| Come home, families beg Syria-bound UK schoolgirls Posted: 21 Feb 2015 02:00 PM PST  The families of three British schoolgirls feared to be travelling to join the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria issued emotional appeals for them to come home Saturday. Close friends Kadiza Sultana, 17, and 15-year-olds Shamima Begum and Amira Abase left their east London homes Tuesday and flew to Istanbul. Turkey is a key entry point for those seeking to travel to Syria.
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| Meet the Democrat Who’s Not Afraid to Criticize President Obama on ISIS Posted: 21 Feb 2015 12:25 PM PST  President Obama has faced intense criticism from Republicans for his reluctance to label ISIS an "Islamic" group. More noteworthy is that a member of the president's own party – from his home state – has taken repeated shots at him: Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.
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| U.S. weighs slowing Afghan withdrawal to ensure 'progress sticks': Carter Posted: 21 Feb 2015 10:36 AM PST  By Phil Stewart KABUL (Reuters) - The United States is considering slowing a planned withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan to ensure that "progress sticks" after more than a decade of war, new Defense Secretary Ash Carter said during an unannounced visit to Kabul on Saturday. Under the current plan, the United States will halve the number of troops in Afghanistan to just over 5,000 this year, gradually winding down to a "normal" U.S. embassy presence by the end of 2016. "Our priority now is to make sure this progress sticks," Carter said at a joint conference with President Ashraf Ghani, hours after landing in Kabul.
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| Pentagon chief: US considering slowing exit from Afghanistan Posted: 21 Feb 2015 09:03 AM PST  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The United States is considering slowing its military exit from Afghanistan by keeping a larger-than-planned troop presence this year and next because the new Afghan government is proving to be a more reliable partner, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Saturday.
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| Baghdad's first female mayor set to take the reins Posted: 21 Feb 2015 06:39 AM PST  A woman has been named as mayor of Baghdad for the first time, a government spokesman said Saturday, amid widespread corruption and rampant violence. Zekra Alwach, a civil engineer and director general of the ministry of higher education, becomes the first female to be given such a post in the whole country, where international rights groups have condemned women's rights abuses. As mayor -- the most important administrative position in the capital -- Alwach will deal directly with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and holds has the prerogatives of a cabinet minister. "Abadi sacked the (former) mayor Naim Aboub and named Dr Zekra Alwach to replace him," government spokesman Rafed Juburi said.
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| Islamic State targeted in six air strikes by U.S.-led coalition: task force Posted: 21 Feb 2015 06:26 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S.-led coalition staged six air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq in the past 24 hours, the Combined Joint Task Force said on Saturday. The latest of the daily raids included one that destroyed two Islamic State fighting positions near Kobani, Syria, where Kurdish forces have been pushing back Islamic State with the help of the coalition. Five air strikes near the Iraqi cities of Al Asad, Ar Rutbah, Mosul and Sinjar destroyed buildings, boats, vehicles and a fighting position, the task force said in a statement. ... |
| Jihadists in Libya 'direct threat' to Europe: French PM Posted: 21 Feb 2015 05:25 AM PST  Jihadists in Libya pose a "direct threat" to Europe, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said in Madrid on Saturday. "I would like to cite the question of Libya and the direct threat to our security of the creation -- under our eyes and not far from our borders -- of a new haven for the jihadi terrorist," Valls told a gathering of social democrats, according to a transcript of his speech. Valls' comments come amid growing concern that the Islamic State group, which has already seized swathes of Iraq and Syria, has also established a foothold in Libya. The lawless North African country has become fertile ground for jihadists following the ouster of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.
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| Ukraine conflict to dominate talks as Kerry lands in London Posted: 21 Feb 2015 04:45 AM PST  By Lesley Wroughton LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in London on Saturday for meetings with his British counterpart, and a senior official said they would discuss possible penalties that could be imposed against Russia if violence in eastern Ukraine continues. The senior U.S. official said the Ukrainian conflict was expected to dominate the talks between Kerry and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond. The discussions would also cover the fighting in Syria and Iraq, Nigeria's upcoming election as well as the Israeli-Palestinian situation, the official said. Ukraine accused Moscow on Friday of sending more tanks and troops into eastern Ukraine despite a European-brokered truce that went into force last Sunday.
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| We’ve Just Told ISIS Exactly What We’re Going to Do Posted: 21 Feb 2015 04:20 AM PST While successful military strategy in wartime often hinges on surprise, the U.S. military took an unconventional path Thursday in announcing a plan to wage an early spring campaign to try to drive ISIS forces from the key city of Mosul in northern Iraq. The U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM, which oversees the military coalition fight against ISIS in Iraq outlined the size and makeup of a force that the U.S. hopes will be ready for the offensive within five weeks at the earliest, as reported by Defense One and other news organizations. American forces are in the process of amassing and training 20,000 to 25,000 Iraqi and Kurdish forces for an effort to retake Mosul from an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 ISIS fighters. In addition, there would be three peshmerga brigades that would attack Mosul "from the north," a newly formed "Mosul fighting force" of mostly Mosul police officers, and special operations forces of Iraq's Counter Terrorism Service, according to the CENTCOM report. |
| Carter: Unified Afghan gov't a reason to slow troop drawdown Posted: 21 Feb 2015 04:02 AM PST  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A more hopeful outlook for Afghan democracy is the key reason the Obama administration is considering slowing down its troop withdrawal and rethinking the scope of its counterterrorism mission here, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Saturday.
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| Why do blockbusters rarely win top honors at Oscars? Posted: 21 Feb 2015 01:44 AM PST  So who has actually seen the top Oscar movies? Take the two frontrunners: "Birdman" was written, produced and directed by Mexican Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for some $18 million, while "Boyhood" cost only $4 million to make -- over 12 years. Each of them made at least $200 million at the North American box office alone. Other best picture Oscar nominees like "Whiplash" and "Selma" made even less.
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| Islamic State militants claim suicide attacks in Libya that kill 42 Posted: 21 Feb 2015 12:08 AM PST  By Ayman al-Warfalli BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Militants claiming loyalty to Islamic State killed 42 people in suicide car bombings in eastern Libya on Friday, in apparent retaliation for Egyptian air strikes. The three car bombs exploded in Qubbah, a small town near the seat of the official government in what appeared to be another high profile attack by the group after the storming of a Tripoli hotel and the killing of 21 captive Egyptian Copts. On Monday, Egyptian air force jets bombed Islamic State targets in Derna in far eastern Libya, after the ultra-radical group released a video showing the Coptic Christian migrant workers being decapitated on a beach.
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| New U.S. defense chief silent on date of Mosul offensive Posted: 20 Feb 2015 08:13 PM PST  By Phil Stewart KABUL (Reuters) - New U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Saturday he would not telegraph the precise timing of an upcoming Iraqi offensive to retake the city of Mosul from Islamic State militants, after a U.S. military briefing caused an uproar. Two influential Republican senators, John McCain and Lindsey Graham, sent a scathing letter to the White House on Friday complaining about a Thursday briefing that predicted a Mosul offensive likely to start in April or May, involving 20,000 to 25,000 Iraqi and Kurdish forces. "These disclosures not only risk the success of our mission, but could also cost the lives of U.S., Iraqi, and coalition forces," McCain and Graham wrote to President Barack Obama. He added: "Even if I knew exactly when that was going to be, I wouldn't tell you." Mosul, which had a population of more than 1 million people, was captured by Islamic State fighters in June and is the largest city in the group's self-declared caliphate, a stretch of territory that straddles the border between northern Iraq and eastern Syria.
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| Why the Greek Debt Drama Isn't Over Yet Posted: 20 Feb 2015 07:01 PM PST Stocks pushed to new record highs on Friday in response to a short-term agreement on the Greek bailout between Athens, the Eurozone, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. If the European establishment and the International Monetary Fund don't approve of the reform proposals Greece submits on Monday, officials have told the Financial Times that another full meeting of Eurozone finance ministers will happen on Tuesday. As far as winners and losers, Athens seems to have gained some flexibility on the size of the budget surplus it will be required to run this year, and it could potentially win debt relief in any new agreement that is negotiated over the next four months. Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said on Friday that public pensions would not be cut and taxes would not be raised. |
