Obama Orders Review of Visa Program That Admitted California Shooter

President Barack Obama ordered officials Sunday night to review the "fiancée" visa program under which one of the San Bernardino, California, terrorists entered the country.In an address to the nation, Obama said the terrorist threat to the United States is evolving to one that makes use of home-grown terrorists radicalized by jihadi propaganda and persuasion."It is this type of attack that we saw at Fort Hood in 2009, in Chattanooga earlier this year and now in San Bernardino," he said — referring to the November 2009 assault on Fort Hood, Texas, in which a U.S. Army psychiatrist killed 12 people and the attack in July on military facilities in Tennessee, which killed four people.Tashfeen Malik, the Pakistani wife of Syed Farook, was admitted to the United States through what's called a K-1 visa for foreigners engaged to U.S. citizens — sometimes called the fiancée visa.In the two years since they married, Farook and Malik began plotting their deadly attack, authorities said.In his address, Obama said he has ordered the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to review the visa program — as several of the leading presidential candidates have demanded.Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton — Obama's first secretary of state — called for a "hard look" at the program in a speech Friday in Des Moines, Iowa."It's a calculated balance between wanting to keep our country open for people coming and going and reciprocity with other countries, and being sure that we are being vigilant in protecting ourselves," Clinton said. "I think we have to make sure we do more to get the balance right."

Obama to Nation: Terrorist Threat to U.S. Is 'Evolving' but Beatable

In only his third address to the nation from the Oval Office, President Barack Obama reassured Americans on Sunday night that the United States is equipped to meet the dangerous and "evolving" threat of terrorism.

As U.S. and other Western responses have gained ground against organized, wide-scale terrorist attacks, "growing efforts by terrorists to poison the minds" of home-grown attackers are evolving, the president said.

"As a father to two young daughters who are the most precious part of my life, I know that we see ourselves with friends and co-workers at a holiday party like the one in San Bernardino. I know we see our kids in the faces of the young people killed in Paris," Obama said.

"And I know that after so much war, many Americans are asking whether we are confronted by a cancer that has no immediate cure," he said, before answering: "The threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it."

Full Transcript: President Barack Obama's Address to the Nation

The president offered no new details on the investigation into the San Bernardino attack, saying that "so far, we have no evidence that the killers were directed by a terrorist organization overseas or that they were part of a broader conspiracy here at home."

Instead, Obama compared the mass killing to attacks in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Fort Hood, Texas; and Boston, where, he said, "terrorists turned to less complicated acts of violence" and where the Internet erased "the distance between countries."

Outlining the U.S. strategy against ISIS, which Obama described as a "cult of death" that "does not speak for Islam," the president cautioned against a "costly ground war," which he said would serve only as a recruitment tool.

"That's what groups like [ISIS] want," he said.

Obama said the United States and its allies would continue disrupting plots, targeting terrorist infrastructure and finances, and providing training and equipment to Iraqi and Syrian fighters. He said he would also pursue a cease-fire agreement in Syria, which would allow for a "common goal" between the United States and Russia to pursue ISIS.

At home, Obama said, the State and Homeland Security departments will review the visa program that allowed Tashfeen Malik — who with her husband carried out the San Bernardino attack — into the country to determine whether stronger screening is needed.

Obama also made a pitch for gun control, saying it "should be more difficult" to buy high-powered assault-style rifles — like those used in last week's attack — and that people on no-fly lists shouldn't be allowed to buy guns.

"What could possibly be the argument for allowing a terrorist suspect to buy a semi-automatic weapon?" he said. "This is a matter of national security."

Obama's remarks came amid an acrimonious political campaign that has seen Republican presidential contenders blast him over his handling of groups like ISIS.

On NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Lindsey Graham said the president had been "overwhelmed by radical Islam," while Donald Trump suggested to the Republican Jewish Coalition Presidential Candidates Forum in Washington last week that "there was something going on" with Obama because he refused to use the term "radical Islamic terrorism," according to The Hill newspaper.

Obama's address appeared to do little to persuade his Republican critics. On Twitter, Trump grumbled that the president still "refused to say (he just can't say it), that we are at WAR with RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISTS."

n a statement, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus was a little more measured, saying:

"The path laid out by President Obama and supported by Hillary Clinton has not worked, and ISIS has only gained in strength. The attacks in San Bernardino should serve as a wake-up call for Obama and Clinton that the way to victory is not through the status quo but refocusing our efforts to defeat ISIS.

Obama has rarely used the Oval Office — the most symbolic representation of his authority — to speak to the nation. He announced the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq from there in August 2010, and two months before that, he laid out his plans to secure American energy after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

A senior administration official said that after the Paris terrorist attacks last month, followed by numerous thwarted ISIS plots and then the San Bernardino shootings, Obama decided he needed to address "the significant concerns and very real and legitimate fears in the United States and around the world."

The choice of the Oval Office for Sunday night's address reflected "the seriousness with which we are taking the issue," the official said. At the same time, the address was meant to "step back and provide context for people," not to announce new policies or strategies, the official said.

Obama referred to history in reinforcing the message Sunday night:

"Let's not forget that freedom is more powerful than fear, that we have always met challenges — whether war or depression, natural disasters or terrorist attacks — by coming together around our common ideals as one nation, as one people," he said. "So long as we stay true to that tradition, I have no doubt America will prevail."

Loss to Pelicans shows LeBron James in need of more help

LeBron James sized up Anthony Davis and drove straight at him. He got Davis on his hip, and with two dribbles made it from beyond the 3-point line to the middle of the paint. But when you're 6-10 with the athleticism of a guard, you tend to make up ground pretty quickly.

With Davis back in front of him, James used the athleticism of the New Orleans Pelicans' young star against him. He came to a halt with a jump stop and got Davis to bite on a head fake, giving James just enough room to angle to the hoop for a left-handed layup to put the Cleveland Cavaliers up by three with 1:15 to go on Friday.

It was supposed to be James putting the finishing touches on a masterful performance. Cleveland trailed by 13 points with 6:52 remaining in the fourth. Five and a half ridiculous minutes out of James later and the Cavs were going to steal one on the road.

All told, James had 23 points, four rebounds, an assist and a steal in the final period, going toe-to-toe with the guy that 86.2 percent of NBA general managers said they would rather have over him to start their franchise.

It was poetic, almost. There was Davis on the court, the player the league seems so eager to anoint as its next best player. There was Ben Simmons in the stands, the college freshman whom some say has the potential to be even better than Davis. And there was James looking as defiant as ever with his play: You want the league to be yours? You're going to have to take it from me.

Again, it was almost poetic.

But the Cavs ended up losing in overtime 114-108, with Davis scoring six points in the extra period to James' zero.

It was the Cavs' second-straight loss to a sub-.500 opponent, with the 5-16 Pelicans accomplishing the same thing the 8-9 Washington Wizards did on Tuesday. And the loss dropped Cleveland behind Chicago for the top spot in the Eastern Conference for the first time in weeks. Which is why that for as epic as it might have felt to see James put up 37 points, eight assists and seven rebounds to Davis' 31 points, 12 rebounds and four steals, the bigger story is just how much the Cavs still need to do if they are going to come close to realizing their championship goal this season.

And it's why after the battle between the basketball gods was over, James evoked the son of God to make his point about why his team can't simply wait for Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert to come back to make everything better.

"I hope we don't think that way," James said. "It's never that way. When you get your guys back, you prepare just as you prepare before. It's only one guy in the world, ever, where everything will be all right when he comes back, and that's Jesus Christ. Other than that, you can't bank on nobody ... ."

If you think about it, Cleveland's 13-6 record would look even more pedestrian if James hadn't bailed the Cavs out of a handful of games already, like he tried to do in New Orleans. While the defending champion Golden State Warriors continue to rip through the competition at 20-0, the Cavs increasingly look like James and four dudes unable to reach his level.

"We needed to give him a little bit more help," said Cavs coach David Blatt.

Sure, Irving will provide that just by his gravitational pull on defenders based on his scoring acumen. Shumpert will provide it too, as Cleveland's best perimeter defender other than James.

But as James has emphasized all season, especially considering the way the shorthanded Cavs wilted in Games 4, 5 and 6 of the Finals, Cleveland has to start believing it has enough whenever it steps on the court. And it has to start playing that way too. Kevin Love was 6-for-16 on Friday and went 1-for-3 in overtime. J.R. Smith scored 15 points on eight shots in the first quarter, but during the remainder of the game, he had three points on six shots. Matthew Dellavedova, promoted into the starting lineup in place of Mo Williams because of his defense and ball-distribution abilities, had three turnovers against just four assists and let Jrue Holiday elude him for a game-tying 3 with eight seconds left in the fourth that erased the lead that James worked the entire quarter to build.

After it was over, James was asked why he felt the need to impose his will to get the Cavs back in it late.

"Who else was gonna do it?" James asked.

Until James has reason to answer that question differently, the Cavs will be in the same boat as Davis and Simmons: pretenders to the throne.

Hanson: Erdogan's Turkey is a dubious ally

Turkey often appeals to the West for support, given its longtime membership in NATO. Now, Turkish leadership is in a shouting match with Russia’s provocative president, Vladimir Putin, over Turkey’s downing of a Russian jet in probable Turkish airspace. Each country has accused the other of helping terrorists in Syria.

The problem with Turkey and the West, however, is that their relationship is decades out of date. What was once an alliance is now nothing special at all.

Barack Obama used to lecture reluctant Europeans about why they should accept Turkey into the European Union as its first Islamic member. Obama boasted of a “special friendship” with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. As president, Obama suddenly forgot the promise he made as a senator to formally acknowledge the Armenian genocide committed by the Turks in the early 1900s.

Turkey has become a favorite stop abroad for Obama to lecture his fellow Americans about their ethical shortcomings, from past treatment of Native Americans to their present supposed xenophobia over not accepting Syrian refugees en masse.

Yet the more Obama has appeased Erdogan, the more anti-Western and anti-American Turkey has become.

Erdogan has insidiously eroded Turkish democracy, free speech and human rights. He is turning the once-secular state into an Islamic nation. Thousands of Turkish soccer fans recently shouted “Allahu Akbar” when asked for a moment of silence to honor the victims of the Paris terrorist attacks. So much for NATO solidarity.

Under Erdogan, the new Turkish model is not the secular modern state of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Instead, Erdogan praises the ancient Ottoman caliphate, whose theocratic empire once ranged from the Persian Gulf to southern Europe.

When the Muslim Brotherhood tried to dismantle secular government in Egypt, Erdogan egged them on and was instrumental in persuading the Obama administration to adopt a disastrous policy of support for the Brotherhood.

Erdogan used to visit Europe and chide its leaders over their supposed mistreatment of Islamic immigrants. But at home, he has increasingly marginalized the few Turks who are not Muslims.

Small, vulnerable nations and peoples of the region — Armenians, Greeks and Kurds — used to be terrified of Turkish aggression. They are starting to become afraid again under Erdogan’s new Islamic militancy.

Erdogan demanded that the United States remove Bashar al-Assad’s tottering pro-Iranian, pro-Russian dictatorship. But not long ago, Erdogan did all he could to cultivate Assad, who was fueling terrorist violence against Americans in Iraq during the surge.

Turkey used to be a friend to Israel. Both countries were worried about Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism. The radical Islamic world hated secular Turkey for its past Ottoman colonialism almost as much as it despised Israel.

Yet since Obama took office, Erdogan has sought to provoke tensions between the two countries. Some of Erdogan’s diatribes against Israel have been laced with anti-Semitic disparagement.

Turkey now demands justice from Russia for violating Turkish airspace. But no country in the world violates foreign airspace as often as Turkey. A Greek defense analyst counted 2,244 times that Turkey violated Greek airspace in 2014 — an average of more than six violations per day.

The Erdogan government believes that the way to solve disagreement with fellow NATO member Greece over a few disputed Aegean islands and oil finds is to send up its much larger air force to bully the Greeks — especially after their recent financial meltdown.

Erdogan publicly boasts of his critical NATO role in curbing Islamic State terrorism. But privately, Islamic State terrorists have received a wink and nod from Turkish border authorities, given their shared hatred of Russia, Syria and Iran.

The Islamic State may be a primordial death cult, but Erdogan apparently believes that it is at least a Sunni, not a Shiite, killing machine, and is occasionally useful in fighting common enemies, especially the Kurds.

It is hard to envision any international crisis in which Erdogan’s Turkey would come to the defense of the United States. During the Cold War, Turkey was terrified about Soviet ships passing near its shores on the Black Sea, and about communist takeovers on its borders. In exchange for U.S. support, it often backed American efforts like the U.N. coalition that saved South Korea.

That’s now ancient history.

All that can be said for Obama’s current “model relationship” is that Turkey is strategically located, with a large and powerful military, and hosts NATO bases. Those facts make it wise to keep Turkey neutral rather than hostile.

Otherwise, Erdogan’s Turkey is an ally in name only. In reality, it is becoming a de facto enemy.

Suddenly, Turkey’s NATO membership is important to Erdogan in his dispute with Putin. But the real irony is that the autocratic Erdogan is the dictatorial Putin’s mirror image.

No two leaders deserve each other more.

NASA Takes New Photos of Pluto

NASA has taken the clearest close-ups of yet of the once-planet Pluto. The black-and-white images, which were taken by the spacecraft New Horizons, show craters, mountains, and glacial terrain along a 50-mile-wide strip. NASA says these are likely to be the best photos we see for decades.

Triple suicide blasts kill 27,says the security sources in Lake Chad

Three suicide attacks have hit an island on Lake Chad, killing at least 27 people, security sources have said. 

The region is under a state of emergency after a series of attacks by militants from the Islamist group Boko Haram. 

Chad has played a key role helping Nigeria recapture areas seized by the group in northern Nigeria. 

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

John Terry believes Jose Mourinho is the right man to lead Chelsea out of its current poor form, but the captain is uncertain about his own future.

John Terry acknowledges he is yet to decide whether he will remain at Chelsea beyond the end of his contract but has backed manager Jose Mourinho to reverse the club's dismal early-season form.

Stamford Bridge skipper Terry's current deal expires at the end of the season and the emergence of Kurt Zouma means his place in Mourinho's starting XI is far from guaranteed.

Speaking to former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher in an interview for the Daily Mail, Terry revealed he was happy to wait to determine his next career move.

"I think I'll wait, yeah. I don't know at the minute," he said. "As you get older, you start to look down that route. I'm doing my coaching badges at the minute. I'm looking at TV. I've done some bits for Sky and BT. I have never known [how] players can go week after week not playing. This is the first time in my career where I have not been a regular in the team. I couldn't see myself doing that for a year or two years.

"But, at the same time, I couldn't even begin to think about being somewhere else or playing for someone else. Chelsea is my club. I've been here 20 years. I've looked into coaching. Playing-wise, [if I went to another club] it certainly wouldn't be here [in England]. America, maybe. But physically I feel like I can still play. Do I want to play? Of course I do. But then decisions come in to it with your family. What if you go somewhere and it doesn't work out? Everything else comes into play, doesn't it?"

Defending Premier League champion Chelsea sits 14th after a poor start to the season, but Terry supports the club's decision to stand by Mourinho.

"If you look for stuff [that is wrong] you will find it," he added. "You could sit there after a game and find a million things. I'd prefer to say, 'S**t result, let's just move on.' I've had some managers who overanalyze things but nothing is there. Some will see that you have conceded goals at set pieces, so they will practice 20 corners. It does nothing. If anything, it does the opposite. It highlights things and makes people worry. So the manager has just been like, 'Let's get on with it.' The quality is there, everything is there.

"Listen, [Mourinho's] stability is massive for the club going forward. What the club have done is set a precedent and said he's the man to take us forward. He will do. This squad of players won the league last season. There is no difference. It's a bad run of form. Really bad. When you have been at the top for so long, it's horrible. You don't want to go out after games, you don't want to show your face in public. It's that level."

One Group of People Is Acquiring HIV in Record Numbers, But We Don't Talk About Them

World AIDS Day recognizes the everyday lives and particular struggles of people around the world living with AIDS and HIV, but one population has been long overlooked. According to recent findings from the World Health Organization that analyzed data from 15 countries, transgender women are nearly 49 times more likely than the general population to contract HIV. This means that, just for being who they are, they are part of the population at highest risk for acquiring HIV.

But according to advocates, the transgender community's HIV problem remains an "invisible" epidemic, as trans women are too often ignored in health advocacy, stigmatized for their diagnosis or criminalized.

Mic spoke to the Human Rights Campaign's Noël Gordon, a senior specialist for HIV prevention and health equity, who argued that transgender women "find themselves at the eye of a perfect storm" when it comes to contracting HIV. "A number of factors are largely out of their control that push them into situations where they're more likely to encounter HIV and less likely to be able to treat it," Gordon told Mic. These factors include transphobia and poverty, as trans people are nearly four times more likely to earn less than $10,000 a year.

Employment and housing discrimination are major factors that push transgender women below the poverty level. According to statistics from the National Center for Transgender Equality, trans people face widespread bigotry both in the workplace and from landlords, as its survey indicates "26% of trans people lost a job due to bias, 50% were harassed on the job [and] 20% were evicted or denied housing." In many states in the U.S., it's still legal to fire or evict someone on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Gordon explained that without employment and housing protections, many trans women engage in survival sex work in order to support themselves. "Through no fault of her own," Gordon said, "she's been pushed into a situation where in order to support herself, she effectively has to put herself at risk for contracting HIV."

Sheeneneh Smith, a transgender activists, speaks at a Boston rally held in honor of slain transgender community members. Source: Julie Jacobson/AP

Cecilia Chung, a senior strategist for the Transgender Law Center, argued the issue isn't sex work itself but the ways in which trans women's limited options continue to be criminalized. Prostitution is outlawed in all 50 states in the U.S., except for some counties in Nevada, and in over 30 states, people living with HIV can be imprisoned for nondisclosure, according to Chung. "That means that if someone has engaged in sex work and hasn't disclosed their HIV status, they can potentially be charged with a felony," Chung told Mic.

This sends a shameful message to transgender women about what it means to be HIV positive. "The law tells us that HIV is a weapon," Chung argued. According to her, this reinforces the idea that contracting the virus is a punishment for people's behavior. Instead of recognizing the structural factors that force people into difficult situations, Chung said that we too often engage in further "shaming and blaming," furthering widespread stigma.

These damaging ideas often silence transgender women, keeping them in the closet about their status. "If I'm a transgender woman living with HIV, I [might not] want my partner to know because I fear prosecution from the police," Gordon, of the Human Rights Commission, said. "I might withhold that information or withhold it from a doctor."

But as Morgan M. Page, a trans activist working on sex work and HIV issues, explained, the threat of imprisonment isn't the only reason trans women living with HIV might not be receiving the care they need. It begins with the lack of information and resources available to trans women. "There are almost no HIV prevention materials directed at trans women, and the ones that are might not be in the right language for people who need them," Page told Mic. "There are very few available in Spanish and only two or three available in English."

According to Page, the health care system is still struggling with how to treat trans patients. "Unfortunately, a lot of physicians working today treat trans women as though we're someone else's problem," Page argued. "They don't know what to do with a trans person." According to Page, this happens because medical schools lack comprehensive education or training for trans-affirming care, which leads to a "lot of misinformation ... because doctors refuse to educate themselves."

Due to the lack of supportive doctors and health providers in too many areas of the country, "trans people have to be our own doctors and our own experts," Morgan explained. "While we do share a lot of important and valid information with each other, sometimes we perpetuate ideas that have no scientific basis, simply because there aren't any doctors there telling us that it's not true."

One of the most pervasive myths, both within the medical community and among trans women, is that you can't take hormones and HIV medication at the same time. "That's scientifically untrue," Page said. "There are only about two HIV medications you can't take hormones with, of about 30 or more that are on the market. What ends up happening is that a lot of trans women have to choose what's most important to them. And at the end of the day, many trans women are going to choose hormones over HIV medication."

But as Chung explained, many health care providers, medical professionals and researchers continue to ignore these lived realities of trans women; even the census has yet to include transgender women in the survey. "It continues to tell us that we are second class, that our lives don't matter," Chung said. "It's easy to understand why we would feel angry to be in a room where nobody acknowledges us."

New Zealand write to ICC over DRS not-out decision on Australia's Nathan Lyon in Adelaide Oval Test

New Zealand is still seething about Nigel Llong's baffling verdict in the day-night cricket Test and has written to the International Cricket Council.

Third umpire Llong ruled there was not conclusive evidence to dismiss Nathan Lyon during Australia's first innings at Adelaide Oval.

Lyon had all but walked off the field, the screen at the ground having shown a big Hot Spot mark on his bat.

However, Llong felt he was not certain Lyon edged the ball so he refused to overturn the original not-out verdict.

BlackCaps skipper Brendon McCullum was shocked the review was not successful as were most commentators at the game.

It proved a major turning point in the match, which Australia won by three wickets on Sunday.

Australia would have been 9 for 118 if Lyon was dismissed for a duck, instead it posted a first-innings total of 224.

NZ coach Mike Hesson could hardly hide his fury on Monday.

"It was excellent, wasn't it? I think everyone at the ground saw what unfolded," Hesson said.

"It's been spoken about a lot. We've certainly made a representation to the ICC and at present we're still awaiting an acceptable response."

Hesson contacted match referee Roshan Mahanama but was tightlipped on what his side was specifically demanding from the ICC.

"There's been official representation from New Zealand Cricket, and from the team management as well," he said.

"We're going through the proper channels and we're awaiting a response.

"There is a process that needs to be followed with these decisions and we need to make sure that process was followed correctly."

Hesson remains in favour of DRS

However, Hesson made his views on Llong and the Decision Review System (DRS) patently clear.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with the technology at all," he said.

"The technology has got a bit of a bad wrap.

"We've put our case forward and we are awaiting a response."

SOUNDCLOUD: Interview: Darren Lehmann

Darren Lehmann felt for his counterpart.

"If I was probably umpiring I probably would have let him keep walking," Lehmann told ABC Grandstand.

New Zealand veterans McCullum and Ross Taylor both suggested Llong's verdict had a clear impact on the game.

Hesson noted his side will "never know" whether it could have changed the result.

"The game carried on and took a number of other twists and turns after that, so it's something that I can't answer. But it certainly had an impact," he said.

Hesson did not seek out Llong during the match and said it would be wrong to do so.

"We don't talk to umpires involved in the game during the game," he said.

"We try and go through the appropriate channels. Roshan Mahanama's the match referee and he's the initial point of contact."

Davis Cup final: Andy Murray too good for Ruben Bemelmans and levels match

When the 2015 Davis Cup final began in this perversely atmospheric warehouse on Friday, anxiety penetrated beyond the usual frayed nerve endings of the participants – but background fears of terror quickly gave way to some enthralling tennis that saw eventual parity between Great Britain and Belgium.

Day one ended as we thought it might do: one rubber apiece – but Kyle Edmund came tantalisingly close to making history as the first final debutant in the 115-year history of the competition to win a live rubber, before suffering at the artful hands of David Goffin in five sets which one would hardly imagine belonged in the same match.

Rarely can a struggle lasting two hours and 47 minutes have swung so violently. It seemed after two sets the match was there for Edmund, ranked 100 in the world, to put in his pocket, leaving the 16th-ranked Belgian to explain to his distraught supporters how such a disaster had unfolded.

Instead, Goffin held firm to win 3-6, 1-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-0. So the combined scores of the loser of each set came to all of seven games. Unbelievable but true. Not quite so accurate was Edmund’s expression of humble regret afterwards.

“You’re playing for your country, you’re playing for your team-mates. You feel like you’ve let them down.”

The quiet 20-year-old from Beverley should be reassured he let nobody down; perhaps his body let his heart down but he can only benefit from the experience, taking on board how to deal with such crushing disappointment as well as knowing he can extend a fine player ranked 84 places above him on his favoured surface in front of 12,000 of his own fans in a wickedly hostile atmosphere.

Edmund added: “I’ll look back on it and I’ll say I did my best. But you’re right in the moment, you’re emotionally attached to it. You’re just disappointed you couldn’t do it for your team.”

Andy Murray knows all about the expectations of a nation, of course. He has been burdened with them for a decade and more, first satisfying the hunger pangs wrought by 77 years of waiting for someone to emulate Fred Perry, then leading this team here to smash more Perry history and win the Cup for Great Britain for the first time since 1936.

He got off to a wonderful start. It is fair to say Ruben Bemelmans, Belgium’s third best player and ranked at 108, was thrown to him as a first-day sacrifice, but the long-haired left-hander did not lie down, which resulted in an often enthralling scrap.

Repeatedly both players had the crowd edging forward in anticipation of something special as they strained at the limit of their skills. While the 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 scoreline in favour of the world No2 baldly tells a story of dominance, within the narrative there were enough quality exchanges to justify a grand slam final.

And there was no little passion in both matches – on and off the court. Although bonhomie was at a premium among fans bonded in an unspoken pact of defiance of external threats – one comedian tried a bomb hoax in the morning that delayed the tram servicing the venue for at least an hour – Murray red-lined at the point of all-out anger a couple of times. He was docked a point for audible dissent but thereafter kept his emotions fairly well in check.

Murray was booed with some gusto for perceived time-wasting after taking a tumble in the fourth game of the first set but, having allegedly manufactured the distraction, he proceeded to take advantage of it and broke.

Some of his racket work was sublime (as is so often the case), including a delicious lob that bamboozled Bemelmans at the start of the second set, followed by an angled backhand winner that skimmed the net for another break.

But Bemelmans showed his skills too, particularly near the net, where he won a staggering 24 of his 73 points. He was artful and resolute, also, in getting to deuce on Murray’s serve in the fourth game but the Scot would not crack.

A passing forehand at 15-40 in the fifth game was memorable as Murray eased into a two-set lead. Surely he would not fold like his inexperienced team-mate had earlier ... Bemelmans thought he might, especially after breaking for 4-2 in the third, and the crowd went even crazier than the pitch they had already achieved.

In the stands, there were a few inhospitable whistles at the moment of service – as there had been during Edmund’s match – but on court the intensity of concentration and commitment provided a shield to all that.

Murray recovered from his brief setback to break back in the seventh game and it was the turn of the travelling 1,000 – led by the Sterling University fans, as ever – to raise the roof.

Raising the roof, incidentally, is what the International Tennis Federation might have considered before a ball was struck as the girders holding the unbearably bright TV lights were a few centimetres the wrong side of legal height and a couple of Murray lobs almost bounced off them.

The heights he reached, though, were at ground level. In what has been probably his finest season – despite the lack of a slam to add to his cabinet – he is hitting the ball as hard and as crisply as at any time in his career. When he lined Bemelmans up after manoeuvring him into a position of the greatest vulnerability, the ball left his racket with blinding force.

The drop-in clay has to be among the fastest of its type in the game, with precious little grip or give, allowing the ball to fly through. Murray had his own inexplicable blip near the end, mind, double-faulting to hand Bemelmans set point, before holding, breaking and serving it out to wrap up victory after two hours and 24 minutes. But, to borrow from Tony Blair on John Prescott, Andy is Andy

He had his wide-mouthed lion roar on at the end, fair roasting this icebox of an arena with his full-blooded commitment. What would Great Britain do without him?

Earlier, Edmund also profited in his early sparring with Goffin from the friendly clay. The Belgian, playing on his favourite clay surface, had not dropped a set in four Davis Cup singles rubbers all year but found Edmund at turns brilliant, resolute then vulnerable before taking the opening rubber.

Once Goffin recovered from the early onslaught, he made Edmund pay for not cashing in.Towards the end Edmund’s young face wore the heavy weight of despair.

Where, he imagined, had all the power gone – and the control? In the first hour and a half, he had hit only six unforced errors. It took him only five minutes to double that tally and, from that point to the end, Goffin ruthlessly deconstructed his game.

At the end, Edmund was distraught. Yet he should take comfort from his wholeheartedness.

“It’s a whole new experience for me,” he said. There is every chance it will not be his last representing Great Britain.

Police release photos of Wichita bank robber

Wichita police are searching for the man who held up a local bank Friday morning.

Officers were called to the Intrust Bank branch at 3433 E. Central around 10:30 a.m. Police said the suspect entered the bank and yelled at two tellers to give him the money.

No customers were in the bank.

The suspect is described as a black male in his early 20s, standing about 5-foot-10 and had a medium build. He was wearing a black bandanna on his face, a black hooded jacket, white gloves, and he was carrying a black backpack.

Anyone with information is asked to call Wichita police or Crime Stoppers at (316) 267-2111.

As France mourns, it also looks ahead to major climate conference

As France bowed its head in official mourning Friday for 130 people killed by terrorists, it also braced for the challenge of hosting nearly 150 world leaders who will begin arriving this weekend for a critical global summit on the environment.

The events, separated by two weeks of shock and grief, of

fer a stark juxtaposition between the immediate danger of terrorism and the longer-term existential threat of climate change. They also contrast what many see as a dearth of security leading up to the terrorist attacks and the massive precautions surrounding the climate conference.

The U.N.-sponsored summit is sure to add to the strain on security forces that have already been stretched by an investigation of the Nov. 13 Paris attacks and a hunt for other extremist cells that could be plotting follow-up strikes.

French officials call the climate conference “the biggest peace summit ever organized,” with 147 heads of state and government expected to attend. They will be guarded by 2,800 French police officers at the conference venue, with thousands more officers deployed throughout the city.

Attendees are slated to include Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Obama, who has emphasized that he sees attendance at the summit as even more important following the attacks.

“I think it’s absolutely vital for every country, every leader, to send a signal that the viciousness of a handful of killers does not stop the world from doing vital business,” Obama said this week.

But some elements of the conference won’t go ahead as planned. Demonstrations have been canceled, with police citing security risks.

Preparations for the summit came as Paris continued to mourn. French President François Hollande fought back tears Friday morning as he led a somber remembrance of the attack victims at the gold-domed Hotel des Invalides, a former military hospital.

With wounded attack victims in wheelchairs and relatives of the dead looking on from a cobblestone courtyard, Hollande said France would “operate relentlessly to protect its children” from attack by “an army of fanatics.”

He also vowed that the country would respond with more music and sporting events following attacks on sites that included a concert hall and a stadium.

Security experts say that if the Islamic State or another group were to try to attack Paris during the climate summit, it is more likely that they would again aim for lightly guarded targets rather than attempt to penetrate multiple layers of security at the venue where the leaders are meeting.

“This generation of terrorists knows that attacking leaders or protected sites is probably out of reach,” said Camille Grand, director of the Paris-based Foundation for Strategic Research. “That doesn’t mean they won’t try. But it’s extremely difficult.”

Grand said organizers are helped by the fact that the summit will be held just outside the city limits, at a conference center in Le Bourget, near Paris’s first airport. The world leaders will be staying on site.

Since the Nov. 13 attacks, France has declared a state of emergency, and security forces have conducted more than 1,000 raids and arrested more than 120 people on terrorism-related charges. Because of the heightened police activity, any would-be attackers “probably want to lay low and stay quiet” until the security crackdown eases, Grand said.

But organizers are not taking chances. Border controls have been tightened, and a section of the Boulevard Peripherique, the major highway that rings Paris, will be shut down during the days the world leaders are in town. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has urged city residents to use public transit, which will be free on those days.

Under regulations passed since the attacks, police have banned demonstrations, forcing nongovernmental organizations to create other options for protest.

Avaaz, a global campaign network whose name means “voice” in several languages, plans to cover the Place de la Republique, a square in central Paris, with shoes symbolizing the footsteps of those who had planned to take part in a demonstration that was being called the Global Climate March. The police have approved the installation of the shoes, which the group has been collecting for the past week. The square is both the city’s unofficial place of mourning and the traditional site for the expression of political discontent.

Other groups are planning to create a human chain between the Place de la Republique and another of the city’s squares, two miles away, or to join what some are calling a “great clamor for climate” by playing music and shouting from their windows for 15 minutes at 8 p.m. each night of the conference.

Several groups including the World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace and France Nature Environment say they have developed an online tool to allow people to march in the Americas, Africa, Asia or elsewhere in Europe wearing the names and pictures of those who had planned to demonstrate in Paris.

And some say they will simply disobey the police crackdown.

“We need to fight the state of emergency,” said Benjamin Ball, a member of a group called the Les Désobéissants (the Disobedient). “Otherwise [the authorities] will extend it indefinitely.”

At the Place de la Republique on Friday, mourning citizens continued to pay tribute to the victims of the attacks. But they also looked ahead to a summit that many hope will help the world take a stand against an even greater long-term threat.

“We are all submerged in grief,” said Hélène Gauterie, wiping away tears as she stood before mountains of fading flowers and candles soaked by days of rain. “It’s hard to imagine thinking of anything else.”

But Julie and Marc Motreux, visiting from the southern French city of Nimes, said the threat of climate change was ultimately “more important for the world.”

Thomas Garreau and Justine Baudier, both students from Versailles, west of Paris, came to the square to mourn Quentin Mourier, a professor who died at the Bataclan theater, the scene of the deadliest attack.

“The terrorism happened and could happen again,” said Garreau, who belongs to an organization affiliated with climate politics. The climate conference, he said, could provide “constructive change.”

“Something positive must come of it,” Baudier said.

Pope Francis visits Ugandan shrine amid gay rights debate

Pope Francis traveled to Uganda's holiest shrine on Saturday, paying tribute to 19th century Christian martyrs killed for their faith, including for protecting young boys in the royal court from abuse by the king.

Francis, on the second leg of his first African tour, said Mass for tens of thousands of people huddled on muddy hillsides surrounding the soaring modern shrine made of iron and cone-shaped to resemble a hut of the Baganda tribe.

Twenty-five Anglicans and 22 Catholic converts where killed during the persecutions, mostly by being burned to death, between 1884 and 1887 on the orders of King Buganda Mwanga II

The most famous of the Catholic converts and martyrs was Charles Lwanga, a prefect in the royal court who was in charge of the boy pages and was killed because he tried to protect the children from the sexual advances of the king.

After their conversion they tried to spread the faith to other groups. Catholics now make up about 40 percent of the population. Churches run many schools and hospitals around the country.

"They did this in dangerous times," the pope said during a Mass celebrated from a concrete island on an artificial lake on the shrine complex outside the capital Kampala.

Traditional singing and dancing gave way to a Western-style church choir as the pope walked to the altar via a gangway over the lake, which was guarded by police scuba divers in dinghies

"Not only were their lives threatened but so too were the lives of the younger boys under their care," he said.

Uganda has been seen as a bastion of anti-gay sentiment since 2013, when it sought to toughen penalties, with some lawmakers pushing for the death penalty or life in prison for some actions involving gay sex.

The law was overturned on procedural grounds, but not before U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry compared it to anti-Semitic legislation in Nazi Germany. Other Western donors were outraged.

Gay rights activists in Uganda said before the visit that they hoped the pope would make a gesture of tolerance to homosexuals.

Failing to address the issue would be "a missed opportunity to protect LGBT persons," said activist Frank Mugisha

In the prepared text of his homily for the Mass, the pope praised the martyrs for telling the king "what the gospel does not allow," an apparent reference to homosexual acts.

The pope, however, did not read that part of the homily. It was not clear if he decided to remove it.

The Church teaches that while homosexual tendencies are not a sin, homosexual acts are. It also says homosexuals should be respected in the Church and society but that Catholic homosexuals should remain chaste.

The pope first visited a separate shrine to the 25 Anglican martyrs before saying Mass at the nearby shrine to the Catholic martyrs, who were made saints by Pope Paul VI in 1964.

Later on Saturday, the pope was due to hold a rally with Ugandan youth and visit a Church-run home for the poor.

On Sunday morning, he is due to leave for the Central African Republic, potentially the most dangerous stop on his trip.

For nearly three years, the Central African Republic has been embroiled in an inter-religious conflict that has effectively split it in two. Thousands have been killed and more than one in five have fled internally or sought refuge abroad

Gunman kills officer, two others at Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado

A suspect is in police custody following an hours-long shooting standoff at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, where at least one police officer and two civilians were killed Friday.

“The perpetrator is in custody,” Mayor John Suthers declared just after 5 p.m. Mountain time — more than five hours after an active shooter was first reported at the health-care clinic, spawning confusion that lasted through the afternoon over whether the gunman was at large or holed up at the medical facility with staff and patients.

Police were trying to determine the suspect’s identity and his motive after his capture at the clinic. They said the man was armed with a long gun and also brought into the building several “items” that could have been explosive devices.

Police described the gunman as a stocky, bearded white male wearing a trench coat.

Besides the three deaths, at least four other police officers and five civilians were injured. ­Authorities said those individuals were all in good condition.

The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs said the officer who was killed was Garrett Swasey, 44, who had been with the department for six years and responded to the initial reports of an active shooter.

President Obama was briefed on the situation, a White House official said. Local police were joined at the scene by state investigators and federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI.

Health centers associated with Planned Parenthood have been the target of threats and violence because of the organization’s role in providing abortions and lobbying for reproductive rights. Abortion rights groups say threats against abortion providers rose sharply this summer in the wake of an undercover “sting” mounted by an antiabortion group that filmed one of its videos at a clinic in Denver.

At least four Planned Parenthood clinics have been targeted with arson since the videos were released. The increase in threats has led abortion rights groups to increase cooperation with local police and the FBI.

“Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of the brave law enforcement officers who put themselves in harm’s way in Colorado Springs,” Cecile Richards, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement. “We are profoundly grateful for their heroism in helping to protect all women, men and young people as they access basic health care in this country.”

Earlier, Vicki Cowart, president of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, said in an interview on CNN that she believed all the staff members and patients of the Planned Parenthood clinic were safe.

“We’re very pleased that our own security systems were operating at top-notch,” she said. “Our staff were able to monitor our internal cameras and actually assist the local law enforcement folks to understand what was happening inside the center as it was happening.”.

Cowart said that “we don’t yet know the full circumstances and motives behind this criminal action, and we don’t yet know if Planned Parenthood was in fact the target of this attack.”

In New York, Detective Brian Sessa said the police department had deployed response vehicles to Planned Parenthood locations throughout the city out of “an abundance of caution.” He added that there were no specific threats.

The incident in Colorado began on a traditionally quiet day of post-Thanksgiving relaxation about 11:30 a.m. Mountain time when police responded to a call for help from the Planned Parenthood clinic. The clinic sits in a bustling area near a shopping center, a medical building, a grocery store and restaurants.

A burst of gunfire early on gave way to relative calm in the afternoon, but witnesses said gunfire started again in the evening.

Police warned media not to set up too close to the scene because it was not secure. Many workers and shoppers in the area were told to hunker down in place, whether it be in the kitchen of their restaurant or the back seat of their car. Some remained there for hours as snow accumulated and the sky darkened

As of 4 p.m., police had not identified or made voice contact with the shooter. Buckley said officers then managed to get into the building and shout at the suspect to give himself up, after which he emerged from the building with his hands raised.

Before that, police had evacuated a number of people from the building, and they were taken to a hospital for evaluation. Footage from television stations showed people in medical jackets and scrubs being ushered through the snow into waiting vehicles.

Sydney Downey, 20, who works at Sally Beauty Supply nearby, said people inside the store heard gunshots about 11:45 a.m.

“A lot of gunshots,” Downey said, “like, too many to even count.”

She said police and firefighters swarmed Centennial Boulevard, where the clinic is located, and crowded around a nearby bank.

An officer came by the beauty supply store to make sure that the doors were locked and that those inside were safe, she said.

“He said, ‘Get back away from the windows,’ and left, and that was it,” Downey said.

After that, Downey said, she remained huddled in a back room with the store manager and a customer.

Brigitte Wolfe, who works at a Japanese restaurant across the street from the clinic, said she first learned something was amiss when police SWAT and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives vehicles pulled up out front.

She heard no gunshots. “We just thought it was some random whatever happening, and then we turned on the news and started seeing what was going on,’’ she said.

Suddenly, about 3 p.m., police and ATF agents banged on the restaurant’s door “and told us to hide where there was no windows because the shooter was active,’’ Wolfe said.

She and several employees and customers hid in the restaurant’s kitchen.

Wolfe said the police and agents commandeered the restaurant’s dining room.

Gunshots were audible as police used an armored vehicle to evacuate people from the Planned Parenthood clinic.

Wolfe said that the medical facility had been the scene of protests most weekends but that there had never been any violence until Friday.

The Latest: German authorities arrest arms dealer suspect

German prosecutors say they have arrested on illegal weapons charges a 34-year-old man who local media report was located as part of an investigation into the attacks in Paris.

Stuttgart prosecutors said Friday the man, whose name was not given in line with privacy laws, is accused of converting legal starter pistols to fire live ammunition and selling them on the Internet, the dpa news agency reported.

The prosecutor's office would not confirm, however, a Bild newspaper report that he is also suspected of selling four AK-47 type assault rifles at the beginning of November that might have been used in the Paris attacks.

Citing investigative documents, Bild reported that the man's phone contained data that led to the suspicion.

Suspects arrested in Berlin had links to Islamic State: paper

Two people arrested in Berlin on Thursday had links to Islamic State, which may have been planning an attack in the western city of Dortmund, a German newspaper said on Friday, citing security sources.

German police commando units arrested two men aged 28 and 46 on Thursday suspected of planning an attack and searched a cultural center, a police spokesman said.

German newspaper Tagesspiegel said the two men are from Syria and Tunisia and have links to the militant group Islamic State. The paper added that security forces suspected Islamic State could have planned a possible attack in the west German city of Dortmund from Berlin.

Criminal investigations have also been opened into other people, including asylum seekers, in connection with Thursday's arrests, the paper said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday the security threat level in Germany remained high after the Paris attacks on Nov. 13 where 130 people were killed.

On Thursday, an object "presumed to be hazardous" was found in a car used by the two main suspects, prompting police to block off the area and evacuate residents from several buildings, according to a police statement.

Barcelona would beat Bayern Munich in Champions League - Paul Scholes

Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes believes Barcelona would defeat Bayern Munich if they meet in the Champions League, although he says the current Blaugrana side would come up just short to Pep Guardiola's legendary team.

Scholes, who lost two Champions League finals with United against Guardiola's Barca in 2009 and 2011, says Bayern are a stronger team this season to last year.

However, he would back Luis Enrique's team, who thumped rivals Real Madrid 4-0 on Saturday and Roma 6-1 on Tuesday, to see off the German champions should they meet in Europe's elite club competition later this term.

"We're talking about Bayern Munich being the team that are closest to Barca, and Barca destroyed Bayern Munich last year," he told ESPN FC from the BT Sport green room in London, where he was analysing this week's Champions League. "They were much better than them.

"Have Bayern Munich changed anything to get closer? They brought Douglas Costa in, who looks a good player. I don't think they had [Franck] Ribery or [Arjen] Robben last year, Robben's come back. If they do come across each other, it could be interesting. You have to fancy Barcelona."

Scholes added: "Barca and Bayern are, I think, miles ahead of any team. Real Madrid maybe, if on form, but I don't think there's anyone close."

Scholes does, however, feel United's Treble-winning side of 1999 would give the current Barca and Bayern teams a good game

The Red Devils won the Treble of domestic league, domestic cup and Champions League titles a full decade before Barca and Bayern would repeat the feats in Spain and Germany.

"It's hard now to imagine any team living with Bayern Munich and Barcelona with what they're doing," he said. "We [the 1999 side] would be confident we could handle ourselves in that team.

"You talk about their forward lines, we had some unbelievable forwards. Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Teddy Sheringham, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. We had goals everywhere in the team -- Ryan Giggs, David Beckham. We were just probably below that kind of standard but we always felt we could compete with anyone."

The former England international believes Barcelona's front three of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez are the best attacking trio "you're ever going to see," although he still just about prefers the Barca side he came up against coached by Guardiola.

"I don't think they're far off [the current side]," he told ESPN FC. "That was a brilliant team we played against but, you have to say, [now] probably the forward players are better. Probably [Luis] Suarez is ahead of [David] Villa. Suarez looks a bit better than him at the minute, and Neymar as well, [but] they've not got Xavi, have they?

"You couldn't get a kick of the ball [in 2009 or 2011]. Possession was sensational. It's all right if you've got possession but you've got to do something with it, and they had the ability with the forwards. Messi, Iniesta could beat players. Xavi and Iniesta could control the game. We just couldn't get a kick of the ball.

"God, Iniesta, Xavi, just impossible to get the ball off. They were just clever, they know what's around them, awareness. And what Iniesta had that Xavi didn't was a little burst of pace and a little bit of skill, and once he's past you he's gone -- a magician. It's different [at the moment]. I just think the front three are as good as you're ever going to see."

Scholes says United losing to Jose Mourinho's Porto in the Champions League in 2004 was one of his biggest regrets as a player, along with getting eliminated from the competition by Borussia Dortmund in 1997.

United had been leading Porto 2-2 on aggregate on away goals in the last-16 second-leg match in March 2004, only for Scholes himself to then have a goal wrongly disallowed for offside.

The Portuguese side went on to claim a late winner through Costinha, launching both their surge to that season's Champions League trophy and Mourinho's career.

"We beat them," Scholes said. "We beat them at home, the offside goal, we were through. That was the year, I think we would have had a great chance of winning it. I think we would have beaten Monaco in the final. It was a major regret, yeah, along with getting beat by Borussia Dortmund in the semifinal in 1997 because we were by far the better team.

"Yeah, the Porto game. We didn't play great away from home, got an away goal, but we were much the better team at home. Tim Howard made a little bit of a mistake and we had a goal ruled offside that wasn't."

Scholes, however, also credited the discipline that Mourinho instilled in that side.

"That's why he's the manager he is today," he said. "Porto were a very good team, really good players. And he put that together then, created a miracle really, because you can't see how that can happen again."

Russia and Turkey refuse to back down in row over jet downing Read more at Reutersh

Russia sent an advanced missile system to Syria on Wednesday to protect its jets operating there and pledged its air force would keep flying missions near Turkish air space, sounding a defiant note after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet.

Underscoring the message, Russian forces launched a heavy bombardment against insurgent-held areas in Latakia on Wednesday, near where the jet was downed, rebels and a monitoring group said.

The United States and Europe both urged calm and continued dialogue in telephone conversations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, a sign of international concern at the prospect of any escalation between the former Cold War enemies.

The downing of the jet on Tuesday was one of the most serious publicly acknowledged clashes between a NATO member and Russia for half a century, and further complicated international efforts to battle Islamic State militants in Syria.

President Tayyip Erdogan made no apology, saying his nation had simply been defending its own security and the "rights of our brothers in Syria". He made clear Turkish policy would not change.

Russian officials expressed fury over Turkey's action and spoke of retaliatory measures that were likely to include curbing travel by Russian tourists to Turkish resorts and some restrictions on trade.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described it as a planned act and said it would affect efforts towards a political solution in Syria. Moscow would "seriously reconsider" its relations with Ankara, he said.

Jets believed to be Russian also hit a depot for trucks waiting to go through a major rebel-controlled border crossing with Turkey, Bab al-Salam, the head of the crossing said.

Syrian jets have struck the area before, but if confirmed to have been carried out by Russia, it would be one of Moscow's closest air strikes to Turkish soil, targeting a humanitarian corridor into rebel-held Syria and a lifeline for ordinary Syrians crossing to Turkey.

DO NOT WANT WAR

But the Russian response was carefully calibrated, indicating Moscow did not want to jeopardize its main objective in the region: to rally international support for its view on how the conflict in Syria should be resolved.

"We have no intention of fighting a war with Turkey," Lavrov said. Erdogan also said Ankara had no intention of escalating tensions with Russia.

In Paris, where deadly attacks on Nov. 13 claimed by Islamic State prompted France to step up its aerial bombing of the militant group in Syria, President Francois Hollande expressed concern over the war of words between Ankara and Moscow.

"We must all work to make sure that the situation (between Russia and Turkey) de-escalates," Hollande told a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Hollande was due to discuss Syria and the fight against Islamic State with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday.

Putin said an advanced weapons system would be despatched to Russia's Khmeimim air base in Syria's Latakia province.

"I hope that this, along with other measures that we are taking, will be enough to ensure (the safety) of our flights," Putin told reporters, in an apparent warning to Turkey not to try to shoot down any more Russian planes.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was forced to fly missions close to the Turkish border because that was where the militants tended to be located. Russian operations would continue, he said.

MUTUAL RECRIMINATION

Turkey said the downed jet had encroached on Turkish air space and was warned repeatedly to change course, but Russian officials have said the plane was at no time over Turkey.

The crew ejected, and one pilot was shot dead by rebels as he parachuted to the ground. A Russian marine sent to recover the crew was also killed in an attack by rebels.

The surviving pilot was quoted by Russian agencies as saying the crew "knew the region like the back of their hand", that they did not fly over Turkish air space, and that there were no visual or radio warnings from Turkey.

The Turkish military later released what it said was an audio recording of a warning to a Russian fighter jet before it was shot down near the Syrian border. A voice on the recording can be heard saying "change your heading" in English.

The Turkish military said it had explained the rules of engagement that led to the downing of the jet to Russian military attaches and had tried to rescue the pilots.

At a business event in Istanbul, Erdogan said Turkey had made a "huge effort" to prevent such incidents but that the limits of its patience had been tested after repeatedly warning Russia about air space incursions in recent weeks.

"Nobody should expect us to remain silent against the constant violation of our border security, the ignoring of our sovereign rights," Erdogan said.

Turkey has been angered by Russian air strikes in Syria, particularly those near its border targeting Turkmens, who are Syrians of Turkish descent.

TRADE TIES

Russia made clear it could target Turkey economically.

"The direct consequences could lead to our refusal to take part in a whole raft of important joint projects and Turkish companies losing their positions on the Russian market," Medvedev said in a statement.

Russia is a major exporter of grain and energy to Turkey, and sends over four million tourists each year to Turkish resorts, second only to the number of German tourists.

The Russian government has already said it will discourage Russian tourists from traveling to Turkey, though the immediate impact will be limited because Turkey is now in the off-season.

But while Russia may mothball deals with Turkish firms and curb imports of Turkish goods, it is unlikely to let the fallout affect energy exports that are the core of their economic relationship.

"Erdogan is a tough character, and quite emotional, and if Russia pushes too far in terms of retaliatory action, I think there will inevitably be a counter reaction from Turkey (like) tit-for-tat trade sanctions, perhaps extending to things like the Russia nuclear deal," said Nomura strategist Timothy Ash.

"But I think there is also a clear understanding that any such action is damaging for both sides, and unwelcome. The ball is in Russia's court now," he wrote in a note.

NSW motorists won't be fined if their phones aren't charged under digital licence plan

Drivers will not be slapped with fines if their smartphone has no charge when their identity is being checked under a NSW government plan to digitise licences.

The state government announced on Wednesday that it would be rolling out digital driver's licences by the end of 2018, with the first batch – the responsible service of alcohol (RSA), the responsible conduct of gambling (RSG) and recreational fishing licences – being digitised in mid-2016.

While there were fears among the community that some people would be fined if their battery went flat, the state government said this would not be the case.

"Motorists and others will not be fined if their phone battery is simply flat," a Service NSW spokesman said. "The current design involves responsible authorities having the ability to verify the fact that you hold a valid licence in the case where your battery is flat.

"Digital driver's licences are three years away, due to be delivered at the end of 2018.

"In that time specific agency policies will be reviewed and updated as part of the project where required."

The government said it hoped to save money from the scheme.

"Over time the digital licence program will lead to cost savings across government…," a spokesperson for Service NSW said.

"The full extent of savings will be understood once adoption rates are known."

The initial wide scale roll out of the digital licences will cost around $23 million in capital expenditure and approximately $5 million in operational expenditure, a spokesperson from Services NSW confirmed on Thursday.

Chair of the Australian Privacy Foundation, Dr Roger Clarke, voiced his concerns about the privacy issues the digital licence system might expose. "How much information will be available? What exactly will be on the phone? Will it be all of your licence? Will it simply be a picture of your licence? We don't actually know how much information will be hosted in the system," he said.

Dr Clarke also said he was worried not enough research had been done into digital licences, which are in the process of being rolled out in select US states like Iowa and Delaware.

"The one fundamental thing we need is a safety evaluation of the proposed system, but that information has not been made public. We need an analysis of the potential weaknesses of these systems so they don't end up biting people in the backside," Dr Clarke said.

Russia urges international coalition on terrorism

In spite of the shooting down of a Russian fighter plane by Turkey Moscow seeks an international coalition in the fight against terrorism. The stressed Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov before a meeting of French President Francois Hollande with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin on this Thursday in Moscow. Russia wanted a "broad anti-terrorism front, a real coalition," Ryabkov told Interfax news agency. For this purpose, there is no alternative.

Russia rated the shooting in the Turkish-Syrian border region as a planned provocation. One aim of the action on Tuesday might have been to undermine the formation of an international coalition, said Ryabkov. This should not succeed.

Putin welcomes Hollande on Thursday for talks on a common fight against terrorism. The US reject any military cooperation with Russia as long as Moscow supports the Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad.

Merkel Hollande promises more help in the anti-terror fight

Iraq, Syria, Libya - in these countries is raging the terrorist militia "Islamic State" particularly brutal. In Iraq, the situation remains tense. In Syria, the Assad regime has lost territories to the IS, however, is fighting now Russia on the side of the Syrian ruler.



The facts: thousands of people fleeing from the terror of radical Islamists in Europe. An international coalition is flying air attacks on IS-positions. Russia now flies bombings in Syria - According to the Kremlin alone against terrorists. However, Syrian activists beat alarm: So Moscow is fighting specifically against Assad opponents who do not belong terrorist organization. A wave of terror has shaken Paris - allegedly were IS-fighters the masterminds.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said French President Francois Hollande still provided further help in the anti-terror fight in prospect. "If the French president asks me to think about what we can do more, then the task is for us to think about it," said Merkel on Wednesday evening at a meeting with Hollande in Paris. "We will react very quickly here." Without going into details, Merkel said: "The Islamic state must be fought by military means." 

Earlier, the chancellor had thought along with Hollande of the victims of the terrorist attacks of 13 November and lays down a flower in the French capital at the Republic Square. The site is located near the concert hall "Bataclan" and several other crime scenes series of murders with 130 dead. 

In order to relieve the French forces in the anti-terror fight, should according to an announcement by Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU will in future be stationed up to 650 German soldiers in the West African Mali). In addition to the number of German soldiers that form in northern Iraq Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, be increased from 100 to 150th 

Hollande welcomed the German plans. At the same time he said: "If Germany could go on, that would be a very good signal

Jimbo Fisher says he was unaware of FSU sexual battery policy in deposition

In a deposition taken in an ongoing Title IX lawsuit against Florida State brought by a woman who said she was raped by quarterback Jameis Winston, head coach Jimbo Fisher said he was unaware of the school's policy on sexual battery.

Fisher was deposed on Sept. 22 as part of a lawsuit brought by Erica Kinsman, who accused Winston of raping her in December 2012. Her lawsuit against FSU's board of trustees alleges that the school was "deliberately indifferent" to her report of a sexual assault and that its response deprived her of educational opportunities in violation of her rights under Title IX.

FSU released a heavily-redacted version of the 186-page deposition on Wednesday in response to a public records request from USA TODAY Sports. It also released a 183-page deposition from Melissa Ashton, the assistant dean of students and director of the Victim Advocate Program at FSU.

Fisher said in the deposition that around December 2012 and January 2013, around the time the allegation against Winston was first reported to police and initially investigated, that he was not aware of FSU's policy about sexual battery. Instead, he relied on procedure.

"I was to report to my superior," Fisher said.

Fisher said he could not recall an October 2014 statement FSU provided to the New York Times which stated that the athletics department became aware of the allegation against Winston in January 2013.

The school previously admitted that Fisher and senior associate athletics director Monk Bonasorte were aware of the allegation in January 2013 but did not notify the Title IX coordinator or the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities.

FSU has previously argued in filings in the lawsuit that an "appropriate person" was not aware of the harassment Kinsman alleged and could not take corrective action.

Asked in his deposition what he knew of Title IX, Fisher responded that he understood it to be "equality in men's sports to women's sports."

Indiana man gets four-year sentence for stealing brains from museum, selling them

An Indiana man who admitted stealing human brain samples and other tissue from a medical museum and selling them received a four-year jail sentence Wednesday. 

Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry said that 21-year-old David Charles had pleaded guilty to burglary and had three years of his sentence suspended.

Curry said Charles admitted to breaking into the Indiana Medical History Museum several times in 2013 to steal jars of preserved tissue. He was arrested in December 2013 after a San Diego man who purchased about six jars of brain tissue on eBay for $600 alerted authorities.

The Indianapolis Star reported that Charles was arrested when authorities arranged a meeting between Charles and an eBay seller who provided the brain tissue to the San Diego buyer. Authorities said Charles stole 60 more jars of human tissue the day before the meeting. 

Investigators matched a bloody fingerprint on a white piece of paper left at the crime scene to Charles. Fox 59 also reported that Charles tried to sell the tissue through his Facebook page. In one status update, dated Oct. 14, 2013, Charles wrote " yo I got a bunch of human brains in jars for sale [hit me up] for details u [sic] know u [sic] want one for Halloween."

As part of Charles' sentence, he is required to obtain a high school diploma or GED and will spend one year on home detention and two years on probation.

The museum is located on the site of the Central State Hospital, which treated patients with psychiatric and mental disorders between 1848 and 1994. The museum's director said at the time of the theft that the tissue came from autopsies conducted between the 1890s and 1940s.

Hundreds gather for funeral of police shooting victim in Minneapolis

Family and friends of Jamar Clark mourned together Wednesday as they lay to rest the 24-year-old black man whose death at the hands of police 10 days ago sparked days of protests in Minneapolis. Hundreds turned out to mourn Clark at the service at Shiloh Temple International Ministries and got a glimpse into the life of the man whose death, his family hoped, would not be in vain

Protesters paused their efforts to honor the wishes of the Minneapolis Urban League and Clark’s family, who asked that demonstrations be put on hold Wednesday for the service. 

he league called for a day of mourning and peace after a day of anger and shock gripped the north Minneapolis community. On Monday night, five protesters were shot near the Black Lives Matter demonstration.

“The family of Jamar Clark has been traumatized by the violent manner of his loss, the absence of information or explanation for the shooting and the challenge of navigating their grief amid the glare of media attention and among competing political agendas,” Steven Belton, the league’s interim president, said in a statement. “They have called for peace and a cessation of protests for Jamar’s sake and the safety of the community.”

Belton asked protesters to end the vigil outside the 4th Precinct and allow the federal and local investigations to move forward. Lena Gardner, an organizer with Black Lives Matter Minneapolis, said that the group had no protests or rallies planned for Wednesday.

At the visitation, leaflets shared details about Clark, who was the youngest of 10 children and liked to swim, fish, listen to music and take trips to Charlotte, N.C.

“As a child, Jamar was always full of energy and had a big smile,” the leaflet reads. Clark lay in an open charcoal casket at the ceremony.

More than 300 people including Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., arrived at the temple to mourn Clark and show support for the family. State Sen. Bobby Joe Champion and former Minneapolis Mayors R.T. Rybak and Sharon Sayles Belton were also in attendance.

Clark’s family members wore white T-shirts that read, “I Matter.” Clark’s cousin, Cameron Clark, hobbled into the service on crutches. He was one of the five protesters shot Monday night.

Speakers thanked the protesters at the 4th Precinct for bringing about change and leading to the release of the names of the officers involved in Clark’s death.

“Jamar your life did and does have purpose,” Shiloh Bishop Richard D. Howell Jr. said at the funeral. “Your death is not in vain. We will fight with the tools you have provided.”

Mayor Betsy Hodges was not present at the funeral. Clark’s older brother, James Hill, said Hodges sent her condolences for not attending the funeral adding that he wanted her to hold the officers accountable.

“We just want her to do her job,” Hill said.

A line of protesters stretched down the street with their fists raised in the air in solidarity as the funeral procession passed the 4th Precinct. Family and friends stopped in front of the precinct to acknowledge the protesters. Protesters then huddled in a circle for a moment of silence for Clark.

On Tuesday, nearly 1,000 people marched to City Hall in the aftermath of Monday night’s shooting.

Minneapolis police said Tuesday that they arrested three men in connection with the shooting. Allen Lawrence “Lance” Scarsella III, 23, was arrested in Bloomington. Sources said Nathan Gustavsson, 21, of Hermantown, and Daniel Macey, 26, of Pine City, were arrested after they turned themselves in. All three suspects are white. Earlier Tuesday, police arrested a 32-year-old Hispanic man in south Minneapolis, but he was later released because, police said, he was not at the scene of the shooting.

Authorities are weighing whether to treat Monday’s shooting as a hate crime, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

In a video message posted on Facebook, Hodges said she “abhors” Monday night’s violence and that “those attacks have no place in our city.”

Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau on Twitter called the officers “true professionals” and noted that “MPD worked nonstop through the night to bring justice in last night’s shooting.” She did not comment further on the shooting Tuesday.

The gunfire erupted around 10:45 p.m. Monday on Morgan Avenue North about a block north of the precinct station where protesters have staged demonstrations and camped out since Nov. 15, when police fatally shot Clark, who was unarmed.

Miski Noor, a media contact for Black Lives Matter, said “a group of white supremacists showed up at the protest, as they have done most nights.”

When about a dozen protesters attempted to herd the group away from the area, Noor said, they “opened fire on about six protesters,” hitting five of them. The victims – all black men ages 19 through 43 – were taken to hospitals. Their injuries were not life threatening.

In a subsequent incident early Wednesday morning, police responded to a “shots fired” activation from the city’s ShotSpotter equipment in the area near the 4th Precinct. The report, at 12:40 a.m., came from near the 1300 blocks of Newton and Morgan Avenues North. Nobody was injured and suspects were stopped and identified by officers. One man was booked into jail. A department spokesman said he doesn’t know if the shots were connected to the protesters.

France Votes to Keep Up ISIS Air War

French lawmakers voted Wednesday to continue airstrikes in Syria against the Islamic State, the group that claimed responsibility for the Nov. 13 attacks that killed 130 people in the Paris area, while Germany’s chancellor said her country would do more in the global fight against the group.

The French Parliament’s upper house, the Senate, voted 325 to 0 with 21 abstentions to prolong France’s airstrikes in Syria beyond early January. The lower house earlier voted 515 to 4 in favor.

French fighter jets joined the American-led coalition against extremists of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, in Iraq in 2014 and expanded their mission to Islamic State targets in Syria in September. President François Hollande cited specific threats against French interests stemming from the Islamic State in Syria.

The vote came as Mr. Hollande and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany discussed how to combat the group, which has spread its violence to Europe and North Africa.

Ms. Merkel indicated her country would do more in the international fight against the Islamic State.

“We know that this attack wasn’t just intended for the people of Paris, but for our whole way of life,” she said.

Mr. Hollande said it would “be a very good signal in the fight against terrorism” if Germany could do more against the Islamic State. Germany currently provides weapons and training for Kurds fighting the group in Iraq.

“If the French president asks me to think about what more we can do, then it’s our task to think about that, and we will act quickly,” Ms. Merkel said, adding that the Islamic State “can’t be convinced with words; it must be fought with military means.”