January 1979 saw the escalation of riots across Iran as crowds demanded the end of the monarchy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, head of a regime supported by Jimmy Carter’s administration. As American magazines followed the crisis breathlessly, devoting covers to the fate of the Shah (and of US interests in Iran) the people called for the return of their exiled religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini to replace a Westernised puppet monarch with Islamism.

“The last act of the drama has begun,” said Newsweek’s report, 10 days before the Shah left Iran and the country became an Islamic Republic. “Brooding in his palace, the Shah faced a stark choice: to leave the country with his title intact, or to stay and fight it out, risking everything in one last throw of the dice...Those who knew him described the Shah’s mood as indecisive. ‘He reminds me of Nixon in his own final days,’ said a well-informed ambassador.”

A cargo capsule containing more than 5,000 pounds of groceries, gifts and other supplies reached the International Space Station (ISS) Monday morning, the first successful U.S. resupply run since October.

SpaceX, a private spaceflight company headed by Elon Musk that has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA for 12 supply missions, launched the capsule using a Falcon 9 rocket on Saturday morning. Its first attempt last Tuesday was cancelled just one minute before takeoff due to a problem with the “thrust vector control actuator,” or in layman’s terms, rocket trouble.

Rocket parts are usually discarded or destroyed after use, but Musk had hoped this mission would see the first soft landing--in this case, on a platform in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean--so the rocket could be refurbished and reused in future missions. While the rocket crashed and sustained some damage, its proximity to the target 300-by-100 foot platform at the time of impact bolstered the company’s confidence that its goal was achievable.

Rocket made it to drone spaceport ship, but landed hard. Close, but no cigar this time. Bodes well for the future tho.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 10, 2015

After two days in orbit, astronauts in the ISS plucked the capsule from space using a robotic crane. The capsule contains supplies ranging from groceries and research materials to replacement parts for the Space Station’s toilet and belated holiday gifts from astronauts’ friends and family.

The supplies were much needed as the last resupply mission was in October.

“We're excited to have it on board,” station commander Barry Wilmore from the U.S. radioed to Mission Control."We'll be digging in soon."

There are currently six people at the ISS. Aside from Wilmore, Elena Serova and Alexander Samokutyaev of Russia have both been in space for 109 days. Terry Virts of the U.S., Samantha Cristoforetti of Italy and Anton Shkaplerov of Russia have each been in space for 50 days. Thanks to recent and prolific social media use by ISS astronauts, people on Earth have been able to get a birds eye view of the planet and unprecedented insights into life in space.

The capsule will remain attached to the station for about a month. In that time, the astronauts will unpack its contents and repack it with cargo before it flies back to Earth.

SpaceX will make another attempt at an ocean landing on its next mission, slated for Jan. 29. This time, the rocket will be equipped with 50 percent more hydraulic fluid for better odds at a safe landing.

Although Nigeria was able to tackle the Ebola crisis much more effectively than other African countries, it remains stricken by the insurgency of jihadist group Boko Haram in the north west of the country, a crisis which is proving to be even more deadly than the killer disease.

More people have been killed in Nigeria by Boko Haram than have died in the entire Ebola epidemic, and the bloodletting seems to be only getting worse, with local officials reporting the slaughter of at least 2,000 people in the town of Baga in the Borno State.

It’s estimated that 8,235 people have died from Ebola in west Africa, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), while according to the Council for Foreign Relations, 10,000 people have been murdered at the hands of Boko Haram in the last year alone - an estimate that doesn’t take into account the latest and bloodiest massacre.

The bodies of Baga residents are still reportedly strewn throughout the town and surrounding bush more than a week after the massacre of thousands in 16 villages in Borno state.

An estimated 30,000 people are seeking refuge away from their homes, according to the Independent, with thousands flooding to the islands of Lake Chad. “Baga is not accessible because it is still occupied by Boko Haram,” senator Maina Ma'aji Lawan of northern Borno state told CNN.

Amnesty International called it “the deadliest massacre” committed by Boko Haram so far, a claim that the Nigerian military have accepted as “quite valid”.  The group, whose name translates as “Western education is sin”, emerged in 2009 with the goal of establishing an Islamic state in the religiously divided country.

Amnesty International’s Nigeria researcher, Daniel Eyre said that changes within the Nigerian military need to occur before attacks on civilians will stop. “What’s clear is that the response by the Nigerian military has not been sufficient,” he said, adding that the escalation of attacks showing no sign of slowing down.

What’s more, the current crisis in Nigeria is likely to continue to escalate with the impending general election in February, according to Lizzy Donnelly, the assistant head of the Africa programme at Chatham House. “There are risks around political and post-election violence and the dangers of militants bringing the chaos to a greater level,” she said.

In another attack in Maiduguri, also in Borno, over the weekend, 20 people were killed and 18 others injured when a young female suicide bomber detonated explosives in a market on Saturday. The bomber appeared to be around 10 years old according to local police. It’s thought that Boko Haram is behind the attack.

Ignatius Kaigama, the Catholic Archbishop of Jos and president of the Nigerian Bishops Conference expressed fears that this is only the beginning, telling the Independent: "I believe that Boko Haram and their allies want to cause more harm, more destruction. We are just hoping a remedy can be found and this terrible situation be brought to an end."

Newsweek contributing editor and author ofThe Hunt for Boko Haram, Alex Perry, called the Nigerian insurgency “agonizing to watch”, saying that despite encouragement for Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to provide international aid, only Nigeria is capable of bringing an end to the killing.

Perry says that international aid is ineffective because it involves cooperation from the Nigerian military, which is where the roots of Nigeria’s corruption lie.

“You have to be very careful with the kind of intervention you impose,” Perry said. “Of course everyone wants to assist, but it’s difficult to do that effectively in Nigeria. There is nothing that we can do. ”

“Getting rid of gangsters that run Nigeria will take generations,” Perry said. “It is highly questionable if the Nigerian government even cares about the massacre.” He added that even if they do care, they don’t have the tools to eradicate the problem.

“The solution is not to flood area with foreign assistance, that’s exactly what the military want,” Perry said, adding that the popular #BringBackOurGirls campaign that was a response to 267 girls who were kidnapped from Chibok Secondary School in April 2013 provided exactly the kind of attention the extremists had been hoping for.

“The irony of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign is that Boko Haram were angling for that kind of attention for a long time. They wanted to raise awareness, and when they got the attention they wanted, they carried out a series of other massacres in order to retain it.”

Perry believes the key to helping Nigeria - as with the Ebola epidemic - is going in and making the existing government work better. “It is more effective to assist Africans in what they are already doing rather than taking impetus away from them,” he said.  

Jewish private protection groups in the UK are increasing their security measures and stepping up community training as they feel they cannot rely on police for continued protection. Dave Rich, deputy director of communications at the Community Security Trust (CST), a charity that provides protection to the Jewish community said that the group are increasing their security measures. “We’re realistic about the length of time for which police can reallocate their resources, because we know they have many priorities,” he said.

In light of last week’s events in Paris when Amedy Coulibaly targeted a kosher grocery, and reportedly attempted to attack a Jewish school, police patrols were stepped up in Jewish communities around the UK over the weekend. However, it’s unclear how long these extra patrols will continue for, with the Metropolitan police unable to provide details.

Rich explained that while the CTS’s security is “ongoing because there is an ongoing threat of terrorism to Jewish communities”, he went on to say that “when that threat is increased, we obviously increase security”. Though he was reluctant to detail what exactly this entails he did say that: “A large part of it now is keeping an eye out for any hostile behaviour in preparation for the attack. Even visible deterrents like good physical security at buildings can help, those which simply mean that easy entry to a building is not possible.”

“I can’t go into detail about our security measures but we’re increasing physical security at Jewish buildings as well as the people side of things and we’re conducting better training too, but that’s all I can say.” When asked about how exactly they train their volunteers, Rich declined to comment: “I can’t go into details about the training we give to our volunteers. We equip them with all the knowledge and skills they need to be effective and professional in the conduct of their security duties protecting the Jewish community.”

Rich also indicated that the CTS were keen to reassure the Jewish community: “People are very concerned. It hasn’t been long since last July and August when there was sharp rise in anti-semitic incidents in the UK, though of course they were of a much less serious nature. However, they did increase the sense of anxiety regarding security amongst lots of Jewish people, and those incidents are fresh in people’s memories.”

Despite the increased security measures, Rich said that he thinks the best response to the current situation is for people to continue to live their lives as usual. “Our advice is to not allow things like this to prevent them from going on with the proud, confident Jewish lives, despite the fact that recent events have been upsetting and worrying  and could certainly undermine people's confidence.”

Interestingly, in 2012 the CST formed a model for another organisation, Tell MAMA, which measures anti-Muslim attacks. This organization records the number of such incidents in the UK, like the CST and as their director Fiyaz Mughal says: “We work with [them] quite consistently in a number of ways”, including reporting any acts of anti-Semitism to the CST and visa versa.

Although while the CST has volunteers around the country, Tell MAMA has only eight staff. The project lost its government funding in 2013 after becoming embroiled in controversy over its statistics. The group is now part-funded by a Quaker trust.

Mughal said that although he thought the police would continue with extra patrols for the next week he did add: “We ask that mosques and synagogues remain vigilant and that mosques report in any item of hate material that they receive or if the mosque is targeted. Many mosques simply do not and this has to change through better community information, which we are providing, and through Muslim communities pro-actively encouraging their mosque leadership to report in such hate material to us at Tell MAMA and to the police.”

He explained that, as of yet, he hadn’t heard of an major reprisals towards Muslims “at street level” but did point out that ”the online world which has been awash with anti-Muslim hate”. Mughal also pointed out that “National and international incidents can create huge spikes in anti-Muslim hatred”. Indeed, according to a Freedom of Information Act acquired by the political blog Left Foot Forward, police data indicated that in the two weeks following the murder of Lee Rigby last year, Islamophobic hate crimes increased by 458% in the UK.

France has deployed almost 5,000 police to protect Jewish sites since the events last week. 

The coalition government has failed to deal with issues “at the heart” of radicalisation in the UK, explaining why the country has seen a surge of young people from Britain joining ISIS and other extremist groups over the past four years, say counter-extremism experts.

Fiyaz Mughal, a former anti-extremism adviser to the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, and director of inter-faith and anti-extremist organization Faith Matters, attacked the level of engagement and investment from government in preventing people from becoming radicalised.

According to Mughal, while the previous Labour government invested in projects that work with Muslim communities at risk of Islamic extremism, the current government has withdrawn funding and taken a very “laser-type approach”. This, he says, has led to major “gaps in adequate anti-radicalization strategy”.

“Their work is very patchy around Prevent, and there is a big problem over the spreading of resources,” he says, referring to the government’s counter-terrorism strategy Prevent, initially set up by the Labour government in 2007, along with other elements Pursue, Protect and Prepare. Prevent is aimed at deterring individuals from becoming involved in terrorism or supporting terrorism.

“The laser-type approach is taken to ensure that the government is not seen to be spending public money in a way that is seen as frivolous since that is what this coalition accused the previous government of. In doing so, they also need to review the capacity, penetration and capability of organisations they are supporting and to also ensure that they are innovative, consistent, pro-active and working on a continuous basis.”

Managing director of the Quilliam foundation Haras Rafiq agrees, saying that the government has made a “big mistake” in failing to tackle radicalism at its roots.

“Prevent was designed in two parts – the ‘sharp’ end that is aimed at providing interventions once people had been identified at risk and the much larger ‘soft’ end, which works with communities and local partners to really build resilience amongst the British Muslim community so that when youngers are confronted with these ideas, they have the ability to push them back. This is what Prevent was assigned to do, and what the current government has failed in doing,” he says.

“At the sharp end, which was assigned to the Home Office in 2011, they are doing quite a good job since there hasn’t been a terrorist attack since the 7/7 bombings and Lee Rigby. What they have failed to do however, is to prevent radicalism in the first place. And they continue to do so.”

Mughal says that the government needs to “re-evaluate” their current strategy and where their funding is going. “Some of the groups they fund have no penetration at all into Muslim communities yet they continue to fund them. Also, many are simply not proactive enough. Many of the organisations supported think that this work is 9-5 which it is not. If support is given, the transaction needs to involve seven-day working and a constant oversight of community developments. Tweeting and public relations by some groups cannot make up for grassroots hard work to ensure that the messages of extremism are tackled,” he continued.

Faith Matters, which doesn’t receive any funding from the government, works with children from very vulnerable backgrounds - “exactly the kind of children who will grow up wanting to go to Syria”, Mugha says. “And quite frankly the support from the government towards work like ours – right at the heart of the matter – has been minimal. They need to upscale their work aimed at kids who are particularly vulnerable. These children have very troubled childhoods and often have a very nihilistic mindset.”

According to Mughal, when done properly, this is not a particularly difficult task. “When you get somebody who builds confidence and works with them, I’m sorry to say but it isn’t that difficult to change their lack of focus, awareness. Once they find someone who gives them a bit of trust, it goes a long way.”

“This is a decade-long issue. There is a great deal of work to do, especially considering that the internet is still awash with extreme narrative. The other question is how do we reach out to these vulnerable young men? These are our two biggest challenges for the next decade.”

Labour MP Hazel Blears, a member of parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, who introduced the Prevent programme when she was counter-terrorism minister, also said that she was disappointed with the current government’s anti-radicalisation strategy. “In recent years I do not feel enough has been done by the government to support councils and other public organisations and community bodies in working with people at risk of being radicalized,” she said.

“Government departments need to work together on this, and it is crucial that the Department for Communities and Local Government is involved,” she continued.

According to Blears, the Home Office and the police are largely working in isolation, and the danger of this is that “we are then focusing only on people who have already been radicalised”.

“While that is of course vital work, and any further resources to challenge and monitor these people are welcome, as the old adage goes, prevention is better than cure.”

“That is why I have welcomed moves to put Prevent on a statutory footing as part of new counter-terror legislation, meaning there is a legal requirement upon the likes of local authorities, schools and prisons to work with those at risk of being radicalised.”

“It’s why I also want the government to support respected Muslim leaders and scholars in developing a counter-ideology which can be used to challenge the twisted version of Islam being peddled by the likes of Islamic State,” she continued.

Responding to the criticism, the Home Office released a statement: “We fundamentally revised the Prevent strategy in 2011 to ensure it challenges terrorist ideology, supports people who are vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism and works with sectors and institutions where there are risks of radicalisation. The prime minister also established the Extremism Task Force to improve the government's approach to tackling extremism and radicalisation.”

"As part of the government's counter-terrorism strategy, Prevent has focused on the hard end of the extremism spectrum. In addition to Prevent, the Home Office will soon, for the first time, assume responsibility for a new counter-extremism strategy that tackles all forms of extremism,” the Home Office continued.

“That strategy will aim to build up the public sector and civil society to identify all forms of extremism, so we can confront it, challenge it and defeat it.”

The Home Office also says that since 2011 it has trained over 100,000 frontline public sector workers on “identifying and preventing extremism” as well as having “excluded more preachers of hate than any other government and successfully having taken down over 65,000 pieces of unlawful terrorist-related material from the internet”.

Germany's Angela Merkel said on Monday Islam "belonged to Germany", in a clear repudiation of anti-immigration protesters gathering in Dresden and other cities.

A day after walking arm-in-arm with French President Francois Hollande at the front of a massive march in Paris to honor the victims of killings by Islamic militants, the chancellor received the Turkish prime minister and urged dialogue among religions.

Merkel pointed to comments made by former German president Christian Wulff, who said in 2010 that Islam was part of Germany, triggering a fierce debate.

"Former president Wulff said Islam belongs to Germany. That is true. I also hold this opinion," Merkel said at a news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who also took part in the Paris march on Sunday.

She was speaking hours before marches by a movement dubbed PEGIDA, or Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West, were due to begin in several German cities.

Such demonstrations, launched in Dresden, have been dwarfed by counter-protests. Merkel has said PEGIDA's rallies are organized by people with "hatred in their hearts".

Merkel said her government was doing everything it could to ensure migrants were being successfully integrated into German society regardless of their religion.

But she acknowledged the need for better dialogue between religions, praising Muslims for publicly rejecting the use of violence after the Paris killings and calling Turkey an ally in the fight against terrorism.

She and Davutoglu announced that their governments would begin regular German-Turkish consultations, a format in which the cabinets meet once a year and which is reserved for some of Berlin's closest allies, like Israel and France.

Merkel and other German politicians are due to take part in a solemn vigil at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Tuesday. Muslim organizations called the event to remember the victims of Islamist militant attacks on French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher shop in Paris.

Davutoglu said it was important to combat all forms of Islamophobia in Germany. Nearly two in three of the four million Muslims in Germany are of Turkish origin. Roughly half are German citizens.

Courtney Love’s reputation is such that when she walks into a room, it’s possible to hear a sharp, collective intake of breath. That’s what happened Thursday night, when “Miss World” herself sauntered down a narrow center aisle at HERE, a bare-bones performance space in lower Manhattan. Love, 50, has acted in films—a role in the cult 1986 film Sid and Nancy and in The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), which earned her a Golden Globe nomination for best actress in a leading role—but this is her first theatrical role.

One might think it’s difficult to suspend disbelief when watching someone whose life has been surrounded by a mythology that looms large. Love, after all, helms the unapologetic punk band Hole and was married to former Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide in 1994. But in this instance, her performance in an avant-garde opera titled Kansas City Choir Boy, we didn’t have to: Like Love, her character is feral and fearless alongside her onstage lover, the talented composer and actor Todd Almond, in this enchanting allegory about human resilience amid grief.

The story involves an unnamed Kansas City native, known only as the “choir boy,” whom we meet when he’s grooving solo to electronic music in his room. He turns on the TV and is stunned to discover via the local news that his lover, Athena, has been killed in a New York City park. Through visceral flashbacks, we experience the grief as he feels it in real time. It is a series of memories recounted exclusively through song, swerving through fights, beer-soaked revelry, heartrending moments of intimacy (at one point, the two undress each other in what seems like a dare), fleeting moments of glee in an impulsive marriage and, of course, tragedy.

The intimacy of the room, a no-frills space seating about 50 where one can’t even hang a coat across a seat for fear of intruding on someone else’s view, is itself a character for black box theater. Across the way, I could see audience members’ mouths agape as the two main characters stalked through the room, dodging a scattered orchestra and a sextet of sirens crooning and crying at will. As grief swallows the choir boy, the cast circles around the tiny room at an increasing pace, making the performance space, and the emotions therein, feel more expansive than would have been expected. The opera lasts all of 50 minutes and feels breathless, both because of the uncertainty surrounding what would happen next and because the performance runs without pause.

Kansas City Choir Boy kicked off the first night of New York City’s third annual Prototype festival, a celebration of all things avant-garde and progressive in music, theater and art. The show, which sold out its entire run soon after it was announced, is an amalgamation of opera, musical theater and late-night conceptual house show, with music ranging from bouncy electro-pop to orchestral crescendos. It most closely resembles a Greek tragedy, with its chorus of six sprites, swells of elation and agony, and its dash of melodrama.

Todd Almond with Courtney Love in “Kansas City Choir Boy.”Cory Weaver/Courtesy Prototype Festival

The mythological goddess Athena is remembered as the purveyor of wisdom. Natch, the Athena of Kansas City Choir Boy is all-seeing, but more than a goddess she resembles a specter from beyond the grave: flitting in and out of memory, drifting away just as she’s within reach. “When I say I want to fade away, I think you misunderstand,” she sings to her lover, and he roars back with his triumphant tenor bravado in a charged moment that recalls Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham’s push-and-pull vocal responses on Fleetwood Mac albums. The most memorable voices in operatic range typically hit baritone lows or soprano highs. Yet here, Love’s gut-busting growl pleasantly contrasts with Almond’s dulcet tones in the same way that, say, a sharp English cheddar unexpectedly complements a tart green apple.

Kansas City Choir Boy stemmed from passion, too: Almond’s husband, Mark Subias, is Love’s agent and introduced the pair. Almond, 38, who composed the piece and wrote its lyrics, conceived the idea for Kansas City Choir Boy when he was incidentally stuck in a Kansas City hotel room several years ago with only Garage Band to keep him company. Sometime before then, he had composed a musical rendition of The Odyssey at Juilliard for a female classmate. While absentmindedly watching TV one day, he noticed her photograph on-screen: She had been killed while running through a New York City park (a moment immortalized in Kansas City Choir Boy when the chorus sextet emerges wearing tracksuits, running toward a certain death). That night, Almond was floored by how a life he had known was depicted so lifelessly on the news. Almond said his classmate had had “that very special thing we speak of when we refer to people who seem to wear their destiny on the outside.”

The actress tasked with honoring the girl’s memory also wears her destiny on her Zac Posen sleeves—she goes by the last name Love, after all—and makes her character riveting. The opera could have been written to last longer, if only to draw out the characters further and to allow understanding of what separates them. But maybe that’s the point: No matter how far we dig into the past and attempt to make sense of tragedy, those moments we do dredge up are enough to give us life, and then help us to move forward.

Kansas City Choir Boy runs through January 17 at HERE Arts Center.

Yes, your iPhone may be exposing you to more radiation than anyone would like to think about. But is it also priming you for separation anxiety? A new study out of the University of Missouri says yes, yes it is. When researchers separated people from their iPhones, the poor phone-deprived souls performed worse on cognitive tasks.

What’s more, if participants' iPhones rang while they were in another room and were therefore unable to answer, participants’ heart rates and blood pressure levels increased, they underperformed on simple word-search puzzles, and they reported feeling anxious and “unpleasant,” according to the study.

"Our findings suggest that iPhone separation can negatively impact performance on mental tasks," Russell Clayton, a doctoral candidate at the MU School of Journalism and lead author of the study, said in a statement. "Additionally, the results from our study suggest that iPhones are capable of becoming an extension of ourselves such that when separated, we experience a lessening of 'self' and a negative physiological state."

To come to this conclusion, the researchers told participants that they were testing the reliability of a new wireless blood pressure cuff. They asked participants to complete a word search puzzle while they took readings of the participants’ heart rates and blood pressure levels. Then, they took their iPhones away, telling the participants that the phones were causing “Bluetooth interference” with the wireless blood pressure cuff. The iPhones were placed in a nearby room while participants completed a second word-search puzzle. Researchers again recorded their heart rates and blood pressure levels, according to the study.

While participants were working their way through the second puzzle, the researchers called the participants' iPhones. The participants, unable to answer, were clearly vexed: They had significantly higher heart rates and blood pressure levels after the ringing stopped, and were significantly less adept at solving the word-search puzzles. They also reported higher levels of anxiety and feeling higher levels of “unpleasantness” than when they were completing puzzles with their iPhones in their possession, though they were not asked to clarify what aspect of the situation contributed to this feeling.

But the research, published Friday in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, opens a whole new can of worms about how closely we associate our cell phones with ourselves. As the study puts it, the findings show that people are “capable of perceiving their iPhone as an object of their extended self, which can be negatively impacted (i.e., lessening of self) during separation.”

“This finding alone calls for future research on whether other technological devices are capable of becoming incorporated into the extended self,” the authors write.

Little other research exists on the psychological effects of temporary technology deprivation, but as computers and phones become ever more attached to our every action—and in some cases literally strapped to our wrists—this field of inquiry will likely expand.

WARSAW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin is unlikely to join world leaders gathering at the site of the Auschwitz death camp this month because distrust caused by the conflict in Ukraine has cast a pall on arrangements to commemorate the Holocaust.

The Nazi camp where about 1.5 million people were killed, most of them Jews, became a symbol of the horrors of the Holocaust and a war that ravaged Europe. Seventy years later, conflict and political division are hampering preparations to mark the anniversary of its liberation.

Host country Poland - one of the most vociferous critics of Moscow over the Ukraine crisis - did not send a full diplomatic invitation to Putin, wary of the domestic political consequences of inviting the Russian leader, according to sources briefed on arrangements for the Jan. 27 event.

Moscow, in turn, was upset by what it viewed as a slight by Warsaw and has therefore not made plans for the president to attend, said the sources, who declined to be named due to the diplomatic sensitivity of the matter.

Putin's absence would stand out, especially as it was Soviet troops who liberated the camp in southern Poland in 1945, and many of the Jews killed in the Holocaust were Soviet citizens.

"The victory over Nazism depended on the collective engagement of many countries, the allies in the West but also the Soviet army," said a senior source in the European Jewish community, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"For politics to interfere to exclude one country or another is a tragic shame to the memory of the Holocaust."

Poland's foreign ministry said it was not the organizer of the event but that no country was excluded from taking part. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at the moment he could not confirm Putin would be going, but said the president's decision would not be affected by any stance taken by Warsaw and that he did not feel slighted over the arrangements.

The row over Russian representation at the 70th anniversary event revolves around the subtleties of diplomatic protocol.

Formal invitations to foreign delegations were sent not by the Polish government but by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and International Auschwitz Council, the joint organizers.

According to a source involved in negotiations over the event, the Polish government sent foreign states what is called a "note verbale" about the Auschwitz events - a notification which falls short of being a formal invitation.

The source said Poland chose that format because it would have been unpopular among voters at home for the authorities to send Putin a formal invitation, in a year when presidential and parliamentary elections will take place.

Many ordinary Poles view the Kremlin with suspicion, opinion polls show, a sense heightened since Russia annexed the Ukrainian region of Crimea last year and pro-Moscow militias in eastern Ukraine rebelled against Kiev's rule.

Warsaw has lobbied fellow EU states for tougher sanctions on Russia and pressed for a bolder response from NATO. Moscow reciprocated by banning imports of many Polish food products.

'NOT GOING TO HAPPEN'

The source involved in negotiations said most countries, after receiving the note verbale, sought clarification from Poland and then decided to send high-level delegations - a head of government or head of state, and in some cases both.

But the source said Russian officials, viewing the note as inadequate, did not reply or seek clarification, and took the view that if Poland wanted a top Russian official at Auschwitz it ought to send them a formal diplomatic invitation.

"It's not going to happen," the source said of the attendance of Putin, who 10 years ago had joined leaders at Auschwitz to mark the 60th anniversary.

A Polish government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said Putin was unlikely to come because Poland had not sent a full diplomatic invitation.

A source close to Poland's ruling party said the "climate" was not right for Putin to come.

The Polish foreign ministry told Reuters: "The Polish government has played no role in sending invitations to any third parties."

"The ministry of foreign affairs would also like to underline that it is up to the Russian authorities to decide on the level of representation at the Auschwitz commemorative event. Everyone wishing to participate will be welcome."

The ministry did not respond directly to questions about the note verbale, whether the state wanted Putin to attend, and whether political considerations were influencing arrangements.

A spokesman for the Auschwitz Museum said he could comment on the composition of foreign states' delegations.

In the neighboring Czech Republic, President Milos Zeman, a critic of sanctions against Russia who has expressed sympathy with Moscow's position on Ukraine, invited Putin and leaders of the other World War Two allies to a separate, smaller, Holocaust commemoration on the same day as the Auschwitz event.

But the invitation to Putin angered many Czechs. The Czech Federation of Jewish Communities distanced itself from the invitation, citing Russia's role in Ukraine. No foreign heads of state have confirmed they will be at the Czech event.

Twenty-six men have been acquitted of “inciting debauchery” in Egypt after being caught up in a raid on a Cairo bathhouse in December.

The men were arrested by anti-vice police on December 7. Four of the men, including the bathhouse owner, were accused of organizing “same-sex orgies” in the Ramsis bathhouse in the Egyptian capital, Egypt’s Daily Newsreports. The others were charged with debauchery.

While homosexual acts aren’t illegal in Egypt, they remain extremely taboo, and the acquittal was an unexpected verdict, The Daily Telegraphreports. A reporter with the U.K. newspaper who witnessed the trial, Louisa Loveluck, said some of the defendants’ relatives “fell to the floor” after the verdict had been announced.

Several of the defendants were subjected to “intrusive anal examinations” by police in order to determine whether they were gay. One of the men had been raped while in police custody, according to one of the defense lawyers; authorities said at least three of the men showed signs of being sexually assaulted, the Los Angeles Timesreports. In addition, some of the men’s personal details have been published in Egypt, The Daily Telegraphreports.

The arrests were condemned by international human rights groups, with Human Rights Watch suggesting that the public humiliation of the men was a way to shore up President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi’s “tattered legitimacy.”

Tarek Al-Awadi, the lawyer for the defendants, told the Daily News that families of the acquitted plan to file a suit against Mona Iraqi, the Egyptian journalist who initially accused the men of debauchery. Iraqi, a TV presenter with a pro-government channel, filmed the raid on the bathhouse with a private TV crew and later claimed her team led police to the scene because of unconfirmed reports that the men were “a potential source of AIDS,” The Guardian reports.

“In case that private satellite station Al-Qahera Wal-Nas [Cairo and the People] will not publish an official statement apologizing for the actions of its employees, we will continue to escalate,” said Al-Awadi. “The channel should take serious legal procedure against Iraqi, her team, and the program director.”

The December arrests were the latest in a series of crackdowns against Egypt’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and others who are seen to go against the values of Egypt’s conservative society. In November, eight men were arrested and sentenced to three years in jail after a video purportedly showing Egypt’s first gay marriage ceremony was published online.

Last week, a 21-year-old Egyptian man was sentenced to three years in prison for declaring himself an atheist on Facebook, thereby “insulting Islam.” If he pays bail of 1,000 Egyptian pounds—about $140—his sentence will be suspended until a new verdict is issued by an appeals court. 

Public transit passengers in major U.S. cities and around their world left their pants at home Sunday, or at least stashed them in their bags, as they participated in the 14th annual No Pants Subway Ride. The prank, which began as a New York City stunt in 2002, has spread internationally, with more straphangers flaunting their drawers each year.

“I do remember that first year. It was a cold day, probably in the 20s, and I took my pants off first,” recalls Charlie Todd, founder of the New York City-based “prank collective” Improv Everywhere, in a video about the inaugural No Pants Subway Ride in 2002.

“The idea was just very simple: What would happen if, in the middle of January, a guy got onto a subway car in his underwear but was also wearing a winter coat, scarf, gloves, hat? And wouldn’t it be even more insane if at the second stop a new person got on in their underwear?”

Todd had formed the group the year before the first No Pants ride to cause “scenes of chaos and joy in public places.” Improv Everywhere has since carried out dozens of “missions” with thousands of “undercover agents,” including epic Christmas caroling, a series called Movies in Real Life (including episodes on Harry Potter, The Matrix and Jurassic Park), and another annual event, called Black Tie Beach. Todd’s group is the subject of the 2013 documentary We Cause Scenes.

The No Pants prank has gathered steam over the years. Seven participants became 30 in the second year—causing the train’s conductor to announce at the time that “the train is not a playground”—and grew to 150 by 2006, when police broke up the party. The train was taken out of service, and eight underwear-clad riders were arrested. A judge later dropped the charges.

The following year, officers arrived at Improv Everywhere’s meeting place, but “they informed us they were only there to make sure everyone had a good time,” according to the group’s website.

The event made its way outside the U.S. in 2008, and by 2014 tens of thousands of commuters were riding pants-less in more than 60 cities around the world.

Improv Everywhere published a video Monday with highlights from the 2015 No Pants Subway Ride:

Riders were caught with their pants down Sunday in cities around the world:

A man looks at a participant taking part in the No Pants Subway Ride in Manhattan on January 11, 2015. Carlo Allegri/Reuters

Here's a #NoPantsSubwayRide from London. The Brits are always a bit more cheeky. @RideScouthttp://t.co/PVzyFYZqHipic.twitter.com/mf4lK4fPtj

— Sean Walcott (@SeanWalcott) January 11, 2015

Passengers without pants sit inside a subway train during the No Pants Subway Ride in Bucharest, Romania, on January 11, 2015.Radu Sigheti/Reuters

Here's a still of me sliding down a ramp at Central Station after the #NoPantsSubwayRide in Sydney today. pic.twitter.com/nV5Xvicug8

— Derek Steen 23°C (@djsteen) January 11, 2015

A passenger not wearing pants reads a book as he stands in a subway during the No Pants Subway Ride in Prague on January 11, 2015. David W Cerny/Reuters

"Global No Pants Subway Ride" in Tokyo, Japan Today Jan 11 2015 @charlietodd@ImprovEvery#NoPantsSubwayRide#NPSRpic.twitter.com/H5dLC8XoKb

— 杉本真樹 Maki SugimotoMD (@MakiOsiriXJapan) January 11, 2015

Members of the Emerald City Improv group in Seattle on January 11, 2015. Jason Redmond/Reuters

IN PICTURES: Stockholmers take part in No Pants Subway Ride 2015: #NoPantsSubwayRide: http://t.co/E0kzgrsdzxpic.twitter.com/MIYlviXLrL

— The Local Sweden (@TheLocalSweden) January 12, 2015

In Mexico City a pair of lovers without pants ride a subway during the No Pants Subway Ride on January 11, 2015.Edgard Garrido/Reuters

People take part in the No Pants Subway Ride in Berlin on January 11, 2015. Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters

The group has compiled videos from the annual event on a YouTube playlist:

Updated | A group claiming to be affiliated with the Islamic State, the terrorist organization commonly known as ISIS, hacked the Twitter account and YouTube account of U.S. Central Command—one of nine unified commands in the U.S. military—on Monday afternoon.

The first tweet to emerge from the hijacked account read, “AMERICAN SOLDIERS, WE ARE COMING, WATCH YOUR BACK. ISIS.”

The tweet also linked to a larger message on PASTEBIN, in which the group claims to have acquired confidential information from mobile devices in the Pentagon network.

AMERICAN SOLDIERS, WE ARE COMING, WATCH YOUR BACK. ISIS. http://t.co/iZULe4nTmp#CyberCaliphate

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 12, 2015

“In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, the CyberCaliphate under the auspices of ISIS continues its CyberJihad,” the group wrote. “While the US and its satellites kill our brothers in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan we broke into your networks and personal devices and know everything about you. You’ll see no mercy infidels. ISIS is already here, we are in your PCs, in each military base. With Allah’s permission we are in CENTCOM now. We won’t stop! We know everything about you, your wives and children. U.S. soldiers! We’re watching you!”

Included in the information the group claims to have uncovered are the names, addresses and contact details of high-rankingarmy officials, as well as plans of action in China or North Korea in the event of attack.

The hacked YouTube account displayed propaganda videos uploaded by the hackers. The Twitter and YouTube accounts have since been suspended.

An anonymous defense official toldThe Wall Street Journal that “we can confirm that the U.S. Central Command Twitter and YouTube accounts were compromised earlier today. We are taking appropriate measures to address the matter. I have no further information to provide at this time.”

ISIS is already here, we are in your PCs, in each military base. pic.twitter.com/xafTqTMvN5

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 12, 2015

Updated | A new report released Monday by New York City’s police inspector general found the New York Police Department frequently ignored the advice of its civilian oversight board to bring disciplinary action against officers found to have put suspects in choke holds.

Choke holds have been prohibited by the NYPD Patrol Guide since 1994, which defines them as “any pressure to the throat or windpipe, which may prevent or hinder breathing or reduce intake of air.” The use of choke holds by police has been in the spotlight since the July death of Eric Garner, who was stopped by police for selling loose cigarettes and died after being placed in an apparent choke hold. The incident was captured on camera and became a flashpoint for a series of protests on the use of police force.

As first reported by The New York Times, the inspector general reviewed 10 cases in which the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), an independent government agency tasked with investigating misconduct by NYPD officers, recommended disciplinary action against officers it found to have put suspects in choke holds between 2009 and 2014. In six of those cases, then-Police Commissioner Ray Kelly reportedly ignored the board’s recommendation, opting instead for lighter punishment, and, in one case, no punishment at all.

“NYPD largely rejected CCRB’s findings and recommendations and, thus, mooted CCRB’s role in the process,” the report says. “In fact, there was no indication from the records reviewed that NYPD seriously contemplated CCRB’s disciplinary recommendations or that CCRB’s input added any value to the disciplinary process,” it continues. “Yet in none of these cases did the police commissioner provide any explanation for these disciplinary decisions.”

“These are pretty serious cases. Obviously, we are going to be looking at a broader sample of cases to see if it’s more systemic,” the inspector general, Philip K. Eure, told the Times. “But people should be troubled by the disconnect that we determined exists already in the disciplinary process.”

In the report, Eure added that his office plans to launch another review to determine whether such behavior is indicative of a broader trend, and whether it has continued under Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.

The 45-page report also found that, in a number of cases where officers were found to have used choke holds, the officers quickly resorted to placing suspects in the hold when they met verbal resistance.

In a cover letter addressed to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Bratton, Eure wrote the improper use of force and management of discipline for NYPD officers is one of four areas his office plans to review. The other three are patterns of low-level arrests and summonses, surveillance of religious and political groups, and police encounters with people involving mental illness.

The inspector general delayed the release of the report after two officers were shot and killed in Brooklyn last month, it said. The NYPD has not yet commented on the report, and declined a request for by Newsweek for comment.

The German and Swedish governments have announced plans to increase military aid to Kurdish forces battling Islamic State in Iraq. During a press conference in Baghdad, German defence minister, Ursula Von Der Leyen said: “I believe it’s right to extend our support with great care,” adding, “we know that the Peshmerga [Kurdish fighters] aren’t just fighting for their own country but for all of us.” Germany is expected to send 100 military trainers to the Kurdistan region, after a vote in favour of the move last December.

According to the American institute for Contemporary German Studies¸ Germany has already equipped Kurdish troops in northern Iraq with over 8,000 pistols, 8,000 Assault  Rifles, 10,000 hand grenades and over 200 anti-tank weapons.

Over the weekend, Sweden’s Foreign Minister, Margot Wallström also announced she hoped her country would send military personnel to Iraq to help train soldiers. Wallström spoke to European news outlet the Local saying: “The government is now looking into the possibility of proposing to the Riksdag that Swedish military personnel be sent to Erbil, Iraq, to help train troops fighting [ISIS].” Although she added that “this isn’t about sending combat personnel”.

She later told Swedish media that Germany may lead the training mission, with contributions from Finland as well.

Meanwhile, British efforts to increase aid to the fight against ISIS have stalled. The defence secretary, Michael Fallon, announced in December last year that hundreds of British troops would be sent to Iraq in early 2015. Interviewed in the Telegraph, Fallon talked of the need for ground troops after the success of the campaign of coalition air strikes. “They [ISIS] are increasingly tucked away in towns and villages,” he said. “That means they have got to be rooted out by ground troops.” However a report by the Daily Mail earlier this year said that the MoD had admitted that it would not be ready to send ground troops within the timescale previously given, quoting sources inside Whitehall as saying that "Downing Street does not want any news of UK troops heading for Iraq overshadowing the election campaign”.

James Gray, the Conservative MP for North Wiltshire who sits on the Committee on Arms Export Controls, believes that the government should renew its efforts to support anti-ISIS forces. “I visited the Kurdish fighters in Northern Iraq just before Christmas and went to see the very good work that the British army is doing together with the Danes in Sulaymaniyah.” When Fallon announced the plan to introduce British ground troops in December, Gray remarks, “we all welcomed that very strongly”. Despite the stall in that plan, Gray remains trenchant in his position. “I think a number of us are going to bring pressure to be on the Ministry of Defence, to make sure they do what they said they were going to do.”

On the Peshmerga, Northern Iraq’s Kurdish Fighters, Gray said: “They’re very very brave, we must do all we can to give them support.

Russian director Andrei Zvyagintsev’s controversial film Leviathan, which received critical acclaim in Europe and the U.S. throughout 2014, became the second ever Russian film to win a Golden Globe on Sunday. However, despite taking home this gong for best foreign language film, it is yet to be released in its homeland.

Zvyagintsev’s bleak satirical story of a Russian man’s struggle with day-to-day life in his hometown led by a corrupt mayor, has already won the award for best screenplay at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and best international film at the Munich Film Festival. It is now hotly tipped for an Oscar nomination when the announcements are made on 15th January as, strangely, Russia’s Oscar-nomination committee put it forward for selection.

Though Levithan is now expected to go on general release in Russia on 5th February, the release has been delayed several times in the country, supposedly due to indecision concerning the film’s age rating and the censorship of language in the film.

Authorities said that the film’s inclusion of “rude language” was the reason behind this delay - swearing in all cultural and media projects in Russia was controversially outlawed last May. However, some commentators have suggested that it is in fact the film’s portrayal of corrupt government officials that may be behind the setbacks.

35% of the film’s budget comprised of subsidies from the Russian government, but the date for its general release has been pushed back since it was shown for a very limited run in Moscow cinemas in September. Its portrayal of Russia’s corrupt regime has prompted some government officials to publicly voice their disdain for the film.

Western critics have also picked up on the social commentary within the film. Its main antagonist, a corrupt town mayor, is frequently shown in his office adorned by a large image of Russian president Vladimir Putin, while another scene features a group of men shooting at portraits of former Russian leaders for fun.

One character then asks another whether he has “any more recent additions” to his collection, referring to adding a portrait of the current president, Putin.

In an interview with the Guardian Leviathan’s director Zvyagintsev said Russia’s culture minister Vladimir Medinsky had told him he “did not like” the film, perhaps unsurprisingly considering that the Guardian’s film critic Catherine Shoard praised it as a “polemic against the current Kremlin administration”.

In December, Medinsky told Russian news website Fontanka he would cease funding art and film projects which seek to show “that Russia is crap”.

Both Zvyagintsev and Leviathan’s producer Alexander Rodnyansky have played down the film’s perceived political message with Rodnyansky describing the film as “tragic story of an ordinary man who comes face to face with an indifferent system is absolutely universal.”

“The more we think about the fortunate fate of our movie, the more we believe that it doesn't matter whether you are Korean, American, Russian, or French," Rodnyansky told Radio Liberty.

According to Academy regulation, Leviathan will need to have had its theatrical release in Russia by 22nd February if is it be an eligible Oscar contender for 2015.

Leviathan's 5th February planned release date is therefore very close to this deadline, with authorities still in negotiations with the film’s makers about censorship and the age rating the movie will have.

Until last Sunday, the last and only Russian language film to be honored at the Golden Globes was actor and director Sergei Bondarchuk's adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace in 1968.

Reports that in some African countries female genital mutilation (FGM) procedures are being carried out in hospitals have prompted activists, religious leaders and international rights groups to voice concern about the increasing medicalisation of the procedure.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 18% of FGM procedures are now being done by healthcare workers using surgical scissors and anesthetic, with an increasing number of doctors and nurses allegedly performing the procedure at the request of families, despite FGM being illegal in many countries.

The controversial procedure involves the partial or total removal of a woman’s external genetalia. It is seen by some cultures as a right of passage for a girl entering womanhood, but is widely considered to be harmful to the health, wellbeing and rights of women.

The use of unsanitized tools and procedures that are carried out without medical supervision

can lead to illness, infection and even death. Catholic news source Crux News have said that at least three people died in Kenya last year as a result of the procedure, including 13-year-old Raima Ntagusa and 16-year-old Alivina Noel, who both bled to death.

Although carrying out the procedures in a medical setting might reduce some of the risk, it also indicates a worrying shift in the medicalisation of the practice, and shows that some health workers are flaunting the fact that FGM has been outlawed in many countries - Kenya banned the practise in 2011 for example.

“Taking it to hospital does not make it right,” Rev. Richard Nyangoto, a Roman Catholic priest from Kisii County, Kenya told Crux News. “It’s evil,” he added, saying that the procedures are often being carried out by medical workers in return for money.

According to a 2013 UNICEF report Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: a statistical overview and exploration of the dynamics of change, 86% of girls and women in Kenya think FGM should end. Social acceptance was the most widely cited reason for women undergoing the procedure in the report.

Oliver Chantler, external affairs manager of Orchid Project, a FGM advocacy group, says that although the WHO are calling this medicalisation a “major trend”, it’s been happening for several years.

Chantler said: “It is important that international policy makers recognise that the medicalisation of Female Genital Cutting (FGC) takes place in numerous countries”. He added that Egypt is the country where the highest number of procedures are carried out in a medical setting. WHO data indicates that girls in Egypt are three times more likely to undergo FGM carried out by a medical practitioner than their mothers were.

“In order to end FGC, whether in medicalised contexts or not, we need to see community-led programmes,” he said.

In December 2014, Unicef said that the total number of women and girls who have been cut is 130 million and that the practise continues to be carried out in 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East. 

A 10-year-old girl reportedly killed 19 people at a market in northeastern Nigeria in the latest suicide bombing there, just the latest outrage in the Boko Haram campaign of terror. Meanwhile, over the last month, there were suicide bombings in Turkey, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Chechnya and Libya.

And yet, even as the frequency and lethality of suicide attacks continues to escalate, many Muslim advocacy organizations, politicians and academics continue to repeat the mantra that suicide bombings have nothing to do with Islam because Islam prohibits suicide. If this is true, then why is it so many self-identifying religious Muslims strap on bomb vests in order to murder as many as possible?

Muslims believe the Koran is the unadulterated word of God, passed to the Prophet Muhammad through the angel Jibril (Gabriel). Many who embrace more violent interpretations of the Koran embrace the concept of abrogation. In short, while the Old and New Testaments are organized generally in chronological order, the Koran is organized not by order of revelation but rather by size of chapter, from longest to shortest.

To date myself as a child of the 1970s and ’80s, to read the Koran straight through, cover to cover, is akin to picking up a Choose Your Own Adventure book but reading it straight through. There is a whole science of Islamic theology dedicated to establishing the chronological order of the revelations.

Context is important, because at the beginning of his life, Muhammad and his followers were living as a minority in Mecca. Not coincidentally, many of the revelations Muhammad received preached tolerance and compromise, useful traits for someone living among a stronger, better-armed majority.

However, as Muhammad gained followers, he grew stronger. After he migrated to Medina, the Muslims were the strongest local community. During this period, many of the revelations discuss governance more and emphasize tolerance and compromise less.

While Islam does prohibit suicide, the devil is in the details. “Al-Baqara” [The Cow] is the second chapter of the Koran, but theologians believe it was revealed to Muhammad after he migrated to Medina. Verse 154 of al-Baqara reads:

And say not of those who are killed in the Way of Allah, “They are dead.” Nay, they are living, but you perceive (it) not.

Hence, a suicide bomber may appear clearly dead to any onlooker, but technically speaking, he did not commit suicide if he was transferred living to paradise. Now this isn’t simply theoretical. Less than two months after 9/11, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a Muslim Brotherhood acolyte who serves as Al-Jazeera’s religion specialist and was once welcomed in European countries as a moderate, spoke about why no one should use the term “suicide bombing.” “This is an unjust and misleading name because these are heroic commando and martyrdom attacks and should not be called suicide under any circumstances,” he said.

The ability to go directly to paradise without all the usual formalities is an important recruiting tool for radicals who convince recruits that dying in the way of God is a far better fate than suffering the trials and tribulations of an ordinary death. My former graduate school colleague Leor Halevi, now a professor at Vanderbilt University, wrote a brilliant essay for The New York Times several years back, which examines the theology of death in Islam. Halevi wrote:

…What happens to the vast majority of Muslims, those who do not die as martyrs? According to Islamic doctrine, between the moment of death and the burial ceremony, the spirit of a deceased Muslim takes a quick journey to Heaven and Hell, where it beholds visions of the bliss and torture awaiting humanity at the end of days…. Before earth is piled upon the freshly dug grave, an unusual reunion takes place: The spirit returns to dwell within the body.

In the grave, the deceased Muslim – this composite of spirit and corpse – encounters two terrifying angels, Munkar and Nakir, recognized by their bluish faces, their huge teeth and their wild hair. These angels carry out a trial to probe the soundness of a Muslim’s faith. If the dead Muslim answers their questions convincingly and if he has no sin on record, then the grave is transformed into a luxurious space that makes bearable the long wait until the final judgment. But if a Muslim’s faith is imperfect or if he has sinned during life… then the grave is transformed into an oppressive, constricting space. The earth begins to weigh down heavily upon the sentient corpse, until the rib cage collapses; worms begin to nibble away at the flesh, causing horrible pain.

Of course, should moderate or mainstream clerics counsel a youth worried about sins on his record, they might simply encourage him to make a pilgrimage to Mecca (or, if he is a Shiite, a pilgrimage to other prominent shrines) in order to wipe his slate clean. But the nature of radical recruitment is that they insist there is only one path available, the one that leads to suicide bombing.

The point of this is not to disparage Islam. Never forget that the majority of victims of radical Islam are moderate Muslims, not Christians or Jews. But to dismiss the religious context of suicide bombing as having nothing to do with Islam is like a doctor who stubbornly rules out an ailment without ever examining the patient.

The simple fact is one that moderate Muslims fully understand: to counter the scourge of Islamic terrorism takes a victory in the battle of interpretation, not denial rooted in political correctness, defensiveness or a desire not to offend.

Michael Rubin is Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. This article first appeared on the American Enterprise Institute website.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States should have sent a higher profile leader to take part in the march in Paris on Sunday to honor victims of the Islamist militant attacks there, the White House said on Monday.

"I think it's fair to say that we should have sent someone with a higher profile to be there," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters, adding President Barack Obama would have liked to have attended.

See photos of the march, which was believed to be the largest demonstration in France's history.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L), Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita (2ndL), French President Francois Hollande (C), Germany's Chancellor Angela Merke (4thL), European Council President Donald Tusk (5thL) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attend the solidarity march (Marche Republicaine) in the streets of Paris January 11, 2015. Philippe Wojazer/Reuters

A preview of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo's next magazine cover has been released, featuring a cartoon depiction of the Prophet Muhammad holding a placard reading "Je Suis Charlie" with the heading "Tout est pardonne"—all is forgiven. 

"Je Suis Charlie" has become a rallying cry for peaceful demonstrators and people across the world showing their support following the shooting last week of 10 Charlie Hebdostaff members and two policemen guarding the weekly's headquarters. 

The  magazine’s remaining journalists have put together a full length, 16-page issue, set to publish 1 million copies this upcoming Wednesday. The magazine's print run could hit up to 3 million, compared to its regular run of 60,000, Reuters reports.

A handful of staff, including the editor-in-chief, survived an attack believed to have been perpetrated by Cherif and Said Kouachi, brothers who reportedly claimed an Al-Qaeda affiliation before opening fire during an editorial meeting. The brothers said they were avenging the Prophet Muhammad, who the magazine had depicted several times. Depictions of the prophet are considered blasphemous by some in Islam. Four political cartoonists were among those killed, and the brothers were later killed after an extensive manhunt and standoff with French police.

The attack, however, appears to have done nothing to hinder Charlie Hedbo’s cutting comedic style, risky cartoons and skewering of public figures. The cover of this week's issue was tweeted by French daily newspaper Liberation late on Monday. Liberation has supplied Charlie Hebdo with computers and employees in order to get the magazine out. 

Mahomet en une du «Charlie Hebdo» de mercredi http://t.co/2JGWBH2Qpzpic.twitter.com/1AzjFiFvmL

— Libération (@libe) January 12, 2015

In an interview with France Info radio, as reported by Reuters, Richard Malka, the magazine’s attorney, said, “We will not give in. The spirit of ‘I am Charlie’ means the right to blaspheme.”  

The magazine will also question the motives of politicians who led a million man march in Paris over the weekend, all in support of the magazine and in defiance of terrorism. “All those dictators at a march celebrating liberty. We of course are going to continue the mockery. We’ll see if it makes them jump,” Lauren Leger, a reporter who survived the attack, told The Wall Street Journal.

Global support for the magazine came as a surprise to Leger. “It’s been extremely moving. And also hypocritical. All of a sudden, we are supported by the entire world. Whereas for years we were completely alone," she told the Journal. Even the president, François Hollande, has come to visit the writers along with his staff, a trip broadcast on live television and accompanied with a fitting dash of humor when a pigeon pooped on the president's shoulder.

“We would work a little. Then stop, and cry. Then work again,” Leger told the Journal. “But we also managed to laugh. There were some very funny drawings.” On Wednesday, the million Muhammad cover copies will be shipped to distributors for free, as the French postal service has offered free delivery of the magazine for the next year. 

WASHINGTON/HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba has completed the release of all 53 prisoners it had promised to free, the Obama administration said on Monday, a major step toward détente with Washington.

The release of the remaining detainees overcomes a big hurdle for historic talks next week aimed at normalizing ties after decades of hostility. The list of 53 is part of last month's breakthrough U.S.-Cuba agreement and includes many known to international human rights groups as "prisoners of conscience."

The United States welcomed Cuba's action as a milestone, but senior U.S. officials said Washington would keep pressing Havana to free more people they consider political prisoners.

Lifting the secrecy around the freed dissidents, the Obama administration provided the full list to congressional leaders. According to a copy obtained by Reuters, they include members of prominent Cuba protest groups including the Ladies in White.

There had been questions whether Havana would release all those it had pledged to free as part of the deal that Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro announced on Dec. 17 to restore diplomatic ties, which Washington severed more than 50 years ago.

The mystery that surrounded the 53 had played to Obama's critics who say he has not pressured Havana enough on human rights in return for normalizing ties. The United States exchanged three convicted Cuban spies for an agent who had spied for the Americans. Washington also received Alan Gross, a U.S. aid worker jailed in Cuba.

Cuba informed the Obama administration over the weekend that the last of those on the list had been released, according to the officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

But one of the officials said: "We’re going to be wanting to raise the cases of different individuals who may be detained in Cuba for exercising their universal rights."

Cuba denies that it holds political prisoners.

LIST INCLUDES KNOWN DISSIDENTS

Jose Daniel Ferrer, leader of the peaceful opposition group Patriotic Union of Cuba, thanked the United States for helping to secure freedom for some of its members but said "we regret there are some political prisoners - about 10 - who remain in prison."

Among those on the release list were people designated by Amnesty International as "prisoners of conscience" such as brothers Bianco Vargas Martín and Diango Vargas Martín, members of the Patriotic Union arrested in 2012 and sentenced on public disorder charges to four years in prison.

Also listed were Haydee Gallardo, a member of Ladies in White, and her husband, Angel Figueredo, who were arrested last year.

The U.S. officials said as many as eight people on the list had been released even before the December announcement, some because they were already scheduled to get out. But a Cuban dissident leader said 17 of the 53 had been freed by that time.

Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, a leading critic of Obama's policy, told CBS the release was great news for the prisoners but that Cuba was getting much of what it wanted from the administration in return for "these minimal changes."

Speaking in detail on the prisoner release for the first time since last month’s dramatic shift in Cuba policy, the U.S. officials said the idea grew out of secret talks on how to release Gross and how to structure the spy swap.

As both sides began seeing prospects for a broader rapprochement, U.S. negotiators sought proof of Cuba’s readiness to improve its human rights record and last spring presented a list of prisoners they wanted released, the officials said.

The Cubans agreed to almost everyone on the list with the exception of a handful. In July, they told Obama's aides that Havana was prepared to release 53 prisoners, the officials said. A final meeting was held at the Vatican and then the broader deal was rolled out in December after 18 months of negotiations.

One U.S. official also said Obama could exercise executive powers "in a matter of days and weeks" to begin easing some business and travel restrictions The officials said the first of those changes could be announced around the time of the Jan. 21-22 talks in Havana, when U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson begins high-level negotiations.

Reopening the U.S. embassy in Havana for the first time in 53 years will also be a "near-term" focus for the administration, but there is no timeline, one official said."You don’t erase decades of mistrust overnight but you can chip away at it," the official said.

With a Republican-led Congress unlikely to heed Obama's call to lift the longstanding U.S. embargo on Cuba, the official said: "We’re not counting on legislative proposals rolling through in the very near future." But the official expressed hope that over time "specific pieces" might win approval.

The United States used information from dissidents and rights groups to compile names of those who had peacefully exercised freedom of expression and assembly.

Left out, however, were the at least eight Cuban exile militants jailed on terrorism charges after they attempted to infiltrate Cuba with weapons, as well as 20 Cubans jailed on charges of attempting to hijack boats or planes.

Also excluded, U.S. officials said, were several Cubans jailed on unspecified charges of crimes against the state. They are believed to include a handful accused of spying for the United States, such as Ernesto Borges, a KGB-trained counter-intelligence officer who has been in prison for 16 years.