| Yemen rebels attack Saudi border, dozens dead Posted: 30 Apr 2015 04:33 PM PDT  Saudi Arabia said its forces on Thursday killed dozens of Iran-backed rebels from Yemen who launched their first major attack on the kingdom since Saudi-led air strikes began last month. Gulf foreign ministers on Thursday meanwhile rejected a proposal to hold talks on neutral ground between rival Yemeni political forces, while an expert report said Iran has been shipping weapons to the Huthis since at least 2009. The United Nations is trying to bring an end to the weeks-long air campaign and return to peace talks. After a meeting in Riyadh, the Gulf ministers insisted that talks between Yemen's political factions be held in Saudi Arabia, which leads an Arab coalition that has been bombing the Shiite rebels since late March.
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| Iraqi Kurd leader to visit US for talks next week Posted: 30 Apr 2015 03:12 PM PDT  The White House will next week host the head of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, a frontline ally in the fight against Islamic militants, a US official said Thursday. Massud Barzani will meet with both President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden only weeks after a landmark visit by new Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. The Kurdish leader will arrive on Sunday for a week-long visit which will also include talks on Wednesday with Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken to discuss "the combined campaign to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL," State Department acting spokeswoman Marie Harf said.
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| Breaking military's ultimate glass ceiling? Women start Ranger training Posted: 30 Apr 2015 03:10 PM PDT Editor's note: What can women in the military do that no one else can? Check out a special Facebook chat May 5 at 2 p.m. with Pentagon corespondent Anna Mulrine on how views of women in the military are changing. |
| 'American Sniper' widow Taya Kyle's new book addresses grief Posted: 30 Apr 2015 02:45 PM PDT  DALLAS (AP) — The widow of famed "American Sniper" author Chris Kyle says in her upcoming book that she struggled with the idea of whether her husband's killer should be executed.
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| Exclusive - Britain told U.N. monitors of active Iran nuclear procurement: panel Posted: 30 Apr 2015 02:28 PM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Britain has informed a United Nations sanctions panel of an active Iranian nuclear procurement network linked to two blacklisted firms, according to a confidential report by the panel seen by Reuters. The existence of such a network could add to Western concerns over whether Tehran can be trusted to adhere to a nuclear deal due by June 30 in which it would agree to restrict sensitive nuclear work in exchange for sanctions relief. Talks between six major powers and Tehran are approaching the final stages after they hammered out a preliminary agreement on April 2, with Iran committing to reduce the number of centrifuges it operates and to other long-term nuclear limitations. "The UK government informed the Panel on 20 April 2015 that it 'is aware of an active Iranian nuclear procurement network which has been associated with Iran's Centrifuge Technology Company (TESA) and Kalay Electric Company (KEC)'," the Panel of Experts said in its annual report.
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| Capitol Hill Buzz: Cruz discusses missing Lynch vote Posted: 30 Apr 2015 02:00 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, a declared presidential candidate, has a new defense for missing Attorney General Loretta Lynch's confirmation vote last week. According to Cruz, not voting was the same as voting "no."
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| Senator Sanders brings socialist bent to White House race Posted: 30 Apr 2015 02:00 PM PDT  Bernie Sanders arrived in Congress in 1991 pledging to fight growing economic disparity, improve health care and education and reel the United States in from its involvement in "unnecessary" foreign wars. A quarter century later, the self-described socialist senator from Vermont will bring a similar message to the American people as he hits the campaign trail -- this time as a candidate for president to succeed Barack Obama. Running to the progressive left of declared Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, Sanders wants to end tax breaks for the very wealthy, and is fiercely opposed to the huge trade pact under negotiation with Asia-Pacific nations, saying the deal would cost "millions of decent-paying" American jobs. In 2016 he will have bigger challengers for the White House -- namely Democratic frontrunner Clinton, the former first lady and secretary of state -- and experts put his chances of victory at slim to none.
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| Just how left-wing is Bernie Sanders? Posted: 30 Apr 2015 01:48 PM PDT To some Democrats, being called "left wing" is an epithet. Senator Sanders supports a Canadian-style single-payer health-care system, sometimes called "Medicare for all." He wants to break up America's six largest banks. |
| The 2016 Presidential Race: A Cheat Sheet Posted: 30 Apr 2015 01:46 PM PDT  Political observers have long puzzled over who would challenge Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent and self-described socialist who caucuses with Democrats, made his run for the White House official on Thursday, with a statement to be followed by a larger event somewhere in his home state later this month. Two relative political novices on the Republican side, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina, are making announcements on Monday, May 4, while Mike Huckabee—a former force in the GOP who's been quietly preparing for another run—will announce his decision on May 5.
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| Report: Psychologist group helped with 'enhanced interrogation' Posted: 30 Apr 2015 01:41 PM PDT In the wake of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and subsequent invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, US officials authorized the use of these and other harsh measures to extract intelligence information from prisoners – methods known as "enhanced interrogation techniques" to their proponents and torture to critics. Such harsh interrogation methods, begun during the George W. Bush administration, were officially halted when President Obama took office. In effect, did psychologists – they're not bound by the physicians' Hippocratic Oath (which originally read, "First do no harm") – collaborate in torture? A report this week alleges that the American Psychological Association (APA) secretly worked with the Bush administration to morally and ethically justify the administration's harsh interrogation policies. |
| Car bombs kill 21 people in Iraq; EU warns of donor fatigue Posted: 30 Apr 2015 01:11 PM PDT  BAGHDAD (AP) — The head of the European Union's humanitarian aid department warned on Thursday that the situation in Iraq is deteriorating rapidly while the world is preoccupied with crises elsewhere.
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| House defense bill _ at odds with Obama, Iraq, sage grouse Posted: 30 Apr 2015 01:08 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — A nearly $612 billion defense policy bill headed to the House floor is at odds with the White House, a Shiite cleric in Iraq, anyone who wants to bar lethal aid to Ukrainian forces fighting Russian-backed rebels — and a bird known for its strutting. |
| US commander says NATO to step up its intelligence-sharing Posted: 30 Apr 2015 01:06 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The top U.S. commander for NATO says the alliance will begin to improve intelligence-sharing with members and cooperation about the movement of foreign fighters from Iraq and Syria to the U.S. and other Western countries. |
| An unconventional campaign launch for an unconventional candidate: Sanders 2016 Posted: 30 Apr 2015 12:31 PM PDT  There were no "Bernie 2016!" placards, no cheering masses, no carefully curated Americana-themed campaign song selections here at the Capitol Thursday when Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., announced his intention to seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2016.
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| U.S. senator and Iran foreign minister face off on Twitter Posted: 30 Apr 2015 12:30 PM PDT  By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amid heated debate over Iran policy in the U.S. Senate, one of the leading congressional critics of the international negotiations with Tehran squared off with the country's foreign minister on Twitter. U.S. Senator Tom Cotton used the social media service to challenge Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to come to Washington for a debate on Iran's "record of tyranny, treachery and terror" after Zarif mentioned Cotton in remarks at New York Univesity on Wednesday. Zarif said sanctions would be lifted if there is an international agreement on Iran's nuclear program "whether Sen. Cotton likes it or not." Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, also upped the ante with a jab at the Iranian, saying that Zarif "hid" in the United States during his country's war with Iraq in the 1980s.
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| Liberal U.S. Senator Sanders to challenge Clinton in 2016 race Posted: 30 Apr 2015 11:52 AM PDT  By Emily Stephenson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, launched a long-shot bid for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday, a move likely to pressure Hillary Clinton from the left on issues from income inequality to corporate governance. "How do we create an economy that works for all of our people, rather than a small number of billionaires?" The 73-year-old, second-term senator faces long odds against the fund-raising might and name recognition of Clinton - the Democratic front-runner and former U.S. secretary of state, senator and first lady - to head the Democratic presidential slate in the November 2016 election. Sanders highlighted his fight against authorizing the Iraq war, which Clinton voted for as a senator, and his opposition to trade deals that liberals and labor unions fear could hurt American workers. Clinton has not expressed her position but said trade deals should help workers and protect U.S. security.
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| Iran’s Arrogance Complicates Prospects for a Nuclear Deal Posted: 30 Apr 2015 11:45 AM PDT  Iran's actions haven't eased the way for the Obama administration to cut a deal to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Yet growing tensions between lawmakers and high-handed Iranian officials are seriously undercutting Corker's efforts to pass the carefully crafted legislation without additional measures that would almost certainly prompt Obama's veto.
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| Revs. Rodriguez & Moore Call on the U.S. State Department to Reverse Its Decision to Deny a VISA to Iraq's "Mother Teresa" Posted: 30 Apr 2015 11:32 AM PDT "Our Christian faith must be preached, proclaimed, and protected," said Rodriguez. "Having invested her life in Iraq, Sister Momeka has preached, proclaimed and served, and now she needs to be protected. |
| In presidential bid, Sanders differs with Clinton Posted: 30 Apr 2015 11:30 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — Day-old presidential contender Bernie Sanders said Thursday that questions about the Clinton Foundation's activities are fair game in the race for the Democratic nomination, and noted that Hillary Rodham Clinton has yet to take a position on contentious trade legislation and the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline.
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| IS jihadists claim killing of 15 Yemen soldiers: SITE Posted: 30 Apr 2015 11:19 AM PDT  Jihadists of the Islamic State group claimed they beheaded four Yemeni soldiers and shot dead another 11 execution-style in a video posted online Thursday, a monitoring group said. The soldiers were shown in front of the camera before jihadists were seen sharpening their knives and killing four of them, according to SITE Intelligence Group, a US website monitor.
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| German police foil Islamist attack ahead of Frankfurt cycle race Posted: 30 Apr 2015 11:06 AM PDT  By Peter Maushagen FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German police said on Thursday they had thwarted a planned Islamist attack, detaining a couple with suspected Salafist militant links, and cancelled a Frankfurt May Day cycle race after they had been seen along the route. Public prosecutor Albrecht Schreiber said a search of their home had turned up an automatic assault weapon, 100 rounds of live ammunition, chemicals commonly used in preparing home-made bombs and a canister full of petrol. "Investigations by the police indicate that we have been able to prevent a terrorist attack," Peter Beuth, the interior minister of Hesse, told reporters. "This incident shows that we must all remain very alert." The 35-year-old man had dual Turkish-German citizenship and a criminal record, said Hesse police chief Stefan Mueller.
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| U.S. coalition target Islamic State with 21 air strikes: statement Posted: 30 Apr 2015 10:55 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its partner nations conducted 21 air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq since early on Wednesday, the Combined Joint Task Force leading the operation said on Thursday. In Iraq, 15 strikes targeted Islamic State positions near seven cities, including Ramadi and Mosul, and struck numerous buildings, vehicles and units of militants, the task force said. The six strikes in Syria centered around al Hasaka, ar Raqqa and Kobani, the statement said. For a Reuters graphic on the strikes, see: http://reut. ... |
| Egyptian president's Spain trip angers human rights groups Posted: 30 Apr 2015 09:51 AM PDT  Rights groups slammed an official visit to Spain on Thursday by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, saying he should be shunned for his authoritarian rule rather than courted for business deals. Spain's King Felipe VI hosted the Egyptian leader to lunch at the royal palace after interior ministers from both nations signed an agreement to boost cooperation against illegal immigration, terrorism and organised crime. The visit, the first by an Egyptian head of state to Spain since 2006, comes amid mounting concern in the West over unrest in the Middle East with conflicts raging in Libya, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Spain's economy ministry said it had agreed to cooperate with Egypt on a possible high-speed rail link between Cairo and Luxor.
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| US commander: Russia seems set for new offensive in Ukraine Posted: 30 Apr 2015 09:25 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — The top U.S. commander for NATO said Thursday that America needs better intelligence on the ground in Ukraine, but that it appears Russian forces have used a recent lull in fighting to reposition for another offensive.
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| Memories of the last US Marines out before Saigon fell Posted: 30 Apr 2015 09:08 AM PDT  HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (AP) — Snapshots of the Vietnam War, from three U.S. Marines who were among the last to leave Saigon as it fell on April 30, 1975:
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| Marine charged in military court in Va. with hazing Posted: 30 Apr 2015 08:55 AM PDT NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A decorated Marine accused of humiliating and physically abusing those under his command — ordering one to punch another hard enough to make him urinate blood — is facing a court-martial in Virginia. |
| Shared battlefield goals trump ideology among Syria rebels - for now Posted: 30 Apr 2015 08:42 AM PDT  By Dasha Afanasieva REYHANLI, Turkey (Reuters) - Hardline Islamists fighting side-by-side with groups backed by the United States have made gains in northern Syria in recent weeks while showing rare unity, which some fear may be short-lived. An Islamist alliance calling itself Army of Fatah, a reference to the conquests that spread Islam across the Middle East from the seventh century, has seized northwestern towns including the provincial capital Idlib from government forces. The alliance, which includes al-Qaeda's wing in Syria, known as the Nusra Front, and another hardline militant group, the Ahrar al-Sham movement, is edging closer to the coastal province of Latakia, President Bashar al-Assad's stronghold. While the Islamist groups appear to be stronger than their Western-backed allies, it is a rare example of cooperation, just weeks after Nusra Front fighters crushed a previous U.S. backed rebel force in a blow to Washington's Syria strategy.
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| US House committee approves defense bill Posted: 30 Apr 2015 08:38 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House Armed Services Committee passed a nearly $612 billion defense policy bill early Thursday that challenges President Barack Obama's policies on Guantanamo Bay, Ukraine and Iraq. |
| American suspected of IS sympathies arrested in Miami Posted: 30 Apr 2015 07:52 AM PDT  An American who allegedly claimed to be an Islamic State sympathizer and wanted to shoot people has been arrested on charges of illegal arms possession, the FBI said in a court filing. Miguel Moran Diaz, 46, was arrested April 2 after discussing his plans to kill people with an FBI informant, the agency said in a criminal complaint. "During the ensuing conversation, Diaz described himself as a 'Lone Wolf' for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)," the complaint alleged. It said he kept a Facebook page under the name Azizi Al Hariri in which he published articles about IS.
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| Jon Stewart grills Judith Miller on 'The Daily Show' Posted: 30 Apr 2015 07:44 AM PDT  Jon Stewart tore into former New York Times investigative reporter Judith Miller on "The Daily Show" Wednesday for her infamous role in the lead-up to the war in Iraq.
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| Once magnet for foreign 'mujahedeen', Bosnia now exports them Posted: 30 Apr 2015 07:30 AM PDT  A magnet for foreign jihadists during its 1990s war, Bosnia is now grappling with the threat from home-grown extremists wooed by the conflicts in Iraq and Syria. While most Bosnian Muslims are moderates, a few thousand have adopted the ultraconservative Salafist brand of Sunni Islam introduced by the fighters who flocked to Bosnia from North Africa, the Middle East and Asia during the 1992-1995 conflict between Serbs, Muslims and Croats. Most of those foreign fighters, or "mujahedeen", left Bosnia when the war ended.
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| VIDEO: Jon Stewart Eviscerates Judith Miller's Iraq Reporting on The Daily Show Posted: 30 Apr 2015 06:41 AM PDT  Jon Stewart is not going quietly as he prepares to leave The Daily Show. On Wednesday's show, Stewart's guest was former New York Times reporter Judith Miller, whose erroneous reporting that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction helped spur the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Stewart spent much of the ... Read More > Other Links From TVGuide.com Jon Stewart The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Judith Miller
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| Iraq poised to deploy Iran-backed Shi'ite militia in offensive in West Posted: 30 Apr 2015 04:07 AM PDT  Iraq is poised to deploy Shi'ite paramilitaries backed by Iran to Sunni tribal areas west of Baghdad, a move supporters say is needed to defeat Islamic State militants but opponents say could inflame more sectarian violence. Shi'ite paramilitaries have already played a central, if controversial, role alongside regular army units in recent months in the Iraqi government's first major successful campaign against Islamic State fighters, helping to capture Saddam Hussein's home town Tikrit on the Tigris River north of Baghdad. So far, however, the government has avoided deploying the militia in the Euphrates River valley province of Anbar west of the capital, a vast Sunni tribal homeland that strides the main routes to Jordan and Syria. Baghdad considers Anbar the next target in its campaign to retake territory from the militants.
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| Iraq offers amnesty to security personnel who fled IS Posted: 30 Apr 2015 03:51 AM PDT  Baghdad (AFP) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Thursday offered an amnesty covering security forces members who fled the Islamic State jihadist group, provided they return to their units within 30 days.
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| Australian charged with importing weapons for failed terror plan Posted: 30 Apr 2015 03:04 AM PDT  An Australian teenager arrested in recent counter-terrorism raids faced fresh charges Thursday for allegedly importing weapons to supply two others accused of planning an Islamic State-inspired attack on Anzac Day commemorations. Mehran Azami, 19, who was already facing weapons offences after being arrested with four others during the raids on April 18, was refused bail at a hearing in Melbourne Magistrates' Court. Police told the court Azami allegedly passed some of the weapons to two other 18-year-olds arrested in the raids -- Sevdet Besim and Harun Causevic, Melbourne's The Age reported. Azami's lawyer Charles Atlas told the court the young man needed mental health treatment.
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| Soccer-Blatter praises Asian soccer for moving out of murky waters Posted: 30 Apr 2015 02:47 AM PDT By Mike Collett MANAMA, April 30 (Reuters) - FIFA president Sepp Blatter praised the president of the Asian Football Confederation Shaikh Salman of Bahrain for "cleaning up" the confederation in a speech to delegates at the AFC's congress on Thursday. Blatter, 79, who is seeking a fifth term as FIFA president in next month's election, gave an uncharacteristically low-key speech and again used his favourite shipping analogy to describe the progress made by the confederation since former AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam was banned for life two years ago. Bin Hammam was kicked out of soccer for his part in a bribery scandal in 2011 and was replaced in 2013 by Shaikh Salman, who was re-elected as AFC president unopposed later on Thursday. Blatter told delegates from the 47 Asian nations that Salman had shown "a remarkable sense of organisation and diplomacy to bring back the boat of the AFC that at certain times has been in waters not so very clear and not so very clean." Blatter, addressing Salman, who is supporting Blatter in his quest to be re-elected FIFA president next month, continued: "You have brought back this boat since 2013 and it is only justice when this congress later on will re-elect you as leader of the AFC. |
| Six men charged over terror plot in Malaysia Posted: 30 Apr 2015 02:42 AM PDT  Six men, including an Indonesian suspected to be an arms expert, were charged on Thursday for allegedly conspiring to plot terror attacks in Malaysia. The men, aged between 25 and 48, were charged with being "party to a conspiracy to promote terror in Malaysia", according to court documents obtained by AFP. "They were handcuffed and brought to court under heavy security," lawyer Shariff Mat told AFP after the men, who include five Malaysians, appeared at a sessions court in the northern state of Kedah. The six included the group's alleged mastermind 48-year-old Murad Halimmuddin Hassan and his 25-year-old son Abu Daud.
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| Libya's Benghazi, cradle of anti-Gaddafi revolt, torn by chaos that followed Posted: 30 Apr 2015 01:46 AM PDT  By Ahmed Elumami BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - When Libyan government forces and Islamist militants battled with artillery guns right in his district, Khalil al-Barassi knew it was time to pack up. He moved his family into an abandoned schoolhouse, where they live on aid from the Red Crescent, while the city around them falls to pieces. After a year of war, Libya's second-largest city Benghazi is divided into areas controlled by forces loyal to one of two rival Libyan governments, and areas held by Islamist fighters led by the group Washington blames for the 2012 attack that killed its ambassador. The city was the birthplace of the revolt that toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with residents who pride themselves on a willingness to rise up and defend themselves from exploitation.
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| Jordan's overland trade paralyzed by Iraq, Syria border woes Posted: 30 Apr 2015 12:06 AM PDT  JABER CROSSING, Jordan (AP) — Jordan's overland trade has largely been paralyzed by recent border attacks from insurgents in neighboring Syria and Iraq — a spillover of regional turmoil threatening a close Western ally that has thus far succeeded in fending off Islamic militants.
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| Militants kill two Tunisian reporters kidnapped last year in Libya Posted: 30 Apr 2015 12:02 AM PDT  TRIPOLI/TUNIS (Reuters) - Islamic State militants in Libya have killed two Tunisian journalists kidnapped last year, Libyan officials said on Wednesday, following the murder of five television reporters discovered this week. The Tunisian government will immediately send a delegation to Libya to discuss the case, said a Tunis official, declining to confirm the deaths of Sofian Chourabi and Nadhir Ktari who were kidnapped about eight months ago. A spokesman for Libya's official government based in eastern Libya said an arrested militant had admitted that his group had killed the two reporters. The spokesman said that was the same group of Islamic State militants that had killed five journalists - an Egyptian and four Libyans - working for Libya Barqa TV channel.
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