Five Ukrainian soldiers and three civilians have been killed as a result of fighting in Ukraine's separatist eastern regions in the past 24 hours, Kiev authorities said on Thursday, reporting no let-up in violent clashes with pro-Russian rebels.

A separatist advance launched last week appears to have buried the frequently violated truce, leading to a sharp increase in casualties in a conflict that has already killed over 5,000 since it erupted last April.

The Kiev military said separatists shelled Ukrainian army positions in more than 100 separate attacks in the past day, describing the situation across the conflict zone as "tense."

It said fighting was particularly fierce at the strategic town of Debaltseve, where government troops are defending their positions from rebels who have vowed to encircle it to safeguard their main strongholds.

"Information that Debaltseve can be encircled does not correspond to the facts: the frontline (there) has been stabilized," military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said in a televised briefing.

The interior ministry said three civilians had been killed by "continuous" rebel shelling of the town and surrounding areas in the past 24 hours.

On the other side, the rebels said Ukrainian forces had attacked their positions near Donetsk airport and Debaltseve 10 times since Wednesday, separatist-run DAN news agency reported.

Local volunteers helping those afflicted by the fighting in Debaltseve described a worsening humanitarian situation in the town, which they said had been pounded by near-constant shelling for days.

"Everything is bad in Debaltseve, people are living full-time in shelters without fresh air," said Nathalia Voronkova, who has been helping residents escape the area, where most power and water supplies have been cut off.

"Children are getting sick and there is a great need for medicine," she said.

Both sides accuse the other of escalating the conflict and on Wednesday a rebel commander said the terms of the ceasefire agreement, signed in the Belarusian capital of Minsk in September, were no longer effective.

The next round of talks between Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on the crisis will take place in Minsk on Jan. 30, Tass news agency reported the Belarusian foreign ministry as saying on Thursday.

Last year, Nevada casinos saw a whooping $119.4 million wagered on the Super Bowl between the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos. With a tight game expected between the defending champion Seahawks and scandal-ridden New England Patriots on Sunday, wagers may exceed last year’s huge sum. In fact, there is even a bet on it—odds are split on BetOnline.com as for whether Nevada gambling sums will exceed $120 million this Sunday.

In addition to traditional betting—outcome, touchdowns, point spread—betting websites are using this season's scandals and halftime show to add a number of unusual gambles to their ranks.

Bovada, an online gambling site based out of Canada, created some of the most unusual bets, including “How many times will ‘deflated balls’ be referred to during the game?” and “Will Bill Belichick smile during the game on camera?”

While the color of the Gatorade poured on the winning coach is a yearly gamble, this season’s coach attire came into play. Belichick’s sweatshirt choice is up for bets after a sleeveless hoodie he wore during a Deflate Gate press conference was widely debated on social media. Bovada allows users to gamble on what color the coach’s hoodie will be and whether it will have sleeves.

The Super Bowl’s entertainment, Katy Perry for the halftime show and Idina Menzel singing the National Anthem, swung open the door for more betting oddities. Websites are offering bets on how long it will take Menzel to sing and if she will be able to remember all the words to the National Anthem. As for Katy Perry, bets are available on just about everything to do with the entertainer: how long she will sing, her song choices, her hair color, her outfit and even whether she chooses to show cleavage.

When it comes to the actual players, there is a bet for who will receive the most unsportsmanlike conduct penalties during the game and the fate of Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch’s favored celebratory move (a crotch grab). Another gamble speculates whether Lynch will be fined for his Super Bowl Media Day behavior, though, surprisingly, there are no odds posted on what his postgame interview catchphrase will be. 

Dartmouth College has just announced a campus ban on hard liquor in response to reports of sexual assault and booze-fueled fraternity abuses over the past several years.

In a speech to students, staff and alumni of the Ivy League college, President Philip J. Hanlon said that the ban, which includes any liquor that is 15 percent alcohol or more, will go into effect at the end of March. (Most students are under 21, so alcohol possession is already illegal.) He also spoke about the need to develop positive alternatives to fraternity houses and to train students in sexual assault prevention and intervention.

“If the Greek system as a whole does not engage in meaningful, lasting reform,” Hanlon added, “we will revisit its continuation on our campus.” As The New York Times notes, more than 50 percent of students at Dartmouth join Greek societies.

Dartmouth’s announcement follows a string of high-profile accounts of alcohol abuse, hazing and sexual misconduct at the Hanover, New Hampshire, campus. The school’s drinking culture was the subject of a Newsweek cover story in September, “America’s Best and Drunkest.”

Dartmouth has been hesitant to ban all-male fraternities entirely, as Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, announced last year it would do.

The leader of France’s controversial anti-immigration party Front National, Marine Le Pen has emerged as the frontrunner ahead of the country’s 2017 presidential election according to a poll conducted by French polling agency Ifop and published today in this week’s issue of Marianne magazine.

According to the poll, conducted last weekend, if the first round of the election were held now the Front National leader would win around 30% of the public vote, beating hypothetical centre-right challengers Nicolas Sarkozy and Alain Juppé, as well as socialist Manuel Valls all of whom polled at 23%, should they choose to run.

Current President François Hollande, whose approval ratings doubled following his handling of the Charlie Hebdo attacks which killed 17 people in Paris, received only 21%.

Independent or smaller party candidates would take approximately 20% of the vote in the first round.

Out of all the candidates, Juppé is the only one to have announced his intention to run for president, however neither the UMP party of which Juppé and Sarkozy are members nor the Socialist Party, of which Hollande and hi prime minister Manuel Valls are members, have picked which candidate they will endorse in 2017.

The result means Le Pen is the frontrunner in the 2017 presidential race for the first time since the campaign began.

Due to the French electoral system, a number of configurations were put to the respondents of the poll. Depending on which candidates the Socialist and UMP parties choose to represent them Le Pen could win between 29% and 31% of the vote.

If she were to face Hollande and Sarkozy in the second round, she would receive 29% of the vote, while if she faces Valls and Sarkozy, she would do slightly better, taking in 30% of the vote, while if she were to face either Socialist candidate and Juppé, she would receive 31% of the vote.

According to the poll, as no candidate would win over 50% of the vote in the first round, the election will be decided by a second round between the Marine Le Pen and whichever other candidate has the second largest share of the votes.

Shortly after the poll was published, one of Marine Le Pen’s financial backers Frédéric Chatillon who supported her last presidential campaign in 2012 was charged with “fraud” according to AFP.

Marine Le Pen has denied she is implicated in Chatillon’s case.

According to Reuters, a gunman entered the offices of NOS, a Dutch national broadcaster, and demanded air time. The man wore a suit and tie, and openly weilded a hand gun. A video later released by the broadcaster shows the man on air for roughly four minutes before surrendering to police officers. 

Thomas Erdbrink, Tehran bureau chief for the New York Times, tweeted an image of demands allegedly made by the gunman, including a live broadcast with no tickers or banners. The gunman claimed to have planted eight explosives and have been working with five other gunman as well as 38 hackers. It remains unclear if the gunman was working alone or if the station was put under any legitimate cyber threat following the incident. 

Alleged demands from now apprehended armed man who demanded air time on Dutch main news show, claims bombs hidden. pic.twitter.com/9nb3QQegVr

— Thomas Erdbrink (@ThomasErdbrink) January 29, 2015

Following the incident, the station displayed the message, "In connection with circumstances, no broadcast is available at this time."

Reports Dutch national news off air due to gunman in studio.. building reportedly evacuated - picture on TV now pic.twitter.com/YM2Kd6TBzM

— anna holligan (@annaholligan) January 29, 2015

Steven Dalebout, a reporter at NOS, tweeted that the gunman was overpowered. The RTL press agency reported the offices were cleared. Dutch officials had not yet made a comment on the matter.

France is going on the offensive with an initiative to persuade potentially susceptible residents not to join terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State.

The French government published a video Wednesday titled “Stop-Djihadisme: Ils te disent…” or “Stop Jihadism: They tell you…,” which aims to debunk recruiters’ claims with grim realities.

The video and a related website were launched Wednesday in response to terrorist attacks earlier this month at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and at a kosher supermarket. Al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen claimed responsibility for the attack on the magazine, while the gunman in the supermarket attack reportedly claimed an affiliation with the Islamic State. France is also concerned about the increasing number of its residents traveling to Iraq and Syria to serve as fighters alongside the militant group. 

The two-minute video begins with screenshots from Facebook pages on which pro-jihad or pro-Islamic State images and messages have been posted. Then a succession of statements appear on the screen followed by counter-statements, all while images depicting violence and suffering run in the background.

“Join us and come aid the children of Syria,” is followed by:  “You will be complicit in the massacre of civilians.”

 “Sacrifice yourself by our side for a just cause,” is countered with:  “In reality, you'll find hell on earth and you'll die alone, far from home.”

The end of the video directs viewers to the “Stop Jihadism” website with the tagline “Act against the terrorist threat” in the top left corner.

The website contains sections about understanding the terrorist threat, learning about the state’s actions against it, decoding jihadist propaganda and mobilizing together.

The site includes other visuals easily shareable on social media, such as an infographic about the first signs that could alert friends and family that someone is undergoing a radicalization process. It claims warning signs include people no longer listening to music or participating in sports, rejecting members of their families and changing their eating habits. The more of these behaviors an individual displays, the infographic explains, the more crucial it is to alert someone to the signs.

This infographic published on France's "Stop Jihadism" website outlines warning signs of radicalization. www.stop-djihadisme.gouv.fr

Following the Paris attacks, the French government announced a €425 million plan to fight terrorism. “Terrorism has struck our soil in an unprecedented way… and the threat of terrorism remains high, French citizens deserve to know the truth,” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said at a press conference announcing the plan. “We must act and act quickly, it is everyone’s responsibility, but foremost the government’s responsibility.”

The investment includes creating jobs to fight terrorism, the monitoring of people involved in “terrorist networks,” the placement of Muslim chaplains in prison facilities, the implementation of a “Passenger Name Record” system to store information on airline passengers, and cyberpatrolling, such as the creation of the “Stop Jihadism” website, to combat radicalization.

The campaign has drawn mixed reactions on social media, from the supportive to the mocking.

We need to fight terrorist propaganda where it is the strongest: on social media http://t.co/KdfFJ2IbH9#StopDjihadisme

— Geoff (@GeoffDesreumaux) January 28, 2015

I stopped doing sports.. Can I be considered a djihadiste? #StopDjihadisme French#failure pic.twitter.com/k9Qg1BmRqd

— samia hathroubi (@HathroubiSamia) January 28, 2015

A suspected Ebola patient has been admitted to the U.C. Davis Medical Center in Sacremento, California. The patient's age and gender have not been released.

A spokesperson for the hospital told SFGate the patient is displaying symptoms "consistent with Ebola infection" and was previously at the Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento. The new medical facility the patient was transferred to is considered a "priority hospital" which is "fully prepared to safely access and treat the patient," according to the spokesperson who spoke with SFGate. The hospital will continue to operate as usual while treating the patient. 

Several days are required to determine if the patient does or does not have Ebola. The disease, transmitted through bodily fluids, has killed thousands in West Africa.

The United States has had only a handful of cases, several of which were people flying from West Africa into the U.S. and displaying symptoms upon arrival. Thomas Eric Duncan, who traveled from Liberia to Texas, died of Ebola in October and Dr. Martin Salia, transported from Sierra Leone to Nebraska for treatment, died in mid-November.

Others who contracted the disease survived in America, which has set up a number of emergency treatment centers.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available. 

At the weekend, Syriza and its leader Alexis Tsipras won a clear victory in the Greek elections and have formed a coalition government with the small right-wing party Independent Greeks, which is also anti-austerity and anti-bailout.

Tsipras has a clear mandate to renegotiate Greek debt and its relationship with the European Central Bank (ECB). Much will be written in the coming weeks on the economic issues involved in the negotiations (for a very thoughtful post on that, read my colleague Doug Elliott). Here are three initial thoughts on the political dimension and consequences for the future of the eurozone.

1. The belief that the broader repercussions of a Greek exit from the eurozone can be contained will make a Greek exit from the euro more likely, not less.

According to media reports, the German government believes that the eurozone could cope with a Greek exit from the eurozone much better than in 2012. Most analysts seem to agree. If the risk of contagion has decreased significantly (and it is hard to know for sure), it could paradoxically increase the risk of a Greek exit.

The reason is simple—the specter of Armageddon made everyone cautious in 2012. Greek voters took fright. The ECB would not have pushed Greece to the brink even if Syriza won. If today the ECB and Germany believe that the consequences of a Greek crisis can be contained, they will be less inclined to make costly concessions.

Meanwhile, the Syriza government may feel that it can weather the storm of instability. Tsipras knows that he was elected because voters believe he is genuinely different. He is smart and is capable of adjusting his tactics based on the circumstances. But I very much doubt he will give up on the core vision that got him elected just to fit in.

Exit from the eurozone remains unlikely, not least because Germany is probably still unwilling to run the experiment despite what it says about contagion (after all, before Lehman Brothers was allowed to fail, the U.S. government believed it could be contained), but they could go very close to the brink, and the ECB may well deploy some of its heavy artillery, including choking off liquidity to Greek banks.

2. Ultimately, Wolfgang Schauble poses a greater threat to the eurozone than Alexis Tsipras.

In the coming weeks, Alexis Tsipras will be identified as the cause of the eurozone’s troubles. However, for five years, Wolfgang Schauble, the German finance minister (and with the full support of Chancellor Angela Merkel), has imposed German economic orthodoxy on the eurozone—including austerity, structural reform in the periphery (although not in his own country), support for a contractionary monetary policy and the nationalization of banking debt.

The southern countries elected mainstream parties on a platform of changing this approach and he gave them virtually nothing. One by one, they are being discredited and populist hard-line parties are benefiting—Syriza, Podemos in Spain, Sinn Féin in Ireland and Front Nationale in France.

In the weeks to come, the German government will protest the irresponsibility of Syriza, but it is important to remember that they trampled over better partners when they had the chance.

3. This is a make or break moment for Europe’s populists.

Syriza is the first genuinely populist party to be elected into office in the eurozone. The difference between populists and the mainstream left parties is not that they oppose austerity; it is that they say they will unilaterally break with Germany if they don’t give them what they want.

If Syriza wins major concessions that mainstream parties could not, it will provide a blueprint for other populists throughout the periphery. Indeed, during the campaign, Tsipras said, "January 25 is a new beginning, a victory by Syriza will be followed by Podemos in Spain, and next year, Sinn Féin in Ireland." On the other hand, if Syriza is forced to back down and accept Germany’s way, just as President François Hollande of France, Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi and others have before him, it will be a major blow to other populist parties.

Germany will be particularly wary of empowering populist parties throughout the eurozone—what my colleague Jeremy Shapiro has called “political contagion.” The worst outcome for Germany is a deal for Greece that tells voters in other countries that the only way to get concessions is to vote for an uncompromising populist. The best outcome from Germany’s perspective is for Syriza to be discredited in Greece—either because they fold or because they are seen as irresponsible stewards of the economy— as a warning shot to other countries. However, if Syriza fails and Greece is forced to exit the euro, it would also be a major blow to Germany.

There is, of course, a middle option—a comprehensive deal with the eurozone south that applies to all countries and is broadly accepted. Of course, Germany has rejected that option.

For its part, governments in the eurozone south will be torn on how to respond to Syriza. On the one hand, they want what it wants—debt relief, an end to austerity and a growth agenda. On the other hand, they don’t want to send the message that the only way to get this is to vote them out in favor of the populists.

As journalist Pat Leahy has noted, they have also spent years insisting that they got the best deal possible and that austerity was a necessary evil; a Syriza triumph at the negotiating table would badly undermine that position. Again, their preferred outcome would be an inclusive and comprehensive settlement that they could claim credit for, thus pulling the rug from underneath their own populists.

Thomas Wright is director, Project on International Order and Strategy and fellow, Foreign Policy, Project on International Order and Strategy at the Brookings Institution. This article first appeared on the Brookings website. Follow Wright on Twitter @thomaswright08

Marshawn Lynch, running back for the Seattle Seahawks, has really had enough of the media. He sat down for his obligatory five minute pre-Super Bowl press conference today and spent the first two minutes lecturing reporters, a deviation from his last several months of media interaction.

Usually, Lynch just repeats one word or sentence over and over, such as “Yeah,” “Nope,” or “I’m just here so I won’t get fined.” And he really is there not to be fined—for skipping out on two press events in the past two seasons, Lynch had to pay $100,000. To avoid that, he now fulfills his bare minimum five minutes with reporters during the season.

During today’s press conference, Lynch started off with a solid lecture to reporters, asking them to go away. As transcribed by Sporting News, here’s what Lynch had to say:

Hey look, I mean all week, I done told y’all what’s up and for some reason, y’all continue to come back and do the same thing that y’all did. I don’t know what story y’all trying to get out of me. I don’t know what image y’all trying to portray of me.

But it don’t matter what y’all think, what y’all say about me; cause when I go home at night, the same people that I look in the face, my family, that I love, that’s all that matter to me. So y’all can go and make up whatever y’all wanna make up cause I don’t say enough for y’all to go and put anything out on me.

I'll come to y’all event, y’all shove cameras and microphones down my throat. But when I’m at home, in my environment, I don’t see y’all. But y’all mad at me, and if y’all ain’t mad at me, then what y’all here for? I ain’t got nothing for y’all, though, I told y’all that, so ya'll should know that, but y’all will sit here like right now and continue to do the same thing.  

I’m here preparing for a game, and y’all wanna ask me all these questions, which is understandable, I can get down down with that. But I told y’all, I’m not about to say nothing. So for the remainder of my three minutes, because I’m here, I’m available for y’all. I'm here, I'm available for ya'll. I done talked. All of my requirements are fulfilled. So now, for the next three minutes, I’ll just be looking at y’all the way y’all looking at me. Thank you.

Listen for yourself here:

There were about three minutes remaining when that was over, and Lynch did take some questions. His line of the day was “Shout out to… ” He gave shout outs to Oakland, California, his teammates and “real Africans out there.”

There was one question he did actually answer. When asked where his Beast Mode hat could be purchased, he referred the reporter to “beastmodeonline.com.” Beast Mode is Lynch’s nickname, and he created an apparel brand to match it, the hat may have Lynch in a bit of hot water, as he wore to an official Super Bowl media event and the hat may be considered “unauthorized” gear. One reporter asked him to discuss an inner-city charity Lynch donates to and Lynch told him if he actually wanted to learn about the charity, he could come find him in the inner city to talk about it.

“I’m [gonna] sit here with my mouth closed and look at you,” the defending champion concluded. 

The U.S. Senate voted 62-36 to pass a bill forcing the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, a disputed Canadian tar sands pipeline long the focus of contentious debate and protest. Every Republican senator voted in favor of the pipeline, with nine Democrats joining, Roll Call reports. The vote marks the first victory for the newly Republican-controlled Senate.

The bill will now move to the House of Representatives, where it is expected to quickly pass a vote, but President Obama, who has said that the pipeline would have no “nominal benefit” to Americans, has threatened to veto it.

Obama previously said that he would wait for a decision from the Nebraska Supreme Court over whether or not TransCanada, the pipeline company building Keystone XL, had the right of eminent domain on private property in the pipeline’s proposed path through the state. That decision came earlier this month, in favor of TransCanada. Now, parties on both sides of the debate are calling for a quick decision from the President. The New York Times reports that sources close to the issue expect a decision from Obama as early as February.

Since the rise of the Islamic State, commonly known as ISIS, Iran has taken a closer interest in influencing and funding the government of its neighbor Iraq. The Rand Corporation’s Alireza Nader explains.

What is Iran doing in Iraq? How important is Iran in the ground war against ISIS?

The Iranian government, particularly the Revolutionary Guards, is playing a huge role in helping the Iraqi security forces fight the Islamic State, especially in Diyala. The Guards are working with the Iraqi central government, but they are reportedly heavily reliant on Shiite militias with close ties to Iran. Iran is now arguably the most influential foreign actor in Iraq.

Which Iraqi militias is Iran supporting, and how?

Iran is supporting many different militias. Some of the biggest and most prominent are the Badr Organization, Asai’b Ahl al-Haq (AAH), Kata’ib Hezbollah and various Sadrist elements. They are all Shiite. Certain militias such as the Badr Organization and AAH appear to be taking direct orders from Tehran. The Sadrists have had tensions with Iran before, so they may not be the most reliable of the militias.

Where are Iranian forces concentrated? How many are there? What are they doing exactly?

Iranian forces have tried to keep a low profile in Iraq, so estimating the number of active Iranians is difficult. But since late 2014, the “martyrdom” of Iranian soldiers and officers has become more common, as has Iran’s publicity about its role. Senior Iranian generals—including General Qassem Suleimani, the Quds Force commander—are not only advising Iraqi forces and militias but also visiting the front lines and allowing photographs near war zones.

What are the stakes for Iran in Iraq?

Iran does not want the Islamic State or Sunni jihadi and nationalist groups to take over Iraq. Tehran is particularly concerned that the Shiite-led government in Baghdad could be replaced by a regime hostile to Iran, as was the case during Saddam Hussein’s rule.

Iraq’s invasion of Iran in 1980 and the subsequent eight-year war, which produced more than 1 million casualties, has always been a major factor in Tehran’s strategic thinking. Many politicians and military commanders now in power were part of the war generation.

Iraq and Iran share a 910-mile border that is mostly porous. Iraq’s territorial integrity is critical for Iran, too. Shortly after ISIS took significant territory in northern Iraq, President Hassan Rouhani told Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that Iran “considers Iraq’s security and stability as its own.”

Iran is also concerned about the safety of Shiite holy sites in Sammara, Najaf and Karbala. The rise of the Islamic State presents Iran with the opportunity to demonstrate to the Iraqis, the Arab world and the United States that it is an important power in the Middle East and should be recognized and treated as such.

From Tehran’s perspective, its intervention could even provide more leverage on other issues, including the nuclear negotiations. “The world has understood the reality that the first country to rush to the help of the Iraqi people in the battle against extremism and terror was the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in December.

How does Iran's role in Iraq today differ from its earlier activities during the U.S. intervention?

After the 2003 U.S. invasion, Iran played a prominent but largely behind-the-scenes role in Iraq. Tehran armed, trained and funded a variety of militias, mostly Shiite but some Sunnis as well. Iranian-backed militias attacked both U.S. and Iraqi government forces. Iran also reportedly funded and advised candidates and brokered alliances, although with mixed success.

The dynamics shifted when the U.S. withdrew in 2011. After the Islamic State’s sudden seizure of a large chunk of Iraq in 2014, Iran and the United States actually shared the goal of driving the Sunni extremists out of Iraq. Tehran’s goals were to defeat ISIS, ensure Iraq’s territorial integrity and maintain Shiite allies in the central government.

By early 2015, Iran’s role was much more public than in the past. Tehran actively sought to make sure the world knew it was playing a major role.

How do Iran’s actions and goals in Iraq differ from the United States?

Both the United States and Iran also share an interest in preserving the Iraqi state. But their goals are not totally aligned. In neighboring Syria, the Islamic State poses a serious threat to the Assad regime, which Iran supports and the United States opposes. Tehran has also pursued a sectarian agenda in its support of Shiite militias, which contributed to greater Sunni dissatisfaction and complicating the fight against ISIS.

In contrast, Washington has pushed for an inclusive, multi-ethnic and multi-sectarian government in Baghdad to address Sunni grievances.

How are U.S. and Iranian actions affecting each other’s strategies?

Secretary of State John Kerry has acknowledged that the net effect of Iranian strikes on ISIS “is positive.” But U.S. and Iranian officials have denied rumors that they are coordinating their activities directly, preferring to deal only with Iraqi security forces.

Alireza Nader is a senior international policy analyst at the nonprofit, nonpartisan Rand Corporation. This article first appeared on the United States Institute of Peace’s Iran Primer website.

When the Senate voted Thursday to approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, the bill they passed was padded with a few extra measures.

In an effort to get Republicans to make hard decisions on the Keystone XL bill, Democrats deluged the bill in recent days with amendments calling for hundreds of other concessions, mostly pertaining to climate change and environmental policy. A whopping 246 amendments were proposed by members from both sides of the aisle, but only six were ultimately passed before the Senate voted on the bill.

Here are the four major issues the amendments in the Senate’s Keystone XL bill address:

1. Climate change is not a hoax

This resolution, introduced by Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, simply acknowledged "that climate change is real and not a hoax.” The amendment was approved 98-1, with even Senator Jim Inhofe, R-Oklahoma, author of the 2012 book The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future, voting in favor of it.

But senators rejected another amendment that would establish that humans significantly contribute to climate change, leaving Inhofe the opportunity to voice his view with an updated angle:

“Climate is changing, and climate has always changed and always will,” Inhofe told the Senate Wednesday night. “The hoax is that there are some people who are so arrogant to think they are so powerful they can change climate. Man can’t change climate.”

Now, the only remaining Senator who officially holds that the whole idea of climate change is a hoax is Senator Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi, who was the only senator to vote against the resolution.

2. Tar sands companies should pay into an oil spill cleanup fund

This amendment, introduced by Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, “expressed the sense of the Senate” that oil companies dealing in nonconventional, bitumen-derived oil (like the tar sands oil that would flow through the Keystone XL pipeline) should pay into a federal fund for oil spill cleanups. The payment would come in the form of an 8-cent-per-barrel tax.

Under current law, conventional oil pays that tax, but tar sands are exempt from paying it. That measure was adopted 75-23. The amendment doesn’t change anything, but it does get a lot of senators on the record supporting that action, so we’re likely to see it come up again soon.

It’s worth noting that the Senate declined to pass two other amendments that would have actually forced this change in the tax code: Senator Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, proposed an amendment to prevent the Keystone XL bill from taking effect until the spill-fund tax included tar sands crude, and Senator Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, proposed an amendment to immediately change the tax code to close, as he put it, the “outlandish tar sands loophole." Both amendments failed.

3. Maybe we should have more energy-efficient buildings

One adopted amendment, introduced by Senator Rob Portman, R-Ohio, aimed to improve energy efficiency in buildings by establishing a “voluntary, market-driven approach to aligning the interests of commercial building owners and their tenants to reduce energy consumption.” It also requires that any buildings leased by the federal government that do not already bear an Energy Star efficiency label disclose their energy use data “where practical.”

Another, introduced by Senator Mark Warner, D-Virginia, and Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, directs the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy to distribute information about energy efficiency financing programs to school buildings.

4. Private property should be protected 

This next amendment simply reiterates that private property is a constitutional right. The amendment, introduced by Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, passed 64-33.

While Cornyn’s amendment does nothing substantive, the Senate rejected another amendment, introduced by Senator Bob Menendez, D-New Jersey,  that would have actually prevented Nebraskan landowners who live in the path of the Keystone XL pipeline from getting their land seized for construction. The Nebraska Supreme Court recently ruled against holdout landowners, clearing the way for Transcanada, the pipeline company, to build on their property. 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican-led House Committee on Homeland Security is challenging an Obama administration plan to admit Syrian refugees to the United States, saying it could allow potential terrorists to sneak into the country.

In a letter sent to the White House, Michael McCaul, who chairs the Homeland Security Committee and Peter King and Candice Miller, who chair subcommittees, said the administration's plan "raises serious national security concerns."

The letter, dated Wednesday, said the United States lacks the resources to fully investigate the backgrounds of refugees from Syria, a base for Islamic State militants, before they are admitted to the country.

Anne Richard, an Assistant Secretary of State, said on Dec. 9 that the United States resettled nearly 70,000 refugees from nearly 70 countries in 2013 and that the administration's refugee plans would lead to "resettling Syrians as well."

Richard said the United States was already reviewing around 9,000 Syrian refugee cases referred by a United Nations agency and was receiving "roughly a thousand new ones each month."

Ned Price, a National Security Council spokesman, said all refugees including those from Syriawould be rigorously screened.

"Our screening protocols for refugees are rigorous, continually refined, and build on years of experience vetting individuals coming to the United States from around the world," he said in an e-mailed statement. "They permit us to proceed in a way that seeks to both safeguard public safety and serve our mission of providing refuge to some of the world's most vulnerable people."

A State Department official said that the United States was likely to admit 1,000-2,000 Syrian refugees this government fiscal year and a few thousand more in Fiscal Year 2016. The official said that Syrian refugees applying for admission to the United States will "undergo additional screening specific to this population."

The official said that the Department of Homeland Security, which had no immediate comment, had sole authority to grant refugees admission to the United States.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamic State's Sinai wing claimed responsibility for attacks that killed at least 27 on Thursday night, the group said on its official Twitter account.

A series of tweets from the Sinai Province's Twitter account claimed responsibility for each of the four attacks that took place in North Sinai and Suez provinces, in some of the worst anti-state violence Egypt has seen in months.

Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, Egypt's most active militant group, changed its name to Sinai Province last year after swearing allegiance to Islamic State, the hardline Sunni militant group that has seized swathes of Iraq and Syria.

Sport is war minus the shooting. So said George Orwell. All the same, shooting is a pretty big thing to take out of a war: and if you live in a war-zone, any part of life that is minus the shooting has an irresistible attraction. That explains at least some of the passion for cricket in Afghanistan.

It’s a craze of dramatically recent origin, and yet it already plays a serious role in national identity. Cricket has become an expression of hopes of national unity, national recognition, national achievement and at the bottom of it all, peace. Life minus the shooting. Afghanistan have, for the first time, qualified to play in the cricket World Cup, which takes place in Australia and New Zealand. Afghanistan play their first match, against Bangladesh, on 18 February. They also have matches against Scotland, Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. They are minnows all right: but minnows with the attitude of sharks.

Cricket has been played in Afghanistan for years and it hasn’t meant much more than cricket in California or baseball in Croydon. There’s a record of British troops playing in Kabul in 1839, but that’s not got much to do with the explosion of cricket in Afghanistan in the 21st century.

When they took control, the Taliban banned all sport in Afghanistan. Then they relented: cricket became the one sport they permitted. But cricket didn’t become a major part of Afghan life until the Taliban fell in 2001. Now here’s a strange fact: whenever you find people recovering from a disaster, in survival camps after earthquakes or floods, in refugee camps where inmates have fled from war and persecution, you find hope. Hope expressed in the form of sport. For every disaster there’s an inspiring, heartbreaking photo of children shooting hoops or kicking a football against a backdrop of ruins. So the Afghanis who fled the Taliban and became refugees in Pakistan got to play cricket. It was inescapable, cricket being part of the turbulent Pakistani soul.

So when the Taliban fell, the refugees returned with cricket in their baggage. The game spread across the country like an internet virus, for it seemed to express an essential and unquenchable part of Afghan identity. At its most basic level, these primordial Afghani cricketers revelled in whirlwind bowling and extravagant hitting. Everything was approached with flat-out full-on intensity; no hanging back, no guile, no thinking things through. Just the great gladiatorial contest between hurtling ball and flying bat.  

That is the story of cricket as a national meme. But that’s not enough to get you to a level of competence in international sport, a place without forgiveness. And yet, in a warm-up tournament held in mid-January before the World Cup, Afghanistan, though beaten by Scotland, went on to beat Ireland by 71 runs, with Najibullah Zadran, coming in down the order, hammering 83 runs off 50 balls – a powerful performance at any standard of the game. More pleasing than his explosive hitting was the composed and unflustered bowling performance that followed: a passage of play in which the Afghani players used their heads and pressed home their advantage in the manner of case-hardened professionals.

That is what the national side is now aiming at: to make the transition from cheery underdogs to serious sportsmen. They’ve now reached a level in which they are frequently brilliant against teams at their own level, though they still tend to be overawed and out of place against the leading cricket nations. They are coached by a New Zealander, Andy Moles, who used to play for Warwickshire in England. His brother, a security consultant, told him not to go, but he’s been a huge success. Peter Andrews from Queensland coaches at academy level, Jason Douglas of South Africa works on fitness training. There are now indoor training facilities in Kabul.

Afghanistan became an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2013; they now get an annual subsidy of $850,000. They are acutely aware of their naiveté, which is shown by lack of physical fitness, panicky batting with a talent for run-outs, and bowlers who lose heart at setbacks. Now they’re toughening up – acquiring greater cricket-savvy skills, thinking like pros and preparing in the best way. But the urge to play sport on the biggest stage is not without its romanticism. A step closer to the top teams would be a great achievement.

It’s been a remarkable business. To go from a cricket-free nation to borderline contenders with proper recognition from the world governing body in 14 years is astonishing. It tells of great natural talent and considerable national ambition. It’s been said that a low-flying plane crossing modern Afghanistan navigates from one cricket match to another: all spread out below in the vast spaces that have seen generations of horrors perpetrated by Americans, Russians, jihadis and the Taliban. The most eloquent counter-­argument to them all is in this curious game.

The Indian writer Ashis Nandy famously said that cricket is an Indian game that was accidentally invented in England. It might also be true that cricket is the Afghani game – much more so than the polo-like game they play, using the body of a dead goat for the ball – even though it was accidentally invented in England. Afghanistan will need to beat Bangladesh and Scotland plus one of the big boys if they are to proceed to the second stage of the World Cup – highly unlikely. Qualifying at all is triumph enough to be going on with. Any victory in any match will be something to cheer. Subsequent progress will be hard. Bangla­desh provides a classic example of a cricket nation full of promise that stalled and rolled back. In Afghanistan, politicians and power-­mongers like a voice in team selection these days: by seeking to be associated with success such people are capable of destroying it.

But this is no time for pessimism. Afghanistan have made it to the World Cup: an astonishing achievement for a country that had only just taken up the sport and little short of miraculous for a war-zone. It’s one of those stories that makes sport agnostics admit that there are times when it seems to have a point.  

A 19-year-old Dutchman with a pistol forced his way into the studios of the national broadcaster NOS on Thursday demanding to be allowed to go on air, but was quickly arrested, officials said.

Wearing a black suit and tie, the man entered the studio after threatening a guard with a pistol, witnesses said. It was unclear how he passed through security, which was increased after the attacks in Paris earlier this month.

Footage aired on Dutch TV showed the man pacing in the studio with a black pistol behind his back.

He had intended to speak to the country on the most popular evening news broadcast, but was led to an empty studio by a quick-thinking security guard.

"This is taking too long," the man said. Then police stormed into the studio yelling, "Drop it! Drop it! And get on your knees!". He dropped the gun, saying, "I dropped it. It's dropped", and the police put handcuffs on him and took him away.

The man lives in the central Dutch town of Pijnacker, near the university town Delft, officials said, declining to provide details. They refused to comment on media reports that he was a student whose parents had recently died and that he was not on a watchlist of Islamist militants.

He was being questioned and could be charged with kidnapping, possession of a firearm and threatening people with a weapon, prosecutor Johan Bac said at a press conference.

No one was hurt, but the NOS television broadcaster canceled its two main nightly newscasts.

The man's motive was unclear; the NOS footage showed him saying, "The things that are going to be said (pause) those are very large world affairs. We were hired by the security service."

Police special forces swept the building for explosives and found nothing, police spokesman Christine Scholts said.

"We are currently investigating who this man is and what he wants," she said. The police were looking into claims that he had accomplices around the country with explosives.

"He took the security guard hostage and said he wanted air time. If they didn’t give it to him, he said there would be bombs in different places in the Netherlands that would explode if he didn’t get time on TV," Scholts said.

The threats were reportedly also contained in a letter that the man took to the studio, a purported copy of which was aired by the RTL news channel.

"Realise that I am not on my own," it said. "Furthermore, eight high explosives have been planted that contain radioactive material. If you don't take me to studio 8 to make my broadcast, we will be forced to step into action."

Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the letter.

Dutch Minister for Security and Justice Ivo Opstelten told the ANP national news agency the man appeared to have acted alone.

Security has been tightened across Europe since jihadist attacks on the offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket in Paris this month, as well as the killing of two gunmen in Belgium during raids on an Islamist group that authorities said were planning to attack police.

NOS television said the gunman appeared to be a student who had recently lost both parents. It also said he did not figure on security services' lists of suspected Islamist militants.

NOS produces the most widely watched television newscast in the Netherlands and is based in the main national broadcast park in Hilversum.

Security has been tight there since populist politician Pim Fortuyn was shot outside a studio in 2002.

As the gunman entered the studios on Thursday, NOS's main news channel displayed a message that read, "In connection with circumstances, no broadcast is available at this time."

Japan and Jordan were working closely on Friday to find out what had happened to two of their nationals being held by Islamic State, after a deadline passed for the release of a would-be suicide bomber being held on death row in Amman.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said every effort was being made to secure the release of journalist Kenji Goto.

"We are gathering and analyzing information while asking for cooperation from Jordan and other countries, making every effort to free Kenji Goto," he told a parliamentary panel.

Jordan said on Thursday it was still holding the Iraqi woman prisoner as a deadline passed for her release set by Islamic State militants, who threatened to kill a Jordanian pilot unless she was handed over by sunset.

An audio message purportedly from Goto said the pilot would be killed if Jordan did not free Sajida al-Rishawi, in jail for her role in a 2005 suicide bomb attack that killed 60 people in the Jordanian capital Amman.

The message extended a previous deadline set on Tuesday in which Goto said he would be killed within 24 hours if al-Rishawi was not freed.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said late on Friday that Tokyo was doing everything it could, but declined to answer whether negotiations had stalled and if there was any progress.

"We are doing the things we have to, one after the other, steadily," he told a news conference.

The hostage crisis comes as Islamic State, which has already released videos showing the beheadings of five Western hostages, is coming under increased military pressure from U.S.-led air strikes and by Kurdish and Iraqi troops pushing to reverse the Islamist group's territorial gains in Iraq and Syria.

Jordan Demands Proof

About an hour before the new deadline was due to pass on Thursday, government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said Jordan was still holding al-Rishawi.

"We want proof ... that the pilot is alive so that we can proceed with what we said yesterday; exchanging the prisoner with our pilot," Momani told Reuters.

The pilot, Muath al-Kasaesbeh, was captured after his jet crashed in northeastern Syria in December during a bombing mission against Islamic State.

Momani said separately that Jordan was coordinating with Japanese authorities in an effort to secure the release of Goto, a veteran war reporter.

Goto's wife urged both governments to work for her husband's release, saying she feared this was his last chance.

In the latest audio recording purportedly of Goto, he said that Kasaesbeh would be killed "immediately" if al-Rishawi was not at the Turkish border by sunset on Thursday, Iraq time, ready to be exchanged for the Japanese hostage.

That was some time around 1430 GMT on Thursday.

Difficult Position 

The implication that the pilot would not be part of an exchange deal has left Jordan in a difficult position.

Protests have erupted in Karak, home town of the pilot, who is from an important Jordanian tribe that forms the backbone of support for the Hashemite monarchy.

In Japan, the hostage crisis is the biggest diplomatic test for Abe since he took office in 2012 pledging to play a bigger role in global security.

Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told journalists that Tokyo had asked Jordan to beef up protection of its diplomats in the country on Friday, the birthday of Jordanian King Abdullah.

Jordanian comments have raised concerns in Japan that Goto might not be part of any deal between Amman and Islamic State.

"I hope the negotiations materialize," Goto's mother, Junko Ishido, told reporters at her Tokyo home late on Thursday. "I don't want to think about it," she said, when asked what she would do if negotiations failed.

Abe has repeatedly said Japan would not give in to terrorism and would keep cooperating with the international community.

The hostage crisis erupted after Abe announced in Cairo $200 million in non-military aid for countries opposing Islamic State, but his government has rejected suggestions it acted rashly and stressed the assistance was humanitarian.

Goto went to Syria in late October. According to friends and business associates, he was attempting to secure the release of Haruna Yukawa, his friend and fellow Japanese citizen who was captured by Islamic State in August.

In the first video purportedly of Goto, released last week, a black-clad masked figure with a knife said Goto and Yukawa would be killed within 72 hours if Japan did not pay Islamic State $200 million.

A video on Saturday appeared to show Goto with a picture of a decapitated Yukawa, saying his captors' demands had switched to the release of al-Rishawi. Tuesday's video featured an audio track over a still picture that appeared to show Goto holding a picture of Kasaesbeh.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's choice of a senior judge as his presidential candidate appears to have unified his fractious party, but it may spell an end to a reform pact sealed with rival Silvio Berlusconi.

After an inconclusive first round ballot on Thursday, the 1,009 parliamentarians and regional officials eligible to pick the new president began a new round on Friday.

The result is likely to be same because a two-thirds majority is needed to seat a president until the fourth round, expected on Saturday, when a simple majority is enough and Renzi should be able to muster the numbers to win.

Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) and a handful of allies pledged on Thursday to back Sergio Mattarella, 73, a constitutional court judge and a veteran center-left politician.

The process of voting by secret ballot has a history of intrigue and unpredictability similar to a papal conclave. Just two years ago, two candidates ostensibly backed by the PD fell short because of anonymous defections from within party ranks.

Failure for Renzi, who has been in office less than a year, to seat Mattarella in the fourth or fifth round would mean his authority over his party is wavering, raising the specter of an early national election.

With newly elected Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras facing tricky negotiations with German-led European partners on renegotiating Greece's debt, a political crisis in Italy would compound uncertainty in the euro zone.

Adding to tension is Berlusconi's anger at Renzi for betraying what the media tycoon said was a promise to give him a role in choosing the candidate as part of a pact the two leaders made last year to draft institutional reforms together.

"Renzi took Berlusconi off guard psychologically," Clemente Mastella, a former justice minister politically close to Berlusconi, said in an interview on La7 television. "It will be hard for the center-right to recompose itself."

While Berlusconi told his party members to vote blank ballots through the fourth round, he could reverse his order at the last minute and back Mattarella, a former Christian Democrat who resigned as education minister in 1990 to protest a decree that favored Berlusconi's media empire.

That would keep institutional reforms on track and give Berlusconi a political role as he completes a tax-fraud sentence, for which he is doing public service, later this year.

Belgian police detained four people after a series of raids across the country on Friday to dismantle a group suspected of recruiting jihadist fighters for Syria, federal prosecutors said.

The raids were not linked to an operation earlier this month that foiled a plan to attack Belgian police nor to recent deadly militant attacks in Paris, prosecutors added.

"This file concerns people who want to go to Syria and fight there. The investigation concentrates on the organization which recruits those persons and sends them to Syria," federal prosecutors said in a statement.

Police found no weapons or explosives during the 22 raids, most of them in the east of Belgium, near to the Dutch border.

The four detained suspects will be brought before a judge on Friday to determine whether they should still be held.

Some 350 Belgians have left for Syria in recent years, Belgian authorities estimate, to fight alongside Islamist extremists such as Islamic State.

Authorities fear that some of those Syria fighters could plan attacks in their home country on their return from the conflict zone.

Belgium has been on high alert, with soldiers guarding key sites such as embassies, Jewish schools and the European Commission headquarters, after two Islamist gunmen were killed by police in raids two weeks ago.

Prosecutors believe that operation foiled a plot to murder police officers across the country.