The Leader of Germany’s Anti-Islam Group Quits After His Hitler Photo Goes Viral

Front pages of German daily newspapers including Hamburger Morgenpost and Bild show pictures of the PEGIDA chief Lutz Bachmann sporting a Hitler moustache on Jan. 21 2015

Police are investigating whether to charge PEGIDA chief Lutz Bachmann

The head of Germany’s anti-immigration movement PEGIDA stepped down Wednesday after a photo showing him dressed as Adolf Hitler emerged online.

Lutz Bachmann was pictured on his Facebook page sporting a toothbrush mustache and with his dark hair combed straight into a side parting to resemble the Nazi leader, the New York Times reports.

Bachmann, 41, is also quoted as referring to immigrants as “scumbags,” “stupid cows” and “trash” on social media.

Dresden police are investigating whether there are sufficient grounds to prosecute Bachmann. (Germany has strict laws governing Nazi symbolism and paraphernalia.)

Putin Foe Alexei Navalny Found Guilty of Fraud

Russian opposition activist and anti-corruption crusader Alexei Navalny, 38, center, his wife Yulia and his brother Oleg Navalny smile at a court in Moscow on Dec. 30, 2014.

MOSCOW (AP) — Alexei Navalny, the anti-corruption campaigner who is a leading foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was found guilty of fraud and given a suspended sentence of three and a half years on Tuesday.

The verdict was to have been announced next month, but the court session was abruptly moved forward, leading to speculation that authorities wanted to impede possible protests if he is convicted. The verdict comes as Russians are preparing for New Year’s and Orthodox Christmas.

Navalny, a lawyer and popular blogger, rose to prominence with his investigations of official corruption and played a leading role in organizing massive anti-Putin demonstrations in Moscow in 2011 and 2012.

In a 2013 trial in a different criminal case, he was found guilty of embezzlement and sentenced to prison, but he was released the next day after thousands of people protested in the streets of Moscow. He was then handed a suspended sentence and finished a strong second in Moscow’s mayoral election in September 2013.

Winter Arriving in U.S. Ahead of Schedule Next Week – 11/8/14

A typhoon in Alaska will bring snow and freezing temperatures to central and eastern U.S.

The remnants of Typhoon Nuri from the GOES satellite on Nov. 7, 2014. NOAA/Reuters

Thanks to a typhoon that’s hitting Alaska, much of the rest of the U.S. could get very cold in the coming days.

Typhoon Nuri is bringing 50-foot waves and and hurricane-strength winds to the Aleutian Islands, likely causing cold and icy air to descend into the central and eastern parts of the U.S., according to the National Weather Service. The temperatures will feel more like January than November.

Syria Activists Say Kobani Death Toll Passes 800

Kurdish refugees stand and walk on a hilltop as thick smoke rises from the Syrian town of Kobani during heavy fighting between Islamic State and Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Sanliurfa province, Turkey on Oct. 26, 2014.

(MURSITPINAR, Turkey) — A Syrian activist group said Sunday that the death toll in 40 days of fighting in and around the northern Syrian border town of Kobani has reached 815, as Kurdish fighters battled Muslim militants for a hill west of the town.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll includes 21 Kurdish civilians and 302 fighters with the main Kurdish force known as the Peoples Protection Units, or YPG. It said 481 fighters with the Islamic State group have been killed since the battles began.

IS fighters launched a wide offensive on Kobani in mid-September capturing dozens of Kurdish villages and entering parts of the town. The attack has displaced more than 200,000 people who crossed for safety in Turkey.

On Saturday, IS launched an attack on a Kurdish-held neighborhood in Kobani without succeeding in advancing, the Observatory said. It added that seven IS fighters were killed as well as several YPG fighters.

An Associated Press reporter on the Turkish side of the border said occasional mortar fire could be heard in the center and west of the town as well as occasional gunfire. At least one airstrike was carried out by the U.S.-led coalition.