Burkina Faso ISIS attack: Reports of hostages taken and two dead at hotel 'used by westerners'

Masked gunmen stormed the Splendid Hotel in the capital Ouagadougou, according to reports 

Security forces were preparing to raid a hotel popular with westerners after two people were killed when Islamist gunmen stormed inside and took several hostages.
A city-wide curfew has been put in place in the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou from 11pm to 6am local time, France's ambassador to the country said on Saturday.
Car bombs have exploded and gunfire has been heard during the attack which has been claimed by three different militant jihadist groups including ISIS and al-Qaeda.
Masked gunmen stormed the Splendid Hotel in the capital Ouagadougou at around 7.30pm tonight following a series of explosions

Security forces prepare to take on the terrorists hold up in the Splendid Hotel  

The hotel is frequently used by UN staff and Western visitors.
There are reports of hostages being taken.
The Burkina Faso Interior Ministry confirmed at least two people are dead and two injured.
Witnesses said the gunmen stormed the hotel, burning cars outside and firing in the air to drive back crowds before security forces arrived, prompting an intense exchange of gunfire.
Snipers also targeted customers in a coffee shop opposite the hotel, local media reports.
There is no indication of the number of casualties at this time however one source reported seeing at least two bodies.
The official Twitter account for the United States Embassy, situated around 10km away from the Splendid Hotel, wrote: "We are closely following the situation downtown."
The hotel is situated in the centre of Ouagadougou near the city's airport and has 146 rooms.
It is popular with Western tourists and multinational businesses and there were reports it was hosting a conference for the airline industry tonight.


Eyewitness Bagaré Saidou Diallo wrote on Facebook: "The Jihadists were six in number approximately.
"First, they set fire to the vehicles to the surroundings before entering the hotel.
"They are wearing turbans and in masks. They all had beards.
"They said they were acting on behalf of the Islamic State."
Mr Diallo also said there were between 100 to 150 people in the hotel at the time of the attack as many guests were having dinner.

Another eyewitness, named only as Mathieu, said: "I was en route to the Akino Faso hotel, arriving at Kwame Nkrumah I saw some cars coming front the other direction which shot at the hotel.

"When I continued towards the hotel there was a (V8) which blocked the way but there was a small space to pas through so I went through it.
"At the same tome I saw three men in turbans with Kalashnikovs who came out of the hotel and started to shoot at the air about 10metres from me.
"I fled from the situation, but I had the time to see two bodies on the floor outside Cappuccino cafe, they were white people.
"At the same moment, there was an explosion in the hotel.
"It was not a shot, it was an explosion. "

 

Horror: An eyewitness reported seeing terrorists armed with Kalashnikovs storm the hotel

 

Fatal: At least two people are dead and two injured in the attack

"So I circumvented the hotel and tried to look for my mother and ask her if we could go back to hers.
"When I passed Kwame Nkurumah again to leave, a man in front of me took a bullet through his passenger door.
"He opened the door and fell out of his car. A firefighters who passed by had seen him and got out to help him.
"While I looked for a way to escape there was a disturbance in the street and people started shooting to clear people way.
"When I left there was still no order in the place."
The French Ambassador in Burkina Faso Gilles Thibault tweeted: "Terrorist attack on Avenue N'Krumah. Avoid the perimeter."
Flight radar tracking sites also suggested an Air France flight had to divert its path away from Ouagadougou.
Burkina Faso has remained politically unstable since October 2014 when veteran President Blaise Compaore was overthrown in a popular protest.
Two militants killed 20 people from nations including Russia, China and the United States at a luxury hotel in neighbouring Mali in November last year 2015, before being killed by the security forces.
Three Islamist groups including al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed that attack, the most prominent by militants who are based in the north of the country and have staged a series of attacks over the last year.

Four Tips for Cooking Up and Serving Consumable Content

With the holidays upon us, food is inevitably a source of discussion. As a marketer, you know that for your content to provide value, it must be (like food) consumed and digested.
You also know that the ingredients, timing, and presentation all have an impact on what we consume!
Straight from the marketer's cookbook, therefore, here are four tips for making your content readily consumable.

1. Choose the finest ingredients

Great food starts with great ingredients. Great content is the same. Knowing your key messages and differentiators, and really honing your tone, are the basics.
If your company doesn't have a specific voice and you haven't even begun to think about personas, consider doing so; the more you know about the tastes and preferences of who you are trying to reach, and the more you appeal to those, the more effective your content.

2. Keep it fresh

Stale content has just as much appeal as week-old salad: none.
If prospects are going to read and interact with your content, it needs to be timely and relevant. That doesn't mean you always have produce new content (although... you mostly do), but it does mean that your evergreen content has to be just that: evergreen—not brown and wilted at the edges.
Fresh content can be a matter of perspective. What is relevant to someone midway through the buying journey may not be relevant to someone at the decision stage.
One way companies keep their content fresh while keeping their messaging on point is to ask prospects to engage with the content and then share their opinion about what is relevant to them. Interactive content—maybe a personality test or assessment or survey—can provide marketers with an opportunity to ask prospects about their concerns and current needs to determine where they are in the process.
Then, using the information to build an enhanced customer profile, the marketer can next serve up just the right morsel of content.
For example, DemandGen, which helps companies deploy and use marketing automation and CRM systems, is running a campaign asking its audience of prospects to think about how strong their Sales and Marketing relationships are. It developed an assessment covering the key problem areas for Sales-Marketing alignment, including questions such as "Do you have an agreed-upon definition of the word 'lead'?"
Based on responses to those questions, the marketers at DemandGen are able to suggest the best next step for the prospects answering the questions.

3. Use portion control

A well-balanced marketing mix features snacks and full meals. Bite-sized content is a great way to grab attention and pull prospects in when they are not yet ready to commit to a complete information download.
For example, content elements such as brief polls and surveys are a quick way to gauge interest and start the conversation with a fresh lead. They also provide immediate insights that Sales and Marketing can use for follow-up. Bizo/LinkedIn achieved a 79% click-through rate and 56% lead-form completion rate when the embedded a weekly poll on their blog.
Another example: HR solutions provider SilkRoad showcases an ROI calculator on its homepage that offers industry best-practices alongside cost-related questions. In the first two months, the calculator generated almost 300 new leads—better qualified for Sales than usual.
Meanwhile, at the evaluation stage, more in-depth (long-form) content might be more compelling to your prospect. Once people require more information, interactive whitepapers, webinars, and e-books can provide the next level of detail.
The Interactive Guide to Becoming a Backup and Disaster Recovery Superhero, from Unitrends, is a good example of interactive, long-form content that that speaks to prospects further down the funnel.
Most likely, your prospects will be at various stages in the buyer's journey, and that means you need to have content that speaks to them based on where they are in that process.

4. Presentation matters

When we head out for a night of fine dining, we don't expect our Kobe beef to arrive in a styrofoam container with a plastic spork and a packet of ketchup. And we do expect our sushi to be both fresh and tastefully arranged.
We want the same of the content: It must look (and taste) good, and it must be easy to consume. Otherwise, we might skip it and move on to the next email, ad unit, or infographic.
You might have exactly the right message, but in a form that doesn't attract attention: You know that all the best content in the world won't do anyone any good if it resides on a website that's a complete mess, and that a 100-page whitepaper in six point type doesn't make sense.
But when was the last time you thought about overhauling your CTAs with more compelling copy? "Inter-action verbs" are better than "action verbs" in driving results: "Test," "Assess," "Calculate" and other interactive calls to action generate click through rates that average 50%.
For an example of a great in-event piece of interactive content, look at what Cornerstone OnDemand used to promote its presence at HR Tech Europe Conference and Expo. It created a personality test called "What's your Halloween Worker Style?" and presented it to event attendees via iPad. Users found out whether they were office zombies, vampires, etc. Then, Cornerstone invited attendees to a company-sponsored cocktail party and served app users drinks crafted specifically for the result of the personality test. It was fun, seasonal engagement that built excitement while collecting valuable lead data on attendees.
Elaborate? Yes, but talk about memorable presentation!
If you want prospects to eat up what you serve, make sure you are cooking up something worth consuming!

Could a Dutch Mercenary Be Charged with Murder for Killing Islamic State Militants?

When a Dutch man decided to join Kurdish forces in Syria to help them beat back the Islamic State, he probably thought he would return to the Netherlands to a hero’s welcome.

Turns out he returned to murder charges instead.

Dutch prosecutors believe the 47-year-old, whose name has not been released due to the country’s strict privacy laws, killed Islamic State militants in Syria. Although he is a former Dutch soldier, he reportedly traveled there without any instruction from the military. If he did in fact kill Islamic State militants, that could earn him prison time in the Netherlands.

He appeared before an investigating judge in the city of Rotterdam on Friday, but was released after agreeing to turn over his passport, which the judge said would ensure he did not travel back to Syria.

Still, the possibility of a full-fledged criminal trial is very real. Prosecutors said Friday there is “an important difference between Dutch nationals who travel to Syria on their own to fight against IS and Dutch soldiers who train Iraqi and Kurdish forces.”

The Netherlands has backed a campaign against the Islamic State, and even sends Dutch soldiers to train Kurdish forces. But Amsterdam does not encourage Dutch nationals to join the Kurds on their own. Still, some 100 Westerners are thought to have joined them in Iraq and Syria in the past two years. In 2015, at least one Canadian and one Briton were killed in battle.
But whoever this 47-year-old is, he’s not the only Dutch committed to backing up the Kurds. In October 2014, members of No Surrender, a Dutch biker gang, announced gang members had traveled to Mosul to fight the Islamic State.
At the time, Dutch public prosecutor spokesman Wim de Bruin defended the bikers.

“Joining a foreign armed force was previously punishable; now it’s no longer forbidden,” he told AFP. “You just can’t join a fight against the Netherlands.”

Alexis Sanchez Injury: Updates on Arsenal Forward's Hamstring and Return

Arsenal attacker Alexis Sanchez injured his hamstring during the Nov. 29 Premier League clash with Norwich City. It is uncertain when he will be able to return to first-team action.

Wenger Comments on Sanchez Recovery

Friday, Jan. 15

"He has two decisive days [to prove his fitness ahead of the Stoke City match]," said Gunners boss Arsene Wenger, per Hamish Mackay of the Mirror. "Today and tomorrow. He’s fit. Do we take a gamble or not on his injury?"

---

Sanchez's Absence Takes Major Threat out of Gunners' Attack

The loss of Sanchez is a big restriction for Arsenal. He made a slow start to the 2015-16 Premier League season but netted six goals in 12 Premier League starts, per WhoScored.com.
While Arsenal have bags of talent in their attacking ranks, Sanchez is a player who—alongside Mesut Ozil—makes the Gunners tick.
Wenger has plenty of alternative options in the likes of Olivier Giroud, Joel Campbell and Theo Walcott.
However, despite the Gunners' depth in attack, Wenger will be hoping Sanchez returns soon, as he is all but irreplaceable as a creator and goalscorer.

Nigerian Striker Scores Twice on Debut for New Club, Says Arsenal Want Him

Austin Amutu clearly isn't lacking in confidence.
The 22-year-old Nigerian striker only recently scored twice on his debut for Israeli side Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona, but he's already targeting a move to Premier League leaders Arsenal.

"It has been my dream to play for Arsenal, they came for my while I was at Warri Wolves and I think it was money that truncated the whole thing, by now I should be playing for Arsenal or any team in England," he told AfricanFootball (via the Evening Standard).
Amutu is only on a training contract at Hapoel, but that hasn't stopped him sounding out opportunities elsewhere. "I am happy that a coach like [Arsene] Wenger has interest in me for long, still keeps his eyes on me and has not lost interest. I believe I am not far away from my dream of playing for Arsenal," he explained.
Recent months have seen the Gunners linked with a number of high-profile strikers, including Real Madrid's Karim Benzema, according to French journalist Pierre Menes (via the Telegraph), as they look to win their first league title in 12 years.

Arsenal Transfer News: Borja Mayoral Boost Amid Real Madrid Dispute, Top Rumours

Arsenal are reportedly prepared to give Real Madrid starlet Borja Mayoral a wage offer he cannot refuse, as the teenage wonderkid sits in dispute with the Liga giants over his deal at the Santiago Bernabeu. 

Spanish media outlet Fichajes (h/t Mark Brus of Metro) claims the 18-year-old "wants to be on the same money" earned by Norway international prodigy Martin Odegaard after producing a strong goalscoring record for Madrid's youth teams.

The Spain under-19 attacker could find his way to the Premier League if Los Blancos do not bow to his demands, with manager Arsene Wenger ready to tempt the attacker with substantial personal terms.

Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno

Mayoral currently features for Madrid's Castilla side as a striker and has represented the senior first team—playing once in La Liga, per Brus. The player is a native of the Spanish capital, born in the suburban community of Parla.
However, a potential deal may have been scuppered on Thursday after FIFA announced on its official website that Madrid will be banned from registering new players until 2017. The sanction is likely to see Real unwilling to let players leave during the period, halting Arsenal's ambitions. 

Mayoral would give Wenger a quality, young, attacking option from the bench, supplementing Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott in the striker's role. However, Real's transfer ban could force the Gunners to evaluate other options in the short term, if they require an attacking player in January. 
Arsenal maintained their place at the top of the Premier League with a 3-3 draw against Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday. Former England captain Rio Ferdinand told BT Sport—when delivering punditry on the match—that he believes the Gunners are short of a top-class midfielder in order to grab the title in 2016 (h/t Luke Gardener of the Daily Star):

I think they need a dominant real force in midfield, I think a Pogba-type, that sort of stature. A Toure-type. You look at someone even like Wanyama who is a big strong lad.
Someone physical when the going gets tough, who is not only physically good but can play positionally as well.
I think they'll add real steel to the team because they've got all the finesse, they've got all the creativity and they've got the legs.
But I just think that sometimes when they go away from home they need a big, big strong player in there, the Vieira, the Petit.

Gualter Fatia

Wenger has added a midfielder to his squad in the form of defensive-minded Mohamed Elneny. The player said the transfer gave him an "indescribable feeling," per the club's official website, providing the Arsenal manager a deeper option in the centre.

The 23-year-old is a significant capture for the league leaders, but he will not offer the capabilities of entities such as Paul Pogba or Yaya Toure. The former Basel player will carry the ball forward and join up with the attack, but he is not a world-class operator.
Arsenal's most successful years were with Patrick Vieira dominating the centre of the park, and, as Ferdinand claims, Wenger needs a physical presence to balance out the flair he has in his squad—allowing the Gunners to power through opponents when needed.
Elneny is a good squad addition, but he will need significant time to adjust to the hectic environment of the Premier League and the demands of the English game.  

Mark Zuckerberg's neighbours are FURIOUS with the Facebook billionaire - and here's why

Mark Zuckerberg may have created Facebook, but his neighbours don't "like" him at the moment

Living next to one of the world's richest people can't be easy, but Mark Zuckerberg's neighbours are FURIOUS with him.
Apparently, the billionaire's security team are repeatedly leaving their vehicles illegally outside his house - taking up valuable parking space.
Zuck's fellow residents are so infuriated they've circulated a letter urging other neighbours to report him to the authorities.
It claims that two silver SUVs are taking up "desirable" spots in the area.
“I’m sure you all agree that it can be cumbersome living next to Zuck. I think we’ve all tried to be as patient and civil as possible during the very long construction, the noise, the trash, the blocking of streets, etc.

 

Mark Zuckerberg's house in California

"Now that all that circus is done, we are left with 2 silver SUV's permanently occupying desirable parking spots," it states.
"It goes without saying that living close to Dolores Park and the awesome neighboring districts already creates a challenge when it comes to street parking, so the 2 spots that are illegally being held for Zuck only makes matters worse."
The anti-social network of neighbours want Zuckerberg reported to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.
The letter includes the contact details of Tim Wenzel, Zuckerberg's "residential security manager", including his Facebook email.
But Zuckerberg stands by his security team .
“The security team’s cars are parked in accordance with local parking laws. The team strives to be sensitive to neighbors’ concerns and regrets any inconvenience,” a spokesperson told Buzzfeed .

 

Construction work happening outside Zuckerberg's pad

Zuckerberg has a busy year ahead of him after making a resolution that he will build a robot butler to help him around the house.
We're not sure how his neighbours will take to that, either.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang laughs off Arsenal fan's cheeky transfer request

It's official: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will NOT be joining Arsenal . That's hardly an exclusive, of course. The Gabon striker confirmed as much last week after winning the African Player of the Year Award . Having reiterated his commitment to Borussia Dortmund , he might have thought he'd finally put talk of a January transfer to bed.
He's had no such luck, however.
As you can see above, a rogue Arsenal fan has decided to have one last go at convincing Aubameyang to join Arsene Wenger's side. While transfer negotiations are usually complicated affairs replete with secret approaches, behind-the-scenes wrangling, legal contracts and personal terms, this lad has cut out all that nonsense and simply asked Pierre directly: "Are you coming to Arsenal?!"
The answer? "No". *awkward laughter*
Considering that transfers are very, very rarely concluded by a teenager asking a professional footballer to join his favourite club ("Oh, okay then!"), we're not sure what response the kid was expecting here. 

Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho jokes about painful collision with Olivier Giroud on Snapchat

Considering that Mamadou Sakho and Olivier Giroud have played alongside each other numerous times for the French national team, you might think that they'd cut each other some slack when playing for their club sides.
The pair are firm friends, compatriots with Les Bleus - despite being direct adversaries in the Premier League, their mutual comradeship should stop them from being too rough with each other.
It clearly doesn't, however. If this pic from Sakho's official Snapchat is anything to go by, the Liverpool man took an absolute battering from his Arsenal counterpart during the 3-3 draw between the two sides at Anfield.
Both Mamadou and Olivier are notoriously physical players, and their running battle on Wednesday night obviously took its toll. Sakho was left with a serious shiner on his forehead - one which he's attributed to his handsome opponent in the aftermath of the match.

Content Types Men Share Most

Men are more likely to share online content pieces that are shorter in length, have the potential to spark debate, and are about timely topics, according to a recent report from Apester.
The report was based data from over 250 million monthly pageviews, engagements, and social media shares of content from major online publishers.
The researchers examined which types of content were most often shared on male-orientated websites compared with female-oriented websites.
The content pieces shared most by men on the sites examined were about timely topics like sports (48% of shares) and world affairs (22%), the analysis found.

The most shared articles on the male-oriented websites examined were 17% shorter, on average, and 24% shorter than the average article length on female-oriented sites.
The most shared online quizzes by men had 19% fewer answers, on average, than other quizzes on the same sites.
The most popular quizzes with men had shorter questions, on average, than the most popular quizzes with women (7 words vs. 9 words).
Content pieces with a high number of shares on the male-orientated sites tended to ask debatable questions and/or include controversial opinion-driven commentary.

About the research: The report was based data from over 250 million monthly pageviews, engagements, and social media shares on major online publishers. The researchers examined which types of content were most often shared on male-orientated websites compared with female-oriented websites.

The Four Critical Steps You Need to Master Content Science

Marketers continue to face a series of content-creation challenges, ranging from the amount and value of their content to the way they approach content creation.
Some 44% of respondents to an Aberdeen Group survey say they approach content creation in an ad hoc fashion, and 51% say they focus on the pressure of creating enough content.
The top concern for marketers, however, is how they might be able to differentiate themselves from their competitors.
In a world of cluttered inboxes and inflated promises, marketers can no longer rely on their marketing instincts alone to reach and engage audiences. The success of your marketing strategies largely hinges on the quality of your content and how well the content engages your audience.
Aberdeen Group research has found that organizations that develop and execute data-driven content enjoy nearly five times more marketing-attributed revenue than those that do not.

Embarking on a content science strategy can be daunting, but it will ensure you win more and leave less revenue on the table.
I'd suggest starting with a detailed understanding of your customers (who they are and what they are interested in). That might seem obvious, but you'd be surprised: only 38% of best-in-class companies implement a personalization experience across all channels.
By taking the following series of steps, you'll not only better understand who your customer is but also identify areas where your sellers are more likely to win. These four steps are the beginning to establishing your competitive advantage.
1. Audience: Buyers' expectations are evolving, and broad-based content marketing alone just won't cut it anymore. Best-in-class companies (they may even be your competitors) are able to take action based on each buyer's preferences. That ability begins with doing a full analysis of your marketing database. Identify who's responding and converting, and ask, "Are these my best customers?" Firmographic data is important, but your understanding of additional data sources, such as social data or installed technologies, for example, will allow you to segment better than your competition and eventually close more deals.
2. Placement: You need to be where your customers are, and offer content that is proven to engage. It's crucial that you apply this understanding to where the market is, and never more crucial than at the top of the funnel (remember, this content is all about help, not hype!). Your goal is to win mindshare, views, and engagement in a competitive market.
3. Message: Our customers' sellers tell us that what they really want to know is, "What can I use to get my prospects to pay attention to me in a world of never-ending options?" If you can present a compelling story or message (that's supported by trusted third-party content) after you've identified someone as being a good target, you'll be more successful than if you'd cast a wider net toward just anyone, with a message that won't entice. When done properly, the message will be tuned to the preferences of your targeted audience.
4. Timing: All of the previous three steps won't amount to much if you don't understand where your buyer sits in the buying cycle. For example, you're just not going to share a 10-page research report on all the implementation details of blue widgets to a chief technology officer during a top-of-funnel communication. So how do you begin to use data to support buying decisions? Really dig into your data to determine the type of content that the buyer is engaging with or even the frequency/intensity of return visits. Other, enhanced data sets might indicate the person is far down the funnel, such as media interest classifiers, social behavior, public data, and modeled data.
The beauty (and benefit) of a content-science approach is that it is actually a blend of art and science. What it boils down to is creating a continuous improvement cycle to keep your content-science strategy in check (a process we at Aberdeen Group support).
Content will always come from a creative environment, but by treating content as data objects, you move from just an art to art and science. And that is truly revolutionary.

Anglicans sanction US Episcopal Church over gay marriage

Anglican leaders on Thursday temporarily restricted the role of the U.S. Episcopal Church in their global fellowship as a sanction over the American church's acceptance of gay marriage.

Episcopalians have been barred for three years from any policy-setting positions in the Anglican Communion while a task force is formed that will try to reconcile conflicting views over sexuality in the 85-million-member family of churches. The Episcopal Church is the Anglican body in the United States.

The announcement came near the end of a weeklong meeting in Canterbury, England, called by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, to heal rifts over same-sex relationships and keep the Anglican Communion from splitting apart. Welby, the Anglican spiritual leader, has set a news conference Friday in Canterbury to explain the leaders' decision.

Episcopal Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, who was installed in office less than three months ago, has been attending the meeting. He told the other leaders their vote "will bring real pain" to gays and lesbians and to Episcopalians "committed to following Jesus in the way of love and being a church that lives that love." Still, he said he was committed to the Anglican family.

The Global Anglican Future Conference, which represents theologically conservative Anglican leaders worldwide, had sought sanctions against the U.S. church, and some members said they would walk out of this week's meeting unless some penalty was applied. One leader, Ugandan Archbishop Stanley Ntagali, did so. But in a statement Thursday, the conference known as GAFCON said their leaders were pleased by the outcome of the meeting, but "this action must not be seen as an end, but as a beginning."

Anglicans, whose roots are in the missionary work of the Church of England, are the third-largest grouping of Christians in the world, behind Roman Catholics and the Orthodox.
The fellowship has been fracturing for decades over gay relationships, women's ordination and other issues. Those rifts blew wide open in 2003 when the New York-based Episcopal Church consecrated the first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson, in New Hampshire. Last year, the top U.S. Episcopal legislative body, or General Convention, voted to authorize gay marriages in their churches.
The most vocal protests to the Episcopal embrace of gay rights came from Africa, home to some of the fastest-growing churches in the Anglican communion and the deepest opposition to gay relationships as a violation of Scripture. Many African countries have criminalized gay relationships.
Theological conservatives from around the world joined together to form the Global Anglican Future Conference as a fellowship within the communion, distancing themselves from the U.S. Episcopal Church and refusing to participate in some Anglican gatherings.
In 2009, Anglican national leaders in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and other church provinces helped create the Anglican Church in North America, as a theologically conservative alternative to the U.S. Episcopal Church. Welby had invited the leader of the conservative North American body to participate in the Canterbury assembly.
The press office for the Anglican leaders in Canterbury said the statement released Thursday affirmed the leaders' "unanimous commitment to walk together." The statement acknowledged "deep differences" over understanding of marriage and said the majority in the meeting "reaffirm" the teaching that marriage is only the union of a man and a woman. The leaders called the Episcopal Church approval of gay marriage "a fundamental departure from the faith and teaching" of the majority of Anglicans.
As a result, Episcopalians "no longer represent us on ecumenical and interfaith bodies," and have the equivalent of observer status in Anglican commissions, the leaders said.
While the U.S. Episcopal Church is alone among Anglican provinces in approving gay marriage, other Anglican national churches, in Brazil, South Africa, New Zealand and Scotland, have taken steps toward accepting same-sex relationships. The top body of the Anglican Church of Canada is scheduled to vote in July on a proposal that would authorize gay marriage. A spokeswoman for the Canadian church said its leader, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, would comment after the news conference Friday.

Four Mistakes That Can Kill Your Brand Campaigns

t's no secret that the days of just "the three screens" are long gone. When that world died, the old wisdom of targeted, by-the-numbers ad buys died, too.
So, instead, these days we hear a lot of talk about brand-centric conversations and always-on marketing. And the people using those buzzwords often have no idea what they mean. I know that because I regularly see marketers ignore the implications of those concept and go right on making branding mistakes that undercut their marketing goals.
Here are four of the biggest mistakes I see, and some thoughts on how to fix them.
1. Forgetting the 'Always' Part of 'Always-On Marketing'
At Adobe, we talk a lot about the idea of always-on marketing—the idea that it's now impossible to control where and how customers interact with your brand.

We used to be able to control at least some of those interactions from the brand end: You'd present your message on traditional channels, such as TV, or conduct face-to-face outreach programs, and you could generally lead the conversation from the top down. The Web, in general—social media, in particular—has shifted that paradigm: Now, maybe 10% of the conversation is led by marketers while the rest takes shape from the bottom up, from the customer base itself.
The upshot is that your brand conversation needs to be open to adapting to these customer-led interactions. Staying "on-message" is counterproductive if that message isn't resonating with customers—or, far worse, if it's leading to mockery of your brand.
That's not to say you can't help guide the conversation. You can, to a small extent: When those unexpected online conversations happen, you need to show up, add value, be transparent, and say something clever or useful. Otherwise, you're shooting your own brand in the foot.
2. Focusing Exclusively on Ad Buys Instead of on Buying Behavior
When you go to book a hotel, what's the first place you check? For me, it's certainly not hotel advertisements or travel agencies. It's customer-review websites, such as Kayak and TripAdvisor. And studies back up the idea that that's true for most consumers. Their buying behavior isn't driven primarily by ad buys any more; it's driven by brand guidance throughout the buying process.
Now I'm not saying ad buys are a bad thing. They still play an important role in almost any campaign. But the point is that the hotel is no longer the crucial brand in a customer's decision-making process; instead, the booking service itself now takes center stage.
For many companies, this shift has radically transformed the way they put their brands in front of customers. The old logic might've looked something like "Well, if everyone's checking TripAdvisor, let's buy ads on TripAdvisor." But that obviously won't work, not only because many customers have ad-blocking software now but also because those customers aren't focusing as heavily on the ads; they're focusing on what their peers say on the booking service.
So, throwing more money at this problem isn't a solution. Your brand's solution needs to address the buying behavior of customers in the communities that interact with your brand. And that means understanding not just where they buy but also how and why they buy.
3. Not Putting the 'Customer Goggles' On
My previous point leads directly to this one. Brand marketers need to focus on understanding where and how customers interact with us, just like everyone else; accordingly, we've got to focus on the end-to-end customer experience. That means presenting the brand to the customer in a consistent way, from first introduction to long-term support.
People used to buy a product off the marketing, then call support once they had it in hand. Now, a customer might look up support videos on YouTube as part of the buying-decision process. In other words, the order in which customers engage with brand messaging has become all but impossible to control.
In traditional marketing you'd have the "pre" team that focuses on Web outreach and brand awareness, and a "post" team that focuses on product support and long-term CRM. But in the world of always-on marketing, there's got to be a lot more cross-pollination among the people on those teams. Instead of looking at marketing as a funnel, everyone associated with the brand needs to be thinking in terms of actual customer behavior.
4. Failing to Sell the New Paradigm up the Chain
Selling your brand's customer experience to customers is only part of the battle. Failing to sell these new approaches in the boardroom can torpedo the best marketing plan before it gets the chance to shine. The people higher up the chain want to see numbers—such as conversion percentages and the other usual data. Phrases like "brand conversation" and "customer goggles" can sound like a lot of fluff to them. And, in the wrong hands, that's exactly what they are.
But that "fluffy" approach has already worked for some big players, most notably Coca-Cola; its "Share a Coke" campaign generated huge sales numbers last year by simply encouraging users to share photos of their personalized Coke cans on social channels. That's why, this year, Coke doubled down with even more customizations, including "Bro" and "Sis."
That approach is far from classic advertising, but it's working wonders for a classic product.
If you've got a plan for making your product a part of customers' lives, then you've got to find a way of selling upper management on the idea. A one-to-one correlation, as with traditional ad buys, may simply not exist in this new paradigm. But that doesn't mean the results won't be big. Rigorous research and proven case studies—such as Coca-Cola's—will go a long way.
An Ongoing Process
You need to work every day on understanding where and how customers interact with your brands, where and how they make their purchase decisions, and what kinds of engagement strategies translate into better sales numbers down the road.
This game still holds a lot of question marks, even for seasoned experts—and that's what makes it so exciting.

Build Your Brand by Separating It From Product

Sometimes the hardest thing—conceptually—for marketers to do is to separate their brand from their product.
"Product is king."
"All people really care about is the product."
"Price and product—that's it."
"Our brand is our product—they're one in the same."

I've heard it all before, and from some very successful people. But it's all an illusion. None of it is true.
When people choose brands, they are projecting an extension of themselves onto the brand. The brand augments their identity, just as their choice of friends, music, and fashion does.
Consumers will literally brand themselves by identifying with your brand. It's personal. It's emotional.
Here's what a brand really does
To develop a brand, you need to understand how it works and what it does. You need to separate your brand from your product, and think of it as its own entity.

• A brand is a promise of quality, values, virtues, and consistency.
• A brand has a voice, style, persona, soundtrack, and vibe.
• A brand tells you to expect to pay more or expect to pay less.
• It creates preference based on how it's presented.
• A brand can be fashionable, and it can fall out of fashion.
• A brand needs to be supported and nurtured.
• A brand can be sold separately from a product, and licensed to be associated with other products.
• A successful brand can launch a failed product and survive.

In contrast, products are goods. Quite often, a product is manufactured by a company that is different from the brand. Kraft doesn't make its own cheese. The Ford Fusion is really a Mazda 6. Nike licenses its brand name out to many manufacturers.
Brands are bought and sold separately from manufacturing facilities. Different brands often sell the same product with far different results.
It's true that brand attributes should be consistent with and supported by the attributes of the product it's attached to, but the brand has its own distinct role and identity.
Here are some of the exercises we go through when developing brand positioning and messaging. Give these five a try.
1. Develop customer personas
To develop a brand that will be meaningful to your consumers, you need to understand who your consumers are, what they're seeking, and why they're seeking it.
We recommend using consumer personas in planning. Through formal and informal research, marketers should develop profiles of consumers that include physical and emotional needs as well as their influencers, sources of information, and media and product consumption patterns.
Most likely, a matrix of several types of customers will gravitate to your brand out of a sense of need and preference.
Building your brand for success involves a constant effort to reinforce the attributes of the brand that meet the emotional needs of the consumer.
2. Develop your brand's persona
Create your brand's persona; in other words, describe it as a person. Think of how your brand may be perceived today and how you would like it to be perceived. This exercise enables you to see the brand in a more conceptual way. Challenge yourself to identify applicable traits.
Here are some thought-starters:

• Masculine or feminine?
• Age?
• Conservative or risk-taker?
• Sense of humor?
• Authoritative or social?
• What brands are its friends?
• How does the brand differ from its competition?
• Then, list your brand's promises to the consumer:
• What do you stand for?
• What do you deliver?
• What are your guarantees to the consumer (implied or real)?

Summarize your answers into one generalized and simple promise.
Now, identify your product's attributes and deliverables.
List your product's attributes:

• What does it do?
• How does it do it?
• What is it made of?

List your product's deliverables: Because of what the product does, what does the consumer receive?
3. Arrive at an ultimate consumer benefit by reconnecting brand and product
Connect the product's deliverables and the brand's promise. That intersect defines the benefit to your customer from experiencing your brand and using your product. That benefit is also your point of differentiation, and it will allow you to develop creative campaigns that the consumer connects to and finds meaningful.
A few examples:

• Coca-Cola makes you happy/smile.
• Volvo makes you feel safe and secure behind the wheel.
• Harley-Davidson lets you become a free spirit.

4. Get a partner to help
Sometimes, it takes a third party, such as a good agency, to come in to your business and help you separate your brand from your product.
An experienced hand can see the dynamics of your brand in the larger picture and lead you down the right path. Corporate marketing managers often get so wrapped up in the details of management that they need outside perspective to maintain a clear view of their situation.

Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2015/28314/build-your-brand-by-separating-it-from-product#ixzz3xGAiKsVf

How to Get Better Branded Content for Your Campaigns: Give Away More Creative Control.

Since the Mad Men days, the process of creating ad campaigns has remained more or less the same: Brands tell agencies their marketing objectives, agencies come up with campaign ideas to fulfill those objectives, agency creative teams put them into practice, and brands weigh in at every step.
Revisions, rewrites, reshoots... by the time a campaign launches, it may look nothing like the original concept the brand fell in love with.
If you ask brand marketers, that review process is essential to creating the best possible version of their ads: They know their brand better than anyone else, so why shouldn't they have the final say?
Yet, although, they may be experts on their own brands, they're not experts in creating amazing content. The people they're working with, on the other hand, are exactly that, and their unique expertise deserves to be heard.
If you hire someone to build you a house, you'd probably find good architects whose work appeals to you; they would show you a design, you'd give some feedback, and you'd work with them to make changes that make sense to both of you. If they told you a certain type of material wouldn't work for indoor flooring, you'd listen to them. You might check in on how construction is going, but you wouldn't make them move a door to the other side of the room after it's already installed.

You trust experts to build your house. Why wouldn't you trust experts to make your video?
In my company's work with brands and content creators, I've seen the same scenario play out again and again. Brands want content that appeals to a particular audience, so they work with creators who are experts in capturing that audience. Then, rather than trust the creators' expertise, they try to shoehorn the content into their brand guidelines, telling the creator to use this word instead of that one. This topic is okay, this one isn't. Use our product this way, not that way.
The creator's voice and perspective are buried under the brand's standards, robbing the content of its uniquely engaging perspective.
Brands, it's time to let go. Find creative partners you trust, get on the same page about the project, then let them do their thing. If you're working with the right creators, odds are you'll get back exactly the content you need—and, let's face it, it'll probably turn out better than if you'd been hovering over the creator's shoulder the entire time.
Before you hand over the keys to the kingdom, though, here are four tips to make sure your project goes smoothly.
1. Find a creative partner that you trust
A trusted partner is absolutely crucial, both for your peace of mind and for the success of your campaign. You can start with creators that you or people you know have worked with, or you can just seek out people who have done great work in the past.
Check out their portfolio, Vimeo channel, Instagram, and website and see whether anything grabs you. Does their work look polished? Is it clear from their past projects that they can deliver on what you need from them? When you contact them, are they responsive?
Doing your research now can save you some potential headaches down the line.
2. Get your team on board
Make sure your marketing department understands why it's not calling all the shots any more, and don't turn it into a referendum on team members' past performance. Get their help choosing a creative partner, and listen to any concerns they may have.
When everyone's in alignment right from the get-go, you can present a unified front to your creators, give them a clear picture of your expectations, and avoid confusion.
3. Spell it out, up front
When you're not going to be doing multiple rounds of revisions on a project, it's especially important to be clear—from the very beginning—about what you need from your creator.
You must clearly explain your brand, your audience, and the kind of content you're looking for; doing so is the only way to figure out whether the work is a good fit for the your creator. If everybody's happy, then get a detailed outline of what the creator is planning, ask any questions you have, and spell out the deadlines and deliverables.
The only thing that should be surprising is how freeing it is to turn the project over to your creator's capable hands, sit back, and get results!
4. Consider a portfolio approach
Once you get comfortable handing over some control to your creative partners, you can take on more of a curator role, collecting content for your brand from different sources and bringing it together to form your marketing strategy.
Different creators bring different strengths and different audiences to the table; so, to reach a broad consumer base, your campaigns may look a lot different from what you're used to. Instead of getting 10 videos from one agency, maybe you'll get two videos each from five independent videographers, each with its own unique "flavor." Achieving content that goes viral is always a gamble, but you're probably better off betting on multiple creators than committing all your resources to one.
* * *
I meet with and talk to amazing creative people every day, and I've seen what they can do when given enough flexibility by their brand partners. Ten times out of ten, the better branded content is the content that expresses the creator's, not the brand's, vision for achieving the brand's goals.
Let your creators fly free, and they'll pour their heart into their work—and bring their devoted audiences along for the ride. Tie them down, and you'll both end up frustrated, and all you'll have to show for it is the same kind of content you've seen a thousand times before.

How to Mine Social Media for Authentic Market Intelligence.

With more than $200 billion in spending power and opinion leadership positions in many product segments, Millennials are increasingly using social media to communicate to companies about the products or services they buy. Savvy companies have taken notice, and they have implemented social media marketing strategies that enable them to engage with their customers, prospects, and even competitors on social media.
As important as such direct communications are, there are other social media conversations—those among consumers—that are nearly invisible to companies but are infinitely more insightful and actionable.
On Twitter alone, just 3% of the tweets that mention brands or companies use company identifiers. The other 97% can fly under corporate radar, never to be seen or acted upon.
Companies that mine that hidden world of social media chatter gain invaluable market intelligence into consumer opinion of their brands and competitors. Social media listening also identifies sales prospects, brand advocates, and detractors that never engage directly with the company.
But how is a social media listening process designed and implemented? It's not uncommon for some brands to garner literally hundreds of mentions per hour on social media, so diligence is required to monitor, sort, route, aggregate, and engage messages.

Casting the Net Over Open Water
Considering the vast quantity of content produced each minute on social media, isolating relevant messages is daunting. Fortunately, filtering software can monitor selected channels automatically.
However, such programs are useful only when marketers understand the best approaches to implementing them effectively. Setting too many keywords or vague terms yields chaotic results. Instead, think like a successful fisherman who selects the net with the optimized mesh size to catch the most profitable fish while allowing smaller species to slip through the gaps.
The biggest mistake to avoid is trying to do too much, too fast. Instead of searching for every possible relevant term, stick to company and brand identifiers; then add competing products and industry terms until the software returns enough results to yield intelligence, but not so many that they cannot be processed.
Elimination filters can be as useful as selection filters. For example, it is almost always recommended to automatically eliminate any messages that contain profanity. Over time, other keywords that are indicative of irrelevant messages will come to light and, as soon as they are discovered, should be added to elimination filters.
Triage and Routing
Once relevant messages are identified by social media software, they must be triaged so they can be routed to the most appropriate responder. Before implementing a triage process, however, define message categories that correlate to specific areas of focus.
Categories will vary depending on the goals and the intricacies of the company, its products, and stakeholders. Examples of categories to consider are advocates, detractors, education seekers, support seekers, and sales prospects.
Categorizing and routing messages accurately relies on expertise in the nuances of each social media channel and careful consideration of the psychology and goal of the original writer. That facet is unlikely to be automated any time soon; it can be achieved only by a team of trained professionals. Technically savvy marketers who are intimately familiar with company's products, consumer behavior, and social media communities are necessary to successfully triage messages.
Routing a message to the correct responder can get tricky when motivations are unclear. An angry message that seems to originate from a detractor may in reality be a frustrated request for technical support in disguise. Similarly, a question on compatibility may be an immediate sales prospect, call for support, or the beginnings of a brand advocate.
Appropriate routing isn't always clear, and that's why there is no substitute for a professional triage team. Many companies choose to outsource that function to companies specializing in social media listening for faster ramp-up and easier scalability.
First Responders' Filling the Sales Funnel
Who is the best person to respond to social media messages? Naturally, that depends on the nature of the message. Technical support questions need to be answered by support experts, and sales questions by qualified salespeople.
The biggest mistake companies make in responding to social media messages is hiring "social media experts." Though understanding the space is important, what's more important is expertise in dealing with people and identifying opportunities.
The first goal of responding to relevant messages is to solve the problem at hand or provide motivation to continue championing the brand. The end game, however, is to drive sales.
Regardless of what a responder says to a consumer, the question driving the interaction should be, "How can I move this person further into the sales funnel?" When SaaS or other products involving recurring revenue models are involved, keeping the customer actively within the pipeline is the goal.
That requires skill, expertise, and intuition—not just a familiarity with using social media. Handling prospects on social media also requires consideration of the norms and culture of each channel, but not at the expense of experience in customer service, sales, and technical know-how.
Aggregating the Marketplace of Ideas
The Internet at large is the ultimate platform for free speech, and social media is the benefactor of the unfiltered expression cultivated by Usenet, Internet Relay Chat, and Web forums. That culture has created an unprecedented level of candor among consumers for expressing themselves; marketers are unlikely to duplicate such candor in controlled studies.
As a result, social media offers the most unfiltered window into consumer perceptions, attitudes, and desires available.
Although the immediate goal of social media responders is to engage consumers on an individual level, they must absolutely catalog and quantify as many aspects of their interactions as possible. The wealth of unfiltered information is there for the taking—but only to those who take the time to capture and collate it. A wide variety of software is available to complete that task, but the key is to train responders to log it so researchers can mine it.
Once the market's heartbeat is mapped, it can be used to guide almost every component of operations. New-product design, available features, pricing, timing, even positioning and branding are all improved when advised by the market's perceptions and attitudes.
The path to unprecedented success is paved with actions known to resonate with consumers, and that knowledge is sitting on the social media vine, just waiting to be picked.

Why fear of war weighs heavily for Russians in the New Year

The Russian public is worried about a full-on conflict with the US, fed in part by a drumbeat from the Kremlin and in part by US and NATO foreign policies.

Magomed Tolboev, a former Soviet bomber pilot, says he feels that relations between Russia and the US are worse today than they were even in the depths of the cold war. In those days his job, for which he trained rigorously, was to take out a US air base in Turkey with a nuclear strike.

"There was some kind of predictable order in cold war times. Two camps, two leaders, and everything depended on them. Now there are so many different players, many of them not under control by either side," such as North Korea or the many factions vying for dominance in Syria. "So we have not only growing tension between Moscow and Washington, but all this complicated, many-sided discord. It's very worrisome."

Mr. Tolboev's fears are mirrored by many Russians, who say that for the first time since the collapse of the USSR 25 years ago, they feel the clouds of war gathering, exacerbated by an anti-American sentiment that has reached new highs. Older Russians say they've been through it before and can endure it again; some younger Russians seem more alarmed.

And though the cold war-era fears of nuclear exchange with the US may not yet be coming back, hot war has become a staple of nightly news shows. Neighboring Ukraine has been torn apart in the past couple of years by civil conflict and Moscow's annexation of Crimea. The Kremlin kept Russian involvement in eastern Ukraine's rebellion a now largely open secret – but has loudly advertised Russian military intervention in Syria over the past four months. Polls suggest Russians are overwhelmingly supportive of the move, but they also show undercurrents of anxiety about the country's first foreign military action since the former Soviet Union's disastrous nine-year war in Afghanistan.

When Turkey shot down a Russian bomber near its border with Syria, alleging airspace violations, it triggered a crisis in relations between the two countries and intensified fears that a wider war could erupt, if Turkey pulled in its fellow NATO members.

"I feel scared every time I turn on my TV set," says Natalya Knorre, who works as a cleaning lady in Moscow. "Watching the news, I just cannot summon any feelings of optimism."

WARNING ABOUT 'THE ENEMY'
Critics argue that the war fears and spiking anti-American sentiment have been artificially created by a massive pro-Kremlin propaganda machine.
Practically every broadcast stresses the provocative nature of US policy toward Russia, including pushing eastward NATO expansion, planning to install missile defense systems in Europe, backing Ukraine's anti-Moscow revolution, imposing sanctions against Russia, and backing rebels fighting to overthrow Syria's pro-Russian regime.
The media-generated mood of a revived cold war standoff with the old adversary became official policy at the New Year. Russia published its new national security doctrine, which for the first time explicitly names the US as a "hostile" power. In a massive two-part interview with the German newspaper Bild this week, President Vladimir Putin explained his view of the world, leaving little doubt that he sees the US as the main threat facing Russia.
While Mr. Putin may face an uphill battle convincing Westerners, he's pushing on an open door with most Russians, says Alexei Mukhin, director of the independent Center for Political Information in Moscow. Public opinion polls show that anti-American sentiment is at an all-time high, with 68 percent expressing a negative view of the US in an October survey by the independent Levada Center.
"Public opinion has really changed. It's a pity, since we have enjoyed nearly two decades of normal conversation with the West and a sense of physical security we never had before. Nobody in Russia really wants to go down this road, but our historical memory is kicking in," he says.
Russia has faced repeated, devastating invasions at regular intervals in its history, from the Mongols to Napoleon to Hitler. The long cold war confrontation with the US is a living memory that seems to be acquiring a new life amid the current spate of crises.

"Russia has almost always felt apart, put upon, and in a defensive mood. It's a mistake to expect us to react rationally to things like NATO expansion up to our borders. All those old animal spirits come out in us, and Putin is just riding on those emotions."

SHARED RESPONSIBILITY

Some Russians insist the current anti-Americanism is just an official pose without public roots.

"I don't feel the least bit anti-American, and I don't see it in my circle of friends either," says Nadezhda Mamonova, a Moscow office worker. "It's just at the top, where they decide who we like, who we don't, whose sandbox we're going to play in and whose toys to steal."

However, public opinion polls do show a remarkable shift in the basic attitudes of Russians over the past quarter century. A poll done by the state-supported VTsIOM agency in 1990, the last full year of the Soviet Union, found that 35 percent of respondents thought the US was a "friendly" country, while just 3 percent answered that way in a similar 2015 survey. Just 2 percent viewed the US as an "enemy" state in 1990, but 59 percent thought it was in last year's poll.
Mr. Mukhin agrees that Russian state media plays a role in fanning this mood, but he also argues that frequent statements by Pentagon and NATO officials proclaiming Russia as an "existential threat" – heavily played up on Russian TV – help to confirm the Kremlin narrative in the minds of Russian viewers.

"I don't know what they're thinking when they bang this drum about the 'Russian threat' and declare the need to build up NATO forces in Europe, and so on. Perhaps they think it will scare Russians, but that didn't work in Soviet times so why would it now?" he says.

Tolboev, the former bomber pilot, says that leaders urgently need to relearn cold war lessons.

"The bottom line is that the US and Russia are the two countries that determine the climate in the whole world," he says. "They share the responsibility, just as they did in those days, to sit down and negotiate a way to live together and manage all these inevitable crises. Everything depends on that."

 

French Jews' fears 'intolerable' - Francois Hollande

Francois Hollande has called the idea French Jews would hide their religion out of fear "intolerable", after an anti-Semitic attack in Marseille.

The French president's comments come after a Jewish leader in the city urged men to stop wearing their skullcaps or other religious symbols.
The victim of the attack, a Jewish teacher, was stabbed by a boy who pledged allegiance to Islamic State.
Jews were targeted in January last year during the Charlie Hebdo Paris attacks.
Mr Hollande said: "It is intolerable that in our country citizens should feel so upset and under assault because of their religious choice that they would conclude that they have to hide."
But Zvi Ammar, head of Marseille's Israelite Consistory, said the "exceptional measure" was needed.
Speaking to La Provence newspaper (in French), Mr Ammar called on Jews "not to wear the kippa [skullcap] in the street to avoid being identified as Jewish".
"It is sad to find ourselves in this position in 2016, in a great democratic country like France," he said.
France's Jewish community fears further attacks
French Jews question their future
Monday's machete attack left the teacher, Benjamin Amsellem, 35, who was wearing a skullcap at the time, with an injured shoulder and hand.
The teenage assailant was charged on Wednesday evening with "attempted assassination linked to a terrorist organization", authorities said.
The youth, described as a self-radicalised ethnic Kurd from Turkey, reportedly told police he was "ashamed" he did not manage to kill Mr Amsellem.
It was the third such attack on Jews in recent months in Marseille, which has the third-largest urban population of Jews in Europe after Paris and London

• In November, a teacher at a Jewish school in Marseille was stabbed by three people who shouted anti-Semitic insults at him

• Three Jews were assaulted in the city in October, one with a knife near a synagogue, by a drunken assailant, AFP news agency reports

A 15-year-old Turkish Kurd was arrested after attacking Mr Amsellem, 35, in a Marseille street in broad daylight.
Jewish men often wear a skullcap, also known in Hebrew as a kippa or in Yiddish as a yarmulke, as an outward sign of their religion.
The latest stabbing in Marseille came just days after France held memorial events for those killed in the Paris attacks last January.
Four Jewish shoppers were killed by an IS supporter at a kosher supermarket, shortly after the deadly assault on the office of Charlie Hebdo magazine.
Since then, more than 700 synagogues, Jewish schools and community centres have been protected by police or soldiers.

Ghana's leader Mahama defends accepting Guantanamo detainees

Ghana's president has strongly defended the government's decision to allow two Yemenis freed from Guantanamo Bay to live in the West African state.

Opposition and church groups had condemned the decision, saying the men were a security threat.
However, Mr Mahama said a Ghanaian was more likely to die in a road accident than at the hands of the Yemenis.
The men said they looked forward to living in Ghana, and had followed the national football team in prison.
Khalid al-Dhuby and Mahmoud Omar Bin Atef were held at the US prison in Cuba for more than a decade without being charged.
They are the first Guantanamo detainees that Ghana has accepted, at the request of the US.
The jail was set up following the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US to detain what Washington called "enemy combatants".
US President Barack Obama has said he wants to close the jail down before he leaves office in 2017.
Speaking at a press conference in the capital, Accra, Mr Mahama said that Guantanamo Bay was a "blot on the human rights record of the world".
"They [the men] just want to pick up the pieces of their lives and live normally. We don't have anything to fear," Mr Mahama said, adding that Mr al-Dhuby and Mr Atef were living in a security compound.
He dismissed as "absolutely untrue" allegations that Ghana had received money from the US to take the detainees.
Earlier, the influential Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference called the Yemenis "time bombs" who should be "sent back to wherever they came from".
The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) said that official US documents showed the men had "violent and dangerous profiles".
"Why is government straining to paint a picture of the two detainees as harmless, misunderstood and wrongly detained persons?" it asked.
The two men were captured in Afghanistan, following the US-led invasion to overthrow the Taleban government in 2011.
Mr al-Dhuby and Mr Atef have denied belonging to militant groups.
"We have been wrongly arrested for 14 years without any charge against us," Mr Atef told Ghana's public radio station Uniiq FM.
"We have suffered but we are not looking for revenge," he said.
Mr Atef said they were huge fans of Ghana footballer Asamoah Gyan, and many of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay supported the Black Stars at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
"When Ghana beat America, we were very happy. We made some celebrations. We also told the guards that we've won," Mr Atef said.
Ghana beat the US 2-1, with Gyan scoring the winning goal in extra-time, which sent the Black Stars through to the quarter-finals.
Dozens of countries have received former Guantanamo Bay detainees, including other African states such as Uganda and Cape Verde.
A total of 780 men have been held at Guantanamo Bay since 2002, the vast majority without charge or criminal trial.
The US navy base now has 105 detainees, nearly 50 of whom have been cleared for release.

Iran detains 10 US sailors after vessels stopped in the Gulf

Iran detained 10 US sailors after two small patrol boats reportedly drifted into Iranian waters in the Gulf, US officials say.

They say the Riverine boats apparently developed mechanical problems and were taken to Iran's Farsi Island.
Tehran says the crew and the boats "will be returned promptly", Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told the Associated Press news agency.
The sailors were "snooping" in Iranian waters, Iran's Fars news agency says.
It says the sailors - nine men and a woman - were held by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Kerry 'personally engaged'

"We lost contact with two small US naval craft en route from Kuwait to Bahrain," a senior US administration official said.
Tuesday's incident happened near Farsi Island in the middle of the Gulf.
The sailors are likely to be released on Wednesday morning, US officials said.
After the incident, US Secretary of State John Kerry immediately called Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to begin negotiations.
An unnamed official told the Associated Press that Mr Kerry "personally engaged with Zarif on this issue to try to get to this outcome".
Mr Kerry and Mr Zarif developed a personal relationship throughout three years of negotiating a nuclear deal.
The conservative Tasnim news agency reported that the American boats were equipped with machine guns.
"Frequent calls by US officials urging Tehran to free the detainees continues," reads the Tasnim report.
The Revolutionary Guard has aggressively protected Iranian sea borders in the past.
Fifteen British sailors and marines were held for 13 days in 2007 after they were captured in disputed area between Iran and Iraq.
Tensions between Iran and the US remain despite the breakthrough nuclear deal.
In December, Iran's navy conducted rocket tests near US warships and other commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
The tests were "highly provocative", a US military commander said at the time.

Anti-Muslim Protest in Cologne Turns Violent as Germans Condemn Racist Rhetoric

Cologne, Germany, was again the site of violent clashes Saturday, when authorities resorted to water cannons as a means of dispersing anti-Islam protesters, who reportedly fought back with firecrackers and bottles. 

Coordinated by members of the xenophobic Pegida movement — Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West — Saturday's demonstration of 1,700 people took place at Cologne's main train station; according to Deutsche Welle, "half of those attending the Pegida rally were football hooligans and right-wing extremists." Hundreds of police were dispatched to maintain order as some 1,300 counter-protesters converged on the anti-Muslim rally, where Chancellor Angela Merkel came under fire for her open-door policy on Middle Eastern refugees seeking asylum in Germany.

"Merkel has become a danger to our country," a Pegida protester reportedly told the demonstrators. "Merkel must go!"

.

Police dispatched to instate order during Saturday's Pegida protests in Cologne, Germany.

The Dresden-based Pegida movement opposes the spread of Islam within Europe; it claims to stand against "hatemongers, regardless of which religion they belong to" and "radicalism, whether religiously or politically motivated." Yet, Merkel herself has condemned the group's racist ideology, saying they have "coldness, prejudice and hatred in their hearts." Pegida has loudly decried the influx of asylum seekers into Germany, and the attacks that swept Cologne's New Year's Eve celebrations have only added fuel to the fire. 

Over 500 criminal complaints have been filed by women who report being assaulted by men of "Arab or North African" appearance over the course of the evening. On Thursday, a leaked police report suggested that at least one of the perpetrators was Syrian and claimed to be in the country on Merkel's invitation. As the International Business Times reported, Interior Minister Tobias Plate said Friday that "of the 31 suspects whose names are known, 18 have asylum seeker status."

On Saturday, Merkel announced that parliament would consider a tightening of Germany's immigration policy, which has attracted criticism from within her government and outside. After a meeting with her party, the Christian Democrat Party (CDU), Merkel told the press that parliament would consider amending Germany's current regulations to make the deportation of migrants who have violated Germany's laws easier and more expedient.

"When crimes are committed, and people place themselves outside the law...there must be consequences," she said.

Germany's current asylum law states that refugees can only be deported if they are convicted of a crime and given a prison term of three or more years, and even then, potential deportees will only be sent back to their country of origin if doing so won't put their lives at risk.

Other government figures back the proposal, including Justice Minister Heiko Maas, who believes that the assaults, muggings and rapes that took place before Cologne's cathedral on Dec. 31 may have been planned well before they were executed, and coordinated with events in other cities.

"No one can tell me that it wasn't coordinated and prepared," he said, according to the Deutsche Welle. "My suspicion is that this specific date was picked, and a certain number of people expected. This would again add another dimension [to the crimes]." 

Maas was clear, though, that Germans and the world should not take the attacks as an opportunity to practice hate against migrants. "To assume from somebody's origin whether or not they are delinquent is quite reckless," he said, adding that it is "complete nonsense" to claim that immigrants from these countries can't coexist peaceably with Germans, based on the New Year's Eve events in Cologne.

"Cultural background justifies or excuses nothing," Maas explained. "There is no acceptable explanation [for the assaults]. For us, men and women have equal rights in all matters. Everyone who lives here must accept that."

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A flag reading "Against racism, sexism; against fascism/nationalism" waves at Saturday's flash mob.

Many Germans agree that the incident shouldn't serve as justification for hate speech: The 1,300 protesters who showed up to oppose Pegida Saturday weren't the only ones who spoke out against the blanket condemnation of migrants. A "flash mob of about 300 people took place right outside Cologne's famous cathedral, with women, men and children calling for an end to racism and violence against women," the Deutsche Welle reported. For the protesters pushing for a halt on racist rhetoric from the right, the ill-will aimed at refugees is entirely misguided.

"When will people understand that this is not about refugees?" one anti-Pegida demonstrator told the Deutsche Welle. "This is about us women, who live under this threat of sexual assault on a daily basis." 

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