| Vet, author who advocated for vets, criticized war, dies Posted: 05 Dec 2016 04:31 PM PST  LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Luis Carlos Montalvan, a decorated Iraq war veteran who became a strong critic of the war and wrote a best-selling book about it, has died in El Paso. He was 43.
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| Aleppo's fall would be win for Russia, defeat for U.S. in Mideast Posted: 05 Dec 2016 03:56 PM PST  By Jonathan Landay and Arshad Mohammed WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.-backed moderate rebels' loss of the eastern half of Syria's largest city Aleppo to Russian-backed government forces would be a defeat for President Barack Obama's efforts to promote democracy and defeat terrorism in the Middle East, U.S. officials conceded on Monday. The defeat would leave President-elect Donald Trump with less influence over the course of the more than five-year-long civil war that is likely to grind on, fueling greater instability, violent extremism, refugee flows and regional rivalries, the officials said.
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| Obama legacy: Handing Trump a broad view of war powers Posted: 05 Dec 2016 03:54 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — After eight years as a wartime president, Barack Obama is handing his successor an expansive interpretation of the commander in chief's authority to wage war around the globe. And that reading has continued to grow even as Obama prepares to pass control to Donald Trump.
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| Factbox: Trump fills top jobs for his administration Posted: 05 Dec 2016 03:11 PM PST (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday he would name retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The following is a list of Republican Trump's selections for top jobs in his administration. All the posts but that of national security adviser require Senate confirmation: DEFENSE SECRETARY: JAMES MATTIS Mattis is a retired Marine Corps general known for his tough talk, distrust of Iran and battlefield experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. |
| Top U.S. Marine's wish-list for Trump goes well beyond troop hikes Posted: 05 Dec 2016 03:08 PM PST  By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Marine Corps Commandant General Robert Neller, like much of the Pentagon top brass, is pretty happy about President-elect Donald Trump's campaign pledge to rebuild America's military after years of congressionally imposed spending caps. "That's a lot," Neller told Reuters in an interview. Neller, like many of his Pentagon colleagues, thinks America's military needs to shift quickly to prepare for more sophisticated adversaries than the insurgents the United States has been fighting in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.
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| UN appeals for record $22.2 bn in global aid Posted: 05 Dec 2016 01:58 PM PST  The United Nations appealed Monday for a record $22.2 billion (20.9 billion euros) to provide aid in 2017 to surging numbers of people hit by conflicts and disasters around the world. It's "the highest amount we have ever requested," UN humanitarian aid chief Stephen O'Brien told a press conference. The global appeal by UN agencies and other humanitarian organisations aims to gather funds to help the 92.8 million most vulnerable of the nearly 129 million people expected to require assistance across 33 countries next year.
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| IMF releases another $618 mn loan installment for Iraq Posted: 05 Dec 2016 01:22 PM PST  The IMF on Monday announced the release of the second installment of a loan for Iraq, despite continued financial difficulties with low oil prices and the fight against the Islamic State group. "The economic policies implemented by the Iraqi authorities to deal with the shocks facing Iraq -- the armed conflict with ISIS and the ensuing humanitarian crisis and the collapse in oil prices -- are appropriate," said IMF Deputy Managing Director Mitsuhiro Furusawa, using an acronym for IS. Thought Iraq's performance "has been mixed," the IMF reached understandings "on sufficient corrective actions to keep the program on track," the official said in a statement.
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| Ohio man sentenced for plotting to attack Capitol Posted: 05 Dec 2016 01:12 PM PST An Ohio man was sentenced to 30 years in prison by a federal judge on Monday for plotting to attack the U.S. Capitol with guns and bombs in sympathy with Islamic State militants. Christopher Cornell, 22, of Green Township, Ohio, near Cincinnati was arrested in January 2015 and accused of planning to travel to Washington to attack the U.S. Capitol during President Barack Obama's State of the Union address. |
| Wounded Warrior Thankful For Support Services Posted: 05 Dec 2016 11:35 AM PST JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Dec. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For Marine Corps wounded warrior Jesse Bergeron, there is plenty to be thankful for this holiday season. Jesse was in his early 20s when he left for his second deployment. Like many veterans before his time, Jesse wanted to wear a military uniform since he was very young. |
| The Link Between Race and Solitary Confinement Posted: 05 Dec 2016 11:27 AM PST Stark disparities in prisoners' treatment are embedded into criminal-justice systems at the city, county, state, and federal levels, and have disproportionate, negative effects on men of color. A new analysis from the Association of State Correctional Administrators and Yale Law School provides a fresh trove of information with which to explore the racial dynamics in state and federal prisons—specifically through their findings on solitary confinement. |
| Young Iraqi woman in taboo-breaking bike ride Posted: 05 Dec 2016 11:19 AM PST  Iraq does not ban women from cycling, but female cyclists are rarely seen because of a conservative society that frowns on them doing so. For several weeks, images of Jaber cycling around Baghdad have created a buzz on social media, and her Instagram account has more than 29,000 followers.
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| Islamic State urges supporters to stage new wave of attacks Posted: 05 Dec 2016 10:57 AM PST  A newly identified spokesman for Islamic State urged sympathizers around the world to carry out a fresh wave of attacks, singling out Turkish diplomatic, military and financial interests as the Islamists' preferred targets. Abi al-Hassan al-Muhajer, whose role as the group's mouthpiece was disclosed for the first time on Monday, also told Islamic State fighters to stand their ground in the town of Tal Afar, where they are threatened by Iraqi forces bearing down on the city of Mosul, the group's last major Iraqi stronghold. In a defiant online message, Muhajer described Islamic State's military losses this year as setbacks and said an array of forces in Iraq and Syria had failed to defeat the jihadists.
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| Red Cross says survey shows alarming rise in acceptance of torture in war Posted: 05 Dec 2016 10:30 AM PST  By Lin Taylor LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - There has been an alarming rise in the acceptance of torture and civilian deaths during war, especially in countries at peace, the Red Cross said on Monday as it released a global survey of public views around war. More than a third of respondents in the study published by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) believed a captured enemy combatant could be tortured to obtain information. "We all need to redraw a line in the sand: torture in any form is forbidden," ICRC President Peter Maurer said in a statement.
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| IS loses Libya bastion in major blow to jihadists Posted: 05 Dec 2016 10:07 AM PST  Forces loyal to Libya's UN-backed government said Monday they had seized full control of Sirte from the Islamic State group, in a major blow to the jihadists who fought for months to retain their bastion. The battle for the coastal city, which was the last significant territory held by IS in Libya, cost the lives of hundreds of loyalist troops and an unknown number of IS fighters. "Our forces have total control of Sirte," Reda Issa, a spokesman for pro-government forces, told AFP.
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| Status of main battle fronts in Iraq and Syria Posted: 05 Dec 2016 09:30 AM PST  Russia said it will hold talks with Washington on a total rebel withdrawal from Syria's Aleppo, where the army has made sweeping advances, but opposition factions rejected any pullout. The UN Security Council was due to vote on a draft resolution for a seven-day ceasefire in Aleppo. President Bashar al-Assad's forces have seized two-thirds of the former rebel bastion in east Aleppo since they began an assault to recapture all of the city in mid-November.
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| West Mosul shelled as Iraq steps up fight against Islamic State Posted: 05 Dec 2016 09:11 AM PST  By Dominic Evans and Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Western-backed Iraqi forces have begun shelling parts of west Mosul, residents said, in preparation for a new front against Islamic State seven weeks into a difficult campaign to drive the militants from the city. Federal police forces, stationed a few miles south of Mosul, on the west bank of the Tigris River that divides the city, have long said they aim to advance towards the airport on the southwestern edge. Some 100,000 Iraqi soldiers, security forces, Kurdish peshmerga fighters and mainly Shi'ite paramilitary forces are participating in the assault that began on Oct. 17, with air and ground support from a U.S.-led international military coalition.
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| Ahead of deal to cut, OPEC oil output hits record high: Reuters survey Posted: 05 Dec 2016 08:28 AM PST  By Alex Lawler LONDON (Reuters) - OPEC's oil output set another record high in November ahead of a deal to cut production, a Reuters survey found on Monday, helped by higher Iraqi exports and extra barrels from two nations exempted from cutting supply - Nigeria and Libya. Supply from OPEC increased to 34.19 million barrels per day (bpd) in November from 33.82 million bpd in October, according to the survey based on shipping data and information from industry sources. "OPEC's decision to cut production has removed a lot of downside risk for 2017," said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB, even though "some cheating is a natural habit among OPEC's members".
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| With fall of Sirte, IS down but not out in Libya Posted: 05 Dec 2016 08:13 AM PST The fall of Sirte to pro-government forces is a significant setback for the Islamic State group in Libya, but will not spell the end of the jihadists in the strife-torn country, experts say. The loss of the coastal city is the toughest blow yet to the group's ambitions to seize and control territory in Libya along the lines of its self-proclaimed "caliphate" in Syria and Iraq. "The retaking of Sirte is certainly a negative blow to IS affiliates in Libya because they will no longer have a territorial stronghold in the country," said Claudia Gazzini, a Libya analyst at the International Crisis Group. |
| Defense secretary: US, allies must remain in Iraq after ISIS defeat Posted: 05 Dec 2016 08:02 AM PST The American military and its allies must stay in Iraq even after defeating the Islamic State to ensure that the group does not reemerge, said Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Saturday. |
| War veteran 'bored to death' by retirement starts first day at new job Posted: 05 Dec 2016 07:47 AM PST  LONDON — Pensioner Joe Bartley stole the internet's heart when his advert seeking employment went viral last week. The 89-year-old, suffering from loneliness after the death of his wife Cassie two years ago, wanted to find a part-time job to save him "from dying of boredom." Offers of work poured in for the former serviceman, who has now officially started a new role with a local restaurant. SEE ALSO: 89-year-old war veteran's ad looking for work will melt your heart Customers greeted Bartley with a round of applause at Cantina Bar and Kitchen in Paignton, Devon when he arrived to clock in for his first day of work. A BBC camera crew documented activities from Bartley's first day, including his first task of serving up a plate of mince pies. In the clip, Bartley says he is looking forward to "getting up in the morning and going to work and being a working man." He also says he has been "overwhelmed" by the attention he's received. The story's global response has afforded the Liverpool native something of a celebrity status, and he's even received a pile of fan mail. Congrats on the new job, Joe! BONUS: How an injured Iraq War veteran became a successful electric bike entrepreneur
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| Red Cross survey shows surging acceptance of torture in conflict Posted: 05 Dec 2016 07:17 AM PST  A vast Red Cross survey published Monday indicated that acceptance of torture during war has increased dramatically in recent decades, with fewer than half of people now categorically rejecting the practice. The survey of more than 17,000 people carried out in 16 countries showed that most people believe wars should be limited by international rules, banning for instance indiscriminate attacks on populated areas or attacks on hospitals and healthcare workers. Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) told reporters the result was "shocking" and "disconcerting".
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| UN refugee agency hands out aid to those uprooted from Mosul Posted: 05 Dec 2016 07:05 AM PST  KHAZIR, Iraq (AP) — The U.N. refugee agency distributed aid on Monday to dozens of Iraqi families uprooted from their homes in and around the city of Mosul, warning that their needs will only increase as winter progresses and temperatures continue to fall below freezing.
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| Stolen Mummy Hand Makes Its Way Home Posted: 05 Dec 2016 06:48 AM PST  "It's sort of amazing the things people will try and ship across international borders," archaeologist Fredrik Hiebert, a National Geographic fellow, said in a video statement. In addition to the eighth-century-B.C. mummy hand, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, also returned intricately painted ancient sarcophagi in a ceremony at the Egyptian embassy in Washington, D.C., on Thursday (Dec. 1). "While we recognize that cultural property, art and antiquities are assigned a dollar value in the marketplace, the cultural and symbolic worth of these Egyptian treasures far surpasses any monetary value to the people of Egypt," ICE Director Sarah Saldaña said during her remarks.
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| In Jordan hospital, mental trauma scars children blown apart by bombs Posted: 05 Dec 2016 06:37 AM PST  By Lin Taylor AMMAN (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - As soon as the bombs exploded outside his house in the Iraqi town of Falluja, Rachid Jassam rushed onto the street to rescue the injured. "I lost five centimeters of my bone from my right leg and I couldn't move it anymore." More than 20 per cent of all patients at the MSF hospital are children just like Rachid - blown apart, severely burned and disfigured by conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Gaza. Since it opened in 2006, the hospital has treated almost 4,400 patients free of charge, and remains the only hospital in the Middle East to perform advanced reconstructive surgery on victims of war.
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| Why are Americans more open to torture than other nations? Posted: 05 Dec 2016 06:16 AM PST Americans are more open to torture than several war-torn nations and every other member of the United Nations Security Council, according to a new international survey. The survey, conducted by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), polled more than 17,000 people from 16 countries between June and September of this year. |
| U.N. launches record $22.2 billion humanitarian appeal for 2017 Posted: 05 Dec 2016 06:03 AM PST  By Umberto Bacchi LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The United Nations launched a record humanitarian appeal on Monday, asking for $22.2 billion in 2017 to help almost 93 million people hit by conflicts and natural disasters. More than half of the money will be used to address the needs of people caught up in crises in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and South Sudan, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. "The scale of humanitarian crises today is greater than at any time since the United Nations was founded," U.N. humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien said in a statement.
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| Sometimes There Are More Important Goals Than Civility Posted: 05 Dec 2016 06:00 AM PST In the brushfire wars since Donald Trump won the presidency, skirmishes over how to speak to his coalition of voters have consumed liberals. Leading the vanguard in those conversations is a collection of writers and thinkers of otherwise divergent views, united by the painful process of reexamining identity politics, social norms, and—most urgently—how to address racism in an election clearly influenced by it. Though earnest and perhaps necessary, their emphasis on the civil persuasion of denizens of "middle America" effectively coddles white people. It mistakes civility for the only suitable tool of discourse, and persuasion as its only end. |
| Ben Carson, Poverty Fighter? Posted: 05 Dec 2016 04:54 AM PST Trump's nominee to be the nation's next housing secretary brings no formal experience in the federal bureaucracy, but his vision for reviving inner cities will likely stem from his own upbringing. |
| The Latest: Czechs send medics to Iraq for IS battle Posted: 05 Dec 2016 04:51 AM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — The Latest on Iraq's Mosul offensive (all times local):
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| Factbox: What it will take for Trump to meet his immigration goals Posted: 05 Dec 2016 03:38 AM PST President-elect Donald Trump has outlined a ten-point plan on his transition website for dealing with illegal immigration. BUILD A WALL ON THE SOUTHERN BORDER: Trump has the legal authorization to build fences under the "Secure Fence Act" passed in 2006, but Congress would have to approve considerably more funding to wall off the entire southern border, which spans nearly 2,000 miles. Trump previously said he would make Mexico pay for the wall, but that policy is not included on his post-election web site. |
| UN humanitarian aid agency: Record $22.2B needed in 2017 Posted: 05 Dec 2016 01:53 AM PST GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.'s humanitarian aid coordination agency says it and partners require a record $22.2 billion next year to help people hit by conflict and disasters around the world, a 10 percent increase from this year. |
| Carter confident his successor will be ready to take command Posted: 05 Dec 2016 12:22 AM PST  TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Monday he believes his designated successor, if confirmed by the Senate as expected, will be a quick study regarding the responsibilities of the office.
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| As Iraq's Kurds eye statehood, a border takes shape Posted: 04 Dec 2016 10:27 PM PST  MAKHMUR, Iraq (AP) — The sand berms and trenches that snake across northern Iraq stretch toward Syria, some accompanied by newly paved roads lit by street lamps and sprawling checkpoints decked with Kurdish flags. The fighters here insist it isn't the border of a newly independent state — but in the chaos of Iraq that could change.
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| Recapture of Mosul 'possible' before next U.S. administration: Pentagon chief Posted: 04 Dec 2016 10:18 PM PST  By Idrees Ali ABOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT (Reuters) - While the fight to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State is going to be difficult, it is "possible" it could be complete before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Monday. Some 100,000 Iraqi government troops, Kurdish security forces and mainly Shi'ite militiamen are participating in the assault on Mosul that began on Oct. 17, with air and ground support from a U.S.-led coalition. The capture of Mosul, the largest city under control of Islamic State, is seen as crucial toward dismantling the caliphate which the militants declared over parts of the Iraq and Syria in 2014.
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| IRAQ-KURDISH-REGION Posted: 04 Dec 2016 10:15 PM PST Changes "Kurdistan" to "Kurdish region or Kurdish area"; map locates Kurdish region in Iraq; 1c x 3 inches; 46.5 mm x 76 mm; |
| U.S. defense elite rally behind Trump's unusual Pentagon pick Posted: 04 Dec 2016 06:51 PM PST  By Phil Stewart SIMI VALLEY, California (Reuters) - Often fiercely divided over policy, Republican and Democratic national security elite gathering this weekend in California appeared to largely agree on one thing: President-elect Donald Trump's pick for defense secretary. James Mattis, a retired Marine general, is an unorthodox choice. Because he retired only in 2013, Mattis is technically ineligible for the job since he has not been a civilian for at least seven years.
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