The Latest: Spanish hotline seeks info on suspected radicals
PARIS (AP) - The latest developments regarding the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq: All times local:
12:50 p.m.
A new project allows Spaniards to anonymously tip off authorities about suspected radicals, part of efforts to step up the country's campaign against Islamic extremists.
The Interior Ministry said Friday that Spaniards can now contact the Intelligence Center for Terrorism and Organized Crime through a website, a mobile app or a free telephone hotline, which will be monitored 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Spain's internal security chief Fernandez Diaz also told his EU counterparts in Brussels that the government is also mounting a campaign to discredit the propaganda issued by the social media-savvy Islamic State group. The Spanish government will use its social media sites to show what it said was "the real situation" in territories occupied by IS.
Similar campaigns are being run by the United States, Britain and France.
Europe's worst attack by Islamic militants occurred in Spain in 2004, when bombs on Madrid commuter trains killed 191 people.
__
12:40 p.m.
The Dutch government is weighing whether to broaden its involvement in the international campaign against the Islamic State group.
The Netherlands already has F-16 jets taking part in airstrikes against IS targets in Iraq, but Defense Minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert says France and the United States have asked if the Dutch can do more.
Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said Friday that the government "will look at whether we can make an effective contribution" but added "I don't want to restrict the debate to only bombing over Syria."
Koenders says Islamic State cannot be fought with bombs alone, "you also have to look at cutting off oil revenues, finances."
Hennis-Plasschaert says the ruling two-party Dutch coalition will consider the question in "the coming days, weeks. I don't know how much time we need."
___
11:35 a.m.
Germany's Parliament has approved plans to provide military assistance in the fight against Islamic State militants, including reconnaissance jets and up to 1,200 support personnel.
Lawmakers voted Friday 445 to 146 to approve the plan crafted by Chancellor Angela Merkel's Cabinet this week following a pledge of greater support in the wake of the deadly attacks in Paris, which IS has claimed responsibility for.
Germany plans to send up to six Tornado reconnaissance planes and tanker aircraft, as well as a frigate to help protect the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in the eastern Mediterranean, but won't actively engage in combat.
Two German Tornados and a tanker are expected to be sent to Turkey's Incirlik air base next week but won't be fully operational until next month. The frigate's also to be in place soon.
___
10:55 a.m.
French President Francois Hollande is visiting the aircraft carrier launching airstrikes against the Islamic State group.
The Charles de Gaulle has launched raids against Islamic State bases since the Nov. 13 attacks that killed 130 in Paris. The president's office said Hollande would pay a visit to the ship on Friday.
The government announced it was deploying the ship, France's only aircraft carrier, to the region a week before the attacks.
The French carrier had previously been deployed in the Persian Gulf from February to April this year, conducting between 15 and 20 flights per day, according to the French military.