| Feds: Ex-soldier stole military IDs for militia Posted: 12 Dec 2013 05:06 PM PST  MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota National Guardsman and Iraq war veteran charged with fraud for allegedly stealing personal information of roughly 400 members of his former Army unit was likely responsible for analyzing the military's enemy intelligence.
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| European response to Syrian refugees 'pitiful': Amnesty Posted: 12 Dec 2013 04:26 PM PST  European leaders should "hang their heads with shame" over their treatment of Syrian refugees fleeing the country's brutal conflict, rights group Amnesty International said on Friday. "An international failure: The Syrian refugee crisis", the charity states that European Union (EU) member states have only offered around 12,000 places to Syrian refugees as part of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' goal of securing 30,000 places. "The EU has miserably failed to play its part in providing a safe haven to the refugees who have lost all but their lives," said Amnesty Secretary General Salil Shetty. Only 10 EU member states offered resettlement or humanitarian admission places to refugees from Syria, according to the report.
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| US military reveals laser can down drones, mortars Posted: 12 Dec 2013 02:53 PM PST  The US Army has for the first time successfully tested a vehicle-mounted laser that managed to shoot down incoming mortar rounds and drone aircraft, officials said Thursday. Installed in a dome-shaped turret atop a military vehicle, the high-energy laser hit more than 90 mortar bombs and several small unmanned planes over a six-week test at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The experimental weapon, dubbed the High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD), likely would not be operational until 2022 if the Army decides to purchase the system, according to officials. "If you're engaging a target at the same range, a 100 kW laser will destroy the target in one-tenth of the time than the 10kW would," said Terry Bauer, a program manager at Boeing, the lead contractor on the project.
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| Desperate Syrians find little comfort in new homes Posted: 12 Dec 2013 01:53 PM PST  They fled air strikes and shelling, but many of Syria's three million refugees have found little comfort elsewhere, suffering in squalid camps and risking death to reach Europe's shores. In Lebanon, many crowd into makeshift shelters in agricultural fields that will soon be blanketed in thick snow, and in Egypt they have faced government crackdowns and deportation. A lucky few have found asylum in Sweden or Germany, but many more have ended up in the EU's poorest nation Bulgaria, held in overflowing shelters. Some of the estimated three million Syrian refugees are treading paths well-worn by economic migrants from Niger, Eritrea and elsewhere -- people fleeing poverty as much as conflict.
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| Years later, kidnapped Iraqi's family finds no closure Posted: 12 Dec 2013 01:24 PM PST  It took several years after his father's kidnapping in Baghdad, but at a certain point -- he cannot remember precisely when -- Ali al-Saffar began referring to him in the past tense. "Is it 'My dad is' or 'My dad was?'" asked Ali, speaking by telephone from London. Kidnappings became common in the years after the 2003 US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein, with Iraqi officials saying this year that 16,000 people went missing in the decade that followed.
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| Working Age Vets Lose, DOD Wins in Budget Deal Posted: 12 Dec 2013 01:12 PM PST  There's growing hope that the budget deal struck by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) will pass as House Republicans begin to rally behind it. But one group that's unhappy with the deal ...
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| Winter storm pummels Mideast, adding to refugee misery Posted: 12 Dec 2013 12:36 PM PST  A bruising winter storm brought severe weather to the Middle East Thursday, forcing the closure of roads and schools and blanketing already miserable Syrian refugee camps with snow. The nearly three-year-old conflict in Syria has killed an estimated 126,000 people and displaced millions, including more than two million who have fled across the borders and thousands who are living in makeshift camps. Bad weather also delayed the first-ever international UN airlift, set to leave the Kurdish region of northern Iraq for Qamishli in northeastern Syria. "When it will start is difficult to say -- I think the authorities in Qamishli are going to check conditions at the airfield on Friday," UN refugee agency (UNHCR) regional spokesman Peter Kessler told AFP.
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| Obama's Syria policy is pretty much dead and there are few good options Posted: 12 Dec 2013 12:24 PM PST President Barack Obama's Syria policy, such as it's been, is now dead. But with the routing of the US-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) from its headquarters recently by Islamist rebel fighters the plug should be pulled. The US can insist that its suspension of non-lethal aid (and a trickle of weapons) to the FSA via a group called the Supreme Military Council (SMC) is temporary all it wants, but the momentum now belongs to Islamist rebels who are as hostile to US interests as they are to those of Bashar al-Assad. Meanwhile, Assad's military has won a series of victories around Damascus and Syria's second city, Aleppo, and its evolving alliance with the Lebanese Shiite military Hezbollah has strengthened both sides. |
| Iran, Saudi among 30 countries invited to Syria talks Posted: 12 Dec 2013 12:19 PM PST  Iran and Saudi Arabia, which back opposite sides in Syria's war, are among more than 30 countries slated to attend a peace conference next month, diplomats said. The so-called Geneva 2 conference, a follow-up to a 2012 meeting, is aimed at mapping out a political transition to end nearly three years of fighting that has killed more than 120,000 people and displaced millions. But the January 22 meeting will actually be held at the lakeside Swiss city of Montreux because of a shortage of hotel rooms in Geneva, which will be hosting a luxury watch fair, a Western diplomat told AFP. "At the moment there are 32 countries invited, but that number may increase because everyone wants to come," an Arab diplomat told AFP.
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| Mysterious 'white widow' eludes police in Africa Posted: 12 Dec 2013 12:12 PM PST  AYLESBURY, England (AP) — She is called the most wanted woman in the world, a suspected terrorist charged with plotting to blow up resort hotels in Kenya packed with Christmas tourists, a Westerner who wrote an ode praising Osama bin Laden, a jihadist who has eluded the law even as she has traveled through Africa with four young children in tow.
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| Saving Islam from suicide bombs Posted: 12 Dec 2013 11:55 AM PST One of Islam's leading religious figures, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, spoke out against suicide bombings Thursday. It was not the first time that Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al al-Sheikh has done so. Suicide bombings – by Muslims against Muslims – are roiling the Middle East. From Pakistan to Libya, various political events, such as the Iran nuclear deal and the sputtering Arab Spring, as well as shifts in the Syrian and Afghanistan wars, help account for a sharp uptick in suicide bombings. |
| Western-backed Syria rebels in disarray as aid halted Posted: 12 Dec 2013 11:43 AM PST  Syria's Western-backed rebels were in disarray Thursday after Washington and London suspended non-lethal aid following the loss of a key border crossing and arms depots to a powerful Islamist alliance. The rebel Free Syrian Army's decline comes ahead of January peace talks that ascendant Islamist rebel groups have rejected, raising concerns that even if the opposition struck a deal with the regime it would be unable to deliver. The Islamic Front, a powerful alliance formed last month, is now the largest rebel force, with tens of thousands of fighters. But last week it withdrew from the FSA's Supreme Military Council headed by General Selim Idriss, and over the past week it has seized the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Turkish border and arms warehouses from his forces.
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| Media urge Syria rebels to ensure they can work freely Posted: 12 Dec 2013 11:41 AM PST  Thirteen major news organisations, including AFP, have called on the leadership of Syria's rebels to ensure journalists working in opposition areas can do so free from the threat of kidnap. "We believe it is imperative for the leadership of the armed opposition to commit itself to assuring that journalists can work within Syria, secure from the threat of kidnapping," said the organisations in a letter published Wednesday. "Among other things, we ask the leadership to assist in identifying those groups currently holding journalists and take the steps necessary to bring about their release," it said. The letter was addressed mainly to the Free Syrian Army's command, as well as to the Islamic Front, a large alliance of Islamist factions formed late last month.
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| Minn. guardsman accused of stealing military IDs Posted: 12 Dec 2013 11:36 AM PST MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota National Guardsman faces federal fraud charges in connection with the theft of names, Social Security numbers and security clearance levels of roughly 400 members of his former Army unit in Fort Bragg, N.C. The Iraq War veteran intended to use the confidential material to create fake IDs for his militia, court documents say. |
| National Council Applauds Action on the Excellence Act Posted: 12 Dec 2013 11:03 AM PST Senate and House Efforts Indicate Progress Since Sandy Hook TragedyWASHINGTON, Dec. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Senate Finance Committee today voted to include the bipartisan Excellence in Mental Health Act as an amendment to the SGR Repeal legislation. The Excellence Act, sponsored by Senators Stabenow (D-MI) and Blunt (R-MO), would improve quality and expand access to mental health care through community mental health providers. ... |
| Syrian opposition seeks Islamists' protection against al Qaeda Posted: 12 Dec 2013 09:06 AM PST  By Dasha Afanasieva and Dominic Evans ISTANBUL/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's Western-backed opposition said on Thursday its military arm had invited Islamist fighters to secure its weapons depots on the Turkish frontier after an attack by al Qaeda militants. The United States and Britain suspended non-lethal aid to northern Syria after reports that Islamic Front forces had taken buildings belonging to the coalition's Syrian Military Council (SMC) in Bab al-Hawa on the border with Turkey. But the opposition Syrian National Coalition said the SMC had in fact asked the Islamic Front, a union of six major rebel groups, to defend the premises against fighters from the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). "The SMC warehouses were overrun by ISIL ... As a result of that, (SMC leader) General Salim Idris sent a request to the Islamic Front to protect these warehouses," coalition spokesman Khaled Saleh said in Istanbul.
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| History Will Forget the Obamacare Website's Bungled Launch Posted: 12 Dec 2013 09:03 AM PST National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru says Obamacare—like George W. Bush's Iraq War—should persuade Americans that "the grand designs of governments, left or right, can go wrong in many more ways than they can go right, than anyone can foresee, and than even the 'best and the brightest' ... can fix." It's not an original thought, it's not exclusive to conservative commentators, and it's not exactly news to the White House. From The New Republic to the West Wing, progressives are worried that—as TNR's John Judis put it—a failed Obamacare will "reinforce for a generation the argument against any government initiatives." It's the rollout of Medicare Part D in 2006. |
| Five Best Thursday Columns Posted: 12 Dec 2013 08:04 AM PST  John Cassidy at The New Yorker on who's driving the budget deal. "As the full details of the two-year deal between Democrats and Republicans on taxes and spending emerged on Wednesday, liberal and centrist budget experts held their noses, and, with their other hands, gave it a reluctant thumbs-up," Cassidy argues. The deal is better than continuing sequestration, but long-term unemployment insurance won't be extended. Most importantly, Republicans are winning on discretionary spending: The figure is "slightly more than the Republican negotiators wanted. But ... it's $27 billion less than Ryan proposed in his 2011 budget, which, at the time, was widely agreed to be so draconian it was unrealistic." Washington Post and Paris Review contributor Scott Esposito tweets this line: "Dems in Congress are on the point of reaching an agreement that sets spending at a lower level than Ryan wanted."
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| Saudi top cleric calls suicide bombers 'criminals' Posted: 12 Dec 2013 07:46 AM PST  Saudi Arabia's grand mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh branded suicide bombers as "criminals" who will go to "hell," Al-Hayat daily reported Thursday. Sheikh described suicide bombers as "robbed of their minds... who have been used (as tools) to destroy themselves and societies." Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which was formed from a merger of the jihadist network's Saudi and Yemeni branches, has claimed responsibility for the attack. Al-Qaeda and other jihadists view the religious establishment of Saudi Arabia as an extension of the state and largely disregard its rulings.
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| Storm delays UN aid airlift from Iraq to Syria Posted: 12 Dec 2013 06:51 AM PST  Severe winter weather delayed the start of the first United Nations airlift of aid items from Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region to neighbouring Syria, a spokesman said on Thursday. "It appears... the weather in Qamishli has delayed the start of the airlift, as well as prevailing conditions across the region," UN refugee agency (UNHCR) regional spokesman Peter Kessler told AFP, referring to the city in northeast Syria to which aid supplies are to be flown.
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| Iraq signs $1.1 bn deal to buy S. Korean fighters Posted: 12 Dec 2013 05:24 AM PST  Iraq signed a $1.1 billion deal on Thursday to buy 24 multi-role light fighters from South Korea, as it seeks to build its fledgling air force amid rising violence. Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) said it would deliver the T-50IQ, a variant of its T-50 supersonic aircraft, to Baghdad between 2015 and 2016, under the terms of the deal, which will be the Asian nation's biggest arms export. The aircraft will likely serve as trainers for Iraqi pilots who will fly F-16s that have been ordered from the United States, but Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki indicated the Korean jets may also be used in combat. "We have come a long way on the road to completing our air force, and we will continue in this direction to protect Iraq against any aggression," he said.
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| Two Chinese firms sign overseas cement deals worth $733 mln Posted: 12 Dec 2013 05:21 AM PST SINGAPORE/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese firms Sinoma and CITIC Heavy Industries have agreed deals totalling $733 million to produce cement in Nigeria and Myanmar, respectively, as they expand in emerging markets overseas. Sinoma International Engineering Co Ltd, a unit of China National Materials Co Ltd, signed a $536 million contract with Nigeria's Dangote Cement Plc, Sinoma and National Materials said in separate statements on Thursday. Sinoma and Dangote, owned by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote who is Africa's richest man, will be building two clinker cement production lines, each with a daily capacity of 6,000 tonnes. Meanwhile, CITIC Heavy Industries is collaborating in Myanmar with a unit of Siam Cement Group, Mawlamyine Cement Ltd, on a cement production facility with a capacity of 5,000 tonnes per day, it said in a statement. |
| Saudi religious leader condemns suicide attacks Posted: 12 Dec 2013 04:43 AM PST  Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti, the highest religious authority in the birthplace of Islam, has condemned suicide bombings as grave crimes, reiterating his stance in unusually strong language. The Saudi cleric, whose views influence many Sunni Muslims respectful of the kingdom's strict version of Islam, denounced suicide attacks after al Qaeda's 2001 assault on U.S. cities, but his latest comments recast the message in sharp terms. "Killing oneself is a grave crime and a grave sin," Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh was quoted as saying by the pan-Arab, Saudi-owned Al Hayat newspaper on Thursday. "Those who kill themselves with explosives are criminals who are hastening their way to hell." Nearly two months ago, the mufti, who is appointed and paid by the Saudi government, urged Saudis not to travel to Syria to join Sunni rebels battling to unseat President Bashar al-Assad.
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| S.Korea's KAI sells fighter jets worth $1.1 billion to Iraq Posted: 12 Dec 2013 04:02 AM PST  South Korean defense contractor Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd (KAI) has signed a deal with Iraq to export 24 light fighter jets valued at $1.1 billion, the company said on Thursday. The deal to supply FA-50 aircraft also includes training for Iraqi pilots and other support for the Iraqi Air Force for the next two decades, which could push the total value of the deal to $2 billion, the contractor said in a statement. The FA-50 is a light attack variant of the T-50 Golden Eagle supersonic trainer that was co-developed by KAI and U.S. defense firm Lockheed Martin Corp. The Iraqi version of the FA-50, labeled the T-50 IQ, can be armed with air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, machine guns and precision-guided bombs along with other munitions, KAI said. Iraq has sought F-16 fighter jets from the United States as part of a deal to rebuild its airforce.
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| End looms for US Air Force's 'Warthog' ground-attack jet Posted: 12 Dec 2013 03:59 AM PST  Long disliked by the US Air Force, the A-10 Thunderbolt II ground-attack jet may finally be heading for the chopping block due to budget constraints. Although the twin-engine aircraft is slow, it is incredibly efficient at providing close air support for ground forces, making it an appreciated asset for the US Army. But the US Air Force "never had a whole lot of interest in a subsonic close-air support plane," explained Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with consulting firm Teal Group. The US Air Force had tried several times since the end of the Cold War to scrap a large part of its A-10 fleet but then gave up in the face of a series of unexpected deployments such as the Gulf War and the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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| Budget deal offers stability to Pentagon spending Posted: 12 Dec 2013 03:59 AM PST  Working-age military retirees would see fewer dollars in their federal pensions and the Pentagon would get some long-sought stability in spending under Congress' budget deal. The agreement eases some of ...
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| NSA: No better way to protect US than surveillance Posted: 12 Dec 2013 03:51 AM PST  The NSA chief said Wednesday he knows of no better way his agency can help protect the U.S. from foreign threats than with spy programs that collect billions of phone and Internet records from around the ...
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| Iraq signs deal to buy South Korean fighter jets Posted: 12 Dec 2013 03:26 AM PST Iraqi government has signed a $ 1.1 billion deal with a South Korean company to buy 24 multi-role light fighters to boost its defense capabilities. The agreement to buy the T-50IQ aircraft was inked on ... |
| 10 Things to Know for Today Posted: 12 Dec 2013 03:12 AM PST  Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:
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| South Korea contractor in $1.1 billion Iraq deal to sell fighter jets Posted: 12 Dec 2013 12:36 AM PST SEOUL (Reuters) - Korea Aerospace Industries has signed a contract with Iraq to export 24 light fighter jets valued at $1.1 billion, the South Korean company said on Thursday. The deal to supply T-50 aircrafts also include providing training for Iraqi pilots and other support for the Iraqi Air Force with a potential to reach a combined value of $2 billion, the contractor said in a statement. (Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Choonsik Yoo) |
| Sweden struggles with surge in Syrian refugees Posted: 11 Dec 2013 10:31 PM PST  Soedertaelje (Sweden) (AFP) - Sweden, as the only country to give Syrian refugees automatic residence, has struggled to house them and faces warnings of a coming surge in arrivals. Although relieved to escape the violence, he is far from happy with the situation in Sweden -- living in cramped conditions with relatives, like many of his countrymen. Speaking at a crowded Syrian cultural centre in the outskirts of Stockholm as new arrivals streamed out of a Swedish language class, he added: "If you need help from the Migration Board to find a place they throw you in the north where it's far below freezing. Sweden has seen a sharp increase in Syrian refugees -- about 8,000 have arrived since it threw the doors open in September, bringing the total number this year to more than 14,000 -- of a total of 50,000 refugees.
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| APNewsBreak: Minn. man accused of Army ID theft Posted: 11 Dec 2013 08:37 PM PST MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A member of the Minnesota National Guard and self-described commander of a militia group was charged Wednesday with stealing names, Social Security numbers and security clearance levels of roughly 400 members of his former Army unit in Fort Bragg, N.C., so he could make fake IDs for his militia members. |
| Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio to House Jailed Vets Together Posted: 11 Dec 2013 04:55 PM PST  In Phoenix, more than 100 veteran inmates have been told they will be moving to a segregated wing of the Maricopa County Jail. During a press conference today, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio formally announced his plan to house approximately 150 veteran inmates together, in...
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| The toughest question for 2016 Democratic presidential candidates Posted: 11 Dec 2013 02:05 PM PST 2016 will be a weird election for the Democratic candidate, be the nominee Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, or a dude. The Democratic nominee in 2016 will have the opposite challenge. So how would a Democratic nominee show voters a winning vision that does not tacitly repudiate the Obama administration? |
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