If you've been listening to various police agencies and their supporters, then you know what the future holds: anarchy is coming -- and it's all the fault of activists.

In May, a Wall Street Journal op-ed warned of a "new nationwide crime wave" thanks to "intense agitation against American police departments" over the previous year. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie went further. Talking recently with the host of CBS's Face the Nation, the Republican presidential hopeful asserted that the Black Lives Matter movement wasn't about reform but something far more sinister. "They've been chanting in the streets for the murder of police officers," he insisted. Even the nation's top cop, FBI Director James Comey, weighed in at the University of Chicago Law School, speaking of "a chill wind that has blown through American law enforcement over the last year."

According to these figures and others like them, lawlessness has been sweeping the nation as the so-called Ferguson effect spreads. Criminals have been emboldened as police officers are forced to think twice about doing their jobs for fear of the infamy of starring in the next viral video. The police have supposedly become the targets of assassins intoxicated by "anti-cop rhetoric," just as departments are being stripped of the kind of high-powered equipment they need to protect officers and communities. Even their funding streams have, it's claimed, come under attack as anti-cop bias has infected Washington, D.C. Senator Ted Cruz caught the spirit of that critique by convening a Senate subcommittee hearing to which he gave the title, "The War on Police: How the Federal Government Undermines State and Local Law Enforcement." According to him, the federal government, including the president and attorney general, has been vilifying the police, who are now being treated as if they, not the criminals, were the enemy.

Beyond the storm of commentary and criticism, however, quite a different reality presents itself. In the simplest terms, there is no war on the police. Violent attacks against police officers remain at historic lows, even though approximately 1,000 people have been killed by the police this year nationwide. In just the past few weeks, videos have been released of problematic fatal police shootings in San Francisco and Chicago.

Three explosions shook the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, near key ministries, embassies and residences, officials have told local media. The attack comes a week after a suicide bombing in the area, and amidst a surge in Taliban violence.

Local police told Reuters one of the missiles hit Massoud Square, adjacent to the well-fortified US embassy, and another landed in Shirpur Square, close to the sprawling presidential complex. A third rocket detonated further away from the heart of the city.

A Taliban suicide bomber has killed six NATO troops at the Bagram base outside Kabul. The militant group has also conducting a broad offensive in the Helmand province, in south-eastern Afghanistan.

The attacks targeting foreign troops happened in a village near the Bagram airbase. A suicide bomber on a motorbike approached a joint US-Afghan patrol and set off an explosive device. Local authorities and NATO confirmed that six of its troops were killed, with six more wounded, including several local policemen.

NATO says at least some of the victims were Americans, but in accordance with its usual policy, will not provide a detailed breakdown of the nationalities of the victims.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which coincides with a major insurgency push in Helmand Province. Over 90 security troops have been killed over the past two days as the militants threaten to take over the volatile southern province, according to deputy governor Mohammad Jan Rasulyar

Brent crude prices have fallen close to $36 per barrel, their lowest level since 2004. This comes on worries of global oversupply as Washington lifts the ban on oil exports and US oil reserves reach an 85-year high.

As of 3:00 p.m. GMT Monday, Brent blend was trading at $36.04 a barrel, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was at $34.00.

On Thursday, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said that the current US oil inventories stand at 490.7 million barrels, while refineries operated at 92 percent of their capacity in the week ending December 11.

Oil was dealt a double blow Friday, when US President Barack Obama signed a bill to lift the US export ban. The ban was established during the US oil shortages in the 1970s, as part of a bigger deal that included tax breaks for renewable-energy companies and refiners.

Everything is known of the everyday indignities of living under the Israeli occupation: the checkpoints, the separation wall, the embargo, the settlers, the IDF raids...

Much has been written about individual acts of violence and inconvenience. The fundamental immobility of the Palestinians is not often underlined. Palestinians in Gaza are cut off from this in the West Bank, who are themselves not allowed into Israel proper. The seminars I attend rely upon Skype to link intellectuals, whose academic freedom is violated systematically by Israel. Gaza is in a spectacular form of isolation. But the West Bank is also caged in.

The list of indignities when listed again and again attain the status of making the occupation eternal. The Palestinian comes across as victim. The Israeli as powerful and the victor. This is the myth of the IDF and Mossad:: that they are invincible and legendary. Each retelling affirms the Israeli project. The Palestinian movement is tossed into purgatory.

Nothing is further from the truth.

Rescuers pulled five bodies from the wreckage of a small plane that crashed into an orchard in central California after vanishing from radar, local and federal authorities said Sunday.

The Federal Aviation Administration was looking for what caused the crash that killed five people, Kern County sheriff's Sgt. Mark King said. He expected the names of the victims to be released Monday.

Air traffic controllers lost contact with the single-engine Piper PA32 around 4 p.m. Saturday as it headed from Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose to Henderson Executive Airport in a Las Vegas suburb, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said.

The plane sent a mayday call. Searchers spotted the wreckage southwest of Bakersfield about three hours after receiving an alert from the FAA about a missing plane that was last detected an estimated 10 miles south of the city, the Kern County sheriff's office said

A T-50 Golden Eagle fighter jet, similar to those recently delivered to the Philippine Air Force (PAF), crashed in Indonesia killing two pilots, local media reported.

Video circulating on social media showed a fighter plane performing manoeuvres in the skies above Yogyakarta before spiralling toward the ground at speed and disappearing from view.

Seconds later a thick, dark plume of smoke rose beyond the horizon, as people in the video can be heard screaming.

Indonesian air force spokesman Dwi Badarmanto confirmed a T-50 Golden Eagle fighter plane had crashed during a demonstration.

"Two pilots died," he told news website Detik.

At least one person has been killed and 11 injured when a powerful gas blast rocked a residential building in the southern Russian city of Volgograd, the Emergencies Ministry said, adding that at least four people may be trapped in the rubble.

Those injured have been taken to hospitals in Volgograd following the incident, the Health Ministry said.

The blast occurred at around 11:50 MSK (0850 GMT) Sunday on the seventh floor of an apartment block on Cosmonauts Street, Russia's Emergency Ministry said. At least 38 apartments were destroyed in the blast.

Parliament wasted 45,000 meals last year as tens of thousands of children go hungry across London, an MP has said.

New figures that reveal the staggering amount of food waste in the British parliament have prompted calls for MPs to donate their unused meals to those in need.

Shadow Commons Leader Chris Bryant called on the government to give uneaten meals to local food banks in the capital.


"Last year 1.2 million sausages were sent to landfill in Rhondda Cynon Taf alone, which is why it is great that the local council is now signing everybody up to proper food recycling," the Welsh Labour MP said.

"But new figures show that this House last year wasted 45,000 meals that were just tipped in the bin.

Police in Lakeview, Texas are routinely conducting traffic stops without probable cause that a violation has occurred - and have packaged these unlawful detentions in a way that has earned media approval.

The pretext offered by the department is its "Doing it Right Safe Driving Campaign," through which officers who lurk in the shadows like rapists stop drivers who appear to be following all of the rules are stopped and then given Starbucks gift certificates - but only if a scan of the driver's license and registration reveals no outstanding warrants or violations. The confused and anxious motorists are not told the purpose of the traffic stop until the officer returns with the surprise gift - which is actually a species of Trojan Horse that permits the officer to sneak a peek at the driver's record without a legally valid reason.

"Recently, we've seen a lot of negative things about the police," explained Lakeview Police Chief David Hotchkiss to the Baxter Bulletin newspaper. "I just wanted to do something that let the community see us doing something good and let us look for drivers doing good things."

The idea earned the approval of Lakeview mayor Dennis Behling and the City Council, and attracted the interest of local citizens who donated the money to buy gift certificates ranging in price from $15 to $25 dollars apiece.

According to Chief Hotchkiss, the "Doing it Right" initiative offers "an opportunity to interact with people for a positive reason. For the community, it allowed them to interact with us when there was nothing wrong and we were giving them a gift. That allowed us to start relationships on a positive note and that's great." The Chief expressed satisfaction over "looking for someone doing something right."

If this were the case, of course, police who stopped drivers for the supposed purpose of commending them for their careful and responsible conduct would not be reviewing their records in search of something "wrong."