Commercial-scale oil smuggling from Islamic State controlled territory into Turkey must be stopped, Putin said after meeting Hollande in Moscow. “Vehicles, carrying oil, lined up in a chain going beyond the horizon,” said Putin, reminding the press that the scale of the issue was discussed at the G20 summit in Antalya earlier this month, where the Russian leader demonstrated reconnaissance footage taken by Russian pilots.

The views resemble a “living oil pipe” stretched from ISIS and rebel controlled areas of Syria into Turkey, the Russian President stressed. “Day and night they are going to Turkey. Trucks always go there loaded, and back from there – empty.”

When it came time to speak, Pope Francis delivered his sharpest remarks yet on his first trip to Africa. He lashed out against what he called “new forms of colonialism, which would make African countries parts of a machine, cogs on a gigantic wheel.” Francis said that “countries are frequently pressured to adopt policies typical of the culture of waste, like those aimed at lowering the birthrate.” He even called the slums “wounds” inflicted by the elite. “How can I not denounce the injustices which you suffer?” he said.

There are few places more apt for Francis, who has cast himself as a champion of the world’s poor, to deliver such remarks. The slum he visited, Kangemi, on the outskirts of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, is a seemingly endless rusted-roof settlement where thousands of families cram into iron shacks with ripped mattresses on the floor and cockroaches scuttling in the unlit corners. Many here survive on a few dollars a day.

The subject has been a bit awkward for him because the corruption plaguing Kenya has been carried out, according to numerous allegations, by members of the same government that has placed the red carpet under his feet. “Corruption is something that eats inside, it’s like sugar, it’s sweet, we like it, it’s easy,” Francis said. “Please,” he implored. “Don’t develop that taste.”

The EU has stumbled in its responses to these problems while suffering from an image of a bloated, wasteful bureaucracy bent on undermining the sovereign powers of the European nations. Its remedy for every problem is repetition of a tired mantra: "more Europe." Designed 60 years ago for a very different world, the EU's aims no longer match the priorities of today.

The US has long been a supporter of European integration. This dates back to 1946 and George Kennan's famous telegram favoring European integration under French leadership to help rekindle the German economy and provide a bulwark against communism. More recently, US administrations have been deceived by the idea that the EU would provide an answer to its long-standing demand for greater burden sharing by the Europeans.

But the EU does not make a strong partner. The eurozone economy is sclerotic with 11 percent unemployment and 22 percent youth unemployment, double the rates of the UK and US. As even German Chancellor Angela Merkel observed, "the EU accounts for just over 7 percent of the world’s population, 25 percent of its economy, and 50 percent of global social welfare spending.” This is an unsustainable situation. It’s no wonder the EU is increasingly unpopular.

And his warning also came alongside what appeared to be a sly dig at German leader Angela Merkel, who said migrants are welcome in Europe, as he declared: "It was not France that said come." In an interview with German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Mr Valls said: "We cannot accomodate any more refugees in Europe, that's not possible."

He said: "If we don't do that, the people will say 'enough is enough'." Mrs Merkel has come under fire for her welcoming comments to refugees, many of which are fleeing war and persecution in the Middle East and north Africa, after the flow pouring into Europe turned into unprecedented numbers.

The migrant situation took a drastic turn last week after it emerged that the ISIS terrorists who killed 130 people and injured hundreds more in Paris took advantage of the migrant crisis to "slip into" the country unnoticed. The revelation came from Mr Valls as he revealed how those linked to the atrocities may have gained access to his country from outside the EU.

He described how some slipped through the net by using the refugee system to wreak havoc in Paris. Mr Valls said: "These individuals took advantage of the refugee crisis… of the chaos, perhaps, for some of them to slip in to France. Others were in Belgium already. And others, I must remind you, were in France."

Under the last government, flags displayed at government events including press conferences were equally split between the Polish national, and the European Union. It was all change at Tuesday’s press conference with new Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, who appeared at her podium with Polish flags only.

Asked about the change, Mrs Szydlo said she was happy with Poland remaining inside the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, but national matters called for the national flag. In future government press briefings “will be held only with the most beautiful red and white Polish flags”, said Mrs Szydlo.

The new foreign minister Witold Waszczykowski …also stood by the comments of a party colleague who said migrants brought diseases and parasites into Europe, when pressed by the BBC to condemn them. Citing his experience with Arab countries, Mr Waszczykowski said: “Such a large, uncontrolled migration may cause problems for the life of Europe. I spent years living in foreign countries, living in the Middle East. I was the ambassador to Iran. I know this region, I know the culture, I know what might happen with uncontrolled migration from regions where war has been going on for years”.

Over the past few years, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Freddie Gray have all become household names because of the way that they died, and now it looks like Laquan McDonald’s name will be added to that list. But the situation in Chicago is potentially even more volatile than what we witnessed in either Ferguson or Baltimore.

More than a million African-Americans live in the Chicago metropolitan area, and the crime rate in the city has already been skyrocketing. In fact, it is being projected that Chicago’s murder rate will increase by 20 percent in 2015. This is a city that is always living on the edge of chaos, and now the video of Laquan McDonald’s death could be the spark that sets Chicago ablaze.

After everything that has happened over the past few years, the last thing that we need is another incident that will make racial tensions in this country even worse. Unfortunately, that appears to be exactly what we are going to get. Cook County Judge Franklin Valderrama ordered the city of Chicago to release the video of the death of Laquan McDonald to the public, and now the entire country is going to get to see what really happened. Could this be the footage that causes the anger and frustration of the African-American community to completely boil over?

If you live anywhere near Chicago, you need to prepare yourself and your family for what could happen next. Now that this video is available to the public, it could set off anger unlike anything we have seen up to this point, and that would not be good for any of us.

But the EU wants to encourage Turkey to stem the flow of migrants to Europe. The whole idea of Turkey joining the EU is very controversial. Many European politicians, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, are unenthusiastic. Such a large, mainly Muslim country with many rural poor could change the whole character of the EU, critics argue.

Turkey's EU negotiations began in 2005, but so far only 13 chapters have been opened and only one - science and research - has been provisionally closed. Chapter 17 of the EU acquis - the rules that would-be members have to sign up to - covers economic and monetary policy. Mr Bozkir tweeted that Chapter 17 would be opened at talks on 14-15 December in Brussels.

The European Commission has urged Turkey to strengthen democracy and human rights, underlining the need for deeper judicial reform. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's crackdown on political opponents has drawn much criticism in the EU.

"There is a sense of fear in the streets, the Belgians understand that they too are targets of terror. Jews now pray in their homes [as opposed to at synagogues] and some of them are planning on emigrating," Gigi said. "Since Shabbat the city has been paralyzed. The synagogues were closed, something which has not happened since World War Two. People are praying alone or are holding small minyanim [small prayer groups] at private homes."

"Schools and theaters are closed as are most large stores and public events are not permitted. We live in fear and wait for instructions from the police or the government," he said. Gigi gave a breakdown of the Belgian Jewish population which he said numbered 50,000.

"There are 25,000 Jews in Brussels, 18,000 in Antwerp and the rest live in smaller places. There has been aliya to Israel as well as emigration to Canada and the US. People understand there is no future for Jews in Europe," he said.

The decision to commit military personnel and hardware is a shift for Germany, which has resisted such direct involvement in the conflict. It still has no plans to join France, the United States and Russia in conducting air strikes in Syria. "Today the government took difficult but important and necessary decisions," Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen told reporters after meeting with lawmakers. "We are standing with France, which was hit by these inhuman attacks from IS."

Chancellor Angela Merkel promised the support, which must still be approved by parliament, during talks with French President Francois Hollande in Paris on Wednesday. Berlin expects to commit four to six Tornado jets, provide satellite support, refueling planes and a frigate to help protect the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, which the French navy has sent to the eastern Mediterranean to support air strikes in both Syria and Iraq.

But as Pope Francis begins his first trip to Africa on Wednesday, he will also face a powerful and assertive Roman Catholic Church in Africa that is wary of calls to make the institution more welcoming to people who are divorced, gay or cohabiting without being married.

“Yes, we are more conservative,” said Bishop Renatus Leonard Nkwande, of the Tanzanian diocese of Bunda. The African bloc’s role, he said, is “to defend the teaching of the church, the teaching of the book.” Both Africa and Francis himself, the first pope from Latin America, symbolize the importance of the southern hemisphere to the future of the Catholic Church worldwide.

According to the publication, the son of Turkish President, Bilal Erdogan, is associated with terrorists and ISIS' control of oil flow in the country. It is a fact that Russian aircraft launched massive strikes on the oil fields of the terrorists, causing Turkish authorities to use its last straw. The umbrella of the Turkish authorities with the terrorists is of a cooperative nature, many experts constantly say. In mass media there were photos published of the heir to the Turkish leader posing next to the leaders of the "Islamic state".

Turkey deliberately interferes with the conduct of Russian military operations in Syria, because ISIS terrorists were transporting, to Turkey, cheap oil, and the Russian planes are destroying columns of trucks, — says military expert, Director of the Center for Strategic Conjuncture Ivan Konovalov. Recall that the RF ATT bombers struck a powerful airstrike on the oil fields of ISIS terrorists. For two days, Russian aircraft bombed the oil farms, the refineries, and several columns of trucks.

"Hello Barbie is a terrible toy that threatens children's privacy…" said Josh Golin, CCFC's executive director. “We must stop Mattel and ToyTalk from spying on children's private play and spawning a whole host of eavesdropping imitators." Google's patent describes toys that are equipped with microphones, speakers, cameras and a Wi-Fi connection.

These 'toys' are always on, listening for a trigger word. The toys use a trigger word which causes them to wake up and turn their gaze towards the person addressing them, they also check if the person talking is making eye contact. The patent adds, that making the device look "cute" should encourage even the youngest members of a family to interact with it. "Young children might find these forms to be attractive," it says.

Hello Barbie is equipped with speech recognition and archives every session, which 'parents' (not law enforcement wink, wink) can access to spy on their kid's conversations. "Hello Barbie includes enabling speech recognition (so we can provide meaningful responses to what you and your children say) and archiving play sessions of children for their parents to access."

Hello Barbie's audio recordings are shared with third party vendors… "Hello Barbie may share certain transcripts of recordings with Mattel, which will be used solely for the purpose of enabling Mattel to assist us in improving the scripting of Hello Barbie. We share audio recordings with third party vendors who assist us with speech recognition…" How long before DHS/Police use these ‘toys’ to spy on EVERY family?

The single currency cannot survive if the free movement of people granted by the passport-free travel zone ends, the president of the European Commission said, in the starkest warning yet. Mr Juncker could only watch this summer after state after state reintroduced border controls in a desperate attempt to halt the influx of hundreds of thousands of migrants. The Paris terrorist attacks led France to announce indefinite border checks.

"We have to safeguard the spirit behind Schengen,” Mr Juncker told the European Parliament. “Yes, the Schengen system is partially comatose. But those who believe in Europe, its values, its principles and its freedoms, must try to breathe new life into the spirit behind Schengen.

"If the spirit leaves our hearts, we will lose more than Schengen. A single currency does not exist if Schengen fails. It is not a neutral concept. It is not banal. It is one of the pillars of the construction of Europe."

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, issued an ultimatum on Wednesday to EU leaders to embrace Mr Juncker’s troubled migrant relocation scheme or see the collapse of free movement. Mrs Merkel drove the policy to relocate 160,000 people around the EU against the heads of eastern European states. Two months on, the project has flopped. Member states have offered just 3,000 places and 159 people have been moved.