Midday Roundup: Putin to stop bombing Syrian rebels, focus on ISIS

The enemy of my enemy. Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed yesterday to focus air raids on Islamic State (ISIS) targets in Syria. Russia joined military efforts in Syria earlier this year, but many of its bombing runs targeted rebel groups trying to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, putting it at odds with the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS. After meeting with French President François Holland on Thursday, Putin agreed to collaborate with the West to obliterate the Islamic terror group that brought down a Russian passenger plane in Egypt last month and orchestrated attacks in Paris earlier this month. But Russia, France, and the rest of the West still disagree on what should happen to Assad. Putin maintains the Syrian dictator represents the best chance of crushing ISIS, but Western leaders insist he’s perpetrated atrocities against his own people and must go. Today, two weeks after the Paris attacks, France held a memorial for the victims. Of the hundreds injured, 69 remain in the hospital.

Fight them there. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron made his case for airstrikes against ISIS in Syria yesterday before Parliament. The terror group poses a direct threat to the Western way of life, he said. Opposition leaders in the U.K. expressed concern that Britain joining the air campaign against ISIS would make their country a bigger target for terror attacks. But Cameron said ISIS already has tried repeatedly to attack Britain on its home soil. Officials thwarted no fewer than seven attacks in the last 12 months, he said. Parliament must still approve a bombing campaign against ISIS.

Top terrorists. Despite all the attention on ISIS this year, the Syrian-based group did not top the list of deadly terrorists last year. That dubious distinction went to Nigeria’s Boko Haram, according to a report released last week by the Institute of Economics and Peace. Boko Haram killed 6,664 people in 2014, while ISIS killed 6,073. But with ISIS spreading its terror outside the Middle East and using a sophisticated social media campaign to distribute that violence worldwide, it has gained much more attention. Boko Haram, which pledges allegiance to ISIS, has limited its attacks to Nigeria and neighboring countries. While the world’s attention focused on ISIS attacks in Paris on Nov. 13, which killed 130, two Boko Haram attacks killed 49 on Nov. 18.

Black Friday protests. Black Lives Matter protests continue in Chicago today with demonstrators threatening to shut down Black Friday shopping in the commercial district unless their demands are met. Protesters are demanding the resignation of the state’s attorney general and the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in October 2014. The protests have been tense but peaceful after the release of dash cam video showing white police officer Jason Van Dyke fatally shooting McDonald. The youth, who was black, appeared to be walking away from officers when Van Dyke opened fire. Van Dyke was charged with murder in the case on Wednesday—the court-ordered deadline for releasing the video to the public. Protesters say prosecutors sat on the video for more than a year.

Leaders of the pack. The latest polls suggest the race for the Republican presidential nomination is a four-man contest. More than a half dozen national and early voting state polls out this week all have one thing in common—the same four Republicans at the top. Donald Trump still leads nationally. Averaging out a Fox News and ABC/Washington Post poll, Trump stands at 30 percent, followed by Ben Carson at 20 percent, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) at 13 percent, and the biggest gainer in recent weeks, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) at 11 percent. Cruz is also surging in Iowa, where the latest Quinnipiac polls shows him in a virtual tie for first place with Trump. That Quinnipiac poll shows Trump in first place in Iowa at 25 percent, just a 2 percent edge on Cruz, but that’s within the margin of error. Carson is third, with 18 percent, followed Rubio with 13 percent.

WORLD Radio’s Christina Darnell, Kent Covington, and Mary Reichard contributed to this report.