| Top Asian News at 1:00 a.m. GMT Posted: 01 Feb 2015 05:02 PM PST TOKYO (AP) — Appalled and saddened by news of journalist Kenji Goto's purported beheading by Islamic State extremists, Japan ordered heightened security precautions Sunday and said it would persist with its non-military support for fighting terrorism. The failure to save Goto raised fears for the life of a Jordanian fighter pilot also held by the militant group that controls about a third of both Syria and Iraq. Unlike some earlier messages delivered in the crisis, the video that circulated online late Saturday purporting to show a militant beheading Goto did not mention the pilot. |
| Working with global community only way to fight terrorism: Japan PM Posted: 01 Feb 2015 04:41 PM PST  The only way to fight terrorism is by working with the international community and boosting mechanisms to ensure the safety of Japanese people, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday. Abe made the comments a day after Islamic State militants said they had beheaded a second Japanese hostage, journalist Kenji Goto, after the failure of international efforts to secure his release through a prisoner swap. Abe reiterated his denunciation of the militants and said Japan was firmly committed to fulfilling its responsibility as a member of the global community in fighting terrorism. In a show of defiance on Sunday, he vowed to boost Japan's food, medicine and humanitarian aid for the Middle East.
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| UN council condemns 'heinous' Japanese hostage murder Posted: 01 Feb 2015 03:37 PM PST  The UN Security Council condemned Sunday the "heinous and cowardly" murder of a Japanese journalist, after Islamic State militants claimed his beheading. "This crime is, yet again, a tragic reminder of the increasing dangers journalists and others face every day in Syria," the 15-member body said in a statement. The Security Council said it "deplored" the apparent killing of Kenji Goto, and "strongly condemned this heinous and cowardly murder." The IS group, also known by the acronym ISIL, on Saturday claimed the 47-year-old journalist's death in the second purported beheading of a Japanese hostage in a week. In the video, Goto is seen kneeling next to a standing masked man who speaks with a British accent and blames the Japanese government for his "slaughter." "Those responsible for the killing of Kenji Goto shall be held accountable," the Security Council stressed, with member states emphasizing that such acts would "not intimidate them but rather stiffen their resolve." The execution came as Jordan scrambled to save captured pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh, whom IS said it would free in exchange for an Iraqi jihadist on death row in Jordan.
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| Top Asian News at 11:30 p.m. GMT Posted: 01 Feb 2015 03:32 PM PST TOKYO (AP) — Appalled and saddened by news of journalist Kenji Goto's purported beheading by Islamic State extremists, Japan ordered heightened security precautions Sunday and said it would persist with its non-military support for fighting terrorism. The failure to save Goto raised fears for the life of a Jordanian fighter pilot also held by the militant group that controls about a third of both Syria and Iraq. Unlike some earlier messages delivered in the crisis, the video that circulated online late Saturday purporting to show a militant beheading Goto did not mention the pilot. |
| Snowstorm delays Boston Marathon bombing trial Posted: 01 Feb 2015 02:47 PM PST BOSTON (AP) — Jury selection in the trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (joh-HAHR' tsahr-NEYE'-ehv) is suspended Monday because a snowstorm is expected. |
| Marathon bombing defense likely to focus on dead brother Posted: 01 Feb 2015 02:06 PM PST  BOSTON (AP) — The best chance to save the life of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev might be to put his dead brother on trial.
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| Three women killed in clashes in Egypt's Sinai: security sources Posted: 01 Feb 2015 01:54 PM PST Two women were killed by a rocket-propelled grenade while another died in crossfire between militants and security forces in two separate incidents in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, security and medical sources said on Sunday. Security sources blamed the violence on Sinai Province, Egypt's most active militant network and the same group that claimed attacks on Thursday that killed at least 30 security personnel in the worst anti-government violence in months. |
| Foreign affairs, culture wars split GOP focus ahead of 2016 Posted: 01 Feb 2015 12:53 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Need evidence there's no clear path to the Republican presidential nomination? Consider the competing messages some likely candidates delivered on Sunday's talk shows.
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| Greste and jailed journalist colleagues in Egypt Posted: 01 Feb 2015 11:56 AM PST  Australian Peter Greste, who was freed from an Egyptian prison and deported on Sunday, is a seasoned foreign correspondent who has covered conflicts in Afghanistan and the Middle East. Greste, who turned 49 in jail, worked for several news organisations including Reuters and the BBC before joining Al-Jazeera's English news channel. He was the BBC's Kabul correspondent in 1995, where he watched the Taliban emerge, and he returned after the US-led invasion in 2001. "From a young age, Peter Greste had an adventurous spirit and a strong send of social justice and fairness," his supporters said on the campaigning website www.freepetergreste.org.
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| 'American Sniper' shoots for more box office records Posted: 01 Feb 2015 11:29 AM PST  Record-breaking drama "American Sniper" remained firmly on top of the North American box office this weekend, shrugging off rumbling controversies to cement its status as the highest-grossing war movie of all time, estimated figures showed Sunday. The Clint Eastwood-directed drama surpassed Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan" as the most successful war film ever made last Thursday, after inching past the 1998 movie's record haul of $216.5 million. Eastwood's movie, loosely based on the life of Chris Kyle, the deadliest sniper in US military history, has divided critics who have accused it of presenting a simplistic black-and-white view of the Iraq War. "American Sniper" -- which has been nominated for six Academy Awards -- has now set its sights on another box office record, aiming to become the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time.
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| Blast hits pilgrim bus in Damascus, killing nine Posted: 01 Feb 2015 10:51 AM PST  A blast ripped through a bus carrying Lebanese Shiite pilgrims in Damascus on Sunday, killing at least nine people, a monitor said, in an attack claimed by Al-Qaeda's Syrian branch. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 20 people were wounded in the explosion near Souq al-Hamadiyeh district, and that six of the dead were Lebanese citizens. Al-Nusra Front, the affiliate of Al-Qaeda in war-ravaged Syria, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted online. Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said the bus was carrying Shiite Muslim pilgrims on a tour of religious sites.
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| Biographies of the 3 Al-Jazeera English journalists Posted: 01 Feb 2015 10:39 AM PST  CAIRO (AP) — Al-Jazeera English reporter Peter Greste left Egypt Sunday after President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi approved his deportation. He was arrested along with two colleagues, Mohammed Fahmy and Baher Mohammed, in December 2013 on terrorism-related charges in a case widely criticized by rights groups. His two colleagues remain in prison. Here is a look at the biographies of the three:
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| Jordan committed to anti-IS coalition, despite hostage drama Posted: 01 Feb 2015 10:21 AM PST  AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Jordan remains "as committed as ever" to a U.S.-led military coalition against the Islamic State group, the kingdom's foreign minister said Sunday, amid heightened fears for the life of a Jordanian fighter pilot held by the militants.
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| Horror in Japan as video purports to show hostage beheaded Posted: 01 Feb 2015 10:08 AM PST  TOKYO (AP) — Appalled and saddened by news of journalist Kenji Goto's purported beheading by Islamic State extremists, Japan ordered heightened security precautions Sunday and said it would persist with its non-military support for fighting terrorism.
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| Japan condemns 'despicable' IS hostage beheading claim Posted: 01 Feb 2015 10:04 AM PST  World leaders reacted with outrage Sunday after Islamic State militants announced they had beheaded a second Japanese hostage, as Jordan vowed to do all it could to save a captured airman. IS claimed in a video released online that it had killed 47-year-old journalist Kenji Goto -- the second purported beheading of a Japanese hostage in a week -- but made no mention of the Jordanian pilot it had also threatened to kill. Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe condemned the "heinous and despicable terrorist acts" and said that "Japan will never yield to terrorism." "We will never forgive terrorists," Abe told reporters in Tokyo, appearing to fight back tears as he spoke. "We will cooperate with the international community to make them atone for their crimes." Jordan's King Abdullah II denounced Goto's murder as a "cowardly, criminal act" and said every effort was being made "to seek the release of the hero pilot Maaz Kassasbeh", captured after his F-16 plane crashed in Syria in December.
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| Islamic State says it has beheaded second Japanese hostage Goto Posted: 01 Feb 2015 07:35 AM PST  By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Nobuhiro Kubo TOKYO (Reuters) - Islamic State militants said they had beheaded a second Japanese hostage, journalist Kenji Goto, prompting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to vow to step up humanitarian aid to the group's opponents in the Middle East and help bring his killers to justice. The hardline Islamist group, which controls large parts of Syria and Iraq, released the video showing a hooded man standing over Goto with a knife to his throat, followed by footage of a head put on the back of a human body. Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said the video appeared to be genuine. The video was released exactly a week after footage appearing to show the beheaded body of another Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa.
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| Jordan still ready for swap with Islamic State to free pilot Posted: 01 Feb 2015 07:35 AM PST Jordan said on Sunday it was still ready to hand over a jailed Iraqi militant to Islamic State in a swap deal if a captured Jordanian pilot was released, even after a second Japanese hostage was beheaded by the hardline group. Jordan's security and military agencies were making constant checks to see whether the pilot, Muath al-Kasaesbeh, was still alive, government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said. There has been public pressure on Jordan to negotiate with Islamic State, an offshoot of al Qaeda which has seized territory in Syria and Iraq. Protests have erupted in Karak, home town of the pilot, who is from an important Jordanian tribe that forms the backbone of support for the Hashemite monarchy. |
| U.S., allies conduct 34 air strikes against Islamic State: U.S. military Posted: 01 Feb 2015 06:30 AM PST The United States and its allies have carried out 26 air strikes in Iraq and eight in Syria since Saturday in continued attacks on Islamic State targets, the U.S. military said on Sunday. The bulk of the strikes were near the Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk, while in Syria most of the strikes were near Kobani, where Kurdish forces have driven out Islamic State militants, said a statement by the U.S. Combined Joint Task Force which is leading the operation. |
| Pope Francis to visit Sarajevo in June Posted: 01 Feb 2015 05:27 AM PST  Pope Francis said on Sunday he would make a one-day trip to the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo in June, his latest visit to a country where Islam is the dominant religion amid growing persecution of Christians in the Middle East. After the weekly Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square, the pope told pilgrims he would go to Sarajevo on June 6 to encourage "reconciliation, peace, inter-religious dialogue and friendship". It will be the first papal trip to Sarajevo in 18 years. Pope John Paul II ignored apparent assassination threats to visit the war-torn city in 1997, when he urged greater dialogue between Bosniak Muslims, Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbs.
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| Kurdish forces free oil workers at Kirkuk crude station: officials Posted: 01 Feb 2015 05:25 AM PST BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Kurdish forces on Sunday found and freed workers who had gone missing a day earlier when Islamic State insurgents seized a small crude oil station near the northern city of Kirkuk, the provincial governor and a provincial councilman said. The Kurds retook the crude oil separation unit in Khabbaz on Saturday evening but had been unable to immediately determine the fate of the employees, whom they found in an underground room. ... |
| UN says violence in Iraq kills at least 1,375 in January Posted: 01 Feb 2015 04:34 AM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — The United Nations mission to Iraq said Sunday that violence in the country amid the war against the extremist Islamic State group killed at least 1,375 people in January.
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| Syria aims to 'flush out all terrorists' in 2015: PM Posted: 01 Feb 2015 03:25 AM PST Syria's prime minister said on Sunday the country wanted to drive all insurgents out of its territory in 2015 and was prepared to back any attempts to fight global militancy. Speaking in parliament, Wael al-Halqi said Syria's main aim was to "flush out all terrorists from its land" this year and it would "back any initiatives to fight global terrorism," a broadcast on state television showed. He said Syria would not allow its enemies "to destroy the land of religions and cradle of civilizations" and praised the army for its efforts. Syria has repeatedly said it wants to coordinate with other countries to fight armed groups in its country. |
| Hostage crisis poses stark test for pacifist Japan Posted: 01 Feb 2015 02:55 AM PST  The apparent beheading of two Japanese hostages by Islamic State militants poses a stark diplomatic test for pacifist Japan, underscoring how Tokyo's image as a benign aid donor offers no immunity from violence, analysts say. Tokyo has long avoided getting embroiled in tinderbox conflicts across the Middle East and is rarely the target of religious extremism, something many ordinary Japanese see as a far-away problem. The drama erupted after Abe pledged $200 million in aid for refugees fleeing IS-controlled areas during a tour of the Middle East last month -- militants had demanded the same amount in exchange for the pair, whom it had been holding for months. The IS video warned the killings marked the start of a "nightmare for Japan" and its "reckless" government.
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| Analysis: The world's problems enter Japan's psyche, again Posted: 01 Feb 2015 02:24 AM PST  TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese, who inhabit one of the safest countries in the world, have been brutally reminded that the world is a dangerous place.
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| Iraqi Kurdistan tourism in tatters as IS war drags on Posted: 01 Feb 2015 01:45 AM PST  Billboards still read "Welcome to Arbil, 2014 Arab Tourism Capital," but most of the visitors Iraq's Kurdistan region welcomed last year were people made homeless by a jihadist offensive. It was supposed to be tourism's takeoff year but the Islamic State (IS) group's June onslaught dashed those hopes overnight when it plunged Iraq into chaos. "I cannot even talk about a decline in numbers, it's more like everything collapsed," said Hearsh Ahmad Karem, the manager of the Kurdistan Hotels and Restaurants Association. What was a growing $1 billion (885-million-euro) sector in 2013 came to a screeching halt when IS fighters took over large parts of Iraq north and west of Baghdad and moved within striking distance of Arbil.
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| At least 1,375 Iraqis killed in January, most of them civilians: U.N. Posted: 01 Feb 2015 01:18 AM PST  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Fighting and other violence in Iraq killed at least 1,375 people including 790 civilians in January, the United Nations said on Sunday. The dead included 585 members of the Iraqi army which is struggling to rebuild itself after Islamic State militants seized large sections of the country last year. At least 2,240 civilians and soldiers were wounded during the same period, the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq said in a statement. (Reporting By Stephen Kalin; Editing by Ned Parker and Andrew Heavens)
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| After Paris attacks, calls to tighten US visa rules Posted: 31 Jan 2015 09:09 PM PST  US politicians are calling for changes to a law that allows Europeans and other foreigners to enter the country without visas, citing fears that jihadists could exploit the rules to stage attacks on American soil. The visa waiver program, which covers tourists from 38 countries, represents the "Achilles' heel of America," said Senator Dianne Feinstein, who is urging a tightening of the rules. The attacks against the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris this month have renewed concerns in Washington that extremists with Western passports will slip into the United States under the cover of the visa-free travel program. Feinstein, former head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is working on a bill to reform the rules that will be proposed soon, her aides said.
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| How 'American Sniper's' Trailer Tapped Into Chris Kyle's Emotional Journey Posted: 31 Jan 2015 09:00 PM PST The head of the agency that helped create the second official look at the film talks about the role of music and what his firm and Warner Bros. sought to accomplish through the suspenseful video. |
| Obama condemns Japanese hostage's 'heinous murder' Posted: 31 Jan 2015 05:46 PM PST  President Barack Obama condemned the "heinous murder" of a Japanese hostage after the Islamic State group released a video purportedly showing his beheading. "The United States condemns the heinous murder of Japanese citizen and journalist Kenji Goto by the terrorist group ISIL," Obama said in a statement, using an acronym by which the IS group is known.
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| Jordan vows to do 'everything' to save life of IS-held pilot Posted: 31 Jan 2015 04:49 PM PST  Jordan vowed on Sunday to do all it could to save an airman held by the Islamic State group after the jihadists killed a Japanese journalist they had been holding. Safi Kassasbeh, the father of pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh, denounced the killing of Kenji Goto and told AFP the Jordanian "government is responsible" for his son's fate. "Maaz is our son and a son of the military, and the government is responsible for him," said Safi Kassasbeh, who in previous days had urged authorities to seek his release "at any price". King Abdullah II said "all efforts in Jordan are being exploited to seek the release of the hero pilot Maaz Kassasbeh," captured by IS after his plane crashed in Syria in December, a royal court statement said.
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| Two US defence contractors shot at in Saudi Posted: 31 Jan 2015 04:14 PM PST  A US defence contractor said Sunday that two of its American employees came under fire in the latest attack against Westerners in Saudi Arabia. It was the second time in recent months that staff of the contractor Vinnell Arabia have been targeted. "We can confirm that two Vinnell Arabia employees were involved in an incident on Friday, in which they were shot at by assailants in the al-Ahsa province of Saudi Arabia," the company said in a statement issued through a public relations firm. Vinnell Arabia provides training for the Saudi National Guard, a parallel army.
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