Video shows Paris attackers committing earlier IS atrocities
Video shows Paris attackers committing earlier IS atrocities
PARIS — New video released by the Islamic State group on Sunday shows the extremists who carried out the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris committing atrocities in IS-controlled territory while plotting the slaughter in the French capital that left 130 people dead and hundreds injured. The group also threatened to attack Britain.
The 17-minute video shows the extent of the planning that went into the multiple attacks in Paris, which French authorities have said from the beginning was planned in Syria. The video was provided online by the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi websites.
All nine militants seen in the video died in the Paris attacks or their aftermath. Seven of the attackers — four from Belgium and three from France — spoke fluent French. The two others — identified by their noms de guerre as Iraqis — spoke in Arabic.
Seven of the militants, including a 20-year-old who was the youngest of the group, were filmed standing behind bound captives, described as “apostates,” who were either beheaded or shot.
“Soon on the Champs-Elysées,” says Samy Amimour, who was raised in a Paris suburb near the French national stadium, as he holds a captive’s head aloft.
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Trump visits Iowa church: gets a lesson in humility
MUSCATINE, Iowa — On the second-to-last Sunday before the Iowa caucuses, Donald Trump settled into a fifth row pew of an Iowa church for a lesson in humility.
“I don’t know if that was aimed at me … perhaps,” Trump said after the hourlong service at the First Presbyterian Church.
Religious voters are a major factor in the opening contest on the presidential nominating calendar, and Trump has been working hard to build his appeal among them. His chief challenger in the Republican race is Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a conservative preacher’s son who’s made deep inroads with evangelicals.
The service, which Trump’s campaign invited several reporters to observe, included hymns, readings and a performance by the children’s choir. Cream-colored stained glass in the window cast a golden glow.
At one point, Trump shared a prayer book with Debra Whitaker, an Iowa supporter seated to his right. She put her hand gently around Trump’s waist as the congregation sang Hymn 409, “God is Here!” Trump could be seen by some mouthing the words of the hymn.
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Clinton, Sanders take different lessons from Obama’s ‘08 win
MARION, Iowa — To Bernie Sanders, President Barack Obama’s improbable victory in the 2008 Iowa caucuses was a testament to the power of an inspirational underdog. To Hillary Clinton, Obama’s win over her eight years ago proved the importance of a robust and refined political apparatus.
The Democratic presidential candidates’ theories are driven in part by necessity — Sanders’ has undeniable energy heading into the final week of campaigning in Iowa, while Clinton has a massive field operation that’s been on the ground for nearly a year. But they also reflect their competing visions of what Democratic voters are seeking in the 2016 election.
Sanders is running on a pledge of political revolution, one that builds on what he sees as the country’s great moments of change: the rise of trade unions, the legalization of gay marriage, and yes, Obama’s unexpected victory in the 2008 Iowa caucuses.
“Eight years ago, all over this country people said an African-American becoming president of the United States, you’re nuts, that can’t happen, too much racism in America,” Sanders said during a campaign stop Saturday. “And you think he’s going to win in a very white state? Ain’t going to happen. You made it happen. You made history.”
Clinton believes Democrats are looking less for another big moment of change and more for a steady hand who can build on Obama’s progress, but perhaps be more adept at managing Washington’s grinding gridlock.
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Despite patrols, sealing Greek sea border is near impossible
CHIOS, Greece — In the inky nighttime blackness, a small red dot appears on the radar screen, moving fast.
“That’s a smuggler,” the captain of the coast guard’s lifeboat says, swinging the vessel around and opening up the throttle, the boat cutting through the water on a frigid January night.
But the lifeboat, designed for search-and-rescue operations rather than high-speed chases, is no match for the smuggler’s speedboat. The smuggler ignores the searchlight, the shouts and the warning shots fired by the Greek coast guard, deftly navigating his small white vessel onto a tiny patch of beach among rocks.
There he disgorges his human cargo — men, women and children risking their lives in a quest for safety and a better future in Europe. They use ropes to scramble up a cliff, heading toward a lighthouse on an island they are soon to discover is deserted save for an army outpost. They will spend a cold, wet, uncomfortable night there until the coast guard can send boats in the morning.
Hour after hour, by night and by day, Greek coast guard patrols and lifeboats, reinforced by vessels from the European Union’s border agency Frontex, ply the waters of the eastern Aegean Sea along the frontier with Turkey. They are on the lookout for people being smuggled onto the shores of Greek islands — the front line of Europe’s massive refugee crisis.
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Magnitude-7.1 quake jolts Alaska; 4 homes lost
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A magnitude-7.1 quake knocked items off shelves and walls in Alaska early Sunday morning, jolting the nerves of residents in this earthquake-prone region. There were no reports of injuries, but four homes were lost to explosions or fire following the quake.
Alaska’s state seismologist, Michael West, called it the strongest earthquake in the state’s south-central region in decades. Alaska often has larger or more powerful earthquakes, such as a 7.9 last year in the remote Aleutian Islands.
“However, last night’s earthquake is significant because it was close enough to Alaska’s population centers,” West said, adding that aftershocks could continue for weeks.
The earthquake was widely felt by Anchorage residents. But the Anchorage and Valdez police departments said they hadn’t received any reports of injury or significant damage.
The earthquake struck at about 1:30 a.m. Alaska time and was centered 53 miles west of Anchor Point in the Kenai Peninsula, which is about 160 miles southwest of Anchorage, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.