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39 killed, 70 hurt in Turkey nightclub attack: A New Year's bash in an upscale club in Istanbul's Besiktas municipality turned into yet another bloodbath, with at least 39 revelers killed

Erdogan: Istanbul nightclub attack aims to create chaos: Attacker still at large. Of the 21 dead identified so far, 15 were foreigners. Nationals of Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Lebanon and Libya were among those killed

Turkey Transferring Al-Qaeda Terrorists from Aleppo to Aden; Yemeni security sources disclosed that a Turkish plane has transferred tens of Al-Qaeda terrorists from Syria's Northern city of Aleppo to Yemen's Aden and evacuated wounded pro-Saudi militias to medical treatment centers outside the country

UN council backs Syria ceasefire move by Russia and Turkey; The UN security council has unanimously adopted a resolution supporting efforts by Russia and Turkey to end the nearly six year conflict in Syria and jump-start peace negotiations.

Syrian rebels threaten to abandon truce if alleged violations continue: The deal, brokered during the week by Russia and Turkey, which back opposing sides, reduced the level of violence, but firefights, air strikes and shelling continued in some areas.

Baghdad blasts kill 25 as Mosul fighting intensifies; The blasts, including one suicide attack, tore through a busy market in the Sinak neighborhood, police said. A pro-ISIS news agency said the assailants had targeted Shiite Muslims, whom they regard as apostates.

ISIL attacks Iraqi police near Najaf, kills seven; Armed group claimed responsibility for the attack, which also wounded 17 people including civilians.

Bahrain; One killed as armed men free inmates from Jau prison near Manama: Attackers of prison south of Manama kill one police officer and free prisoners held on terrorism charges, police say.

UN vote tops Wiesenthal list of top 10 antisemitic, anti-Israel cases in 2016: The US abstention from a recent vote against Israeli settlements at the UN Security Council topped the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s annual list released Tuesday of the 10 worst outbreaks of Jew-hatred and anti-Israel incidents.

10-year-old girl used as human bomb in Nigeria New Year's Eve attack; One person was seriously injured when a suicide bomber aged around 10 blew herself up in a New Year's Eve attack in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, witnesses and aid workers told AFP Sunday.

Killing of Hamas-linked drone expert in Tunisia draws public anger: Thousands gathered in on 24 December to protest the man’s murder and what some considered to be a tepid response from their government.

U.S. Special Operations Numbers Surge in Africa’s Shadow Wars: In 2016, 17.26% of all U.S. Special Operations forces — Navy SEALs and Green Berets among them — deployed abroad were sent to Africa

China would 'outlast' US in trade war: China would outlast the US in a trade war, which is a "distinct possibility" next year after President-elect Donald Trump takes office, a commentator wrote in the $1 billion Pine River China Fund's investor letter.

China's CCTV launches global 'soft power' media network to extend influence: The new multilingual media cluster will have six TV channels, a video newsletter agency and a new media agency

South Koreans rally to demand ‘Park-free’ 2017: More than half a million South Koreans marked New Year’s Eve with a massive protest Saturday calling for the immediate arrest and ouster of impeached President Park Geun-Hye.

Washington Post Publishes False News Story About Russians Hacking Electrical Grid: his caused hysteria on social media but has been denied by a spokesman for a Vermont utility company.

War criminal: McCain visits frontline Ukraine troops in anti-Putin gesture: The senator, accompanied by fellow senators Lindsey Graham and Amy Klobuchar, posted photos on Twitter. In one, he is shown posing with troops in front of a Ukrainian flag.

Record number of refugees opt to leave Germany in 2016 | - Illegal Immigrants Receive €3,000 Each to Leave!

Theresa May's criticism of John Kerry Israel speech sparks blunt US reply: State department voices surprise after PM’s spokesman says US secretary of state’s comments on (illegal) settlements were ‘inappropriate’

Re-Energized Dollar Looms Over the Rest of the World: On Wall Street, the rising dollar has been one of the most visible signals of growing optimism in the U.S. economy; for many other countries, it spells trouble.

How A 6-Year-Old Got Locked On A Psych Ward : His parents said the boy had merely thrown a tantrum. But a hospital owned by America’s largest psychiatric chain, UHS, held him for three days — and filed a court petition to keep him even longer.

FBI/DHS Joint Analysis Report: A Fatally Flawed Effort: The FBI/DHS Joint Analysis Report (JAR) “Grizzly Steppe” was released yesterday as part of the White House’s response to alleged Russian government interference in the 2016 election process. It adds nothing to the call for evidence

'This is borderline treasonous': Liberal activists turned to Twitter to suggest President-elect Donald Trump was nearing the line of treason with his Friday praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In 2017, GOP Congress sees mandate to undo Obama's agenda: GOP lawmakers plan to open the 115th Congress on Tuesday and immediately take steps to repeal Obama's health care law. Beyond that, they'll look at a tax overhaul, reversing Obama-era environmental regulations

The public is being kept in the dark about Trump’s deal with Carrier : The state of Indiana, where the affected jobs are located, agreed to give Carrier up to $7 million in tax credits over 10 years to keep the facility open.

Trump Is Truly Cheap, and His Charity a 'Facade': News Analysis - The last verified donation was to the Police Athletic League of New York City in 2009 for just under $10,000.

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Iraq: Joint forces liberate 2 villages, kill 70 IS members in northern Mosul: “Troops of the northern axis managed to liberate the villages of al-Sadah and Tawilah, and raised Iraqi flag over their buildings after inflicting heavy losses on the enemy.”

Over 50 ISIS terrorists killed as Syrian Army advances west of Palmyra: The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) launched a powerful assault against the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham" (ISIS) in the western countryside of Palmyra on Thursday

12 Daesh terrorists killed by Russian airstrikes in Syria's al-Bab; Russian air forces conducted three separate airstrikes in southern parts of Syria's al-Bab killing 12 Daesh terrorists, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) announced on Friday

Syria's nationwide ceasefire holding despite early clashes; Syria's foreign minister has said there is a "real chance" of reaching a political agreement at upcoming negotiations.

Syrian ceasefire does not include Islamic State or YPG, rebel spokesman says: Osama Abu Zaid, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army rebel alliance, also said the Syrian Kurdish PYD political party would not be part of Syrian talks planned for Astana, Kazakhstan.

Cease-fire Agreement in Syria : The agreement shatters the unity of the jihadists, [splintering them] into two groups: in one camp, are those who will pursue the objectives of Nato and who have refused to sign it; and in the other camp are those who have accepted to give up arms.

Russia calls UNSC meeting as new Syria ceasefire comes into force – reports : Russia may propose a resolution endorsing the ceasefire.

Vanessa Beeley: Video - East #Aleppo Liberation Testimonies: Please watch, new information, and confirmation of previous testimonies.

‘Sometimes the baby dies, sometimes the mother’: Life and death in Yemen’s hospitals: The infant was barely breathing when his uncle brought him to the hospital in a cardboard box. He was wrapped in a blue towel, and wads of cotton were stuffed around his frail body to keep him warm.

American Jews Divided Over Strain in U.S.-Israel Relations: Rarely has the situation between the two countries been this stressed, with President Obama under attack not only from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but also from President-elect Donald J. Trump.

DRC: 5 killed as militiamen seek to recover arms in military depot: Five people were killed and four others wounded on Friday in an attack on an army position in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), an official source has disclosed. The dead comprise two Congolese soldiers and three militiamen.

Germany Grapples With Its African Genocide: A century after losing its colonial possessions in Africa, Germany and its former colony, Namibia, are now engaged in intense negotiations to put an end to one of the ugliest chapters of Europe’s past in Africa.

Philippines' Duterte calls U.S. envoys 'spies' over alleged ouster plot; President Duterte derided U.S. ambassadors as "spies" on Thursday, responding to a media report of an alleged American plot to destabilize his government, a job he said some envoys were appointed solely to do.

Taiwanese president plans 2 US stops, likely irking China: Taiwan's president will transit through Houston and San Francisco next month while traveling to Central America, stops that will likely irritate Beijing, which has urged Washington to prevent the self-ruled island's leader from landing in the United States.

China Would Outlast U.S. in Trade War, Billion-Dollar Fund Says: “The balance of power worldwide is much more diffuse compared to the early 20th century, and players like China and India have emerged to create new political centers of gravity,” Wang wrote.

Obama Expels 35 Russian Diplomats, Imposes Sanctions For Alleged Hacking: The move labels diplomats from the Russian embassy in Washington and consulate in San Francisco as "persona non-grata" and is part of a series of actions announced on Thursday, local time, to punish Russia.

Moscow says 96 Russians will have to leave US due to diplomat expulsions; "It is not clear how they could have participated in the activities that, according to the secret services, took place in the spring of 2016," she added.

Putin Rejects Tit-for-Tat After U.S. Expels 35 Russian Diplomats: “We won’t send anyone away,” Putin said in a statement from the Kremlin after his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov asked to approve a mirror expulsion of U.S. diplomats in a televised meeting on Friday

Obama under pressure to prove Russian interference in election: The administration up until now has provided little documentation to back up its official October assessment that the Russian government was attempting to interfere in the U.S. election.

Snowden Document Reveals What the NSA Knew About Previous Russian Hacking: Multiple federal agencies now claim certainty about the Kremlin connection, but they have yet to make public the basis for their beliefs.

The Guardian’s Summary of Julian Assange’s Interview Went Viral and Was Completely False: This article, instead, is about a report published this week by The Guardian that recklessly attributed to Assange comments that he did not make.

UK: From today, the Government is RECORDING everywhere you click online : British web users will be facing unprecedented surveillance under new government legislation that comes into force today.

Former narcotics police chief sentenced to 10yrs for running Finnish drug ring : The former head of the country’s drug squad police has been sentenced to a decade in jail...

Italy's Insolvent Monte Paschi To Issue €15 Billion In Debt: According to daily La Repubblica, Monte dei Paschi would issue the debt in the form of bonds and commercial paper. A third of that debt would have a short-term maturity date, while the rest would mature in three years,

Texas officer shot black man as he walked away, dashcam video suggests: A lawyer for David Collie released a copy of the video showing the July encounter with a Fort Worth officer and a Tarrant County sheriff’s deputy.

Trump: Putin 'very smart' for decision to withhold sanctions: "Great move on delay (by V. Putin) - I always knew he was very smart!" Trump wrote on Twitter from his Florida resort.

Obama seeks to tie Trump's hands: President Obama has taken a number of unilateral actions in the waning days of his tenure that appear designed to box in President-elect Donald Trump.

Donald Trump Adviser Says U.S. Should ‘Make The Russians Feel Pain’ For Meddling In Election: Donald Trump adviser John Bolton is demanding harsher sanctions on Russia, a position in stark contrast to many of his fellow Republicans ? including the president-elect.

Giuliani On Russia: Intel Obama Has Received Is 'Incompetent Or Politicized': "I find it extraordinary in what President Obama is doing," he said. "I've never seen a President try to create more problems for a future president."

Guy Who Called Hillary the C-Word Interviewing With Trump For Agriculture Secretary Job: The tweet wasn’t a retweet, but actually a copy-and-paste job from an alt-right account that Miller’s account followed.

After Trump's win, more U.S. students consider university in Canada: Universities from Quebec to British Columbia say applications and website traffic from the United States have been surging since Trump's victory Nov. 8.

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Almost 100 IS militants killed in clashes, air strike in Iraq`s Mosul: In a second incident, the military said it killed 51 ISIS fighters and injured a number of others after the militant group - using vehicle-borne IEDs and suicide bombers - tried to launch attacks on Iraqi military positions

Islamic State attacks Iraqi army near Mosul, 60 militants killed: The army’s 16th brigade announced on Wednesday, that the Islamic State group launched an attack north of Mosul, while security forces repulsed the attack and destroyed five vehicles.

Clashes in Mosul kill seven Iraqi troops : Some 1,959 members of the Iraqi security forces were killed across the country in November - nearly three times the figure for October, according to the UN.

44 Daesh terrorists killed, 154 targets hit by Turkish military in al-Bab; Located 30 kilometers from the Turkish border, al-Bab used to be home to around 64,000 people, mainly Sunni Arabs, before the Syrian war began in 2011.

Activists: at least 20 killed in Syria airstrike: Report: Several unknown warplanes bombed the village of Hajna the night before, killing 12 people from one family and 10 from another. It said at least 10 children were killed.

Russia's embassy in Damascus comes under terrorist shelling twice over day; On December 28, the Russian embassy in Syria was shelled by terrorists. One mine, which, fortunately, did not explode, fell in the courtyard of the compound of the Russian diplomatic mission’s administrative buildings,"

IED Explosion in Sukare District in East Aleppo: Video - While we were filming the Al Quds and surroundings an IED exploded near by injuring 33 and killing 2. It is standard practice for departing Nusra Front and associated ‘rebel’ militant gangs, to booby trap much of the area they had occupied. Watch:

Turkey and Russia 'agree' on nationwide Syria ceasefire": Truce, excluding areas where Syrian army forces are battling "terrorist" groups, may come into effect by Wednesday midnight.

Turkey Blasts the U.S. for Supporting Terrorists in Syria: There is now “confirmed evidence, with pictures, photos and videos” of the United State’s complicity in and support of terrorist groups in Syria, including the Islamic State group, according to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Syrian Kurds Set to Approve New Govt Blueprint for Autonomy: Syrian Kurdish groups and their allies are this week expected to approve a detailed blueprint for a system of federal government in northern Syria, Kurdish officials said, reaffirming their plans for autonomy as Russia and Turkey seek to revive peace diplomacy.

UN votes to set up panel to prepare Syria war crimes cases: A resolution on establishing the investigative mechanism was adopted in 193-nation assembly by vote of 105 to 15, with 52 abstentions.

Kerry: ‘Israel Can Either Be Jewish or Democratic — It Cannot Be Both’: They have a choice. They can choose to live together in one state or they can separate into two states.

Netanyahu slams Kerry’s ‘skewed’ speech, ‘obsessing’ over settlements: “Like the resolution that John Kerry advanced at the UN [Security Council], John Kerry gave a skewed speech against Israel."

Kerry's speech biased against Israel: Netanyahu: In a statement in English issued by the Prime Minister's Office, Netanyahu said: "Like the Security Council resolution that Secretary Kerry advanced in the U.N., his speech tonight was skewed against Israel."

Trump urges Israel to ‘stay strong’ till January 20: Netanyahu tweets his thanks as president-elect slams UN resolution on settlements, saying US can’t keep treating Jewish state with ‘total disdain’

Donald Trump, Republicans threaten to get back at UN for Israel resolution: President-elect Donald Trump is joining the cavalcade of Republicans who are denouncing the United Nations over its Friday resolution to stop Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Netanyahu 'told New Zealand backing UN vote would be declaration of war': Israeli PM reportedly warned that support for motion on settlements would ‘rupture relations’ between two countries

The Zionist Plan for the Middle East: Theodore Herzl, the founder of Zionism, says that the area of the Jewish State stretches: "From the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates."

Netanyahu to be investigated for bribery, fraud — report: Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit reportedly approved a full criminal investigation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into allegations of bribery and fraud.

Dozens of Boko Haram fighters surrender in southern Niger; Dozens of Boko Haram fighters have given themselves up to authorities in southern Niger, the interior minister said, days after the Islamist group suffered key losses over the border in Nigeria.

Russia "Tired Of Obama Lies About Hackers", Vows Response To Any New Sanctions: Putin won't take this laying down. If U.S. adopts new sanctions against Russia, govt in Moscow will resort to counter-measures, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warns in a website statement.

Germany: 54,000 migrants get grants to return home in 2016; Interior Ministry spokesman Harald Neymanns said the government has authorized spending 21.5 million euros ($22.5 million) this year to send returnees back to their countries of origin.

Theresa May lacks 'courage' to admit scale of Brexit, warns senior civil servant; Theresa May is failing to summon the courage to acknowledge the “complexity” of leaving the EU, the head of the senior civil servants’ union has claimed.

Britain plans to roll out voter ID: The British government said Tuesday it would begin rolling out mandatory identity checks for voters, prompting a backlash from those who say the move could effectively disenfranchise millions.

Japanese PM offers ‘everlasting condolences’ to Pearl Harbour victims: Shinzo Abe says Japan will never wage war again during historic visit to Hawaii

U.S. Navy repeatedly dismissed evidence that ‘Fat Leonard’ was cheating the 7th Fleet; The Navy allowed the worst corruption scandal in its history by dismissing a flood of evidence that the Asian defense contractor was bribing officers with booze, sex and lavish dinners

Kissinger advises Trump to accept Crimea as Russia ; Donald Trump brings a political heavyweight to his side. The legendary former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is positioning himself as a potential intermediary as Trump signals that he wants a more cooperative relationship with Moscow

Trump eyes Kissinger, 93, as go-between with Russia: The news that the 93-year-old has been consulted by Mr Trump and may play a part in crafting US policy was welcomed by the Kremlin.

Russia: Obama Signed Defense Bill To Create Problems For Trump; Russia is accusing President Obama of creating problems for President-elect Donald Trump by signing the annual defense policy bill last week.

CIA's Russia Hacking Claims Dismissed as 'Bulls***' Former UK Ambassador; 'I know who leaked them. I’ve met the person who leaked them, and they are certainly not Russian and it’s an insider. It’s a leak, not a hack'

Graham: 99 percent of senators believe Russia interfered in election: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says President-elect Donald Trump is at odds with nearly the entire Senate over whether Russia interfered in the election.

Houston Police Force Homeless People to Throw Away Food: On Thursday, the Houston Police Department targeted a group of homeless advocates who were attempting to hand out hot food and gifts to the homeless.