| Inside 'American Sniper': How Clint Eastwood Cast a Real Navy SEAL Posted: 28 Jan 2015 04:23 PM PST "Clint shot bad guys in movies and I shot bad guys in real life, so let's go ahead and make a realistic move," says former Navy SEAL Kevin Lacz about his first acting gig. |
| Spain says Israeli fire killed peacekeeper in south Lebanon Posted: 28 Jan 2015 04:22 PM PST  Spain on Wednesday said Israeli fire had killed a Spanish UN peacekeeper serving in south Lebanon and called on the United Nations to fully investigate the violence. The Security Council condemned the death of the Spanish corporal who died from wounds sustained during an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters on the border. The Spanish envoy said he had asked for a full investigation during an emergency meeting of the council called by France to discuss ways to defuse tensions between Israel and Lebanon. Tension in the area has been building, especially after an Israeli air strike on the Syrian sector of the Golan Heights killed six Hezbollah fighters and an Iranian general on January 18.
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| Jordan would swap a mass murderer for its ISIS-held pilot. Is that a mistake? Posted: 28 Jan 2015 04:09 PM PST Jordan said today it's willing to release Sajida al-Rishawi, a would-be suicide bomber who participated in a 2005 attack that murdered 38 people at the Radisson Hotel in Amman, in exchange for a Royal Jordanian Air Force pilot held by the so-called Islamic State since his F-16 went down over Syria in December. Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said the government hadn't yet received "proof of life" on pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh. |
| Jordan prisoner swap on hold, fate of Japanese IS hostage unclear Posted: 28 Jan 2015 03:14 PM PST  By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan said on Wednesday it had received no assurance that one of its pilots captured by Islamic State insurgents was safe and that it would go ahead with a proposed prisoner swap only if he was freed. The fate of air force pilot Muath al-Kasaesbeh was thought to be tied to that of Japanese hostage Kenji Goto, a veteran war reporter who is also being held by the insurgent group. A video was released on Tuesday purporting to show the Japanese national saying he had 24 hours to live unless Jordan released Sajida al-Rishawi, an Iraqi woman on death row for her role in a 2005 suicide bomb attack. Government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said Jordan was ready to release al-Rishawi if Kasaesbeh was spared, but made clear that she was still being held until the pilot was freed.
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| Syria says approves U.N. $2.9 billion humanitarian aid plan for 2015 Posted: 28 Jan 2015 03:02 PM PST  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Syria said on Wednesday it has approved a United Nations plan to deliver humanitarian aid to millions of people in the war-torn country this year, but warned the only way to the end the crisis was to help Damascus fight terrorism. The strategic response plan appeals for some $2.9 billion in a bid to help 12.2 million Syrians, more than half the population, who are in need as the country's civil war approaches its fifth year. Syrian diplomat Haydar Ali Ahmad told a U.N. Security Council meeting on the humanitarian situation in Syria that the government wanted to ensure that "assistance reaches all those citizens in all parts of Syria without discrimination." "The Syrian government on 17 December 2014 ... adopted the Syrian Response Plan for 2015, complementing national efforts which have been made since the beginning of the crisis to lessen the suffering of our people," Ahmad said.
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| US uses Kobane defeat in 'counter-message' against Islamic State. Can it work? Posted: 28 Jan 2015 02:35 PM PST Ever since the United States cobbled together an international coalition last year to "degrade and ultimately defeat" the Islamic State, a top priority has been drying up the flow of foreign fighters eager to join the battle on the side of IS militants. Now the US is seeking to use the apparent defeat of IS fighters in the Syrian border city of Kobane as a tool in the campaign to shut off the foreign-fighter spigot. |
| After battle, Iraqis want government help to rebuild Posted: 28 Jan 2015 02:03 PM PST  Qusay Mahmud Ali returned to find his house north of the Iraqi capital burned, what appeared to be bomb-making material left behind and a noose hanging from a nearby building. Security forces and volunteer fighters retook the Sherween area of Diyala province from the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, but Ali and others now want government help to repair the damage. Whether or not such assistance is forthcoming will have a major impact on public trust in the government, and its ultimate ability to maintain long-term control of retaken areas. Ali and his family fled Sherween some six months earlier, after it became clear that the arrival of IS -- which some Iraqi Sunnis initially welcomed as an opponent of the widely-disliked Shiite-led government -- was not a change for the better.
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| Briefing: Could an Israel and Hezbollah face-off bring war? Posted: 28 Jan 2015 02:03 PM PST Israel responded, pounding presumed Hezbollah positions. The 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel claimed more than 1,000 Lebanese lives, about half Hezbollah fighters and half Lebanese civilians. Israel lost 43 civilians and 121 soldiers in the conflict. A Hezbollah attack on Israeli soldiers on the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border, and the carrying away of two of them, precipitated that last conflict. |
| Ventura won't see 'American Sniper'; says Kyle is no hero Posted: 28 Jan 2015 01:48 PM PST  MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — "American Sniper" is tops at the box office but don't expect to see former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura lining up at a theater for it.
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| Guantanamo order barring touching by women guards harmful: commander Posted: 28 Jan 2015 01:22 PM PST  The November interim order bars female guards from touching Abd al Hadi al Iraqi, who faces war crimes charges. Iraqi, who is accused of leading attacks in Afghanistan, says that being touched by women guards violates his Muslim faith. The commander of Camp Seven, the secret part of the prison in Cuba where the United States keeps former Central Intelligence Agency captives, said the order by Judge Navy Captain J.K. Waits had made guard scheduling difficult and had sent female soldiers' morale plummeting. "We have a motto, 'One team, one fight.' Now I have one male team and one female team," said the Army National Guard military police officer.
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| Iraq, Shell initial $11-billion petrochemical deal Posted: 28 Jan 2015 01:10 PM PST  The Iraqi government and Royal Dutch Shell signed Wednesday an agreement in principle potentially worth $11 billion (9.6 billion euros) to build a large petrochemicals plant in the country's south. "The deal is huge and the plant should be operational in five years," oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad told AFP. "A heads of agreement for a potential petrochemicals project in southern Iraq was signed by representatives of Shell and the Iraqi government," said a company spokesman, declining to provide further details. Assem Jihad said the plant would produce plastics, fertilisers and other petroleum derivatives that will help diversify Iraq's economy.
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| Jordan offers swap to Islamic State group to save pilot Posted: 28 Jan 2015 01:02 PM PST  AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Jordan offered a precedent-setting prisoner swap to the Islamic State group Wednesday in a desperate attempt to save a Jordanian air force pilot the militants purportedly threatened to kill, along with a Japanese hostage.
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| Anxious wait as Jordan offers to exchange jihadist for pilot Posted: 28 Jan 2015 12:18 PM PST  Jordan offered Wednesday to exchange a female jihadist for a Jordanian pilot held by the Islamic State group, whose deadline for executing the airman and a Japanese journalist is thought to have passed. Hours later, Amman and Tokyo both anxiously awaited news on the fate of the men, as Japan's foreign minister said the situation remained "severe". Jordan's offer came after the hostages' parents made last-ditch pleas for their lives ahead of the IS deadline for the release of the woman, a would-be suicide bomber. "Jordan is ready to release the prisoner Sajida al-Rishawi if the Jordanian pilot is freed unharmed," state television quoted a government spokesman as saying.
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| An Incomplete Victory in Kobani Posted: 28 Jan 2015 12:12 PM PST  Throughout ISIS's three-month siege of Kobani, the heavily Kurdish Syrian border town, many wondered whether the battle would prove the Islamic State's Waterloo. For a group that so heavily relies on propaganda and momentum, its apparent defeat there this week at the hands of Kurdish forces (backed by American airstrikes) stings far beyond the battlefield. "ISIL's defeat in Kobane further shatters the organization's claims to invincibility," Al Jazeera's Mohammed Salih writes, "particularly as it coincides with the group's retreat from Kurdish and other Iraqi forces in northern and central Iraq." Some experts have emphasized the importance of the defeat in the context of the group's efforts to mobilize foreign fighters⎯Australians, Canadians, Europeans, and recruits from across the Middle East were among the 1,200 killed in Kobani while fighting under the Islamic State banner. As ISIS fighters were being repelled from Kobani, an apparent ISIS affiliate in Libya took credit for an attack that killed 10 people, including an American citizen.
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| Why You Can’t Fight a War on an Austerity Budget Posted: 28 Jan 2015 11:55 AM PST  Controversy over the sequester and the spending caps it imposed has raged off and on ever since Congress failed to reach agreement on how to best implement $1.5 trillion of long term spending cuts under a 2011 bipartisan budget deal to avert a government shutdown and default on U.S. borrowing. The automatic spending cuts were designed to be equally imposed between defense and domestic programs as a way of slowing the growth of the nation's debt over the coming decade and holding defense spending increases to about two percent. Congress declared a two -ear hiatus for the spending caps, but they will be back in full force again this fall unless lawmakers decide to act again to blunt or eliminate the cuts. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) said during an Armed Services Committee hearing earlier this week that Congress and the military must first develop a more effective strategy for meeting threats from abroad and then determine the money needed to cover it, but that the threat of a renewed sequester is disrupting that process.
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| Libya hotel attack signals growing reach of Islamic State Posted: 28 Jan 2015 11:50 AM PST  TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Militants loyal to the Islamic State group on Wednesday claimed responsibility for a deadly and complex attack on a hotel in Libya's capital Tripoli, signaling an expansion of the jihadi group's reach in the chaotic North African state while raising questions about the extent of coordination with leaders in Syria and Iraq.
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| Survivors say Iraqi forces watched as Shi'ite militias executed 72 Sunnis Posted: 28 Jan 2015 11:34 AM PST Accounts by five witnesses interviewed separately by Reuters provide a picture of alleged executions in the eastern village of Barwanah on Monday, which residents and provincial officials say left at least 72 unarmed Iraqis dead. The witnesses identified the killers as a collection of Shi'ite militias and security force elements. Iraqi security and government officials have disputed the accounts, with some saying radical jihadists from Islamic State could have perpetrated the killings. When the results of this investigation come out, we will have a full picture." Iraq's Shi'ite-led government, backed by U.S.-led air strikes, has been trying to push back Islamic State since it swept through northern Iraq in June. |
| Romney takes aim at Obama, Hillary Clinton in new speech Posted: 28 Jan 2015 11:25 AM PST  By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Mitt Romney, considering whether to run for president a third time, on Wednesday will take aim at President Barack Obama's handling of foreign policy and by extension, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the leading Democratic candidate. Romney is to give an early evening speech at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi, that will likely add to the speculation surrounding a potential presidential bid. The speech will delve into Obama's struggle to contain Islamic militants in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere and criticize his refusal to say that the current battle is against "radical Islam.". Romney will also accuse Obama of giving short shrift to the battle against Islamic State in his State of the Union speech, saying it was "naive at best and deceptive at worst." The White House has declined to describe the militancy movement as radical Islam to make clear the U.S. fight is not against the religion of Islam itself.
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| Obama Would Violate Budget Control Act with $34B More for Defense Posted: 28 Jan 2015 11:15 AM PST When President Obama unveils his fiscal 2016 budget next week, he plans to breach the Pentagon's legal spending limits by $34 billion. |
| Kobane in ruins after Kurds drive out IS Posted: 28 Jan 2015 10:57 AM PST  Pulverised buildings, heavily armed fighters roaming otherwise deserted rubble-strewn streets: the ferocious battle for Kobane has left the Syrian border town in ruins, according to a team of AFP journalists who arrived there Wednesday. Kurdish forces recaptured the town on the Turkish frontier from the Islamic State group on Monday in a symbolic blow to the jihadists who have seized swathes of territory in their brutal onslaught across Syria and Iraq. After more than four months of fighting, the streets of Kobane -- now patrolled by Kurdish militiamen with barely a civilian in sight -- were a mass of debris and buildings that had in some case been turned to dust. On Tuesday, Kurdish forces battled IS militants in villages around Kobane, with warnings that the fight was far from over.
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| War against IS group spreads to Twitter Posted: 28 Jan 2015 10:55 AM PST  The fight against Islamic State jihadists is taking place online as well on the battlefield, with 18,000 Twitter accounts linked to the group suspended in recent months, according to a US expert. IS supporters "are under significant pressure, with the most active and viral users taking the brunt of the suspensions" J. M. Berger, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who tracks militants on social media, told lawmakers on Tuesday. Twitter has suspended nearly 800 confirmed IS accounts since the fall of last year but this "may be the tip of the iceberg," as almost 18,000 accounts "related" to the jihadist network were suspended over the same time period, according to a forthcoming survey by Berger and another expert, Jonathon Morgan. Although tens of thousands of Twitter accounts remain online, advocates for the IS group online have called the suspensions "devastating," Berger told the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
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| Women joining IS militants 'cheerleaders, not victims' Posted: 28 Jan 2015 10:09 AM PST  Western women who join Islamic State militants are driven by the same ideological passion as many male recruits and should be seen as potentially dangerous cheerleaders, not victims, experts said Wednesday. A new study from the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) said the estimated 550 women who have travelled to Iraq and Syria are expected to marry, keep house and bear children. "The violent language and dedication to the cause is as strong as we find in some of the men," said co-author Ross Frenett, an extremism expert.
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| Defeating ISIS: Just a Skirmish or a War? Posted: 28 Jan 2015 10:01 AM PST  There is no shortage of lawmakers ready to complain about how the Obama administration has effectively declared war on the terrorist group ISIS without congressional assent – but there's been a notable dearth of lawmakers willing to step up and propose that Congress actually do something about it. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA on Wednesday proposed a bill that would, in effect, declare war on ISIS and give the president three years to defeat the radical Islamic group that has taken over much of Syria and Iraq, murdering thousands of innocent civilians along the way. "More than five months after strikes began against ISIL in Syria and Iraq, Congress has yet to debate and take a vote on an authorization to wage war, in clear abdication of our constitutional duties," said Schiff, using the administration's preferred acronym for the terror group.
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| Syria talks start in Moscow as West's approach alters Posted: 28 Jan 2015 09:55 AM PST  Syrian opposition figures and representatives of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad began talks in Moscow Wednesday but there was little hope that they would make a breakthrough in ending the country's brutal war. The talks between opposition groups tolerated by Damascus and a Syrian delegation led by ambassador to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari came as Kurdish forces battled the Islamic State group around Kobane, after expelling them from the strategic town on the Turkish border. The rise of Islamic State -- which was threatening Wednesday to execute a Japanese hostage and a captured Jordanian airforce pilot -- has changed the West's approach to Syria and spurred hope that the warring sides might find common ground in the face of a mutual foe.
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| Jobless and desperate, Egyptians risk all in perilous Libya Posted: 28 Jan 2015 09:23 AM PST  By Mahmoud Mourad AL-OUR, Egypt (Reuters) - Facing grim economic prospects at home, desperate young Egyptians are seeking jobs in Libya - a country sliding into lawlessness where armed groups battle for control and dozens of their compatriots have been kidnapped. Tackling unemployment in Egypt - where half of the rapidly growing population is under 25 - is one of the toughest challenges facing President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The 2011 popular uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak was fueled by anger over joblessness. The political and social unrest since Mubarak was ousted has deterred foreign investors and tourists from Egypt, the world's most populous Arab nation with 90 million people.
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| Shell signs $11 billion deal to build petrochemicals plant in Iraq Posted: 28 Jan 2015 08:21 AM PST  By Saif Hameed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell signed a deal with Iraq on Wednesday worth $11 billion to build a petrochemicals plant in the southern oil hub of Basra, boosting the country's aim to become a major regional energy player and diversify its income. Iraq, which relies on oil for more than 90 percent of its revenue, has been hit hard by the steep fall in global oil prices since June, with Brent crude now hovering around $50 a barrel. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said last week he feared lower revenues from oil could hurt Iraq's military campaign against the Islamic State militants who swept across northern Iraq last summer, prompting U.S.-led airstrikes. "The Nibras complex will be one of the largest (foreign) investments (in Iraq) and the most important in the petrochemical sector in the Middle East," Esawi said.
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| Sajida al-Rishawi: Who is the failed suicide bomber IS wants in prisoner exchange? Posted: 28 Jan 2015 08:16 AM PST  Sajida al-Rishawi, an Iraqi woman with close ties to the Islamic State, attempted to blow herself up during a wedding at a Jordanian hotel in 2005.
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| Michelle Obama goes without a headscarf in Saudi Arabia. Big deal? Posted: 28 Jan 2015 07:48 AM PST Tuesday, President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama stepped off Air Force One at the VIP airport terminal in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to meet with new King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud. Ms. Obama deplaned in full-length trousers and a long, loose-fitting jacket that fully covered her arms. |
| Renowned architect Hadid settles defamation lawsuit with critic Posted: 28 Jan 2015 07:39 AM PST  By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - Renowned architect Zaha Hadid has settled her lawsuit accusing the New York Review of Books and architecture critic Martin Filler of defaming her in a recent book review, for which both have apologized. Both sides agreed to end the case on Jan. 23, according to a filing in the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan.
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| IS suffers 'devastating' blows but biggest fighting still ahead Posted: 28 Jan 2015 07:39 AM PST  The Islamic State group has suffered "devastating" blows in Syria's Kobane and on several Iraqi fronts, but analysts warn such victories in the fight against the jihadists cannot be replicated everywhere. "Kobane shows that intense air strikes concentrated in a small space can succeed in containing IS," said Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, a Shillman-Ginsburg fellow at the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum. "The air strikes were devastating. According to observers, the jihadists lost around 1,200 fighters in the battle of Kobane and some US officials have said that American-led airstrikes killed 6,000 jihadists since the air war started in August.
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| EU centers on passenger data in anti-terror fight Posted: 28 Jan 2015 07:30 AM PST  BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union nations are overhauling anti-terror measures to focus on airline passenger information as part of a strategy to halt the flow of foreign fighters to and from Syria and Iraq.
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| France unveils anti-jihad campaign with video and web site Posted: 28 Jan 2015 07:27 AM PST  France unveiled a short video and web site on Wednesday designed to dissuade potential jihadists from joining Islamist fighting groups in Syria and Iraq, where recruiters have lured hundreds of Westerners using slickly produced clips and social media. In the fast-paced 2-minute montage, an unnamed recruiter approaches a potential jihadist on Facebook noting his interest in the Syrian conflict and asking if he would like to join friends fighting "over there". The video was posted on a new web site (www.stop-djihadisme.gouv.fr) featuring information for parents worried their children could join the fighting, including a toll-free number they can call to speak to indoctrination specialists. The government-funded efforts follow similar U.S. initiatives including a video and the #ThinkAgainTurnAway Twitter profile, which has more than 20,000 followers and regularly publishes stories against the Islamic State.
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| Aquino to address Philippines in bid to salvage peace pact Posted: 28 Jan 2015 06:39 AM PST  Philippine President Benigno Aquino will address the nation later Wednesday to try to shore up a Muslim rebel peace deal threatened by a bungled anti-terror raid that killed 44 police commandos. Public pressure is growing for retribution after Sunday's bloodbath on the southern island of Mindanao, the worst loss of life by the country's police or troops in recent memory. An autonomy bill now being debated in parliament -- aimed at ending decades of Muslim rebellion in Mindanao which killed tens of thousands -- could be in trouble, analysts and legislators warned. Senate (upper house) president Franklin Drilon said backing for the measure was seriously eroded when two Aquino allies withdrew support in protest at the killings.
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| Jordan ready to swap terrorist for pilot held by Islamic State Posted: 28 Jan 2015 06:08 AM PST Jordan announced Wednesday it is willing to trade an raqi prisoner convicted of terrorism in exchange for a Jordanian pilot captured by the self-described Islamic State. If not released, the Islamic State threatened to kill a captured Japanese reporter and the Jordanian pilot. Kenji Goto, the journalist, relayed the terrorist group's message while holding a photo of Moaz al-Kasasbeh, the pilot. The pilot, Mr. Kaseasbeh, was captured by IS after his fighter jet crashed in December over Raqqa, Syria. |
| U.S. says air strikes pound Islamic State targets near Kobani, Syria Posted: 28 Jan 2015 04:35 AM PST U.S. and partner nations launched 13 air strikes near Kobani, Syria, in the last 24 hours, the U.S. military said, as they continued their air assault to help drive the last Islamic State forces out of city. The strikes around Kobani hit 12 Islamic State tactical units and a vehicle, and destroyed nine fighting positions, a staging area and three buildings, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement. The Pentagon said this week the militants had been driven out of 90 percent of Kobani, a city near the border with Turkey where fighting has raged for four months. The six air strikes in northern Iraq, where Islamic State has seized swathes of territory, targeted al Asad, Kirkuk, Mosul and Sinjar, hitting tactical units, a checkpoint, six buildings and six shipping containers, the task force said. |
| Hostage parents make anguished pleas as IS deadline nears Posted: 28 Jan 2015 03:41 AM PST  The parents of a Japanese journalist and a Jordanian airman held by Islamic State militants made last-ditch pleas for their lives as a deadline for an exchange with a jihadi bomber neared Wednesday. Safi Kassasbeh begged the Jordanian government to save his pilot son's "at any price", while the mother of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto urged Tokyo to "please save Kenji's life". The deadline was set by the Islamic State group in a chilling video demanding Jordan release Sajida al-Rishawi, a would-be suicide bomber who has been on death row there since 2006.
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| Bill would grant war powers to fight Islamic State militants Posted: 28 Jan 2015 03:38 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — The top Democrat on the House intelligence panel is introducing a bill Wednesday to authorize President Barack Obama's war against Islamic State militants, saying Congress should not wait to see if the White House sends over its blueprint of what the legislation should say. |
| Bucking Obama, senior Democrat seeks limits on war against Islamic State Posted: 28 Jan 2015 03:03 AM PST  Saying that Congress must do its constitutional duty, a senior House of Representatives Democrat will introduce legislation on Wednesday that authorizes President Barack Obama's war on the so-called Islamic State but forbids sending U.S. ground troops into combat.
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| Why Elites Think ‘Pro-America’ Is So Last Century Posted: 28 Jan 2015 02:15 AM PST  Most Americans have probably never heard of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which consumes more than $700 million taxpayer dollars and oversees the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks and Radio Free Asia.
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| Koreans tough enough for Aussies, says team captain Posted: 28 Jan 2015 02:08 AM PST  South Korea could thrive in the role of underdogs when they face hosts Australia in the Asian Cup final this weekend, says skipper Ki Sung-Yueng. Having reached the final for the first time in 27 years battered, bruised and held together by team spirit and sheer bloody-mindedness, the Swansea City midfielder told Korean reporters on Wednesday that the Red Devils had the steel to go all the way. "I believe it will come down to mental strength," said Ki, who has been a calming influence on South Korea after losing the influential pairing of Lee Chung-Yong and Koo Ja-Cheol to injury in the group stages.
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