| Russian jet broke up in mid air, too early for conclusions, official says Posted: 01 Nov 2015 01:51 PM PST  By Lin Noueihed, Ahmed Aboulenein and Alexander Winning CAIRO/MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian airliner that crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula broke up in mid-air, an official of a Moscow-based aviation agency said on Sunday after visiting the disaster site, but stressed it was too early to draw conclusions from this. Russian authorities also ordered Kogalymavia airline, operator of the Airbus A321 which came down on Saturday killing all 224 people on board, not to fly its jets of the same model until the causes of the crash are known. The jet, which Kogalymavia flew under the brand name Metrojet, was carrying holidaymakers from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg when it crashed into a mountainous area of central Sinai shortly after losing radar contact near cruising altitude.
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| Al Qaeda chief urges militant unity against Russia in Syria Posted: 01 Nov 2015 01:37 PM PST  Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on Muslim supporters to band together to confront the threat from the West and Russia in Syria and Iraq, the latest recording suggesting greater unity between al Qaeda and Islamic State. "The Americans, Russians, Iranians, Alawites, and Hezbollah are coordinating their war against us -- are we not capable of stopping the fighting amongst ourselves so we can direct all our efforts against them?" Zawahri said in an audio recording released on the Internet on Sunday. It was not clear when the recording was made but references to Russian aggression suggest it was made after Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, launched air raids against opposition groups and Islamic State in Syria on Sept. 30.
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| UN says more than 700 people killed in Iraq in October Posted: 01 Nov 2015 12:44 PM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — The United Nations says the number of Iraqis killed in violence in October was 714, up from 537 people in the previous month. |
| Iraq PM declares emergency in areas hit by heavy rain Posted: 01 Nov 2015 11:50 AM PST  Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared an emergency in areas overwhelmed by heavy rain that has caused widespread flooding and multiple deaths, his office said Sunday. Abadi ordered a "declaration of emergency in the areas affected by torrential rainwater that exceeded drainage capacity", his office said in a statement. Iraq was hit by multiple days of heavy rain that, when combined with the country's decrepit infrastructure, caused major flooding in Baghdad and other areas that resulted in deaths and health problems.
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| Islamic State takes Syrian town as fighting looks set to intensify Posted: 01 Nov 2015 11:45 AM PST  By John Davison and Tom Perry BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters drove Syrian government forces from a western town on Sunday, a monitoring group reported, as fighting escalated despite a flurry of diplomatic activity and talks between regional rivals. Syrian parties to the multi-sided conflict said they saw no end to fighting between rebels and the government despite talks in Vienna on Friday that included Iran for the first time. Iran's supreme leader meanwhile said elections should be held to end the war, echoing a proposal by Russia that has been dismissed by President Bashar al-Assad's opponents as a ruse by his allies to keep him in power.
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| Construction begins in Bahrain of British army base Posted: 01 Nov 2015 10:00 AM PST  Construction work has begun in Bahrain to build Britain's first permanent military base in the Middle East since 1971, amid security threats in the region, Bahrain's state media reported Sunday. "The ground-breaking ceremony for the establishment of the marine facilities headquarters in the kingdom of Bahrain" was launched on Saturday, the official BNA news agency. The ceremony was attended by British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid al-Khalifa, it said.
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| Sanders spends $2M on 1st ad campaign in Iowa, New Hampshire Posted: 01 Nov 2015 09:58 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders launched his first television ads in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire on Sunday, pouring $2 million into an ad buy that casts his campaign as a sharp break with the status-quo.
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| Islamic State group advances in central Syria, seizing town Posted: 01 Nov 2015 09:07 AM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic State militant group is advancing in central Syria, seizing control of a town that lies near a highway leading to the capital, Damascus, and attacking another, activists and the group said Sunday.
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| Iranian opposition mourns refugees killed in Iraq attack Posted: 01 Nov 2015 08:48 AM PST PARIS (AP) — Hundreds of people have gathered in Paris to honor members of an Iranian opposition group killed in an attack on an Iraqi camp. |
| Iraq combats cholera with massive vaccination campaign Posted: 01 Nov 2015 07:40 AM PST  Iraq is carrying out a major vaccination campaign to combat a cholera outbreak that has infected more than 2,200 people, the health ministry said on Sunday. The campaign, focused on vaccinating people displaced by conflict including the war with the Islamic State group, began Saturday, health minister Adeela Hammoud Hussein said in a statement. The World Health Organisation shipped more than 500,000 doses of oral cholera vaccine to Iraq, enough to treat some 250,000 people.
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| With security high, Turkey's Kurds say they are voting for peace Posted: 01 Nov 2015 07:10 AM PST  Leaning against an armoured truck, masked Turkish policemen with rifles slung over their shoulders scan the crowds queueing to vote in a neighbourhood of the main Kurdish city of Diyarbakir. Security is high in the Kurdish majority southeast for Sunday's vote following a new flare-up in the conflict between Kurdish rebels and the Turkish state and a wave of jihadist attacks which have left several hundred people dead since July. The wall surrounding Suleyman Nazif school in Diyarbakir's Sur district, which has been turned into a polling station for the vote, is pockmarked with bullet holes.
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| Rights group: Egypt has prevented scores from travelling Posted: 01 Nov 2015 06:57 AM PST CAIRO (AP) — Egypt has unlawfully prevented "scores" of people from leaving the country over the past year, U.S. based-Human Rights Watch said in a new report released Sunday. |
| Lake Chad clashes leave 14 Boko Haram members dead: government Posted: 01 Nov 2015 05:02 AM PST  N'Djamena (AFP) - The Chadian government said Sunday that soldiers repelled two attacks by Boko Haram on army posts around Lake Chad, leaving 14 militants dead. "Two members of Boko Haram were neutralised and a third blew himself up, wounding 11 civilians" during an attempted suicide attack on the Bougouma army post, the government said in a statement, referring to the Nigerian jihadist group. Soldiers killed 11 Boko Haram members during a second attempted attack on the Kaika army post, also in the Lake Chad region, the statement said.
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| U.S., allies launch 9 air strikes in Syria, 16 in Iraq Posted: 01 Nov 2015 04:43 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S.-led coalition conducted nine air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria and 16 in Iraq on Saturday, the military said in a statement on Sunday. In Syria, air strikes involving fighter, ground-attack and drone aircraft targeted two locations: six strikes near Mar'a and three strikes near Al Hawl, the statement said. In Iraq, air strikes involving bomber, attack, ground-attack and drone aircraft targeted seven locations: near Al Huwayjah, Bayji, Mosul, Ramadi, Sinjar, Sultan Abdallah and Tal Afar, the statement said. ... |
| Kurdish forces prepare for battle to retake Iraq's Sinjar Posted: 01 Nov 2015 02:35 AM PST  By Isabel Coles ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Kurdish forces are massing in northwest Iraq for an offensive to retake the town of Sinjar from Islamic State militants who overran it more than a year ago, killing and enslaving thousands of its Yazidi residents and triggering U.S.-led air strikes. Sinjar is a symbolic and strategic prize sitting astride the main highway linking the cities of Mosul and Raqqa - Islamic State's bastions in Iraq and Syria. In December 2014, Kurdish forces drove Islamic State from north of Sinjar mountain, a craggy strip some 60 km (40 miles) long, but the radical Sunni insurgents maintain control of the southern side where the town is located.
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| Turkey in facts and figures Posted: 31 Oct 2015 09:15 PM PDT  Turkey holds a snap election on Sunday, a crucial new test for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party after it lost its majority in a June vote. With a Black Sea coastline facing Russia, it has been a NATO front-line state for more than 60 years. Covering about 784,000 square kilometres (300,000 square miles), Turkey is slightly smaller than Pakistan but larger than the US state of Texas.
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| Today in History Posted: 31 Oct 2015 09:00 PM PDT Today is Sunday, Nov. 1, the 305th day of 2015. There are 60 days left in the year. This is All Saints Day. |
| Warship honoring Marine christened at Maine shipyard Posted: 31 Oct 2015 07:31 PM PDT  BATH, Maine (AP) — First in English, then in Spanish, the mother of a fallen Marine who shielded his comrades from an insurgent's grenade christened a new Navy destroyer in his honor.
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