Israel Bombs South Syria after IS-Linked Militant Attack

JERUSALEM - The Israeli army bombed a building in Syria used to launch an Islamic State-linked attack against a military patrol, said an army statement on Monday.

An Israeli military source told EFE that the Air Force on Sunday hit an abandoned United Nations building which had been used as an operational center by Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, a local organization that swore allegiance to the IS.

Early Sunday morning, the IS opened machine gun and mortar fire against a Golani Brigade patrol on duty in the Golan heights, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

The Israeli army responded by bombing the vehicle the militants were driving.

The military spokesperson could not confirm the exact number of casualties during the operation.

The Golan Heights have been a hotspot of violence since the Syrian conflict began five years ago, with stray artillery shells often landing on the Israeli occupied zone.

Israel responds by returning fire against the attackers or by shelling Syrian army positions.

The last incident took place on Nov. 9, when Israeli aircraft bombed a series of Syrian positions in response to a shell that hit Israeli occupied territory.

32 Bodies, 9 Heads Found in Clandestine Graves in Southern Mexico

CHILPANCINGO, Mexico – The prosecutor’s office of the southern Mexican state of Guerrero said on Thursday they have recovered 32 bodies and nine severed heads from 20 clandestine graves in Cerro Tenanchitla in Zitlala municipality.

Roberto Alvarez Heredia, spokesperson of the Guerrero Coordination Group, made up of federal and state forces, said experts from the prosecutor’s office and the forensic medical service recovered the human remains, which were taken to the state’s capital, Chilpancingo, to start the process of identifying them.

He added although the excavations of the graves were complete, personnel from the Secretariat of National Defense will continue scanning the area for more clandestine graves.

The prosecutor’s office said in a statement that human remains were found in only 17 of the 20 clandestine graves and that none of the bodies have been identified so far nor any arrests made.

An anonymous tip-off led the police to the graves in Zitlala, where they also rescued alive a kidnap victim and recovered several abandoned vehicles

Spanish shelter head on trial for 'killing' over 2,000 animals

Wolf kills beloved pet dog at farmhouse door in Galicia

Published: 22 Nov 2016 15:19 GMT+01:00

A family in Spain’s northwestern region of Galicia were left distraught after a wolf came to their door and slaughtered their pet Pomeranian.

Tatiana Díaz Fernández said she was standing in the door of her rural home in Mintiráns, near Muxía, when a wolf appeared from the darkness and snatched up her tiny pet.

The four-year-old dog weighed just 4 kg and was likely killed instantly in the jaws of the wolf before the wild animal bounded off into the night.

The tiny dog was a Pomeranian weighing just 4kg. Archive photo:Greg Treharne / Flickr

"I just opened the door to let the dog out so it could do its business and then, barely 30cm from my feet it was snatched by a wolf," the distressed owner told La Voz de Galicia.

It is just the latest in a spate of attacks by wolves on dogs in the area, reported the newspaper. In late October two farm dogs that lived outside in nearby A Frouxeira were found dead, having been ripped apart by wolves.

Residents in the region say they are now scared to leave their dogs outside or even let their children play in the garden.

"We know that the wolf is a very protected animal, but how can we dare live like this?" said Díaz.

"People are scared to let their dogs go out and we are afraid for the children," she said.

The episodes highlight the fragile coexistence between farming communities and Spain’s indigenous wolf population.

Spain’s population of Canis lupus signatus, was hunted to the point of near extinction by the middle of last century but thanks to conservation efforts has made a comeback over recent decades.

There are now estimated to be more than 2,000 individual wolves from at least 250 distinct packs roaming Spain, from the mountains of the northern Spain to just 80km of Madrid in the Sierra Norte.

But farmers are not always happy about the conservation efforts complaining that the wolf attacks aredepleting their livestock. Regional governments spend tens of thousands of euros each year compensating their losses.

Iraqi government left thousands of Iraqi Sunnis civilians displaced from #Mosul,

#MosulAid
Iraqi government left thousands of Iraqi Sunnis civilians displaced from #Mosul, with no food, no water, no tents
shame on you pic.twitter.com/t3KEwKWiFu

— #IRAQ شمرية العراق (@moonnor27) November 23, 2016

Kosovo Police Arrest 19 Suspected IS Militants, Foil Terror Plans

BELGRADE – Kosovo police in the past 10 days have arrested 19 suspected Islamic State militants suspected of preparing an attack during a soccer match in neighboring Albania, police said on Thursday.

The group was planning terror attacks in Kosovo and against the national Israeli soccer team and fans, police said, as cited by Kosovo news site “Zeri.info.”

The terror plans, allegedly led by a man identified as L.M., included an attack during the World Cup 2018 qualifying round between Albania and Israel played on Nov. 12.

Albanian authorities moved the match from the city of Shkodër, northwestern Albania, to the central city of Elbasan over fears of a possible attack.

Israel won the match 3-0, amid heightened security involving over 2,000 police officers.

Of the 19 detainees, 18 were held in preventative detention.

All of the arrested were Kosovars, with the exception of a Macedonian national.

Kosovo police reportedly found 2.5 kilograms of explosives, among other weapons such as assault rifles, shotguns, pistols and munitions, as well as extremist literature.

In 2015, Kosovo – a former part of Serbia that was granted independence in 2008 – approved 15-year prison sentences for Kosovars caught fighting in a foreign conflicts.

U.S. Intelligence Chief to Step Down

WASHINGTON – The U.S. director of national intelligence, James Clapper, announced on Thursday that he will leave the post on Jan. 20, 2017, when President Barack Obama hands over the White House to Donald Trump.

“I submitted my letter of resignation last night, which felt pretty good,” the 75-year-old Clapper said during an appearance before the House of Representatives Select Committee on Intelligence.

“I got 64 days left and I think I’d have a hard time with my wife anything past that,” he said.

The retired Air Force lieutenant general signaled some time ago that he was ready to leave the government.

Clapper initially stepped away from public life in 1995, but returned to the national security sector following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Obama named him to the post of director of national intelligence in 2010.

As Washington’s spy chief, Clapper had to respond to questions and concerns about the extent of the U.S. intelligence community’s surveillance of private individuals and the issue brought him into conflict with some in Congress.

“During Director Clapper’s tenure, senior intelligence officials engaged in a deception spree regarding mass surveillance. Top officials, officials who reported to Director Clapper, repeatedly misled the American people and even lied to them,” Sen. Ron Wyden said Thursday in a statement.

In March 2013, during a hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Wyden asked Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper the following question:

“Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?”

Clapper, who was under oath, responded “No, sir.”

“It does not?” the Oregon Democrat asked again.

“Not wittingly. There are cases where they could inadvertently perhaps collect, but not wittingly,” the director said.

Three months later, whistleblower Edward Snowden provided documents showing that the U.S. National Security Agency had collected the telephone records of tens of millions of U.S. residents.

Additional revelations detailed NSA programs to collect individuals’ Web-browsing histories, chat logs, e-mail usage and physical locations.