| US airstrikes target Islamic State leaders in Iraq Posted: 08 Nov 2014 03:43 PM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — The U.S.-led coalition conducted a series of airstrikes targeting a gathering of Islamic State leaders near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a senior U.S. defense official said Saturday.
|
| Troubled vets of all ages find comfort at refuge Posted: 08 Nov 2014 03:17 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.
|
| US-led airstrikes hit IS militant leaders in Iraq Posted: 08 Nov 2014 02:21 PM PST  The US-led coalition unleashed airstrikes near the Iraqi city of Mosul targeting top jihadist militants, officials said Saturday, but the fate of the Islamic State group's enigmatic leader remained unclear. Claims swirled that hardline IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed in the attacks late Friday, but US officials could not confirm if he had even been present. The news came after US President Barack Obama unveiled plans to send up to 1,500 more US troops to Iraq to help battle the militants who have seized a large swathe of territory. In fresh violence, some 33 people were killed in a wave of car bombings against Shiite areas in the capital Baghdad, highlighting again the security challenge facing Iraqis even within government-controlled zones.
|
| U.S. air strikes target Islamic State convoy in Iraq Posted: 08 Nov 2014 02:11 PM PST  By Michael Georgy and Phil Stewart BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. air strikes destroyed an Islamic State convoy near the Iraqi city of Mosul but U.S. officials said on Saturday it was unclear whether the group's top commander Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been in any of the 10 targeted vehicles. Colonel Patrick Ryder, a Central Command spokesman, said the U.S. military had reason to believe that the convoy was carrying leaders of Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot which controls large chunks of Iraq and Syria. The convoy consisted of 10 Islamic State armed trucks. ...
|
| Germans, foreigners fete Berlin Wall's fall 25 years on Posted: 08 Nov 2014 01:34 PM PST  Hundreds of thousands descended on the German capital Saturday for festivities to mark the Berlin Wall's fall 25 years ago, stirring emotions and bringing memories flooding back of its joyous toppling. In bright but chilly autumnal sunshine, German and foreign visitors flocked to symbolic points along the Wall's route ahead of the anniversary Sunday of the peaceful revolution in 1989 that led to the border's opening. Germany would reunite within a year, on October 3, 1990. People posed for photos in front of the few remaining graffiti-daubed slabs of the Wall, or read information boards about the grim reality of life under Berlin's 28-year division.
|
| Iraq says foreign trainers 'late' as bombs rock Baghdad Posted: 08 Nov 2014 12:34 PM PST  Iraq said Saturday foreign military trainers who will aid its fight against jihadists are welcome but "late", as a wave of car bombs killed dozens, highlighting enormous security challenges ahead. US President Barack Obama unveiled plans the day before to send up to 1,500 additional US military personnel to Iraq, which would roughly double the number of American troops in the country. The move marked a deepening US commitment in the open-ended war against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, which spearheaded a June offensive that overran significant parts of Iraq and also holds territory in neighbouring Syria. A US-led coalition is carrying out a campaign of air strikes against IS in both Iraq and Syria, and countries including Britain, France and Germany have also deployed advisers and trainers to Iraq, which is struggling to repel the jihadists.
|
| Gorbachev says world is on brink of new Cold War Posted: 08 Nov 2014 11:03 AM PST  By Bettina Borgfeld BERLIN (Reuters) - Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev warned in a speech in Berlin on Saturday that East-West tensions over the Ukraine crisis were threatening to push the world into a new Cold War, 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Gorbachev, who is credited with forging a rapprochement with the West that led to the demise of communist regimes across Eastern Europe, accused the West, and the United States in particular, of not fulfilling their promises after 1989. "The world is on the brink of a new Cold War. ...
|
| Friends of US aid worker call on IS to free him Posted: 08 Nov 2014 09:45 AM PST  TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AP) — Several Syrian friends of an American aid worker held by the Islamic State group and threatened with decapitation called Saturday for his release, saying he converted to Islam and was helping Syrians.
|
| TV campaign for gay equality starting in Miss Posted: 08 Nov 2014 09:08 AM PST  BRANDON, Miss. (AP) — Mary Jane Kennedy considers herself a conservative Christian Republican, and she's led Bible studies in her native Mississippi for decades. She's also the mother of two gay sons and one of the faces in a new advertising campaign aimed at softening religious opposition in the Deep South to equal rights for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
|
| Honor vets by giving them benefits they've earned: Obama Posted: 08 Nov 2014 08:39 AM PST  President Barack Obama called on Americans Saturday to honor veterans with the health care and job benefits they have earned, one month ahead of the US military ending its war in Afghanistan. In his weekly address to the nation, which fell three days before Veterans Day, Obama reminded Americans that service to veterans has "only just begun" when they return home.
|
| U.S.-led airstrikes target Islamic State leaders in Iraq: report Posted: 08 Nov 2014 07:42 AM PST BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S.-led airstrikes targeted a gathering of Islamic State leaders in Iraq, possibly including the group's top man, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Al-Hadath television station reported on Saturday. Iraqi security officials were not immediately available for comment on the report from the station, part of Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television. (Reporting by Michael Georgy) |
| Power shift in U.S. Senate brings sterner tone to foreign policy debate Posted: 08 Nov 2014 07:11 AM PST  By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican takeover of the U.S. Senate will bring a tough new tone to the debate over Washington's foreign policy, with lawmakers expected use their new clout and power over the budget to promote a more interventionist foreign policy. While leaders of the Democratic-majority Senate mostly backed President Barack Obama's international goals, Republicans plan to pressure the White House to take a tougher line on Iran, Russia and Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria. ...
|
| Syria state newspaper criticizes visiting UN envoy Posted: 08 Nov 2014 06:14 AM PST DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A Syrian state newspaper criticized the United Nations envoy to the country shortly before he arrived in Damascus on Saturday, for pursuing a plan that involves halting fighting in certain areas of the war-wracked nation. |
| Obama doubles US military presence in Iraq. Slippery slope? Posted: 08 Nov 2014 05:32 AM PST President Obama, who opposed the US invasion of Iraq and did everything he could to withdraw American forces, is significantly escalating this country's military presence there. |
| Islamic State seeking to 'delete' entire cultures, UNESCO chief warns in Iraq Posted: 08 Nov 2014 05:00 AM PST The so-called Islamic State's "cultural cleansing" of minority groups uprooted from their northern Iraq homelands has led to fears that entire cultures from the cradle of civilization are under the biggest threat in recorded history, the United Nation's top cultural official warns. |
| Canada keeps hope after attacks, Turkey needs to talk with neighbors, Zambia must work with diaspora, Japan's push to increase green energy, and the problems in Jerusalem Posted: 08 Nov 2014 04:00 AM PST The Globe and Mail / TorontoAfter a string of attacks, hope remains in Canada |
| US: Iran nuclear deal not linked to other issues Posted: 08 Nov 2014 02:03 AM PST  BEIJING (AP) — The top U.S. diplomat described "real gaps" Saturday in waning negotiations to limit Iran's nuclear program, but steadfastly denied that any deal struck would also bring a promise of stronger cooperation between Washington and Tehran on fighting Islamic militants.
|
| Houthi expansion puts Yemen on edge of civil war Posted: 08 Nov 2014 01:42 AM PST  By Mohammed Ghobari and Sami Aboudi SANAA/DUBAI (Reuters) - An advance into Yemen's Sunni Muslim heartland by Shi'ite Houthi fighters has galvanised support for al Qaeda among some Sunnis, deepening the religious hue of the country's many conflicts, with potential consequences well beyond its borders. Yemen's tribal, regional and political divisions were widened by the rapid fall of the capital Sanaa to Houthi fighters on Sept. 21 after weeks of protests against the government and its decision to cut fuel subsidies. "The Houthi expansion has created a sectarian problem," said Bassam al-Barq, a Sunni Muslim resident of the religiously mixed Sanaa, attending a protest by local activists held every week to demand the Houthis quit the capital. "It has created sympathy with al Qaeda, as we see in Ibb and al-Baydah," Barq said, referring to two provinces in central Yemen where some local tribes have allied themselves with al Qaeda's local wing, Ansar al-Sharia.
|
| Obama and GOP lawmakers break bread but not ice Posted: 08 Nov 2014 01:16 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Disagreement wasn't supposed to be on the menu at the White House luncheon designed to bring together President Barack Obama and Republicans who will soon control the next Congress. Instead of cooperation, a fresh dispute found its way to the table.
|
| 19-year-old fighter from Kobani buried in Turkey Posted: 08 Nov 2014 01:15 AM PST  SURUC, Turkey (AP) — It was an easy decision to make. Barely out of school, Perwin Mustafa Dihap wanted to follow in the footsteps of three of her older siblings and go to war. Before long, she was on the front line in the Kurdish Syrian city of Kobani, her hometown on the Turkish border besieged on three sides by extremists from the Islamic State group.
|
| Expanded US role in Iraq? Not without Congress' OK Posted: 08 Nov 2014 01:12 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress members returning to Capitol Hill next week will face a debate over President Barack Obama's new $5.6 billion plan to expand the U.S. mission in Iraq and send up to 1,500 more American troops to the war-torn nation.
|
| Pakistan army says 17 bodies found after clash Posted: 08 Nov 2014 12:53 AM PST PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Soldiers fighting in Pakistan's tribal region who battled militants overnight found 17 bodies Saturday dumped in the countryside, identifying them all as insurgents, a government administrator and the army said. |
| GOP win mean new leaders for Senate committees Posted: 07 Nov 2014 11:07 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — One new committee chairman favors more U.S. forces in Iraq to counter the growing threat from Islamic State militants. Another has written about global warming as a hoax. A third has the 2010 financial overhaul law in his sights. |
| Obama to send 1,500 more troops to Iraq as campaign expands Posted: 07 Nov 2014 07:59 PM PST  By Phil Stewart and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has approved sending up to 1,500 more troops to Iraq, roughly doubling the number of U.S. forces on the ground helping Iraqi and Kurdish forces battle the militant group Islamic State, U.S. officials said on Friday. Obama's decision greatly expands the scope of the U.S. campaign and the geographic distribution of American forces, some of whom will head into Iraq's fiercely contested western Anbar province for the first time to act as advisers. ...
|
| James Earl Jones happy to receive Voice Icon Award Posted: 07 Nov 2014 04:51 PM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — Darth Vader, Mufasa, and even the tagline for a certain 24-hour news network helped make James Earl Jones one of the most recognizable voices on the planet and soon the recipient of the first Voice Icon Award.
|
| US-led air raids hit jihadist-held Syria oil field Posted: 07 Nov 2014 04:21 PM PST  US-led air strikes hit jihadist positions in the north and east of Syria, including an oil field, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday. The raids against the Islamic State group came as the jihadists shelled a camp for people displaced from the flashpoint Syrian town of Kobane, killing two civilians, said the monitoring group. "Four explosions were heard during the night in Deir Ezzor province (eastern Syria), caused by US-Arab air strikes in the area of the Tanak oil field and an IS checkpoint... killing two people," said the Observatory. The Britain-based monitoring group, which relies on a network of sources on the ground for its reports, said it was unclear whether the casualties were jihadists or civilians.
|
| Fall in oil prices costs Iraq 27% of expected revenues Posted: 07 Nov 2014 04:03 PM PST  The sharp decline in global oil prices has "greatly affected" Iraq, costing the country 27 percent of its projected revenues for the year, the oil ministry said on Saturday. "The Iraqi economy and the federal budget were greatly affected by the projected decline in revenues, and more than 27 percent of its projected revenues for this year were lost," the ministry said. Iraq is heavily reliant on oil exports, and the government is seeking to dramatically ramp up sales to fund the reconstruction of its battered infrastructure. Though the ministry referred to the Iraqi budget, one was never approved by parliament for 2014 amid a row between Baghdad and the country's autonomous Kurdish region over natural resources and funds.
|
