Author Archives: Pat Turnbaugh

Syrian Opposition Agrees to Meet Government for Peace Talks

Syrian opposition forces have agreed to meet with the government for peace talks next month.

A wide variety of critics of President Bashar al-Assad, consisting of both political opponents and rebel forces, had spent the past two days in the Saudi Arabian city of Riyadh trying to develop a unified vision as to how they could politically put an end to the country’s ongoing civil war.

On Friday, the Syrian Coalition released a statement saying the group was successful.

Its members said they’re seeking a new, pluralistic democracy built upon equality, transparency, accountability and law. The coalition said in the statement that it will form a committee that will pick the delegates to attend the meeting with Assad, but neither the president nor those in his current regime could participate in the transition process “or any future political settlement.”

The coalition said it wants equal rights in Syria, and wants to craft a regime “that represents all sectors of the Syrian society, with women playing an important role and with no discrimination against people, regardless of their religious, denominational or ethnic backgrounds.”

Reuters reported the peace talks will take place in the first 10 days of January.

Syria has been in turmoil since 2011, when Assad’s opponents began a rebellion that developed into a civil war. The BBC reported Friday that at least 250,000 people have died and about 11 million additional people have been driven from their homes as a result of the ongoing conflict.

Flight of 163 Syrian Refugees Arrives in Canada

A plane carrying 163 Syrian refugees arrived in Canada this week, Canada’s government said.

A Royal Canadian Air Force plane brought them to Toronto’s Pearson International Airport on Thursday night. It was the first flight of privately sponsored Syrian refugees to arrive in Canada.

Canada’s newly elected Liberal government, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has announced it plans to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees in the country by the end of February. The government wants 10,000 of those refugees to arrive in Canada before the new year.

Trudeau originally wanted to bring in all 25,000 refugees by the end of 2015, but adjusted the timeline in November. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported at the time that host communities needed more time to prepare for the refugees, but some politicians had asked for more time for security vetting.

Canada’s resettlement plan says that security checks on refugees will be conducted overseas, before the Syrians even board airplanes. Canada is working with the United Nations Refugee Agency and government of Turkey to select refugees who are not seen as potential security risks and are particularly vulnerable, like members of the LGBT community and complete families.

The government says 687 total Syrian refugees have arrived in Canada since November.

Trudeau personally greeted the refugees who landed at the airport on Thursday.

“I know that, even for those facing extreme hardship, tragedy, and war in their country, leaving home is very difficult. The transition to a new life in a new country can be a very daunting process,” the prime minister said in a statement. “Let me reassure those coming to our country that our communities and all orders of government will work closely, together, to make it easier for you to adjust to these changes and become full participants in Canadian society.”

On Friday, Canadian National Railway announced it would donate $5 million to help various communities welcome Syrian refugees. Canada’s government has announced it will spend as much as $678 million over the next six years to fund its Syrian refugee resettlement program.

U.S. Official: ISIS Has Acquired Some $1.5 Billion Through Oil Sales, Looting

The Islamic State has acquired about $1.5 billion dollars through black market oil sales and looting bank vaults, according to an official within the United States Treasury Department.

Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Adam Szubin spoke at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London on Thursday, providing insight into the Islamic State’s bankroll. In remarks prepared for delivery, Szubin said black market oil sales have netted the terrorist organization more than $500 million and militants have also looted between $500 million and $1 billion after seizing various bank vaults throughout Iraq and Syria.

The group has also extorted millions more from those living under its control, Szubin said. His prepared comments did not mention a specific window of time in which ISIS acquired the funds.

Reuters reported that Szubin said the Islamic State was “selling a great deal of oil” to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an astonishing revelation given that the Islamic State is currently entrenched in a war with Syrian government forces. Islamic State oil was also being shipped to Turkey and some Kurdish regions in the Middle East, though Reuters quoted Szubin as saying that a “far greater amount” winds up in the hands of al-Assad and his government.

Russian officials had previously accused Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan and his family members of personally benefiting from the Islamic State’s black market oil trade, though Erdogan has publicly denied that and said he would resign if the allegations were proven true.
The two countries have been at odds since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border last month, with each side believing a different set of the circumstances about the event.

United States officials have called for Turkey to seal its border with Syria to disrupt the flow of oil and manpower into Islamic State strongholds, one of several tactics designed to combat ISIS.

The United States is leading a 65-nation coalition, which Britain recently joined, that is carrying out airstrikes against Islamic State interests in Syria. Those airstrikes have been known to target Islamic State-controlled oil fields, with the ultimate goal of choking off the group’s fund supply.

In his remarks prepared for delivery, Szubin said United States officials are also taking steps to prevent the Islamic State from spreading its money internationally. The U.S. is working with a at least 30 countries to prevent the group from performing tasks like wire transfers. The U.S. has also sanctioned at least 30 leaders and financiers of the Islamic State in 2015 alone, Szubin said.

Interest in Concealed Carry Permits Hits New High after California Shootings

More Americans have performed Google searches for concealed carry permits this month than at any other point in the past 11 years, according to data published on the company’s website.

The spike in concealed carry permit searches comes in the wake of the Dec. 2 mass shooting that left 14 people dead and 21 more injured in San Bernardino, California. The husband-and-wife team of Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik opened fire during a holiday party for Farook’s coworkers in what President Barack Obama has declared an act of terrorism.

People who possess valid concealed carry permits can carry hidden handguns in public areas.

The previous all-time high for concealed carry searches came in December 2012, the month in which Adam Lanza killed 20 schoolchildren and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The total concealed carry searches in that month were about 60 percent of what they were in the first 11 days of this month, according to Google Trends data.

There’s also been a documented rise in the number of people who actually obtain the permits.

The Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) says that about 12.8 million Americans held concealed carry permits in July, nearly tripling the 4.6 million million who held such permits in 2007. The CPRC says that 1.7 million new concealed carry permits were issued in the past year alone, and the 15.4 percent year-over-year increase was the largest ever recorded in history.

Near the site of the shooting, some people wasted little time to get new concealed carry permits.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the San Bernardino County sheriff’s department received 75 applications for concealed carry permits the weekend following the shooting, which was seven times higher than usual. In neighboring Orange County, sheriff’s deputies told the newspaper that they received about 100 additional applications the weekend after the attack.

The news comes amid a new survey released Thursday by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) that found that 47 percent of Americans fear they or someone in their family will be the victim of a terrorist attack. That’s a 14 percent increase from one year ago. The PRRI survey also indicated 3 in 4 Americans said terrorism was a “critical issue” in the nation.

As permit interest surged, some were trying to prevent guns from falling into the wrong hands.

Connecticut’s governor, Dannel P. Malloy, said Thursday he would sign an executive order that prohibits selling firearms to anyone on a government watchlist. It still needs federal approval.

U.S. Officials Fear ISIS Has Passport Printing Machine

United States officials fear people with ties to the Islamic State might have traveled to the United States using fraudulent Syrian passports, including some the terrorist organization printed itself, according to a recent Homeland Security Intelligence report obtained by ABC News.

The intelligence report, ABC News reported, says that ISIS has theoretically had the ability to print fake passports for more than 17 months, following their capture of the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor. The group could have theoretically gained access to the city’s passport office, the report indicated, and its “boxes of blank passports” and at least one passport printing machine. The Islamic State’s longstanding capital is the Syrian city of Raqqa, home to another passport office.

“Since more than 17 months [have] passed since Raqqa and Deir ez-Zour fell to ISIS, it is possible that individuals from Syria with passports ‘issued’ in these ISIS controlled cities or who had passport blanks, may have traveled to the U.S.,” ABC News quoted the report as saying.

While not specifically mentioning the report, FBI Director James Comey testified before Capitol Hill lawmakers on Wednesday and mentioned concerns about ISIS forging travel documents.

“The intelligence community is concerned that they have the ability, the capability, to manufacture fraudulent passports, which is a concern in any setting,” Comey told lawmakers.

It’s been widely reported that at least one of the men who carried out last month’s terrorist attacks in Paris had a fake Syrian passport. ISIS has claimed responsibility for those attacks.

Pacific Northwest Storms Claim Another Life, More Rain on the Way

The devastating rainstorms that have caused flooding, mudslides and power outages throughout the Pacific Northwest claimed another life on Wednesday, according to a published report.

The Oregonian reported an elderly woman drowned in Clatskanie, Oregon, when a man she was traveling with drove a car into high water. The man was able to escape, but the woman was not.

It was the second death caused by the storm, which also brought high winds to the region.

The Oregonian previously reported the storm sent a 30-inch diameter tree crashing into a house in Portland early Wednesday morning, pinning a 60-year-old woman in her bed. She was killed.

The National Weather Service reported that more than seven inches of rain fell in parts of Oregon and more than five inches of rain fell in parts of Washington between 4 p.m. local time Monday and 6 a.m. local time Thursday. Washington Governor Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency after landslides closed major highways, rain led to “widespread flooding of roadways, homes and property,” and high winds left thousands without power, he said in a statement.

The storm is the latest in a line of storms to pass through the Pacific Northwest dating back to the end of last month. Inslee said the state of emergency covers all storms since Nov. 30.

The National Weather Service issued storm warnings off the Washington and Oregon coasts, as forecasts called for additional storms to arrive Thursday and this weekend. The Weather Channel reported the new storms would bring additional rain and wind, as well as snow in higher elevations. That could spur further landslides or flooding, particularly in coastal areas.

The National Weather Service reported that Thursday morning’s rainfall pushed Seattle-Tacoma International Airport over six inches in the first 10 days of December, a new record. Previously, the fastest the airport reached six inches in the month was 14 days, set in 1946 and tied in 2010.

The arrival of more rain wasn’t good news for residents who were already experiencing flooding.

At least 17 river gauges in Washington and Oregon were still in flood stage Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service. “Major flooding” was reported in the Washington cities of Snohomish, located northeast of Seattle, and Potlatch, which is northwest of Olympia. Flood warnings remained in effect for parts of Washington, largely around the Puget Sound.

More than 21,000 Puget Sound Energy customers in Washington were without power Thursday morning, the company said. Portland General Electric also reported some scattered outages.

The storm led to dozens of road closures in both Washington and Oregon. Culprits included mudslides, sinkholes rockslides and flooding. Some of the repairs were expected to be lengthy.

In Portland, the rainfall caused the city’s sewer system to overflow into two local waterways on Monday morning. The city’s Bureau of Environmental Services continued to advise residents to avoid parts of the Willamette River on Thursday morning “because of increased bacteria.”

At Least 10 Million Ethiopians Will Experience “Critical Food Shortages” in 2016

About 10.1 million Ethiopians — most of them children — will face “critical food shortages,” next year as the country grapples with its worst drought in half a century, Save the Children reports.

The international children’s advocacy group said in a news release this week that Ethiopia is currently experiencing its most devastating drought in 50 years, with the El Nino weather pattern to blame. The phenomenon occurs when a part of the Pacific Ocean is warmer than usual and has a far-reaching ripple effect that brings atypical weather throughout the world.

According to Save the Children, this year was the first time since 1989 that seasonal rains did not arrive in Ethiopia. With more than 80 percent of the country relying on that rainfall to produce the agricultural products they consume, many residents were at risk of going hungry.

The organization reports that 5.75 million Ethiopian children face food shortages, and 400,000 of them are at risk of severe malnutrition. The country’s population is about 95 million people, so data suggest more than 1 in 10 Ethiopians are at risk of the “critical food shortages” in 2016.

Save the Children reports northern and western Somalia are also affected by the drought, and some families in that country were venturing hundreds of miles as they tried to find water.

It’s expected that the emergency response to the drought will cost $1.4 billion, according to Save the Children. The Ethiopian government has already promised $192 million for relief efforts, though Save the Children said in a statement that additional assistance is “urgently needed.”

A United Nations group has warned this year’s El Nino is looking to be one of the three strongest in the past 65 years and may interact with climate change to create unprecedented effects.

North Korean Leader Claims Nation is Ready to Detonate Hydrogen Bomb

The leader of North Korea is reportedly claiming the country now has the ability to detonate a powerful hydrogen bomb, though his comments immediately drew skepticism from experts.

The state-run KCNA news agency reported Thursday that Kim Jong-un made the announcement while at the Phyongchon Revolutionary Site, which is significant to the country’s arms history.

According to the KCNA report, Kim said North Korea had evolved into “a powerful nuclear weapons state ready to detonate self-reliant A-bomb and H-bomb to reliably defend its sovereignty and the dignity of the nation.” If true, it would be a landmark development.

Hydrogen bombs rely on a different nuclear reaction than atomic bombs and are known to be much more powerful. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that while Kim has publicly touted on numerous occasions that his country has atomic-bomb capabilities, this appeared to be the first time the leader publicly indicated that North Korea possessed a hydrogen bomb.

Still, experts took Kim’s claim with a grain of salt. The leader is known for making bold claims.

“It’s hard to regard North Korea as possessing an H-bomb. I think it seems to be developing it,” Lee Chun-geun, a research fellow at the Science and Technology Policy Institute, told Yonhap.

The BBC quoted John Nilsson-Wright, the head of the Asia Program at Britain’s Royal Institute of International Affairs, as saying Kim’s comments appeared to be “an attention-grabbing effort to assert North Korean autonomy and his own political authority.”

Christmas Cards Arrive En Masse After Arson Survivor’s Wish Goes Viral

An 8-year-old girl who lost her father and three siblings in an arson fire two years ago is receiving Christmas cards from around the world this year after a Facebook post went viral.

Sa’fyre Terry was the only survivor of a May 2013 blaze in Schenectady, New York, that killed her father, sister and two brothers. Family friends say Terry suffered burns on more than 75 percent of her body and had her right hand and left foot amputated as a result of her injuries.

Last week, a family friend posted a picture of Terry to Facebook, showing the girl standing next to a tree-shaped Christmas card holder. The friend, Kevin Clark, wondered how many people would send a card to Terry, who simply wanted to receive enough cards to fill up her tree.

She’s probably going to need a bigger tree.

Clark’s post has been shared more than 25,000 times, and Terry’s story been covered by many national media outlets, including CNN, The Today Show, Buzzfeed, The Washington Post and People Magazine. Pro wrestler Hulk Hogan shared Terry’s wish on his Facebook page, which has about 5 million likes. Even publications in England were reporting the story.

Family friends had set up a fundraising page on youcaring.com to help Terry’s caregivers with expenses. The page had a goal of $15,000, but had raised more than $155,000 as of Wednesday.

The address to mail Christmas cards is P.O. Box 6126, Schenectady, NY 12306.

The fundraiser page can be accessed through this link.

Accused Planned Parenthood Shooter: ‘I’m Guilty’

The man accused of killing three people and wounding nine more during a shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs last month reportedly confessed his guilt in a courtroom outburst on Wednesday afternoon, calling himself “a warrior for the babies.”

The Colorado Springs Gazette reported Robert Lewis Dear interrupted his attorney to make the comments early in the hearing. It was one of multiple outbursts he’s said to have made.

“I’m guilty. There’s no trial. I’m a warrior for the babies,” the newspaper quoted Dear as saying.

The comments appear to reference the fact that Planned Parenthood is an abortion provider, though the organization does provide several other health services to women. NBC News had previously reported Dear made the statement “no more baby parts” to police investigators.

Dear was in court to be formally charged for the Nov. 27 shooting. He’s accused of killing a police officer who responded to the scene and two people who accompanied friends to the clinic.

According to CBS Denver, prosecutors said in court that they will levy 179 charges against Dear.

The Gazette reported Dear’s attorney, a public defender, wants his client to undergo a mental health evaluation to determine if Dear is competent to stand trial.