| Brutally Honest Oscar Ballot No. 9: 'Selma' "Incredibly Misleading," 'Inherent Vice' "Trash" Posted: 22 Feb 2015 03:54 PM PST An anonymous male Academy member says 'Nightcrawler' is drawn from "a tremendous script," 'The Salt of the Earth' is "transcendent" and he can't vote for 'American Sniper' because it's "a right-wing ideological picture." |
| Tough choice for U.S. in Afghanistan's Kandahar province Posted: 22 Feb 2015 03:46 PM PST  By Phil Stewart KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A once bustling military hub at the heart of America's war in southern Afghanistan, Kandahar Air Field seemed destined to quietly shut down this year as part of a U.S. withdrawal that had already thinned its numbers. New U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter visited the sprawling complex on Sunday, but kept reporters guessing whether he thought it should remain operational longer - keeping a U.S. toe-hold in an important region of Afghanistan. The prospect of exiting Kandahar altogether has sounded alarms in Washington, where Republican lawmakers critical of President Barack Obama's withdrawal strategy note the region's importance to Taliban militants and the threat they pose. "Kandahar is just not a spot on the map.
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| Syrian Kurds attack Islamic State in northeast Posted: 22 Feb 2015 02:49 PM PST By Tom Perry BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian Kurdish forces advanced against Islamic State fighters in two separate attacks in northeastern Syria near the Iraqi border on Sunday, an organization tracking the war reported, compounding recent losses for the militant group in Syria. The Kurdish YPG militia has been one of Islamic State's toughest enemies in Syria and last month flushed the group out of the town of Kobani with the help of U.S. and allied air support and Iraqi Kurdish reinforcements on the ground. Hasaka province in the northeastern corner of Syria is strategically important in the fight against Islamic State because it borders areas controlled by the group in Iraq. |
| Panathinaikos beats Olympiakos 2-1 Posted: 22 Feb 2015 02:15 PM PST  ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Panathinaikos beat visiting Olympiakos 2-1 Sunday in a game between the Greek league's top two sides that almost didn't start and almost didn't finish.
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| 'No Doubt' President Obama Loves His Country, Says Sen. Lindsey Graham Posted: 22 Feb 2015 01:38 PM PST  Potential Republican presidential candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham has "no doubt" that President Obama loves his country, refuting comments made by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani earlier this week. President Obama has divided us more than he's brought us together and I don't want to add to that division," Graham initially said on ABC's "This Week" today, before adding, "I have no doubt that he loves his country.
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| Blast damages home of Iranian ambassador in Libya Posted: 22 Feb 2015 01:03 PM PST  CAIRO (AP) — A bomb blast outside the Iranian ambassador's house in Libya's capital on Sunday which caused minor damage to the empty building was claimed by militants affiliated with the Islamic State group.
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| New Defense Secretary hosts U.S. gathering on Islamic State strategy Posted: 22 Feb 2015 12:59 PM PST  By Phil Stewart KUWAIT CITY (Reuters) - New U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter is gathering top U.S. military commanders and diplomats for talks in Kuwait on Monday about the battle against Islamic State, as America's military effort approaches major hurdles in both Iraq and Syria. Carter says he hopes the roughly six hours of largely unscripted discussions will help assess the war that he is inheriting after swearing-in on Tuesday as President Barack Obama's fourth defense secretary. "I'm trying to assess the situation in Iraq, Syria and the region more generally," Carter told reporters during his first trip abroad as defense secretary.
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| US defence chief convenes anti-IS war council in Kuwait Posted: 22 Feb 2015 12:06 PM PST  New Pentagon chief Ashton Carter will hold talks Monday in Kuwait with top US commanders and diplomats to discuss the war effort against the Islamic State jihadist group, officials said. Carter flew to Kuwait City from Afghanistan on Sunday to chair the extraordinary meeting that will see more than two dozen senior military officers and ambassadors gather at the sprawling US Army base of Camp Arifjan, officials said.
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| UK worries how to stop teenage girls travelling to Syria Posted: 22 Feb 2015 11:40 AM PST  Britain debated Sunday how to stop teenage girls joining the Islamic State group in Syria after three high-achieving youngsters became the latest to run away from home. School friends Kadiza Sultana, 17, and 15-year-olds Shamima Begum and Amira Abase left their east London homes on Tuesday and flew to Istanbul, raising concerns they would travel on to Syria to join IS jihadists. All three were spoken to in December by police investigating the disappearance of a friend who went to Syria but Scotland Yard insists nothing indicated they would follow suit.
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| The Murky Strategy Behind Recapturing Mosul Posted: 22 Feb 2015 11:20 AM PST  Eight months after Islamic State fighters captured Mosul in a stunning four-day assault, an Iraqi force and its American allies are going to try and take it back. An official from U.S. Central Command announced on Thursday that a combined Iraqi and Kurdish army of around 25,000 soldiers will launch an offensive in the city in April or May, timed to occur before the arrival of Ramadan and blistering summer weather. On Capitol Hill, Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham sent President Obama a letter accusing the announcement of "risking the success of our mission"—even though such disclosures are not actually that unusual. The news was no more welcome in Iraq, where Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi fumed on Sunday that any assault on Mosul was for Baghdad to decide, not Washington.
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| Oscars promise suspense and maybe some surprises Posted: 22 Feb 2015 11:14 AM PST  By Mary Milliken LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood's awards season reaches its apogee on Sunday at the 87th Academy Awards, where "Birdman" and "Boyhood" are locked in a battle for best picture and veteran actors are likely to grasp their first golden Oscar statuettes. Hours before Hollywood's A-list celebrities were due to walk the famous red carpet, a plastic tent remained in place for possible rain showers. Meryl Streep will be vying for an Oscar for a record 19th time, in the best supporting actress category.
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| Top Muslim cleric urges education reform to curb extremism Posted: 22 Feb 2015 11:00 AM PST  The head of Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's most prestigious seat of learning, called on Sunday for education reform in Muslim countries in an effort to contain the spread of religious extremism. Speaking at counter-terrorism forum in the Saudi holy city of Mecca, Al-Azhar grand imam Ahmed al-Tayib linked extremism to "bad interpretations of the Koran and the sunna", the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed. "The only hope for the Muslim nation to recover unity is to tackle in our schools and universities this tendency to accuse Muslims of being unbelievers," he said. On Sunday in Mecca, home to Islam's holiest sites, he made no mention of IS but denounced "terrorist groups... who have opted for savage and barbaric practices".
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| Islamic State militants claim attacks on Iranian ambassador's residence in Libya Posted: 22 Feb 2015 10:55 AM PST Militants claiming loyalty to Islamic State said they were behind Sunday's twin bomb attacks on the residence of the Iranian ambassador in the Libyan capital and a rocket strike on the eastern Labraq airport. The attack on the ambassador's residence came two days after the group claimed responsibility for a double suicide bombing that killed more than 40 people in the eastern town of Qubbah, one of the worst attacks on civilians since a 2011 uprising toppled Muammar Gaddafi. Western powers are concerned that Libya is emerging as a thriving battleground for militants loyal to Islamic State, which controls large areas of Iraq and Syria. |
| Sisi tries to reassure Egyptians despite host of challenges Posted: 22 Feb 2015 10:42 AM PST  By Ahmed Tolba CAIRO (Reuters) - President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi sought to reassure Egyptians on Sunday that he is in control and steering the country on the right path in the face of Islamist militancy in neighboring Libya and the Sinai and economic challenges. Sisi's speech was broadcast on prime time television and was interspersed with clips of him greeting leaders of wealthy Gulf Arab states, Western powers and Egyptian army officers. His comments came after Islamic State militants beheaded up to 21 Egyptian Christians in neighboring Libya -- bloodshed that provoked Egyptian airstrikes -- and one of the worst attacks on security forces in the Sinai in months. "The strike hit 13 targets that had been studied accurately," said Sisi, adding that the Egyptian army was not an aggressor and the attack was necessary.
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| Turkish military enters Syria to evacuate troops, tomb Posted: 22 Feb 2015 10:26 AM PST  ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Hundreds of Turkish troops backed by tanks took part in an overnight operation into neighboring Syria to evacuate dozens of besieged soldiers guarding an Ottoman tomb and remove the remains amid fears the shrine was threatened by Islamic State militants.
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| Attacks kills 19 people in Iraq Posted: 22 Feb 2015 09:38 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Multiple bombings, including a suicide truck bomb attack on Shiite militiamen, killed 19 people on Sunday in Iraq, as police found four bodies with gunshots wounds in the capital, officials said. |
| US defense secretary calls Afghan army 'a powerful force' Posted: 22 Feb 2015 09:09 AM PST  KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Sunday called Afghanistan's army "a powerful force in their own right" but declined to say whether he thinks the U.S. can scale back military training and advising this year as planned.
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| Terror Group’s Threat to Mall of America Sharpens DHS Funding Debate Posted: 22 Feb 2015 08:58 AM PST A video released by the Al-Qaeda affiliated terror group Al-Shabaab on Sunday called for attacks on American shopping malls, specifically mentioning the Mall of America in Minneapolis. The video prompted Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to specifically warn about the danger of shopping there, and to call on Congress to finally pass a bill to fund his Department, which will run out of money on February 27. DHS, which oversees border security, air and marine transport security, the Federal Emergency Management Administration myriad other functions, is operating on a short-term funding bill that expires at the end of the week. It was not fully funded, because Republicans, at the end of 2014, decided that they wanted to use the leverage that comes with the threat of defunding the important agency to pressure President Obama to undo several executive orders that ease the threat of deportation for millions of undocumented immigrants. |
| 'American Sniper' suspect's ex-comrades mourn man they knew Posted: 22 Feb 2015 07:29 AM PST  STEPHENVILLE, Texas (AP) — For those who served with Eddie Ray Routh in the Iraqi desert, the man on trial for gunning down the famed "American Sniper" Chris Kyle and a friend is not the Marine they had come to know.
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| Iraqi minister chides U.S. over Mosul assault timing Posted: 22 Feb 2015 07:23 AM PST  By Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's defense minister criticized the United States on Sunday for declaring a timeframe for an offensive to recapture the Islamic State's northern stronghold of Mosul, saying military commanders should not show their hand to the enemy. Khaled al-Obeidi said the timing of the Mosul assault was for Iraq to decide, and that a U.S. Central Command official who predicted the attack was likely to take place in April or May had no knowledge of the issue. Islamic State fighters seized Mosul last June as they swept through northern Iraq towards Baghdad, meeting virtually no resistance from the army and establishing a self-declared caliphate straddling the border between Iraq and Syria.
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| Eurofighter Typhoons to be fitted with Brimstone missiles Posted: 22 Feb 2015 04:46 AM PST  A deal worth 200 million euros (147.80 million pounds) has been signed to equip Eurofighter Typhoon combat jets with the latest Brimstone 2 surface attack missiles, Britain's Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on Sunday. The integration is expected to be delivered into service by Britain's Royal Air Force in late 2018, the MoD said, with each Typhoon able to carry six of the Brimstone missiles, which are designed to hit fast-moving targets and have already been used by Britain's Tornado jets in Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq. The Typhoon contract, awarded to Eurofighter Jagdflugzeung GmbH by the NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency on behalf of Britain, Germany, Spain and Italy, was announced at the International Defence Exhibition in Abu Dhabi.
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| ISIS Turns to Chemical Weapons As It Loses Ground in Iraq Posted: 22 Feb 2015 04:00 AM PST A few weeks ago, the US Central Command announced that an air raid had killed an ISIS chemical weapon expert in Mosul. The ISIS operative, Iraqi engineer Mahmoud al-Sabawi, used to work at Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons program before he joined al-Qaeda in Iraq after the 2003 US led invasion. The idea that ISIS terrorists have access to chemical weapons brings back images of the genocide inflicted on the Kurds by Saddam Hussein in the late 1980's. The Halabja Massacre killed up to 5,000 and injured between 7,000 and 10,000 more. If ISIS jihadists have a stash of chemical weapons, they won't hesitate to use them on the Kurdish people or anyone else who has challenged their authority. |
| New IS video shows Kurdish fighters in cages Posted: 22 Feb 2015 03:55 AM PST  The Islamic State jihadist group released a new video on Sunday purporting to show captured Kurdish peshmerga fighters paraded through Iraqi streets in cages. A bearded man in a white turban warns the peshmerga against fighting IS. The date and location is not specified in the video, but Kurdish sources told AFP it was filmed a week earlier in the main market of Hawija, an IS-held town some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Kirkuk.
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| Oscars 2015: ‘American Sniper’ Wins Where It Counts Posted: 22 Feb 2015 03:30 AM PST  The race for the Best Picture Oscar appears to be between two contenders: Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman and Richard Linklater's Boyhood. U.K. bookmaker Paddy Power listed Birdman as a 4/7 favorite to win as of Saturday evening, with Boyhood at 5/4 odds.
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| System let us down with Sydney siege 'monster': PM Posted: 21 Feb 2015 11:01 PM PST  Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott admitted Sunday "the system" had let the public down by failing to protect it from the "monster" who carried out a deadly siege in a Sydney cafe. Armed with a pump-action shotgun, Iranian-born self-styled cleric Man Haron Monis took 17 people hostage in Sydney's Lindt Chocolate Cafe on December 15. "Plainly, in their totality, the system has let us down," Abbott told reporters in Sydney in releasing the government's first review into the incident. "Plainly, this monster should not have been in our community.
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