| Pope blasts arms dealers at start of Mideast trip Posted: 24 May 2014 03:55 PM PDT  AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Pope Francis denounced arms dealers and appealed Saturday for an urgent end to the Syrian civil war as he began his three-day trip to the Middle East with an emotional meeting with refugees from Syria and Iraq who have fled to Jordan.
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| Obama to lay out defense of foreign policy in West Point speech Posted: 24 May 2014 03:40 PM PDT  By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Stung by criticism, President Barack Obama will use a speech on Wednesday to launch a sweeping defense of his approach to foreign policy, one that he will say is reliant on multilateral diplomacy instead of military interventions. Obama is to deliver the commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, the first in a series of speeches that he and top advisers will use to explain U.S. foreign policy in the aftermath of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and lay out a broad vision for the rest of his presidency. The president has come under withering fire in recent months for what his critics say is a passive approach to foreign policy, one that has allowed Russian President Vladimir Putin to flex his muscle in Ukraine, and left the Syrian civil war to fester and China to threaten its neighbors in the South China Sea. Shortly after a trip to Asia late in April during which he strongly defended his incremental approach, he directed aides to frame a speech to explain his foreign policy and how he plans to handle world hot spots during his remaining two-and-a-half years in office.
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| VA approves more private care for veterans Posted: 24 May 2014 02:22 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — More veterans are being allowed to obtain health care at private hospitals and clinics in an effort to improve their treatment following allegations of falsified records and delays in treatment.
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| Obama to warn against ‘over-reaching’ foreign policy in West Point address Posted: 24 May 2014 02:08 PM PDT  President Obama will use his commencement speech at West Point this week to defend his handling of an ever-widening array of foreign policy crises and outline top national security goals for his fast-shrinking time in office, officials say.
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| Obama to argue for avoiding overreach overseas Posted: 24 May 2014 02:06 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — Confronting critics of his foreign policy, President Barack Obama will soon outline a strategy for his final years in office that aims to avoid overreach as the second of the two wars he inherited comes to a close.
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| Pope Francis Aims Small on Mideast Trip, Calls for Regional Peace Posted: 24 May 2014 02:04 PM PDT  Pope Francis, known for his modest ways, arrived in the Middle East today with a rather immodest agenda: Appeal for peace in Syria and between Israelis and Palestinians.
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| Obama pledges to uphold 'sacred trust' with U.S. veterans Posted: 24 May 2014 01:37 PM PDT  At the end of a week rocked by allegations of mismanagement and cover-ups at the Department of Veterans Affairs, President Barack Obama used his weekly address on Saturday to vow again to make sure veterans get the necessary medical care. "Let's keep working to make sure that our country upholds our sacred trust to all who've served," Obama said in his address, which aired on Memorial Day holiday weekend, when Americans honor their war dead. Obama responded personally this week to a growing furor that veterans had suffered long delays in receiving healthcare, making clear that Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki's job could be on the line. Obama has assigned Rob Nabors, one of his top aides, to conduct his own look into what happened.
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| 25 killed in Iraq as Shiites throng Baghdad for rituals Posted: 24 May 2014 01:11 PM PDT  Throngs of Shiite Muslims converged on a shrine in Baghdad on Saturday for an annual ritual under heavy security, but a string of attacks outside the capital killed 25 people. The bloodshed was the latest in a protracted surge in nationwide unrest that has fuelled fears Iraq is slipping back into the all-out communal conflict that plagued it in 2006 and 2007, leaving tens of thousands dead. Much of Baghdad was on lockdown Saturday for the climax of the rites to mark the death of a revered figure in Shiite Islam, with Baghdad's security forces looking to deter Sunni militant groups which often target Iraq's majority community. Several major roads were closed off and a wide variety of vehicles barred from the streets, as security forces also relied on aerial cover and sniffer dogs.
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| Car bomb at Iraq alcohol shop kills seven: officials Posted: 24 May 2014 12:24 PM PDT  Kirkuk (Iraq) (AFP) - A car bomb outside an alcohol shop in an ethnically-mixed northern Iraqi city killed at least seven people on Saturday evening, security and medical officials said.
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| APNewsBreak: VA OKs more private care for veterans Posted: 24 May 2014 12:16 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration said Saturday it will allow more veterans to obtain health care at private hospitals and clinics in an effort to improve their treatment. |
| 'Restrepo' documentarian returns with 'Korengal' Posted: 24 May 2014 11:59 AM PDT  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sebastian Junger wants 84 minutes of moviegoers' time, especially civilian moviegoers.
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| Pope calls for Syria peace at start of Mideast tour Posted: 24 May 2014 11:57 AM PDT  Pope Francis made an urgent plea Saturday for peace in war-torn Syria as he kicked off a three-day pilgrimage to the Middle East. And he called for religious freedom to be upheld throughout a region ravaged by war and bloodshed, where a dwindling Christian population faces daily persecution. As he walked off the plane onto a red carpet at Amman airport, his white robes flapping in the hot desert wind, he was greeted by officials and two children dressed in traditional costume who handed him bouquets of irises, the national flower of Jordan. On a trip which continues Sunday in the Palestinian territories and Israel, Francis reserved his biggest public event for Jordan, an open-air mass at Amman's main international stadium where he was joyously welcomed by 40,000 pilgrims.
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| Egypt's el-Sissi seeks ties with US on his terms Posted: 24 May 2014 11:48 AM PDT  CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's likely next president, retired military chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, says ties with the United States will improve after elections next week, confident that a strong show of public support will prove to the Americans that Egyptians wanted his ouster of the country's elected president, which threw relations between the two allies into their worst strains ever.
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| Eric Shinseki: Obama sticks with embattled Veterans Affairs chief … for now Posted: 24 May 2014 11:36 AM PDT It's Memorial Day weekend, so not surprising that President Obama would emphasize military veterans in his Saturday radio address. But it's the veterans who made it through demanding and sometimes deadly times that Obama must concern himself with these days. Big problems at hospitals and other facilities run by the US Department of Veterans Affairs have become a political problem for Obama and for VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. In his broadcast Saturday, Obama did not directly address that situation or his embattled VA chief. |
| Pope opens Mideast trip lamenting Syrian conflict Posted: 24 May 2014 10:53 AM PDT AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Pope Francis denounced arms dealers and appealed Saturday for an urgent end to the Syrian civil war as he began his three-day trip to the Middle East with an emotional meeting with refugees from Syria and Iraq who have fled to Jordan. |
| Tight security as Shiites throng Baghdad for rituals Posted: 24 May 2014 10:03 AM PDT Throngs of Shiite Muslims converged on a shrine in north Baghdad on Saturday for annual commemoration rituals under heavy security after a string of deadly attacks in the Iraqi capital. Attacks elsewhere in the country, meanwhile, left 10 people dead amid a protracted surge in nationwide unrest that has fuelled fears Iraq is slipping back into the all-out communal conflict that plagued it in 2006 and 2007. Much of the city was on lockdown Saturday for the climax of the rites to mark the death of a revered figure in Shiite Islam, with Baghdad's security forces looking to deter Sunni militant groups which often target Iraq's majority community. Several major roads were closed off and a wide variety of vehicles barred from the streets, as security forces also relied on aerial cover and sniffer dogs. |
| Exhibit of daily life among troops draws military Posted: 24 May 2014 08:02 AM PDT NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Ashley Danault had to compose herself before she entered the gallery housing Steve Mumford's "War Journals." |
| Iraq repairs oil pipeline after months of attacks Posted: 24 May 2014 03:42 AM PDT  Iraqi engineers began repairs Saturday to a northern oil pipeline that has been disabled for months by militant attacks, costing the country millions of dollars in lost revenues, officials said. The repairs to 40 kilometres (25 miles) of the pipeline, which runs from the northern province of Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, are expected to take between 10 days and two weeks, oil ministry officials said. "The maintenance started today," ministry spokesman Assem Jihad told AFP.
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| Flags and flowers as Jordan Christians await pope Posted: 24 May 2014 01:27 AM PDT  Cheering Christians piled onto buses from churches across Jordan on Saturday, heading for an Amman stadium where Pope Francis will celebrate the first mass of a Middle East tour. Vatican and Jordanian flags flew from masts along the roads to the airport, where the pope was to land at 1000 GMT and be welcomed by 200 children. One of them was to present him with a black iris flower -- the symbol of Jordan. He will then be whisked away in a red open-topped motorcade to meet King Abdullah II, before celebrating mass in the stadium and meeting Syrian refugees on the banks of the River Jordan, where Christians believe Jesus was baptised.
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| Today in History Posted: 23 May 2014 09:00 PM PDT Today is Saturday, May 24, the 144th day of 2014. There are 221 days left in the year. |
| Harleys blessed ahead of US motorbike rally for POWs Posted: 23 May 2014 06:35 PM PDT  Holy water fell on Harleys when the Washington National Cathedral for the first time blessed motorcycles converging on the US capital for the 27th annual Rolling Thunder run. Tens of thousands of motorcycles -- many ridden by US military veterans -- will roll Sunday into the National Mall, the nation's symbolic front yard, in a bold show of support for American prisoners of war and those missing in action. More than 50 participating Harley-Davidsons came together Friday outside the neo-Gothic National Cathedral for an inaugural "Blessing of the Bikes" by its Episcopalian dean Gary Hall. And there remains a US prisoner of war from the Afghan conflict -- Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, a 28-year-old Idaho native held by Taliban forces since June 2009.
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