5:
Brussels faces week on lockdown as hunt for terror cell intensifies
Europe’s de facto capital faces an unprecedented security lockdown this week after Belgian authorities imposed a slew of safety-first measures to prevent a “serious and imminent” terrorist attack.
Schools, universities and kindergartens will be shut and the metro, shuttered all weekend, will remain closed, as counter-terrorist forces intensify their search for a network of Islamist militants involved in the Paris attacks.
“We still fear attacks here like those that occurred in Paris, involving several individuals striking simultaneously in several places,” Charles Michel, the Belgian prime minister, told a tense press conference, adding that there were “indications” that transport systems, commercial centres, shopping streets and busy places were targets.
Soldiers patrolled the streets with armoured vehicles outside the main stations and in public spaces, and last night there were reports of multiple operations in central parts of Brussels including the Grand Place.
The Guardian
4:
Phil Goff confirms Auckland mayoral bid
Mr Goff set out his broad plans at a campaign launch on Auckland’s waterfront this afternoon, telling supporters he would focus on solutions to traffic congestion and on building more homes.
“Bringing forward infrastructure funding and providing more bus, cycle and walkways would help ease the gridlock.
“Policies that give the building industry the confidence to gear up for construction will also make it easier for homebuyers.”
Mr Goff has also come out against the sale of strategic assets.
He said two reports commissioned by the Auckland Council argue the case for selling the city’s airport shares and perhaps the port company operation.
Mr Goff told several hundred supporters in Auckland he was also against further expansion of the city’s wharves.
“We should be opening up our harbours to our people, not extending the port further out into the harbour just to create parking spaces for imported cars.”
RNZ
3:
Marco Rubio vows US troops will inflict ‘humiliating defeats’ on Isis
Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio has vowed to use American forces to inflict “high-profile, humiliating defeats” on Islamic State jihadis, to show the world they are not invincible.
In an interview with the Guardian while he campaigned across Iowa this weekend, the Florida senator detailed a strategy to fight Isis that left no options off the table – including US ground troops to support a coalition led by Sunni nations.
In a wide-ranging examination of US foreign policy, he also:
- rejected Donald Trump’s controversial plan to broadly target mosques and create Muslim registries as “not a serious proposal”
- accused Republican rivals Ted Cruz and Rand Paul of taking steps that would weaken American defense and intelligence-gathering capabilities
- signalled that he would not be able to work with Russia as a partner in attempting to resolve the chaos in Syria.
Rubio spoke during a swing through Iowa, one week after the terrorist attacks on Paris that killed 130 people and injured hundreds more. The aftermath of those attacks and the stated threat of similar violence in Brussels provided a greater sense of urgency to his pitch for a more hawkish foreign policy.
Speaking with the Guardian, Rubio criticized President Obama for having only “components of a strategy” but no comprehensive plan to take on Isis. He nonetheless maintained that “the bulk of the ground work” would rest on the shoulders of Sunni Arabs in the region.
“The only way to defeat Isis is for Sunni Arabs themselves to reject them ideologically and defeat them militarily,” Rubio said. “They must be defeated on the ground with a ground force that is made up primarily of Arab Sunni fighters from Iraq, from Syria, but also from Jordan, from Egypt, from the Emirates, from Saudi Arabia.”
2:
CNN Punished Its Own Journalist for Fulfilling a Core Duty of Journalism
CNN yesterday suspended its global affairs correspondent, Elise Labott, for two weeks for the crime of posting a tweet critical of the House vote to ban Syrian refugees. Whether by compulsion or choice, she then groveled in apology. This is the original tweet along with her subsequent expression of repentance:
Everyone, It was wrong of me to editorialize. My tweet was inappropriate and disrespectful. I sincerely apologize.
— Elise Labott (@eliselabottcnn) November 20, 2015
This all happened after the Washington Post’s Erik Wemple complained that her original tweet showed “bias.” The claim that CNN journalists must be “objective” and are not permitted to express opinions is an absolute joke. CNN journalists constantly express opinions without being sanctioned.
Labott’s crime wasn’t that she expressed an opinion. It’s that she expressed the wrong opinion: After Paris, defending Muslims, even refugees, is strictly forbidden. I’ve spoken with friends who work at every cable network and they say the post-Paris climate is indescribably repressive in terms of what they can say and who they can put on air. When it comes to the Paris attacks, CNN has basically become state TV (to see just how subservient CNN is about everything relating to terrorism, watch this unbelievable “interview”of ex-CIA chief Jim Woolsey by CNN’s Brooke Baldwin; or consider that neither CNN nor MSNBC has put a single person on air to dispute the CIA’s blatant falsehoods about Paris despite how many journalists have documentedthose falsehoods).
The Intercept
1:
Russian strikes blamed for 400 Syrian civilian deaths
Russian air strikes in Syria have killed over 400 civilians since September this year, monitoring groups say.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the death toll from September 30 – when the strikes were launched – until November 20 stood at 403 civilians, a figure that includes 97 children.
| What the bombing has caused |
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Over 400 civilians killed since September this year, including 97 children.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights puts the figure at at least 526, including 137 children.
Since last October, at least 42,234 air strikes have been documented.
Over 22,370 ‘barrel bombs’ have also been dropped in that period resulting in the death of 6,889 civilians, including 1,436 children, and injuring another 35,000 civilians.
At least 100,000 people have fled from Aleppo, while another 1,000 fled an Atma displaced camp in Idlib’s suburbs.
The Syrian conflict has killed at least 250,000 people, according to the UN.
Sources: Syrian Observatory for Human Rights & Syrian Network for Human Rights
Meanwhile, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), another monitoring group, said at least 526 were killed, including 137 children, since Russia launched its first air strikes.
Aljazeera
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