Syrian Rebel Leader Defects to Al-Qaeda,

Reports since yesterday indicate that a U.S.-trained Syrian rebel leader has deceived his American handlers and has defected to Jabhat al-Nusra — the official al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria.

This report comes just days after a senior U.S. military commander told Congress that only 4 to 5 U.S.-trained Syrian fighters are effectively engaged against ISIS as a result of a $500 million program pushed through by GOP congressional leadership a year ago. Since July 2014, I have repeatedly covered the frequent defections of “vetted moderate” Syrian rebel groups to al-Qaeda and ISIS here at PJ Media.

Late yesterday, the reports that Atareb rebel commander Anas Obaid had defected to Jabhat al-Nusra and turned over his weapons began to emerge:

Military Claims Control Of Burkina Faso Government

Burkina Faso's presidential guard claim they have "dissolved" the country's political institutions and set up a "national democratic council" to end the "deviant regime" in the West African state.

Lieutenant-Colonel Mamadou Bamba appeared on national television to declare that the military has seized the country's president and government leaders and controls the country.

Interim parliament speaker Cheriff Sy told French radio station RFI that what was happening was "clearly a coup" and called on the people to "immediately rise up",.

Gunfire has been reported on the streets of the capital Ouagadougou.

The coup comes just weeks before national elections.

The transitional government came to power after Blaise Campaore was overthrown after 27 years as leader towards the end of last year in a public uprising.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for the immediate release of President Michel Kafando, Prime Minister Isaac Zida and two other ministers.

US: Barack Obama invites detained Muslim teenager to take his clock to the White House

President Barack Obama has voiced his support for the 14-year-old Muslim teenager arrested by police after taking a homemade clock to school.

As reports said police from Irving, Texas, had decided they would not charge Ahmed Mohamed with making a hoax bomb - as his family had been told they might - Mr Obama invited the teenager to take his clock to the White House.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also voiced his support for the schoolboy. Engineers from Google, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NASA also offered their support and a tour of their facilities.

"Having the skill and ambition to build something cool should lead to applause, not arrest. The future belongs to people like Ahmed," Mr Zuckerberg wrote on his own page.

The teenager told The Independent that he had lost hisinnocence after being detained by police and that he had been made to feel like a criminal. “I like science, but I look like a threat because of my brown skin," he said.

As outcry over his arrest grew, people voiced their support for the youngster on twitter using the hashtag #IStandWithAhmed

The White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, told reporters that Ahmed had been invited to its astronomy night next month with NASA astronauts and other young people.

"In this instance, it's clear that at least some of Ahmed's teachers failed him. That's too bad,"

Ahmed Mohamed Was Arrested For Taking His Homemade Clock To School In Texas

Ahmed Mohamed’s “reward” for bringing a homemade clock to school was to be placed in handcuffs, dispatched to a juvenile detention centre and have it made clear to him that the ticking device might be something much more sinister.

Indeed, it was suggested he was carrying a bomb and police have reportedly told him he might be charged with making a hoax explosive device.

“I have lost my innocence. I can never look at the world in the same way,” the teenager – currently suspended from school - told The Independent.

“I like science, but I look like a threat because of my brown skin.”

The 14-year-old said he had assembled the clock from a piece of circuit board and other things he had found in father’s garage. It had taken him just 10 or 15 minutes.

He said that when he showed it to his engineering teacher at MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas, he was advised not to show it to anyone else in case they got the wrong impression. “He told me it looked like a bomb,” he said.

The youngster said he ignored the teacher’s warning and did indeed show it to another teacher. “She said it looked a bomb, and called the police.”

The teenager said he was taken away in handcuffs and in the absence of his mother or father. “They took me there without my parents. They made me feel like a criminal,” he said.

The boy’s father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, said the first he learned of the controversy was when he received a call from the Irving Police Department saying “my son had been arrested for making a bomb”.

“My son is very upset, very shocked,” he said. “He wants to be like Einstein. He has so many ideas. He does not have an evil bone in him.”

He said he believed his son had been targeted because of his name, his religion and his colour.

“I think it is because of Islamophobia and the [impact] of 9/11,” he said. Asked if be believed his son would have been detained for the clock had he not been Muslim, he said: “No”.

Mr Mohamed moved to the US from Sudan and has twicereturned to his country to contest the presidency as a candidate for the National Reform Party.

He also made national headlines in the US four years ago when he agreed to debate the Koran with the controversial Florida pastor, a somewhat bizarre event which ended with him with the Muslim holy book being burned.

“When I go and campaign in the Sudan I talk about the US as example of fairness and justice,” he said. “But this shows we still have problems.”

Mr Mohamed said he planned to talk to a lawyer and was considering taking legal action over the incident, which was firstreported by the Dallas Morning News.

On Wednesday, Irving Police Chief Larry Boyd said at a news conference that while the clock the youngster bought had looked "suspicious in nature", he considered the case closed.

"We live in an age where you can't take things like that to school," he said.

School district spokeswoman, Lesley Weaver, defended the school’s decision to arrest the boy. “We will always take necessary precautions to protect our students and to keep our school community as safe as possible,” she said.

This spring, the city council endorsed one of several bills under discussion in the Texas Legislature that would forbid judges from rulings based on "foreign laws", legislation opponents view as unnecessary and driven by anti-Muslim sentiment.

The city's mayor, Beth Van Duyne, was given a "freedom award" from a conservative group for her so-called stance against Sharia law. On Wednesday, Ms Van Duyne also defended the school's actions.

Mr Mohamed said despite what had happened, his son had not been put off from his wish to become an inventor. He said he more than 20 inventions.

He said he had told his son: “When you are trying to be good, sometimes other things can hinder you.”

Ahmed said he was also determined not to let what happened get in his way. “I am going to carry on,” he said. “I cannot let them stop me.”

REFUGEE CRISIS TIMELINE: HOW THE CRISIS HAS GROWN

The refugees eventually managed to wrench open a gate on the border of Hungary and Serbia, leaving only a thin metal grating standing between ranks of riot police and a mass of asylum-seekers from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond.

Before long, Hungarian riot police pepper-sprayed the refugees’ faces and the air was thick with tear gas as tensions finally boiled over.

Serbian doctors said two people had been seriously hurt and between 200 and 300 had sought medical help for cuts, bruises, burns and eye problems caused by tear gas. Hungary said it had detained 29 people and described one of them as an “identified terrorist”. Officials said 20 police officers had been injured.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary General, said: “I was shocked to see how these refugees and migrants were treated, it’s not acceptable.”

In an apparent criticism of the response of Hungary’s virulently anti-immigration Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, Mr Ban added: “All the countries have their domestic problems, but since these people are fleeing wars and persecution, then we must show our compassionate leadership.

“First and foremost we have to provide life-saving assistance and shelter and… sanitation, then we can discuss how they should be treated, accommodated. They must be treated with human dignity and human rights. That’s my consistent message to European and Asian leaders.”

In the middle of tense negotiations between the refugees and Hungarian police, Mohammed Hamou held a loudspeaker and tried to reason with the ranks of glowering police clutching gas canisters. “Please, we talk with you in a nice way,” he said. “Just open the door. We don’t want to fight with you. You are our brothers.”

Cries of “please” rippled through the crowd. A boy shouted at one policeman: “Do you speak English?” The policeman opened his mouth, about to reply, before shutting it again. An old man clasped his hands together, waving them at another officer who looked him in the eye and gave a brief nod. A cuddly toy bear thrown from behind the crowd landed at the feet of the sturdy policeman and was kicked quickly into the undergrowth.

Ahmad, 40, from Idlib, exhausted after imploring the Hungarian forces to grant them free passage, leaned on the metal fence. He told The Independent: “We want to come in a peaceful way but these people will be hard to control. We already died once in our country, we don’t want to die again. If they saw Syria they would open the whole country for us. We want to know freedom.”

Another self-appointed leader of the crowd, Ali Efte Khari, a political science student from Bamyan in Afghanistan, was similarly adamant. “My family has been living as refugees in Iran,” he said. “My people cannot go back home, and we cannot go back from here either.”

Until a few weeks ago, Walid, a travel agent also from Idlib, had been working in Turkey but found the working conditions intolerable. On 2 September he was travelling to the Turkish port of Bodrum to arrange a boat to smuggle him to Greece but then the photo of three-year-old Aylan al-Kurdi lying lifeless on the beach was beamed around the world and all the boats stopped. “I had to work in the black market,” he said. “I don’t want to impose on Europe but I cannot return to Syria.”

As Walid spoke some men at the front line began to squabble between themselves as a few began to rattle the gate violently. A gas canister fired from the Hungarian police sailed into the crowd scattering everyone. Children wandered through the mist screaming and choking. The air was filled with the sound of spluttering and spitting, while people doused their eyes with water. Many vomited where they stood.

What had begun as an ultimately doomed hope that Hungary would allow the refugees to pass became a scene of turbulent aggression. Young men pulled up their shirts around their mouths and sprinted towards the border picking up rocks and bottles and hurled them at the police. For the next hour, tear gas rained down from the sky, burning the skin and temporarily blinding onlookers. Pellets of tear gas were landing 100 metres into Serbian territory as Hungarian police helicopters buzzed overhead.

Police were beaten back 50 metres, giving the mistaken belief to refugees that the border was open. Families rushed forward clutching children and luggage, only for the Hungarians to launch a new charge against them.

Batons rained down on men, women, children and all other onlookers as the police officers’ tension exploded. The street was full of walking wounded, some bleeding from gashes in the head. Some were arrested.

Some refugees panicked, believing that their family had been snatched by the police. Further down the road, refugees sat on the asphalt, panting and drinking water. Some who had not taken part were heard muttering “Croatia” and “Slovenia” – the only countries that can now be open for them.

Security Forces Accidentally Kill 12 In Egypt

Egyptian security forces killed 12 Mexicans and Egyptians and injured 10 "by accident" on Monday, mistaking a tourist convoy for militants they were chasing in the country's western desert, the ministry of interior said.

At least two Mexicans were killed, Mexico's foreign ministry said in a statement.

A joint force from the Egyptian police and military was chasing militants in the country's vast western desert, which borders Libya, when it inadvertently opened fire on the convoy.

The convoy was made up of four four-wheel drive vehicles, the Egyptian interior ministry said in a statement, and there will be an investigation into how and why the tourists entered an off-limits area.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto condemned the attack on his Twitter account, describing it as a tragic incident and demanding a full investigation.

"Mexico condemns these deeds against our citizens and has demanded an exhaustive investigation of what has occurred," he tweeted.

Egypt's tourism ministry spokesman told state news agency MENA the convoy was at an off-limits site and was using unlicensed cars. The convoy was taking part in an unapproved safari, he said.

Mexican ambassador Jorge Alvarez met with five Mexicans who were in stable condition in hospital, Mexico's foreign ministry said.

The Mexican ministry said an "undetermined" number of its country's nationals had been attacked and that it was in the process of identifying the two who had been killed.

Egypt is battling an insurgency that gained pace after the military ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in mid-2013 after mass protests against his rule.

The insurgency, mounted by Islamic State's Egyptian affiliate, has killed hundreds of soldiers and police and has started to attack Western targets.

Earlier on Sunday Islamic State released a statement carried by its supporters on Twitter saying it had repelled an attack by the Egyptian military in the western desert.

While the insurgency has been largely based in the Sinai Peninsula, attacks have taken place in Cairo and other cities. In August, an Egyptian military aircraft crashed in the western desert near the Libyan border while on a mission against Islamist militants, killing four people.

Security officials say militants operating from Libya to the west of Egypt have been trying to forge ties with Islamists in the Sinai on the east side of the country.

Egyptian jets bombed Islamic State targets in Libya in February, a day after the group there released a video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians, drawing Cairo directly into factional conflict across its border.

Migrants Battle Fear, Hunger, Rain And elements In Greece

As if fear, hunger, thirst, worry and exhaustion were not enough to endure, new trials emerged Thursday for those on the 1,000 mile-plus trek into Europe: torrential rains and thick mud.

About 7,000 refugees and migrants, including many families lugging young children, braved relentless downpours Thursday to cross Greece's northern border into Macedonia in what Greek police said was the largest single wave they had seen so far.

At the northern village of Idomeni, crowds gathered before dawn, using anything they could find — plastic sheeting, garbage bags, hooded jackets, even a beach umbrella — in a futile attempt to stay dry. Sneakers stuck in the mud. Rain dripped off hoods and caps. All were soaked to the skin.

Parents held their children aloft in the rain, to make sure the Macedonian police would see them and let them through checkpoints. Other mud-splattered children dragged luggage and stumbled into rain-filled potholes, climbing out crying.

By early afternoon, all had crossed but thousands more were on their way, heading to the Greek mainland in ferries.

The surge came after Greek authorities managed to register about 17,000 people on the eastern island of Lesbos in just a few days, speeding their trip north. Greece's caretaker government chartered two extra ferries and sent additional registration staff to Lesbos to ease overcrowding on the Aegean island, where more than 20,000 refugees and migrants had been living in precarious conditions after arriving on dinghies from the nearby Turkish coast.

Greece, Italy and Hungary have been overwhelmed this year — and especially this summer — by a flood of refugees and migrants seeking safety in Europe. The vast majority of those arriving in Greece are Syrians fleeing their country's vicious civil war, followed by Afghans.

In Brussels, the 28-nation European Union is seeking backing for plans to distribute 200,000 people among its members, but is meeting fierce resistance from some nations. Most of those heading north hope to settle in wealthier EU nations like Germany or Sweden.

At Idomeni, about 4,000 stood in a muddy field early Thursday, waiting for Macedonian police to let them across. Thousands more sought shelter under tents pitched in fields or headed to the Idomeni train station, where they huddled around fires to stay warm. The train station's cafe was converted into a shelter for women and children, some of whom were running fevers.

Macedonian police formed a human chain on the border to limit the flow of refugees into more manageable groups, letting families with young children cross first. Occasionally they used batons and shields to push back migrants attempting to rush through ahead of their turn.

For some, the chaos, the cold and the rain were unbearable. One Iraqi man was asking anyone he could find how he could return home. He wanted to fly back to Iraq, he said, he couldn't bear the conditions any more to reach Europe.

Abas Jizi, a 30-year-old supermarket employee from Deir ez-Zor in Syria, huddled around a fire with his wife and three children at the Idomeni train station, cradling his 1-year-old son.

"I was hit by the police" in Lesbos, he said. "The situation was very bad. We waited for 10 days to get our papers. We got to Athens yesterday and we set off straight away for here."

He had no choice but to leave Syria, he said. "In my country the situation is very bad. The helicopters fly over the city and they bomb."

Jizi is aiming to get his family to Denmark. "I don't have anyone there but I believe I can rebuild my life."

Waseem Absi, a 30-year-old from Ariha in northern Syria, was aiming to reach the Netherlands and rejoin other family members there. He had heard of problems further up the route in Hungary, where the migrants have faced a hostile reception, but was undaunted.

"I'm not going to be afraid of anything," he said as he trudged through the mud with four friends, carrying an open tent to keep off the worst of the rain.

Absi reached Lesbos after spending 20 days in Turkey.

"The conditions were terrible, but there were more than 10,000 people. It wasn't the Greek police's fault, they couldn't do anything with such a crowd," he said.

He said he tried to bribe Greek police to get his registration papers faster, but no one would take the money. He did see other people hawking registration papers for 100 euros ($112) each.

"They were fake, they were just photocopies," he said. "Of course I didn't take one."