| Black Democrats question Sanders' commitment to Obama Posted: 12 Feb 2016 05:02 PM PST  ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign enlisted the support of black Democrats on Friday to undermine Bernie Sanders' push to claim a piece of President Barack Obama's legacy, arguing she is the rightful heir to the nation's first black president.
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| The Latest: Pope sends Mexico condolences over prison riot Posted: 12 Feb 2016 04:30 PM PST  HAVANA (AP) — The latest on Pope Francis's historic meeting in Cuba with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill and his subsequent trip to Mexico (all times local):
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| 'Finally': Pope meets Russian Orthodox leader Posted: 12 Feb 2016 04:27 PM PST  HAVANA (AP) — With a hug and an exclamation of "Finally," Pope Francis met Friday with Patriarch Kirill in the first ever meeting between a pontiff and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, a historic development in the 1,000-year schism that has divided Christianity.
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| After 1,000-year split, pope and Russian patriarch embrace in Cuba Posted: 12 Feb 2016 04:03 PM PST  By Philip Pullella and Daniel Trotta HAVANA (Reuters) - Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill embraced and kissed on Friday in a historic meeting, uniting to issue a global appeal for the protection of Christians under assault in the Middle East. Nearly 1,000 years after the Eastern and Western branches of Christianity split apart, the meeting at an airport terminal in Cuba was the first ever between a Roman Catholic pope and a Russian Orthodox patriarch. "Their churches are being barbarously ravaged and looted, their sacred objects profaned, their monuments destroyed." They also said large-scale humanitarian aid was required to tend to refugees fleeing Syria and Iraq, lamenting the "massive exodus of Christians." Cuban President Raul Castro stood to the side during the ceremony, enjoying another moment in the international limelight after receiving Francis last year and restoring diplomatic relations with the United States recently, meeting President Barack Obama in Panama in April.
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| 'No Bashar al-Assad in the future', says Saudi foreign minister: report Posted: 12 Feb 2016 03:02 PM PST  Bashar al-Assad will not be ruling Syria in the future and Russia's military interventions will not help him stay in power, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a German newspaper in an interview published on Saturday. "There will be no Bashar al-Assad in the future," al-Jubeir told newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung. "It might take three months, it might take six months or three years - but he will no longer carry responsibility for Syria.
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| Wounded Service Members Take Flight Indoors Posted: 12 Feb 2016 02:30 PM PST AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A group of wounded veterans got together recently to test their wings and take flight at an indoor skydiving event hosted by Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) as part of the Alumni program. Fourteen WWP Alumni flew, hovered, and floated their way through an afternoon of camaraderie, fun, and relaxation. Clarence, an Army veteran and WWP Alumnus, said that it was an amazing experience. |
| Judge weighs bid to block Indiana's Syrian refugee order Posted: 12 Feb 2016 02:11 PM PST INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A judge considering a challenge to Republican Gov. Mike Pence's order barring state agencies from helping Syrian refugees resettle in Indiana appeared skeptical Friday, peppering the state's lawyer with questions about whether the directive was achieving its stated goal of protecting the state's security. |
| Merkel's liberal refugee policy 'unsustainable', says French PM Posted: 12 Feb 2016 01:55 PM PST  Germany's liberal refugee policy which ushered in 1.1 million asylum-seekers last year is not sustainable, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned Friday, as Chancellor Angela Merkel said a group of EU countries may take more in. "This policy, which is justified temporarily, is unsustainable in the long term," Valls told German regional media group Funke, pointing to the limited capacity not just in Germany, but also across Europe, to receive newcomers. "We have to say this clearly: Europe cannot take in all migrants from Syria, Iraq or Africa.
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| Diplomats aim for temporary Syria truce in a week Posted: 12 Feb 2016 01:35 PM PST BEIRUT (AP) — A diplomatic push for a temporary pause in Syria's civil war and the delivery of humanitarian aid faced huge hurdles Friday, with Russia saying it would continue its airstrikes and government planes dropping leaflets urging rebels to surrender because "the belt is narrowing around you." |
| Assad vows to retake all of Syria, keep 'fighting terrorism' Posted: 12 Feb 2016 12:52 PM PST  President Bashar al-Assad has vowed to recapture the whole of Syria and keep "fighting terrorism" while also negotiating an end to the war, as international pressure mounts for a ceasefire. Assad said the main aim of a Russian-backed regime offensive in Aleppo province that has prompted tens of thousands of people to flee was to cut the rebels' supply route from Turkey. Assad said it would be possible to "put an end to this problem in less than a year" if opposition supply routes from Turkey, Jordan and Iraq were severed.
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| Lavrov says US, Russia must 'cooperate on ground' in Syria Posted: 12 Feb 2016 12:22 PM PST  Russian and US armed forces must "cooperate on the ground" in Syria to facilitate a truce and humanitarian access agreed by world powers, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday. "For this to work... cooperation between the militaries on the ground is needed, both on humanitarian issues and issues related to implementing the ceasefire," state news agency RIA Novosti quoted Lavrov as saying. "From the very beginning of our operation in Syria at the invitation of the country's government, we proposed military contacts between Russia and the US-led coalition," he said in the German city of Munich where the Syria agreement was struck.
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| U.S. sources: Russia forging alliance with Taliban Posted: 12 Feb 2016 12:10 PM PST Growing evidence of Russian support of the Afghan Taliban worries U.S. |
| The Army’s $30 Billion Humvee Replacement Climbs Out of a Ditch Posted: 12 Feb 2016 12:00 PM PST  The U.S. Army' $30 billion replacement for its Humvee fleet is getting back on track after a federal court tossed out a request to stop work on the effort until a lawsuit over the program is resolved. Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense can start working on the production of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) after the U.S. Court of Federal Claims denied a request by Lockheed Martin, which lost out on the massive contract last year, to halt the effort. "This decision is another indication that the U.S. Army conducted a thorough, methodical procurement process, and we are confident that the original JLTV contract award to Oshkosh will be upheld," Oshkosh CEO Wilson R. Jones said Friday in a statement.
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| AP News Guide: Diplomats push as Syria battlefield shifts Posted: 12 Feb 2016 11:53 AM PST  Diplomats from a dozen countries, led by the United States and Russia, are struggling to make progress in Syria, even as fighting in the north sends tens of thousands fleeing and threatens a deepening humanitarian crisis. Next month, Syria's civil war will reach the end of its fifth year, and its consequences continue to reach new and disastrous levels.
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| Russia keeps bombing despite Syria truce; Assad vows to fight on Posted: 12 Feb 2016 11:52 AM PST  By John Irish and Warren Strobel MUNICH/AMMAN (Reuters) - Major powers agreed on Friday to a pause in combat in Syria, but Russia pressed on with bombing in support of its ally President Bashar al-Assad, who vowed to fight until he regained full control of the country. Although billed as a potential breakthrough, the "cessation of hostilities" agreement does not take effect for a week, at a time when Assad's government is poised to win its biggest victory of the war with the backing of Russian air power. If implemented, the deal hammered out at five hours of late night talks in Munich would allow humanitarian aid to reach besieged towns.
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| Why the US is skeptical of Saudi involvement in Syria Posted: 12 Feb 2016 11:40 AM PST Amid an international campaign to fight Islamic State, also referred to as ISIS, Saudi Arabia this week announced its willingness to commit ground troops to the fight. "I don't know why the US has to make the first move on the chessboard," said Sen. Tim Kaine (D) of Virginia, according to the Washington Post. Some US intelligence officials had expressed their doubts following Saudi Arabia's announcement, questioning their capability. |
| Stars shine at Berlin Film Festival opening Posted: 12 Feb 2016 11:24 AM PST BERLIN - The Berlin International Film Festival kicked off on Thursday with a star-studded red carpet with the likes of jury president Meryl Streep and actor Clive Owen. The 66th Berlinale, which runs until Feb. 21, has for its theme "the right to happiness" and is making extra efforts to welcome refugees who have fled war in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. "The Berlinale is also here to show that we take responsibility and we want to share the thoughts of the refugees and they are also here in the program," festival director Dieter Kosslick said. |
| Iraq says moving troops, preparing offensive to retake Mosul Posted: 12 Feb 2016 11:20 AM PST  Iraq's military said on Friday it was mobilizing troops to prepare for an offensive the government has pledged to launch this year to retake the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State. Hundreds of forces from the army's 15th division reached Makhmour base, 70 km (45 miles) south of Mosul, and more forces, including Sunni Muslim tribal fighters, were expected to arrive in coming days, said Brigadier-General Yahya Rasool, spokesman for the joint operations command. Defense Minister Khaled al-Obaidi told Reuters last month that Iraq would launch the Mosul operation in the first half of the year and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said 2016 would see the "final victory" against the militants.
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| Transcript of exclusive AFP interview with Syria's Assad Posted: 12 Feb 2016 10:52 AM PST Damascus (AFP) - In the following AFP interview with Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, the questions were asked in French and he replied in Arabic. |
| AFP EXCLUSIVE: Assad vows to retake Syria, amid new ceasefire push Posted: 12 Feb 2016 10:44 AM PST  Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has vowed to retake the entire country but warned it could take a "long time," in an exclusive interview with AFP as international pressure grows for a ceasefire. Speaking at his office in Damascus, hours before a new ceasefire plan was announced early Friday by world powers in Munich, Assad said he backed peace talks but that negotiations do "not mean that we stop fighting terrorism". Regime forces backed by Russian air strikes have registered major advances in recent days, particularly in northern Aleppo province, where Assad said the army was seeking to sever the opposition's supply route from Turkey.
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| Hundreds of Iraqi soldiers deploy at base near Mosul Posted: 12 Feb 2016 10:41 AM PST  Hundreds of Iraqi soldiers have arrived at a northern base over the past 24 hours to prepare for operations to retake the city of Mosul from jihadists, officers said Friday. AFP correspondents at the base in Makhmur, around 70 kilometres (45 miles) southeast of Mosul, saw 700 soldiers from the 15th division arrive late Thursday. More soldiers were deployed there on Friday, said an officer who is part of the security command tasked with retaking Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, from the Islamic State group (IS).
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| French official: Up to 1,000 must leave Calais migrant camp Posted: 12 Feb 2016 10:40 AM PST PARIS (AP) — Up to 1,000 people living in a sprawling migrant camp by Calais must leave their makeshift dwellings, the top official in France's northern Pas-de-Calais region announced on Friday. |
| Clooney says refugee crisis is huge, U.S. Muslim ban won't happen Posted: 12 Feb 2016 10:18 AM PST  By Sarah Mills BERLIN (Reuters) - George Clooney said on Friday the refugee crisis is bigger than the headline-grabbing exodus from Syria and Iraq, and he believes Americans "will do the right thing" by rejecting Donald Trump and calls to ban Muslims entering the United States. Clooney spoke to Reuters on the same day he and his wife, the human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin Clooney, met German Chancellor Angela Merkel behind closed doors at the chancellery to discuss the refugee issue. The Clooneys were in the German capital for the international premiere of "Hail, Caesar!", in which Clooney has a starring role and which opened the Berlin International Film Festival on Thursday.
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| Migrants attacked around Calais, tinderbox of tensions Posted: 12 Feb 2016 10:15 AM PST  CALAIS, France (AP) — Mysterious armed groups are on the prowl, targeting migrants in night attacks in Calais and elsewhere in northern France, sowing fear among the displaced travelers living in squalid slums and deepening concerns the city is becoming a tinderbox of anti-migrant, anti-Muslim rage that's fueling a budding nationalist movement.
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| The Latest: Official: Half of Calais camp to be evacuated Posted: 12 Feb 2016 09:26 AM PST  SID, Serbia (AP) — The Latest on the influx of migrants into Europe (all times local):
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| Iraq PM vows to defeat Islamic State group by end of 2016 Posted: 12 Feb 2016 08:56 AM PST  Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi vowed on Friday to drive the Islamic State group out of his country by the end of the year. "We intend this year to make it the final year for the existence of Daesh in Iraq," he told an audience at the Munich Security Conference, using the Arabic acronym for IS, also called ISIS and ISIL. "The area we have liberated so far is more than half of what was occupied by Daesh before.
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| Syria's Assad says to keep fighting as peace talks proceed: AFP Posted: 12 Feb 2016 08:36 AM PST Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said he would keep "fighting terrorism" while peace talks took place and saw a risk of Saudi and Turkish intervention in the Syrian conflict, according to an interview with news agency AFP published on Friday. Assad said he would retake the whole country, but that this could take a long time, according to excerpts of the interview published on AFP's website. The interview, which AFP said was Assad's first in about two months, took place in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Thursday before the conclusion of talks in Munich where major powers agreed to a ceasefire in Syria to begin in a week. |
| China rules out joining anti-terrorism coalitions, says helping Iraq Posted: 12 Feb 2016 08:29 AM PST  By John Irish MUNICH (Reuters) - China won't take part in any coalition fighting "terrorist groups" in the Middle East, but will do its fair share in its own way and is already helping Iraq, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday. China wants to develop deeper defense and anti-terrorism ties with the Arab world, including joint exercises, intelligence sharing and training, the government said in a policy document released last month. While relying on the region for oil supplies, China has tended to leave Middle Eastern diplomacy to the other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - the United States, Britain, France and Russia.
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| Unmanned Sub Hunters & Robot Battle Managers On the Horizon, DARPA Says Posted: 12 Feb 2016 08:14 AM PST  Space battles, unmanned submarine hunters and artificial intelligent systems that help human commanders make split-second decisions may sound like science fiction fodder, but military researchers are hard at work trying to make them a reality. The U.S. military's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has put millions of dollars into projects to develop such technologies, as well as other projects to make cheap, reusable rockets and war technology, officials with the agency said Wednesday (Feb. 10) in a news briefing. The U.S. has typically faced big, monolithic adversaries (think the USSR during the Cold War) or hostile nation states (like Iraq during the Gulf War), and over the past few decades, it has been incredibly dominant, said Steve Walker, the deputy director of DARPA.
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| Three Iraqi presidential guards kidnapped near northern town: sources Posted: 12 Feb 2016 08:04 AM PST Three members of Iraq's presidential guard were kidnapped on Friday near a checkpoint run by Shi'ite militiamen close to the northern district of Tuz Khurmatu, police and a local official said. Four other people, including a government employee, were killed in separate incidents, the police said, in and around the district - about 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad - where violence has flared in recent months. Kurdish and Shi'ite Turkmen paramilitary forces have been uncomfortable allies against Islamic State since driving the ultra-hardline Sunni militants out of towns and villages in the area in 2014 with the support of U.S.-led airstrikes. |
| Iraqi PM says has won back half of ISIS-held territories Posted: 12 Feb 2016 07:52 AM PST  MUNICH (Reuters) - Iraqi forces have won back half of the territory previously under the control of Islamic State militants, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told a security conference in Germany on Friday. "The area we have liberated so far is more than half of what was occupied by Daesh before," he said, using the Arab term for the militant group. "We intend this year to make it the final year and the last year for the existence of Daesh in Iraq." (Reporting By Robin Emmott and Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Noah Barkin)
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| U.S. sees Saudi Arabia and UAE sending commandos to Syria Posted: 12 Feb 2016 07:19 AM PST By Phil Stewart BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Friday he expected both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to send special operations forces to Syria to help local opposition fighters in their drive to retake the city of Raqqa from Islamic State. Carter, who has long sought greater participation of SunniArab allies in Syria, did not disclose how many commandos he expected them to deploy nor the timing of those deployments. "We're going to try to give opportunities and power to ...particularly Sunni Arabs in Syria who want to re-seize their territory back from ISIL, especially Raqqa," Carter told reporters traveling with him in Brussels. |
| Doubts emerge over plan to end Syria hostilities within week Posted: 12 Feb 2016 06:36 AM PST  World powers on Friday agreed an ambitious plan to cease hostilities in war-racked Syria, but the Munich deal left out the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda's local branch, leaving analysts to doubt its viability. The 17 countries agreed "to implement a nationwide cessation of hostilities to begin in a target of one week's time," said US Secretary of State John Kerry after extended talks co-hosted by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The International Syria Support Group also agreed that "sustained delivery" of aid will begin this week, with a new UN task force meeting later Friday in Geneva to start pushing for much greater access to "besieged and hard-to-reach areas".
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| Thousands of Iraqi refugees leave Finland voluntarily Posted: 12 Feb 2016 05:01 AM PST  By Tuomas Forsell HELSINKI (Reuters) - Thousands of Iraqi refugees who arrived in Finland last year have decided to cancel their asylum applications and to return home voluntarily, citing family issues and disappointment with life in the frosty Nordic country. Germany and Finland's neighbor Sweden have taken in many of the migrants but Finland too saw the number of asylum seekers increase nearly tenfold in 2015 to 32,500 from 3,600 in 2014. Almost two thirds of the asylum seekers last year were young Iraqi men, but some are now having second thoughts, so Finland will begin chartering flights to Baghdad from next week to take them home.
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| Carter says UAE will put special forces in Syria Posted: 12 Feb 2016 03:32 AM PST  BRUSSELS (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter says a key Persian Gulf ally has agreed to send special forces soldiers to Syria to assist in the development of local Sunni Arab fighters focused on recapturing Raqqa, the Islamic State group's capital.
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| Pope heads for historic encounter with Russian patriarch Posted: 12 Feb 2016 02:09 AM PST  Pope Francis headed to Cuba on Friday looking to heal a 1,000-year-old rift in Christianity before embarking on a tour of Mexico dominated by modern day problems of drug-related violence and migration. The Argentinian pontiff took off from Rome's Fiumicino airport shortly before 8:00am (0700 GMT) en route to Havana, where he is to spend around two hours in private conversation with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill at Havana's Jose Marti airport. It will be the first meeting between the leaders of Christianity's two biggest churches since a 1054 schism that helped to shape modern Europe and the Middle East.
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| Kuwait to sign Eurofighter jet deal with Italy: minister Posted: 12 Feb 2016 01:16 AM PST  Kuwait and Italy will finalise a multibillion-euro deal next week for the Gulf state to purchase Eurofighter jets, Kuwait's defence minister has said. Sheikh Khaled Jarrah Al-Sabah did not specify the number of planes involved in the deal but the Eurofighter consortium said in September that Kuwait had agreed to buy 28 fighter jets. "Italian Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti will visit Kuwait next week to sign the Eurofighter warplanes deal," Al-Sabah was quoted as saying Thursday evening by the official KUNA news agency.
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| Clinton slams Sanders 'promises' in debate Posted: 11 Feb 2016 10:57 PM PST  Two days after her humiliating New Hampshire defeat, White House hopeful Hillary Clinton sought to regain the upper hand against her Democratic rival Bernie Sanders in their debate, denouncing his proposals as unrealistic and costly. Clinton, who is keen to strike a new path as the presidential campaign moves south and west, quickly went on the offensive, hammering the senator from Vermont on health care and his plan to make university education free for all. After their bruising battle in Iowa, won by a razor-thin margin by Clinton, and the thumping win for Sanders in the Granite State earlier this week, the pair were relatively civil, discussing efforts to end institutional racism and improve the lives of minorities.
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| Punch, counterpunch: GOP hopefuls bare knuckles in Carolina Posted: 11 Feb 2016 09:03 PM PST  COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Jeb Bush says he was better at real estate than Donald Trump, and the former Florida governor is even embracing the "establishment" label.
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