| The Latest: Chile says 3 citizens killed in Paris attacks Posted: 14 Nov 2015 04:34 PM PST PARIS (AP) — The latest on the deadly shootings and explosions in Paris. (All times local): |
| 'Three teams' in Paris onslaught as police hunt suspects Posted: 14 Nov 2015 04:30 PM PST  French police have identified three teams of gunmen wearing suicide vests who killed at least 129 people in Paris's worst ever attacks that were claimed by the Islamic State group and prompted a global outpouring of solidarity with the victims. A 29-year-old Frenchman was the first to be identified among the seven attackers, all of whom died in the assault, prosecutors said, while at least one man under investigation over the atrocities had registered as a Syrian refugee in Greece. The discovery of a Syrian passport near the body of one attacker has raised suspicions some of them might have entered Europe as part of an influx of people fleeing Syria's civil war.
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| Republicans criticize Obama, Clinton after Paris attacks Posted: 14 Nov 2015 04:22 PM PST  ORLANDO, Florida (AP) — Several Republican presidential candidates on Saturday accused President Barack Obama and his former secretary of state, Democratic Party front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton, of failing in the fight against Islamic State militants as the terrorist attacks in Paris became a focal point of the nomination race.
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| German intelligence chief urges 'orderly procedures' for refugees at borders Posted: 14 Nov 2015 04:08 PM PST  The head of Germany's domestic intelligence services called for "orderly procedures" regarding the handling of the daily entry of thousands of refugees to Germany, saying extremists could exploit the sometimes chaotic migration situation. Friday's deadly attacks in Paris in which at least 129 people were killed have fueled a debate in Germany on Chancellor Angela Merkel's welcoming approach to refugees and on how to get a better overview of the people entering the country. Europe is grappling with its worst refugee crisis since World War Two, and Germany has been taking in the bulk of some 1 million people expected to arrive this year.
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| How a half-hour of horror washes Paris in blood; 129 dead Posted: 14 Nov 2015 03:34 PM PST  PARIS (AP) — The attackers worked in three synchronized teams, wearing matching suicide vests and carrying the same weapons. In an excruciating half-hour, they unleashed their terror. One suicide bombing after another at the national stadium, sprays of gunfire in the crowded restaurants and streets of central Paris, and finally a hostage standoff that drenched a 19th century dance hall with the blood of dozens of young people out for a night of rock music. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said three suicide attackers died near the stadium, three in the concert hall, and one further south on the same boulevard.
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| GOP candidates criticize Obama, Clinton after Paris attacks Posted: 14 Nov 2015 03:25 PM PST ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Several Republican candidates for president on Saturday accused President Barack Obama and his former secretary of state, Democratic Party front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton, of failing in the fight against Islamic State militants as the terrorist attacks in Paris became a focal point of the nomination race. |
| Syria rebels, activists denounce IS attack on Paris Posted: 14 Nov 2015 03:17 PM PST  Dozens of Syrian rebel groups on Saturday strongly denounced the Islamic State jihadist group's attacks on Paris as "against human values" in a joint online statement. Forty-nine armed factions in Syria, including the powerful Jaish al-Islam rebel groups, condemned "in the strongest terms" IS's coordinated assault in Paris that killed at least 129 people. "We learned today, with great shock and condemnation, about the terrorist attacks against civilians in the city of Paris," the joint statement said.
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| After Paris attacks, pressure builds for big military response to Islamic State Posted: 14 Nov 2015 03:11 PM PST  By Phil Stewart, Warren Strobel and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Paris terror attacks are likely to galvanize a stronger global military response to Islamic State, after a U.S.-led air war that has lasted more than a year has failed to contain a group now proving itself to be a growing worldwide threat. The United States, long accused of taking an incremental approach to the struggle, is under growing political pressure at home and abroad to do more and it is expected to examine ways to intensify the campaign, including through expanded air power. U.S. ...
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| Calendar agreed for Syria polls, Assad's fate undecided Posted: 14 Nov 2015 03:06 PM PST  World diplomats agreed Saturday on a path to Syrian elections in 18 months at talks in Vienna driven by a fresh sense of urgency after the Paris attacks, although the fate of President Bashar Al-Assad remained a sticking point. The wave of attacks that left nearly 130 dead in Paris dominated the second round of talks to end the war in Syria, spurring delegations from 20 countries and organisations to find common ground despite deep divisions. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said delegates had agreed a transition government in Syria should be set up in six months and elections held in 18 months.
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| Paris attacks may lead to US military anti-IS escalation Posted: 14 Nov 2015 02:58 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Paris terrorist attacks seem likely to compel President Barack Obama to consider military escalation against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. But that probably will not mean dramatic moves like launching a U.S. or international ground offensive or accelerating aerial bombing in hopes of eliminating the global threat of violent extremism.
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| Belgian police arrest several over Paris attacks Posted: 14 Nov 2015 02:49 PM PST  Belgian police arrested several suspects in Brussels on Saturday during raids connected to the Paris attacks, including one who was in the French capital at the time of the carnage, officials said. The arrests were in the poor Brussels district of Molenbeek, which has been linked to several other past terror plots amid concerns Belgium has become a hotbed of European militancy. Belgian Justice Minister Koen Geens said separately that the arrests in Molenbeek "can be seen in connection with a grey Polo car rented in Belgium" found near the Bataclan.
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| Paris attacks may reshape U.S. presidential race Posted: 14 Nov 2015 02:36 PM PST  By James Oliphant and John Whitesides WASHINGTON/DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - The lethal attacks in Paris have the potential to reshape the U.S. presidential race, placing a new emphasis on issues of national security, border control, and counterterrorism, while perhaps bolstering candidates who talk toughest about taking on Islamic State militants both at home and abroad. National security has not assumed a central place in a U.S. presidential election for more than a decade as the economy preoccupied American voters.
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| Holder of Syrian passport found near Paris gunman crossed Greece Posted: 14 Nov 2015 02:33 PM PST The holder of a Syrian passport found near the body of one of the gunmen who died in Friday night's attacks in Paris passed through Greece in October, a Greek minister said, and another suspected attacker was thought to have entered Europe the same way. "The holder of the passport passed through the island of Leros on Oct. 3, 2015, where he was identified according to EU rules," Greece's deputy minister in charge of police, Nikos Toskas, said in a statement. Toskas did not know if the Syrian passport had been checked by other countries through which the holder might have passed on his way to France. |
| F-15 fighters kill head of IS in Libya: US Posted: 14 Nov 2015 02:33 PM PST  The announcement comes as the extremist group said it was responsible for Friday's attacks in Paris that killed at least 129 people during an onslaught of bombings and shootings on the French capital, though the Pentagon said the two events were not connected. Washington has orchestrated an air campaign going after the IS group and senior figures in Syria and Iraq, but this is the first US strike against an IS leader in Libya. Abu Nabil, also known as Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al-Zubaydi, was the senior IS leader in Libya and may also have been the spokesman in a grisly video showing the execution of Coptic Christians, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement.
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| Paris attacks show Syria war cannot be contained Posted: 14 Nov 2015 02:32 PM PST  The murderous attacks on French civilians enjoying a night out in Paris were proof, were any needed, that the war in Syria and Iraq will not be contained there. The deaths and the propaganda victory from the Islamic State jihadist group will intensify pressure on world capitals to find a resolution to the conflict. "It's not a war of ideas anymore," said Patrick Skinner, a former CIA case officer now with security consultancy the Soufan Group, of Europe's struggle with extremism.
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| Timeline of Paris attacks according to public prosecutor Posted: 14 Nov 2015 02:11 PM PST Gunmen and bombers carried out a wave of attacks on restaurants, a concert hall and near a sports stadium across Paris on Friday in a deadly rampage claimed by Islamic State that killed 129 people and wounded 352, of which 99 remain in a critical condition. Following is a timeline of the events in local time (GMT +1) given by French prosecutor Francois Molins at a news conference on Saturday. Friday Nov 13 2120 - A suicide bomber activates an explosive belt near a gate of the sports stadium Stade de France in the northern suburb of Saint-Denis, where President Francois Hollande and the German foreign minister were watching a friendly soccer international. |
| What French have been doing against Islamic State in Syria Posted: 14 Nov 2015 02:07 PM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — The Islamic State group on Saturday expressed fury at France's recently launched airstrikes against it in Syria as it claimed responsibility for Friday's attacks in Paris. The airstrikes have hit training camps and reflect France's fears that hundreds of French fighters in Syria and Iraq could return home and, as President Francois Hollande put it last month, "plant bombs in our country."
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| The Latest: Fiorina links Obama, Clinton to Paris attacks Posted: 14 Nov 2015 01:57 PM PST  ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The Latest from the Florida Republican Party's Sunshine Summit, where the major GOP presidential hopefuls are wooing voters and activists for their support in the state's March 15 primary. All times are local.
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| Syria's Assad blames France as Arab world condemns Paris attacks Posted: 14 Nov 2015 01:49 PM PST  Syrian President Bashar al-Assad reacted Saturday to the deadly attacks in Paris, taking France to task and calling on it to change policies that he says have contributed to the "spread of terrorism". The Islamic State group, a jihadist organisation that has declared a self-styled "caliphate" across parts of Iraq and Syria, said it carried out the attacks. In a meeting with a delegation of French lawmakers in Damascus the day after the attack, Assad said France's "mistaken policies... have contributed to the spread of terrorism".
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| Syria talks produce election road map after Paris attacks Posted: 14 Nov 2015 01:35 PM PST  By Francois Murphy and David Brunnstrom VIENNA (Reuters) - Russia, the United States and powers from Europe and the Middle East outlined a plan on Saturday for a political process in Syria leading to elections within two years, but differences remained on key issues such as President Bashar al-Assad's fate. A day after gunmen and suicide bombers went on a rampage through Paris, killing at least 127 people, foreign ministers and senior officials from more than a dozen countries agreed to work for a ceasefire in Syria's civil war, but U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said it would not apply to Islamic State. French President Francois Hollande pledged a "merciless response" to the attacks, which he said had been organized by the Islamist militant force.
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| Paris vs. Beirut: Why didn't Facebook offer Safety Check for both attacks? Posted: 14 Nov 2015 01:30 PM PST As terrorist attacks rocked Paris Friday night in six different venues and over the course of three hours, a safety feature released by Facebook offered some remedial relief: anyone with friends in Paris was notified of their status as soon as it was updated by a green verification checkmark. Facebook's Safety Check was first introduced last year, a product spawned by the Disaster Message Board used when the devastating tsunami struck Japan in 2011. Each time, we see people, relief organizations and first responders turn to Facebook in the aftermath of a major natural disaster," the team wrote last October. |
| Security to fore as US Democrats debate after France attacks Posted: 14 Nov 2015 01:01 PM PST  Democratic US presidential hopefuls clash Saturday in a debate barely 24 hours after attacks in Paris, with national security and counter-terrorism looming large as liberal Bernie Sanders seeks to claw back ground from Hillary Clinton. Relatively hawkish ex-secretary of state Clinton, democratic socialist Senator Sanders and low-polling former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley take the stage at 8:00 pm (0200 GMT Sunday) in Des Moines, Iowa, their nomination race all but transformed by the latest terror-driven violence. With 79 days before the first state-wide vote in Iowa, frontrunner Clinton has reinforced her status as the woman to beat in the race.
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| Amid US empathy with France, Republicans round on Obama Posted: 14 Nov 2015 12:54 PM PST  As Americans showed effusive solidarity Saturday with France after the Paris attacks, conservative politicians quickly shifted the debate to what they call President Barack Obama's failed strategy against jihadists. Scenes of US empathy after Friday's massacres abound: One World Trade Center, buildings in San Francisco and Dallas, and the ice rink at the Washington Capitals hockey arena have all lit up in the blue, white and red colors of the French flag. Flowers, candles and bottles of wine were placed outside the French Embassy in Washington and the consulate in New York following the attacks that killed at least 129 people and wounded hundreds more.
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| France is target of choice for jihadists Posted: 14 Nov 2015 12:48 PM PST  The bloody attacks in Paris show that France is a target of choice for jihadists due to its air strikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, as well as its controversial ban on face veils and attitude to Muslims, analysts say. "If you can kill an American or European infidel, especially the dirty, nasty French ... then count on Allah, kill him any way you can," said an IS spokesman, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, in 2014 as the US-led coalition launched its anti-IS raids in Iraq. Perhaps inspired by these words, jihadist attacks against France over the past year have been of unprecedented ferocity.
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| Diplomats set plan for political change in Syria Posted: 14 Nov 2015 12:44 PM PST  VIENNA (AP) — Invoking the need for joint action after the attacks in Paris, foreign ministers of nearly 20 nations agreed Saturday to an ambitious yet incomplete plan for bringing peace to Syria and ending its role as a breeding ground for ISIS and other radical Islamic groups.
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| Paris attacks provoke fresh migrant fears in Europe Posted: 14 Nov 2015 12:32 PM PST  BERLIN (AP) — The news that one of the assailants in the Paris attacks may have crossed into Europe with refugees fleeing Syria is raising the fierce debate over Europe's immigration policy to a new pitch.
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| Paris attacks show U.S. surveillance of Islamic State may be ‘going dark’ Posted: 14 Nov 2015 12:31 PM PST The attacks underscore the mounting difficulties U.S. and Western intelligence agencies are having in tracking the terror group, resulting in repeated warnings that their efforts to conduct surveillance of Islamic State suspects were "going dark." |
| Jordan shooting of police trainers an 'isolated act' Posted: 14 Nov 2015 12:30 PM PST  A Jordanian who killed two US instructors, a South African and two fellow countrymen at a police training centre before being gunned down acted alone, the interior minister said Saturday. Police Captain Anwar Abu Zeid also wounded two American instructors, four Jordanians and a Lebanese in Monday's shooting at the Jordanian International Police Training Centre in Al-Muwaqqar, 30 kilometres (19 miles) east of Amman. The attack was "an individual, personal and isolated act" which was motivated by "psychological factors due to financial and social pressures", Salama Hammad told a press conference.
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| How Paris attacks may change US presidential race Posted: 14 Nov 2015 12:07 PM PST Republican presidential candidates called for deeper military engagement in the Middle East as Democrats prepared to face renewed questions over national security in the wake of Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris, which claimed at least 128 lives and injured more than 200. The French tragedy instantly shifted the focus of the 2016 presidential race, one that has, so far, often been defined more by character and quirks than global experience. CBS announced that its Democratic presidential debate, scheduled for 9 p.m. Eastern Time Saturday, would focus primarily on national security, raising the political stakes for candidates Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O'Malley, all of whom have resisted calling for US troops on the ground in Syria. |
| Jordan says mass killer was mentally disturbed, not a jihadist Posted: 14 Nov 2015 11:59 AM PST  By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan said on Saturday that a police officer who went on a shooting spree, killing five people including two American police trainers, was psychologically disturbed and not linked to any radical Islamist group. Interior Minister Salameh Hamad told reporters the 29-year-old officer, Anwar Abu Zeid, had faced financial problems and was under severe mental stress before he began to fire at foreign trainers last Monday at the U.S.-funded King Abdullah Training Centre near Amman. Security sources had earlier told Reuters on condition of anonymity there was growing evidence of radical Islamist influences on Abu Zeid.
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| U.S. Senator Feinstein: U.S. needs to boost efforts in Syria, Iraq Posted: 14 Nov 2015 11:53 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States needs to increase its efforts in Syria and Iraq "directly" and expand its support to other nations where Islamic State militants operate, U.S. Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said in a statement on Saturday responding to the Paris attacks. "It has become clear that limited air strikes and support for Iraqi forces and the Syrian opposition are not sufficient to protect our country and our allies," said Feinstein, who is the vice chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, and a leading Democratic voice on foreign affairs. ...
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| Five questions about Paris for Hillary, Bernie and O’Malley Posted: 14 Nov 2015 11:53 AM PST Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O'Malley will face off here Saturday in their second debate, their fight for the Democratic presidential nomination transformed by the devastating terrorist attacks in Paris Friday. In the wake of the deaths of 129 — and counting — the prime-time showdown seems certain to focus heavily on national security, pitting the former secretary of state's more hawkish views against the independent senator's well-known reluctance to use force, while leaving O'Malley hunting for ways to cast himself as a plausible commander-in-chief. |
| US student killed in Paris attacks Posted: 14 Nov 2015 11:46 AM PST  A US student from California was killed in the Paris attacks, her university said Saturday. The State Department said separately that some Americans were wounded in the terrorist onslaught but it did not specify how many. The student killed in the string of shootings and explosions was identified as Nohemi Gonzalez, a third-year design student at California State University, Long Beach.
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| French pilots train for survival behind enemy lines Posted: 14 Nov 2015 11:11 AM PST  It is the nightmare scenario for every fighter pilot operating over Syria and Iraq today -- a crash-landing behind enemy lines. In many of their minds is the fate of the Jordanian pilot who crash-landed in Syria in December last year, was then captured by the Islamic State group and later burned alive on film.
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| Paris attacks 'crimes against humanity': Iran president Posted: 14 Nov 2015 10:58 AM PST  Hassan Rouhani postponed Saturday what would have been the first visit to Europe by an Iranian president in 10 years after attacks in Paris he described as "crimes against humanity". Rouhani had been due to hold talks in Rome on Saturday with Pope Francis as well as Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi before travelling on to the French capital. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who had been due to travel with Rouhani, told state television he would now instead head Iran's delegation to international talks on the Syrian conflict in Vienna.
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| Sanders has most to prove as Democrats gather for 2nd debate Posted: 14 Nov 2015 10:54 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders faces the biggest test yet of his insurgent presidential campaign on Saturday night, when he faces off with Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton in the party's second primary debate.
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| Paris attacks: the possible consequences Posted: 14 Nov 2015 10:33 AM PST  The Paris attacks were unprecedented in their scale in France and shocking in their method. Peace talks to end the Syrian civil war had drifted along for years before a snowballing refugee crisis in Europe this summer and Russia's dramatic entry into the conflict in September gave them new urgency. Given growing evidence of a Syrian link, the attacks in Paris will hike pressure on world leaders to overcome their deep divisions and solve a problem that is a key source of Islamic extremism.
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| The Latest: Migrant children, ages 3 and 5, die in Greece Posted: 14 Nov 2015 10:31 AM PST  SENTILJ, Slovenia (AP) — The latest news as hundreds of thousands make their way across Europe in search of safety and a better life. All times local.
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| U.S. wages air strike on Islamic State leader in Libya Posted: 14 Nov 2015 10:26 AM PST By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Saturday it launched an air strike targeting the Islamic State's senior leader in Libya, where the militant group has grown stronger in the chaos following the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi four years ago. The Pentagon said the strike, carried out on Friday, was authorized and planned before the attacks the same day by gunmen and bombers in Paris that killed 127 people. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the coordinated assault. |
