PARIS — France launched “massive” air strikes on the Islamic State group’s de facto capital in Syria on Sunday night, destroying a jihadi training camp and a munitions dump in the city of Raqqa, where Iraqi intelligence officials say Friday’s attacks on Paris were planned. Twelve aircraft, including 10 fighter jets, dropped a total of 20 bombs in the biggest air strikes since France extended its bombing campaign against the extremist group to Syria in September, a Defense Ministry statement said. In France, police announced seven arrests and hunted for more members of the sleeper cell that carried out the Paris attacks that killed 129 people. French officials also revealed to the Associated Press that several key suspects had been stopped and released by police after the attack. Three French police officials and a top French security official confirmed that officers let Abdeslam go after checking his ID. Clues about the extent of the plot have emerged from Baghdad, where senior Iraqi officials told the AP that France and other countries had been warned on Thursday of an imminent attack. An Iraqi intelligence dispatch warned that Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had ordered his followers to immediately launch gun and bomb attacks and take hostages inside the countries of the coalition fighting them in Iraq and Syria. [...] Iraqi intelligence officials said they also warned France about specific details: among them, that the attackers were trained for this operation and sent back to France from Raqqa. Three Kalashnikov automatic rifles were found inside another car known to have been used in the attacks that was found in Montreuil, an eastern Parisian suburb, another a French police official said. Struggling to keep his country calm and united after an exceptionally violent year, President Francois Hollande met Sunday with opposition leaders — conservative rival and former President Nicolas Sarkozy as well as increasingly popular far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who has used the attacks on Paris to advance her anti-immigrant agenda. Refugees fleeing war by the tens of thousands fear that the Paris attacks could prompt Europe to close its doors, especially after police said a Syrian passport found next to one attacker’s body suggested its owner passed through Greece into the European Union.

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  • US Military Conducts More Airstrikes to Prevent Islamic State from Making Gains Amid Syria Turmoil
    While the campaign to quell the Islamic State has been ongoing for years, the military says the recent strikes have been aimed at preventing it from taking advantage of the instability in Syria.
    12/17/2024 - 9:26 am | View Link
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  • King Charles III Focuses Christmas Message on Healthcare Workers in Year Marked by Royal Illnesses
    Time, Wednesday - 12/25/2024 - 11:51 AM

    King Charles III used his annual Christmas message Wednesday to hail the selflessness of those who have cared for him and the Princess of Wales this year, after both were diagnosed with cancer. The 76-year-old monarch said he and his family are “continually” impressed by those who dedicate their lives to helping others. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “From a personal point of view, I offer special, heartfelt thanks to the selfless doctors and nurses who this year have supported me and other members of my family through the uncertainties and anxieties of illness and have helped provide the strength, care and comfort we have needed,” he said in a prerecorded speech. The broadcast came several hours after the monarch waved to a large crowd of onlookers who traditionally gather to see the royal family attend Christmas Day services at a church on Sandringham, the estate on the windswept North Sea coast that has served as a family retreat for generations. The king walked with Queen Camilla as his eldest son, Prince William, Kate and their three children followed.

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  • Azerbaijani Airliner With 67 People Onboard Crashes in Kazakhstan Leaving 32 Survivors
    Time, Wednesday - 12/25/2024 - 10:01 AM

    An Azerbaijani airliner with 67 people onboard crashed Wednesday near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, leaving at least 32 survivors, according to officials. More than 30 people may be dead. The plane was en route from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Kazakhstan’s Emergency Ministry said in a Telegram statement that those on board included five crew.

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  • Nobel Laureate Narges Mohammadi Talks to Margaret Atwood About Reading The Handmaid’s Tale in an Iranian Prison
    Time, Tuesday - 12/24/2024 - 10:22 AM

    Narges Mohammadi picked up Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid ‘s Tale while in prison. The activist had been sentenced to 16 years for challenging Iran’s enforcement of what Mohammadi terms gender apartheid—a system of dress codes, sexual subjugation, and coercive control enforced, as in Atwood’s book, by men who have taken power as a theocracy.

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  • How Often Does Hanukkah Start on Christmas?
    Time, Tuesday - 12/24/2024 - 07:00 AM

    For the first time since 2005, the first night of Hanukkah will fall on the same day as Christmas. The two winter holidays converge an average of five times a century, according to Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, Executive Vice President of the New York Board of Rabbis. Since 1900, the first night of Hanukkah has fallen on December 25 five times: 1910, 1921, 1959, 2005, and now 2024.

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  • Donald Trump Still Wants to Take Control of Greenland—And Now Canada and the Panama Canal, Too
    Time, Monday - 12/23/2024 - 03:05 PM

    (WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.) — First it was Canada, then the Panama Canal. Now, Donald Trump again wants Greenland. The President-elect is renewing unsuccessful calls he made during his first term for the U. S. to buy Greenland from Denmark, adding to the list of allied countries with which he’s picking fights even before taking office on Jan.

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  • Bethlehem Faces Another Somber Wartime Christmas
    Time, Monday - 12/23/2024 - 10:21 AM

    (BETHLEHEM, West Bank) — The Nativity Store in Manger Square has sold handmade olive wood carvings and religious items to people visiting the traditional birthplace of Jesus since 1927. But as Bethlehem prepares to mark its second Christmas under the shadow of the war in Gaza, there are almost no tourists, leaving the Nativity Store and other businesses unsure of how much longer they can hold on. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] For the second straight year, Bethlehem’s Christmas celebrations will be somber and muted, in deference to ongoing war in Gaza.

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