| U.S. oil falls after crude stocks hit record high Posted: 18 Feb 2016 04:31 PM PST  By Keith Wallis SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.S. oil futures fell in early Asian trade on Friday as record crude stocks renewed concerns about global oversupply, outweighing moves by oil producers including Saudi Arabia and Russia to cap oil output. U.S. crude had slipped 30 cents to $30.47 a barrel by 0016 GMT, after settling up 11 cents in the previous session. The benchmark had this week risen more than 14 percent up to Thursday after Saudi Arabia and Russia announced plans to freeze oil output at January's levels.
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| SGS, Weatherford trade blame over Iraq's missing nuclear material Posted: 18 Feb 2016 03:45 PM PST  By Michael Shields and Stephen Kalin ZURICH/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Swiss inspections group SGS and U.S. group Weatherford International Plc traded recriminations on Thursday, both denying responsibility for the disappearance last year of radioactive material used to test pipes at an oil field in southern Iraq. Reuters reported on Wednesday that Iraq was searching for a "highly dangerous" radioactive source whose theft in November had raised fears among Iraqi officials that it could be used as a weapon if acquired by Islamic State. SGS said in a statement that the equipment and material, when not in use, had been stored in a "secured bunker" provided by Weatherford, which it said was the "main contractor" and had hired its Turkish unit to perform the tests.
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| Pope says Donald Trump 'not a Christian' Posted: 18 Feb 2016 02:52 PM PST  Pope Francis on Thursday intervened explosively in the US election campaign, saying Donald Trump cannot claim to be a Christian and also vow to build a border wall to keep out immigrants. "Anyone, whoever he is, who only wants to build walls and not bridges is not a Christian," the pontiff told journalists during his return journey from a trip to Mexico. Despite that qualifier, Francis's remarks drew swift and angry condemnation from the billionaire tycoon.
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| Turkey blames Kurdish militants for Ankara bomb; vows reprisals Posted: 18 Feb 2016 02:14 PM PST  By Ercan Gurses and Humeyra Pamuk ANKARA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu blamed a Syrian Kurdish militia fighter working with Kurdish militants inside Turkey for a suicide car bombing that killed 28 people in the capital Ankara, and he vowed retaliation in both Syria and Iraq. A car laden with explosives detonated next to military buses as they waited at traffic lights near Turkey's armed forces' headquarters, parliament and government buildings in the administrative heart of Ankara late on Wednesday. Davutoglu said the attack was clear evidence that the YPG, a Syrian Kurdish militia that has been supported by the United States in the fight against Islamic State in northern Syria, was a terrorist organization and that Turkey, a NATO member, expected cooperation from its allies in combating the group.
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| The Latest: Austria defends its decision to cap refugees Posted: 18 Feb 2016 01:57 PM PST  COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The Latest on the influx of refugees to Europe (all times local):
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| Donald Trump vs. Pope Francis: Game-changer in South Carolina? Posted: 18 Feb 2016 01:53 PM PST Has Donald Trump met his match? When Pope Francis suggested to reporters Thursday that Mr. Trump "is not a Christian," because of his tough approach to illegal immigration, a firestorm ensued. Trump responded as he always does: by going on the attack. |
| A new Iran deal? Syria truce may demand one Posted: 18 Feb 2016 01:50 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — The pursuit of peace in Syria may require the United States and Iran to break new ground in their increasingly comfortable diplomatic relationship, propelled by last year's nuclear accord and their more recent prisoner swap. Another taboo could be shattered soon: Military discussions. |
| For the Mideast, an anniversary to remember Posted: 18 Feb 2016 01:07 PM PST An important anniversary might help. A quarter century ago on Feb. 26, the Gulf state of Kuwait was officially liberated by American-led forces from Iraq's occupation. The 1991 Gulf War was dubbed a "good war." But one long-term effect is often overlooked. |
| Pentagon tells Russia where US commandos are based in Syria Posted: 18 Feb 2016 12:57 PM PST  The Pentagon has asked Russia to stay away from parts of northern Syria where US special operations forces are training local fighters to combat the Islamic State group, military officials said Thursday. The acknowledgement Russia knows approximately where the highly covert US commandos are based is significant because the Pentagon has repeatedly stressed it is not cooperating with Moscow as the two powers lead separate air campaigns in war-ravaged Syria. The Pentagon last year said it was sending about 50 special ops troops to work with anti-IS fighters in Syria, though officials have said next to nothing about their whereabouts or progress since, and have worked hard to ensure no information about the commandos' presence is released, citing security reasons.
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| How will Turkey respond to Wednesday's Ankara bombing? Posted: 18 Feb 2016 12:48 PM PST Officials in Turkey are placing the blame for a deadly car bomb blast in the nation's capital of Ankara Wednesday on militant Kurds, saying the republic would retaliate for the suicide attack targeted at Turkish military staff. Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the bombing was carried out by a Syrian national named Salih Neccar, who was connected to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a militant rebel group based in the Kurdistan region, which includes parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. The blast, which came during rush hour on Wednesday, killed 28 people and injured around 60 only four months after another suicide bombing at an Ankara peace rally left more than 80 people dead. |
| Turkey blames Syrian Kurdish fighters for Ankara attack Posted: 18 Feb 2016 12:29 PM PST  Turkey on Thursday blamed Kurdish militants based inside the country and in Syria for a car bombing targeting a military convoy in Ankara that killed 28 people and risked a new escalation of the Syrian conflict. The massive blast struck five buses carrying military service personnel when they stopped at a traffic light in the centre of the capital on Wednesday evening. It was the latest in a string of deadly strikes that have rocked Turkey since last summer and one of the deadliest assaults targeting the military in the NATO member state in recent years.
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| U.N. aims to air drop food to IS-besieged city in eastern Syria Posted: 18 Feb 2016 12:20 PM PST  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations plans to make its first air drops of food and other aid in Syria, to Deir al-Zor, an eastern city of 200,000 besieged by Islamic State militants, the chair of a U.N. humanitarian task force said on Thursday. U.N. aid agencies do not have direct access to areas held by Islamic State, including the city, where civilians face severe food shortages and sharply deteriorating conditions. Speaking a day after U.N. road convoys reached five areas, some besieged by government forces and others by rebels, Jan Egeland said the organization's World Food Programme (WFP) had a "concrete plan" for carrying out the Deir al-Zor drop in coming days.
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| US-led strikes kill 15 civilians in northeast Syria: monitor Posted: 18 Feb 2016 12:09 PM PST  Strikes by a US-led coalition against the Islamic State group killed at least 15 civilians, including three children, in northeastern Syria on Thursday, a monitor said. The strikes hit four IS-controlled villages in Hasakeh province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, saying the toll could rise. The Britain-based monitor said the latest civilian casualties came after two days of civilian deaths in US-led strikes in Hasakeh.
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| Egypt's elite bids farewell to ex-UN chief Boutros-Ghali Posted: 18 Feb 2016 11:56 AM PST  Egypt's political and religious elite turned out Thursday for the funeral of former UN secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who steered the world body through several global conflicts during one of its toughest periods. The Egyptian diplomat, who became the first African secretary-general in 1992, died in Cairo on Tuesday aged 93. The ceremony in a prominent Cairo mosque was also attended by Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayib, the head of Sunni Islam's seat of learning, Al-Azhar, and Coptic Pope Tawadros II.
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| U.S.-backed fighters advance against Islamic State in Syria's northeast Posted: 18 Feb 2016 11:37 AM PST A U.S.-backed alliance of Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters advanced against Islamic State fighters in the northeast on Thursday as part of a push toward a strategic town held by the jihadists, the alliance and a monitoring group said. The Syria Democratic Forces, which includes the powerful Kurdish YPG militia, said they had captured several villages and farms from Islamic State, backed by U.S.-led air strikes. The alliance earlier on Thursday said it launched a new offensive against Islamic State this week to capture al-Shadadi, a major logistics hub for the group located on a network of highways in Hasaka province. |
| U.S.-led strikes in Syria kill 38 civilians in past two days: monitor Posted: 18 Feb 2016 11:36 AM PST The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group, said on Thursday that at least 38 civilians were killed in air strikes carried out by a U.S.-led coalition in Hasaka province in northeast Syria in the past two days. The United States and its allies are carrying out air raids in the area against Islamic State, which controls some parts of Hasaka province but has lost ground in recent months. Hasaka borders mostly Islamic State-held Deir al-Zor province and Raqqa, the group's de facto capital in Syria. |
| Turkey blames Kurdish militants for Ankara car bombing Posted: 18 Feb 2016 11:31 AM PST  ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey on Thursday blamed Kurdish militants at home and in neighboring Syria for a deadly bombing in Ankara and it stepped up pressure on the U.S. to sever ties with the Syrian Kurdish militia that has been a key force against the Islamic State group in the complex Syrian conflict.
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| Trump calls pope's criticism of him 'disgraceful' Posted: 18 Feb 2016 10:53 AM PST  Donald Trump on Thursday called remarks by Pope Francis "disgraceful," after the pontiff argued the Republican White House hopeful could not claim to be a Christian based on his anti-immigrant stance. "For a religious leader to question a person's faith is disgraceful," Trump said in a statement that he read out to a crowd at a campaign stop in South Carolina, which holds its primary vote on Saturday. Francis issues his remarks after concluding a five-day trip to Mexico, where he delivered a mass before 300,000 people near the US border and decried the "human tragedy" of migrants fleeing violence worldwide.
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| Saudi ground forces would target IS in Syria: minister Posted: 18 Feb 2016 10:31 AM PST  Saudi forces participating in any US-led ground operation in Syria would focus on fighting the Islamic State jihadist group not the Damascus regime, the kingdom's foreign minister told AFP on Thursday. In an interview in Riyadh, Adel al-Jubeir also said separate Saudi-led military operations in Yemen would carry on until the country's government is fully restored to power and that the kingdom would not cut oil production despite falling prices. On Syria, Jubeir said any Saudi force on the ground would make the battle against IS its priority, despite Riyadh's fierce opposition to President Bashar al-Assad.
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| Dozens of Iraqi migrants return home from Europe Posted: 18 Feb 2016 08:53 AM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — Emotional scenes unfolded at the Baghdad International Airport on Thursday as dozens of Iraqis who had sought refuge in Europe returned home.
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| Saudi oil output freeze sees economics trump enmity Posted: 18 Feb 2016 08:46 AM PST  The growing pain of plunging oil prices has galvanised Saudi Arabia to look beyond its rivalry with Russia and Iran over regional conflicts and pursue cooperation on production, analysts say. The determination of Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter and de facto leader of the OPEC oil cartel, to protect its market share has contributed to a slump in oil prices to 13-year lows.
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| A look at Turkey's friends and foes in the Syria conflict Posted: 18 Feb 2016 08:44 AM PST  Turkey accuses several of its enemies of carrying out a deadly suicide bombing in Ankara. The prime minister blames the attack on the Kurdish militia in Syria, Turkey's own outlawed Kurdish rebel group and the Syrian government. A look at Turkey's friends and foes in the Syria conflict:
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| European police chiefs announce joint refugee register Posted: 18 Feb 2016 08:35 AM PST  The police chiefs of five countries on the migrant route through southeast Europe announced an agreement Thursday for a joint refugee registration point at the Greek-Macedonian border. Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria will jointly profile and register migrants from war-torn countries and then organise their "controlled transport" through to Austria, Croatia's police director Vlado Dominic said. "We made an agreement on the joint profiling and registration of migrants at the Greek-Macedonian border," Dominic told reporters, saying the plan would take effect immediately.
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| U.S. adds visa restrictions to Yemen, Somalia, Libya travelers Posted: 18 Feb 2016 08:32 AM PST  The United States has added Yemen, Somalia and Libya as "countries of concern" under its visa waiver program, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said on Thursday, in a move that will make U.S. visa procedures more stringent for individuals who have visited those nations during the past five years. The new restrictions were imposed under a law passed after the November attacks in Paris attributed to Islamic State. Citizens of U.S. allies who previously had been able to travel to the United States without first obtaining a visa now will have to apply to U.S. consulates for such visas if they have traveled to those designated countries in the past five years.
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| The Latest: Kurd leader: Rogue elements may be behind attack Posted: 18 Feb 2016 08:22 AM PST  ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The Latest on Turkish airstrikes on Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq and aftermath of Ankara bombing (all times local):
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| Libya's North African neighbors brace for any Western strikes Posted: 18 Feb 2016 07:45 AM PST  By Patrick Markey and Tarek Amara ALGIERS/TUNIS (Reuters) - Libya's neighbors are again preparing for possible Western intervention in Libya, tightening border security and sending diplomatic warnings about the risk from hurried action against Islamic State that could force thousands refugees to flee. As Islamic State has expanded in Libya -- taking over the city of Sirte and attacking oil ports -- so too have calls increased for a swift Western response to stop the group establishing a base outside its Iraq and Syria territory. For Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria, sharing borders with Libya was already a security challenge as the country slipped into war between rival factions and allowed Islamic State to thrive five years after NATO strikes helped defeat Muammar Gaddafi.
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| Reducing Mental Health Risk for Kids in Military Families Posted: 18 Feb 2016 07:30 AM PST While troop levels have declined of late, the longest war in the country's history has prompted many clinicians and researchers to take a closer look at the psychological strain military service can put on families and children. "On the whole, military families are really resilient," says Julie Cederbaum, an assistant professor of social work specializing in children and families at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Rather than simply reacting to issues as they arise, many experts are now focusing on ways to improve kids' resilience and prevent or address mental health challenges in the early-going. |
| Wounded U.S. soldier soon to receive first U.S. penis transplant Posted: 18 Feb 2016 07:26 AM PST  By Reuters Staff BALTIMORE (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier wounded in an explosion will be the first person in the United States to receive a penis transplant, doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital said, which could open the way for about 60 other servicemen with genital injuries to have this surgery. The surgery requires joining nerves and blood vessels under a microscope. "When you meet these guys and you realize what they've given for the country, it makes a lot of sense," Dr. Richard Redett, a plastic surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital who will help perform the operation, told Reuters.
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| Radioactive material missing in south Iraq: officials Posted: 18 Feb 2016 06:34 AM PST  Iraqi authorities are searching for radioactive material that went missing in southern Iraq more than three months ago, officials said on Thursday. American oil and gas services firm Weatherford informed the Basra province environment commission on November 15 of the "loss" of radioactive material, said Khajak Ferweer, the head of the commission's radiation department.
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| Iraq to shrink paramilitary forces due to shortage of funds Posted: 18 Feb 2016 06:33 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — The Iraqi government has decided to cut the number of state-financed paramilitary forces due to a shortage of funds as the international oil price declines, a spokesman for a leading predominantly Shiite militia group said Thursday. |
| EU patrol rescues 900 migrants at sea: Frontex Posted: 18 Feb 2016 06:10 AM PST  The EU border agency Frontex said one of its maritime patrols rescued around 900 migrants on Thursday near the Greek island of Lesbos as weather conditions have made the sea crossing more dangerous. "We're picking up all the migrants we encounter (at sea) because bad weather and cold make the risks much higher now than in the summer," Ewa Moncure told AFP. During the summer months, up to 7,000 refugees and migrants arrived in EU member Greece every day after making the trip across the Aegean Sea from Turkey in makeshift or overcrowded boats, and many including children have drowned.
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| Former US marine attacked at McDonald's. Was it racially motivated? Posted: 18 Feb 2016 06:10 AM PST A former US Marine who was assaulted at a McDonald's in downtown Washington, D.C., last Friday says the attack was racially motivated, but questions persist about motivations for the assault, local police said this week. Christopher Marquez, who served in Iraq and received a Bronze Star for valor and now attends American University, told the Washington Post that the attack, which he said was unprovoked, occurred after several black teenagers and young men asked him whether "black lives matter" and then called him racist. Recommended: Are you smarter than a US Marine? |
| Iraq sentences 40 to death over Islamic State's mass killing of captured soldiers Posted: 18 Feb 2016 06:04 AM PST An Iraqi court sentenced 40 captured members of Islamic State to death on Thursday for the killing of hundreds of soldiers after their capture by the ultra-radical militant group as it swept across northern Iraq in 2014, a judicial spokesman said. The slaughter of 1,700 soldiers after they fled from an ex-U.S. army base outside the northern city of Tikrit has become a symbol of Islamic State's brutality and the Sunni insurgent group's sectarian hatred of Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim majority. A Baghdad criminal court issued the death sentences based on what Abdul-Sattar al-Birqdar, spokesman for Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council, said were convictions on terrorism charges. |
| Iraq court sentences 40 to death over 2014 Tikrit massacre Posted: 18 Feb 2016 05:47 AM PST  An Iraqi court on Thursday sentenced 40 men to hang over the June 2014 massacre by Sunni jihadists and allied militants of hundreds of military recruits in Tikrit, the judiciary said. The central criminal court in Baghdad found 40 of 47 defendants guilty of involvement in the "Speicher" massacre, named after the base near where the victims were captured before being executed. "The court ordered the execution of 40 (people) convicted of involvement in the incident, while seven were released for lack of evidence," Iraq's judiciary spokesman Abdel Sattar Bayraqdar said in the statement.
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| Islamic State finds 'diminishing returns' on Twitter: report Posted: 18 Feb 2016 05:45 AM PST  By Dustin Volz WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Islamic State's English-language reach on Twitter has stalled in recent months amid a stepped-up crackdown against the extremist group's army of digital proselytizers, who have long relied on the site to recruit and radicalize new adherents, according to a study being released on Thursday. Suspensions of English-speaking users affiliated with Islamic State from June to October 2015 have limited the group's growth and in some cases devastated the viral reach of specific users, according to the report from George Washington University's Program on Extremism, which analyzed a list of accounts promoted by the militant group. The report found that easily discoverable English accounts sympathetic to Islamic State was usually under 1,000, and that those users' activity was mostly insular, limited to interacting with each other.
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| Balkan, Austria police agree to register refugees on Macedonian border Posted: 18 Feb 2016 05:22 AM PST  Police chiefs from Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria agreed on Thursday to introduce joint registration of refugees crossing from Greece into Macedonia and organize their transport from the border straight to Austria. The process will identify and take biometric data from the migrants and determine whether they come from countries deemed dangerous, such as Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan. It will not grant them status as asylum seekers, a step that will take place in Austria or whatever other country they might travel to.
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| United Arab Emirates backs oil producers' output freeze plan Posted: 18 Feb 2016 05:04 AM PST  The United Arab Emirates threw its support on Thursday behind a plan by major oil producers to freeze output levels in an attempt to halt a slide in crude prices that has pushed them to their lowest point ...
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| Mark Cuban Says Bloomberg’s ‘Too Meek’ to Run. Here’s Why He’s Wrong Posted: 18 Feb 2016 05:00 AM PST  No one has ever accused Mike Bloomberg of being a shrinking violet. Fellow billionaire Mark Cuban recognized that Bloomberg is a force to be reckoned with when he told the host of a New York radio show that hizzoner should run for president, but he wondered if his voice would be heard above the cacophonous din that is Election 2016. You know, can he shout loud enough?" asked Cuban, whose bombast as owner of the Dallas Mavericks and as one of the panelists on the TV show Shark Tank is legendary.
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| Kurdish forces say Islamic State group used chemical shells Posted: 18 Feb 2016 04:43 AM PST IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Islamic State militants recently fired mortar shells believed to have been filled with a chemical substance, possibly chlorine, at Kurdish troops close to the Iraqi town of Sinjar, wounding 30 fighters, a Kurdish military officer and a medical official said Thursday. |
