Officials from Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced on Saturday that a plan has been drawn up to export natural gas to Turkey and thereon to Europe. The anticipated exports could start before the end of 2016, said Bewar Hansi, an economic adviser for the KRG.

"The government of Iraqi Kurdistan plans to deliver natural gas to Turkey by late 2016. The region will export annually 10 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe via Turkey. By early 2020, the supplies may be increased to 20 billion cubic meters," Hansi has been quoted as saying by Sputnik news agency.

He added that the natural gas reserves in the region are currently estimated at about 45 billion cubic meters. Other figures released by KRG show that the region holds as much as 5.7 trillion cubic meters of natural gas.

Hansi further said that the KRG plans to build a gas pipeline to Asia across Iran. Among other projects will be the construction of three new oil refineries to supply fuel to Kurdistan and throughout Iraq, he added.

According to BP, KRG oil reserves may be 45 billion barrels, a third of the entire Iraq reserves. In July, the regional authorities announced that they have begun exporting oil independently from the Iraqi government. Earlier in late November, reports emerged that the KRG and Turkey had reached a strategic agreement over the delivery of natural gas in 2017.

"Kurdish gas will reach Europe via Turkey. The Kurdish region can fill the gap created by Russia's gas cut-off to Europe," said Jawdat Shirko, the head of KRG Parliamentary Committee for Industry and Energy.

The bulk of future gas supplies to Turkey is expected to be provided from Sulaymaniyah region which is believed to hold 80 percent of KRG's total gas reserves.

Dear Readers,

2015 is about to end, and if you have been following SOTT closely, you will be aware that it has been one heck of a year! Even before the terrible event in San Bernardino, the whole world was awakening to the fact that things have changed drastically and dramatically since the Color Revolution was created by the US/NATO in Ukraine at the end of 2013. You might want to check this article to get a broad overview of things since the false flag chemical attack in Syria in 2013.

Many people are beginning to wake up and finally ask "What the heck is going on?" As our regular readers know, by paying attention to the truth behind events as they unfold on our planet, you begin to see the world more as it is rather than as you would like it to be. That knowledge can bring you a certain sense of liberation, where you finally understand what is wrong with our world. With that understanding, you can then begin to make the choices that will change your life for the better, despite the increasing chaos all around you. As we're fond of saying, 'knowledge protects'. And that is what we wish you for the incoming year: Knowledge and awareness, and hence protection.

Without accurate knowledge, there is no hope. We are collectively facing a world that is rapidly being polarized by propaganda and covert actions both by State powers and by those in opposition to those in power. With wealth and power concentrated in the hands of a small number of apparently pathological individuals, things can only get worse.

Too many people on our planet struggle daily to secure the basics for survival and too many people are having their lives stolen away from them by this same wealthy powerful elite. We should all never, ever forget that our governments are ruled by this 1%, and that their interests are not - absolutely not - those of the masses of humanity which includes you and me. The principle of valuing life everywhere cannot be trampled underfoot in a stampede of fear created by those who do not have our best interests at heart. The ruling classes not only lie to us daily, they seem to deceive themselves if they think that what they are creating is sustainable.

We should also tell you that those of us here at SOTT who daily monitor the news in order to bring together the most complete picture of the "State of the Planet" often find it difficult to keep going in the face of the apparent lack of hope. We are painfully aware of the struggle that must take place in order to right the wrongs and set things back on a positive footing; we are also aware that it will have to be a decision of the masses, not just 10% or 20% of the people. And that is why it is so important to continue to share knowledge. As conditions across all spheres of life continue to degrade, there will inevitably be more pain and suffering. With that, there will be more and more people who, having believed the chaos would never enter their lives, find that this is not the case: chaos is coming everywhere; and that makes it ever more important that we continue to fire the lighthouse for as long as we can.

Saying goodbye to the year 2015, we'd like to tell you a little bit about our accomplishments, since you may not be aware of them all. We have reason to be proud of our stamina and perseverance, and much more reason to be thankful for you, our readers and supporters, who make it all possible. Because, frankly, if we did not receive so many messages of thanks and support, we would have no hope either! There is always much more we can do, but this year, just as we thought our plates were too full, thanks to our readers' support, and the impetus from many new volunteers around the world, we have been expanding!

The parent of an eighth-grade Muslim student at Shiloh Middle School in Gwinnett County is angry after an incident in which a teacher asked his daughter if she was carrying a bomb in her backpack.

Abdirazik Aden, who was born in Somalia, said that on Monday, his 12-year-old daughter was going to class when a teacher stopped her and asked what she had in her bookbag.

He said his daughter told her books. The unidentified teacher responded by asking, her if she had a bomb in her bag?

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel faces increased pressure to resign, as local black religious leaders called Friday for a "no confidence vote" against him for the 2014 police shooting of a 17-year-old black teenager and systemic police problems.

Religious leaders, who demanded greater transparency for incidents involving the police, said they plan to collect petition signatures that could help force the mayor's ouster.

They called for a special prosecutor to investigate the death of Laquan McDonald, who was shot 16 times by white Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke.

The release of a police video of the shooting of McDonald and the Nov. 24 filing of a murder charge against Van Dyke came more than a year after McDonald's death. That delay was blamed on Emanuel and the top local prosecutor, and has prompted more than two weeks of protests in the nation's third-largest city.

A member of McDonald's family was expected to speak at a news conference at 11:15 a.m. local time (1215 ET).

A British soldier who had his leg blown off by a bomb while serving in Iraq has taken the internet by storm after his Facebook post attacking Islamophobia went viral.

Chris Herbert, who served in the British Army in Basra, Iraq, lost his right leg when a bomb went off next to his Land Rover in 2007.

One of his comrades, Private Luke Simpson, died in the attack, while two other soldiers were also injured.

Andrew Thomas, 26, made a deadly decision to get behind the wheel after he'd been drinking on Thanksgiving night. With his 23-year-old wife, Darien Ehorn in the passenger's seat, Thomas left the Canteena Bar and was immediately pursued by Paradise police officer Patrick Feaster.

In a pursuit that barely lasted a minute, Thomas loses control of his Toyota Four-Runner, hit the median and flipped over. Tragically, Ehorn was ejected from the vehicle and died on the scene.

Officer Feaster then gets out of his vehicle, gun drawn, and as Thomas attempts to get out of the vehicle, in a likely attempt to check on his wife, the cop shoots him in the neck.

Thomas posed absolutely no threat to the officer who was 10-20 feet away from Thomas when he fired. There was no possible way the department could spin the shooting into Feaster somehow fearing for his life. So, they did something entirely different.

They claimed it was an accident.

A 12-year-old's dreams came true when she received a puppy as a New Year's present from Russia's president, after having sent him a letter.

In the true holiday spirit, Olga Maruchshenko, from a small town in Siberia, got the present of a lifetime from Vladimir Putin. He wasn't there in person, but ordered the head of the Republic of Khakassia, where the girl lives with her family, to give Olga a husky puppy after reading the girl's letter.

"My mom knows that I wrote to you, but she doesn't believe that you will read my letter. Even so, I hope and I believe that you will read it," Olga wrote.

The family recently moved to Siberia from Kazakhstan and live on a tight budget, renting a flat.

Utility companies are having a heyday installing electric, natural gas and water AMI Smart Meters, which probably will help many of them—electric power companies, in particular—avoid building new power plants: they can brown-out high demand days or interrupt individual home usage if consumers use more power than utilities think we should—in addition to running up customer tabs for new Smart Meters every several years.

Recently, PASMA (Pennsylvania Smart Meter Awareness) issued two Press Releases days apart, which I think all utility consumers, regardless of where they live, ought to know about since the information deals with the probable unknown monetary side of Smart Meters, as discussed in "Consumers to Pay 'Through the Nose' for Smart Meters Every 6 to 7 Years," and the very scary issue of infrastructure security risks from hackers that Smart Meters pose, as laid out in "Smart Meters Are A Security Risk to the Nation's Power Supply," which tells how a member of the U.S. Congress, who is an electrician, is calling for new and greater scrutiny of Smart Meters "to examine whether they compromise the Nation's energy infrastructure."

According to a US survey, 21 percent of Americans believe that they won't be able to pay off their debts in their lifetime.

A survey of adults in the US has found that 21 percent of people with debts believe they won't be able to pay them off in their lifetime, a proportion which rises to 24 percent of those aged 50 to 64, and 35 percent of those aged 65 and older.

"According to the poll, 21 percent of those with debt predict they will never be rid of it. That's up from 18 percent in 2014 and 9 percent in 2013 who said their debt heading into the holiday season seemed insurmountable," reported Consumer website Creditcards.com, which carried out the survey.

Former Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw was just found guilty of rape and sexual battery on Thursday. Now, his sentence has been handed down, and he is coming to the harsh realization that being a police officer didn't save him from the 263 year sentence that a jury just handed down to him.

Prosecutors said that Officer Holtzclaw preyed on women who were known to police for having had run-ins with the department in the past. He then told them that if they were to report him, he would have them arrested on charges related to their past.

But Holtzclaw, 29, wasn't feeling so aggressive on Thursday, when he broke down in tears upon hearing the reading of the verdict.

He was convicted of raping 13 women, but was cleared of about half of the total 36 counts against him. He has not had his sentencing set for January, which could likely see him serving the massive sentence as what would amount to life in prison.

Protesters who gathered outside the court earlier this week, demanded that the all-white jury convict the officer based on the physical evidence and the word of the 13 black women, who testified about how they were sexually assaulted.

While the prosecution has easily characterized Holtzclaw as a predator who sought victims living in poverty and with criminal histories that he could hold over their heads, the defense for the rapist cop has said that all of these women have independently invented these rape allegations against the shamed officer.

Holtzclaw, additionally is accused of targeting African American women specifically.

He had a pattern of looking for victims with criminal records or a history of drug use or sex work. This targeting continued for seven months while he worked the 4pm to 2am patrol, according to the Raw Story.

For all but one of his alleged victims, police investigators claim, Holtzclaw used his position on the force to run background checks for outstanding warrants or other means by which to coerce sex.

Prosecutors are now trying Holtzclaw for 36 counts including rape, sexual battery, forcible oral sodomy and stalking, to which Holtzclaw has pleaded not guilty.

Holtzclaw's new defense has aggressively called into question his accusers for nothing more than their marijuana use, or drinking. In one case, their "checkered past" was simply having a suspended drivers licenses.

One women's abuse advocate said that, "officers count on no one believing the victim if she reports."