| 4 Utah Guardsmen disciplined for bikini film shoot Posted: 01 Nov 2014 04:18 PM PDT Four Utah National Guard soldiers are being disciplined for their unauthorized involvement and use of military vehicles in a risque video featuring bikini-clad women firing high-powered weapons and riding in tanks. |
| Nigerian extremist says kidnapped girls married Posted: 01 Nov 2014 03:32 PM PDT  MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — With a malevolent laugh, the leader of Nigeria's Islamic extremists tells the world that more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls have all been converted to Islam and married off, dashing hopes for their freedom.
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| Islamic State kills 85 more members of Iraqi tribe Posted: 01 Nov 2014 01:39 PM PDT  By Raheem Salman and Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State has executed 85 more members of the Albu Nimr tribe in Iraq, a tribal leader and security official said on Saturday, part of a mass killing campaign launched last week to break local resistance to the group's territorial advances. Tribal chief Sheikh Naeem al-Ga'oud told Reuters Islamic State had killed 50 members of Albu Nimr who were fleeing the group in Anbar province on Friday. A further 35 bodies were found in a mass grave, a security official said. ...
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| Canada mourns soldier killed in hit-and-run 'terror' attack Posted: 01 Nov 2014 01:34 PM PDT  Canada paid tribute Saturday to a soldier run over and killed by a suspected jihadist last week in Quebec, just two days before a separate attack near parliament left another soldier dead. Prime Minster Stephen Harper, opposition leaders, and several officials attended the funeral of Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, 53, in the Longeueuil cathedral, south of Montreal. A second soldier was also injured when Martin Couture-Rouleau smashed his car into the men. Shortly after, Couture-Rouleau, a 25-year-old Muslim convert, called the police emergency line to dedicate his attack to the cause of jihad.
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| Iraqi fighters lift spirits in Syria siege town Posted: 01 Nov 2014 12:49 PM PDT  Iraqi peshmerga fighters prepared Saturday to join the fight against jihadists for the Syrian border town of Kobane, lifting the spirits of Kurdish defenders in the highly symbolic battle. The roughly 150 Iraqi fighters, many chanting "Kobane!", were warmly welcomed after crossing the frontier from Turkey late Friday to join fellow Kurds trying to repel the Islamic State (IS) group. The peshmerga "are making preparations, deploying weapons, getting to know the area", Polat Can, a spokesman for the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), said Saturday. The town has become a key battleground whose capture would be a major prize for the jihadists, giving them unbroken control of a long stretch of Syria's border with Turkey.
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| Lawmaker sidelined by military seeks 2nd term Posted: 01 Nov 2014 12:36 PM PDT  MADISON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia state Del. Joshua Nelson spent most of his first term learning to fly military jumbo jets in Texas, and almost none of it casting votes or pushing legislation 1,500 miles away in the state Capitol.
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| Iraqi officials: IS extremists line up and kill 50 Posted: 01 Nov 2014 12:00 PM PDT  BAGHDAD (AP) — Islamic State group extremists lined up and shot dead at least 50 tribesmen and women in Iraq's Anbar province, officials said Saturday, the latest mass killing committed by the group.
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| Funeral held for soldier killed in Quebec car attack Posted: 01 Nov 2014 11:38 AM PDT  By Christinne Muschi LONGUEUIL Quebec (Reuters) - Mourners including Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper paid respects in Quebec on Saturday at the second of two funerals for soldiers killed in attacks police said were carried out independently by radical recent converts to Islam. Patrice Vincent, a 53-year-old warrant officer, died on Oct. 20 near Montreal when a man ran over him and a fellow soldier with a car. The driver was later shot and killed by police. Vincent's funeral on Saturday in the city of Longueuil, Quebec, just across the St. ...
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| Iraqi Kurds reinforce Kobani; U.S. planes pound Islamic State targets Posted: 01 Nov 2014 10:44 AM PDT  By Mariam Karouny and Michael Georgy BEIRUT/ BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Syrian Kurds welcomed the arrival in Kobani of Iraqi Kurdish fighters with their heavy weapons, hoping they might tip the balance in the battle to defend the town against Islamic State, as U.S.-led air strikes continued to bomb the ultra-hardline group in Iraq and Syria. Air strikes have helped to foil several attempts by the al Qaeda offshoot, notorious for its beheading of hostages, to take over Kobani. ...
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| Baghdad area bombings kill at least 24: officials Posted: 01 Nov 2014 10:14 AM PDT  Bombings in the Baghdad area killed at least 24 people Saturday, just days ahead of major Shiite religious commemorations that face significant danger from militants, security and medical officials said. In the deadliest attack, a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged truck at the checkpoint leading to southern Baghdad, killing at least 20 people and wounding at least 53. Pilgrims taking part in Ashura commemorations, which marks the death of Imam Hussein, one of the most revered figures in Shiite Islam, have been targeted in attacks that have killed dozens in past years.
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| Iraq violence killed at least 1,273 in October: UN Posted: 01 Nov 2014 07:41 AM PDT  Violence in Iraq killed at least 1,273 people during October, according to UN figures released on Saturday, while the government gave a significantly higher toll. According to the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), at least 856 civilians and 417 security forces members were killed and more than 2,000 were injured. At least 1,119 were killed the previous month, UNAMI said. Iraqi government statistics compiled by the health, interior and defence ministries put the number of people killed in October at 1,725 civilians and members of the security forces, with more than 2,300 wounded.
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| Dozens of Libyans in eastern town pledge allegiance to Islamic State leader Posted: 01 Nov 2014 07:19 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Dozens of residents of a town in eastern Libya have pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of Islamic State militants fighting in Syria and Iraq, according to a video and a resident. Around 50 young people could be seen in a video posted on social media gathering in Derna to support Baghdadi, who calls himself "caliph", or Muslim leader, of Islamic State, an Al Qaeda offshoot. A Derna resident confirmed the authenticity of the video, taken late on Friday. ... |
| U.S. military launches 10 air strikes in Syria, Iraq Posted: 01 Nov 2014 06:51 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. fighter and bomber planes have launched five attacks against Islamic State militants near Kobani, Syria and five in Iraq since Friday, Central Command said on Saturday. The Kobani strikes "suppressed or destroyed" nine Islamic State fighting positions and a building, Centcom said. In Iraq, five air strikes destroyed an Islamic State vehicle southwest of Mosul Dam and hit four vehicles and four buildings used by militants near Al Qaim, it said in a statement. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Louise Ireland) |
| Ebola costs encourage budget flexibility among U.S. Republicans Posted: 01 Nov 2014 05:08 AM PDT By David Lawder and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Worries about Ebola are chipping away at some congressional Republicans' support for maintaining across-the-board spending caps on U.S. government agencies and the military. An increasing number of Republicans are speaking out in favor of Ebola "emergency" funds, which would be passed outside of the normal budget process, and would not require offsetting spending cuts or explicit sources of revenue. ... |
| UK warns travelers they could be terror targets Posted: 01 Nov 2014 04:01 AM PDT LONDON (AP) — Britain has taken the unusual step of issuing a general terror warning to all U.K. travelers overseas because of fears that they could be targeted by Islamic State group terrorists seeking revenge for coalition actions in the Middle East. |
| Qaeda drives moderate Syria rebels from northern bastion Posted: 01 Nov 2014 03:35 AM PDT  Fighters from Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front have driven rebels of the Western-backed Syrian Revolutionary Front from their bastion in the northwestern province of Idlib after 24 hours of combat, a monitor said Saturday. The defeat, in which some of the SRF fighters deserted and joined Al-Nusra, is seen as a blow to US efforts to create and train a moderate rebel force as a counterweight to jihadists and the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Al-Nusra captured Deir Sinbel and also controls most of the other towns and villages in the Jabal al-Zawiya area, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It "seized SRF arms and tanks, and some of the rebels swore allegiance to Al-Nusra, while others fled," the Britain-based organisation said.
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| Families of Lebanese hostages united in despair Posted: 31 Oct 2014 11:43 PM PDT  Outside Lebanon's government headquarters, where relatives of soldiers and police captured by jihadists have held a weeks-long sit-in, a message on a photograph reads: "We are waiting for your return". For the past three months, 27 families from across Lebanon have been brought together in anguish by threats by the Islamic extremists to execute a son or a husband. Her son is one of 30 soldiers and policemen kidnapped on August 2 in the town of Arsal in eastern Lebanon during fighting between the army and jihadists from neighbouring Syria. Three have been executed -- two by the Islamic State (IS) group that has seized large parts of Syria and Iraq, and one by Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.
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| Gas falling under $3 nationwide: What to know Posted: 31 Oct 2014 03:30 PM PDT  The sight is so surprising that Americans are sharing photos of it, along with all those cute Halloween costumes, sweeping vistas and special meals: The gas station sign, with a price of $2-something a ...
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| Iraqi forces enter jihadist-held town Posted: 31 Oct 2014 12:19 PM PDT  Iraqi forces on Friday attacked the strategic jihadist-held town of Baiji, which has been out of government control for months, regaining control of two areas, army officers said. Major Hassan Mekhlif, who took part in the operation, confirmed the two areas had been retaken, adding that "our forces are stationed in a number of sites and checkpoints." An army major general said the assault came after shelling targeting militants from the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, which spearheaded a sweeping June offensive that overran Baiji and much of the rest of Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland. Security forces, militiamen and tribesmen had been gathering for several days near Baiji, after advancing from the south in an operation launched more than two weeks ago.
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