The Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group has developed a reputation for teaching its recruits well how to use the internet to plan terrorist attacks and spread their jihadi message. In an alarming development, NBC News reports that now ISIS is boasting a 24-hour “help desk” to teach jihadis how to send encrypted messages out of sight of law enforcement.
Nearly 2,000 Cuban refugees are stranded on the Nicaragua-Costa Rica border after the former nation, an ally of Cuban dictator Raúl Castro, refused them entry despite possessing legal visas from the Costa Rican government. The Nicaraguan military used tear gas and water cannons in the Cubans, injuring many.
The Japanese government has announced that next year, it will open a representative office in Erbil, Iraq, the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq. The office will serve to expand Japan’s role in the region, as well as develop its close relationship with Kurdish leaders.
Diosdado Cabello, the head of Venezuela’s National Assembly and nation’s second-in-command, has accused the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of “kidnapping” two nephews of President Nicolás Maduro following their arrest this month for allegedly attempting to traffic 800 kilograms of cocaine into the United States.
The People’s Democratic Party (HDP), a Turkish left-wing minority party allied with the Kurdish population, has demanded the nation’s Supreme Election Board cancel the results of the November 1 election that locked President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) into the majority position.
After more than a year under the control of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), Kurdish Peshmerga forces have liberated Sinjar City. As the impromptu street parades end and the local Yazidi population slowly trickles back in, civilians must begin the arduous reconstruction of a city in ruins.
Residents in the sleepy suburb of Chartres expressed shock that Omar Ismail Mostefai, a former neighbor who would go on to be identified as a suicide bomber in the Paris massacre last Friday, was their neighbor. “This place has nothing to do with those banlieue in Paris,” one neighbor said, alluding to the dangerous urban areas of the capital known as a breeding ground for violent Muslim youth.
In an impromptu meeting at the sidelines of the G-20 summit currently underway in Turkey, President Barack Obama met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and, according to the White House, both parties agreed on a “political transition” in Syria. The meeting precedes a report claiming Putin has already begun pressuring Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad to step down.
MSNBC has some truly devastating news for GOP presidential contenders Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz: according to impartial ethnic arbiter Chris Matthews, neither of them are Hispanic.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and high-ranking members of the socialist government there have remained mum regarding the arrest of two of Maduro’s nephews this week after attempting to sell cocaine to a DEA informant. On Venezuelan state TV, however, the arrests are treated as hearsay, “unconfirmed” rumors used to smear the head of state.
After announcing that the U.S. presence in the South China Sea would become “routine” as a challenge to Chinese territorial claims this month, the Pentagon announced Thursday it had flown two strategic bombers in the region, which were contacted by Chinese authorities but flew through without incident.
The government of Chad has imposed a state of emergency on the northern region by Lake Chad, which for months has been a major stomping ground for the ISIS-affiliated terror group Boko Haram.
A Japanese newspaper claims to have uncovered a North Korean spy guidebook teaching government officers how to abduct foreigners and extract information from them, proving that North Korea enforced a policy of systematic kidnapping under Kim Jong-Il.
Indonesia’s defense chief told reporters Wednesday that it, too, may take China to court over its outrageous territorial claims in the South China Sea, following the Philippines’ request for the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague to address the matter. The Hague has accepted the petition.
Two nephews of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro have been arrested and extradited to New York on charges of attempting to smuggle 800 kilograms of cocaine into the United States. These arrests follow more than a year of investigations and accusations that Venezuelan government officials are deeply involved in the drug trade.
Zaqueo Báez, the Cuban dissident arrested for approaching Pope Francis during his visit to the island and shouting the word “freedom,” was just freed from prison and is awaiting trial in the communist dictatorship for “public disorder” and “disrespect.”
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that Turkey would consider sending ground forces into Syria to fight the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS), but not unilaterally.
The Chinese Navy docked in Cuba Tuesday night for a five-day trip celebrating the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The three-ship fleet is the first of its kind to visit Cuba, and arrives from Florida, where Chinese and American vessels conducted joint military exercises.
North Korea is planning a major tourism push beginning with new helicopter tours of Pyongyang this month in an attempt to boost one of its largest, and only, industries.
Venezuela is now number five on the list of countries sending the highest number of political asylum requests to the United States, a figure that skyrocketed between February 2014, when socialist President Nicolás Maduro began a violent repression campaign against peaceful activists, and today.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the world’s wealthiest non-jihadist terror group, is condemning the Colombian government’s proposal to stage a plebiscite in which the Colombian public would approve or reject the peace deal signed by the terrorist organization in Havana in September.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro threatened to levy charges against the United States this week for allegedly running spy missions in Venezuelan skies.
The Turkish government announced on Tuesday that the former editor-in-chief of a major newspaper was charged with “attempting a coup” in September and is currently in violation of his arrest warrant.
Relatives of Chinese disaster victims — from a stampede killing 36 in Shanghai to the capsizing of a ferry carrying hundreds to the Tianjin chemical explosion in August — allege that the government has wiretapped their phones, threatened, and sometimes beaten them to keep them from asking questions.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, has promised to evacuate the Sinjar area of northern Iraq once the Islamic State ceases to be a threat to the local Yazidi population. This statement follows days of reports that internal disputes between the PKK and other Kurdish groups have stalled a planned assault on ISIS.
