| How Syria policy stalled under the 'analyst in chief' Posted: 21 Dec 2014 04:52 PM PST By David Rohde and Warren Strobel WASHINGTON (Reuters) - (This version of the story was refiled to clarify the size of National Security Council staff in paragraph 12 for the record, after the story originally published on October 9 was updated on October 28 and refiled on December 19, following White House update of data.) Throughout 2012, as signs mounted that militants in Syria were growing stronger, the debate in the White House followed a pattern. ... |
| France: Driver goes on rampage, feeding fears Posted: 21 Dec 2014 04:14 PM PST PARIS (AP) — A driver deliberately slammed his car into crowds around the city of Lyon in southeastern France on Sunday, raising concerns at a time when Islamic extremists are calling for attacks in France. |
| Iraqi Kurds, Yazidis fight Islamic State for strategic town of Sinjar Posted: 21 Dec 2014 03:56 PM PST  By Isabel Coles MOUNT SINJAR, Iraq (Reuters) - Kurdish and Yazidi fighters battled to take the strategic northern Iraqi town of Sinjar back from Islamic State on Sunday after breaking a months-long siege of the mountain above it. Seizing the town would restore the majority of territory Iraq's Kurds lost in the jihadist group's surprise August offensive. It would also give a huge strategic victory to both the Iraqi Kurds and the central government in Baghdad, as the Kurdish fighters could then cut the highway from Syria to Mosul, a vital supply line for Islamic State. Backed by U.S. ...
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| Satanic Temple puts up display at Michigan Capitol Posted: 21 Dec 2014 03:21 PM PST  LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Christians and Satanists put up competing displays Sunday on the Michigan Capitol grounds as Christmas week got underway.
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| Driver ploughs into pedestrians in France's second 'Allahu Akbar' attack Posted: 21 Dec 2014 03:04 PM PST  A driver shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest") ploughed into pedestrians in eastern France on Sunday, injuring 11 of them, just a day after a man yelling the same words was killed in an attack on police officers. Two of the people injured in the car attack in the city of Dijon were in a serious condition, a police source said, adding that the driver had been arrested. Witnesses told police that the driver shouted "Allahu Akbar" and "that he was acting for the children of Palestine", a source close to the investigation said. Prime Minister Manuel Valls took to Twitter to express "solidarity" with those injured in the attack.
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| Invoking Allah, driver slams car into pedestrians in eastern France Posted: 21 Dec 2014 03:00 PM PST PARIS (Reuters) - French police arrested a man on Sunday evening after he deliberately mowed down a dozen pedestrians in the eastern city of Dijon, badly injuring two of them and shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is the greatest"), authorities said. The previous day, French police in central France shot dead a man who stabbed and wounded three officers in a police station while shouting those same Arabic words. ... |
| 20 jihadists killed in failed east Syria airport attack Posted: 21 Dec 2014 02:42 PM PST  At least 20 Islamist State (IS) group members were killed in the second failed jihadist bid in a month to take over an air base in eastern Syria, a monitoring group said Sunday. "The IS tried, starting late Saturday, to storm the air base. A total of 20 jihadists were killed in the attack, as well as two regime soldiers," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. "The withdrawing jihadists seized and took with them several anti-aircraft missiles," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.
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| Jordan hangs 11 men after eight-year death penalty moratorium Posted: 21 Dec 2014 11:19 AM PST  Human rights groups took Jordan to task on Sunday as the country ended an eight-year moratorium on the death penalty by hanging 11 men convicted of murder. Jordan's last previous executions were in June 2006, and 122 people have since been sentenced to death. Interior Minister Hussein Majali had suggested recently that the moratorium might end, saying there was a "major debate" in Jordan on the death penalty and that "the public believes that the rise in crime has been the result of the non-application" of capital punishment.
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| U.S.-led forces launch 13 air strikes in Iraq, three in Syria Posted: 21 Dec 2014 10:11 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.-led forces attacked Islamic State targets on Sunday with 13 air strikes in Iraq and three in Syria, using fighter, bomber and other aircraft, the U.S. military said. Four of the Iraq strikes were near Sinjar in the north of the country, which destroyed Islamic State buildings, tactical units and vehicles, while other Iraqi cities targeted included Tal Afar, Ramadi, Mosul and Baiji, according to the Combined Joint Task Force. The strikes in Syria over the weekend were focused around the contested city of Kobani near the Turkish border, it said in a statement. ... |
| Iraqi Kurds push into contested northern town Posted: 21 Dec 2014 09:50 AM PST  MOUNT SINJAR, Iraq (AP) — With coalition warplanes circling overhead, Kurdish fighters pushed into the contested northern Iraqi town of Sinjar on Sunday, touching off heavy clashes with Islamic State militants who have controlled the area for months.
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| Saudi Arabia says won't cut oil output Posted: 21 Dec 2014 09:35 AM PST  By Rania El Gamal and Maha El Dahan ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said on Sunday it would not cut output to prop up oil markets even if non-OPEC nations did so, in one of the toughest signals yet that the world's top petroleum exporter plans to ride out the market's biggest slump in years. Referring to countries outside of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told reporters: "If they want to cut production they are welcome: We are not going to cut, certainly Saudi Arabia is not going to cut. ...
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| Gulf oil producers stand firm on OPEC output Posted: 21 Dec 2014 08:41 AM PST  Oil-rich Arab Gulf countries stood firm against non-OPEC crude producers on Sunday, vowing they will not cut output nor hold an emergency cartel meeting to support slumping prices. OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia and Kuwait said they would not cut production even if non-OPEC members reduce their output, while the United Arab Emirates and Iraq shrugged off calls for an emergency meeting of the group. "If they (non-OPEC countries) want to cut production they are welcome. We are not going to cut, certainly Saudi Arabia is not going to cut," Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told reporters on the sidelines of an energy conference in the United Arab Emirates.
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| France probes possible lone wolf 'radical Islamic' attack Posted: 21 Dec 2014 07:13 AM PST  Joué-lès-Tours (France) (AFP) - France on Sunday probed a suspected 'radical Islamic' attack on police that left two officers seriously injured and the assailant dead, prompting security to be stepped up at police and fire stations nationwide. Bertrand Nzohabonayo was shot dead Saturday after entering a police station in the central town of Joue-les-Tours armed with a knife, seriously wounding two officers -- slashing one in the face -- and hurting another. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who rushed to the scene of the attack on Saturday, said he had ordered "security measures to be stepped up" for police personnel and firefighters across the country. Nzohabonayo had previously committed petty offences but was not on a domestic intelligence watch-list although his brother is known for his radical views and once pondered going to Syria, the source said.
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| Iraq Kurd chief hails advances in anti-jihadist battle Posted: 21 Dec 2014 07:04 AM PST  Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani hailed advances by peshmerga fighters against the Islamic State group Sunday as they battled the jihadists for a northern town with the backing of US-led strikes. Thousands of the autonomous Kurdish region's peshmerga launched a major operation on Wednesday which broke the second IS siege this year of Mount Sinjar. The Kurdish offensive threatens the links between the city of Mosul, the main IS stronghold in Iraq, and territory the militants control in neighbouring Syria. In addition to breaking through to the mountain, "a large part of the centre of the town of Sinjar was also liberated," he said of the district's main settlement to the south.
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| Coalition strikes hit IS north of Syria's Aleppo: monitor Posted: 21 Dec 2014 05:02 AM PST  US-led coalition air strikes hit the Islamic State group Sunday in areas north of Syria's second city Aleppo where it has been fighting rival jihadists, a monitoring group said. It was the first time that coalition aircraft had targeted IS in the Madajen area, where it has been fighting Al-Qaeda loyalists of Al-Nusra Front and their allies, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. "At least 12 coalition strikes hit IS positions and weapons depots in areas that had never been targeted before," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman. Al-Nusra and its allies have been battling IS in Aleppo province and some others parts of Syria since January.
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| Homegrown jihadis: On Syrian border, Belgian father tracks his wayward son Posted: 21 Dec 2014 05:00 AM PST Europe's anguish over the rise of homegrown jihadis – young Muslims and Muslim converts who flock to the banner of foreign extremist groups, especially the Islamic State – was on private display here this past week. |
| Saudi oil chief: No conspiracy behind oil prices Posted: 21 Dec 2014 04:56 AM PST  ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia's oil chief on Sunday dismissed allegations that his kingdom conspired to bring down oil prices in order to harm other countries and told a summit of Arab energy leaders that he was confident the market would stabilize.
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| Yazidis cheer Kurds on Iraqi mountain for breaking Islamic State siege Posted: 21 Dec 2014 04:18 AM PST  By Isabel Coles SINJAR MOUNTAIN, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi Kurdish fighters flashed victory signs as they swept across the northern side of Sinjar mountain on Saturday, two days after breaking through to free hundreds of Yazidis trapped there for months by Islamic State fighters. A Reuters correspondent, who arrived on the mountain late Saturday, witnessed Kurdish and Yazidi fighters celebrating their gains after launching their offensive on Wednesday with heavy U.S. air support. The Iraqi Kurdish flag fluttered, with its yellow sun, and celebratory gunfire rang out. ...
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| Egypt receives 10 Apache helicopters from U.S.: sources Posted: 20 Dec 2014 11:40 PM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt received 10 Apache helicopters from the United States in the past week, security sources said on Saturday, a sign of easing tensions between the long-time allies confronting Islamist extremism across the region. The United States originally announced in April that it had decided to lift its hold on the delivery of the attack helicopters, imposed last year after the military toppled elected president Mohamed Mursi and cracked down hard on his Muslim Brotherhood supporters. ...
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| Xenophobia mushrooms in shadow of Berlin tower blocks Posted: 20 Dec 2014 11:15 PM PST  There's little to break the monotony of communist-era apartment blocks stretching across Marzahn-Hellersdorf, an east Berlin satellite district that has gained national notoriety for a spate of anti-foreigner protests. As Germany confronts a rise in far-right populism, with "anti-Islamisation" marches drawing thousands in the eastern city of Dresden, this bland corner of the sprawling capital, a district home to almost 300,000 people, has become another flashpoint of resentment and xenophobia. "I have nothing against foreigners, I've been around them all my life," said Fritz Siebke, 91, enjoying a Christmas season banquet of meat rolls, potato dumplings and gravy with fellow German pensioners at a district community centre. "But since we've accepted refugees into Marzahn-Hellersdorf, things have changed in the neighbourhood.
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