2014年9月14日星期日

Yahoo! News: Iraq

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yahoo! News: Iraq


Top Asian News at 12:00 a.m. GMT

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 05:02 PM PDT

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea's Supreme Court on Sunday convicted a 24-year-old American man of entering the country illegally to commit espionage and sentenced him to six years of hard labor. At a trial that lasted about 90 minutes, the court said Matthew Miller, of Bakersfield, California, tore up his tourist visa at Pyongyang's airport upon arrival on April 10 and admitted to having the "wild ambition" of experiencing prison life so that he could secretly investigate North Korea's human rights situation.

Arab States on Board for Air Strikes, But What About Ground Troops?

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 04:45 PM PDT

Wrapping up his visit to the Middle East, Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday said he's "extremely encouraged" U.S. Tasked with building a regional coalition to help destroy the terror group, Kerry said on CBS's Face the Nation that some countries "are clearly prepared to take action in the air alongside the United States and to do airstrikes, if that's what they're called on to do," though he would not name the countries. Critics of the Obama administration, meanwhile, say that not putting boots on the ground in Syria is unrealistic. On Fox News Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said, "This idea that we're never going to have boots on the ground in Syria is fantasy," adding, "There is no way in hell you can form an army on the ground to go into Syria to destroy [ISIS] without a substantial American component."

Australia contributing planes for anti-IS campaign

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 04:44 PM PDT

FILE - Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott speaks during a joint press conference with his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak after a meeting in Putrajaya, Malaysia, in this Saturday, Sept. 6, 2014 file photo. Australia is preparing to contribute up to 10 military aircraft to the increasingly aggressive campaign against the Islamic State extremists in Syria and Iraq. Abbott said Sunday Sept. 14, 2014 in a statement that Australia was responding to a formal request from the United States for specific contributions to the international coalition. (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin, File)CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Terrorists will use Australia's deployment of troops and war planes to the Middle East as an excuse to target Australians, Prime Minister Tony Abbott warned on Monday.


Sweden shifts to left in parliamentary election

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 04:38 PM PDT

The leader of Sweden's Social Democrats, Stefan Lofven, leaves a polling station in Stockholm during the Swedish general elections, Sunday, Sept. 14, 2014. Sweden's parliamentary election opened Sunday with polls showing the left-leaning Social Democrats poised to return to power after eight years of center-right rule. (AP Photo/TT, Jonas Ekstromer ) SWEDEN OUTSTOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden's Social Democrats were poised to return to power after a left-leaning bloc defeated the center-right government in a parliamentary election Sunday that also saw strong gains by an anti-immigration party.


Several Arab countries offer to join air campaign on Islamic State, say U.S. officials

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 04:22 PM PDT

By Jason Szep PARIS (Reuters) - Several Arab countries have offered to join the United States in air strikes against Islamic State targets, U.S. The officials declined to identify which countries made the offers.

Iraqi leader: No need for Arab powers to strike IS

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 03:59 PM PDT

Iraq President Fouad Massoum, right, followed by Iraq Foreign Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari, left, arrive with Iraqi officials at Orly airport south of Paris, France, Sunday, Sept. 14, 2014 ahead of a conference with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, French President Francois Hollande and diplomats from around the world. The conference on Monday aimed at helping Iraq fight off extremists from the Islamist State group, with an added urgency following the release of a video showing the beheading of a British aid worker, the third Western hostage killed in recent weeks by the militants. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)PARIS (AP) — Iraq's president says Arab powers Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia do not need to join airstrikes against the Islamic State group.


Murdered aid worker's brother says Islam 'not to blame'

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 03:41 PM PDT

An image grab taken from a video released by the Islamic State and identified by private terrorism monitor SITE Intelligence Group on September 2, 2014 purportedly shows footage of a masked militant and British hostage David HainesThe brother of British hostage David Haines murdered by Islamist militants issued Sunday a tearful video statement about growing religious radicalisation in which he quoted a verse from the Koran. It is not a race, religion or political issue, it is a human issue," Mike Haines told British media. "ISIL are extremely dangerous and pose a threat to every nation, every religion, every politics, every person," Mike Haines said, adding that British jihadists who return to the country should "face the consequences of their actions".


Britain mourns slain hostage; another under threat

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 03:11 PM PDT

This undated family handout photo shows British man Alan Henning, currently held hostage by Islamic State (IS) and whose life was threatened in the IS video in which they beheaded David Haines. British officials have dropped efforts to prevent the naming of hostage Alan Henning. Henning is the hostage threatened in the latest Islamic State video, which announced the beheading of hostage David Haines. In the video, Henning is shown briefly on camera and also threatened with death. British officials and Henning's family had asked the press not to publish his name out of concern for his safety, but that request was dropped Sunday afternoon. Britain's prime minister says Islamic State terrorists pose a "massive" security threat that cannot be ignored. David Cameron says the extremists who beheaded two American journalists and now a British aid worker "are not Muslims, they are monsters." (AP Photo/PA Wire) UNITED KINGDOM OUT - NO SALES - NO ARCHIVESLONDON (AP) — Now it's Britain's turn to mourn.


China's Xi begins South Asia tour in Maldives

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 02:51 PM PDT

Chinese President Xi Jinping waves upon his arrival at the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport in Hulhule on September 14, 2014, in the MaldivesChina's President Xi Jinping was in the Maldives Monday beginning a three-nation tour of South Asia with a historic visit to an island paradise gaining a new reputation as a hotbed of militant Islamists. Xi, who arrived late Sunday, will hold talks with Maldives President Abdulla Yameen and then be guest of honour at a state banquet in a country which is an increasingly popular tourist destination for well-heeled Chinese. "The thrust of the talks will be on trade and aid rather than security." The source said the government was keen not to raise eyebrows in India by taking up sensitive security issues as New Delhi considers the islands to be within its sphere of influence. Yameen is known to be keen on securing China's funding for an ambitious project to build a road bridge between the capital island Male and the nearby Hululle island where the international airport is located.


Islamic State group's war chest is growing daily

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 02:20 PM PDT

FILE - In this March 2, 2013 file photo, a view of an oil field under control of Kurdish militias near the town of Deriq, in a Kurdish area of Syria, near the border with Iraq. The Islamic State militants, who once relied on wealthy Persian Gulf nations for money, have become a self-sustaining financial juggernaut, earning more than $3 million a day from oil smuggling, human trafficking, theft and extortion, according to U.S. intelligence officials and private experts. The group, which has taken over large sections of Syria and Iraq, controls as many as 11 oil fields in both countries, analysts say. It is selling oil and other goods through generations-old smuggling networks under the noses of some of the same governments it is fighting: Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, Turkey and Jordan. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — Islamic State militants, who once relied on wealthy Persian Gulf donors for money, have become a self-sustaining financial juggernaut, earning more than $3 million a day from oil smuggling, human trafficking, theft and extortion, according to U.S. intelligence officials and private experts.


White House insists it didn't threaten to sue James Foley's parents

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 01:19 PM PDT

The Obama administration insisted Sunday that it never threatened to prosecute the families of the two Americans beheaded by the Islamic State for raising money to pay a potential ransom.  Speaking of possibly being thrown in jail for paying a ransom to a terrorist group, which is against federal law and longstanding US policy, John Foley told Fox News: "Big deal. In an interview with CNN, Diane Foley added: "We were told we could not raise ransom, that it was illegal. "We didn't threaten anybody, but we made clear what the law is," he said on on "Fox News Sunday." "That's our responsibility, to make sure we explain the law and uphold the law."

British PM holds fire on IS, pursues cautious strategy

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 01:00 PM PDT

Prime Minister David Cameron makes a statement to the media at Number 10 Downing street in London on September 14, 2014 on the killing of British aid worker David Haines by Islamic State millitantsThe murder of British aid worker David Haines has upped the pressure on London to take the fight to the Islamic State, but Prime Minister David Cameron is proceeding with caution -- and some confusion. Cameron said Sunday he was ready to "take whatever steps are necessary" to destroy the militant group which has seized territory across Iraq and Syria, and has now killed three Western hostages in less than a month.


'All bases covered' in coalition bid to crush IS

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 12:52 PM PDT

US Secretary of State John Kerry boards his plane at Cairo International Airport on September 13, 2014Washington (AFP) - "All bases are covered" in a US-led multinational coalition against the Islamic State, John Kerry said, as Washington rallies diplomatic and public support to smash the jihadists. The US Secretary of State told CBS's Face the Nation that there were allies willing to join the United States in air strikes on IS, which has overrun large swaths of northern Iraq and Syria in a brutal and lightning campaign that has seen beheadings and forced religious conversions. Kerry was speaking in Cairo on Saturday, before news of the latest IS beheading of a Western hostage, Briton David Haines, and ahead of a likely Congress vote this week on President Barack Obama's plan to train and equip Syrian rebels, a key plank in his strategy to destroy IS.


Egypt: Qatar ordered Islamists out within 2 months

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 12:27 PM PDT

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt will hunt down exiled Muslim Brotherhood leaders and seek their arrest, a top official said Sunday, after Qatar ordered them to leave its territory despite initially hosting group members following the ouster of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last year.

Briton's beheading boosts resolve of anti-IS coalition

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 12:21 PM PDT

Prime Minister David Cameron makes a statement at Number 10 Downing street in London on September 14, 2014, on the killing of British aid worker David Haines by Islamic State millitantsThe Islamic State's beheading of another Western hostage has strengthened the resolve of a US-led coalition ahead of a Paris conference Monday on how to jointly eliminate the jihadist group. Prime Minister David Cameron vowed on Sunday that Britain would hunt down the killers of British aid worker David Haines, an act he described as the "embodiment of evil". Britain was prepared to "take whatever steps are necessary", he said after Haines became the third Western hostage to be beheaded by the militants in less than a month. IS released a video Saturday showing Haines' killing and a death threat against another British captive, Alan Henning.


White House still seeking coalition in Mideast war

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 12:15 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Sunday it will find countries willing to send combat troops to fight Islamic extremists in Syria and Iraq, but it's too early to identify them.

From IS-controlled Raqqa, tales of the group's resilience

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 11:43 AM PDT

In a hospital bed in southern Turkey, lies a Syrian volunteer rescue worker who had his kneecap blown off in an airstrike in Raqqa, the Syrian bastion of the self-styled Islamic State (IS). His story - and that of others who have made their out of Raqqa - sheds light on what life is like under the group's rule, and of how difficult it will be for a US-led coalition that President Barack Obama insists will "destroy" IS to make headway with airstrikes alone. "The situation in Raqqa is tragic," says a pale Zakharia, in pain after several operations on his knee and a fractured right arm. It is hard for people to leave Raqqa and flee to Turkey.

White House seeks to win over skeptics on Islamic State fight

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 11:28 AM PDT

Obama attends a ceremony marking the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks at the Pentagon in WashingtonA top White House aide on Sunday defended President Barack Obama's plan to fight Islamic State militants, as the administration sought to persuade the U.S. In a round of television interviews on Sunday, White House chief of staff Denis McDonough touted the administration's efforts to put together a coalition of Western allies and Gulf Arab states. "We believe that we have the right strategy that the president laid out for the country on Wednesday night to make sure that we degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL," McDonough told ABC News show "This Week," using an acronym for Islamic State. On CNN, McDonough said the strategy would be carried out in a "disciplined, thoughtful fashion." Reacting to the beheading of David Haines, a British hostage, McDonough said, "ISIL will do anything it can to strike terror and fear into its opponents, but, ultimately, that's why we're going to beat them." A new opinion poll showed American voters also question whether the administration can defeat the extremist group, whose savage methods have included beheading two American journalists as well as Haines, a British aid worker.


Syria opposition head seeks support of anti-IS coalition

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 11:20 AM PDT

Hadi el-Bahra, head of the Syrian National Coalition, gestures during a press conference in Abu Dhabi on September 14, 2014The head of the main Syrian opposition group in exile said Sunday he expected the support of the international community to press the fight against Damascus and Islamic State jihadists. The United States is pushing for the formation of a broad international coalition to tackle IS which has captured swathes of Iraq and Syria, and has already secured the backing of 10 Arab states including Saudi Arabia. "The role of (the) international coalition against terrorism should be very clear," Hadi el-Bahra, head of the Syrian National Coalition, said at a news conference in Abu Dhabi.


Iraq's Allawi endorses PM, says will help win over Sunnis

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 10:31 AM PDT

By Oliver Holmes BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Vice President Iyad Allawi endorsed Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Sunday, a move that will be seen as a step towards reconciliation in a political system that desperately needs to rebuild to allow Baghdad to fight Islamic State. For years Allawi, a secular Shi'ite Muslim, has been an outspoken critic of former premier Nuri al-Maliki whom he has accused of acting like Saddam Hussein in trying to silence his opponents. Allawi, a former prime minister, is also a key figure in reaching out to disaffected Iraqi Sunnis who Abadi hopes he can bring back to the government side to battle Islamic State. Islamic State fighters have seized large chunks of Iraq's north and west this year.

Qatar-based cleric criticises US role against Islamic State

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 10:28 AM PDT

A Sunni Muslim cleric at the centre of a diplomatic rift among Gulf Arab states has criticised Washington's role in the campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria as purely self-interested. Ties between Qatar and its neighbours have periodically come under strain following sermons by Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian-born cleric based in Doha, criticising the military-based Egyptian government and conservative Gulf Arab dynasties. Qaradawi's outspoken support for Egypt's outlawed Muslim Brotherhood earlier this year contributed to an unprecedented diplomatic rift between Qatar and several of its Gulf Arab allies, who consider the Islamist movement a security threat.

U.S. sees Middle East help fighting IS, Britain cautious after beheading

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 10:28 AM PDT

Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Araby and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shake hands before a meeting in CairoBy Will Dunham and Andrew Osborn WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) - Washington said countries in the Middle East had offered to join air strikes against Islamic State militants and Australia said it would send troops, but Britain held back even after the group beheaded a British hostage and threatened to kill another. Secretary of State John Kerry has been touring the Middle East to try to secure backing for U.S.


British PM threatens IS, makes no commitment on strikes

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 09:46 AM PDT

Cameron has condemned the beheading of 44-year-old David Haines as "pure evil", after the video was released late Saturday showing his execution by the IS jihadist group, which has swept across Iraq and Syria in recent monthsPrime Minister David Cameron said Britain was ready to "take whatever steps are necessary" to destroy Islamic State militants after they murdered a British aid worker, but made no commitment to joining the United States in air strikes. After chairing a meeting of the government's emergency Cobra committee, Cameron said the extremists behind the beheading of David Haines were the "embodiment of evil". "We will not do so on our own, but by working closely with our allies, not just the United States and in Europe, but with our allies in the region." Cameron repeated his support for US air strikes against IS in Iraq, and for President Barack Obama's strategy to build a broad coalition to fight the jihadists.


Canadian Islamist preacher deported from Philippines

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 09:39 AM PDT

In this file photo, Islamist preacher Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips (L) is seen next to a fellow preacher, Pierre Vogel, during a gathering in Frankfurt, Germany, on April 20, 2011A Canadian Islamic preacher detained for being a security threat in the Philippines was flown back to Canada after agreeing to be deported, the immigration bureau said Sunday. Jamaican-born Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips was returned to Canada late Saturday after being detained last weekend in the southern Philippines while on a lecture tour.


Cameron resists calls for air strikes despite hostage killing

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 09:35 AM PDT

A still image taken from a purported Islamic State video of British captive David Haines before he is beheadedBy Andrew Osborn and Guy Faulconbridge LONDON/EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Britain resisted pressure on Sunday to join the United States in announcing air strikes against Islamic State after the militant group beheaded David Haines, a British hostage, and threatened to kill another Briton. Speaking after chairing a meeting of the government's COBR emergency-response committee in London, Prime Minister David Cameron said his government was battling IS on numerous fronts but made clear it was not, for now, launching air strikes. Britain was quick to join U.S.


UK's Cameron resists calls for air strikes despite hostage killing

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 09:33 AM PDT

A still image taken from a purported Islamic State video of British captive David Haines before he is beheadedBy Andrew Osborn and Guy Faulconbridge LONDON/EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Britain resisted pressure on Sunday to join the United States in announcing air strikes against Islamic State after the militant group beheaded David Haines, a British hostage, and threatened to kill another Briton. Speaking after chairing a meeting of the government's COBR emergency-response committee in London, Prime Minister David Cameron said his government was battling IS on numerous fronts but made clear it was not, for now, launching air strikes. Britain was quick to join U.S.


Britain vows to hunt down 'evil' killers of aid worker

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 09:26 AM PDT

Prime Minister David Cameron makes a statement to the media at Number 10 Downing street in London on September 14, 2014 on the killing of British aid worker David Haines by Islamic State millitantsPrime Minister David Cameron vowed Sunday that Britain would hunt down the killers of an aid worker beheaded by the Islamic State, which he described as the "embodiment of evil". Cameron said Britain was prepared to "take whatever steps are necessary" after David Haines became the third Western hostage to be beheaded by the militants in less than a month. IS released a video Saturday showing Haines' killing and a death threat against another British captive, Alan Henning. President Barack Obama offered US support for its "ally in grief".


Scottish vote: Sign of Britain's waning influence?

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 09:00 AM PDT

Here, ahead of World War I, Britain built the potent Dreadnoughts that touched off a naval arms race around the world.  Many argue that a vote to leave, in either case, could mean Britain's influence in the world is irrevocably diminished, including its "special relationship" with the United States.

Al Qaeda denies decline, acknowledges 'mistakes' by its branches

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 08:57 AM PDT

An Israeli soldier opens a gate as a U.N. convoy carrying Fijian U.N. peacekeepers released by al-Qaeda-linked group Nusra Front in Syria, drives towards Israeli-held territory on the Golan heights(Reuters) - Al Qaeda dismissed as "lies" a U.S. "Whatever slip-ups or errors (regional branches)...may have committed are limited in number in the midst of mountains of good deeds and successes," said Hossam Abdul Raouf, an Egyptian veteran of the militant group. Raouf, who served under assassinated leader Osama Bin Laden, said the group was expanding across the world. Al Qaeda faces a challenge to its leadership of the radical Islamist struggle with the West by the Islamic State group, and may be seeking to burnish its credentials as its rival girds for a fight to protect land it has seized in Iraq and Syria.


Qatar steps back into line on Brotherhood

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 08:39 AM PDT

Mahmud Hussein, pictured in Cairo in March 2013, is among Muslim Brotherhood leaders believed to be moving out of Qatar, possibly to TurkeyLong seen as the "black sheep" of the Gulf monarchies for backing the Muslim Brotherhood, Qatar appears to have fallen into line with its neighbours and started to curb the group's activities, experts said. Doha's support for the Brotherhood -- banned by most Gulf monarchies, who see the group's political Islam as a threat to their stability -- harmed ties with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. After the ouster of Egypt's Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, Cairo labelled the Brotherhood a "terrorist organisation" and some of the group's leaders fled to Qatar.


Rights group calls for probe into Iraqi airstrike

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 08:14 AM PDT

FILE - in this Saturday, July 19, 2014 file photo Abdullah Ahmed walks outside his home that was damaged in a bombing, in Fallujah, 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq. Iraq's prime minister Haider al-Abadi said Saturday he has ordered the army to stop shelling populated areas held by militants in order to spare the lives of "innocent victims" as the armed forces struggle to retake cities and towns seized by fighters of the Islamic State extremist group this summer. (AP Photo, File)BAGHDAD (AP) — An international rights group called Sunday for an investigation into an Iraqi airstrike on a school housing displaced families that killed 31 civilians, including 24 children, a day after the country's new prime minister ordered the army to stop shelling militant-held populated areas to minimize civilian casualties.


Kerry: Countries Are Offering Ground Troops in Fight Against ISIS

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 07:58 AM PDT

Kerry: Countries Are Offering Ground Troops in Fight Against ISISSecretary of State John Kerry said he was "extremely encouraged" by the level of international commitment of military assistance against ISIL militants, saying that some countries had even offered ground troops in the U.S. "We have countries in this region, countries outside of this region, in addition to the United States, all of whom are prepared to engage in military assistance, in actual strikes if that is what it requires," Kerry said.


Splinter group breaks from al Qaeda in North Africa

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 07:05 AM PDT

By Lamine Chikhi ALGIERS (Reuters) - A new armed group calling itself the Caliphate Soldiers in Algeria has split from al Qaeda's North African branch and sworn loyalty to the radical breakaway group Islamic State fighting in Syria and Iraq. A breakaway of key Algerian commanders from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, known as AQIM, would show deepening rivalry between al Qaeda's core command and the Islamic State over leadership of the transnational Islamist militancy. ...

Kerry says some nations offer ground troops to fight Islamic State

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 07:05 AM PDT

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry boards his plane at Cairo International AirportSecretary of State John Kerry said he was "extremely encouraged" by pledges of military assistance against Islamic State militants by countries inside and outside the Middle East and that some nations had offered ground troops. On the CNN program "State of the Union," White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough was asked if this coalition would need ground troops beyond opposition forces in Syria and Kurdish and government forces in Iraq. "Ultimately to destroy ISIL we do need to have a force, an anvil against which they will be pushed - ideally Sunni forces," he said, using an acronym for Islamic State. Kerry reiterated President Barack Obama's statement that U.S.


Islamic State executes eight Sunnis in northern Iraq

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 06:48 AM PDT

Islamic State militants publicly executed eight Sunni men in a small northern Iraqi village at the weekend for allegedly plotting against the group, an eyewitness from the village told Reuters on Sunday. The killing began on Friday night when a pair of masked Islamic State gunmen openly murdered a police officer in al-Jumasah village after the militant group accused him of spying for the Kurdish and Iraqi military forces, the witness said. The Islamic State fighters gathered local residents to watch the execution in the village, about 120 km (75 miles) north of Tikrit. "Islamic State members said that this is the fate of anyone who opposes them," the witness said.

Islamic State 101: Why are Arab countries so reluctant to help?

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 06:35 AM PDT

The past few days have offered compelling evidence for why President Obama has been so loath to militarily insert America into the fight against the brutal Islamic State. The past few days, however, have also offered compelling evidence for why critics of Mr. Obama have been so frustrated by the cautious steps of a president they say "leads from behind." Obama dispatched Secretary of State John Kerry to the Middle East this week to drum up support for military action against the Islamic State, which he outlined in a prime time speech Wednesday.

France condemns 'heinous murder' of British aid worker

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 05:23 AM PDT

France on Sunday strongly condemned the murder of Briton David Haines by Islamic State militants and called for an international mobilisation to fight the Islamist group. "The heinous murder of David Haines shows once again how the international community must mobilise against Daesh," the French presidency said in statement, referring to the Arabic acronym for IS, which the presidency said was a vile and cowardly organisation. Islamic State militants fighting in Iraq and Syria released a video on Saturday that purported to show the beheading of British aid worker David Haines, who was kidnapped last year. On Monday, France will host an international conference on Iraq's security crisis.

Qatar-based cleric criticizes U.S. role against Islamic State

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 05:17 AM PDT

A Sunni Muslim cleric at the center of a diplomatic rift among Gulf Arab states has criticized Washington's role in the campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria as purely self-interested. Ties between Qatar and its neighbors have periodically come under strain following sermons by Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian-born cleric based in Doha, criticizing the military-based Egyptian government and conservative Gulf Arab dynasties. Qaradawi's outspoken support for Egypt's outlawed Muslim Brotherhood earlier this year contributed to an unprecedented diplomatic rift between Qatar and several of its Gulf Arab allies, who consider the Islamist movement a security threat. Commenting on ultra-hardline Islamic State, an armed group Gulf Arab states pledged to fight at a meeting on Thursday with U.S.

Brussels Jewish Museum opens its doors four months after shooting

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 05:07 AM PDT

A police officer stands guard in front of the Jewish Museum in BrusselsBy Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Four months after a shooting that killed four people, the Brussels Jewish Museum opened its doors to the public again on Sunday in a solemn ceremony attended by Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo. The museum in central Brussels had been closed since the May 24 attack by a gunman who opened fire in the museum with a Kalashnikov rifle, killing an Israeli couple, a French woman and a Belgian man. French national Mehdi Nemmouche is suspected of having carried out the attack after spending most of 2013 fighting in Syria with Islamist rebels, French prosecutors have said. "We are fighting and will continue in our fight against terrorism," Di Rupo said at the opening ceremony marked by tight security.


Islamic State attracts female jihadis from U.S. heartland

Posted: 14 Sep 2014 05:05 AM PDT

At least three Somali families in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area have female relatives who have gone missing in the past six weeks and may have tried to join Islamic State, said community leader Abdirizak Bihi. In a separate case, a 19-year-old American Somali woman from St. Paul snuck away from her parents on Aug. 25 saying she was going to a bridal shower. Instead, she flew to Turkey and joined IS in Syria. Home to the biggest Somali community in the United States, the Twin Cities area of Minnesota has been plagued by terrorist recruiting since the Somali group al-Shabaab began enlisting in America around 2007.

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