| Exiled Yemen president says fighting Huthis to stop 'Iran expansion' Posted: 29 Aug 2015 03:18 PM PDT  Yemen's exiled President Abedrabbo Mansur Hadi said on Saturday that his forces were battling Shiite Huthi rebels across the country to check "Iranian expansion" in the region. Hadi was speaking as he made a short visit to Sudan, which was seen as being close to Iran before it joined a Saudi-led coalition against the Yemeni rebels in April. "We are currently leading a war based on stopping Iranian expansion in the region," Hadi said at a press conference with his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir.
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| IS cracks down on western Iraqi town after rare protest Posted: 29 Aug 2015 01:14 PM PDT  BAGHDAD (AP) — Islamic State militants moved on Saturday to stamp out dissent in a remote western Iraqi town, detaining at least 70 and tying dozens of residents, including tribal leaders, to streetlight poles as a punishment, security officials said.
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| Austria death truck suspects held, second vehicle found Posted: 29 Aug 2015 01:13 PM PDT  Kecskemét (Hungary) (AFP) - Four suspects in Austria's migrant truck tragedy were remanded in custody in Hungary on Saturday, as Austrian police rescued three "severely dehydrated" refugee children packed into another vehicle. Hungary, where the death truck with 71 corpses originated, said meanwhile that it has completed a razor-wire barrier along its 175-kilometre (110-mile) frontier with Serbia in an effort to prevent thousands of migrants entering the EU country. The incident came a day after the decomposing bodies of 59 men, eight women and four children were found in an abandoned truck on a motorway in eastern Austria near the Hungarian border, provoking international revulsion.
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| Iraq minister outlines problems behind electricity woes Posted: 29 Aug 2015 11:13 AM PDT  Iraq's electricity minister outlined to parliament Saturday a slew of problems that have contributed to abysmal power services, which have sparked widespread public anger and protests. Qassem al-Fahdawi, who was being quizzed in parliament on Iraq's electricity woes since he took office last year, criticised his predecessors for "focusing almost exclusively on production" at the expense of developing the distribution network to raise output. The main example was Baghdad, he said, where the grid's capacity was a maximum of 3,500 megawatts, regardless of production levels.
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| Egypt hands Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy three years in jail Posted: 29 Aug 2015 11:11 AM PDT Three journalists accused of terrorism-related charges in Egypt, including Egyptian-born Canadian Mohamed Fahmy, were today sentenced to three years in prison, to the dismay of their families and lawyers who were hopeful the trio would be released after an almost two-year ordeal. "The sentence is clearly outrageous and it's almost impossible to describe how absurd the verdict is," says Gary Caroline, Mr. Fahmy's lawyer in Canada. Fahmy, along with colleagues Peter Greste and Baher Mohamed, were working for Al Jazeera when they were arrested in 2013 on charges of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, which the Egyptian government considers a terrorist organization. |
| Jailed Jazeera journalists all conflict-hardened veterans Posted: 29 Aug 2015 10:56 AM PDT  The three journalists for Al-Jazeera television's English-language channel sentenced to three years after being convicted in a retrial of broadcasting false news are all conflict-hardened veteran correspondents. Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohamed were in court Saturday to hear the verdict against them, while Australian Peter Greste was freed from prison early this year and deported. Fahmy, 41, had only been named head of Al-Jazeera's Cairo office in September 2013, three months before his arrest.
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| Turkish jets join US-led coalition strikes on Islamic State Posted: 29 Aug 2015 09:03 AM PDT Turkish jets took part in U.S.-led coalition air strikes against Islamic State in Syria for the first time on Friday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. Turkey last month agreed to open its strategically important air bases to the coalition, but has been reluctant to play a leading role in the fight against Islamic State, fearing a backlash. Friday's operation follows a technical agreement with the United States on Aug. 24 about Turkey's role in the campaign against the Sunni Islamists who control large areas of Syria and Iraq. |
| Turkish planes join anti-IS coalition in Syria raid for first time Posted: 29 Aug 2015 08:07 AM PDT  Turkish warplanes have for the first time joined raids by the US-led coalition against Islamic State positions in Syria, the foreign ministry said Saturday, after Washington urged Ankara to play a full role in the battle against the jihadists. "Our fighter planes ... along with planes from the coalition yesterday (Friday) evening began joint operations against (IS) targets which pose a threat to the security of our country," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement. Turkey, which had been accused of complacency towards the IS fighters in neighbouring Syria, last month launched what it called a war on terror on two fronts: targeting IS jihadists in Syria and also Kurdish PKK rebels and their bases in northern Iraq.
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| Illinois' Durbin gets a shot at political redemption Posted: 29 Aug 2015 06:51 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — For all its fraught politics and geopolitical import, the Iran nuclear agreement offers something very personal for Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois: a chance at political redemption.
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| Satellite images confirm Syrian temple destruction: U.N. Posted: 29 Aug 2015 06:22 AM PDT  Satellite images have confirmed the destruction of a Roman-era temple in the Syrian city of Palmyra, a United Nations agency said, after the hardline Islamic State group claimed responsibility for blowing up the structure a week ago. Islamic State detonated explosives in the ancient Baal Shamin temple on Aug. 25, an act that cultural agency UNESCO has called a war crime aimed at wiping out a symbol of Syria's diverse cultural heritage. An analysis of an image taken in June and others taken several days ago show the obliteration of the temple in the central desert city, the Geneva-based United Nations Institute for Training and Research said in a statement.
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| Biographies of the 3 Al-Jazeera English journalists Posted: 29 Aug 2015 03:10 AM PDT  CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court has sentenced three Al-Jazeera English journalists to three years in prison. Peter Greste, Mohammed Fahmy and Baher Mohammed were all arrested in December 2013 on terrorism-related charges in a case widely criticized by rights groups.
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| As asylum-seekers flood in, Germany struggles to house them Posted: 29 Aug 2015 02:44 AM PDT  BERLIN (AP) — Twenty-three-year-old Leila, her husband and two small children spent their first week in Germany in a temporary shelter, an austere but desperately needed haven after a traumatic flight from Syria that began when her husband was told to fight for the government.
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| Iran deal gives Sen. Durbin a shot at political redemption Posted: 28 Aug 2015 09:16 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — For all its fraught politics and geopolitical import, the Iran nuclear agreement offers something very personal for Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois: a chance at political redemption. |
| Kurdish forces free seven villages in Iraq: officials Posted: 28 Aug 2015 07:06 PM PDT  Western-backed Kurdish fighters freed seven villages from the clasps of the Islamic State group in northern Iraq in recent days, the US-led coalition battling the jihadists. Bolstered by coalition airstrikes, the Peshmerga fighters wrestled back more than 200 square kilometers (80 square miles) near the town of Tuz since August 26, the Combined Joint Task Force said. Planes and drones conducted a total of 25 strikes, helping the Kurdish forces in "liberating seven villages," a statement said.
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