| 'You've arrived': Relief as refugees make it to Austria Posted: 20 Sep 2015 01:20 PM PDT  It's almost the end of the journey for Saeed, a 23-year-old student from Damascus who has trekked for days through Turkey, Greece, Croatia and Hungary with his little brother and cousin in tow, his worried parents left behind. Standing at a border post in Nickelsdorf, a small Austrian town near Hungary where 7,000 migrants and refugees arrived on Sunday, the smiley fluent English-speaker waits patiently to board a bus towards his final, cherished destination -- Germany.
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| Kerry: US to accept 85,000 refugees in 2016, 100,000 in 2017 Posted: 20 Sep 2015 12:56 PM PDT  BERLIN (AP) — The United States is seeking to ease the Syrian refugee crisis by significantly increasing the number of worldwide refugees it takes in over the next two years, though not by nearly the amount many activists and former officials have urged.
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| Syria sees Russia game changer, US-trained rebels enter fray Posted: 20 Sep 2015 12:10 PM PDT  Syria predicted Sunday that Russia's growing military role will prove a game changer in the fight against jihadists, as 75 rebels trained under a beleaguered US programme entered the fray. US Secretary of State John Kerry, in contrast, said Moscow's support for the regime in Damascus only risked sending more extremists to war-torn Syria and could further hamper peace efforts. "More important than the supply of arms to Syria is Russia's participation in the fight against Daesh and Al-Nusra Front," Al-Qaeda's franchise in the country, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.
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| Labour split on Syria air strikes Posted: 20 Sep 2015 11:24 AM PDT  Britain's new opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn faces a revolt over air strikes on Syria, nine days after the left-winger was elected on a platform that opposed military intervention in the region. Half of Corbyn's top team of ministers-in-waiting were prepared to back a call from Prime Minister David Cameron to sanction bombing against Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria, the Sunday Times said. The government said last week it would try to reach a consensus on extending British involvement in coalition air strikes against IS from Iraq to Syria.
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| Over 100,000 acclaim Erdogan at Istanbul rally against "terrorism" Posted: 20 Sep 2015 11:15 AM PDT  More than 100,000 people attended an "anti-terrorism" rally in Istanbul Sunday to back President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's controversial offensive against Kurdish rebels, six weeks before snap elections he hopes will boost his powers. Despite being organised by a coalition of NGOs, the giant gathering on Yenikapi Square on the shores of the Marmara Sea resembled an election rally, with Erdogan vowing in a barnstorming speech to pursue the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) "to the terrorists' last redoubt". The separatists have killed dozens of police and soldiers in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast since the collapse of a two-year ceasefire in July, with Ankara striking back with almost daily air raids on their bases on both sides of the border with Iraq.
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| What Pope Francis Thinks Americans Need to Hear Posted: 20 Sep 2015 09:48 AM PDT  Pope Francis has a full itinerary for his U.S. trip, but what exactly will he say during his time in the United States? The trip, from Sept. 22 to 27, will be the first time Pope Francis has set foot in the United States, and only his 10th trip outside of Italy since becoming pope in March 2013, said Daniel Cosacchi, a doctoral student of Christian ethics at Loyola University in Chicago. "It's a huge deal," Cosacchi told Live Science.
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| In Europe, Iraqis and Syrians escape Islamists' harsh rule Posted: 20 Sep 2015 09:16 AM PDT  MYTILENE, Greece (AP) — Among the tens of thousands fleeing war and despair in the Middle East, one group feels a special relief in reaching Europe: those who have escaped areas ruled by Islamic State extremists and the harsh scrutiny of their religious police.
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| 75 US-trained rebels enter Syria from Turkey Posted: 20 Sep 2015 08:25 AM PDT  Seventy-five Syrian rebels trained to fight jihadists under a beleaguered US programme have crossed from Turkey into northern Syria, a US-backed rebel faction and a monitoring group said Sunday. "Seventy-five new fighters trained in a camp near the Turkish capital entered Aleppo province between Friday night and Saturday morning," Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP. "Their training in Turkey lasted two months and they went directly to the front lines with Daesh.
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| Some Iraqis ditch fight against Islamic State for life in Europe Posted: 20 Sep 2015 07:41 AM PDT There is no reason to be worried," said General Tahsin Ibrahim Sadiq. But Saed Kakaei, adviser to the minister of peshmerga forces in northern Iraq's Kurdistan region, said while he could not provide a specific figure for how many peshmerga forces had left, the numbers were "concerning". The soldiers' departure highlights a pervasive sense of hopelessness among many Iraqis more than a year after Islamic State seized a third of their country's territory, threatened to overrun the capital and declared a modern caliphate. Despite driving them back in some areas, members of the security forces say they are leaving because they face daily offensives by the insurgents, sectarian violence, and economic depression. Many in the security forces are also frustrated and disillusioned with elected officials, who they allege abandoned them on the frontlines, while failing to provide adequate resources and enriching themselves through graft. "Iraq is worth fighting for but the government is not," said a 22-year-old SWAT policeman who decided to emigrate after his brother was killed in battle earlier this year at the northern Baiji refinery where he was also posted. "There is no concern for us at all. |
| Hungary moves to close off migrant crossing from Croatia Posted: 20 Sep 2015 07:41 AM PDT By Miran Jelenek and Aleksandar Vasovic BARANJSKO PETROVO SELO/TOVARNIK, Croatia (Reuters) - Hungary erected a steel gate and fence posts at a border crossing with Croatia on Sunday, moving to seal a route used by its southern neighbor to offload thousands of migrants, a Reuters cameraman said. Croatia has sent dozens of buses packed with migrants through the Baranjsko Petrovo Selo – Beremend crossing since they began streaming over its eastern border with Serbia five days ago. Hungary has barred their entry into the European Union via its border with Serbia with a metal fence and a raft of strict asylum rules, forcing them west into Croatia. |
| Britain's opposition Labour split on Syria air strikes Posted: 20 Sep 2015 05:17 AM PDT  Britain's new opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn faces a revolt over air strikes on Syria, nine days after the left-winger was elected on a platform that opposed military intervention in the region. Half of Corbyn's top team of ministers-in-waiting were prepared to back a call from Prime Minister David Cameron to sanction bombing against Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria, the Sunday Times said. The government said last week it would try to reach a consensus on extending British involvement in coalition air strikes against IS from Iraq to Syria.
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| Japan's Abe sees fierce backlash after security legislation Posted: 20 Sep 2015 03:48 AM PDT  Japan's nationalist leader has rammed through legislation allowing the nation's troops to fight abroad, but analysts say fierce opposition at home and overseas could make it difficult actually to use the laws. Parliament in the officially pacifist nation passed the contentious security bills early Saturday, a move that could see Japanese troops engage in combat overseas for the first time since the end of World War II. The legislation has sparked unprecedented angry street protests with tens of thousands taking part, prompted threats of a legal challenge, and fuelled anger among Japan's neighbours.
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| Refugee journey: Reunited at last, a long way from home Posted: 20 Sep 2015 03:14 AM PDT  LUEBECK, Germany, (Reuters) - Ihab steps off the train at Luebeck station and, seeing his family on the platform, breaks into a run. "Umi, Umi!" he shouts - Mum! - and hugs his mother and father, his brother and sisters and their children, who have all come to meet Ihab, his wife Abeer and their two daughters. Ihab's parents and other family members found sanctuary in Luebeck some time ago, but have always longed for Ihab to join them. On the station platform, they cry with joy. ...
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| Iraqis buy life jackets for trip to Europe's distant shores Posted: 20 Sep 2015 02:37 AM PDT  Ali's friends told him to bring a life jacket, so the young Iraqi man headed to a Baghdad sports shop and bought a bright orange one with a whistle attached. Ali sees no future for himself in Iraq and intends to make the perilous sea journey to Europe that has claimed thousands of lives this year. The trip by sea in overcrowded boats begins on the Turkish coast more than 1,500 kilometres (930 miles) from Baghdad, but Ali and other Iraqis are preparing in advance, driving a major increase in life jacket sales.
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| Erdogan rallies support for battle with Kurdish rebels Posted: 19 Sep 2015 10:08 PM PDT  Thousands are expected to take part in an anti-terror demonstration in Istanbul Sunday, in a rally that will gauge the level of popular support for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's two-month-old offensive against Kurdish militants. The "one voice against terrorism" demonstration in Yenikapi Square, which will be addressed by Erdogan, is expected to dwarf a similar rally held in the capital Ankara Thursday in which some protesters railed against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which the president has likened to the extremist Islamic State Group. While participants in the Ankara gathering were under strict orders to leave all political slogans and emblems at home, the Istanbul rally is shaping up as a warm-up for Turkey's second general election campaign in under six months.
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| Despite heated rhetoric, Croatia and Hungary cooperate on migrants Posted: 19 Sep 2015 09:36 PM PDT  Croatia and Hungary have traded barbs on a national level, each pointing the finger at the other over their responses to Europe's escalating migrant crisis. Ministers from the neighbouring governments have hit out at their counterparts, Hungary has built a barbed-wire barrier along much of its border with Croatia, and Zagreb has pledged to continue redirecting migrants -- most of whom have taken perilous journeys from the Middle East and Africa -- towards Hungary. One bus after another would stop just metres (yards) from the border, allowing passengers to disembark before progressing on foot into Hungary, where a phalanx of buses collected them and immediately departed.
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| Truckers warn of cost of new European border checks Posted: 19 Sep 2015 09:28 PM PDT  Truckers are warning of the threat of significant costs to the road haulage industry as European nations reimpose long-abandoned border controls to check the greatest migratory flow across the continent since World War II. Frontier checks that had been swept away in much of Europe to allow free travel are returning to block the path of vast numbers of people seeking refuge, many from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Germany, Austria and Slovakia have all reimposed identity checks on parts of their borders, and Poland and the Netherlands are considering whether to follow suit.
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| Allison Williams Is Married! Posted: 19 Sep 2015 09:17 PM PDT  Allison Williams is still one of the "Girls," but now she's also a married woman!
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| Today in History Posted: 19 Sep 2015 09:00 PM PDT Today is Sunday, September 20, the 263rd day of 2015. There are 102 days left in the year. |
| Wave of crises puts European dream at risk Posted: 19 Sep 2015 08:44 PM PDT  The EU's founding father Jean Monnet wrote in his memoirs that "Europe will be forged in crises" -- but a recent storm of troubles risks tearing the continent apart instead of bringing it together. If they fail to bridge their differences, officials and analysts warn that the principles forged in a bid to build a new Europe from the ashes of World War II are in jeopardy. "This is now threatening the heart of Europe and the core of the European project," Guy Verhofstadt, the former prime minister of Belgium who now leads the Liberal group in the European Parliament, told AFP.
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| Analysis: Japan takes step toward having a 'normal' military Posted: 19 Sep 2015 07:22 PM PDT  TOKYO (AP) — In the wee hours of Saturday morning, Japan took a step toward having a military in line with most armed forces around the world, one that would be able to take part in combat even when the country is not under direct attack.
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| Eric Fanning as Secretary of Army: Will his sexual orientation be a factor? Posted: 19 Sep 2015 05:48 PM PDT President Obama this week tapped Eric Fanning, an openly gay man, to serve as the Secretary of the Army. "History continues to be written and equality marches forward with the nomination of an openly gay man to serve in this significantly important role," said Ashley Broadway-Mac, president of the American Military Partner Association (AMPA). What's more, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced in July that the Department of Defense would be reevaluating its ban on transgender service members, a process that he estimated will take six months as the services assess the impact of the change and work out the details. |
