| IS executioner 'Jihadi John' injured in air strike: reports Posted: 15 Nov 2014 04:01 PM PST  The British government on Saturday said it had received reports that "Jihadi John", the British-accented Islamic State militant apparently responsible for the beheading of western hostages, had been injured in a US air strike. The Mail claimed that a nurse who treated some of those wounded in the attack said there was a man named Jalman on her list, referring to him as "the one who slaughtered the journalists".
|
| U.S. military readiness for war, competitive edge worsening: officials Posted: 15 Nov 2014 03:55 PM PST  By Andrea Shalal and David Alexander SIMI VALLEY Calif. (Reuters) - The U.S. military's ability to stay ahead of technology advances by other countries and respond to multiple crises around the world is already in jeopardy and will get worse unless mandatory budget cuts are reversed, top U.S. officials warned on Saturday. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert told Reuters the Navy would have to cut forces and reduce its ability to position ships around the world if lawmakers did not ease or reverse the cuts, which are due to resume in fiscal 2016. ...
|
| UK looking into reports IS beheading suspect wounded Posted: 15 Nov 2014 03:28 PM PST LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Saturday it was investigating reports that a man believed to be a British national suspected of carrying out beheadings in videos released by Islamic State (IS) had been wounded in a U.S.-led air strike last week. The man, dubbed "Jihadi John" by the British media, was believed to have been injured in an air attack on a summit of IS leaders in an Iraqi town close to the Syrian border last Saturday, Britain's Mail on Sunday newspaper reported. The group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was also said to have been wounded in the attack, the paper added. ... |
| Countries wrestle with how to de-radicalise returning jihadists Posted: 15 Nov 2014 02:28 PM PST  Countries around the globe are experimenting with de-radicalisation programmes to deal with the threat of jihadists returning from the wars of the Middle East, but experts remain sceptical about their prospects. With thousands of mostly young Muslim men flooding into Syria and Iraq to take part in the jihad, governments across the world are struggling with how best to deal with those who come home battle-hardened and indoctrinated. Other countries – from Indonesia to India to Britain – have set up similar de-radicalisation programmes in recent years, hoping a soft approach will yield better long-term results in tackling violent extremism. "Let's be clear, for the moment de-radicalisation does not work," a senior French counterterrorism official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
|
| Migrant surge across Med continues as Italy rescues 900 Posted: 15 Nov 2014 02:02 PM PST  Italian authorities said Saturday that more than 900 people had been rescued at sea in 24 hours, in a blow to hopes that the approach of winter would stem the flow of migrants attempting perilous crossings of the Mediterranean. Most of the rescued were picked up from boats in the channel between Libya and Sicily, a narrow but treacherous strait in which thousands have drowned in recent years trying to reach Europe. A total of 477 migrants were delivered to Porto Empedocle on Sicily's southern coast by Panamanian tanker the Gaz Concord. The coastguard also intercepted a yacht with 80 would-be migrants on board off the port of Crotone on the southeastern "heel" of the Italian mainland.
|
| U.S. military chief says battle with IS starting to turn Posted: 15 Nov 2014 01:41 PM PST  By Phil Stewart BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The United States' top military officer told American troops on a surprise visit to Baghdad on Saturday that the momentum in the battle with Islamic State was "starting to turn", but predicted a drawn-out campaign lasting several years. General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was visiting Iraq for the first time since President Barack Obama responded to Islamic State advances this summer by ordering troops back into a country they left in 2011. ...
|
| Iraq forces break jihadist siege of main oil refinery Posted: 15 Nov 2014 12:39 PM PST  Iraqi forces broke the Islamic State group's months-long siege of the country's largest oil refinery Saturday as America's top officer flew in to discuss the expanding war against the jihadists. Completely expelling IS fighters from the area around the refinery would be another significant achievement for Baghdad, a day after pro-government forces retook the nearby town of Baiji. Three military officers confirmed that Iraqi forces had reached the refinery, 200 kilometres (120 miles) north of Baghdad, where security forces have been surrounded and under repeated attack since June. This new success for the government came a day after the recapture of nearby Baiji, the largest town to be retaken since IS-led militants swept across Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland in June.
|
| Top US general in Iraq to assess anti-IS campaign Posted: 15 Nov 2014 12:26 PM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — America's top military leader arrived in Iraq on Saturday on a previously unannounced visit, his first since a U.S.-led coalition began launching airstrikes against the extremist Islamic State group.
|
| UAE lists over 80 Muslim 'terrorist' groups Posted: 15 Nov 2014 12:22 PM PST  The United Arab Emirates, which belongs to a US-led coalition fighting jihadists, on Saturday issued a list of 83 Islamist groups which it classified as "terrorist organisations". It blacklists Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS), as well as the Muslim Brotherhood and Yemen's Shiite Huthi militia. The UAE has jailed dozens of Emiratis and Egyptians for forming cells of the Brotherhood, outlawed in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which accuses the movement of seeking to overthrow the Gulf monarchies. On Saturday, the UAE named the Qatar-based International Union of Muslim Scholars which is headed by the Brotherhood's spiritual guide Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi on its terror list.
|
| Emirates brands Muslim Brotherhood terrorists Posted: 15 Nov 2014 11:34 AM PST DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates designated the Muslim Brotherhood and dozens of other Islamist groups as terrorist organizations on Saturday, ratcheting up the pressure on the group by lumping it together with extremists such as the Islamic State group and the Nusra Front, al-Qaida's affiliate in Syria. |
| "Democrats' Silence Was Deafening" With No National TV Ads On Successes And Mission, Say Robert Weiner, Democratic Strategist & Evan Baumel, Policy Analyst; Helped Cause Negative Wave Posted: 15 Nov 2014 10:41 AM PST WASHINGTON, Nov. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- National Democratic Strategist and former White House spokesman Bob Weiner, along with Evan Baumel, Robert Weiner Associates' Senior Policy Analyst have published an op-ed in the Michigan Chronicle, six-times number one African-American newspaper in America. ... |
| 150 years on, Sherman's March to Sea still vivid Posted: 15 Nov 2014 10:38 AM PST  MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. (AP) — At the heart of this well-preserved antebellum city, sunbeams stream through the arched windows of a grand public meeting room that mirrors the whole Civil War — including its death throes, unfolding 150 years ago this week when Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman launched his scorching March to the Sea.
|
| Putin, Cameron discuss repairing Russia-West ties: Kremlin Posted: 15 Nov 2014 08:41 AM PST  Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister David Cameron on Saturday discussed how to repair Russia-West ties that have hit post-Cold War lows over the Ukraine crisis, the Kremlin said after the leaders' closed-door meeting in Brisbane.
|
| Iraqi forces retake one of country's largest dams Posted: 15 Nov 2014 08:09 AM PST  Adhaim Dam (Iraq) (AFP) - Iraqi forces and Shiite militiamen have recaptured one of Iraq's largest dams, another success in Baghdad's efforts to wrest key facilities back from the Islamic State group.
|
| Turkey, US agree plan 'to train 2,000 moderate Syrian rebels' Posted: 15 Nov 2014 05:04 AM PST  Turkey and the United States have agreed a plan under which some 2,000 fighters from the moderate Syrian opposition would be trained on Turkish soil, a report said Saturday. The fighters from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) will be trained at the Kirsehir base some 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of the capital Ankara by both Turkish and US personnel starting from late December, Hurriet Daily News reported, quoting unnamed officials. The United States will provide weapons for the fighters and is also expected to pay for the training, the English-language daily said. The officials did not, however, reach an agreement on the training of Syrian Kurd fighters from the Democratic Union Party (PYD), who are leading the battle against Islamic State jihadists for the key border town of Kobane, the paper said.
|
| Islamic state militants withdraw from area around Iraq refinery Posted: 15 Nov 2014 02:52 AM PST  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State militants withdrew on Saturday from the perimeter of Iraq's biggest oil refinery after months fending off government troops seeking to retake the strategic complex, said an army officer and Al-Hadath television station. The officer, speaking to Reuters from the Baiji refinery, said the Sunni insurgents removed roadside bombs they had planted and fled. Al-Hadath said security forces had entered the compound. It was not immediately possible to confirm either account. (Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
|
| Ex-Navy SEAL makes no apologies for going public Posted: 15 Nov 2014 02:05 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Navy SEAL Robert O'Neill, who says he fired the shots that killed Osama bin Laden, played a role in some of the most consequential combat missions of the post-9/11 era, including three depicted in Hollywood movies. And now he's telling the world about them.
|
| Top US military officer in Iraq to discuss war on Islamic State Posted: 15 Nov 2014 01:48 AM PST  The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, arrived in Iraq Saturday to discuss the expanding war against the Islamic State group, a senior US official said. Dempsey flew in to hold talks with "Iraqi political and security officials on (the) next phase of the campaign to defeat (IS)," Brett McGurk, the number two US envoy for the coalition battling the jihadist group, said on Twitter. The US is ramping up its efforts against IS, with President Barack Obama announcing plans to deploy up to 1,500 more US military personnel to the country to advise and train Iraqi forces, raising the total cap to 3,100. A US-led coalition is carrying out air strikes against IS in Iraq, where the jihadists spearheaded a lightning offensive that overran much of the Sunni Arab heartland in June.
|
| Islamic State faces war of attrition in Syria's Kobane Posted: 14 Nov 2014 08:58 PM PST  The Islamic State group is locked in a war of attrition in the Syrian border town of Kobane, where Kurdish fighters backed by US-led air strikes are mounting fierce resistance. Two months after IS launched a major offensive to try to capture the strategic prize on the Turkish frontier, the jihadists have failed to defeat the town's Kurdish defenders. "Several weeks ago, it looked like Kobane would fall, but it is now clear that it will not," said Romain Caillet, a French expert on jihadist movements. Buoyed by a string of victories in Syria and Iraq, IS launched a major offensive on September 16 to seize Kobane and expand its self-proclaimed Islamic "caliphate".
|
| Navy SEAL who shot bin Laden was at war for years Posted: 14 Nov 2014 07:54 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Navy SEAL Robert O'Neill, who says he fired the shots that killed Osama bin Laden, played a role in some of the most consequential combat missions of the post-9/11 era, including three depicted in Hollywood movies. And now he's telling the world about them. |
| Egyptian militants loyal to IS claim deadly attack on soldiers Posted: 14 Nov 2014 07:54 PM PST  Egypt's deadliest militant group, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State jihadists, claimed responsibility for a suicide attack last month that killed 30 soldiers. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which has spearheaded an insurgency in Egypt's restive Sinai Peninsula, made the claim in a video posted on social media. The group has killed scores of policemen and soldiers since the army overthrew president Mohamed Morsi last year, but the October 24 attack in which a jihadist rammed a military checkpoint in northern Sinai with an explosives-packed car was the deadliest such incident in years.
|
