| Kerry to co-host talks on Islamic State in London Posted: 18 Jan 2015 04:47 PM PST  Washington (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to London on Thursday to host with his British counterpart a meeting of members of the coalition against the Islamic State group, officials said.
|
| Michael Moore Blasts 'American Sniper' Hero: Gunmen Are "Cowards" Posted: 18 Jan 2015 04:06 PM PST Moore tweeted Sunday that his uncle was killed by a sniper. |
| Le Pen presses France to condemn 'Islamists' Posted: 18 Jan 2015 02:40 PM PST  French far-right leader Marine Le Pen urged the government Sunday to denounce as "Islamists" the perpetrators of deadly Paris attacks that left the country reeling. The three-day killing spree that left 17 dead in and around Paris -- starting when gunmen stormed the offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo on January 7 -- have left the world reeling, with questions raised about how the perpetrators slipped through the cracks. "Let us call things by their rightful names, since the French government seems reluctant to do so," Le Pen wrote in a New York Times op-ed. "France, land of human rights and freedoms, was attacked on its own soil by a totalitarian ideology: Islamic fundamentalism," the National Front leader continued.
|
| Six Hezbollah fighters killed in Israeli strike Posted: 18 Jan 2015 02:29 PM PST  Six Hezbollah fighters were killed Sunday in an Israeli air strike on the Syrian side of the Golan, including the son of assassinated senior commander Imad Mughniyeh. "A group of Hezbollah mujahedeen were martyred in a Zionist rocket attack in Quneitra, and their names will be revealed later," said Hezbollah's Al-Manar television. Hezbollah said in a statement received by AFP that six of its members were killed in the attack, among them a top military leader and Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Imad Mughniyeh, a top Hezbollah operative killed in a 2008 car bombing in Syria which the group has blamed on Israel. A source close to Hezbollah told AFP the killed military leader was Mohammed Issa, a senior commander responsible for Hezbollah operations in Syria and Iraq.
|
| Manhunts, death threats as Europe on high terror alert Posted: 18 Jan 2015 01:51 PM PST  Europe was on high alert Sunday as the suspected mastermind of a jihadist cell in Belgium remained at large and jittery authorities blocked anti-Islamist rallies in Germany and France. With tensions heightened, the second gunman in the Charlie Hebdo magazine attack was buried discreetly in an unmarked grave near Paris late Saturday in the hope that it would not become a pilgrimage site for radical Islamists. Meanwhile, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, considered the brains behind the cell plotting to kill Belgian police, was still on the run days after the group was dismantled by intelligence services. The group claimed the threat came from the Islamic State group based in Syria and Iraq, with local media reporting that PEGIDA's most prominent leader Lutz Bachmann was the target.
|
| Iran and UAE look to avoid Japan Posted: 18 Jan 2015 01:15 PM PST  Sydney (AFP) - Three-time Asian Cup winners Iran will go for a win against surprise package the United Arab Emirates on Monday as they try to avoid a likely quarter-final against holders Japan.
|
| Islamist threat evolving, more dangerous, European officials say Posted: 18 Jan 2015 01:11 PM PST  European security officials are scrambling to meet what a changing and more complex threat from jihadists -- both from sleeper cells and fighters returning from Middle Eastern battlegrounds -- made clear in the deadly Paris attacks. European police agency chief Rob Wainwright said the security landscape is "more difficult, more challenging" than at any time since the September 11, 2001 attacks. The three days of violence that left 17 dead in Paris last week -- starting when gunmen stormed into the offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo January 7 -- have left the world reeling, with questions raised about how the perpetrators slipped through the cracks. The two Charlie Hebdo attackers, brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, had ties to jihadist groups in Yemen and Syria.
|
| Belgium to request extradition of terror suspect arrested in Greece Posted: 18 Jan 2015 01:04 PM PST  Belgium will request the extradition of a suspect arrested in Greece who could be connected to a jihadist cell smashed by Belgian security forces earlier this week, federal prosecutors said Sunday. "Out of two suspects arrested, there is one who could be linked" to the group, the prosecutors' spokesman Thierry Werts told RTL television. "There are sufficient elements to seek his extradition," he said. A Greek police source said the suspect was a 31-year-old Algerian who served jail time in Greece on a robbery conviction but was released nearly a year ago.
|
| Congressional Republicans will block Obama's initiative with Cuba, Nigerian government in a tussle with US, Iran's importance, Jews facing decline in Germany, and North Korea can improve relations through South Korea's help Posted: 18 Jan 2015 01:00 PM PST "President Barack Obama's decision last month to re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba was a good idea...," writes Gwynne Dyer. "Unfortunately ... Obama's good idea is not really going to change things much.... The Republican Party now controls both Houses of Congress, and the embargo cannot be ended except by Congressional consent. |
| Islamic State group releases 200 captive Yazidis in Iraq Posted: 18 Jan 2015 12:29 PM PST  ALTON KUPRI, Iraq (AP) — The Islamic State group released about 200 Yazidis held for five months in Iraq, mostly elderly, infirm captives who likely slowed the extremists down, Kurdish military officials said Sunday.
|
| Hand grenade explodes in Istanbul, no casualties Posted: 18 Jan 2015 11:56 AM PST  A hand grenade exploded on a busy street in Istanbul on Sunday without causing any casualties, state media said, almost two weeks after a suicide bombing in Turkey's largest city. The megacity remains on high security alert following the attack by a female suicide bomber on January 6 in the heart of Istanbul's tourist district that killed a Turkish policeman. In other security alerts on Sunday, two unexploded bombs were found in different parts of Istanbul, Anatolia said. Police detonated a cluster bomb found outside a police station in the suburb of Maltepe on the Asian side of Istanbul.
|
| Lebanese Christian family in shock at accused jihadist son Posted: 18 Jan 2015 11:45 AM PST  When Lebanese authorities announced the arrest last week of three alleged jihadists planning suicide bomb attacks, Elie Warraq's family was stunned to see his name among the accused. Warraq, 22, would hardly be the only young man in Lebanon lured to the ranks of Sunni Muslim extremists -- but he appears to be the first Christian. Choking back tears at the family home in the northern Lebanon village of Mejdalaya, Warraq's father Tony said his relatives were devastated.
|
| Japan PM on 3-day trip to Israel, West Bank Posted: 18 Jan 2015 11:17 AM PST  Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe flew into Tel Aviv on Sunday at the start of a visit hailed by Israel as an opportunity to boost economic ties. The three-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories is part of the final leg of a six-day tour of the Middle East, aimed also at promoting regional stability and peace. The visit "gives us an historic opportunity to bring together the great capabilities of the people of Japan and the people of Israel," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Abe in Jerusalem. It is the first visit by a Japanese prime minister to Israel in nine years, and Netanyahu told his cabinet it was an opportunity to continue its economic efforts in Far Eastern markets, including China and India.
|
| HRW urges West to press Bahrain to free opposition figures Posted: 18 Jan 2015 11:13 AM PST  Human Rights Watch on Sunday urged Bahrain's Western allies to press the kingdom to release detained activists, including a Shiite opposition chief whose arrest has sparked protests and condemnation. Sheikh Ali Salman, the head of the influential Al-Wefaq bloc, has remained in custody since authorities arrested him on December 28 on charges including seeking regime change. The cause of the death of the man identified as Abdulazziz Salman Alsaeed remain unclear and authorities have not released an official statement. "When it comes to punishing peaceful critics of the government or ruling family, Bahrain is a serial offender," said HRW's deputy MENA director Joe Stork.
|
| Israel: First known local Islamic State cell arrested Posted: 18 Jan 2015 10:22 AM PST JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's Shin Bet security service says it arrested the first known Islamic State cell operating inside the country. |
| Ex-spy chief says outdated UK anti-terrorism laws are not fit for purpose Posted: 18 Jan 2015 10:01 AM PST  By William James LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's ability to prevent terrorist attacks is hampered by outdated laws that are "no longer fit for purpose", a former MI5 chief said in an interview published on Sunday, as the government considers new powers to monitor the Internet. Jonathan Evans, director-general of MI5 from 2007 to 2013, said laws should allow the intelligence services to properly monitor possible threats to national security. Islamist gunmen killed 17 people in Paris earlier this month, pushing enhanced anti-terrorism laws up Britain's political agenda. Britain is on its second-highest threat level, meaning an attack is considered highly likely.
|
| Security boosted for Paris Fashion Posted: 18 Jan 2015 09:48 AM PST  Security is being bolstered at the Paris fashion shows which open on Wednesday following the deadly Islamist attacks in the French capital and European swoops on other suspected jihadists. Middle Eastern clients who often spend big on Paris's Haute Couture creations were said to be especially reluctant. The Federation Francaise de la Couture, the body behind the Paris fashion shows, did not respond directly to AFP queries on the issue. Thousands of police and soldiers have been deployed across Paris to reinforce security in the wake of the attacks in the city.
|
| Political questions swirl around theater shooting prosecutor Posted: 18 Jan 2015 09:18 AM PST  CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — As a young man going through college on an ROTC scholarship, George Brauchler imagined he'd become Gen. George S. Patton, barking orders on the battlefield. But fellow officers urged him to consider law school, and he rose to become a district attorney who puts himself in the trenches.
|
| The Daily Fix: Obama Plans to Tax Uber-Wealthy, Give Back to Working Class Posted: 18 Jan 2015 09:04 AM PST During his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Obama will unveil his plan for what he calls America's "comeback." The plan involves raising taxes and fees on the the country's wealthiest taxpayers while offering a variety of tax cuts for the middle and working classes. It's expected to eliminate what members of the Obama administration call the "trust-fund loophole," a provision that prevents hundreds of billions of dollars from being taxed every year. |
| One bomb explodes, police detonate two others in Istanbul Posted: 18 Jan 2015 08:58 AM PST A bomb exploded in central Istanbul on Sunday, and police detonated two others in controlled explosions, less than two weeks after a suicide bombing killed a police officer. Meanwhile, a bomb disposal unit safely detonated a similar device in the Maltepe district on the city's Asian side that was left beneath a statue of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the secular Turkish Republic, Sabah said. Homemade explosive devices were found in two shopping malls in Istanbul and deactivated on Jan. 11. Kurdish separatists, Islamist radicals and far-left groups have all staged deadly bomb attacks in Istanbul, Turkey's biggest city and a major European tourist destination. |
| Kobane setback puts brakes on IS Syria ambitions Posted: 18 Jan 2015 08:54 AM PST  Once poised to overrun the Syrian town of Kobane, the Islamic State group has suffered a damaging blow to its ambitions at the hands of Kurdish fighters and US-led warplanes. In mid-September, IS began a seemingly relentless march towards Kobane, in a drive to consolidate its grip on a long stretch of the strategic northern border. Now IS holds just 20 percent of Kobane and faces the prospect of losing it entirely, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. "Kobane has become a huge symbol.
|
| Attacks challenge 'lone wolf' terrorist theory Posted: 18 Jan 2015 08:47 AM PST  The attacks in Paris and the radical Islamist cell dismantled in Brussels have challenged the idea of the "lone wolf" terrorist who works alone, without the help of a jihadist organisation, analysts say. Every terrorist that has attempted or carried out attacks in the West in recent years -- down to the Kouachi brothers who struck the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris this month -- has had some level of ties to extremist groups engaged in global jihad, according to experts. For Jean-Pierre Filiu, of Sciences Po university in Paris, the events in France and Belgium had shown "once again" that the idea of radicals acting in isolation was "an inane myth". "This largely fantastical figure is an intellectual creation that appeared in the United States as part of the Bush administration's 'global war on terror' in 2001", he argued.
|
| Mastermind of jihadist cell in Belgium 'still at large' Posted: 18 Jan 2015 08:31 AM PST  The presumed mastermind of the jihadist cell dismantled this week in Belgium remains at large, a Belgian minister said Sunday, after arrests in Greece. Belgian media have named the suspected leader of the cell uncovered by police Thursday in the eastern town of Verviers as Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a 27-year-old Belgian of Moroccan origin. Two suspects were shot dead in a fierce gun battle with police during the raid, which smashed a cell plotting to kill Belgian police officers on the street and in police stations, local authorities said. According to Belgian media, the group's suspected leader Abaaoud spent time fighting alongside the Islamic State group in Syria.
|
| Iran minister's Saudi visit delayed due to oil price fall: Tehran Posted: 18 Jan 2015 08:16 AM PST  Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has postponed a visit to Saudi Arabia in protest against Riyadh's reluctance to cut oil production, a senior Iranian official said on Sunday. Oil prices have fallen 60 percent from their June 2014 peaks, driven down by rising production, particularly of U.S. shale oil, and weaker-than-expected demand in Europe and Asia. Last week, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that countries behind the fall in global oil prices would regret their decision and warned that Saudi Arabia and Kuwait would suffer alongside Iran from the price drop.
|
| A year on, Islamic State group still rules Iraq's Fallujah Posted: 18 Jan 2015 04:29 AM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — Nearly every night for a year, mortar and sniper fire from Islamic State group militants has pinned down outgunned Iraqi troops on the edge of Fallujah.
|
| Israel says cracks first local Islamic State cell Posted: 18 Jan 2015 04:10 AM PST By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel said on Sunday it had cracked the first Islamic State cell on its soil, made up of seven Arab citizens who would be prosecuted on charges of planning attacks in the Jewish state and communicating with the insurgent group in Syria. Dozens of Israeli Arabs and Palestinians have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join insurgent groups. Israel's Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency said on Jan. 4 it had broken up a cell in the occupied West Bank linked to Islamic State. The seven Israeli Arab suspects, aged 22 to 40 and all from the northern Galilee region, were arrested in November and December and told investigators they had undergone radical Islamist studies and prepared weapons and funding for attacks, the Shin Bet said in a statement. |
| Egypt to reopen Rafah terminal for 3 days from Tuesday Posted: 18 Jan 2015 03:34 AM PST  Egypt is to reopen the Rafah crossing with Gaza for three days starting Tuesday, for the third time since it was shut in late October after a deadly suicide bombing, security officials said. The crossing, the only access point to the Palestinian Gaza Strip not controlled by Israel, was to be reopened last week, but the decision was postponed after an Egyptian police officer working at the terminal was kidnapped and killed. The terminal was shut by Egypt after a deadly bombing in the Sinai Peninsula killed 30 soldiers in late October. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, Egypt's deadliest militant group, is based in the peninsula and has claimed several deadly attacks on security forces.
|
| Trigger-happy Bahrain to discuss Eid's future Posted: 18 Jan 2015 02:54 AM PST  Bahrain's trigger-happy FA is set for talks with coach Marjan Eid after the Asian Cup, raising the prospect of another quickfire sacking and their fifth coach in 18 months. Eid said they would hold discussions after his return from Australia, where Bahrain have lost their first two games and play a dead rubber against Qatar on Monday in their final game. The 35-year-old Bahraini has only been in charge since November, when he succeeded Iraq's Adnan Hamad who was dismissed during the Gulf Cup -- just three months after being appointed. "When we're back in Bahrain we can discuss these things, about whether I'll continue or not.
|
| Joni Ernst: 21 Things You Didn’t Know About Her Posted: 18 Jan 2015 02:15 AM PST Iowa's freshman senator, Joni Ernst, will be in the national spotlight Tuesday night when she gives the Republican Party response to President Obama's State of the Union address. "I am truly honored," she said on Facebook after being chosen by the GOP leadership. Yet few people outside of Iowa really know who she is or what she stands for, beyond the broadest strokes — and a few pig jokes. Ernst, 44, a former state senator, won a decisive election last November to fill the seat vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, coming from behind to beat Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley 52.2 to 43.7. |
| No link between Greece arrests and Belgium jihadists: prosecutor Posted: 18 Jan 2015 01:50 AM PST  No link has been established between at least four people arrested by Greek anti-terrorism police and a jihadist cell broken up this week in Belgium, the Belgian prosecutor's office said Sunday. "There is no connection between these people and the enquiry" in Belgium, Eric Van Der Sypt, spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office, said. A Greek police source said investigators had sent DNA evidence and fingerprints to Belgium to establish whether Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the 27-year-old suspected mastermind of the Belgian cell, was among the four suspects. Belgian authorities say the group targeted in a police raid Thursday in the eastern town of Verviers, in which two suspects were killed, was plotting to kill Belgian police officers.
|
| Box Office: How 'American Sniper' Played Like a Superhero Movie Posted: 17 Jan 2015 09:00 PM PST From the smallest towns in Middle America to the most liberal cities, the Oscar-nominated film galvanizes moviegoers everywhere. |
| Box-Office Shocker: 'American Sniper' Could Now Score $100M Debut Posted: 17 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.' |
| Today in History Posted: 17 Jan 2015 09:00 PM PST Today is Sunday, Jan. 18, the 18th day of 2015. There are 347 days left in the year. |
| Box-Office Shocker: 'American Sniper' Now Targeting $105M Debut Posted: 17 Jan 2015 09:00 PM PST Clint Eastwood's record-breaking film, landing 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.' |
| Obama seeking tax increases on wealthy to help middle class Posted: 17 Jan 2015 08:06 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will call for increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans by raising the capital gains rate and eliminating a tax break on inheritances, then using the revenue to fund new tax credits and other cost-saving measures for the middle class.
|
