Obama vows United States 'will not be terrorized,' our news desk reports:
U.S. President Barack Obama has vowed federal investigators will uncover what motivated a married couple in California to shoot and kill 14 people.
"We are strong. And we are resilient. And we will not be terrorized," Obama said in his weekly address on December 5.
Tashfeen Malik and Syed Rizwan Farook were killed in a shoot-out with police after the December 2 attack during a holiday party at a social-services agency in San Bernardino, California.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the massacre as an "act of terrorism" after Malik was believed to have pledged allegiance to a leader of the militant group Islamic State.
"It is entirely possible that these two attackers were radicalized to commit this act of terror," Obama said. "And if so, it would underscore a threat we've been focused on for years -- the danger of people succumbing to violent extremist ideologies." (AP, Reuters)
Barring any major events, that concludes our live blogging for December 5. Check back here tomorrow for more of our ongoing coverage.
In the Daily Beast, Bobby Azarian writes about How Young Brains Get Radicalized:
According to peer-reviewed research, radicalization is made easier in brains that have impaired functioning in one of the main regions responsible for generating the ability to doubt. Specifically, scientists have found that damage to the brain area known as the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) may cause individuals to have a “doubt deficit”—a hindered ability to question, scrutinize, or be skeptical of new information.
In a 2012 study published in the journal Neuropsychology, researchers found that patients with damage to the vmPFC scored higher on measures of religious fundamentalism and authoritarianism compared to others.
Such qualities would make people with similar impairments, such as those with decreased or disrupted brain activation in the vmPFC, the perfect prey for ISIS recruiters. According to the authors of the study, “Individuals high in authoritarianism tend to easily submit to authority, are often aggressive in the name of authority, and tend to hold dogmatic beliefs without a reflexive critique.”
So the question is, who possesses poor brain circuitry in the prefrontal cortex that could produce doubt deficits? The unsettling answer: young people.
Germany Deporting Australian Who Fought Against Islamic State
Germany on December 6 reportedly was deporting an Australian man who joined a Kurdish militia group to fight against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.
Australia’s Foreign Ministry has confirmed that Ashley Dyball was being deported after he was detained in Germany during a break from fighting as part of a Kurdish group known as YPG.
Dyball, who also uses the alias Mitchell Scott, posted on Facebook on December 4 that he had been charged as a terrorist and was being sent to the Eisenhuettenstadt Detention Center near Germany’s border with Poland.
The Brisbane man has been fighting against IS militants since early 2015.
Two other Australians have been killed during 2015 while fighting alongside troops from the YPG.
It is not immediately clear whether Dyball would be subject to penalties under Australian laws designed to punish people who joined the IS rather than those who have fought against the militant extremists.
Based on reporting by Retuers, AP, and AFP
Police Treating London Knife Attack As 'Terrorism'
Three people were injured in London by a man wielding a knife who reportedly screamed "This is for Syria!" as he attacked.
Police detained the suspect in the December 5 incident, which occurred in a subway station in east London.
A police official said it is being treated as "a terrorist incident."
One of the victims was reportedly seriously injured, while the other two reportedly sustained minor wounds.
The United Kingdom on December 3 began carrying out air strikes against suspected Islamic State targets in Syria.
Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters
Obama To Speak From White House On Terrorism Threat
By RFE/RL
U.S. President Barack Obama plans to make a rare primetime television speech to the country on December 6 about how he will keep Americans safe and defeat Islamic State (IS) militants -- just days after 14 people were killed in a California mass shooting.
Speaking from the White House at 8 p.m. local time, Obama will try to reassure Americans in the wake of the shooting, which is being investigated by the FBI as a possible act of terrorism.
Obama’s speech comes a day after the IS praised the couple behind the mass shooting in San Bernardino as its “soldiers,” and after Obama on December 5 said the United States “will not be terrorized.”
Investigators are collecting evidence on the background of 28-year-old Syed Farook and his 29-year-old Pakistani wife Tashfeen Malik.
Both were killed after opening fire on December 2 at a social services center.
With reporting by AP and Reuters
IS Claims Blast That Kills Governor Of Yemen's Aden Province
Islamic State militants have claimed responsibility for an explosion that killed the governor of Yemen’s southern province of Aden along with at least six of his bodyguards.
Yemeni security officials say Governor Gaafar Muhammad was traveling to his office on the morning of December 6 when the explosion struck his convoy in the Rimbaud area of the southern port city.
Pro-government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition drove Shi’ite Huthi rebels out of Aden earlier in 2015.
But IS militants and their allies in a local Al-Qaeda affiliate -- Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula -- have been exploiting the chaos of Yemen’s conflict to seize territory in the south and east of the country. Militants also have a growing presence in Aden.
On December 5, masked gunmen on motorcycles carried out separate attacks on vehicles in Aden, killing military intelligence Colonel Aqeel al-Khodr and Judge Mohsen Alwan.
Judge Alwa was known for sentencing Al-Qaeda militants.