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GROZNY, Russia (AP) — Authorities in Russia’s predominantly Muslim republic of Chechnya have organized classes to stave off Islamic State recruitment.

Thousands of Russian Muslim have joined IS in Syria, and some have taken senior positions.

Islamic militancy has engulfed Russia’s North Caucasus, Dagestan in particular, following two separatist wars in neighboring Chechnya. While nearly 1,000 people are believed to have left Dagestan from Syria, the number of Chechen recruits is far lower.

Chechnya’s authoritarian leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, said last month that less than 500 Chechens are believed to have joined IS and that about 200 of them have already been killed. Kadyrov has recently gone as far as offering to send thousands of Chechen fighters as ground troops to fight IS.

Local students say many of their peers are tempted to go to Syria because they believe in a true Islamic state there.

“Even those girls who study well are trying to go there (to Syria),” said Grozny student Albina Maltsagova.

To counter IS propaganda, Islamic clerics and government officials are holding meetings with high school and university students on how to avoid IS recruitment, explaining that the group distorts the true meaning of the Quran.

Djamalulail Said-Khamzat, deputy head of Chechen parliament’s international relations committee, said young people from poorer families are more susceptible to IS recruitment and get lured by its propaganda videos posted online.

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This story has been corrected to say nearly 1,000 people have left Dagestan to join IS fighters in Syria, not 5,000.

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WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s parliament has convened to choose new judges for the constitutional court, a step that comes amid heated debate concerning Poland’s constitutional order.

The vote Wednesday is to approve five new judges to the 15-member Constitutional Tribunal who have been proposed by the ruling conservative Law and Justice party, which took power last month. They are to replace judges appointed in October by then-ruling Civic Platform.

The issue is a topic of heated debate between Law and Justice, which says the October appointments were made in violation of the law, and Civic Platform, which insists the new appointments will be a threat to democracy and to the constitution.

Adding to the confusion, the tribunal will rule Thursday on the validity of the October appointments.

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JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Britain’s Prince Harry has stepped into a conservation debate in South Africa, saying he believes legalization of the rhino horn trade will “accelerate the path to extinction” for the threatened species.

Harry spoke Wednesday during a trip to South Africa’s Kruger National Park, where many rhinos have been slaughtered by poachers.

Last week, a South African judge rescinded a nearly 7-year-old moratorium on the domestic trade in rhino horns, though the ban will stay in place for now pending an appeal by South Africa’s environment ministry.

An international ban on the rhino horn trade has been in place since 1977.

Harry spent three months this year working on conservation projects in southern Africa.

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Yaoundé (AFP) – Cameroon troops killed around 100 members of Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamist group and freed 900 hostages in a three-day operation in the far north of the country, the defence ministry said Wednesday.

“A special clean-up operation from November 26 to 28” against Boko Haram fighters in the border area with Nigeria, where troops seized Islamic State (IS) flags, “neutralised more than 100 jihadists”, Defence Minister Joseph Beti Assomo said in a statement broadcast on national radio.

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ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek journalists are holding a 24-hour strike a day before a nationwide anti-austerity strike — the country’s second in a month — that is expected to disrupt all public services.

Radio and television news bulletins were pulled off the air Wednesday, and news websites were not being refreshed after 6 a.m. local time (0400 GMT). No Thursday newspapers will be published.

Greece’s two largest unions, which cover the public and private sectors, have called a general strike for Thursday to protest the government’s budget, which is to be voted on in Parliament Saturday night, and pension reforms.

The strike will disrupt public transport, including domestic flights and ferries to the islands, and public hospitals, while schools will be shut. Lawyers have said they will also join in.

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Good morning! Here are the plays everybody will be talking about Wednesday morning.

Kerwin Roach’s jumping ability is as good as advertised. Roach is a freshman for the Texas Longhorns and despite being just 6-foot-4, he can reportedly touch the top of the backboard. If that seems like an exaggeration, just watch this dunk against UT-Arlington. Oh my. Super Hops! Texas would go on to win 80-73 in overtime.

Philadelphia loves Kobe Bryant. Kobe played his final game in his hometown of Philadelphia and the introduction from the 76ers was one usually reserved for a star player playing at home. Bryant then came out firing, nailing a 3-pointer to start the game. Unfortunately for Kobe, the Lakers went on to become the first team to lose to the 76ers this season, 103-91. Here is the intro and the shot.

Cheick Diallo’s debut was a memorable one. The fourth-ranked Kansas Jayhawks blew out Loyola in the second half in a game that will be better remembered for the debut of Diallo, a freshman from Mali who was battling eligibility issues. Diallo didn’t score until the second half, but when the 6-foot-9 Diallo got going, it was impressive. His best moment was a coast-to-coast jam that began with him blocking a shot and ended with him doing Karl Malone’s signature dunk. Kansas won 94-61.

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A London publishing startup that’s received money from Google Ventures announced today that it has sold over a million of its personalised children’s books.

Lost My Name — founded in 2012 by Asi Sharabi and Tal Oron — creates customised books based around a child’s name. The books are created and ordered online, then sent out to printing partners around the world.

The Hackney-based company, which took investment from Google Ventures in June when it raised $9 million (£6 million), revealed the milestone in a press release today where it also highlighted how “The Little Boy/Girl Who Lost His/Her Name” has gone from being an obscure book to the bestselling picture book in the UK, Australia, and Canada. The company also claims it is the highest grossing picture book in six markets, including the US.

“As a technology company, we’re very proud to be innovating on one of the oldest media formats in the world – the physical book,” said Oron. “We think technology equals possibility. And possibility is the dominant currency in wonderful, nostalgic storytelling, where the book’s job is to inspire children to believe in adventure; that anything can happen if they imagine it. As screens become more and more seductive to children, there is an increasing need to inject more magic into books – to find new ways to spark their imagination.”

Last month, Lost My Name released a second book called “The Incredible Intergalactic Journey Home”.

To celebrate the million books sold milestone, Lost My Name released some data showing how naming trends worldwide are reflected in the books it has created.

• Lost My Name has created books for 97,827 different names, of these 64,027 appear only once.
• Globally, Oliver and Olivia are the most popular names
• Lost My Name found interesting correlations between popular culture events and their influence on children’s names trends. For example:
• Nine months following the release of Disney’s Frozen in December 2014, Lost My Name saw a spike in sales of ‘Elsa’ and ‘Anna books
• A similar trend was discovered in the months following Game of Thrones Season 4. There was a spike in Lost My Name books ordered for names from the series e.g. Arya, Daenerys & Cersei
• “Taylor” books peaked in September 2014, following the release of “Shake it Off”
• Names with the highest scrabble score include: Mackenzie (26 points), Zachary (24 points) and Elizabeth (23 points)

Most popular UK names

• Top 5 boys names in the UK:

1. Oliver
2. Harry
3. Charlie
4. Jack
5. William

• Top 5 girls names in the UK:

1. Olivia
2. Emily
3. Amelia
4. Isla
5. Sophie

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MOSCOW (AP) — Authorities in Russia’s Yakutia region in eastern Siberia say a landslide of diamond sands at a mine has blocked a road and damaged electricity pylons.

Yakutia’s industry ministry said Wednesday a government commission has inspected the area outside the town of Mirny where “uncontrolled” diamond sands at a mine operated by the world’s largest diamond miner, Alrosa, blocked a road last weekend.

The sands at the mine, which was disused but has recently undergone prospecting work, are believed to have been exposed to a lot of moisture. As soon as it froze, the sands slid downhill, blocking the road.

The statement said the mine operator in Yakutia, home to giant diamond deposits, had to create a bypass road to allow vehicles through.

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Germany’s state intelligence agency says that competition for influence inside the Saudi Arabian royal family is destabilising the whole of the Middle East Region, according to domestic media reports. 

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), one of Germany’s premier daily newspapers, carries the warning from the BND intelligence agency.

According to FAZ, the BND identifies a shift towards an “impulsive intervention policy” in Yemen and elsewhere, driven by internal power struggles that pose a risk to the whole region.

Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada have previously referred to the internal discord as Saudi Arabia’s “Game of Thrones,” since the country’s political life bears more resemblance to the fictional world of court intrigue than it does to most other real countries.

Mohammad bin Salman, the country’s Deputy Crown Prince, is a major part of that dynastic battle. He’s the 30-year old son of the current king, but the complex architecture of the country’s stratified royal family means that he’s not the next in line for the top job, even if he wants it.

The appointed successor falls to Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, the king’s nephew, who is nearly 50 years older than Mohammad bin Salman.

He’s taken a central place in Saudi political life since his father, King Salman, ascended to the throne at the beginning of the year. He’s also the country’s defence minister, playing a large part in the violent intervention in Yemen’s civil conflict this year. 

The royal family has thousands of members with different levels of wealth and power, and any sign that the Deputy Crown Prince is attempting to leapfrog the Crown Prince could provoke resentment, especially if it seems to have the blessing of King Salman. 

FAZ says that BND analysts suggested a “latent risk” that the King’s son tries to succeed his father directly, skipping out the Crown Prince. Saudi Arabia’s growing proxy conflicts with Iran and a declining trust in the support of the United States are also marked as destabilising factors.

Though it’s not mentioned by the BND, Saudi Arabia’s economic climate is also far less stable today than it was a few years ago — the tremendous collapse in oil prices means that the country’s fiscal position will be tenable for around five years, after which its “fiscal buffers” — largely foreign currency reserves — will be exhausted. 

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PARIS (AP) — French police have arrested two people outside Paris — one of them for suspected links to the only man charged in connection with the Nov. 13 attacks in the capital, according to two officials close to the investigation.

The first arrest on Tuesday was of a 25-year-old man suspected of being an intermediary to Jawad Bendaoud, who already has been handed preliminary charges for providing housing to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected planner of the Paris attacks that killed 130 people.

The intermediary, whose name wasn’t disclosed, was arrested in his home in Malakoff, south of Paris by counterterrorism police, officials said. A few hours later, police went with the suspect to search another apartment in Saint-Denis, a northern Paris suburb, and arrested a woman who was there.

The officials, who requested anonymity to talk about the ongoing investigation, told The Associated Press that the woman, whose name also wasn’t revealed, is the partner of the intermediary. The man and his partner have been taken into custody west of Paris. Officials didn’t give details on whether the woman had links to Bendaoud or anyone else suspected of having involvement in the attacks.

The intermediary, who had been known by police only for drug trafficking so far, was also in contact with Abaaoud’s cousin, Hasna Aitboulahcen.

Abaaoud, his female cousin and a third man were killed in a police raid on Nov. 18.

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