| Iran to attend Syria peace conference: Ban Posted: 19 Jan 2014 04:52 PM PST  Iran will attend this week's Syria peace conference after it pledged to play a "positive and constructive role" in efforts to end the war, UN leader Ban Ki-moon said Sunday. Ban said he made a late invitation after intensive talks over two days with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who agreed to attend. Iran's involvement means all key countries linked to the worsening war will be among 40 nations at the opening of the peace conference in Montreux, Switzerland on Wednesday.
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| Powers and Iran to activate landmark nuclear deal after IAEA nod Posted: 19 Jan 2014 04:06 PM PST  By Justyna Pawlak and Fredrik Dahl BRUSSELS/VIENNA (Reuters) - World powers and Iran are due to start implementing a landmark deal on Monday curbing Tehran's nuclear program, amid hopes that it will pave the way for a broad settlement of a decade-old standoff and ease fears of a new Middle East war. If, as expected, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog confirms in the morning that Iran is meeting its end of the agreement, the European Union and the United States will later in the day suspend some economic sanctions in return. The mutual concessions are scheduled to last six months, during which time six powers - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany - aim to negotiate a final accord defining the permissible scope of Iran's nuclear activity. Western governments want such an agreement to lay to rest their concerns that Iran could produce an atomic weapon.
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| British fighters in Syria being taught jihadism: defector Posted: 19 Jan 2014 03:50 PM PST  Al-Qaeda is training hundreds of British people fighting in Syria to become jihadists and urging them to carry out attacks when they return home, according to an interview with a defector published in Monday's Daily Telegraph. The defector, known as Murad, from the hardline Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) said other recruits from Europe and the US were also being trained to make car bombs before being sent home to form terror cells. "They talked often about terrorist attacks," he said of his former ISIS instructors. "The foreigners were proud of 9/11 and the London bombings.
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| Head of Syria Qaeda branch urges rebels to stop infighting Posted: 19 Jan 2014 01:46 PM PST The head of an al Qaeda affiliate in Syria called in an audio message on Sunday for other rebel groups to stop attacking his fighters and instead join forces to defeat President Bashar al-Assad. The small but powerful al Qaeda arm - the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) - has been caught up in clashes with other Islamist insurgents, often triggered by disputes over authority and territory. It has killed hundreds of rebels this month. ISIL head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi told rebels in an audio message posted on jihadi websites to "repent to God for you have stabbed us in the back while our soldiers were at the front." He added that his group was "extending its hand to you, so you can stop fighting it and we will stop fighting you and we can fight the Alawites," referring to Assad's sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam. |
| 14,000 French Mayors and Representatives Expressed Their Support of the Iranian Resistance Posted: 19 Jan 2014 12:30 PM PST The Statement calls for a halt to executions in Iran, immediate release of seven Ashraf hostages, and protection of Camp Liberty Maryam Rajavi: The mullahs' regime nuclear retreat shall accelerate its downfall On January 19th, it was announced that 14,000 French mayors and representatives have expressed their support for the Iranian Resistance. Many mayors and representatives attended the January 19th event at the Iranian Resistance headquarters and delivered the support to Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the Iranian Resistance. |
| Iraq announces offensive against al-Qaida Posted: 19 Jan 2014 11:43 AM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi government forces and allied tribal militias launched an all-out offensive Sunday to push al-Qaida militants from a provincial capital, an assault that killed or wounded some 20 police officers and government-allied tribesmen, officials said.
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| Jihadi group urges end to Syrian rebel infighting Posted: 19 Jan 2014 11:40 AM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — The head of an al-Qaida-linked group in Syria reached out to rival rebel groups who have been engaged in a bloody battle with his fighters this month, calling for the two sides to end their infighting and instead unite against the government and its allies.
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| ISIL 'reaching out' to Syria rebels: audio message Posted: 19 Jan 2014 11:36 AM PST  The Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has reached out to other rebel groups in Syria to head off infighting, in an audio message posted online Sunday. "Today, the (Islamic) state is reaching out to you to stop fighting us, to focus on fighting the nusairiyah," the voice in the message, purportedly that of ISIL chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, said, using the term often used by jihadists to refer to the Syrian regime. The remarks mark a shift for ISIL, which said earlier this month it would "crush" opposition fighters and considered members of the Syrian National Coalition and the military command of the Free Syrian Army to be "legitimate targets". Baghdadi, in the audio message posted on jihadist forums, accused rebel groups of "betrayal".
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| The Mysterious ‘Poe Toaster’ Did Not Surface for Edgar Allan Poe’s 205th Birthday Posted: 19 Jan 2014 10:28 AM PST  It used to be that each year on Edgar Allan Poe's birthday, a bescarfed man in a wide-brim hat would leave three roses and a half-drunk bottle of cognac on the poet's grave in Baltimore. After a few recent no-shows, the tradition of the "Poe Toaster" was declared nevermore. Both the origin story and identity of the "Poe Toaster" remain something of a mystery, but over the course of the last several decades, Poe groupies would gather after midnight and stand outside the grounds of Westminster Cemetery. Bearing a cane and wearing a cloak, the toaster would swoop in, leave a bottle of Martell cognac, arrange three roses the exact same way, and then steal away into the night.
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| Eight Iraqi police and tribesmen killed fighting al Qaeda Posted: 19 Jan 2014 10:21 AM PST  Iraqi Sunni Muslim tribesmen backed by police special forces and helicopter gunships attacked al Qaeda-linked militants in the city of Ramadi on Sunday, but halted the assault after at least eight of their number were killed, police and health officials said. Police and local officials said the ground forces had retaken a police station in al-Hamthiya on the eastern outskirts of the city after helicopters fired missiles and machineguns at militants, but made no major advances. The fighting in Ramadi, capital of the Sunni province of Anbar, was the heaviest in several days. There was no word on casualties among the militants.
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| Iraqi forces assault gunmen holding areas near Baghdad Posted: 19 Jan 2014 09:55 AM PST  Ramadi (Iraq) (AFP) - Iraqi forces launched a major assault Sunday on Sunni gunmen holding neighbourhoods in a city near the capital, as an Al-Qaeda-linked group urged its fighters to "creep towards Baghdad". Personnel from the army, police and SWAT, backed by tribesmen moved into five neighbourhoods of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, with helicopters providing cover. The action came as part of efforts by the security forces to wrest back control of parts of the city which fell into anti-government hands along with the entire nearby city of Fallujah three weeks ago. The helicopters were seen firing on the sprawling district of Malaab, which is at the centre of the battle between gunmen and militants on one side, and security forces and their tribal allies on the other.
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| With eye on troubled region, UAE plans military service for men Posted: 19 Jan 2014 07:32 AM PST  By Yara Bayoumy DUBAI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will introduce compulsory military service for young Emirati men, it said on Sunday, a move highlighting the Gulf state's concern over turmoil in its neighborhood. The UAE, a federation of seven emirates with mostly an expatriate population, faces no immediate threats from neighbors and has been spared militant attacks that have afflicted other countries such as Saudi Arabia. But the UAE, a big buyer of Western military hardware, has a territorial dispute with its much bigger neighbor, Iran, over three Gulf islands controlled by the Islamic republic. The state WAM news agency said the cabinet had endorsed a draft law which requires all men over the age of 18 or those who have finished high school and are under 30, to complete military training.
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| Islamist rebels reject 'hollow' Syria peace talks Posted: 19 Jan 2014 07:26 AM PST  Syria's main political opposition group in exile, the National Coalition, agreed on Saturday to attend the talks beginning on Wednesday in Geneva, setting up the first meeting between President Bashar al-Assad's government and its foes. But the Islamic Front, an alliance of several Islamist fighting forces that represents a large portion of the rebels on the ground, said on Sunday it rejected the talks. Syria's future would be "formulated here on the ground of heroism, and signed with blood on the front lines, not in hollow conferences attended by those who don't even represent themselves," Abu Omar, a leading member of the Islamic Front, said on his Twitter account. SOME AID REACHES BESIEGED AREA In what appeared to be a symbolic conciliatory move ahead of the talks, Syria permitted some aid to reach a besieged suburb of Damascus on Saturday and Sunday, state media said.
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| Jordan ready to host US training of Iraqi soldiers Posted: 19 Jan 2014 06:41 AM PST AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Jordan is ready to host U.S. training of Iraqi soldiers after al-Qaida militants seized control of two towns in Iraq's contested Anbar province, Information Minister Mohammad Momani said Sunday. |
| Taliban's Brazen Attack in Kabul Is a Bad Omen for Foreign Workers Posted: 19 Jan 2014 06:14 AM PST  A Taliban assault on a Kabul restaurant on Friday was the deadliest attack against foreign civilians in the entire course of the war in Afghanistan. The attack sent shockwaves through the international delegations working in Afghanistan which, despite the violence, had enjoyed a certain level of insulation. With the Western military presence on the wane, that dynamic might be changing. "Kabul during the Afghan war never grew as violent as Baghdad during the Iraq war.
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| Obama’s Use of Drones Gives Al Qaeda the Edge in Iraq Posted: 19 Jan 2014 02:30 AM PST The death of more than seventy-five people in terrorist bombings in Iraq on Wednesday was a fresh sign of al-Qaeda's growing power in the Sunni Middle East. Along with the black flags hoisted this month in Fallujah and Ramadi, the increasing Iraqi violence has unexpectedly forced a pause in the administration's narrative of counterterrorism success. A brief pause – less than Benghazi merited – but a pause nevertheless. Politically, the violence is not a problem for Obama--Iraq will forever be George Bush's war. But strategically, in the real world, the resurgence of al-Qaeda is a disaster brought on by the administration's obsession with drones as a substitute for foreign policy. The specific problem of al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant has a number of geneses. For one, the abdication of American power in Syria means that radical Sunnis are supplying the rebels with their weapons. Unsurprisingly, the rebellion has become more radical. And among jihadis on the ground, al-Qaeda is a prestige name--it has media exposure, tactical successes, and superpowers shake at its wrath. |
| Is fact worth more than fiction, in Oscars race? Posted: 19 Jan 2014 01:21 AM PST  Truth can be stranger than fiction, so they say. But when it comes to movies, truth can also be more powerful than fiction, at least judging by this year's Oscar nominees. No fewer than six of the nine films nominated for the best picture Academy Award are based on true events -- possibly the biggest proportion ever vying for Hollywood's highest honor. "It's always been something of a trend, but has become an explosion in the last couple of years," said film critic and author Molly Haskell, a day after the Oscar nominations were announced in Los Angeles.
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| Jordan ready to train Iraqi troops on its territory Posted: 18 Jan 2014 11:59 PM PST  Jordan is ready to host a US training programme for Iraqi troops to help counter a resurgence of Al-Qaeda-linked militants in its neighbour, a minister said in remarks published Sunday. His comments come as Iraqi forces are locked in battles with anti-government militants who have gained ground in Anbar province west of Baghdad amid a spike in violence across the country. "Jordan welcomes positively the US request to train Iraqi forces on its territory," Information Minister Mohammed Momani said, in statement carried in the government newspaper Al-Rai. "This project is part of permanent cooperation between Jordan, Iraq and the United States to fight against terrorism in the region."
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