| Years after shooting, ex-U.S. Marine faces trial in unusual case Posted: 02 Jun 2014 04:17 PM PDT  By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - Navy corpsman Michael Carpeso, Marine Corporal Wilfredo Santiago and an Iraqi translator known as "Hollywood" were alone in a trailer at a Marine station in Iraq on Jan. 26, 2008 when a bullet tore through Carpeso's head, leaving him partially blind and unable to recall the incident. At first, Santiago told a Marine investigator he had only heard the shot.
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| Reid vows quick Senate vote on VA health bill Posted: 02 Jun 2014 04:13 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — A refashioned bill to address problems plaguing the Veterans Affairs Department should be approved by the Senate as soon as possible, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Monday.
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| At D-Day event, Obama to connect World War Two, Sept. 11 veterans Posted: 02 Jun 2014 03:21 PM PDT  By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will draw a connection between the "Greatest Generation" that fought in World War Two to the "9/11 generation" that emerged after the Sept. 11 attacks when he marks the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion this week. "There's a continuum of patriotism and sacrifice that you see in this generation and that you saw in the 'Greatest Generation,'" said Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser. The president is expected to use his speech to stress the importance of the U.S-European alliance and underscore his government's commitment to caring for U.S. veterans in the wake of a healthcare scandal at the Veterans Administration At the Omaha Beach landing site in Normandy, Obama will take part on Friday in a D-Day ritual that for years after World War Two largely took a back seat to remembrances of the Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, that drew America into the war.
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| Case of needle burger at Hawaii base nears trial Posted: 02 Jun 2014 03:03 PM PDT A former soldier's lawsuit alleging he bit into needles in a Burger King sandwich purchased at Hawaii's Schofield Barracks is headed to trial in August after a settlement couldn't be reached. Clark Bartholomew ... |
| In rebel-held Syria, no polls, no campaign - just bombs Posted: 02 Jun 2014 02:33 PM PDT Syrians head to the polls on Tuesday in a presidential election that virtually assures victory for incumbent Bashar al-Assad. Polls are only open in regime-held areas, and although it is technically a multi-candidate election – Syria's first – the two other candidates are relative unknowns. |
| Man plotted to kill returning U.S. soldiers, government says Posted: 02 Jun 2014 01:52 PM PDT By Caurie Putnam BROCKPORT N.Y. (Reuters) - The owner of a western New York food market faced accusations in court on Monday that he illegally bought guns to shoot and kill members of the U.S. military returning from Iraq, according to official documents. Mufid Elfgeeh, 30, of Rochester, was arrested by federal agents on Saturday on illegal weapons charges. According to a criminal complaint, Elfgeeh bought two handguns equipped with unregistered silencers and ammunition from a confidential informant. "It is a war." The FBI has been investigating Elfgeeh, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Yemeni descent, since early 2013, according to an affidavit from FBI Special Agent Albert Zenner. |
| Is Europe safe? Questions after arrest of Brussels shooting suspect Posted: 02 Jun 2014 01:52 PM PDT  Has Europe under-estimated the security threat posed by battle-hardened homegrown Islamic militants returning from Syria? After the chance arrest in France of the suspected perpetrator of last week's deadly shooting at a Jewish Museum in Brussels, concern mounted Monday that the region is ill-equipped to cope with the threat posed by homegrown Islamic militants returning from Syria's battlefields. Mehdi Nemmouche, a Frenchman who spent more than a year fighting in Syria, was detained on Friday in Marseille following a random customs check on the coach on which he had been travelling, which had started its journey in the Netherlands. Police sources said Nemmouche had refused to say anything to his interrogators.
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| Brussels killings arrest mocks bid on jihadists Posted: 02 Jun 2014 01:49 PM PDT  PARIS (AP) — The suspect in the recent killings at the Jewish Museum in Brussels is a text book case of the West's longstanding fear — the threat posed by radicalized citizens returning from the battlefields of Syria.
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| Brussels shooting suspect's journey from troubled childhood to jihad Posted: 02 Jun 2014 01:16 PM PDT  Tourcoing (France) (AFP) - Born in one of the poorest towns in France, Brussels shooting suspect Mehdi Nemmouche was abandoned by his mother, shunted from one foster home to another and evolved from a petty criminal to a hardened jihadist. Caught during a random check by customs officials on Friday in Marseille in a bus coming from Amsterdam via Brussels, Nemmouche is suspected of carrying out the May 24 attack in Brussels' Jewish museum which killed three people outright and left another man in a critical state.
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| 5 things to know about Tuesday's election in Syria Posted: 02 Jun 2014 01:03 PM PDT  BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's first multicandidate presidential elections in decades is being touted by President Bashar Assad's government as measuring Syrians' support for him after three years of civil war that has killed and wounded tens of thousands of people, displaced millions of others and destroyed parts of the country.
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| Turkey brushes off criticism over Iraqi Kurdish oil Posted: 02 Jun 2014 11:41 AM PDT  Ankara on Monday brushed off criticism from Baghdad that it is being "driven by greed" in an escalating row over oil pumped from Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region and shipped overseas via Turkey. Hussein al-Shahristani, Iraq's deputy prime minister for energy affairs, on Sunday threatened legal action against firms that purchased what he called "smuggled oil", which Turkey started to export through its territory on May 22. His remarks represent a significant ratcheting up of rhetoric after Baghdad filed an arbitration case against Ankara in a widening dispute over Iraq's prized natural resources. But Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz dismissed claims that Ankara was trying to illegally profit from the exports, saying: "This oil is not Turkey's, it is Iraq's."
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| Syria tightens security ahead of presidential vote Posted: 02 Jun 2014 11:39 AM PDT  DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — With security heightened in Damascus and thousands fearing rebel attacks in other cities, Syria holds an election Tuesday in the middle of its bloody civil war — a vote that President Bashar Assad is expected to win easily and that critics have denounced as a sham.
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| Senate to take up new VA bill after scandal Posted: 02 Jun 2014 11:12 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — A refashioned bill to address problems plaguing the Veterans Affairs Department is on a "fast track" for consideration by the full Senate this month, according to the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
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| Justices: Treaty can't be invoked in assault case Posted: 02 Jun 2014 10:39 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — A unanimous Supreme Court ruled Monday that prosecutors may not rely on an international chemical weapons treaty to convict a woman who attacked her husband's mistress. |
| AP Interview: Islamic bloc tackles sectarianism Posted: 02 Jun 2014 10:23 AM PDT  JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The newly appointed head of the world's largest bloc of Islamic countries says he is seeking greater co-existence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims at a time when multiple conflicts have inflamed sectarian hatreds as his organization grapples with the challenge of presenting a unified Muslim voice.
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| Syria set for presidential election as war rages on Posted: 02 Jun 2014 09:26 AM PDT  Syria geared up Monday for an election expected to keep Bashar al-Assad as president but derided as a "farce" and only staged in regime-held parts of the war-ravaged country. A "security plan" has reportedly been put in place in Syrian cities since Sunday, aimed at preventing possible attacks against voters and polling stations, with Tuesday's election being held only in areas under the regime's control. More than 9,000 polling stations have been "secured" across the country, the daily said, advising voters not to be concerned about their safety on election day. For some time, rumours have swirled that polling places in Damascus would be targeted by insurgents positioned in the nearby countryside.
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| AJC Praises Arrest in Brussels Terrorist Attack Posted: 02 Jun 2014 07:04 AM PDT NEW YORK, June 2, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC praised French authorities for apprehending, in Marseille, a suspect in the fatal terror attack at the Jewish Museum in Brussels. The suspect, Mehdi Nemmouche, 29, is a French citizen from the city of Roubaix, near the border with Belgium. Two years ago, another French citizen with similar links murdered four Jews, three children and a rabbi, at a Jewish school in Toulouse. According to the French prosecutor, Nemmouche spent more than a year in Syria fighting with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). |
| On election eve, ruined Homs shows cost of Syria's war Posted: 02 Jun 2014 06:31 AM PDT  Less than a month after the last rebel fighters retreated from the center of Homs, the sound of hammering echoes across its narrow, ancient streets as authorities rush to restore major landmarks. No place is more symbolic of President Bashar al-Assad's military ascendancy in Syria's grinding, three-year conflict and the repair work carries a powerful message ahead of Tuesday's scripted presidential election, one he is guaranteed to win. Dazed residents returning home questioned how Syria's patchwork of Sunni Muslims, Alawites and Christians could ever be restored. We want to forget," said a church usher, greeting the trickle of visitors who had come to check up on their church.
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| Nine dead in Iraq attacks as unrest spikes Posted: 02 Jun 2014 04:44 AM PDT  Attacks across Iraq, including in the normally peaceful south, killed nine people Monday after unrest a day earlier left 40 dead, the latest in a protracted surge in nationwide bloodshed. The violence comes as political leaders jostle to build alliances amid what is expected to be a months-long period of government formation following April elections, with bloodletting at its worst since Iraq emerged from a brutal Sunni-Shiite sectarian war. A spate of bombs went off around Baghdad and in restive Sunni-majority Salaheddin province Monday, as well as in Najaf and Dhi Qar in the typically quiet Shiite-dominated south, officials said. South of Baghdad, a roadside bomb near a secondary school in Mahmudiyah killed a male pupil, and a car bomb near a Shiite mosque in Iskandiriyah killed two people.
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| Attacks across Iraq kill at least 15 people Posted: 02 Jun 2014 04:34 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Attacks across Iraq on Monday targeted commercial areas and Iraqi security forces, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens, officials said. |
| Letizia Ortiz, from TV presenter to queen of Spain Posted: 02 Jun 2014 04:33 AM PDT  A former television presenter from a modest background, Letizia Ortiz will break the mould of the classic royal when she is crowned queen of Spain. Ortiz, the granddaughter of a taxi driver, got married on May 22, 2004 to Crown Prince Felipe de Bourbon who is now to take over the throne after the abdication of his father, King Juan Carlos. The couple's sumptuous and rain-soaked marriage ceremony at Madrid's Almudena Cathedral ended years of speculation over the love life of the prince, five years older than her. Even before joining the royal family, Ortiz was a well-known face in her job as evening news presenter for Spanish national television TVE.
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| 4 held in French jihadist group; Syria fears rise Posted: 02 Jun 2014 03:17 AM PDT PARIS (AP) — Four people were arrested Monday in a sweep against French jihadist recruiters, the country's top security official said a day after authorities announced the detention of a French suspect in the deadly shooting at a Jewish museum. |
| Artifacts Ahoy! Old Cannon, Saddam's Gold AK-47 Among Naval Treasures Posted: 02 Jun 2014 02:58 AM PDT  The U.S. Navy is organizing its deep archives — and highlighting bizarre artifacts such as a gold-plated AK-47 assault rifle and a mini-cannon dating back more than three centuries. The Collection Management Division of the Naval History and Heritage Command is conducting an "artifact baseline reset," a detailed process that involves combing through the entire naval archives to make sure each item is correctly labeled, catalogued and preserved. "Our goal is to see more of our artifacts being used to illustrate stories about the Navy's history and heritage, and to have these images available to the public once they are all digitized," Karen France, the curator branch head of the division, said in a statement. This collection dates back to the late 1800s, when Rear Adm. John A. Dahlgren set up the Navy's first research and development program.
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| France arrests 4 in jihadist network Posted: 02 Jun 2014 01:15 AM PDT PARIS (AP) — Four people were arrested Monday for being members of a French jihadist recruiting network, the country's top security official said a day after authorities announced the detention of a French suspect in the deadly shooting at a Jewish museum. |
| Ted Cruz: Bergdahl Should Feel Guilty for Deal Posted: 01 Jun 2014 09:15 PM PDT  The release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was exchanged for five former high-level Taliban officials Saturday after being held as a prisoner of war for nearly five years, had official Washington walking a tightrope on Sunday morning. The White House, which clearly played fast and loose with the law to engineer the release, was trying to spin the deal as a matter of urgent necessity; Then, there was Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Cruz said that the administration was wrong to negotiate for Bergdahl's release in the first place, saying it was "not the only way" to get him out.
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| Freed from Taliban captivity, Bergdahl's ordeal far from over Posted: 01 Jun 2014 05:48 PM PDT By Matt Spetalnick and Sharon Begley WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - In 2008, when he joined the army, he was a bookish athlete from rugged Idaho with a passion for fencing. A year later, he was a captive of the Afghan Taliban. But a new ordeal for Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, 28, is just beginning. Held alone for nearly five years, without any contact with fellow soldiers, Bergdahl likely suffered deep psychological scars that could take years to heal, possibly a lifetime, say experts who have studied prisoners held for long periods of time at war. |
| France holds jihadist suspects after Brussels shooter's detention Posted: 01 Jun 2014 05:16 PM PDT  French police arrested four people suspected of links with jihadist networks Monday, three days after detaining a man for last week's deadly attack on a Jewish museum in Brussels. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced the sweep on Europe1 radio but did not specify if the arrests in the Paris region and southern France were linked to the Brussels shooting suspect Mehdi Nemmouche. Nemmouche, 29, who was arrested on Friday in the southern French city of Marseille, is believed to have recorded a claim of responsibility for the May 24 Brussels attack in a 40-second video found in his possession along with a Kalashnikov and a handgun. Instead Nemmouche later "filmed his weapons and said he carried out the attack against the Jews in Brussels", Belgian prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw said.
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| Iraq says crude oil exports rise slightly in May Posted: 01 Jun 2014 10:10 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's crude oil exports increased slightly in May despite constant militant attacks that have left a vital oil pipeline idle, the Oil Ministry said Sunday. |
