| UK, US to host talks on Islamic State in London Thursday Posted: 17 Jan 2015 02:53 PM PST  British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and US Secretary of State John Kerry will host a meeting in London on Thursday of members of the coalition against the Islamic State group, officials said. A British official confirmed the meeting will take place at Lancaster House in central London, a fortnight after deadly attacks in Paris by three gunmen claiming to act on behalf of Al-Qaeda and the IS group. "The key active partners in the coalition, including our Arab partners, will gather in London to decide what more we need to do to degrade and defeat ISIL. The meeting comes after US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron met in Washington this week.
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| Latest Charlie Hebdo cover continues to roil Muslim world Posted: 17 Jan 2015 02:34 PM PST  CAIRO (AP) — The famed French weekly Charlie Hebdo has continued to draw a somewhat contradictory reaction across the Muslim world. Many Muslims have expressed disgust at the deadly assault on the magazine's Paris office by Islamic extremists who killed 12 people. However many also remain deeply offended by the magazine's record of publishing cartoons lampooning the Prophet Muhammad. Those passions were further inflamed this week when the magazine's first issue following the attack carried a cover cartoon depicting Muhammad holding a "Je Suis Charlie" sign.
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| Belgium deploys troops as Greece arrests four over 'terror' plot Posted: 17 Jan 2015 01:48 PM PST  Belgium on Saturday deployed troops to patrol its streets after smashing an Islamist "terrorist" cell that allegedly planned to kill police officers, as Greece arrested four people in connection with the foiled plot. Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the 27-year-old suspected mastermind of the dismantled cell was thought to be among those detained by anti-terror police in Athens, but it could not be immediately confirmed. To formally identify the Belgian of Moroccan descent, Greece has to send digital fingerprints and DNA samples to the Belgian authorities, a Greek police source said. The arrests come after Belgian security forces killed two suspected Islamists in a huge anti-terror raid in the eastern town of Verviers Thursday, disrupting a suspected plan to attack police in the country.
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| Algeria finds explosive vests near French beheading area Posted: 17 Jan 2015 01:31 PM PST  Algerian soldiers discovered a cache of explosive vests and ammunition in the east of the country near where jihadists beheaded a French hostage in September, the defence ministry said Saturday. "In the framework of the anti-terrorist fight and a search operation near Iboudrarene (150 kilometres or 90 miles east of Algiers), the army... on Friday uncovered and destroyed on site five explosive vests, six homemade bombs" and ammunition, it said. Algerian troops on Thursday found the body of French tourist Herve Gourdel, who was beheaded by jihadists demanding that France halt air strikes in Iraq against the Islamic State (IS) group. The body was found buried without its head in Akbil, where Gourdel was abducted by the Jund al-Khilafa (Soldiers of the Caliphate) group, security sources said.
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| IS jihadists free 200 elderly Yazidis in north Iraq Posted: 17 Jan 2015 01:14 PM PST  The Islamic State (IS) group released more than 200 mostly elderly members of northern Iraq's Yazidi minority Saturday who had been held for months, officials and activists said. The Yazidis were freed on the front line southwest of the city of Kirkuk and met by Kurdish peshmerga forces who brought them to a health centre in Altun Kopri, on the road to the Kurdish regional capital of Arbil. "These men and women had been held in Mosul," Khodr Domli, a leading Yazidi rights activist told AFP at the centre.
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| In new blow, Syrian opposition shuns Russia peace initiative Posted: 17 Jan 2015 11:48 AM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — A Russian initiative to host peace talks this month between the Syrian government and its opponents appears to be unraveling as prominent Syrian opposition figures shun the prospective negotiations amid deep distrust of Moscow and concerns the talks hold no chance of success.
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| Myanmar woman screams innocence before Saudi beheading: video Posted: 17 Jan 2015 11:25 AM PST  A Myanmar woman beheaded in a Saudi street this week for killing her husband's young daughter is seen screaming her innocence in a video posted on the Internet Saturday. The official Saudi Press Agency said Monday that Layla bint Abdul Mutaleb Bassim was executed in the Muslim holy city of Mecca for killing her husband's six-year-old daughter. I did not kill," cries the woman, covered in black, apparently kneeling on the pavement circled by police officers in the video on LiveLeak. Many Twitter users protested the video being circulated on the Internet because it could be seen by the woman's family, but did not object to the beheading itself.
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| Morocco arrests eight for recruiting IS fighters Posted: 17 Jan 2015 10:43 AM PST  Rabat (AFP) - Moroccan authorities have arrested eight people suspected of recruiting fighters for the Islamic State group and will send them to trial, the interior ministry said Saturday.
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| Kurdish fighters clash with Syrian forces Posted: 17 Jan 2015 10:13 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government forces and Kurdish fighters clashed in the northeastern city of Hassakeh, killing and wounding several people Saturday after days of tension between the two sides, an activist group and Kurdish officials said. |
| British police arrest woman on suspicion of terrorism Posted: 17 Jan 2015 10:03 AM PST British police have arrested an 18-year old woman at a London airport on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism and membership of a banned organisation, a police statement said. Her arrest on Friday after she arrived on a flight at Stansted airport was connected to a prior investigation which had already resulted in the arrest of a 21-year-old man in October last year. The arrest is the latest in a series carried out by British counter-terrorism officers since the country's threat level was raised in August to its second-highest level because of risks posed by Islamic State fighters returning from Iraq and Syria. British Prime Minister David Cameron is in the United States for two days of talks with President Barack Obama where they have said they would tackle the threat posed by extremists. |
| 3,000 in Turkey linked to Islamic State: report Posted: 17 Jan 2015 09:02 AM PST  Around 3,000 people in Turkey are believed to be linked to the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, a Turkish intelligence report said on Saturday, warning of possible attacks by extremists. Turkey has long been accused of not doing enough to stem the flow of jihadists seeking to join the IS group which has captured large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq.
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| Decommissioned USS Constellation arrives in Texas for scrap Posted: 17 Jan 2015 08:28 AM PST BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — The decommissioned USS Constellation has reached a South Texas shipyard where it will be scrapped. |
| Officials say market bombings kill 18 around Iraq's capital Posted: 17 Jan 2015 08:15 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — A series of bombings targeting busy markets killed 18 people in and around the capital, Baghdad, on Saturday, said Iraqi officials. |
| Morocco says it breaks up militant cell recruiting for ISIS Posted: 17 Jan 2015 07:50 AM PST Morocco said on Saturday it had dismantled an Islamist militant cell sending fighters to Syria and Iraq to join Islamic State and mount attacks on returning home. The cell, the latest of series of radical groups authorities say they have uncovered, had been active in the city of Meknes and the towns of El-Hajeb and El-Hoceima in the Northern Rif mountains, the interior ministry said in a statement. It said the head of the cell had been in contact with Islamic State and had sent volunteers. "According to intelligence reports, Moroccans fighting in Syria and Iraq have been trained in handling weapons and manufacturing explosives to perpetrate attacks once they return to Morocco," the statement said. |
| For State of Union, Obama faces GOP Congress for first time Posted: 17 Jan 2015 07:19 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time in his presidency, Barack Obama will stand before a Republican-led Congress to deliver his State of the Union address and try to convince lawmakers newly empowered to block his agenda that they should instead join with him on education, cyberprotection and national security proposals.
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| Islamic State targeted in 29 airstrikes in Syria, Iraq: joint task force Posted: 17 Jan 2015 06:00 AM PST The United States and its allies conducted 29 airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq in a 24-hour period, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement on Saturday. Sixteen strikes around seven Iraqi cities destroyed vehicles, buildings, equipment and fighting positions, as well as hitting units belonging to Islamic State, which is trying to establish a caliphate in the Middle East, the task force said. In Syria, 11 airstrikes were carried out near the city of Kobani, destroying a tank and fighting positions, while others focused on targets near Abu Kamal and Dawr az Zawr. |
| Japan's Abe pledges support for Mideast countries battling IS Posted: 17 Jan 2015 03:46 AM PST  By Stephen Kalin CAIRO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned on Saturday that the world would suffer an "immeasurable loss" if terrorism spreads in the Middle East and pledged about $200 million in non-military assistance for countries battling Islamic State. The threat of Islamist militancy has come into sharp focus outside the Middle East after gunmen killed 17 people in three days of violence in Paris that began on Jan. 7 with an attack on the offices of a newspaper that had published satirical images of the Prophet Mohammad. Islamic State controls large parts of OPEC oil producer Iraq and neighboring Syria, has declared a caliphate and wants to redraw the map of a region vital for Japan's energy needs. "It goes without saying that the stability of the Middle East is the foundation for peace and prosperity for the world, and of course for Japan," Abe said in Cairo in the first leg of a regional tour.
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| Japan PM pledges $2.5 billion in Mideast aid Posted: 17 Jan 2015 02:47 AM PST  Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged Saturday $2.5 billion in humanitarian and development aid for the Middle East as he launched a regional tour that includes visits to Jordan and Israel. In a speech in Cairo, Abe pledged $200 million in non-military assistance for countries affected by the Islamic State (IS) group's bloody expansion in Iraq and Syria, which spurred an exodus of refugees to neighbouring countries. "Japan will newly carry out assistance of 2.5 billion US dollars in non-military fields including humanitarian assistance and infrastructure development, intended for the entire region," Abe said, according to an official transcript. Speaking to Egyptian politicians and businessmen, he said Japan would "provide assistance for refugees and displaced persons from Iraq and Syria".
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| US blasts ICC war crimes probe of Israel as 'tragic irony' Posted: 16 Jan 2015 10:51 PM PST  The United States joined Israel in condemning the International Criminal Court decision to open a preliminary probe into possible war crimes committed against Palestinians, blasting it as a "tragic irony". ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said her office would conduct an "analysis in full independence and impartiality" into alleged war crimes by Israel, including those committed during last year's Gaza offensive. Her decision comes after Palestine formally joined the ICC earlier this month, allowing it to lodge war crimes and crimes against humanity complaints against Israel as of April.
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| Japan's midfielder Endo reaches 150 int'l caps Posted: 16 Jan 2015 09:59 PM PST  Japan's Yasuhito Endo reacted with mock horror after learning he had tied German superstar Lothar Matthaeus by winning his 150th cap in his country's 1-0 Asian Cup victory over Iraq. The 34-year-old midfielder, given his international debut by Brazilian Zico in 2002, is expected to surpass Matthaeus, who skippered West Germany to World Cup glory in 1990, when the Blue Samurai play Jordan in their final Group D game on Tuesday. "Me going level with Matthaeus is a bit of an insult to Matthaeus," said Japan's record caps holder, initially discarded by Japan coach Javier Aguirre following their flop at last year's World Cup before forcing his way back into the Mexican's reckoning. "I mean, I don't think I'm finished yet," said Endo, dubbed Japan's "mole in the hole" by former Gamba Osaka manager Akira Nishino for his ability to pop up in space.
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| Box-Office Shocker: 'American Sniper' Tops Friday With $30.5M, Could Approach $80M Posted: 16 Jan 2015 09:00 PM PST Clint Eastwood's record-breaking film, scoring six Oscar nominations, is galvanizing moviegoers in both red and blue states; Michael Mann's 'Blackhat' bombs, while Kevin Hart's 'The Wedding Ringer' finds itself in a close race with 'Paddington.' |
| IS uses kids in propaganda targeting next generation Posted: 16 Jan 2015 04:07 PM PST  A young boy raises a pistol, aims at two kneeling men and fires, in a shocking propaganda video highlighting the Islamic State jihadist group's efforts to indoctrinate another generation with its brutal ideology. The video is one of many examples of propaganda aimed at spreading IS's beliefs to a younger generation to aid recruitment and to perpetuate the "caliphate" the group has declared in areas it holds in Iraq and Syria.
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