Up to twenty more Westerners held hostage by ISIS

Up to 20 Western hostages are being held by the jihadi group that beheaded James Foley. As well as the journalist Steven Sotloff, who was threatened with beheading by the same man who murdered Foley, Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil) is holding a number of aid workers, thought to include Vanessa Marzullo, 21, and Greta Ramelli, 20, both Italian. Three aid workers employed by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are also being held hostage after they were abducted last October.

Inhofe: ISIS developing means to ‘blow up’ a US city

The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee said Sunni militants are working on the capability to wipe out a city inside the United States. The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has long threatened to carry out a catastrophic attack on American soil, with a spokesman recently boasting that the militant group would fly its flag over the White House. Sen.

DOD Transferred Over $4.3B in Military Equipment to Local Police

The Department of Defense transferred over $4.3 billion worth of surplus military equipment–including 345 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs), 205 grenade launchers and over 12,000 bayonets–to more than 17,000 state and local law enforcement agencies across the nation since 1997. The transfers were made under the 1033 program of the National Defense Authorization Act and administered by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), according to a report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) entitled War Comes Home:

Gaza terrorists continue to pound southern Israel with rockets, drawing IDF response

Since the collapse of the cease-fire, Palestinians in Gaza have launched dozens of rockets and mortars at Israel, pounding the western Negev. Ashkelon, Ashdod, and the smaller communities within just a few kilometers of the Gaza border have absorbed the worst barrages since before dawn on Wednesday. On Wednesday the IDF struck two terror operatives in Gaza who were responsible for earlier rocket fire on Ashkelon and Gaza frontier communities.

Former CIA Deputy Director: ‘if an ISIS member showed up in a mall in the United States tomorrow with an AK-47 and killed a number of Americans I would not be surprised’

On Thursday’s “CBS This Morning,” former CIA Deputy Director Mike Morell made a claim about the Islamic State terror group ravaging Iraq that had anchor Norah O’Donnell calling it “really scary to hear.” After explaining what he thought needed to be done to defeat the terrorists (more targeted strikes and better intelligence), he said that “if an ISIS member showed up in a mall in the United States tomorrow with an AK-47 and killed a number of Americans I would not be surprised.” “Over the long-term, I worry that this group could present a 9/11-style threat,” he added, noting the group presents both a short-term and long-term threat.

Watch CNN’s Crazy Interview With Rapper Talib Kweli About The Ferguson Protests

(YT) The past 24 hours have apparently been ripe for cable news shoutfests. The latest example being CNN’s Don Lemon getting into a tussle with rapper Talib Kweli over media coverage of the ongoing protests in Ferguson, Mo. The pair also got a bit personal when Kweli noted that Lemon “didn’t even have the decency to greet” him before the segment, instead sending a producer named “Nicole” to invite him onto the show.

Iceland Volcano Bardarbunga: 1,000 earthquakes detected near volcano, adding to fears of a potential explosion

An intense earthquake swarm continues to rattle Iceland’s Bardarbunga volcano, adding to fears that a potential eruption could disrupt the region’s air traffic. Weather officials say they detected about 1,000 small quakes through Tuesday night, which were triggered by an unusually strong earthquake on Monday. The tremors are tied to the increasing movement of magma underground.

Islamic State warns it has sleeper cells in the West, raises the stakes with beheading of American

It seems clear that Islamic State is raising the stakes, aware that the gruesome death of an American and the image of another one at the mercy of an executioner who is taunting a US president could invite retaliation – heavier air strikes at least. But the United States and other Western powers may now be diverting their attention away from the Sunni insurgents innorthern Iraq to what they are capable of doing overseas. The group can draw on hundreds if not thousands of foreigners with Western passports that can keep them below the radar, like the British-sounding man who appeared to have killed Foley, to carry out its threats.

Harvard Researcher On Aging: There’s no ‘limit on the human lifespan’

But one researcher from Harvard Medical School, David Sinclair, believes the secret to stopping the aging process is closer than we think. “I wouldn’t begin to put a limit on the human lifespan,” he says. Sinclair has spent the past 20 years looking for ways to help people live longer, healthier lives.

UK Police: Merely Watching James Foley Beheading Video May Be an Act of Terrorism

British police have warned the public that merely watching the James Foley beheading video may be a criminal offense under terrorism legislation, a draconian escalation that threatens to create an ominous pretext for the free flow of information on the Internet. After the video emerged, which purports to show an ISIS militant with a British accent beheading American journalist James Foley, the Guardian reported that Scotland Yard had launched a full investigation. “Scotland Yard warned the public that viewing, downloading or disseminating the video within the UK might constitute a criminal offence under terrorism legislation,” states the report.

U.S. Ebola patients released, officials declare they pose no public risk

Two American aid workers who contracted Ebola while working in West Africa have been released from the hospital. Doctors say the former patients are no longer contagious, posing no threat to others. Kent Brantly, a physician with the humanitarian group Samaritan’s Purse, was discharged from Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital on Thursday.

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