Facebook Is Fixing the Worst Part of Breaking Up With Someone

When a relationship falls apart, you generally want nothing to do with your former partner. No contact, no updates, nada. But social media makes it all too tempting to keep tabs on your ex — even if you don’t actually want to.

Now, Facebook has a plan to make breakups a little easier to manage. The social network is testing a new feature that will let you reduce the number of posts you see from your ex, all without unfriending or blocking them. You can even go back and de-tag yourself from photos with your former significant other, if you feel the need to go full Scorched Earth.

Facebook will ask you if you want to try the new tools if you change your relationship status.

“This work is part of our ongoing effort to develop resources for people who may be going through difficult moments in their lives,” wrote Facebook Product Manager Kelly Winters in a blog post Thursday. “We hope these tools will help people end relationships on Facebook with greater ease, comfort and sense of control.”

Paris Plotter 'Drank And Smoked' After Attacks

French counter-terror police swooped on a flat in the northern suburb of Saint Denis on Wednesday morning and have now confirmed that Europe's most wanted Abdelhamid Abaaoud was killed in the seven hour siege.

Estate agent Amel Alla told Sky News that she is convinced she saw the prime suspect outside the flats over the weekend after the attacks across Paris, which killed 129 people.

"I saw him in Muslim dress, down at the building with all these guys, perhaps eight or 10 of them," she said.

"That is a street I go in every day ... we said 'hello' to everyone in the group, every day they were sitting there but I noticed him because he was wearing Islamic dress with the hat ... the others were in normal clothes they always are.

"Afterwards we saw the TV and my sister said to me 'isn't that the guy we saw the other day?'"

"I am 99.9% sure it was him, it is crazy."

"They were there like smoking joints and drinking beers - they are often in the street so I know them, I know them."

The 28-year-old Belgian may also have been involved in four of six thwarted attacks in France this year, including an assault by a gunman on a high-speed train which was thwarted by three Americans.

He was wanted on international warrants and had been sentenced in his absence in Belgium to 20 years in prison.

On Wednesday morning, Ms Alla watched from her mother's flat as the siege in which Abaaoud was killed played out on the streets below.

"It was like in front of my window, it is like a movie, like an American movie for me. I cannot believe he was just here."

"I'm so happy he died ... I understand he was the head of all these operations so I am really happy and I hope they kill them all."

Salah Abdeslam, one of the suspected gunmen in the attacks, is still being hunted by police.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Thursday that it was not clear whether Abdeslam was in France or Belgium, or if there were any more cells directly linked to the Paris atttackers still at large.

"The threat is there. We don't know at this point in the investigation if there are groups, individuals, who are directly

linked to the attack on Friday evening, in Paris, in Saint Denis," he told France 2 television.

Founder of app used by ISIS once said ‘We shouldn’t feel guilty.

Pavel Durov knew that terrorists were using his app to communicate. And he decided it was something he could live with. “I think that privacy, ultimately, and our right for privacy is more important than our fear of bad things happening, like terrorism,” the founder of Telegram, a highly secure messaging app, said at a TechCrunch panel in September when asked if he “slept well at night” knowing his technology was used for violence.

“If you look at ISIS, yes, there’s a war going on in the Middle East,” he continued. “Ultimately, ISIS will find a way to communicate with its cells, and if any means doesn’t feel secure to them, they’ll [find something else]. We shouldn’t feel guilty about it. We’re still doing the right thing, protecting our users’ privacy.”

Even after the Islamic State used his app to claim responsibility for an attack that killed 129 and wounded more than 350 in Paris, the man known as “the Russian Mark Zuckerberg” was unswayed, BuzzFeed reported.

“I propose banning words. There’s evidence that they’re being used by terrorists to communicate,” he wrote in a message on the Russian social networking site VKontakte (which he co-founded) mocking calls that ISIS channels on Telegram be removed. In a Facebook post, Durov blamed “shortsighted socialists” in the French government for the attacks as much as Islamic State militants.

Which is why a statement from Telegram posted on its site Wednesday is such a surprising reversal of course. “We were disturbed to learn that Telegram’s public channels were being used by ISIS to spread their propaganda,” it read. “… As a result, this week alone we blocked 78 ISIS-related channels across 12 languages.”

The statement had a ring of insincerity to it, given Durov’s comments two months ago. (The New York Times noted that the statement sounded like Claude Rains’s famous line in “Casablanca,” claiming to be “shocked, shocked” to find that gambling was happening at Rick’s, just before collecting his winnings.)

Islamist militants turn to less-governed social-media platform

But Durov, a 31-year-old Russian exile with a penchant for black clothing and a subversive streak, is no soft-hearted Captain Renault.

Before Telegram, he and his brother Nikolai founded VKontakte, a social networking site more popular than Facebook in Russia. He drew national attention — and acrimony inside and outside the Russian government — for a rebellious insistence on doing things his way. Vehemently anti-regulation, he allowed VK users to upload videos and music for which they didn’t hold the copyright, a move that was slammed by trade organizations and the music industry. On Russia’s Victory Day, which celebrates the end of World War II, he tweeted, “67 years ago, Stalin defended from Hitler his right to suppress the people of the USSR.” Much of Russia did not find the joke funny.

His behavior can oscillate between odd and audacious. In one incident, he threw paper airplanes made of money out his window, then watched a fight break out over the cash on the street below. He also offered Edward Snowden a job when the former U.S. intelligence contractor was granted asylum in Russia.

But in another, more serious confrontation, he defied a demand from the Russian government that he remove the VK pages of opposition figures during disputed parliamentary elections in 2011. He tweeted his “official response”: a photo of a dog sticking out its tongue.

Not long after, he found his home in St. Petersburg surrounded by a SWAT team, according to the New York Times. He wouldn’t open the door, and eventually they went home. But the incident convinced him of the need for an encrypted messaging system he could use to communicate in a scenario like that one. It was the inspiration for Telegram.

“I never want things to be dull,” he told Mashable. Durov’s anti-regulation, pro-privacy stance eventually cost him. In 2013, he became the target of a criminal investigation after he was accused of driving over a policeman’s foot, according to Mashable. Durov claimed the alleged crime never happened, and the investigation was politically motivated.

The Kremlin “was coming after me,” he said. Then two original VKontakte investors sold their shares, representing 48 percent of the company, to an investment firm with close ties to the Kremlin.
Finally, in April 2014, amid increased pressure to release the data of Ukrainian protesters using his site, Durov gave up, according to the New York Times. He sold his shares and fled Russia.

Telegram was made generally available in the fall of this year, and the service behind its channel was launched in September. Designed to protect members’ anonymity, the app allows users to send encrypted messages and establish “channels” of hundreds of followers without providing any information on their real identities. That makes it all but impossible for law enforcement agencies to track them — which is exactly the point, Durov says.

But it also makes the app attractive to extremist groups. In an Oct. 29 report, the Middle East Media Research Institute warned that the app’s channels would become a “fertile and secure arena for jihad-related activities.”

Charlie Winter, a senior researcher at the Quilliam Foundation, a research organization in the United Kingdom, told The Washington Post in October that he’d seen an Islamic State follower post, “Twitter can suspend me 1,000 times but I will always be on Telegram.”

While tech companies like Twitter and YouTube have been active in shutting down Islamic State-associated accounts and removing propaganda videos, until Wednesday Telegram has been vehemently opposed to doing the same.

When M. Khayat, the author of the Middle East Media Research Institute report, reached out to ask about these policies, Telegram responded by saying that its channels are the “private territory of their respective participants and we do not process any requests related to them,” he told The Post.

It’s unclear what changed Durov’s mind since Monday, when he wrote the VKontakte post mocking the idea of banning Islamic State channels.

But in a statement released shortly after the first, he rushed to clarify that the move wouldn’t apply to any types of banned speech. “For example, if criticizing the government is illegal in a country, Telegram won’t be a part of such politically motivated censorship,” it read. “While we do block terrorist (e.g. ISIS-related) bots and channels, we will not block anybody who peacefully expresses alternative opinions.”

Not long after, Telegram’s (former) Islamic State users took to the site to express their outrage. “The war on Telegram has started,” one wrote, according to Winter.

AU Commission to receive Africa Peace Award

The African Union Commission (AUC) will on Saturday, 21 November 2015, receive the Africa Peace Award 2015. The award ceremony will take place in Durban, South Africa, where the AU Commission Chairperson, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma is scheduled to accept the award, on behalf of the AU Commission. 

According to a statement by the organisers, the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), the AU Commission was chosen for the Africa Peace Award 2015 as an affirmation of its continued commitment to “building a united, prosperous and peaceful continent”, ideas enshrined in the Africa’s Agenda 2063, led the AU, which is in effect the continent’s roadmap to creating a prosperous Africa driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global scheme.

Instituted in 1993, the Africa Peace Award is an initiative of the prominent conflict management organisation, the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), to “celebrate peace across the continent” and acknowledge “individuals, communities and nations who respect human rights, settle conflicts peacefully, and ensure the good governance of public affairs.”

Other recipients of the ACCORD Africa Peace Award have been former South African President, Nelson Mandela, the Children of Africa and countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Mozambique and Burundi.

Clinton Unveils Strategy to Defeat ISIS

Nearly one week after the terrorist attacks in Paris, Hillary Clinton today laid out her strategy to combat ISIS and global terrorism in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City.

The former secretary of state focused her remarks on three objectives: defeating ISIS in Syria, Iraq and across the region; disrupting the terrorist organization’s global infrastructure and facilities; and preventing and halting homegrown threats here in the United States.

In order to do this, Clinton said the United States and international coalition must first “intensify and broaden” their efforts by creating a "more effective coalition air campaign” combined with local ground forces.

“It’s time to begin a new phase and intensify and broaden our efforts to smash the would-be caliphate and deny ISIS control of territory in Iraq and Syria. That starts with a more effective coalition air campaign; with more allied planes, more strikes, and a broader target set,” Clinton said. “And we should be honest about the fact that to be successful, air strikes will have to be combined with ground forces actually taking back more territory from ISIS.”

Clinton, for the most part, aligned herself with President Obama’s strategy. She said she agrees it is not the “smart move” to “again have 100,000 U.S. troops in combat in the Middle East,” and said that while the United States must “lead” the fight, it should "support local and regional ground forces in carrying out this mission.”

Her remarks were a subtle change in tone from what Clinton said during Saturday’s Democratic debate, where she noted, "it cannot be an American fight."

Clinton seemed to clarify that line today when she said, "this is a worldwide fight and America must lead,” which drew criticism from her challengers from both parties.

Clinton did reiterate her call for a no-fly zone over Syria, something the Obama administration has so far said it opposes. But in the Q&A that followed, Clinton clarified that the no-fly zone would not be over the entire country, but “principally over Northern Syria.”

Clinton also said the United States must do more to stop ISIS’ growth online, and called on Silicon Valley and those in the private sector to help. "We must deny them virtual territory, just as we deny them actual territory,” she said.

She called out the GOP for their use of the phrase “radical Islamists,” which she says gives terrorists more standing than they deserve. “Islam is not our adversary,” she said.

And Clinton doubled-down on her call for allowing refugees into the United States.

"It would be a cruel irony, indeed, if ISIS can force families from their homes and also prevent them from ever finding new ones,” she said.

During the Q&A that followed, Clinton added that “we should not have religious tests" to decide which refugees can come into the country.

Earlier this week, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said he would back refugees who could “prove” they were Christian.

Her remarks come just hours after ISIS released a video announcing new threats against New York City.

In an interview on “Live! With Kelly and Michael” this morning, Clinton called the threats “serious” and pointed to lax gun laws as a factor in the increased threats.

“It’s way too easy to get guns in our country, terrorists can get guns who should never be allowed to,” she said. "They're on the no-fly list but they often aren't checked or can get guns online, so we do have to take it serious and have to be vigilant."

Suspected mastermind of Paris attacks killed

The suspected mastermind of the Paris attacks was among those killed in a police raid in a northern suburb of the French capital on Wednesday, authorities said Thursday, as the lower house of the French Parliament voted to extend state-of-emergency powers until February and Belgian officials continued their search for another suspect, who remains on the run.

Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a 28-year-old Belgian who had boasted of mounting attacks in Europe for the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), was accused of orchestrating Friday's bombings and shootings. His body was found in the apartment building targeted in a chaotic raid in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis early Wednesday morning. 

Police launched the raid after receiving information from tapped phone calls, surveillance and witness accounts suggesting that Abaaoud was holed up there. Killed along with Abaaoud was his cousin, who blew herself up with an explosives vest at the beginning of the raid, police said. Eight people were arrested in two separate raids in the area on Wednesday.

"Abdel Hamid Abaaoud has just been formally identified, after comparing fingerprints, as having been killed during the (police) raid," a statement from the Paris prosecutor said. "It was the body we had discovered in the building, riddled with bullets." But the prosecutor's office left open the possibility that Abaaoud may also have detonated an explosive device on his person.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says France did not know before last week's deadly attacks that Abaaoud was in Europe. Cazeneuve said Abaaoud was believed to be behind four of six attacks thwarted in France since spring 2015, including an attempted attack on a high-speed train headed to Paris in August that was foiled by other train passengers.

News of Abaaoud's death came as Belgian authorities detained seven people during several raids Thursday morning in Molenbeek, a Brussels district. The raids were linked to one of the suicide bombers in last week's attacks, Bilal Hadfi, and "his entourage," a Belgian official said.

Another suspect who had lived in Molenbeek, Salah Abdeslam, 26, remains on the run. He is suspected of having rented a black VW Polo car used in the attacks in Paris.

"In this community of Muslims in Molenbeek there is a lot of unemployment and, in this situation, it’s a basis where hate preachers can find and indoctrinate people," Jan Jambon, the Belgian interior minister, told Al Jazeera. "This analysis is already made for years but the political will was never there to change things."

On Friday Jambon will meet in Brussels with European interior and justice ministers. It's expected that French officials will call for strengthened counter-terrorism measures and tightened border checks. Officials also will mull measures to enforce stricter controls of firearm sales and enhanced intelligence-sharing.

With France still reeling from the Friday attacks, Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned that ISIL might attempt to use chemical or biological weapons.

"Terrorism hit France not because of what it is doing in Iraq and Syria ... but for what it is," Valls told the lower house of Parliament Thursday. "We know that there could also be a risk of chemical or biological weapons."

Valls' announcement came as the National Assembly, in a 551 to 6 vote, agreed to extend state-of-emergency powers until February. The vote allows the interior ministry to order house arrests and house searches without judicial approval. Since Friday’s attacks, the ministry has ordered house arrest for over 100 people, and it has conducted nearly 200 house searches.

State-of-emergency powers also allow police to prohibit the free movement of people and vehicles at any time, to block access to certain websites, and to set up checkpoints outside public and private buildings suspected of harboring people deemed dangerous to national security.

These powers were first enacted in 1955 at the start of France’s war with Algeria. Since then, France has decreed a state of emergency twice: in 1985 in the Pacific island territory of New Caledonia amid massive unrest between separatists and French loyalists, and in 2005 in response to three weeks of rioting in Paris and hundreds of other French towns.

Facebook activates safety check after Nigeria blast

Facebook has activated its "Safety Check" feature after the deadly bomb blast that killed 32 people in north-eastern Nigerian city of Yola (see 09:03 post). 

"We've activated Safety Check again after the bombing in Nigeria," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in "A loss of human life anywhere is a tragedy, and we're committed to doing our part to help people in more of these situations," he added.

The social networking site was heavily criticised for being selective after it activated the feature following the Paris attacks that killed 129 people on Friday, because it was not activated for previous similar violent incidents.

The feature is usually activated to allow users to mark themselves as safe, after natural disasters.