Conservative Merkel faces splits in her right-left coalition and pressure from EU states, including France, over her insistence that Germany can cope with up to 1 million migrants this year and that Europe must accept quotas to take them in.

In a 40-minute speech to the Bundestag lower house of parliament, Merkel said the security threat level in Germany was high but insisted that people must carry on with normal life. "The strongest response to terrorists is to carry on living our lives and our values as we have until now - self-confident and free, considerate and engaged," she said to loud applause.

Popular support for Merkel, who this week marked a decade in power, and her conservative party has waned in the last three months due to the influx of migrants.

"Over these past months we have been encouraging the parties to take affirmative steps to reduce tensions and demonstrate a genuine commitment to a two state solution. I think we may be reaching a pivotal point now where both sides have important decisions to make for the future and we obviously hope that they make choices that will advance the prospects for lasting peace."

Kerry met with both Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Tuesday in Jerusalem and Ramallah to urge both to take steps to calm tensions after a spate of unrest. But he left without a concrete breakthrough and said he would continue to press both leaders on the issue in coming weeks.

"There is a clear link between the protection of nature and the building of a just and equitable social order." Francis has taken on a vocal role in the fight against climate change, injecting a moral voice into a debate usually dominated by economic and political concerns.

His remarks come on the eve of a United Nations climate conference in Paris which will gather more than 145 world leaders for a 12-day summit aimed at securing a climate rescue pact. The 78-year-old pontiff said environmental concerns should be at the forefront of "responsible" economic development.

One OPM letter was provided to WND by an individual who had the following records compromised:

• Social Security number

• Address

• Date and place of birth

• Residency

• Education history

• Employment history

• Personal foreign travel history

• Information about immediate family

• Information about business and personal acquaintances

• Fingerprints

• Other information used to conduct a background investigation

And, as WND Editor and CEO Joseph Farah wrote in his Monday column, when Congress finally got around to investigating the massive cyberbreach, officials from OPM, the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Homeland Security all refused to testify. “It’s almost as shocking as the administration’s negligence in permitting the cyber-attack in the first place,” Farah wrote. “It’s a cover-up, plain and simple. It’s stonewalling on a scale that puts Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton to shame.”

A third reason is that, assuming Turkey’s claim of a 17 second airspace violation is true, 17 seconds is not long enough for a Turkish pilot to get clearance for such a serious and reckless act as shooting down a Russian military aircraft. If the SU-24 was flying at a normal speed rather than one that would be unable to keep the aircraft aloft, the alleged airspace violation would not have been long enough to be noticed. A shootdown had to have been pre-arranged. The Turks, knowing that the Russians were foolishly trusting to the agreement that there be no air to air encounters, told pilots to look for an opportunity.

Turkey’s explanation to the UN Security Council gives itself away as a lie. The letter states: “This morning (24 November) 2 SU-24 planes, the nationality of which are unknown have approached Turkish national airspace. The planes in question have been warned 10 times during a period of 5 minutes via ‘Emergency’ channel and asked to change their headings south immediately.”

As SU-24 are Russian aircraft, as Turkey is able to identify that the aircraft are SU-24s, how then can the nationality of the aircraft be unknown? Would Turkey risk shooting down a US or Israeli aircraft by firing at an unknown aircraft? If the SU-24 takes 17 seconds to fly 1.15 miles, the SU-24s would have only traveled 20.29 miles in five minutes. Does anyone believe that a supersonic aircraft can fly at stall speed for 17 seconds, much less for five minutes?

Do not expect any truth from any Western government or from any Western media. Governments and media know that the Western populations are uneducated, unaware, and can be relied upon to accept any preposterous story. In the West the Matrix has a firm grip. The Russians need to wake up to this fact.

Speaking for the first time since the incident yesterday, Mr Murakhtin said he knew the region like the back of his hand and "couldn't possibly have flown into Turkish airspace". Mr Murakhtin was rescued early on Wednesday by Russian and Syrian commandos and was speaking in televised comments from the Russian Hemeimeem air base in Syria.

Mr Murakhtin, who was at the controls, said Turkey did not give any visual or radio signal before the jet was shot at an altitude of 6,000, he told Russia's Rossiya 1 channel. Mr Murakhtin added that he wants to keep flying missions from the base "to pay them back for my commander".

"There were no warnings, either by radio or visually. There was no contact whatsoever," TASS quoted Murakhtin as saying at a hospital in the Syrian province of Latakia, where Russia has an airbase. "If they wanted to warn us, they could have shown themselves by taking a parallel course. There was nothing. And the missile hit the tail of our aircraft suddenly; we did not see it in time to do an anti-missile manoeuvre."

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday called on Amazon.com Inc to remove "irresponsible and offensive" subway advertisements for a new television show featuring Nazi-inspired imagery. The advertisements for "The Man in the High Castle" completely wrap the seats, walls and ceilings of one train on the heavily utilised shuttle line that connects Times Square and Grand Central Terminal in midtown Manhattan.

The show depicts an alternate reality in which Nazi Germany and Japan have divided control over the United States after winning the Second World War. The advertisements include a version of the American flag with a German eagle and iron cross in place of the stars, as well as a stylized flag inspired by imperial Japan.

"While these ads technically may be within MTA guidelines, they're irresponsible and offensive to World War Two and Holocaust survivors, their families, and countless other New Yorkers," said de Blasio, referring to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the subway system. "Amazon should take them down."

Amazon representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

Obama convened his National Security Council on Tuesday to discuss the recent string of attacks by the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS), which claims it has created a caliphate taking in huge swathes of Iraq and Syria.

Washington and Paris have stepped up their fight against IS, with France launching its first strikes from a newly deployed aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean and the United States calling for more international cooperation against the group. Underlining heightened global fears of attacks after violent extremists killed scores in Mali, Lebanon, Nigeria and Turkey in recent weeks, the US government issued a worldwide travel alert warning American citizens of 'increased terrorist threats.'

But Obama 'was briefed that there is currently no specific, credible threat to the homeland from ISIL,' the White House said in a statement.

A total of €1 trillion of loans are non-performing, hampering efforts to get banks to make new loans to households and businesses that want to spend more or invest. That amounts to 5.6 percent of all loans and advances, down from 6 percent a year ago, the EBA said.

On average, European banks have twice the level of non-performing loans as their US counterparts, which took more action in the wake of the financial crisis to recapitalise and improve their balance sheets. The problem is worst for loans to non-financial services firms, where 10 percent of all loans in Europe have gone bad.

The study looked at 105 banks across the EU and Norway with assets totalling more than €30 trillion, and identified loans as non-performing if payments are more than 90 days late, or if the bank has decided that the capital will not be repaid without use of collateral.

One recording purports to show a uniformed security guard speaking of getting “swastikas in my eyes”. “In two years, there will be a revolution here and there will be no more of all this s***. We’ll clean it all out,” the guard, who has not been named, appears to say. “We have plenty of summer camps, and I swear to you they can be used again. On the gate: work makes you free,” he says. The German phrase he uses, Arbeit macht frei, was infamously written above the entrances to Auschwitz and other Nazi extermination camps.

In a second video, the same guard is heard apparently discussing now abandoned government proposals to hold asylum-seekers in transit zones at the border while their applications are processed. “We call them transit zones. That’s a beautiful word. In the Third Reich, they called them prison camps,” he says.

It is not the first time security guards at the site have been involved in controversy. Some weeks ago, another guard was caught on camera kicking and beating asylum-seekers who were protesting at the long delays processing their applications.

This year, Obama is promising to bring in an extra 10,000 low-skill, potentially difficult-to-integrate Syrian migrants into the United States. Sessions and other critics fear he’ll use his many powers — and Congress’ autopilot funding for refugee programs — to bring in far more than 10,000 migrants.

In fact, from 2010 to 2015, Obama has allowed more than 200,000 low-skill migrants from Central America to enter the United States, and then disappear into the nation’s growing population of at least 11 million illegal immigrants.

Obama says the new refugees will be vetted. But top security officials say the Syrians can’t be vetted because the US doesn’t know what they were doing in Syria before they applied for refugee status.

“The reckless and criminal actions of the Turkish authorities… have caused a dangerous escalation of relations between Russia and NATO, which cannot be justified by any interest, including protection of state borders,” Medvedev said. According to Medvedev, Russia is considering canceling several important projects with Turkey and barring Turkish companies from the Russian market.

Turkey shot down a Russian bomber over Syria on Tuesday, claiming it had violated Turkish airspace. Russia says no violation took place and considers the hostile act as 'a stab in the back' and direct assistance to terrorist forces in Syria.

In fighting IS, it should not be forgotten that in the primarily military and police-led post-9/11 "war on terror," the "number of violence-prone Islamists, who have joined terrorist groups" has not diminished but rather "multiplied dangerously," warns a renowned Middle East expert.

Referring to the fact that the majority of the Paris attackers were citizens of France or Belgium, Hamburg's Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy (IFSH) asks, "what is the purpose of war rhetoric, when a large portion of the problem is homemade?" This "talk about 'defending our values'," will only "steady the stirrups" for a police/military buildup, according to a longtime expert of German/European think tanks.

There is a "sorely felt discrepancy between the values we proclaim and reality," which is a "breeding ground for IS." "We are certainly the rich, but since quite some time, no longer the 'good guys,' in the eyes of many. And some even view us as the barbarians."

It’s the second tipping for Hamtramck (pronounced Ham-tram-ik), which in 2013 earned the distinction of becoming what appears to be the first majority-Muslim city in the United States following the arrival of thousands of immigrants from Yemen, Bangladesh and Bosnia over a decade.

In many ways, Hamtramck is a microcosm of the fears gripping parts of the country since the Islamic State’s attacks on Paris: The influx of Muslims here has profoundly unsettled some residents of the town long known for its love of dancing, beer, paczki pastries and the pope.

Business owners within 500 feet of one of Hamtramck’s four mosques can’t obtain a liquor license, she complained, a notable development in a place that flouted Prohibition-era laws by openly operating bars. The restrictions could thwart efforts to create an entertainment hub downtown, said the pro-commerce mayor.

And while Majewski advocated to allow mosques to issue calls to prayer, she understands why some longtime residents are struggling to adjust to the sound that echos through the city’s streets five times each day. “The Polish people think we were invading them,” said Masud Khan, one of the mosque’s leaders, recalling that time in an interview earlier this month. “We were a big threat to their religion and culture. Now their days are gone.”