| Ex-Guantanamo prisoners suspected of rejoining militants increases: U.S. Posted: 07 Mar 2016 04:32 PM PST  By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of former Guantanamo Bay prison inmates who are suspected of having returned to fighting for militants doubled to 12 in the six months through January, the Obama administration said on Monday. The increase could fuel Republican attacks on Democratic President Barack Obama's plan to close the U.S. military prison in Cuba, which has come to symbolize aggressive detention practices following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and opened the United States to accusations of torture. The closure plan, drawn up by the Pentagon and which requires approval by Congress, proposes 13 potential sites on U.S. soil to hold 30-60 detainees in maximum-security prisons.
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| Raised on Terror: ISIS's Focus on 'Indoctrinating' Children Posted: 07 Mar 2016 02:40 PM PST  Let me just do the operation, because if I stay longer I might sin and the sins will increase," the teenage bomber said in the 22-minute ISIS video, in which he spoke atop a hill overlooking Dabiq, Syria. In the past six months alone, minors have appeared in 250 ISIS messages, which have included a dozen releases depicting children as executioners of prisoners or "spies," according to the Quilliam Foundation, a London think-tank led by former jihadi Noman Benotman. In early February, an ISIS video showed a boy appearing to cut the head off a man identified as belonging to an anti-ISIS group in Iraq and Syria.
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| US strikes hit Somalia training camp; drone report previewed Posted: 07 Mar 2016 01:49 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. airstrikes bombarded an al-Shabab training camp in Somalia Saturday, killing more than 150 militant fighters who were preparing to launch a large-scale attack, likely against African or U.S. personnel, the Pentagon said Monday.
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| Refugees stranded in Greece await news of their fate Posted: 07 Mar 2016 01:43 PM PST  IDOMENI, Greece (AP) — While European leaders struggled Monday for a unified approach to the refugee crisis, tens of thousands of people affected by their decisions were left stranded in Greece, with countries along the migrant trail gradually tightening border controls to staunch the northward flood.
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| The Pentagon is finally developing combat gear that fits the female form Posted: 07 Mar 2016 01:15 PM PST  Unisex clothing isn't all that popular among the civilian population, so it's no wonder that women in the armed forces haven't been thrilled by the rather one-dimensional design of combat gear. While women have technically been allowed to serve in combat positions within the U.S. military since 2013, it's taken awhile for the logistics of that decision to catch up to the times. But finally, the Pentagon is taking a closer look at their combat gear, and actually looking to create something that understands the difference between male and female bodies. Clothing for the military seems like such a basic provision that it's a bit shocking that it's only now being addressed. As Motherboard notes, women have been wearing male-centric armor to dangerous situations in Afghanistan and Iraq for nearly 10 years, and the issue is much more than aesthetics. These supposedly protective coverings failed to accommodate women's curves, ended up shifting the placement of gear, and simply put, didn't pay respect to the distinct anatomies of men and women. Related : This robotically-stabilized exoskeleton could give soldiers perfect aim "My entire lower pelvis was exposed," Army Sgt. First Class Elana Duffy, who served from 2003 to 2013 in intelligence told Motherboard. "If the gear was truly meant to protect my reproductive organs, I wouldn't have been able to bend over." So now, the Pentagon is seeking a change, and none too soon. As per reports from the Department of Defense Trauma Registry, more than 53,000 injuries have resulted from explosives in the Iraq and Afghanistan. And many of these injuries affect the genitals, leaving servicemen and women either infertile or forced to reproduce via artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization. As such, creating protective and actually wearable gear is becoming more important than ever. Still, while progress is on the horizon, it is unlikely that the new gear will be implemented before 2019. "Sometimes change is too slow, especially in areas as critical as body armor for our deploying troops," Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) told Motherboard. The congresswoman previously served as an Air Force pilot, and is intimately acquainted with the dangers of combat — she was one of the first women to undergo a double leg amputation when her helicopter was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in 2004. "Undoubtedly some of it could be cultural, but I think it's mostly bureaucratic. It just takes a long time from when a requirement is first identified to when something can be fielded." Also watch: Raimond de Hullu's vision for Oas1s green buildings Please enable Javascript to watch this video
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| Syria regime says will attend peace talks starting March 14 Posted: 07 Mar 2016 01:02 PM PST  Syria's regime said Monday it would attend renewed peace talks in Geneva starting March 14, but the opposition was still considering whether to go despite a major lull in fighting. The United Nations is hoping to restart peace talks that collapsed last month, building on a ceasefire that has led to the first significant decline in violence in Syria's nearly five-year civil war. UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has said he hopes talks can begin from Thursday, but officials have indicated it could take several days of preparations before they can start.
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| Biden vows US, allies will 'squeeze the heart' of IS on trip Posted: 07 Mar 2016 11:35 AM PST  AL-DHAFRA AIR BASE, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. Vice President Joe Biden began a Mideast tour Monday vowing that the United States and its allies would destroy and "squeeze the heart" of the Islamic State group, while thanking both American airmen and Emirati troops.
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| The World According to Men Posted: 07 Mar 2016 10:39 AM PST  ISTANBUL—For most of the 19th and 20th centuries, women war correspondents were rare creatures—considered intellectual oddities, more likely to be fetishized than taken seriously as news gatherers.
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| Global steel slump with roots in China shakes mining towns Posted: 07 Mar 2016 10:39 AM PST  It's been almost 10 months since an iron plant closed near Aurora, a century-old mining community in northeastern Minnesota. The only dentist retired in June, and nobody would take over his practice. The ...
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| Militants attack Tunisian forces near Libyan border, 53 killed Posted: 07 Mar 2016 09:49 AM PST  By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Dozens of Islamist fighters stormed through the Tunisian town of Ben Guerdan near the Libyan border on Monday, attacking army and police posts in a raid that killed at least 53 people, including civilians, the government and residents said. Bodies of dead militants lay in the streets near the military barracks after the army regained control. Authorities sealed off the nearby beach resort town of Djerba, a popular destination for foreign and local tourists, imposed a curfew on Ben Guerdan and closed two border crossings with Libya after the attack.
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| Direct Farmer Sales to Mexico Support Louisiana Rice Farming Industry Posted: 07 Mar 2016 09:04 AM PST HOUSTON, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The unloading of a second vessel of Louisiana rough rice in Mexico's Port of Veracruz last week marks a shift in the battle against low prices. Rice farmers throughout Louisiana have been trapped between rising input costs and lower demand for milled rice, and the ability to sell rough rice into the largest market for U.S. rice has been a critical factor. Loaded in the new IFG facility in the Port of Lake Charles, some 45 farmer-shareholders participated in the direct sale to a major rice mill in Mexico. An initiative taken on by a group of grass-roots farmers known as the Louisiana Independent Rice Producers Association (LIRPA) and the South Louisiana Rail Facility has brought positive attention to the region in coffee shops throughout the rice growing region and all the way to Washington, D.C. Working together with the US Rice Producers Association, these Louisiana farmers are doing more than just farming rice. |
| Poet-activist Sonia Sanchez subject of new documentary Posted: 07 Mar 2016 08:51 AM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — When a team of documentary makers first suggested a movie about her life, Sonia Sanchez resisted.
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| Egypt proposes Mubarak's foreign minister to head Arab League Posted: 07 Mar 2016 08:08 AM PST  The Arab League said Monday Egypt has presented Ahmed Abul Gheit, ex-president Hosni Mubarak's last foreign minister, as its candidate to head the pan-Arab body after its present chief declined a second term. In February, the secretary general of the Arab League, Nabil al-Arabi, 80, announced that he would not seek a second term after his current one ends in July. "The Arab League has been officially notified by Egypt that its candidate for the post of secretary general is foreign minister Ahmed Abul Gheit," said Ahmed Ben Helli, the deputy chief of the Cairo-based League.
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| Iraqi migrants return after Europe disappoints Posted: 07 Mar 2016 07:44 AM PST  SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq (AP) — Surkaw Omar and Rebien Abdullah quit their jobs and spent their life savings to migrate to Europe, only to find crowded asylum camps, hunger and freezing weather. Now back home in northern Iraq, they describe their quest for a better life as a disaster.
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| Navy SEALs tell congressman there is a combat rifle shortage Posted: 07 Mar 2016 07:24 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — The tip of the spear may be losing its edge.
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| Islamic State looking for spectacular attacks: UK police Posted: 07 Mar 2016 06:49 AM PST  Islamic State fighters want to carry out "enormous and spectacular" attacks against Britain and the Western lifestyle in general, Britain's most senior anti-terrorism officer said on Monday. London Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said the threat from the group which has taken over large parts of Syria and Iraq was evolving, and that it was keen to repeat elsewhere incidents such as last year's Paris shootings and suicide attacks that killed 130 people. "What we are now seeing in recent months ... is the broadening of that threat, more plans to attack Western lifestyle ... going from that narrow focus on police and military and symbols of the state to something much broader," Rowley told reporters.
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| Biden says US will 'wipe out' evil of IS jihadists Posted: 07 Mar 2016 06:26 AM PST  US Vice President Joe Biden said on Monday Washington was going to have to "squeeze the heart of" the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq to wipe it out. "We have to squeeze the heart of Daesh in Iraq and Syria so they can't continue to pump the poison in the region and the rest of the world," he said, using an Arab acronym for IS. "This fight is going to take time, but we are committed to seeing it through until we wipe out this evil -- and we will wipe out this evil," Biden said.
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| Syria opposition agrees to attend Geneva peace talks Posted: 07 Mar 2016 06:18 AM PST Syria's opposition on Monday agreed to attend a new round of UN-sponsored peace talks set for this week in Geneva after a landmark ceasefire led to a dramatic drop in fighting. The truce between President Bashar al-Assad's regime and non-jihadist rebels, brokered by Russia and the United States, has defied expectations and led to the first significant decline in violence in Syria's nearly five-year civil war. The United Nations is hoping it can now restart talks on a political transition that collapsed last month in Geneva. |
| Vital Voices Global Partnership to Host 15th Annual Global Leadership Awards Posted: 07 Mar 2016 06:00 AM PST WASHINGTON, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On March 9, four extraordinary women, each with a bold vision for the future, will be honored at the Vital Voices Global Partnership's 15th Annual Global Leadership Awards at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.The honorees, Hafsat Abiola-Costello of Nigeria, Akanksha Hazari of India, Khanim Latif of Iraq and Yoani Sanchez of Cuba – will all offer remarks on how the global community can continue to innovate and build a brighter, inclusive future for all. ... |
| U.S. targets Islamic State in Syria, Iraq with 18 strikes: statement Posted: 07 Mar 2016 04:54 AM PST  The United States and its allies conducted 18 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria on Sunday in their latest round of daily strikes, according to the coalition leading the operations. The Combined Joint Task Force, in a statement released on Monday, said it had staged a dozen strikes against the militants in Iraq. Its efforts near 10 cities hit five tactical units as well as numerous fighting positions and an Islamic State headquarters, it said.
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| At least 30 killed as militants, Tunisian forces clash in border town Posted: 07 Mar 2016 03:38 AM PST  By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Islamist fighters attacked army and police barracks in the Tunisian town of Ben Guerdan near the Libyan border on Monday and at least 30 people, including civilians, were killed in the clashes, residents and the Interior Ministry said. Authorities sealed off the nearby beach resort town of Djerba, a popular destination for foreign and local tourists, and closed two border crossings with Libya, the TAP state news agency said. It was not immediately clear if the attackers crossed the border, but Monday's assault was the type of militant operation Tunisia's government had feared as it prepares for potential spill over from Libya, where Islamic State militants have expanded their presence.
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| Foreign diplomats voicing alarm to U.S. officials about Trump Posted: 07 Mar 2016 03:09 AM PST  By Mark Hosenball, Arshad Mohammed and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Foreign diplomats are expressing alarm to U.S. government officials about what they say are inflammatory and insulting public statements by Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, according to senior U.S. officials. Officials from Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia have complained in recent private conversations, mostly about the xenophobic nature of Trump's statements, said three U.S. officials, who all declined to be identified. "As the (Trump) rhetoric has continued, and in some cases amped up, so, too, have concerns by certain leaders around the world," said one of the officials.
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| Tight security in Iraq after deadly suicide attack Posted: 07 Mar 2016 02:34 AM PST  Iraqi authorities tightened security in several provinces on Monday after a suicide attack at a checkpoint south of Baghdad killed 61 people, security and medical officials said. A truck packed with explosives was detonated by a suicide bomber at the main checkpoint guarding the northern entrance to the city of Hilla on Sunday, the deadliest such attack in Iraq this year. "The death toll following the suicide attack has risen to 61, including 23 members of the security forces," a doctor at Babil province health directorate told AFP.
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| Iraq: Death toll from Sunday's suicide attack climbs to 61 Posted: 07 Mar 2016 01:57 AM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials said on Monday that the death toll from Sunday's suicide truck bombing south of Baghdad climbed to 61.
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| Venezuela uses distressed bonds to settle debts with drugmakers Posted: 07 Mar 2016 12:09 AM PST  By Brian Ellsworth, Ben Hirschler and Tim McLaughlin CARACAS/LONDON/BOSTON (Reuters) - Venezuela has settled debts with at least three global drug companies by giving them bonds that trade at a heavy discount, a further sign of the OPEC nation's worsening financial crisis. Novartis AG , Bayer AG and Sanofi SA acquired dollar-denominated bonds from state-owned oil company PDVSA that they resold for as little as a third of their face value, according to a Reuters analysis of regulatory filings and sources with knowledge of the situation. This contributed to some $500 million in foreign exchange losses that the three companies suffered in Venezuela in 2015, The extent of the bond transactions has not been previously reported.
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| Philippine Muslim rebels warn IS seeks foothold in south Posted: 06 Mar 2016 09:26 PM PST  The Islamic State group is trying to establish a stronghold in the violence-racked southern Philippines, the head of the nation's biggest Muslim rebel organisation warned Monday. Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chairman Murad Ebrahim said the extremist IS seeks to capitalise on growing frustration over the breakdown of efforts to end a decades-long Muslim separatist rebellion in the southern Mindanao region. The peace process has been frozen since the Philippine congress failed last month to pass a bill, agreed between the government and the MILF, that would have granted autonomy to the region.
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| Hopeless and broke, some Afghan migrants return from Europe Posted: 06 Mar 2016 08:55 PM PST  After risking death on the migrant trail and two months in "nightmarish" refugee centres in Germany, Mohammed Asif bought a one-way ticket back to Afghanistan, relinquishing his lifelong dream of asylum in Europe. Afghans are the second-largest migrant group -- behind Syrians -- arriving in Europe, where authorities are struggling to cope with the continent's worst refugee crisis since World War II. A small but growing number, like 26-year-old Asif, are now returning to their country torn by war and gripped by economic malaise, as overcrowded refugee centres, a lack of jobs and the rise of anti-immigrant fervour in Europe leave them disillusioned.
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| Iraq town lives in shadow of world's 'most dangerous dam' Posted: 06 Mar 2016 08:10 PM PST  Amid growing talk that Iraq's largest dam risks bursting, residents of the town of Wana, which would be wiped out within minutes of a breach, are both sceptical and anxious. Wana lies a bit more than 10 kilometres (six miles) downstream from the Mosul dam on the Tigris river, the first town on the path of a possible doomsday wave. A major failure of the dam would unleash millions of cubic metres of water down the valley and Wana would be swept by a wave experts say could reach more than 15 metres (50 feet) in height.
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| Saudi centre looks to online videos to counter extremism Posted: 06 Mar 2016 07:48 PM PST  Saudi Arabia, one of the world's most conservative nations, has long been accused of fuelling extremism by promoting the teachings of 18th century Sunni preacher Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Wahhab. "The Missing Meanings", a slick three-minute production, took first place at an awards ceremony last month.
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| Investing in Iran? Frontier Market Opens Up Posted: 06 Mar 2016 07:23 PM PST Can you imagine investing in a fund tied to Iran? Investing in these funds is broadly prohibited for U.S. investors, and there is no indication that will change soon. But for Europeans, it can be done—within ... |
| Two 'radicalised' Syria-bound French teens return home Posted: 06 Mar 2016 07:00 PM PST  Two French teenagers suspected of trying to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group returned home Sunday night, two days after they went missing, officials said. Israe, 15, and 16-year-old Louisa disappeared from their school in Haute-Savoie in the French Alps on Friday, prompting the police to launch a search for the pair. The public prosecutor in Annecy said the teenagers "had left or were trying to leave for Syria".
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| Greece says EU migrant sharing is 'absolute emergency' Posted: 06 Mar 2016 12:21 PM PST  Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Sunday demanded the "urgent" relocation of thousands of refugees to other EU countries, as neighbouring Macedonia further tightened a border blockade trapping them in his country. "The immediate start of a reliable procedure to relocate refugees from our country to other EU states is an absolute emergency," Tsipras told leaders of his leftist Syriza party. Greece is at the heart of Europe's greatest migration crisis since World War II after a series of border restrictions on the migrant trail from Austria to Macedonia caused a bottleneck on its soil.
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