| Britain's Fallon says parliament's Syria vote uncertain: Sunday Telegraph Posted: 28 Nov 2015 03:53 PM PST  Britain is not certain to hold a parliamentary vote on taking military action against Islamic State forces in Syria, defense minister Michael Fallon said, as it would become "difficult" if opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn orders his MPs to oppose it. Fallon, in an interview published in the Sunday Telegraph, said he hoped lawmakers from all parties would consider the arguments, with Labour deeply split on the issue. Labour leader Corbyn wants his lawmakers to vote against air strikes.
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| Top Kurdish lawyer shot dead in southeast Turkey Posted: 28 Nov 2015 12:58 PM PST  By Seyhmus Cakan DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - A prominent Kurdish lawyer and rights activist was shot in the head and killed on Saturday, in an incident likely to fuel further unrest in Turkey's mostly Kurdish southeast. The pro-Kurdish HDP Party called the killing of Tahir Elci a "planned assassination" and urged people to protest. Videos from the scene showed a gun battle in the street, in which two policemen died, and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said it was unclear whether Elci was caught in crossfire or assassinated.
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| Migrants clash with Macedonian police on Greek border Posted: 28 Nov 2015 12:39 PM PST  IDOMENI, Greece (AP) — Migrants on the Greek-Macedonian border attacked police with stones Saturday, enraged by the sight of Macedonian authorities erecting a fence along the border and an accident that injured a young Moroccan man.
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| Protests in UK, Spain as momentum builds to join Syria strikes Posted: 28 Nov 2015 12:10 PM PST  Some 5,000 people protested in London Saturday against potential British participation in Syria airstrikes, as political momentum mounted to broaden the fight against Islamic State (IS) jihadists. Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday laid out the case for British jets, already bombing IS targets in Iraq, to join France, the United States and others in targeting IS strongholds in neighbouring Syria. A parliamentary vote on bombing Syria is expected as early as next week, and many formerly reluctant politicians are thought to have changed their minds after the Paris attacks.
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| The Latest: Macedonia: 18 officers injured in migrants clash Posted: 28 Nov 2015 12:07 PM PST  SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — The latest on the mass movement of asylum-seekers and others seeking refuge in Europe. All times local:
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| A Holocaust survivor pays it forward for Syrian refugees Posted: 28 Nov 2015 09:40 AM PST Lord George Weidenfeld was a 19-year-old Jewish boy from Vienna when he fled for the United Kingdom. It was the eve of Nazi Germany's annexation of Austria in 1938 and Weidenfeld feared for his life. Now, 77 years later, Lord Weidenfeld is personally funding Christian Syrians escaping ISIS. |
| Clashes at Greece border as Macedonia builds fence to stem migrant flow Posted: 28 Nov 2015 08:36 AM PST  A group of migrants trying to enter Macedonia pelted the police with stones on Saturday, injuring several officers as the small Balkan country became the latest to build a border fence aimed at checking the flow of newcomers. The interior ministry said 18 police were injured, two of whom were hospitalised, in the protests at the Gevgelija crossing point between Greece and non-EU member Macedonia which came as Macedonian troops began to seal up parts of the border with a 2.5-metre-high (8-foot) fence. Government spokesman Aleksandar Gjorgjev described the situation by mid-afternoon as "calm and stable".
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| Bombs found around Iraq mass grave of IS victims Posted: 28 Nov 2015 08:32 AM PST  A bomb-rigged mass grave believed to hold the remains of more than 120 people killed by the Islamic State group has been found in north Iraq, an official said Saturday. It is the sixth mass grave discovered in or near the town of Sinjar since it was recaptured from IS jihadists earlier this month, Mahma Khalil, the official responsible for the area, told AFP. IS overran Sinjar in August 2014 and carried out a brutal campaign of massacres, enslavement and rape targeting members of the Yazidi minority, who made up most of its inhabitants.
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| Iraq suicide bomber kills six in flashpoint town Posted: 28 Nov 2015 08:02 AM PST  A suicide bomber killed six people on Saturday in the Iraqi town of Tuz Khurmatu, the scene of deadly clashes between Kurdish and Shiite forces earlier this month, officials said. The bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle at a checkpoint in the town, also wounding 16 people, according to Shallal Abdul Baban, the official responsible for the area, and a police colonel. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but suicide bombings are a tactic employed by Sunni extremists in Iraq, including the Islamic State jihadist group, which overran large areas last year.
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| U.S., allies launch 20 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria: military Posted: 28 Nov 2015 07:48 AM PST The United States and its allies targeted Islamic State with 17 air strikes in Iraq and three in Syria on Friday, the U.S. military said. Seven of the strikes in Iraq hit two Islamic State tactical units, buildings and a fighting position near Ramadi, the military said. The attacks in Syria were near Ayn Isa, hitting a tactical unit and Islamic State vehicle, the statement issued on Saturday said. |
| Suicide car bomb kills seven in northern Iraq Posted: 28 Nov 2015 07:21 AM PST At least seven people were killed in a suicide car bomb attack in a northern Iraqi town that has seen deadly clashes between Kurdish and Shi'ite paramilitary forces, the mayor and security sources said on Saturday. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast in Tuz Khurmatu, about 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad. The target was a police checkpoint near the entrance to a market in a predominantly Shi'ite Turkmen district, mayor Shalal Abdul said. |
| GOP rhetoric on Muslims seen as having little cost Posted: 28 Nov 2015 06:59 AM PST  Some leading Republican presidential candidates seem to view Muslims as fair game for increasingly harsh words they might use with more caution against any other group for fear of the political cost. So far, that strategy is winning support from conservatives influential in picking the nominee.
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| London protesters oppose UK airstrikes on IS in Syria Posted: 28 Nov 2015 05:29 AM PST  LONDON (AP) — Hundreds of demonstrators in London are urging British lawmakers not to back airstrikes on the Islamic State group in Syria.
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| Islamic State as international threat; how to respond to terror; West waited too long in Syria; a new partnership with Russia; ending Africa's drought Posted: 28 Nov 2015 05:00 AM PST "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke for all Canadians when he said our hearts go out to the people of France in a dark and terrible time. "The Islamic State is no longer a regional problem, confined to its 'caliphate' in Iraq and Syria. |
| Morocco arrests Turks suspected of Islamic State links Posted: 28 Nov 2015 04:35 AM PST  Moroccan police have arrested three people on suspicion of hacking telecommunications equipment, including two Turkish nationals who are suspected of having ties to Islamic State, the Interior Ministry said. "The two Turkish nationals were involved in hacking telephone communications of a Moroccan operator, using developed technical equipment," it said late on Friday. "The investigation showed that the two Turkish are supporters of the Islamic State organisation ... and one of them had stayed in a camp in Hama's province (Syria) where he was trained in handling weapons and took part in battles against the Syrian army," the statement added.
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| Britain's Labour should allow MPs free vote on Syria - Corbyn ally Posted: 28 Nov 2015 03:56 AM PST  By William Schomberg LONDON (Reuters) - A top official in Britain's opposition Labour Party said its lawmakers should be allowed a free vote on taking military action against Islamic State in Syria, after reports that some of his colleagues might quit if forced to vote against bombing. With Labour deeply split over Syria two months into far-left lawmaker Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, the party's finance chief John McDonnell said lawmakers should be allowed to follow their conscience on issues such as going to war.
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| Britain's Labour Party battles for soul and identity Posted: 28 Nov 2015 03:32 AM PST  By Elizabeth Piper LONDON (Reuters) - In the 1970s, a trio of socialists joined a battle to steer Britain's Labour Party to the left. Almost 40 years on, the same three men, led by new party chief Jeremy Corbyn, are closer than ever to their goal of pushing the opposition party to the hard left. Two months after 66-year-old Corbyn was elected leader on a wave of enthusiasm for change, some Labour lawmakers closer to the center are rebelling openly over his stand on vexed questions such as how to tackle terrorism and whether Britain should bomb Syria.
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| Insight - Britain's Labour Party battles for soul and identity Posted: 28 Nov 2015 03:30 AM PST  By Elizabeth Piper LONDON (Reuters) - In the 1970s, a trio of socialists joined a battle to steer Britain's Labour Party to the left. Almost 40 years on, the same three men, led by new party chief Jeremy Corbyn, are closer than ever to their goal of pushing the opposition party to the hard left. Two months after 66-year-old Corbyn was elected leader on a wave of enthusiasm for change, some Labour lawmakers closer to the centre are rebelling openly over his stand on vexed questions such as how to tackle terrorism and whether Britain should bomb Syria.
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| Suicide bomber hits Shi'ite procession in Nigeria's Kano state Posted: 28 Nov 2015 12:59 AM PST  A male suicide bomber hit a procession of Shi'ite Muslims in Nigeria's Kano state as they walked to the city of Zaria to pay homage to their founder in the country, security sources and a Shi'ite leader said. Muhammad Turi said that 21 people had been killed and more wounded. The blast went off at around 2 p.m. local time (1300 GMT) near the village of Dakozoye outside the town of Garum Mallam, south of Nigeria's second city Kano.
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| Life returns to Syrian town after IS ousted Posted: 28 Nov 2015 12:34 AM PST  Al-Hol (Syria) (AFP) - Outside her home in a town of northeast Syria, four-year-old Baydaa scribbles on a leaflet of religious rules left behind by the Islamic State group as they fled earlier this month. The town was once a key waystation for IS between the territory it holds in Iraq and Syria, and its capture was a strategic victory for the new Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) coalition. "My little daughter Baydaa has put kohl on her eyes and make-up on her face, which was forbidden when the 'organisation' was here," said Baydaa's father, Hamdan Ahmed, referring to IS.
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| Theatre keeps hope alive in the mud, tears of Calais 'Jungle' Posted: 27 Nov 2015 10:47 PM PST  It's approaching 7pm and some among the crowd at the entrance to "the Jungle" in Calais are growing tired of the spectacle. For once, the residents of what Doctors Without Borders calls this "shameful... squalid, state-sanctioned shanty town" are grateful for the fierce wind whipping in from the Channel. There's some kind of performance every night, and Wednesday's was a two-hour variety show, a kind of "The Jungle's Got Talent".
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| Protests as France's Hollande calls on UK to join Syria campaign Posted: 27 Nov 2015 09:44 PM PST  French President Francois Hollande has urged British MPs to back an air campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria, as thousands prepared to march on London Saturday to oppose the plans. Hollande made the appeal after a tribute to the 130 victims of the Paris attacks, during which he vowed to destroy the "army of fanatics" behind the violence that rocked the French capital two weeks ago. "On November 13, a day we will never forget, France was hit at its very heart," Hollande told a sombre commemoration in the Invalides, the 17th-century complex housing Napoleon's tomb on Friday.
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| Today in History Posted: 27 Nov 2015 09:05 PM PST Today in History |
| As elections near, scarred Spain wavers on France military support Posted: 27 Nov 2015 08:34 PM PST  Spain's government is stuck between a rock and a hard place as it balances trying to show France support in its battle against extremism and domestic political risks. While keen to support France, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is also acutely aware that any concrete engagement will awaken the ghosts of Spain's devastating 2004 attacks just weeks ahead of general elections, experts say. The attacks saw Al-Qaeda-inspired bombers blow up four packed commuter trains and kill 191 people in retaliation for then prime minister Jose Maria Aznar's decision to join the US-led Iraq invasion, precipitating his party's defeat at ensuing elections.
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| Russia didn't give downed jet's flight plan to U.S.: U.S. officials Posted: 27 Nov 2015 05:09 PM PST By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia did not inform the U.S. military of its jet's flight plan before Turkey shot it down on Tuesday, despite assertions to the contrary by Russian President Vladimir Putin, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity. Putin has suggested some degree of U.S. culpability in the aftermath of the incident, even hinting that the United States might have given detailed Russian operational plans to Turkey ahead of time. Addressing reporters in Moscow on Thursday, Putin said "we informed our American partners" about when and where Russian aircraft would be operating. |
