CIA director says Islamic State group has used, can make chemical weapons

 CIA director John Brennan has said that Islamic State fighters have used chemical weapons and have the capability to make small quantities of chlorine and mustard gas, CBS News reported Thursday.

"We have a number of instances where ISIL has used chemical munitions on the battlefield," Brennan told CBS News, which released excerpts of an interview to air in full on the "60 Minutes" news program on Sunday.

The network added that he told "60 Minutes" the CIA believes that the IS group has the ability to make small amounts of mustard or chlorine gas for weapons.

"There are reports that ISIS has access to chemical precursors and munitions that they can use," Brennan said.

Brennan also warned of the possibility that the Islamic State group could seek to export the weapons to the West for financial gain.

Nigerian Suicide Bomber Gets Cold Feet, Refuses To Kill

Strapped with a booby-trapped vest and sent by Boko Haram to kill as many people as possible, the young teenage girl tore off the explosives and fled as soon as she was out of sight of her handlers.

Her two companions, however, completed their grisly mission and walked into a crowd of hundreds at Dikwa refugee camp in northeast Nigeria and blew themselves up, killing 58 people.

Later found by local self-defense forces, the girl's tearful account is one of the first indications that at least some of the child bombers used by Boko Haram are aware that they are about to die and kill others.

"She said she was scared because she knew she would kill people, but she was also frightened of going against the instructions of the men who brought her to the camp," said Modu Awami, a self-defense fighter who helped question the girl.

Her story was corroborated when she led soldiers to the unexploded vest, Awami said Thursday by phone from the refugee camp, which holds 50,000 people who have fled Boko Haram's Islamic uprising.

Kremlin Critic Alexei Navalny Files Lawsuit Against Vladimir Putin

 Russian anti-corruption campaigner and opposition figure Alexei Navalny said on Thursday he had filed a lawsuit against Vladimir Putin after a company in which the Russian leader's son-in-law is a shareholder received $1.75 billion in state support.

The suit cited a Reuters investigation which reported that Putin's son-in-law, Kirill Shamalov, is a major shareholder in petrochemicals producer Sibur, which received $1.75 billion in funding from Russia's National Wealth Fund at an unusually low interest rate last year.

Navalny said Putin had violated Russian corruption laws by failing to declare a conflict of interest when he personally approved the financing. Navalny said he had filed the suit with the Tverskoi court, in Moscow.

In the suit, a copy of which was posted on his blog, Navalny asked the court to rule unlawful Putin's failure to act in preventing a conflict of interest.

It also asked the court to require Putin to recuse himself from any decisions about providing state funds for the Sibur project which benefited from the financing.

"Kirill Shamalov is the spouse of Putin's daughter. Putin giving money to a company where the beneficiary is his child's partner is a classic conflict of interest. Straight out of a textbook," Navalny wrote in a post on his blog.

Google Developing Virtual Reality Headset: Wall Street Journal

Google is developing a virtual reality headset that works without a smartphone or computer, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The headset will include a screen, high-powered processors and outward-facing cameras, the Journal reported, citing one person.

Alphabet Inc's Google currently sells a virtual reality device made of cardboard into which users slide in their mobile phones.

Since the launch in 2014, Google has shipped five million Google Cardboards.
The company declined to comment on the Journal report.

George W Bush To Make First Appearance For Brother Jeb Bush

Republican George W Bush on Monday will seek to give a fresh burst of enthusiasm to his brother Jeb Bush's White House bid in South Carolina, marking the former president's first appearance on the 2016 campaign trail.

George W Bush will appear with his younger brother at a rally in North Charleston, SC, early on Monday evening, the Jeb Bush campaign said on Thursday.

The 69-year-old former president is highly popular in the Republican Party and particularly among South Carolina Republicans, who supported his 2000 and 2004 races for president.

South Carolina has a sizable presence of US military facilities and military veterans who have supported the former commander-in-chief.

It will be the most public role George W Bush has taken to date in his brother's campaign. Jeb Bush brought his mother, Barbara Bush, on the campaign trail in New Hampshire last week.

George W Bush has headlined several private fundraisers for Jeb Bush and on Wednesday his voice was heard on a radio ad in South Carolina.

Francois Hollande Urges Russia To Stop Backing Bashar al-Assad

 French President Francois Hollande on Thursday called on Russia to stop harming civilians in Syria and reiterated calls for President Bashar al-Assad to leave power.

"I ask that the Russian actions stop because we have thousands of people displaced by the bombardments," Hollande said in a televised interview after a cabinet reshuffle in France. "We have to ensure that Bashar al-Assad leaves power."

He said that Assad was massacring his people, helped by Moscow. Hollande praised his new Foreign Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, as an experienced former prime minister suited to take over France's work in Syria, replacing Laurent Fabius.
 

3 Dead In Venezuela After Contracting Zika: President Nicolas Maduro

Three people have died in Venezuela from complications linked to Zika, President Nicolas Maduro said on Thursday -- the first fatalities reported in the country in connection with the mosquito-borne virus.

Speaking on national television, Maduro said there were 319 confirmed cases of the virus in the South American country, adding: "Unfortunately we have had three deaths from Zika nationwide."

Maduro said 68 patients with complications "have been in intensive care," adding that the country had the necessary drugs to treat them.

Without providing any details, Maduro said that 5,221 suspected cases of Zika had been reported from November 5 until February 8.

Maduro's comments came as other South American countries are boosting efforts to contain the virus, which is thought to cause brain damage in babies.

The vast majority of Zika cases are mild but it has been linked to a rapid rise in the number of children born with microcephaly -- abnormally small heads and brains -- to mothers infected during pregnancy.

On January 28, Venezuelan Health Minister Luisana Melo said the country had recorded 4,700 suspected cases.

It was the first such toll from the government in the South American country of 30 million people, which is struggling with an economic and political crisis.

She added that Venezuela had also recorded 255 cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurological disorder that can cause paralysis or even death.

Doctors have warned that acute shortages of medicine and poor access to water -- which has led locals to store water in open containers thereby creating breeding grounds for mosquitoes -- threaten to exacerbate the outbreak of the virus.