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On December 11 in Washington, D.C., the FBI took part in a briefing announcing the U.S. State Department’s launch of a publication that outlines the emerging negative impacts of the illicit tobacco trade and the whole-of-government approach to combating it. According to The Global Illicit Trade in Tobacco: A Threat to National Security, this low-risk, high-reward, often transnational criminal activity is a lucrative crime for some terrorist groups and a potential revenue source to finance acts of terror. It also provides funding for other criminal activities—including money laundering and trafficking in humans, weapons, drugs, antiquities, diamonds, and counterfeit goods—and it can encourage organized criminal enterprises, terrorist organizations, and other threat networks to work together. Additionally, the illicit tobacco trade deprives governments of tax revenues, causing billions of dollars in losses annually.

U.S. and coalition military forces have continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported on December 11.

The provisional deal reached by Parliament and Council negotiators last week on an EU directive regulating the use of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorist offences and serious crime was endorsed by the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee on Thursday by 38 votes to 19, with 2 abstentions.

The head of the UN Refugee Agency António Guterres has warned that anti-Muslim rhetoric, including pressure for tighter border controls, could backfire and play into the hands of terror groups.

30th ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly session closed Wednesday in Brussels after debating major new global challenges

UNODC and UNDP have developed a joint global campaign calling for people to ‘Break the Corruption Chain.

Security Council adopts historic resolution on youth, peace and security.

Nine-year-ole Zahara Ali cooks breakfast in a rural village in the Dubti Woreda, Afar Region, Ethiopia.

Syrian refugee parents Afeesh and Rasha hug their daughters shortly after landing on the Island of Lesvos, Greece.

WHO estimates that at least 51 hospitals have been damaged or partially destroyed over the past six months due to the ongoing conflict in Yemen.