ABU DHABI - Queen Rania of Jordan has launched a public attack on Islamic State saying the extremists are trying to ‘hijack’ the Arab world and ‘drag us back to the Dark Ages’ through their use of social media. Speaking at the Abu Dhabi Media Summit, the 44-year-old wife of Crown Prince Abdullah of Jordan spoke out against the horror videos of decapitated prisoners being promoted by Isil.
GERMANY - Commerzbank, Germany’s second-largest bank, a toppling marvel of ingenuity during the Financial Crisis that was bailed out by ever dutiful if unenthusiastic taxpayers, will now reward these very folks with what Germans have come to look forward to: the Wrath of Draghi.
USA - A new kind of security guard is on patrol in Silicon Valley: crime-fighting robots that look like they’re straight out of a sci-fi movie. At first glance, the K5 security robot looks like a cartoonish Star Wars character. They are unarmed, but they are imposing: about 5 feet tall and 300 pounds, which very likely will make someone think twice before committing a crime in their presence.
ITALY - Pope Francis warned Thursday that planet earth would not forgive the abuse of its resources for profit, urging the world's leaders to rein in their greed and help the hungry - or risk a doomsday scenario in which nature would exact revenge. "God always forgives, but the earth does not," the Argentine pope told the Second International Conference on Nutrition (CIN2) in Rome, a three-day meeting aimed at tackling malnutrition, a global scourge which afflicts poor and rich alike. "Take care of the earth so it does not respond with destruction," he warned representatives from 190 countries gathered for the conference organised by the UN food agency (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) in the Italian capital.
USA - Millions of immigrants living illegally in the US will be allowed to apply for work permits under a major shake-up unveiled by President Barack Obama. They include immigrants living in the US for five years who have children staying legally in the US. Up to five million are expected to benefit from a reform package forced through using executive orders, which allow Mr Obama to bypass Congress. Republicans have accused the president of an "illegal power-grab". There are estimated to be 11 million illegal immigrants in the US.
UK - The public is being warned about a website containing thousands of live feeds to baby monitors, stand-alone webcams and CCTV systems. Data watchdogs across the world have drawn attention to the Russian-based site, which broadcasts footage from systems using either default passwords or no log-in codes at all. The site lists streams from more than 250 countries and other territories. It currently provides 500 feeds from the UK alone. The site's database shows listings for 4,591 cameras in the US, 2,059 in France and 1,576 in the Netherlands. As well as setting hard-to-guess passwords instead of the default one that came with the device, camera owners are also being advised to check their equipment and turn off remote access if they do not need it.
ROMANIA - The surprising victory of ethnic German Klaus Iohannis in Romania's presidential election has put the spotlight on the country's German minority population. "Romanian Germans" is an umbrella term for the German minority living in what is now part of modern-day Romania. Some 40,000 Romanian citizens identified themselves as ethnic Germans in the country's last census in 2012. The largest groups are the Siebenbürger Saxons in the middle of the country, and the Banat Swabians in the West.
USA - Just when beleaguered Buffalo residents started to dig out from a historic blizzard that dumped up to 65 inches - it's snowing again in western New York. The new lake effect storm could pile another three feet - bringing the total to eight feet in some places - on a region already struggling to cope with an unprecedented mid-November storm. Authorities have been waging a losing battle to clear away the incredible mounds and the additional wintry blast will make it even harder for the region to return to normal life.
UK - UKIP has its second elected MP at Westminster after Mark Reckless won the Rochester and Strood by-election. Mr Reckless took 16,867 votes, 2,920 more than Conservative Kelly Tolhurst's 13,947, with Labour's Naushabah Khan on 6,713 - ahead of the Green Party. The Lib Dems came fifth with their lowest vote total in a by-election. Mr Reckless, whose defection from the Tories to UKIP triggered the contest in Kent, said: "If UKIP can win here, we can win across the country." The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said UKIP had proved it could take on and defeat the entire Conservative party machine. The ease with which they demolished a 9,000 Tory majority was striking and this after the Conservatives had strained every sinew to halt the UKIP bandwagon.
UK - Ofsted was accused of “political correctness” after downgrading a top rural primary school for effectively being too English. The education watchdog faced a backlash from MPs and parents following the decision to penalise Middle Rasen primary in Lincolnshire for not having enough black or Asian pupils. In a report, inspectors said the school was “not yet outstanding” because pupils’ cultural development was limited by a “lack of first-hand experience of the diverse make up of modern British society”.
ISRAEL - The gruesome slaying of five Israelis at a synagogue early Tuesday left many residents of this city fearing that the worst is still to come, as Jerusalem descends deeper into a cycle of terror attacks and violent protest over its religious sites.
EUROPE - Lethal anti-Semitism in Israel and across Europe has sparked enhanced security measures in Diaspora communities. Following this week’s deadly attack on a Jerusalem synagogue and the stabbing of a Jewish man in Belgium, the security unit of British Jewry advised vigilance around Jewish institutions. The British Community Security Trust, an organization devoted to the security of British Jewry, issued the warning Tuesday in a bulletin that contained nine instructions to Jewish institutions, including a call to “ensure visible external security patrols take place to deter and detect hostile activity” and immediate reporting to police of any suspicious behavior.
UK - The Conservatives are prepared to campaign to leave the European Union if David Cameron is unable to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with Brussels successfully, one of the Prime Minister’s key allies has said. On the eve of a bitterly fought by-election in which the UK’s standing in Europe has featured prominently, Oliver Letwin said that if Mr Cameron failed to gain a better deal for Britain in Europe, he “would want to recommend leaving”. In unguarded comments disclosed ahead of the Rochester and Strood contest, which the Tories are expected to lose, Mr Letwin said he could “certainly not” guarantee that Mr Cameron’s renegotiation with the EU would be successful.
UK - The number of deaths from terrorism increased by 61% between 2012 and 2013, a study into international terrorism says. There were nearly 10,000 terrorist attacks in 2013, a 44% increase from the previous year, the Global Terrorism Index 2014 report added. The report said militant groups Islamic State, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and the Taliban were behind most of the deaths. Iraq was the country most affected by terrorism, the report said. The report by the Institute for Economics and Peace says that nearly 18,000 people died from terrorist attacks in 2013. Five countries - Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria - accounted for 80% of the deaths from terrorism in 2013. More than 6,000 people died in Iraq alone.
USA - With Archbishop Cupich now seated, Pope Francis gets a media-savvy American communicator in tune with his message of reinvigorating the church by stressing mercy over judgmentalism, change over stasis, and the imperative for all Catholics to go to the margins of society to serve the poor, migrants and those without hope. It is a message that not every bishop has enthusiastically embraced.