Armin Rosen

ISIS might have proven its ability to wage complex attacks around the world in 2015.

But in the heart of its "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria, the group suffered at least one important setback: losing a substantial portion of its oil-exports income, according to the Iraq Oil Report.

Without the major source of revenue and foreign currency, the group might have a reduced ability to maintain the appearance of state-like services and functions inside the caliphate, potentially harming its ability to hold on to territory as global efforts against the group intensify.

The Iraq Oil Report’s December 28 story is one of the most detailed accounts of the jihadist group’s oil infrastructure that’s publicly available. It’s based on interviews with over a dozen people living in ISIS-controlled areas, including anonymous oil-sector workers. The story also includes descriptions of documents from the nearly 7 terabytes of data seized from the compound of Abu Sayyaf, the ISIS oil chief for Syria killed in a US Special Forces raid in May.

Masnaa (Lebanon) (AFP) – A convoy of more than 120 rebels and wounded from the flashpoint Syrian border town of Zabadani crossed into Lebanon on Monday as part of a UN-backed truce, an AFP journalist said.

The convoy included seven buses and 22 ambulances and was accompanied by Lebanese security forces from the Masnaa border crossing, the journalist at the scene said.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, the evacuees will travel from the Beirut airport to Turkey, and will then cross into rebel-held territory in Syria.

The operation was to be matched by a similar evacuation from Fuaa and Kafraya, the last two regime-held villages in Syria’s northwest Idlib province.

Maxwell Tani

Earlier this spring, Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Florida) pollster publicly laid out a potentially harsh truth: By his calculations, the eventual Republican nominee would need to capture 40% of the Latino vote in order to win in 2016.

“Un­less you count on the Re­pub­lic­an getting Ron­ald Re­agan-like num­bers among whites, you’re go­ing to have to be some­where in the mid-forties with Hispanics,” Whit Ayres said, according to the National Journal.

Though somewhat shocking in its candor — former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) carried just 23% of the Latino vote in 2012 — Ayres’ comment emphasized what the Republican establishment has known for some time.

In a now infamous Republican "autopsy" report after the 2012 election, the Republican National Committee declared that the party needed to make significant inroads among Latinos — one of the largest and fastest-growing demographics in the US — if it hoped to be competitive in future elections. The party’s standing with the bloc had crumbled since President George W. Bush carried 44% of the Latino vote in 2004.

by Naharnet Newsdesk

Rachel Gillett and Samantha Lee

Harry S. Dent Jr., Economy & Markets

The attack on Charlie Hebdo…

The near-bankruptcy of Greece…

The massive influx of refugees from Syria…

And the terror attack on the “City of Light”…

That’s how a video begins on Time Magazine’s website celebrating Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, the de facto leader of Europe, and their “Person of the Year.”

As they put it, 2015 has been the most tumultuous year for Europe in recent memory. And Merkel, for all her “merkeling,” embodies Europe’s ideals of openness and solidarity in a time when both are being tested.

If it’s been said that nobody gets rich off the news, then the same runs true that once the mainstream media catches onto you as a trend, or when your name becomes a verb, it’s over!

By the time everyone and their dog knows a person’s name, the S-Curve has already matured, so to speak. Their popularity is no longer on the upswing – it’s already reached peak saturation. And no one stays on top forever.

Brett LoGiurato

In 1982, California voters were supposed to elect former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley as the state’s governor. 

Bradley went into the election with a sizable lead over George Deukmejian. Exit polls projected a Bradley win. But when the ballots were counted, Deukmejian came out the winner.

Thus the "Bradley effect" was born — named as such because many white voters, who told pollsters they were voting for an African-American (Bradley), ended up breaking for the white candidate (Deukmejian).

Could Donald Trump be the 2016 version of a reverse "Bradley effect?"

That’s the theory of a new study released earlier this week by Morning Consult, a DC-based data and technology company.

The study examined a mystery that has confounded polling analysts over the past few months: Why does Trump perform better in online-based surveys than polls that include live-telephone interviews?

The study posited that voters, when interviewed by pollsters via telephone, are reluctant to admit their support for a controversial candidate whose critics have painted him as racist. In self-administered online interviews, on the other hand, they will be more likely to admit their support. And that will more likely reflect their eventual decision in the privacy of a voting booth.

In his Christmas message, Pope Francis prayed for peace in Syria, Libya and other war-torn regions of the world and called on the international community to crackdown on “brutal terrorism” perpetrated by ISIS and other terrorists.

The Urbi et Orbi message, which means ‘to the city and the world’, was delivered from the central loggia of St Peter’s Basilica to the faithful gathered in the square below.

“We pray to the Lord that the agreement reached in the United Nations may succeed in halting as quickly as possible the clash of arms in Syria and in remedying the extremely grave humanitarian situation of its suffering people. It is likewise urgent that the agreement on Libya be supported by all, so as to overcome the grave divisions and violence afflicting the country,” he said.

“May the attention of the international community be unanimously directed to ending the atrocities which in those countries, as well as in Iraq, Libya, Yemen and sub-Saharan Africa, even now reap numerous victims, cause immense suffering and do not even spare the historical and cultural patrimony of entire peoples.