Coping with the terrorist threat and assisting refugees is only possible by combined efforts, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during an informal meeting of the leaders of the BRICS countries, which is running on the margins of the G20 summit in Antalya. "We all understand perfectly well that coping with the terrorist threat and helping millions of people who have lost their homes, is possible only by combining the efforts of the entire world community," Putin said.

"As for the threat of terrorism, we have all seen the horror that took place in Paris. We sympathize with the people affected," the Russian president added. "We always stand for joining efforts to effectively deal with the terrorist threat."

British prime minister says the EU must agree to "irreversible changes" that would redefine Britain's relationship with the bloc and limit freedom of movement by allowing the UK to restrict benefits for migrants from other member states. David Cameron outlined his demands on Tuesday in a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk.

The UK is set to hold a referendum by the end of 2017 on whether to leave the 28-nation EU. Cameron says he wants to stay in, provided he can secure greater autonomy for the UK.

Cameron said the UK wants change in four areas, including protection for countries such as Britain that don't use the euro single currency, less red tape and greater power for national parliaments to opt out of rules made by the Brussels-based EU.


"We are a proud, independent nation. We intend to stay that way," Cameron said. He went on adding that Britain wanted a "clear, legally binding and irreversible" exemption from the EU's commitment to an ever-closer union.

He also said that Britain wants to bar EU migrants from receiving tax credits and other benefits paid to working people during their first four years in Britain. That is likely to face opposition by some EU leaders, who see free movement of labor, as well as of goods, as a cornerstone of the bloc. "We don't want to destroy that principle... But freedom of movement has never been an unqualified right," he said.

Eerily reminiscent of the simultaneous military and first responder drills taking place during the 9/11 attacks and the London 7/7 bombings, it has emerged that a "multi-site attack exercise" was being carried out in Paris on the same day as the multiple coordinated terror attacks.

Patrick Pelloux, a physician and chairman of a French trade union for EMT personnel, reported in an interview with Radio France the day after the attacks that "as luck would have it, a multi-site attack exercise had been planned [for the morning of Friday 13th], so [Paris EMT personnel] were prepared."


Translated transcript:

"As luck would have it, in the morning at the Paris SAMU (EMT), a multi-site attack exercise had been planned. So we were prepared. What needs to be known is there was a mobilisation of police forces, firemen, EMTs, associations who came [to participate] and we tried to save as many people as possible."

Original French transcript:

"Le hasard a fait, pour vous dire, c'est que le matin au SAMU de Paris, avait été organisé un exercice sur des attentats multisites. Donc on était préparés. Donc ce qu'il faut voir c'est que vous aviez une mobilisation des forces de police, des pompiers, des SAMU, des associatifs qui sont venus et on a essayé de sauver le plus de monde possible."

Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to pay an official one-day visit to Iran later this month, the Kremlin says.

President Putin will set off for Tehran on November 23 to attend a meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), the Kremlin's top foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov told journalists on Friday. He added that the Russian president - who last visited Iran in 2007 - will likely hold talks with senior Iranian officials.

"It is entirely logical that some bilateral contacts are envisioned, including with the hosts," Ushakov said. He, however, added that the schedule of President Putin's meetings has not been finalized yet.

Meanwhile, Putin on Friday held a telephone conversation with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani and discussed Tehran-Moscow relations. The Iranian and Russian presidents agreed to continue dialog during Putin's visit to Tehran for the GECF meeting.

Iran and Russia seek to step up economic cooperation after Tehran and the P5+1 group, including Russia, reached a nuclear agreement in the Austrian capital of Vienna on July 14. Moscow is also keen to use its long-standing relations with Tehran to win lucrative contracts in the energy sector.

The GECF has 18 main and observer members and its permanent secretariat is located in Qatar's capital city, Doha.
Iran, Russia, Qatar, Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Peru, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman are main members of GECF. GECF members account for 42 percent of global gas output, 70 percent of global gas reserves, 40 percent of pipe gas transmission, and 65 percent of global trade of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

"It's so shocking. When Charlie Hebdo happened, it was a specific, targeted attack. But this time it's terrifying because it is just random, innocent people going about their lives. I know a lot of people in Paris - there is panic and disorder here, no one can understand what's going on. We are all in a state of complete shock."

So said Quentin, 27, who works for an online company in Paris, and whose oldest friend was shot multiple times at the Bataclan concert hall.

Terrorist attacks like these are never "random", at least not in the sense that they have no point. If they appear random, then that is undoubtedly part of the strategy that drives them. Governments and groups use terrorism to achieve a specific goal, so there is always a point. To understand what the point is, you just have to know who is really responsible.

We've already been told that "ISIS" has claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks, a claim partly backed up by the convenient discovery of a Syrian passport on the body of one of the "suicide bombers" (why do these terrorists always carry ID on their suicide missions?). But given that most ISIS terrorists in Syria are foreign mercenaries, this isn't really evidence of anything, except perhaps that some ISIS terrorists were hidden among the Syrian refugees that transited through Greece this summer.

We're told that ISIS aims to establish a caliphate over as much of the Levant as possible. But achieving that aim necessarily involves the removal of the Assad government, which Western powers have been lobbying for for several years. Over the past 4 years of the "Syrian revolution", and until about 6 weeks ago, the group had gone a long way toward attaining that goal, with the Syrian Arab Army seriously pressed and the Assad government's areas of control limited to small areas in and around Damascus. After 6 weeks of Russian airstrikes however, ISIS is now losing ground faster than a 3-legged donkey in a horse race, and their paymasters in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Washington DC can't seem to funnel enough money and weapons to them to make a difference.

On Friday night the unthinkable happened. An unprecedented act of terrorism stunned the French capital, and now the world awaits some clarity and stability in the wake of utter carnage. French President Francois Hollande has declared a national state of emergency. With the French military mobilized, it would seem "caution" should be the tone this morning.

Details of this horrific attack on citizens at France's Stade de France, where Germany and France were playing a football match, and additional reports of violence at other sites are still sketchy. What is known is that at least one suicide bomber attack, the automatic weapons assault on the Bataclan music hall, and other scattered acts of terrorism have brought the country to a standstill. So far, an unknown number of terrorists and conspirators have killed many dozens of innocent people, and have wounded countless others. The sound of sirens filled the night in Paris, and the city's hospitals could scarcely keep up. Paris' head of police, Michel Cadot told reporters 8 assailants had been shot dead by his officers, but no one yet knows how many accomplices those attackers had. Mr. Hollande beefed up security on France's borders, and the scene in Paris and across France is unprecedented.

Eric Draitser appears on Press TV (Nov. 13, 2015) in the hours after the terrorist attacks in Paris to provide his commentary on the latest developments, and what it means for Syria and the Western agenda in the Middle East. Draitser notes the importance of questioning the role of Western intelligence agencies and their documented collaboration with terrorists around the world. Draitser appears alongside author and journalist Pepe Escobar.

France will impose tighter controls on its borders ahead of next month's U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Friday.

France's move to "close its borders for several weeks," as Cazeneuve called it, does not mean that people cannot come into France from other European countries during this period. Rather they can enter the country after being subjected to stricter border control measures.

The interior minister explained the action in the "context of a terrorist threat or risk of disruption to public order."

The Schengen Area agreement mandates open borders around Europe for 26 European Union nations, but Cazeneuve told CNN affiliate BFMTV that France won't be violating the treaty because countries that have signed it can take such measures for "particular circumstances."

The more stringent border control measures aren't the first time a European country has temporarily suspended the Schengen treaty. In 2002, Italy did so ahead of a massive anti-war rally in the lead-up to the Iraq War.

There are 'some very serious concerns' regarding the 12-nation trade pact, Margaret Chan said.

Adding to the chorus of voices sounding alarm on the impacts of the pending TransPacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday that there were "some very serious concerns" regarding the 12-nation pact.

Speaking to a conference in Geneva, Margaret Chan mentioned concern "about interference by powerful economic operators," and said, "I have been hearing some serious concerns that the TransPacific Partnership, the biggest trade agreement ever, may adversely affect the market for generics and biosimilars and increase the cost of medicines."

Washington can't bear the thought of other powers rising and challenging its global hegemony, US author Stephen Lendman notes; how far will US neocons go to maintain dominance?

It seems that Washington is unable to reconcile itself with the thought that the so-called American Century is over now.

"Russia, China and the vast majority of other countries support a multi-polar world, nations working cooperatively with each other in peace for the betterment of all. Washington wants none of it, demands all other countries accept its dominance, obey its diktats, pay homage to the master of the universe — or else," Lendman writes in his latest piece for Global Research.