| Iraqi officials say IS leader wounded in airstrike Posted: 09 Nov 2014 02:51 PM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials said Sunday that the head of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was wounded in an airstrike in western Anbar province. Pentagon officials said they had no immediate information on such an attack or on the militant leader being injured.
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| Destroying ISIS Goes Beyond Killing its Leadership Posted: 09 Nov 2014 02:38 PM PST  The United States-led campaign against the Islamic State has yielded little tangible success so far. But things may suddenly have changed. The Telegraph reported Sunday that a Coalition bombing attack has killed a close aide to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State leader, near Mosul, Iraq. In addition, a member of the Iraqi parliament claimed that a separate attack near the city of al-Qaim injured al-Baghdadi himself, and that he is currently being treated in a hospital. The U.S. ...
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| Iraqi military reach Baiji; Baghdadi's fate unclear Posted: 09 Nov 2014 02:32 PM PST  By Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi military forces reached the center of the northern city of Baiji on Sunday in an effort to break an Islamic State siege of the country's biggest refinery, triggering fierce clashes with the militants, according to an army colonel and a witness. Separately, contradictory reports emerged over the fate of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi after U.S.-led air strikes against the group in at least two locations in Iraq on Friday night. The United States said it had no information to indicate Baghdadi had been hit. ...
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| Britain's defense chief says Islamic State will recover after air strikes Posted: 09 Nov 2014 02:03 PM PST LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's most senior military officer warned on Sunday that Islamic State would recover after U.S. air strikes in Iraq destroyed a convoy believed to contain some of the militant group's leaders. A U.S. spokesman on Saturday said an air strike near the Iraqi city of Mosul destroyed 10 Islamic State (IS) vehicles after what was believed to have been a gathering of its leaders. The United States was unable to confirm whether the group's top commander Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been in the convoy. ... |
| Obama calls U.S. troop boost in Iraq 'new phase': CBS interview Posted: 09 Nov 2014 02:03 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said his decision to double the number of U.S. military advisers in Iraq marked a new phase in the campaign against Islamic State and was not an indication his strategy in the region had failed. Obama, in an interview on CBS' "Face the Nation" broadcast on Sunday, said the first phase was getting an Iraqi government in place that was inclusive and credible. He said sending in 1,500 additional American troops also signified a shift from a defensive strategy to an offensive one. The decision was announced on Friday. ... |
| Obama Accepts Blame for Dems’ Midterm Election Losses Posted: 09 Nov 2014 01:57 PM PST President Obama took the blame on CBS's Face the Nation this morning for the wave of Democratic losses in the midterm elections, declaring "the buck stops" with him. Majority Leader Harry Reid even tied Obama's low approval rating to the Dems' tough midterm season. The president said his administration now would be "experimenting" with ways to court Republicans, given that they'll control both chambers of Congress beginning in January. John Boehner (R-OH) on immigration reform – a stance that most certainly won't go over well with Republicans. |
| George W. Bush weighs in on brother Jeb's political future. Dynasty, anyone? Posted: 09 Nov 2014 01:54 PM PST Will the Bush political dynasty continue through 2016 – and perhaps beyond? |
| Obama warns Iran nuclear deal may not be reached Posted: 09 Nov 2014 01:49 PM PST  The United States and Iran held high-level talks in Oman Sunday as the deadline for a nuclear deal loomed closer, but President Barack Obama warned there may be no agreement. US Secretary of State John Kerry met Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in the Gulf sultanate, seeking to resolve key disputes that have left the West's negotiations with the Islamic republic close to deadlock. An interim accord expires on November 24 but Iran and world powers have for months been unable to hammer out what a comprehensive, long-term accord would look like. At issue is the number of uranium-enriching centrifuges Iran should be allowed to keep spinning in exchange for sanctions relief and rigorous inspections at its nuclear sites.
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| Queen leads Britain in silent tribute to war dead Posted: 09 Nov 2014 12:46 PM PST  London (AFP) - Queen Elizabeth II led Britain in paying silent tribute to the Commonwealth war dead on Remembrance Sunday, an annual event made particularly poignant this year on the centenary of the start of World War I.
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| Thousands of balloons rise to sky to fete Berlin Wall fall Posted: 09 Nov 2014 12:43 PM PST  Thousands of illuminated balloons sailed into the night sky Sunday from the former route of the Berlin Wall, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel said its fall 25 years ago proved that "dreams can come true". The flight of the glowing white orbs through the heart of Berlin marked the climax of a huge open-air party at the Brandenburg Gate, the symbol of German unity, which drew an estimated one million guests to the city. A quarter-century after the breach of Europe's Cold War division, artists had tethered nearly 7,000 balloons along a 15-kilometre (nine-mile) stretch of the despised concrete barrier's former 155-kilometre path, making it visible once again. As the balloons were released and floated to the heavens, the Berlin State Orchestra, under the baton of Daniel Barenboim, played Beethoven's "Ode to Joy".
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| Germany celebrates 25th anniversary of fall of Berlin Wall Posted: 09 Nov 2014 12:35 PM PST  By Erik Kirschbaum BERLIN (Reuters) - More than a million Germans and people from around the world on Sunday celebrated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the event that more than any other marked the end of the Cold War. A spectacular 15 kilometer-long string of 7,000 illuminated helium balloons traced the course of the barrier that once snaked through the city, slicing across streets, between families and even through graveyards. They were set free one after another into the night sky, symbolizing the breaching of the Wall by crowds of protesters in 1989. ...
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| Obama says US troop increase in Iraq a 'new phase' Posted: 09 Nov 2014 12:27 PM PST  US President Barack Obama said Sunday sending more troops to Iraq signals a "new phase" in the fight against the Islamic State group, amid unconfirmed reports its leader has been wounded. After earlier unveiling plans to send up to 1,500 more American troops to Iraq to advise and train its forces, Obama told CBS News the US-led effort to defeat IS was moving to a new stage. "Phase one was getting an Iraqi government that was inclusive and credible -- and we now have done that," Obama told the broadcaster. "We will provide them close air support once they are prepared to start going on the offence against (IS)," Obama said.
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| Balloons symbolize fall of Berlin Wall Posted: 09 Nov 2014 12:20 PM PST BERLIN (AP) — The citizens of Berlin on Sunday released almost 7,000 balloons into the night sky, many carrying messages of hope to mark the 25th anniversary since the fall of the wall that once divided their city. |
| US racing against time, Congress on Iran nuke deal Posted: 09 Nov 2014 11:58 AM PST  MUSCAT, Oman (AP) — The Obama administration is facing its last best chance to curb Iran's nuclear program — not just to meet an end-of-the-month deadline for a deal, but also to seal one before skeptical Republicans who will control Congress next year are able to scuttle it.
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| Islamic State winning support, but not allegiance Posted: 09 Nov 2014 11:46 AM PST  While the Islamic State group is rapidly gaining support among jihadists worldwide, only marginal organisations and isolated individuals are formally expressing their allegiance, experts say. "For the moment, those rallying behind Islamic State are on the margins, not at the centre (of the jihadist movement)," said Dominique Thomas, an expert in Islamist groups at the Paris-based School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences. They are proclaiming their allegiance to show they exist," Thomas told AFP. The expert cited as an example the declaration of an allegiance to IS made in September by the Algerian group Jund al-Khilifa -- or "Soldiers of the Caliphate" -- which hit the headlines by kidnapping and then beheading French hiker Herve Gourdel.
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| Obama leaves for China, Myanmar, Australia tour Posted: 09 Nov 2014 10:57 AM PST  President Barack Obama departed for China on Sunday, on a trip meant to help allay Washington's sometimes tense relations with Beijing. Obama left Washington in the pre-dawn hours en route to an air force base in Alaska, where his plane refueled before traveling on to Beijing. The US leader was accompanied on his eight-day trip, which also includes visits to Myanmar and Australia, by his national security adviser Susan Rice and several other top aides.
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| Iraq area retaken, but destruction and anger remain Posted: 09 Nov 2014 09:44 AM PST  Jurf al-Sakhr (Iraq) (AFP) - A column of grey smoke drifts up from a burning building in Jurf al-Sakhr, south of Baghdad, while the broken roofs of some houses slope down into piles of rubble. Iraqi leaders including Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi hailed the expulsion of Islamic State (IS) jihadist group fighters from Jurf al-Sakhr as a major victory, and state TV broadcast days of coverage from the area. "This area represented an important location for (IS)," Karim al-Nuri, an adviser to Badr militia commander Hadi al-Ameri, told AFP in Jurf al-Sakhr. Badr and other Shiite militias played a key role alongside security forces in the fight to retake Jurf al-Sakhr.
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| How a Libyan city joined the Islamic State group Posted: 09 Nov 2014 09:24 AM PST  CAIRO (AP) — On a chilly night, bearded militants gathered at a stage strung with colorful lights in Darna, a Mediterranean coastal city long notorious as Libya's center for jihadi radicals. With a roaring chant, they pledged their allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State group.
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| New video shows scenes inside 'Boko Haram-controlled town' Posted: 09 Nov 2014 08:59 AM PST  A new Boko Haram video obtained by AFP on Sunday shows militants on an armoured vehicle parading down a road in an unidentified town they apparently control and the group's leader Abubakar Shekau preaching to locals. The message appeared to be aimed at reinforcing Shekau's claim that he has created a caliphate within Nigeria. In the 44-minute video, Boko Haram voices support for other so-called caliphates, including the one proclaimed in Iraq and Syria by the Islamic State (IS) group. The video, which was delivered through the same channels as past messages, shows armed men lined along a well-paved road, with three pick-up trucks bristling with heavy weapons also visible.
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| Syrian air force raids kill 21, wound at least 100 in north: monitor Posted: 09 Nov 2014 08:18 AM PST  By Sylvia Westall BEIRUT (Reuters) - At least 21 people were killed and around 100 wounded overnight when Syrian government war planes bombed a town in northern Syria controlled by Islamic State militants, a group monitoring the war said on Sunday. The attack came hours before a United Nations mediator met senior Syrian officials in Damascus to discuss ways to ease the war, which has entered its fourth year, killed around 200,000 people and since September drawn in the United States and allies in air strikes against the Sunni militant group Islamic State. ...
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| George W. Bush says dad pondered skipping 2nd term Posted: 09 Nov 2014 07:30 AM PST DALLAS (AP) — George H.W. Bush seriously considered not running for re-election in 1992 even though he loved his job, according to a new book written by former President George W. Bush. |
| 'More than 1,000 killed' in battle for Syria's Kobane Posted: 09 Nov 2014 07:21 AM PST  More than 1,000 people, mostly jihadists, have been killed in Kobane since the Islamic State group launched an offensive on the Syrian town nearly two months ago, a monitor said Sunday. IS jihadists, who proclaimed a "caliphate" in June straddling territory captured in Iraq and Syria, launched their offensive for the town -- also known as Ain al-Arab -- in mid-September. "At least 1,013 people have been killed in fighting in Ain al-Arab from the beginning of the offensive till last night," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman. The toll for jihadists excludes those killed in US-led strikes on the Islamic State group.
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| Self-ruling region in Syria issues women's rights decree: monitor Posted: 09 Nov 2014 07:00 AM PST BEIRUT (Reuters) - Officials in a predominantly Kurdish province of northeastern Syria have issued a women's rights decree, monitors said on Sunday, in an apparent rebuke to the hardline views of Islamic State insurgents who have advanced in the region. Islamic State, which has declared a "caliphate" across large areas of Syria and Iraq it has captured, has issued rules on how women should dress and has curbed their movement outside the home, basing this on a radical interpretation of sharia (Islamic law), according to residents living in territory it holds. ... |
| Report: ISIS Leader Possibly Killed In U.S. Airstrike Posted: 09 Nov 2014 06:36 AM PST The supreme leader of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (ISIS) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was reportedly critically wounded or killed in an American airstrike on a Syrian town bordering Iraq Friday night. |
| The New Senate Power Grid: Here’s Who Has the Juice Posted: 09 Nov 2014 02:45 AM PST  Get ready for a real shakeup in the Senate committee lineup in the wake of the GOP landslide election victory last Tuesday. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, arguably the toughest critic of Obama's foreign policy and military tactics is taking over as chair of the Armed Services Committee and can be sure to be second-guessing the president's policies in Syria, Iraq and the Ukraine for the remainder of Obama's second term. Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, an unabashed skeptic of climate change, will take the reins of the Environment and Public Works Committee. Jeff Sessions, a fiscal conservative and deficit hawk who regularly carps about the administration's spending policies, will be the new chair of the Budget Committee.
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| Troubled vets of all ages find comfort at refuge Posted: 08 Nov 2014 08:38 PM PST  SAUK CENTRE, Minn. (AP) — The vets, some yawning, others clutching packs of cigarettes, trickle into a sun-splashed room for morning meditation. Some survived war long ago, others have fresh memories of combat.
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| Third Australian killed fighting with IS jihadists: report Posted: 08 Nov 2014 06:41 PM PST  A third Australian has died in the past two weeks while fighting with Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria, a report said Sunday. The man, who was not named, was believed to be from south-west Sydney and married with children, according to the Sun Herald. Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs said it was attempting to verify the reports, but it was "very difficult to do so". "Due to the extremely dangerous security situation consular assistance is no longer available within Syria or Iraq," a foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement.
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