| Iran president views nuclear deal as start of new relationship with world Posted: 03 Apr 2015 04:04 PM PDT  By Babak Dehghanpisheh and Ori Lewis BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Iran's president said on Friday that a framework for a nuclear deal was just the first step toward building a new relationship with the world, after Iranians greeted the announcement of the accord with celebrations in the streets. U.S. President Barack Obama also hailed what he called a "historic understanding," although diplomats cautioned that hard work lies ahead to strike a final deal. The tentative agreement, struck on Thursday after eight days of talks between Iran and six world powers in Lausanne, Switzerland, clears the way for a settlement to allay Western fears that Iran could build an atomic bomb, with economic sanctions on Tehran being lifted in return. It marks the most significant step toward rapprochement between Washington and Tehran since the 1979 Iranian revolution, and could potentially end decades of international isolation, with far-reaching political consequences in the Middle East.
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| Special Report: After Iraqi forces take Tikrit, a wave of looting and lynching Posted: 03 Apr 2015 03:05 PM PDT  On April 1, the city of Tikrit was liberated from the extremist group Islamic State. The Shi'ite-led central government and allied militias, after a month-long battle, had expelled the barbarous Sunni radicals. Then, some of the liberators took revenge. Near the charred, bullet-scarred government headquarters, two federal policemen flanked a suspected Islamic State fighter.
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| Pope presides over Good Friday procession at Colosseum Posted: 03 Apr 2015 02:39 PM PDT  ROME (AP) — Pope Francis, presiding at the traditional Good Friday Colosseum procession, decried what he called the "complicit silence" about the killing of Christians.
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| Chicago-area cousins indicted in alleged terrorist plot Posted: 03 Apr 2015 02:26 PM PDT CHICAGO (AP) — Two suburban Chicago cousins have been indicted on charges of conspiring to help the Islamic State, with one allegedly planning to attack an Illinois military facility and the other allegedly planning to go overseas, federal prosecutors announced Friday. |
| Pentagon chief heading to Japan, S.Korea next week Posted: 03 Apr 2015 01:24 PM PDT  Pentagon chief Ashton Carter will travel to Japan and South Korea next week to underscore President Barack Obama's commitment to a strategic shift towards Asia, even as crises in the Middle East preoccupy Washington. Carter embarks on the first of two trips to Asia on Tuesday, stopping in Tokyo and Seoul before meeting the head of US Pacific Command in Hawaii, officials said.
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| In Iraq, a historic Christian library saved from militants Posted: 03 Apr 2015 12:59 PM PDT  MAR MATTI MONASTERY, Iraq (AP) — As Islamic State group militants advanced toward this monastery perched on a mountain in northern Iraq, the monks rushed to protect a cherished piece of their heritage: Their library of centuries-old Christian manuscripts. Dozens of the handwritten tomes were spirited to safety in nearby Kurdish-ruled areas.
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| Unemployment rate for older workers fell in March Posted: 03 Apr 2015 10:36 AM PDT More older people went to work in March, but younger workers lost ground as U.S. employers grew more cautious about hiring. Among workers 55 and older, an additional 329,000 described themselves as employed ... |
| Turkey summons Tunisian envoy over Syria accusations Posted: 03 Apr 2015 10:07 AM PDT  Turkey on Friday summoned Tunisia's ambassador to explain remarks made by the Tunisian foreign minister accusing Ankara of facilitating the transit of jihadist fighters bound for neighbouring Syria and Iraq, a Turkish official said. "The foreign ministry sought an explanation for the remarks made by the Tunisian foreign minister," the official told AFP. Tunisia's Foreign Minister Taieb Baccouche on Thursday fired off a strident attack on Turkey which he said was a "passage point" for fighters who go to Syria or for those who travel to Libya and then infiltrate across the porous border into Tunisia.
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| Iran nuclear deal: Israelis say West gave away too much Posted: 03 Apr 2015 08:33 AM PDT Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, a veteran critic of Iran's nuclear program, swiftly denounced the preliminary nuclear agreement reached in Lausanne, Switzerland, as a naive capitulation with sweeping regional – or even global – ramifications. "This deal would legitimize Iran's nuclear program, bolster Iran's economy, and increase Iran's aggression and terror throughout the Middle East and beyond," he told President Obama in a phone call after the US president heralded the "historic" deal. On Friday, he added the demand that any finalized deal with Iran include Iranian recognition of Israel's right to exist. |
| Iran deal triumph for Kerry's old-school diplomacy Posted: 03 Apr 2015 08:20 AM PDT  Even before he became secretary of state, John Kerry vowed to stop Iran from gaining an atomic bomb and warned the clock was ticking on reining in its nuclear ambitions.
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| IS Egypt branch claims deadly Sinai attacks Posted: 03 Apr 2015 07:32 AM PDT  The Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility Friday for deadly attacks on army checkpoints in the Sinai Peninsula that killed 15 soldiers and two civilians. Jihadists launched simultaneous attacks Thursday on five checkpoints in the restive Sinai with assault rifles and grenade launchers, the deadliest in months against Egyptian security forces. "The lions of the Sinai Province early on Thursday launched wide scale simultaneous attacks against security checkpoints on the road between Rafah and Arish," in North Sinai, the group said in a tweet. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis -- Partisans of Jerusalem in English -- changed its name last year to Sinai Province after pledging allegiance to IS, which controls chunks of territory in Iraq and Syria.
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| Iraq PM orders arrest of vandals in Tikrit Posted: 03 Apr 2015 07:07 AM PDT  Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered Iraqi forces to oppose vandalism in the city of Tikrit, retaken from the Islamic State group this week, and arrest those responsible, his office said Friday. Security and military forces were ordered to "deal with cases of vandalism" carried out by "gangs" seeking to tarnish the achievements of government forces and allied paramilitaries, a statement said. Abadi also called on "forces located in Tikrit to arrest everyone who carries out such acts, and preserve properties and facilities in Salaheddin province," of which Tikrit is the capital. Policemen from the rapid response forces have written graffiti on walls in Tikrit as well.
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| Despite nuclear deal, US-Iran relations far from rosy Posted: 03 Apr 2015 07:00 AM PDT  US President Barack Obama, eager to resolve at least one intractable conflict in his final two years in office, has his eye on a major prize: reconciliation with Iran. "In Barack Obama's head, there's this fantasy of a grand bargain, an alliance with Iran, and of reconstructing the architecture of the region for a paradigm shift," said Joseph Bahout, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Center. "This is the fantasy of the Obama administration, but he knows it will never happen because Iran is a lot colder. "They'll take the nuclear deal, but everything will remain business as usual," he added.
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| Obama's quest for Iran deal set to collide with Capitol Hill Posted: 03 Apr 2015 03:54 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — After securing a surprisingly broad and detailed framework for a nuclear agreement with Iran, President Barack Obama must now subject his signature foreign policy pursuit to the gauntlet of partisan American politics.
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| Nigeria's Buhari told to 'win peace' against Boko Haram Posted: 03 Apr 2015 03:48 AM PDT  Nigeria's president-elect Muhammadu Buhari needs a comprehensive, not just military, plan to defeat Boko Haram, experts said on Thursday, after the former army general vowed to crush the Islamists. "Military force alone is not enough to annihilate the movement," Nigeria researcher Marc-Antoine Perouse de Montclos, from the Chatham House international affairs institute in London, told AFP. Boko Haram may be "backed into a corner" but "is not clinically dead", he added. The group's attacks and suicide bombings in northeast Nigeria have claimed more than 13,000 lives since 2009, with the insurgency -- and the government's handling of it -- a key election issue.
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| AP names Joshi to top Southeast Asia news position Posted: 02 Apr 2015 11:04 PM PDT  BANGKOK (AP) — Vijay Joshi, a veteran foreign correspondent and news leader for The Associated Press who has spent three decades covering Asia and the Middle East, has been named the cooperative's director of news for Southeast Asia.
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| Amnesty probing reports of Iraqi forces' abuses in Tikrit Posted: 02 Apr 2015 08:09 PM PDT  Amnesty International said Thursday it was investigating reports of serious human rights violations committed by Iraqi government and allied forces in the operation to retake the city of Tikrit. "We are very concerned by reports of widespread human rights abuses committed in the course of the military operation in the area around Tikrit," the rights watchdog's Donatella Rovera told AFP. Security forces backed by paramilitary groups and US-led air strikes recaptured Tikrit from the Islamic State group this week.
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