| Congressmen to reconsider separate funding for Iraq factions Posted: 03 May 2015 12:49 PM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Congress may reconsider a provision in an upcoming bill funding the training of the Iraqi army that would also send weapons directly to Arab Sunnis and Kurds, a congressman visiting Baghdad said Sunday. |
| French Mideast policy helped Rafale jet sales: experts Posted: 03 May 2015 11:34 AM PDT  It struggled for years to sell its Rafale jets abroad but French defence group Dassault has finally scored several lucrative deals, thanks in part to anti-US suspicion in the Middle East, experts say. Egypt was the first buyer, ordering 24 planes in February. India followed suit with 36 fighter jets in early April. On Monday, wealthy Qatar will sign a deal for 24 jets, in a ceremony in Doha attended by President Francois Hollande.
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| Islamic State hit with 19 air strikes by U.S., allies: statement Posted: 03 May 2015 09:59 AM PDT  The United States and its allies staged 19 strikes on Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria in a 24-hour period ending Saturday, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a corrected statement that was released on Sunday. Three of the strikes were in Syria and hit land features, denying the Islamic State "tactical advantage," the military said. In Iraq, 16 air strikes near Mosul, Ramadi, Bayji, Sinjar, Tal Afar and Fallujah hit units, buildings and fighting positions, the statement said.
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| Egypt charges 40 over allegedly being Islamic State members Posted: 03 May 2015 09:53 AM PDT CAIRO (AP) — A Nile Delta prosecutor said Sunday he referred 40 people to trial on charges of belonging to the Islamic State group and planning to carry out terrorist attacks in Egypt. |
| IS group claims Iraq car bomb attack that killed 19 Posted: 03 May 2015 09:51 AM PDT  BAGHDAD (AP) — The Islamic State group claimed responsibility Sunday for a late-night car bomb attack in the heart of Baghdad that killed at least 19 people, saying it was targeting a Shiite militia.
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| Region threatened as Gulf leaders hold summit Posted: 03 May 2015 09:31 AM PDT  Solutions will be hard to find Tuesday when Gulf monarchs hold their annual summit in a region threatened by jihadists and a war in Yemen that has raised tensions with Iran. "You go down that list, it's very complex," Anthony Cordesman, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said of the challenges facing leaders of the oil- and gas-rich region. The six Sunni-dominated Gulf Cooperation Council states will gather in the Saudi capital, still worried that Shiite Iran might be able to develop an atomic bomb. Their concerns persist despite assurances from Washington and Paris that an international accord being drafted aims to prevent that.
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| The cyber gold rush Posted: 03 May 2015 09:01 AM PDT They huddled around the Army colonel who commands the sprawling Fort George G. Meade, Md., base that's home to the National Security Agency and the US military's cyberwarfare command. Yet this cacophonous scene was exactly what Jim Dinegar, chief executive officer of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, wanted the 82 bank presidents, construction magnates, real estate agents, and mortgage brokers he invited on this "cyber bus tour" to see: that the US government is taking the threat so seriously that the base is razing the rest of its cherished 36-hole golf course to make way for more computing power to safeguard the nation. Mr. Dinegar hopes the military's double-down on cybersecurity will convince the businesspeople it's worth supplying the thousands of specialists who will be attracted to the area with everything from homes to dry cleaning to office-moving services. After all, Dinegar's top mission is to bring jobs and business to the District of Columbia, northern Virginia, and suburban Maryland. |
| Ordering up stability for the Mideast Posted: 03 May 2015 08:28 AM PDT The question seems simplistic, even hopeless, what with war in three countries and a coming showdown over Iran's nuclear ambitions. Yet it is the best question to ask before a meeting between President Obama and leaders from six Arab nations. The six nations, dominated by Saudi Arabia, are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council. Yet Mr. Obama is also in talks with Iran to clinch a deal on its nuclear program and prevent a dangerous arms race in the region. |
| Lebanon forces 'arrest IS-linked cleric' Posted: 03 May 2015 06:50 AM PDT  Security forces on Sunday arrested a Lebanese man accused of being a cleric and recruiting agent for the extremist Islamic State jihadist group, a security source told AFP. "Ibrahim al-Barakat was arrested early on Sunday and is accused of being a religious jurist for Daesh in the northern city of Tripoli," the security official said, using the Arabic acronym for IS. He is accused of recruiting young men from Tripoli to fight with IS in Syria and Iraq and of attacking Lebanese army units in the Sunni-majority city last year.
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| IS claims Baghdad bombing that killed 15 Posted: 03 May 2015 06:47 AM PDT  The Islamic State group Sunday claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack outside a popular Baghdad restaurant that killed 15 people, including four policemen and a media figure. Saturday's attack, one of the deadliest in the Iraqi capital this year, took place in Karrada, a district packed with shops and restaurants. It was the latest in a series of similar bombings in Baghdad. IS radio Al-Bayan said the jihadist group carried out the attack and targeted a Shiite militia helping Iraq's government forces fight the extremist militants.
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| Nigeria’s offensive against Boko Haram slowed by landmines Posted: 03 May 2015 06:25 AM PDT  By Julia Payne ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's military is confident it has Boko Haram cornered, but a final push to clear the Islamist militants from their forest hideouts is being hampered by landmines, it said on Saturday. "Everywhere they have their havens, they have mined it all around," Major General Chris Olukolade, spokesman for Nigeria's defence headquarters, told Reuters in an interview. Boko Haram grabbed a swathe of Nigeria's northeast bigger than Belgium in 2014 and caused a global outcry when it abducted over 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok. A counter-attack was launched in January after a six-year insurgency that killed thousands and forced more than 1.5 million people from their homes -- too late to save the presidency of Goodluck Jonathan who lost a March election to Muhammadu Buhari who vowed to get tougher on Boko Haram.
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| Shadow of Saddam lives on in Iraq Posted: 03 May 2015 02:56 AM PDT  Dozens of Iraqis crowding a Baghdad street fought to glimpse the red-haired man in a glass coffin, hoping to witness the end of a long-feared member of Saddam Hussein's regime. The furore over the dead man -- who might be Saddam's deputy Izzat al-Duri, though his identity has still not been determined -- is yet another sign of the influence the dictator exercises in Iraq more than 12 years after his overthrow. Saddam and his Baath party still haunt Iraqi politics, where links to the former regime can wreck careers, as well as battlefields across Iraq where his former officers have played major roles in militant groups fighting the new government. Pro-government forces killing the man who may be Duri was "no less important" than the 2006 execution of Saddam himself, said Sheikh Jassem al-Jazairi, an official in the Ketaeb Hezbollah militia, which handed over the body to the government.
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| Today in History Posted: 02 May 2015 09:00 PM PDT Today is Sunday, May 3, the 123rd day of 2015. There are 242 days left in the year. |
| Lebanon's last overland route closure chokes off exports Posted: 02 May 2015 05:43 PM PDT  Lebanon's land exports to Gulf markets have been choked off, leaving millions of dollars in goods stranded after the closure of a vital crossing on the Syrian-Jordanian border last month. The Nasib border point was the last remaining gateway for Lebanese truck drivers transporting agricultural and industrial products to Iraq and Gulf countries. "Exports by land have stopped entirely," said Ahmad Alam, whose company exports Lebanese fruit and vegetables to Arab countries. Goods transported overland made up 35 per cent of all of Lebanon's exports, economic analyst Nassib Ghobril told AFP.
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