Russia has warned that Ukraine’s attempts to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) threaten Europe’s security. ● “The very idea of Ukraine’s efforts to join NATO are [sic] dangerous, not only for Ukrainian people, because there is no unity over that issue, it is dangerous for European security,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday. “There are a few Western countries that want to maintain the crisis in Ukraine and to maintain and boost the confrontation between Ukraine and Russia, including through provocative efforts toward membership in the Atlantic alliance,” he added, in reference to NATO.

Israeli police have fired a rubber bullet at a five-year-old Palestinian boy’s face as he was getting out of a school bus on his way home, the child’s family told Palestinian media. He sustained a skull fracture under his eye. The incident happened when Muhammad Jamal Ubeid and his 14-year-old sister stepped out of the school bus and started walking home in al-Issawiya, an Arab village and neighborhood in East Jerusalem, on Wednesday. Muhammad was taken to the nearby Hadassah Medical Center on Mount Scopus, where the doctors said the boy had a fracture in the bone below his eye. The hospital confirmed that his wound was typical of ones inflicted by rubber bullets. The hospital officials told Haaretz that the boy’s condition was satisfactory and he was headed for surgery.

PressTV: Virginia police handcuff, shackle 4-year-old boy with ADD [Attention-Deficit Disorder]

First Coalition Warplane Lost in ISIS War. ● The US-led coalition has lost its first warplane of the ISIS war in Syria today, as ISIS shot down a Jordanian F-16 with a heat-seeking missile, capturing the pilot. The US denied that ISIS was the one that shot the plane down, but the capture was confirmed. ISIS issued images of the captured pilot being paraded around their capital city of Raqqa. Jordan warned they are holding ISIS responsible for the safety of the captured pilot. That’s probably not going to be a serious concern for ISIS, since Jordan and the other coalition members are already at war with them and bombing them on a daily basis. It’s a much bigger concern for the coalition, as now that ISIS has proven its capability to shoot down coalition warplanes, it’s only a matter of time before they down some more, and as the losses mount, the lack of progress in the war is likely to become a more serious concern.

Marc Rogers ■ The FBI and the President may claim that the Hermit Kingdom is to blame for the most high-profile network breach in forever. But almost all signs point in another direction. ● The news that the satirical movie—which revolves around a plot to murder Kim Jong-Un—will have a Christmas Day release as planned, will prompt renewed scrutiny of whether, as the US authorities have officially claimed, the cyber attack on Sony really was the work of an elite group of North Korean government hackers. All the evidence leads me to believe that the great Sony Pictures hack of 2014 is far more likely to be the work of one disgruntled employee facing a pink slip. I may be biased, but, as the director of security operations for DEF CON, the world’s largest hacker conference, and the principal security researcher for the world's leading mobile security company, Cloudflare, I think I am worth hearing out.

PressTV - A report says Israeli businessmen are buying properties belonging to the displaced minorities in the ISIL-held regions in northern Iraq to prepare the ground for accommodation of more than 2,000 people there.

Rixon Stewart ■ Why on earth would Israelis buy property in ISIL occupied territory in Iraq, even if it was at bargain prices? There can only be one reason: Israelis are buying property there in anticipation of the expansion and establishment of a “Greater Israel“. This was one of the objectives envisaged by the original Zionists, before Israel had even been established as a modern nation state. According to the founding father of Zionism Theodore Herzl: “the area of the Jewish State stretches: “From the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates.” This area would encompass parts of northern and western Iraq. Moreover, we know that Al Baghdadi, the leader of ISIL, is reputed to be a Mossad trained operative. Indeed there have been numerous reports linking Al Baghdadi with Mossad and this is more than speculation. Although the corporate media have largely ignored them they have been corroborated by NSA documents. Elsewhere reports have appeared claiming that Al Baghdadi’s real name is Elliot Shimon, a Jew by birth. This would also explain reports that Israel was covertly assisting Islamic State militants. Although largely ignored by the corporate Western media, Alexander Prokhanov, a senior aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, maintains that Israel has been providing intelligence and training assistance to ISIL militants. From these disparate reports we can conclude that Israel is covertly working toward the establishment of a “Greater Israel”.

Thousands of people protested in Spanish cities Saturday against a proposed law that would set hefty fines for offenses such as burning the national flag and demonstrating outside parliament buildings or strategic installations. ● The Public Security Law was approved by one house of parliament last week and is expected to be accepted by the other government-controlled one next month. The bill has been heavily criticized by opposition parties and human rights groups as an attempt by the conservative government to muzzle protests over its handling of Spain's financial crisis. The largest demonstrations occurred in cities such as Barcelona, Bilbao and Madrid, while smaller ones took place in Almeria, Granada and Valencia. Some protesters wore tape covering their mouths and carried placards calling the measures a “gagging law.”

A few dozen protesters rallied in front of a gas station in Berkeley, St. Louis on Wednesday night, where another African-American teenager was shot by a police officer. They faced off against a phalanx of officers, and gunfire has been reported. While the night began peacefully, bursts of violence were reported on social media. Reporters, including RT’s Marina Portnaya, said they heard gunshots. Police have generally cleared the area.

The Telegraph: US police shoot dead black teenager near Ferguson

Russia’s Investigative Committee has confirmed the claims by a Ukrainian, who said he witnessed the deployment of a Ukrainian warplane armed with air-to-air missiles on the day the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down. ● The interview was conducted on Tuesday, spokesman for the committee Vladimir Markin told the media on Wednesday. This followed a report in a Russian newspaper, in which the Ukrainian citizen, who preferred to remain anonymous, voiced his allegations. The investigators used a polygraph during the interview, which showed no evidence of the witness lying, he added. “The facts were reported by the witness clearly and with no inconsistencies. The investigators lean towards considering them truthful. A polygraph examination confirmed them too,” the official said.

Sputnik News: Lavrov: MH17 Crash Investigation Violates ICAO Rules
PressTV: Ukrainian warplane behind MH17 crash: Russian investigators