad but has softened its calls for him to step down, and deprioritized its support for the Syrian opposition, amid its rapprochement with Russia and fears that an autonomous Kurdish zone will be established along the Turkish-Syrian border.

Given Turkey's dependence on Russian energy and tourism, moreover — and the current tensions between Turkey and the West over its poor human-rights record and censorship of the press following an attempted coup in July — it is in Ankara's interests to maintain the pace of its diplomacy with Moscow.

"I don't think we should be surprised to see Turkey moving closer to Russia given the more immediate benefits that Russia can deliver," Michael Koplow, a Middle East analyst at the Israel Policy Forum, said in early October.

'It's just a free-for-all'

As the Turkish-Russian relationship gets stronger, US-Russian relations have reached their lowest point since the end of the Cold War. The State Department formally cut off its bilateral channels with Russia over what it called "war crimes" in Syria in early October, and President Barack Obama has threatened to retaliate against Moscow for a hacking campaign during the presidential campaign that US intelligence agencies believe was designed to help President-elect Donald Trump.

Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, that nearly all communication channels between the US and Russia had been frozen. But the State Department denied that there had been a break in dialogue.

"It's difficult to know exactly what is meant by this comment, but diplomatic engagement with Russia continues across a wide range of issues," State Department spokesman John Kirby told Business Insider.

"That we have significant differences with Moscow on some of these issues is well known, but there hasn't been a break in dialogue," he added. "Indeed, as we noted, Secretary Kerry spoke by phone with Foreign Minister Lavrov just yesterday about the situation in Syria."

John Kerry, the US secretary of state, has continued to meet and speak regularly with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, about Syria since the State Department formally suspended negotiations with Russia over Syria in October. But the US has not been present at the two most consequential Syria meetings held in the past month in the Turkish and Russian capitals.

Russia has been quick to take advantage of the tensions between Turkey and the West.

"Russia understands that nobody gives you anything, you just have to take it, and in this environment, with the US retreating faster than the other side can advance, it's just a free-for-all," Andrew J. Tabler, a Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told The New York Times.

"When the Turks, the Iranians, and the Russians all agree on a process without the US being in the room," he added, "you realize there is a problem for us."

North Carolina lawmakers gather to consider repealing ‘bathroom bill’

2016-12-21T13:17:00.004-08:00

North Carolina legislators gathered Wednesday for a special session to consider repealing the “bathroom bill” they passed this year, pushing the state into the center of a national debate about transgender rights.

However, it was not immediately clear whether the lawmakers would fully abandon the measure, which cost the state millions of dollars in lost tourism revenue, prompted the NBA and the NCAA to move games, and factored heavily into a high-profile gubernatorial race.

The legislation, also known as House Bill 2 or H.B. 2, prohibits transgender people from using bathrooms that don’t match the gender on their birth certificates, and it also reversed local ordinances expanding protections for LGBT people.

A measure introduced on Wednesday would repeal that bill while also imposing restrictions on local governments, caveats that quickly angered the rights groups that have opposed H.B. 2.

Gov. Pat McCrory (R), who this month conceded to Attorney General Roy Cooper (D), called the special session Monday, hours after Charlotte city officials said they would repeal a nondiscrimination ordinance the city passed in February. State lawmakers hastily introduced H.B. 2 the following month, and McCrory quickly signed the bill, setting off a firestorm.

[Why North Carolina lawmakers were set to consider repealing the bathroom bill]

McCrory, a former Charlotte mayor, has long criticized the city’s measure as “government overreach” and said H.B. 2 was needed to combat that ordinance and protect women. Opponents of the bathroom bill, a group that includes the Justice Department, decried it as discriminatory, and big businesses and sports leagues echoed these concerns, halting planned expansions and relocating numerous games.

When lawmakers convened Wednesday morning, there was debate about whether the session should even be held before the North Carolina House went into a recess for several hours. The special session was called at a time of acute acrimony in North Carolina, as Republican lawmakers recently passed controversial legislation aimed at stripping power from Cooper, who in turn has threatened a lawsuit over the measures.

On Wednesday afternoon, the top Republican in the state Senate introduced a bill that would repeal the bathroom bill. However, the bill introduced by Sen. Phil Berger, the senate president pro tempore, would also impose a “six-month cooling-off period,” during which local governments would not be able to enact ordinances relating to employment or public restrooms.

Rights groups that have long criticized the bill had said this week that they were disappointed to see Charlotte have to abandon its ordinance, even as they were pleased that H.B. 2 could face a repeal. These same groups said Wednesday that they would accept only a full and complete repeal rather than one including any caveats.

The half-measure proposed Wednesday not satisfy these gay and transgender rights groups, who pledged to continue to fight a state law that they had criticized as one of the most discriminatory in the nation.

“It is unacceptable. It’s a gimmick. It’s H.B. 2.0,” said Mara Keisling, president of the National Center for Transgender Equality. “It’s not okay and any legislature that would do that wouldn’t really be doing that for only six months.”

The head of the Human Rights Campaign echoed this sentiment on Twitter, saying that Berger’s bill “doubles-down on discrimination.”

A spokesman for Cooper did not respond to messages seeking comment about the proposed legislation.

Berger’s bill was introduced hours after the Charlotte City Council had held an emergency meeting to repeal its own ordinance in full, a move meant to spur state lawmakers into action.

A spokeswoman for the city said that the repeal vote Monday had affected only the part of the ordinance dealing with public accommodations, such as bathrooms, which council members thought would “sufficiently [fulfill] the requests of the general assembly” and lead to H.B. 2’s repeal.

[‘Not about bathrooms’: Critics decry North Carolina law’s lesser-known elements]

But some state Republicans were critical of Charlotte for its partial repeal. Dallas Woodhouse, executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party, posted a statement on Facebook saying that Cooper and the Charlotte City Council “lied to the public about a full repeal,” and his group went on to call this a “dishonest, disgraceful shame.”

Charlotte Mayor Roberts pushed back against the party’s statement, saying in an email to The Washington Post that the state GOP “is incorrect and they need to stop playing politics with people’s lives.”

The Charlotte City Council voted Wednesday morning to withdraw the remainder of the city’s ordinance “to ensure the repeal of [H.B. 2] would not be jeopardized in any way,” the city said in a statement.

The socially conservative North Carolina Family Policy Council had urged members Tuesday to call lawmakers to demand that they vote no on a repeal. Dan Forest, the state’s Republican lieutenant governor, said that even if the bill is repealed, “we will fight this battle all over again with another city or county.”

[North Carolina, Justice Dept. file dueling lawsuits over transgender rights]

“The names will change, but the national groups who are pushing this agenda will not stop until their social engineering is accomplished,” Forest, a supporter of H.B. 2, said in a statement Wednesday morning.

On the other side, a newspaper in the liberal city of Asheville argued that the compromise was a losing proposition for gay and transgender people — as well as the state. “Even if everything goes as planned, the damage done to the state’s reputation is a bell that cannot be unrung,” the Asheville Citizen-Times editorial board wrote Tuesday. “Further, Charlotte’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender residents are back where they were a year ago, without the protections they deserve.”

The move to repeal the law comes after months of acrimony over the law, which became a national flash point in the battle over transgender rights. That battle has lately centered on whether nondiscrimination protections should be explicitly extended to transgender people, and whether they have the right to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.

[How a backlash built against North Carolina’s law]

Opponents of expanded transgender rights say that allowing explicit protections, particularly in the public sphere, not only breaks with long-standing social mores when it comes to gender and bathrooms but could open the door to sexual predators gaining access to women’s restrooms.

Rights groups, however, contend that such arguments are rooted in offensive stereotypes and do not reflect the reality of most transgender people, who have already been quietly using their preferred bathrooms without incident.

After the bathroom bill was signed, musicians including Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam and Ringo Starr canceled shows in North Carolina, while Cirque de Soleil scrapped several performances in the state.

The NBA, which has a franchise in Charlotte, moved this season’s All-Star Game from that city because of “the climate created by” H.B. 2. The NCAA took even more extensive action, relocating the seven championship games set to take place in North Carolina during this season, including two rounds of the lucrative men’s Division I basketball tournament.

Big businesses, including Google and Apple, spoke out against the law. PayPal, a California-based online payment firm, and Deutsche Bank, a German financial giant, called off planned expansions in North Carolina. These expansions would have brought a combined 650 jobs to North Carolina and been worth millions of dollars to the state, officials said.

Credit: The Washington Post

EU court says mass data retention illegal

2016-12-21T13:15:00.002-08:00

The mass retention of data is illegal, the European Union's highest court said on Wednesday, dealing a blow to Britain's newly passed surveillance law and signaling that security concerns do not justify excessive privacy infringements.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) said its ruling was based on the view that holding traffic and location data en masse allowed "very precise conclusions to be drawn concerning the private lives of the persons whose data has been retained".

Such interference with people's privacy could only be justified by the objective of fighting serious crime and access to data should be subject to prior review by a court or independent body except in urgent cases, it said.

The ruling is likely to upset governments seeking to deal with the threat of attacks such as those in Paris and Brussels and, on Monday, in Berlin.

Those attacks have reinforced calls from governments for security agencies to be given greater powers to protect citizens, while privacy advocates - who welcomed the ruling - say mass retention of data is ineffective in the fight against such crimes.

The perpetual debate over privacy versus security took on an extra dimension after Edward Snowden leaked details of mass spying by U.S. and British agents in 2013.

The ECJ said governments could demand targeted data retention subject to strict safeguards such as limiting it to a particular geographic location but the data must be stored within the EU given the risk of unlawful access.

BRITISH CHALLENGE

The court was responding to challenges against data retention laws in Britain and Sweden on the grounds that they were no longer valid after the ECJ struck down an EU-wide data retention law in 2014.

A spokesman for Britain's interior ministry said it was disappointed with the judgment and would be considering its potential implications in the case launched before Britain voted in June to quit the European Union.

"Given the importance of communications data to preventing and detecting crime, we will ensure plans are in place so that the police and other public authorities can continue to acquire such data in a way that is consistent with EU law and our obligation to protect the public,” he said.

When it leaves the bloc, Britain will not be subject to ECJ rulings, but with a two-year exit negotiation process due to begin by the end of March - and a potential transitional phase afterwards - it could be under its auspices for some time.

A number of British politicians - including Brexit minister David Davis - filed the legal challenge against a 2014 surveillance law, part of which was suspended by a British court.

Britain subsequently passed the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA), which, while not directly affected by the ruling, could nevertheless be found to be incompatible with the conditions laid down by the court, lawyers said.

"This is a pretty big deal for the UK,” Bird & Bird partner, Graham Smith, said.

A number of provisions in the IPA, such as the purposes for which data may be retained which go beyond fighting serious crime, are unlikely to pass the court's muster, laywers said.

The requirement for targeted retention of communications data could be "a significant headache", said Linklaters partner Richard Cumbley, since security services often only know who is a suspect after the event.

Credit: Reuters

Kremlin Calls US-Russian Ties 'Frozen;' Unsure About Trump

2016-12-21T13:14:00.001-08:00

MOSCOW — The Kremlin hopes that Donald Trump's administration will help improve the strained Russia-U.S. ties that it describes as "frozen," but it doesn't expect any immediate breakthroughs, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said Wednesday.

Dmitry Peskov told Mir TV that the Kremlin expects the new U.S. administration to take a "fresher and more constructive approach," while cautioning against "excessive optimism." He warned that Washington would be unlikely to reverse such moves as the deployment of NATO's forces near Russian borders or quickly lift sanctions against Russia.

"We have never worn rose-colored glasses," Peskov said. "We clearly understand that any U.S. president will first of all protect interests of his country. "

Peskov rejected the claims by Trump's opponents that the U.S. president-elect is too Russia-friendly, saying that was a reflection what he called "Russophobia."

"We don't know yet what kind of president Trump will be and what position toward Russia he will take," Peskov said, adding that the two nations should talk about their existing problems.

"If our partners show the readiness to conduct a dialogue to search for solutions and to take mutual concerns into account ... it will mark a new approach," Peskov added.

He rejected President Barack Obama's accusations of Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election, saying that Obama has repeatedly raised the issue with Putin but the Russian leader has strongly denied the claims.

"If such accusations are made, we have the right to demand an explanation, a proof and arguments. We haven't been offered any of it," he said.

Peskov said the U.S. election hacking allegations further dented the two nations' already troubled relations.

"Dialogue with the United States has been frozen on practically all levels," he said.

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby responded by saying that the dialogue with Russia has continued despite their differences, stressing that "diplomatic engagement with Russia continues across a wide range of issues."

Credit: The New York Times

Nokia Sues Apple Over Alleged Patent Infringement

2016-12-21T13:13:00.000-08:00

Nokia Oyj sued Apple Inc. saying the iPhone maker infringed several patents, turning simmering tension between the two companies into a bitter public legal battle on multiple fronts.

The Espoo, Finland-based company said Apple has refused to license patented inventions since the two agreed to a license in 2011, which is now expiring. Nokia filed complaints with the German Regional Courts in Dusseldorf, Mannheim and Munich, and in federal court in Marshall, Texas.

“Apple has regularly fought to keep royalty rates low, whereas Nokia is interested in getting as much value from its intellectual property as possible,” said Matt Larson, a litigation analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.

“This is a big deal, especially for the future of licensing revenues on standard-essential patents," he added, referring to patents of inventions that must be used to comply with technical industry standards like Wi-Fi.

The dispute with Apple reflects Nokia’s demise as the world’s largest phone maker. Since selling its handset business, the company has focused on networking. It’s now tapping its patent portfolio as a source of income, rather than a cross-licensing tool to protect its own products.

Nokia’s intellectual property business added patents through its Alcatel-Lucent acquisition, making it a more significant profit contributor. In the third quarter, Nokia’s technology unit, which licenses its patents, generated about 40 percent of the company’s total adjusted operating profit.

Apple representatives didn’t immediately respond to messages left seeking a response to Nokia’s accusations.

Filings

Nokia and its Alcatel-Lucent USA unit filed two lawsuits Wednesday against Apple in federal court claiming patent violations related to products including the iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch, Mac computers and digital media players such as Apple TV.

In the first complaint, Nokia said Apple “steadfastly refused” to license its patents for video coding at established industry rates. Apple continues to use those inventions, which allow for higher quality transmission over cellular networks with lower bandwidth requirements, for its streaming services, according to the complaint. In that case, Nokia seeks damages for the alleged infringement by Apple.

The second suit accuses Apple of infringing 10 patents, many of which deal with transmitting and amplifying radio signals. Apple is also accused of violating a patent for translating natural language inquiries into database queries. Nokia seeks damages equal to no less than reasonable royalties and a court order against Apple products found to infringe its patents.

Nokia’s American depositary receipts declined 2.1 percent to $4.80 at 3:23 p.m. in New York. They have dropped more than 30 percent this year.

“Through our sustained investment in research and development, Nokia has created or contributed to many of the fundamental technologies used in today’s mobile devices, including Apple products,” Ilkka Rahnasto, head of Nokia’s patent business, said in a statement. “After several years of negotiations trying to reach agreement to cover Apple’s use of these patents, we are now taking action to defend our rights.”

In 2011, Apple and Nokia settled a two-year battle over patent royalties for mobile phones. Nokia stopped making phones after that, but kept patents related to that business.

Apple sued a group of patent-holding companies Tuesday in federal court in San Jose, California, over antitrust claims. Apple alleges the companies conspired with Nokia “as part of a plan to extract and extort exorbitant revenues unfairly and anticompetitively from Apple and other innovative suppliers of cell phones, and ultimately from the consumers of those products.”

Core Wireless Licensing S.a.r.l., one of the companies that Apple said is working with Nokia, last week won a $7.3 million jury verdict against the iPhone maker in San Jose federal court for infringing two patents. Apple has asked a judge to rule there was no infringement.

Apple said that after it entered into a cross-license agreement with Nokia in 2011, the Finnish company launched “secret plans to monetize” patents that weren’t part of the accord.

Apple said Nokia has transformed itself out of desperation, based on its own “failure as a supplier of cell phones.”

“It changed from a company focused on supplying cell phones and other consumer products to a company bent on exploiting the patents that remain from its years as a successful cell phone supplier,” Apple said in the complaint.

The Texas cases are Nokia Technologies Oyj v. Apple Inc., 16-cv-01440 and 16-cv-01441, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas (Marshall).

Credit: Bloomberg

Feds: Pension exec moved $2B for coke, hookers, other bribes

2016-12-21T13:11:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK (AP) — A former top official at the country's third-largest pension fund and two broker-dealers were charged Wednesday in what a federal prosecutor described as a classic bribery scheme that steered $2 billion in trades in exchange for drugs, prostitutes, vacations and U.S. Open tennis tickets.

"The hard-earned pension savings of New Yorkers should never serve as a vehicle for corrupt, personal enrichment," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement, calling the alleged pay-for-play arrangement a "classic, quid-pro-quo bribery scheme."

Navnoor Kang, the ex-head of the $184 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund's fixed income trades, received more than $100,000 worth of bribes in the form of trips, gifts, luxury hotel stays and other payoffs from broker-dealers Deborah Kelley and Gregg Schonhorn, prosecutors said.

Kang, 38, was arrested in Portland, Oregon, on securities fraud, honest service wire fraud, conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges.

His attorney, Lauren DeSantis-Then, said her client denies all the charges.

"Mr. Kang is not guilty and we look forward to our day in court," she said.

Kelley, 58, of Piedmont, California, was expected to surrender, authorities said. Her attorney didn't immediately return a request for comment.

Schonhorn, 45, of Short Hills, New Jersey, has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with federal authorities, court papers show. His lawyer didn't immediately return a request for comment.

Regulators found that Kang steered about $2 billion in fixed-income trades to firms represented by Kelley and Schonhorn beginning in early 2014, resulting in millions of dollars in commissions, of which the two earned between 35 and 40 percent, according to an indictment.

In that time, securities investigators found that the firms' fixed-income business surged, with one of them increasing its domestic bond transactions from zero at the end of fiscal year 2013 to $2.378 billion at the end of fiscal year 2016, making it one of the top broker dealers doing state pension fund business, according to the complaint.

Prosecutors said that in exchange, Kang received a $10,000 all-expenses-paid trip to Montreal, Canada; a ski trip to Park City, Utah; tickets to a Paul McCartney concert in New Orleans; a $17,420 Panerai wristwatch; dinners at upscale restaurants; nights out at strip clubs; prostitutes; and cocaine.

The state's pension fund has been the source of scandal before.

In 2010, a state comptroller pleaded guilty to charges he steered pension funds to a campaign contributor. Further investigations revealed investors' widespread use of so-called placement agents to access pension funds, an arrangement some regulators have likened to pay-to-play.

Kang had been fired in 2012 by a private investment firm for accepting gifts from Schonhorn in exchange for steering fixed-income business, but he lied about his termination when he was hired by the state fund, according to the complaint.

Asked whether state officials properly investigated Kang before hiring him, a spokesman for the comptroller's office said only that "background checks are a routine part of the hiring process."

Credit: AP

Investors Worry as Financial Picture of Italy’s Oldest Bank Deteriorates

2016-12-21T13:08:00.001-08:00

A customer in a Monte dei Paschi di Siena bank branch in Siena, Italy, last week. The bank’s shares plunged on Wednesday. Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg

LONDON — Investors are increasingly sounding the alarms over Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the beleaguered Italian lender, as concerns mounted on Wednesday about its ability to raise new capital and avoid a government bailout.

The troubled Italian banking system, stuffed with dubious loans, has broadly put global policy makers and investors on alert for signs of a potential shock. And Monte dei Paschi, the country’s oldest bank, is in the weakest spot.

The bank, which was the worst performer in the European stress tests this year, was given until the end of the month to raise 5 billion euros, or about $5.2 billion. But investors do not seem convinced that the bank can find the funds, sending shares plunging on Wednesday.

Thursday is the deadline for investors to agree to purchase new shares in the lender as part of its recapitalization plan, but news reports have indicated that Monte dei Paschi has struggled in its efforts to sell shares.

The Italian government is preparing for the worst. Italy’s Parliament on Wednesday signed off on a €20 billion plan to potentially bail out the country’s weakest banks.

And Monte dei Paschi’s financial picture is quickly deteriorating. The bank, in a document posted on its website on Wednesday, said that its €11 billion in liquidity would last about four months. The lender had originally said that it expected that capital to last 11 months.

Trading in shares of Monte dei Paschi were suspended for part of the day on Wednesday, with the stock declining as much as 18 percent. Shares ended the day in Milan down 12 percent.

With large losses and continuing capital concerns, shares in Monte dei Paschi, Italy’s third-largest bank by assets behind UniCredit and Banca Intesa Sanpaolo, have been under significant pressure.

The bank is now worth about €1 billion. Its value has drastically eroded, despite raising about €8 billion in recent years.

The bank’s chairman and chief executive left in September after their plans for raising capital received little support in the markets. Marco Morelli, a former Monte dei Paschi executive, rejoined the bank in September as chief executive and has been trying to win over investors.

In October, Mr. Morelli unveiled a turnaround effort. As part of the plan, the bank said that it would cut 2,600 jobs by 2019 and close 500 of its 2,000 branches as part of its reorganization. It also said it would seek to sell some businesses.

A recapitalization plan was central. The bank is selling new shares to the public and seeking to convince existing bondholders to swap their bonds for shares. The deadline for bondholders to agree to the swap was Wednesday afternoon.

Credit: The New York Times

Trump picks China hawk for trade advisory role

2016-12-21T13:07:00.002-08:00

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday named Peter Navarro, an economist who has urged a hard line on China, to head a newly formed White House National Trade Council, the transition team said in a statement.

"The formation of the National Trade Council further demonstrates the President-elect's determination to make American manufacturing great again and to provide every American the opportunity to work in a decent job at a decent wage," the statement said.

Trump made trade a centerpiece of his presidential campaign and railed against what he said were bad deals the United States has made with other countries.

The president-elect, who takes office on Jan. 20, has also threatened to hit Chinese imports with high tariffs and angered Beijing by questioning Washington's longstanding "one China" policy.

Navarro, who advised Trump during the campaign, has authored several books including "Death by China: How America Lost its Manufacturing Base," which was made into a documentary film.

Navarro, a professor at University of California, Irvine, has suggested stepped up engagement with Taiwan, including assistance with a submarine development program.

He argued that Washington should stop referring to the "one China" policy, but stopped short of suggesting it should recognize Taipei, saying "there is no need to unnecessarily poke the Panda."

"I read one of Peter’s books on America’s trade problems years ago and was impressed by the clarity of his arguments and thoroughness of his research," Trump said in the statement.

"He has presciently documented the harms inflicted by globalism on American workers, and laid out a path forward to restore our middle class. He will fulfill an essential role in my administration as a trade advisor," Trump said.

Credit: Reuters

Oil prices fall on U.S. inventory build; Libya output ramps up

2016-12-21T13:06:00.002-08:00

Oil futures fell on Wednesday after Libya said it expects to boost production over the next few months and a report showing a surprise build in U.S. crude inventories last week.

Brent futures for February delivery fell 89 cents, or 1.6 percent, to settle at $54.46 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for February lost 81 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $52.49 per barrel.

Even though WTI futures for February were down, the U.S. front-month gained about 0.5 percent due to the contract roll from lower-priced January to the higher-priced February on Tuesday and closed at its highest level in over a week.

"The big news of the day is that it looks like we're going to get more crude out of Libya," said James Williams, president of energy consultant WTRG Economics in Arkansas.

Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) confirmed on Tuesday that pipelines leading from Sharara and El Feel fields had reopened, saying it hoped to add 270,000 barrels per day (bpd) to national production over the next three months.

"The big question is what will OPEC do about the Libyan increase. With Libya excluded from the production cut agreement, I anticipate the Saudis will unilaterally balance the Libyan crude," WTRG's Williams said.

On Nov. 30, OPEC agreed to cut output by 1.2 million bpd for six months from Jan. 1, with top exporter Saudi Arabia cutting around 486,000 bpd. On Dec. 10, non-OPEC countries including Russia agreed to reduce output by 558,000 bpd, the largest-ever contribution by non-OPEC producers.

In the United States, U.S. crude stocks rose by 2.3 million barrels in the week to Dec. 16 even as refineries hiked output, while gasoline stocks and distillate inventories fell, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. [EIA/S]

That was the first weekly build in crude stockpiles in five weeks. Analysts were expecting U.S. crude inventories to fall by 2.5 million barrels, according to a Reuters poll. [EIA/S]

The EIA report diverged widely from the American Petroleum Institute industry group's data released late Tuesday, which showed a larger-than-expected 4.1-million-barrel crude draw. [API/S]

Oil markets are expected to remain well-supplied despite the planned OPEC and non-OPEC reductions.

Russia's 2016 oil output is expected to total 547.5 million tonnes (11 million barrels per day), a 2.5 percent increase from last year, Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters late on Tuesday.

Credit: Reuters

Tunisian suspect in Berlin Christmas market attack faced past German terror probe, official says

2016-12-21T13:04:00.001-08:00

BERLIN — The prime suspect sought in the deadly attack on a Berlin Christmas market — a 24-year old Tunisian migrant — was the subject of a terrorism probe in Germany earlier this year and was not deported even though his asylum bid was rejected, a senior official said Wednesday.

The suspect — who went by numerous aliases but was identified by German authorities as Anis Amri — became the subject of a national manhunt after investigators discovered a wallet with his identity documents in the truck used in Monday’s attack that left 12 dead, two law enforcement officials told The Washington Post.

Meanwhile, a clearer portrait took shape of the suspect, including accusations that he had contact with a prominent Islamic State recruiter in Germany and once tried to obtain a gun.

German authorities issued a 100,000 euro ($105,000) reward for information leading to his capture, warning citizens not to approach the 5-foot-8, 165-pound Amri, whom they described as “violent and armed.”

His record, however, further deepened the political fallout from Monday’s bloodshed — pointing to flaws in the German deportation system and putting a harsh light on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s humanitarian bid to open the nation’s doors to nearly 1 million asylum seekers last year.

Twelve people were killed and dozens more were injured after a large truck plowed into a Christmas market in Berlin. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack.(Victoria Walker, Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

Although the vast majority of those who flooded into Europe were on the move to escape war and unrest, dozens of terrorism suspects have slipped into Germany and neighboring nations posing as migrants. Amri, officials said, was not part of the surge of migrants who entered Europe via the onetime main route from Turkey and Greece — a path that has been now largely cut off.

Rather, he came to Germany last year via Italy, where he apparently had entered as early as 2012. He applied for German asylum but was rejected in June and later faced deportation.

Amri was the subject of a terrorism probe on suspicion of “preparing a serious act of violent subversion,” and he had known links to Islamist extremists, authorities said.

Why a failed asylum-seeker with such links and no passport was walking German streets is “the question 82 million Germans probably want an answer to,” said Rainer Wendt, Chairman of the German Police Union.

He added: “How many more ticking time bombs are roaming around here? . . . We saw how much damage one person can do with a truck.”

[Gallery: Festive corner of Berlin now a sad memorial]

The dragnet for the suspect appeared to initially focus on the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia as well as Berlin, both places where the Tunisian suspect once lived. Police units were due to stage raids but remained mysteriously on hold.

45 years of terrorist attacks in Europe, visualized VIEW GRAPHIC

The interior minister in North Rhine-Westphalia, Ralf Jäger, said the Tunisian man had bounced around Germany since arriving in July 2015, living in the southern city of Freiburg and later in Berlin.

Although authorities have sought to accelerate the deportation of rejected asylum-seekers this year, there is still a backlog in Germany of tens of thousands, many of whom are able to resist because their countries of origin refuse to take them back. Amri, Jäger said, was one of them.

Amri had not been deported because — like many asylum seekers in Germany — he did not have a passport. The Tunisian government, Jäger explained, initially denied that he was their national and delayed issuing his passport. Pending his deportation, Amri had received a “toleration” status from the government.

Amri’s new Tunisian passport, Jäger said, finally arrived Wednesday.

“I don’t want to comment further on that circumstance,” said a visibly angered Jäger.

According to a German security official with knowledge of the case, Amri earlier this year tried to buy a gun from an informant for the German authorities in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

[Berlin attack: How the events unfolded]

Importantly, authorities knew that Amri had “interacted” with Abu Walaa, a 32-year-old of Iraqi descent arrested in November on charges of recruiting and sending fighters from Germany to the Islamic State. Key evidence in Walaa’s case came from an Islamic State defector who had returned to Germany and accused Walaa of helping to recruit him and arrange his travel to Syria.

A 12-year-old boy of Iraqi descent arrested this month for plotting to plant bombs at Christmas markets in the city of Ludwigshafen, had posted remarks on his Facebook page calling for the release of Abu Walaa. It is unclear yet, if the boy had been in direct contact with him or not.

“Anis Amri was engaging with extremist salafist circles in Germany,” the official said.

According to Karen Müller, spokeswoman of the Berlin prosecutor, Amri had also been under police surveillance for several months until September this year, because he was suspected of planning a burglary in Berlin to finance the purchase of weapons. The suspicion wasn't confirmed. He was, she said, only found to be a small-time drug dealer.

The leaking of the suspect’s name and photograph in the press, authorities said, may have upset attempts to find him. Germany’s interior minister, Thomas de Maizière, would only tell reporters in Berlin that Germany had registered “a suspect” as wanted European data bases. He refused to give further details.

The two German law enforcement officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive case, said investigators discovered the man’s documents in the cabin of the truck that barreled into the market.

It remained unclear whether authorities believe the Tunisian man drove the truck, but police nevertheless made tracking him a priority.

Revelation of the asylum seeker’s background sparked outrage among conservative politicians, and seemed set to damage Merkel, who is running for reelection next year.

“There is a connection between the refugee crisis and the heightened terror threat in Germany,” said Stefan Mayer, parliamentary spokesperson for the Christian Social Union party on domestic affairs told reporters. “This can also be seen in the case of this Tunisian.”

President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday appeared to stand by his plans to establish a registry for Muslims and temporarily ban Muslim immigrants from the United States.

Speaking outside of his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump did not walk back the proposals after he was asked by a reporter whether he was rethinking or reevaluating them in the wake of a fresh terror attack in Berlin.

“You know my plans,” Trump said.

He went on to add that the attack on a Berlin Christmas market, which was claimed by the Islamic State, had vindicated him.

“All along, I’ve been proven to be right. One hundred percent correct,” Trump said. “What’s happening is disgraceful.”

[What’s known so far about the Berlin investigation]

Germany’s Bild newspaper said Amri had several aliases and was apparently born in the southern Tunisian desert town of Tataouine in 1992.

Witnesses described one man fleeing the scene after the truck — packed with a cargo of steel — roared into revelers at a traditional Christmas market. One suspect, a Pakistani asylum-seeker, was arrested on Monday night, but authorities later released him due to lack of evidence.

The new information emerged as German investigators raced for clues in the hunt for Amri and any other possible suspects in the deadly assault that left 12 dead and dozens injured. They pored over forensic evidence and GPS data as they sought to retrace the steps of the runaway attacker. They were re-questioning witnesses and analyzing DNA traces found in the truck, as well as on the body of a dead Polish man in the passenger seat.

The Pole worked for a trucking company and was delivering a payload of steel to Berlin. Investigators are currently going on the assumption that he was taken hostage by the assailant — and may even have died a hero. Jörg Radek deputy chairman of the German Trade Union of the Police, said evidence suggested that “a fight took place in the driver’s cabin.” As it careened toward the crowded market, the truck was not driving straight, but “in a zigzag line,” he noted.

[After Berlin, security tightens at Christmas markets]

The Islamic State on Tuesday claimed responsibility for inspiring the unknown attacker — a claim as yet unproven and possibly just opportunistic. But it fueled the leading some politicians to quickly point the finger at Merkel’s refugee policy, even as others pushed back, calling the accusations a politicizing of tragedy that had no place in progressive Germany.

There were also growing calls for the deployment of more police on the streets with military-style weapons - unusual in pacifist Germany. At the normally quaint and picturesque Christmas markets in at least three German cities — Mainz, Magdeburg and Dresden — concrete barriers were quickly erected for added security. In Magdeburg, police officers armed with automatic weapons were guarding the entrance.

Yet others argued that living a free society was perhaps more important, and that Germans were willing to accept a certain measure of risk to preserve that openness.

“If we want to maintain the freedom of our society, we simply have to live with the risk contained in this decision,” Die Tageszeitung said in a Wednesday editorial.

Credit: The Washington Post

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Filings

Feds: Pension exec moved $2B for coke, hookers, other bribes

Investors Worry as Financial Picture of Italy’s Oldest Bank Deteriorates

Trump picks China hawk for trade advisory role

Oil prices fall on U.S. inventory build; Libya output ramps up

Tunisian suspect in Berlin Christmas market attack faced past German terror probe, official says

Islamic State claims responsibility for Berlin truck attack that killed 12