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Russia’s defense ministry proclaimed on Wednesday that it had proof that Turkey’s president “and his family” had profited from the illegal smuggling of oil from Islamic State-held territory in Syria and Iraq.

The state-run Turkish news agency Anadolu was quick to counter. It tweeted a link to an article entitled, “Syrian regime’s oil links to Daesh,” referring to an moniker for the terror group. The story included details about the Russian-backed Syrian regime’s links to the Islamic State oil trade. 

Last week, Russia suspended its visa-free travel agreement with Turkey and advised that Russians avoid traveling to the NATO-member country, due to “the critical mass of terrorist incidents on Turkish soil.”

For its part, Turkey announced on Wednesday that it had detained seven Russians on the southern border with suspected links to ISIS who would be deported back to Russia.

This war of words between Russian and Turkish officials was triggered by Turkey’s downing of a Russian warplane last week, the aftermath of which has produced an increasingly nasty back and forth. 

Turkish president Tayyip Recep Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin have yet to meet in person to discuss the incident. But that has not stopped them from accusing each other of having ties to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh.

Even as Russia and Turkey both deny the accusations, evidence suggests that both nations have harbored ties to the Islamic State since the Syrian civil war erupted nearly five years ago.

‘Undeniable’ links

Last Tuesday, Putin fired the first shot in the immediate aftermath of the jet’s downing. He denounced Turkey as an “accomplice of terrorists,” adding that Russia “established a long time ago that large quantities of oil and oil products from territory captured by Islamic State have been arriving on Turkish territory.” 

Erdogan has denied the claims, saying that he would resign if Russia was able to prove that Turkey had economic or intelligence ties to ISIS. He called the accusations “slander” on Wednesday, and he warned Russia not to “play with fire.”

In July, however, Martin Chulov of The Guardian reported that a US-led raid on the compound housing the Islamic State’s “chief financial officer” produced evidence that Turkish officials directly dealt with ranking ISIS members.

The officer killed in the raid, Islamic State official Abu Sayyaf, was responsible for directing the terror army’s oil and gas operations in Syria. ISIS earns a reported hundreds of millions of dollars per year selling oil on black markets, but estimates vary.

Documents and flash drives seized during the Sayyaf raid reportedly revealed links “so clear” and “undeniable” between Turkey and ISIS “that they could end up having profound policy implications for the relationship between us and Ankara,” a senior Western official familiar with the captured intelligence told The Guardian.

Turkey joined the US-led anti-ISIS coalition in late July, after a suicide bomber with links to the terrorist group killed 32 activists in the southeastern border town of Suruc.

But the NATO ally has long been accused by experts, Kurds, and even Vice President Joe Biden of enabling ISIS’ rise by turning a blind eye to the vast smuggling networks of weapons and fighters during the ongoing Syrian war. 

The move by the ruling AKP party to largely leave ISIS alone was apparently part of ongoing attempts to trigger the downfall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and to serve as a foil to the Kurds, who Turkey has long perceived as a bigger threat to its sovereignty than the Islamic State. 

Ankara officially ended its loose-border policy last year, but not before its southern frontier became a transit point for cheap oil, weapons, foreign fighters, and pillaged antiquities.

The effects of that policy are still being felt: The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the Obama administration has been pressuring Turkey to send additional troops to its southern border with Syria to close a 60-mile “gap” that is still being used by ISIS to transport fighters and weapons.

In October, an ISIS-linked suicide bomber killed more than 150 people at a peace rally in Ankara.

Assad’s payroll

Russia, meanwhile — a staunch ally of Assad — began launching airstrikes in Syria in late September on behalf of the Syrian government, under the guise of fighting ISIS.

But Russia has been accused of striking ISIS strongholds only sparingly and disproportionately targeting non-ISIS rebel brigades battling Assad’s forces in western and central Syria. It’s a move experts say is in line with Assad’s cynical plan to leave ISIS standing so that the international community is forced to choose between his regime and the jihadists.

Moreover, the lifelines Russian actors have thrown to Assad — and, by extension, to ISIS — have not been limited to military aid. 

The Telegraph reported in May that the Russian-backed Syrian regime not only had oil ties to ISIS, but that the ties were directly controlled by Assad.

“Other oil and gas fields in ISIL’s hands are thought to be operated by personnel who remain on the payroll of the regime’s oil ministry,” The Telegraph reported. “The oil is then sold to Mr Assad, who distributes it in areas he controls at relatively low prices, helping him to win the loyalty of local people.” 

That same month, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Moscow-based Tempbank. It also leveled sanctions on Mikhail Gagloev, one of the bank’s senior executives, for providing material support and services to the Syrian government, including the Central Bank of Syria and SYTROL, Syria’s state oil marketing firm. 

And just last week, the Treasury Department sanctioned Russian-Syrian businessman George Haswani last week for allegedly using his firm, Hesco Engineering and Construction Co., to purchase oil from the Islamic State on behalf of the Assad regime.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, a former president of the autonomous Russian Republic of Kalmykia, was sanctioned in the same round on suspicion of helping Syria’s central bank  avoid international sanctions.

Russia, for its part, responded to last week’s round of sanctions by saying that Washington should stop playing “geopolitical games.”

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Google DeepMind, a group of approximately 140 people aiming to “solve intelligence” in London, is arguably one of the most interesting technology companies operating in the UK right now.

However, who actually works at Google DeepMind beyond the three cofounders is a bit of a mystery, possibly because Google doesn’t want to risk shouting about them and losing its smartest staff to rivals that are also focusing on artificial intelligence, such as Facebook. 

DeepMind’s talented workforce is likely to have been one of the main reasons that Google decided to spend £400 million on the company last January, so we thought it was about time someone took a look at who actually works there.

DeepMind, founded in 2011, is heavily involved in a lot of research and a number of its academically-focused staff have been busy publishing papers on artificial intelligence since the company was incorporated. A page on the DeepMind website details all of these academics papers and which DeepMind employees contributed to them.

In order to identify the most impressive DeepMind scientists, Business Insider analysed the page to see which DeepMind staff have contributed to the most scientific papers. Google was unable to confirm whether the other authors worked for DeepMind so we have linked to a source where possible. We also contacted several of the academics directly but did not hear anything back. 

14. Ioannis Antonoglou

Publications: 3

Official job title: Software Engineer 

Confirmation: LinkedIn 

Interesting fact: Ioannis Antonoglou joined DeepMind in 2012 after graduating from the University of Edinburgh with a masters degree in artificial intelligence and machine learning. 

13. Martin Riedmiller

Publications: 3

Official job title: Research Scientist 

Confirmation: Blog 

Interesting fact: Prior to joining DeepMind, just nine months ago, Martin Riedmiller worked on robotics and autonomous learning systems at the University of Freiberg in Germany. 

12. Mustafa Suleyman (cofounder)

Publications: 4

Official job title: Head of Applied AI 

Confirmation: LinkedIn

Interesting fact: Mustafa Suleyman dropped out of Oxford University at the age of 19 to set up a counselling service known as the Muslim Youth Helpline. He also worked as a policy officer for the former Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. 

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In the not-so-distant future, you may not need a TV. Or a computer monitor. Or a smartphone. Or anything else with a physical display.

That’s because the biggest companies in tech are working on augmented reality technology, which places digital images over the real world when you wear a headset.

The latest demonstration of this comes from someone using Microsoft’s new HoloLens headset. In the video below, you can see someone playing the new “Halo” game on a virtual TV projected on the wall.

Take a look:

The player doesn’t even need a TV. He just straps on a HoloLens and projects the game wherever he wants.

Now imagine that concept extended to everything from personal computing to watching Netflix. Instead of having several gadgets littered around your home, you’d just need to wear a special pair of glasses that can project whatever you want wherever you want it.

This is a similar concept to what the stealthy startup Magic Leap is working on. Although Magic Leap hasn’t shown its augmented reality prototypes to the public yet, its patents hint that its broad vision is to one day replace every screen in your home with an augmented reality headset. (The company is probably on to something big too. Google led a $500 million investment in Magic Leap last year and its CEO Sundar Pichai is on its board.)

Meanwhile, Facebook owns Oculus VR, the company that plans to release a virtual reality gaming headset in early 2016. Samsung is working with Oculus on VR headsets powered by Galaxy phones. HTC has its own VR gaming headset called the Vive, which should come out next year. Sony has a VR headset for the PlayStation 4 coming out next spring. Apple has been acquiring companies related to augmented reality.

The list goes on and on, but it’s clear all the big tech companies see significant potential in augmented and virtual reality.

Virtual reality is slightly different than augmented reality in that it completely immerses you in an experience instead of projecting images on top of the real world. The two are closely related, however, and it’s likely future devices will be blend of augmented and virtual reality depending on the application.

But one thing is clear: The technologies being developed today have the potential to replace every screen you own with one thing. And that’s pretty cool.

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NOW WATCH: Here’s the incredible Microsoft virtual reality set that turns your hand into a laser gun

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Sarah was bitten by a shark in Palm Beach, Florida, in November.

She was out for a morning swim with her boyfriend when she noticed something black and approximately six-foot long swimming underneath her. Before she knew it, she was out of the water trying to explain to her boyfriend what had just happened. Meanwhile, he was staring at the bleeding gash on her leg.

Florida sees a lot of shark attacks. According to ABC News, of the 52 incidents that were recorded in the US in 2014, 28 happened in Florida. This summer saw an increase in shark attacks, though not because sharks are becoming more dangerous, but simply because there are more people getting into the ocean.

Sarah said the incident happened incredibly fast — she refers to it as the weirdest five seconds of her life. After the attack, Sarah’s boyfriend drove her to the hospital where she received 50 stitches. She was released later that same day.

Looking back, Sarah realizes that she and her boyfriend shouldn’t have gone swimming in an area without a lifeguard, as a lifeguard could have spotted the shark coming.

While she said she’ll never swim without a guard in the area again, and that she’ll be more aware the next time she goes for a swim, she’s not afraid to go back in.

Story by Sarah Schmalbruch and editing by Kristen Griffin

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There have been a lot of highly visible conversations about inequality in the entertainment industry recently, particularly around gender. Major moments have run from Patrica Arquette’s Best Supporting Actress Oscar speech early this year on wage equality and equal rights for women in the US, to Jennifer Lawrence penning an essay for Lena Dunham’s newsletter Lenny on how she’s paid less than her male co-stars. But is anything changing?

Lake Bell is wondering exactly that. One of the numerous female filmmakers featured on the cover of a recent New York Times Magazine story focusing on sexism in Hollywood, Bell is currently in fundraising mode to make her second feature, “What’s the Point.”

“It will be interesting to see in the next few months, while I’m out trying to make ‘What’s the Point,’ if things have changed,” the actress/director recently told Business Insider. “Because I’m in it now, and you can be like ‘Clap your hands, you’re on the cover of the New York Times Magazine,’ but let’s see if anything comes of this lip service.”

Bell, who wrote and directed her critically acclaimed first feature, 2013’s “In A World…,” admits that recently offers for her to direct have gradually increased, but on other people’s projects.

“There are only so many years in my life to dedicate to certain projects,” Bell said. “If I’m going to pour that kind of love and energy and sweat and heartache, all that juju into something, I’m going to lean into my own projects before someone else’s.”

Bell, who can currently be seen in the comedy “Man Up” co-starring alongside Simon Pegg, hopes to begin shooting “What’s the Point,” a relationship dramedy, by the beginning of next year. If the money comes forward.

“Of all this talk and all this attention,” said Bell of the inequality issue, “let’s see the action that’s going to be taken.”

It sounds like there just might be. It was revealed Wednesday that a secret meeting was held in LA in October where some of the most powerful people in the industry devised a four-point plan to help curb the problem of gender bias. 

SEE ALSO: Actress Lake Bell, first female voice of Apple ads, is taking over Hollywood one project at a time

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In a letter announcing the birth of his daughter Max on Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan pledged to give away 99% of their Facebook stock, valued at $45 billion over their lifetimes. 

It will go into the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a new humanitarian organization that aims to cure or curtail all human disease, among other lofty goals. 

Zuckerberg isn’t the first billionaire philanthropist, but at age 31, he is remarkably young for the scope of his ambitions. 

So we have to hope that he’s seeking wisdom from his elders, namely Bill Gates. Gates reads a book a week to build his understanding of the world. Many of the books are about transforming systems: how nations can intelligently develop, how to lead an organization, and how social change can fruitfully happen.

Here’s a selection of Gates’s recommended reading books that we think could inform Zuck’s ever-more-powerful decision making. 

‘Tap Dancing to Work: Warren Buffett on Practically Everything, 1966-2012’ by Carol Loomis

Warren Buffett and Gates have a famously epic bromance, what with their recommending books to each other and spearheading philanthropic campaigns together. 

So it’s no surprise that Gates enjoyed “Tap Dancing To Work,” a collection of articles and essays about and by Buffett, compiled by Fortune magazine journalist Carol Loomis. 

Gates says that anyone who reads the book cover-to-cover will walk away with two main impressions: 

First, how Warren’s been incredibly consistent in applying his vision and investment principles over the duration of his career;

… [S]econdly, that his analysis and understanding of business and markets remains unparalleled. I wrote in 1996 that I’d never met anyone who thought about business in such a clear way. That is certainly still the case.

Getting into the mind of Buffett is “an extremely worthwhile use of time,” Gates concludes.

Buy it here >>

‘Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization’ by Vaclav Smil

Gates says his favorite author is Vaclav Smil, an environmental sciences professor who writes big histories of things like energy and innovation.

His latest is “Making the Modern World.” It got Gates thinking. 

“It might seem mundane, but the issue of materials — how much we use and how much we need — is key to helping the world’s poorest people improve their lives,” he writes. “Think of the amazing increase in quality of life that we saw in the United States and other rich countries in the past 100 years. We want most of that miracle to take place for all of humanity over the next 50 years.”

To know where we’re going, Gates says, we need to know where we’ve been — and Smil is one of his favorite sources for learning that.

Buy it here >>

‘The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History’ by Elizabeth Kolbert

It can be easy to forget that our present day is a part of world history. Gates says that New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert’s new book “The Sixth Extinction” helps correct that.

“Humans are putting down massive amounts of pavement, moving species around the planet, over-fishing and acidifying the oceans, changing the chemical composition of rivers, and more,” Gates writes, echoing a concern that he voices in many of his reviews.  

“Natural scientists posit that there have been five extinction events in the Earth’s history (think of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs),” he continues, “and Kolbert makes a compelling case that human activity is leading to the sixth.” 

To get a hint of Kolbert’s reporting, check out the series of stories that preceded the book’s publication.  

Buy it here >>

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Washington (AFP) – Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Wednesday that she still sees slack in the US jobs market but that continued moderate economic growth over the next few years should eliminate it.

But with the Fed weighing its first interest rate increase in nine years, Yellen also warned that waiting too long to raise rates from the current near-zero level could pose risks to the economy and financial markets.

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A new smart shoe on Indiegogo called ShiftWear is like a Pebble watch for your feet. You can create, customize and sell designs through a companion app, and they charge while you walk. 

Produced by Chris Snyder

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CAIRO (AP) — The Islamic State’s gruesome rampage across the Middle East has united the world in horror but left it divided over how to refer to the extremist group, with observers adopting different acronyms based on their translation of an archaic geographical term and the extent to which they want to needle the extremists. Here’s a brief explanation of the militant group’s various names:

ISIS OR ISIL?

The group traces its roots back to Al-Qaida in Iraq, which declared an Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) in 2006. The name never really caught on, however, because the militants were never able to seize and hold significant territory. That began to change when the group expanded into neighboring Syria, exploiting the chaos of its civil war. In 2013, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, renamed it the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, signaling its emergence as a transnational force while sowing the first seeds of confusion over what to call it. Al-Sham is an archaic word for a vaguely defined territory that includes what is now Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan. It is most often translated as either Syria — in the sense of a greater Syria that no longer exists — or as the Levant, the closest English term for the territory it describes. In English, the group therefore came to be known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (also ISIS), or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

THE DEROGATORY “DAESH”

Those opposed to the group turned the Arabic acronym corresponding to ISIS into a single word — Daesh — which doesn’t mean anything but sounds a little ridiculous. IS’ opponents, including public officials like French President Francois Hollande and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, have used the term to mock, condemn or diminish the group. Dawaesh, a plural form of the word that sounds even sillier in Arabic, is widely used in the Middle East. IS bans the use of the term Daesh in areas it controls. But Arabic speakers have found other ways to put down the group. After the IS group’s bitter falling out with al-Qaida in 2013, al-Qaida supporters began referring to it as “al-Baghdadi’s group,” emphasizing their view of him as a renegade. Syrians living under IS rule often refer to it as “al-tanzeem,” Arabic for “the organization.”

CALL US THE CALIPHATE

When the IS group seized vast parts of northern and western Iraq in the summer of 2014, it declared a caliphate in the territories under its control and dropped Iraq and al-Sham from its name. Today the Sunni militant group refers to itself as the Islamic State, or simply The Caliphate. It refers to its affiliates in Libya, Egypt and elsewhere as “provinces.” The Associated Press refers to it as the Islamic State group — to distinguish it from an internationally recognized state — or IS for short.

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BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO offered to take in Montenegro on Wednesday and thus expand its reach in southeast Europe, prompting a brisk Russian threat of retaliatory measures against the tiny Slavic country.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry insisted the alliance is “not a threat to anybody” and sought to redirect focus on the radical Islamic State group in Syria.

The invitation to Montenegro culminated a two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers that was largely overshadowed by the alliance’s complex relationship and tensions with Moscow over issues like Crimea, eastern Ukraine and Syria.

Russia continues to bomb “moderate” opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad more than the extremist Islamic State group that the West is fighting, according to U.S. officials.

Montenegro, an Adriatic Sea nation of just over 600,000 people that was part of Yugoslavia and split from Serbia in 2006, was struck by NATO bombs during the air campaign against Slobodan Milosevic’s forces. Kerry said that NATO’s invitation to Montenegro, which has been working hard to meet that alliance’s admission criteria, didn’t amount to a slap at Russia.

“This is not focused on them specifically. It’s focused on the potential of defense against anybody or anything that is a threat — including ISIL,” he said, using another name for IS. “It would be a great mistake to react adversely to a country that has been working for ten years.”

“NATO is not a threat to anybody,” he said.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the invitation to Montenegro, which has strong economic and cultural ties to Russia, reaffirmed the alliance’s longstanding “open-door” policy toward potential member states. Stoltenberg also repeated hopes that NATO will one day take in Georgia, a former Soviet republic that has helped the alliance in Afghanistan, which would be another move that could rankle Moscow.

Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia are also being considered as possible entrants to NATO.

The planned expansion of the alliance, which grew to 28 members with the inclusion of Albania and Croatia in 2009, comes as the West has been facing off with Russia over its annexation of Crimea last year and continued support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. Nine weeks ago, Russia started airstrikes in Syria, where a U.S.-led coalition supported by all NATO members — if not the alliance itself — was already operating against IS.

The top NATO commander in Europe, U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, cautioned that when it comes to Russia’s air operations in Syria, “the vast majority of their sorties are still against the moderate opposition and those forces that oppose Assad.” The coalition, he said, is targeting IS almost exclusively.

In a softer tone toward Moscow, Kerry said the U.S. believed Russia could be “an extremely constructive and important player in reaching a solution to this current crisis,” as long as it focuses on IS.

“And I think the world would welcome that kind of cooperative effort,” he said.

Russia has opposed the NATO accession of Montenegro, a favored getaway spot and investment site for some Russians.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters that Moscow will consider possible retaliatory measures. And Viktor Ozerov, chairman of the defense committee at the upper house of Russia parliament, told state-owned RIA Novosti news agency that Russia will freeze joint projects with Montenegro, including defense cooperation.

In 1999, Montenegro, then in a union with Serbia, was heavily bombarded in the first waves of NATO airstrikes which were triggered by Serbia’s violent crackdown against independence-seeking Kosovo Albanians. During the three-month bombardment, Montenegro became refuge for Serbia’s pro-Western opposition leaders and dissidents who were persecuted by Milosevic, Serbia’s leader at the time.

Montenegro’s prime minister said that Wednesday’s invitation represented the most important day for the country since its independence referendum nine years ago.

“Montenegro is entering the exclusive circle of states which are synonymous with the highest values of modern civilization,” Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic said. “This is a crown jewel of the long-standing national efforts and comprehensive reform processes launched in 2006.”

But public opinion has been divided on the issue. Srdjan Milic, leader of Montenegro’s pro-Russian opposition, said NATO’s formal invitation “represents an aggression on peace, stability and security of citizens of our country,” and several recent protests by thousands in Montenegro against the pro-NATO government turned violent.

NATO’s announcement sets in motion an accession process that will continue over months before Montenegro formally joins. Until all NATO states ratify the decision, Stoltenberg said Montenegro will be a non-voting participant in meetings.

In their meeting, the NATO ministers also considered issues like the improving air defenses in Turkey, whose military shot down a Russian plane that had allegedly crossed through Turkish air space during a Syria mission, as well as “hybrid” threats like cyber-attacks and continued violence in eastern Ukraine.

Stoltenberg said he was looking into ways of reviving communication in the NATO-Russia Council, as sought by countries like Germany, though he said “this is not about going to business as usual” — insisting the alliance is still very much at odds with Russia over its annexation of Crimea and alleged violations of a deal struck in Minsk, Belarus, aimed at bringing peace to Ukraine.

“Challenges posed by Russia actions in the Euro-Atlantic area will be with us for a long time,” he said.

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Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade, Serbia, Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, and Bradley Klapper in Brussels, contributed to this report.

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