| Nuclear terrorism fears loom over Obama's final atomic summit Posted: 30 Mar 2016 03:08 PM PDT  By Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Just as fears of nuclear terrorism are rising, U.S. President Barack Obama's drive to lock down vulnerable atomic materials worldwide seems to have lost momentum and could slow further. With less than 10 months left in office to follow through on one of his signature foreign policy initiatives, Obama will convene leaders from more than 50 countries in Washington this week for his fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit, a high-level diplomatic process that started and will end on his watch. A boycott by Russian President Vladimir Putin, apparently unwilling to join in a U.S.-dominated gathering at a time of increased tensions between Washington and Moscow, adds to doubts that the meeting will yield major results.
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| Coalition has 'momentum' against IS group: Pentagon official Posted: 30 Mar 2016 03:06 PM PDT  A top Pentagon official on Wednesday said Islamic State jihadists in Iraq and Syria are losing the lengthy fight against the US-led coalition, even as the jihadists continue to mount attacks overseas like the one in Brussels last week. Coalition forces have been hitting IS targets since August 2014 after the extremists seized huge parts of Iraq and Syria, and critics have accused the campaign of moving too slowly. "Right now, without question, the momentum against ISIS is more than at any other time in our campaign," Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said, using an acronym for the IS group.
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| Obama could decide on greater troop presence in Iraq soon: general Posted: 30 Mar 2016 02:11 PM PDT  President Barack Obama will have the chance to decide on whether to increase the number of U.S. forces in Iraq in the "coming weeks," the top U.S. general said on Wednesday. The extra troops would bolster the capabilities of Iraqi forces preparing for a major offensive against the Islamic State militant group in Mosul, U.S. Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a news briefing. U.S. and Iraqi military officials have been discussing a plan to retake Mosul, which fell to Islamic State in June 2014, and how U.S. forces could support their efforts, Dunford said.
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| Turkey, Greece scramble to start EU deal as migrant arrivals rise Posted: 30 Mar 2016 12:48 PM PDT  By Tulay Karadeniz and Dasha Afanasieva ANKARA (Reuters) - Five days before Turkey is due to begin taking back illegal migrants from Greece under a deal with the European Union, neither side is fully ready, with officials scrambling to be able to make at least a symbolic start as new arrivals rise. Turkey agreed with the EU this month to take back all migrants and refugees who cross illegally to Greece in exchange for financial aid, faster visa-free travel for Turks and slightly accelerated EU membership talks. A series of steps needs to be taken by Monday for the deal to get underway, according to people familiar with an internal European Commission report.
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| Few new pledges at U.N. talks to resettle Syrian refugees Posted: 30 Mar 2016 11:43 AM PDT  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on countries on Wednesday to re-settle nearly half a million Syrian refugees in the next three years, but only Italy, Sweden and the United States immediately announced plans to play a part. The United Nations refugee agency aims to re-settle some 480,000, about 10 percent of those now in neighbouring countries, by the end of 2018, but concedes it is battling to overcome widespread fear and political wrangling. "We have heard pledges that increase resettlement and humanitarian admission to over 185,000," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said at the end of the meeting - signalling an increase of just 6,000 places.
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| Sanctions must not be used 'lightly': US Treasury chief Posted: 30 Mar 2016 11:30 AM PDT  Economic sanctions are vital to countering threats to US interests, from rogue states to the Islamic State group, but overusing them risks weakening America's global economic clout, US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew warned Wednesday. "Sanctions should not be used lightly," Lew said in a wide-ranging speech that parsed the successes and limitations of decades of sanctions -- from the nationwide Cuban embargo to the targeted and flexible measures used against Iran or North Korea.
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| First Look at $3.4 Billion in Weapons the US Is Sending to NATO Posted: 30 Mar 2016 11:15 AM PDT  The Pentagon has unveiled how it plans to spend $3.4 billion on deploying advanced military hardware and troops to Eastern Europe as a check against Russian aggression in the region. In February, the Defense Department announced it would quadruple the amount of money for the European Reassurance Initiative in its fiscal year 2017 budget, pending the approval of Congress. The effort covers the costs of sending hundreds of U.S. troops in and out of Europe for brief deployments, military exercises with allies and other training missions.
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| Iraqis kept in the dark about Mosul Dam emergency plans Posted: 30 Mar 2016 08:12 AM PDT  By Stephen Kalin and Saif Hameed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Despite intense U.S. pressure to act to keep Iraq's largest dam from collapsing, Baghdad has done little to prepare Iraqis for the possibility of a burst that could unleash a flood reaching the capital and killing hundreds of thousands of people. The government signed a $296-million contract with Italy's Trevi Group last month to reinforce northern Iraq's fragile Mosul Dam, but it has not announced any specific plans to try to rescue people in the event of a breach or instructed them in detail how to react safely. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's most significant public statement on the dam, which was not widely distributed, advised millions of people living in the path of a potential flood that they should move to higher ground, but provided few specifics.
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| Assad calls on U.N. to help restore ancient Palmyra Posted: 30 Mar 2016 05:31 AM PDT  President Bashar al-Assad called on the United Nations and other international organizations on Wednesday to help Syria to restore Palmyra after government forces drove Islamic State militants out of the ancient city. State news agency SANA said Assad made the appeal in a message to Ban Ki-moon, in which he also thanked the United Nations Secretary-General for welcoming the expulsion of Islamic State from the Syrian city, a UNESCO world heritage site.
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| U.S., allies conduct 24 strikes against Islamic State: U.S. military Posted: 30 Mar 2016 04:57 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. and its allies conducted 24 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria on Tuesday, the coalition leading the operations said. In a statement released on Wednesday, the Combined Joint Task Force said four strikes near two cities in Syria hit tactical units and destroyed a mortar position and seven bunkers. In Iraq, 20 strikes near 10 cities hit several tactical units and a safe house and destroyed assembly areas, fighting positions, tunnels and a boat. (Reporting by Washington Newsroom) |
| Syrian refugee crisis demands united global action: Ban Posted: 30 Mar 2016 04:35 AM PDT  UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday called for greater global efforts to tackle the Syrian refugee crisis, as he opened a conference on securing resettlement places for nearly half a million of those displaced by the five-year conflict. "We are here to address the biggest refugee and displacement crisis of our time," Ban told the conference in Geneva. "Attempts to demonise people fleeing conflict are not only demeaning, offensive and counter-productive, they are factually wrong," Ban told journalists after his speech, in an apparent reference to rising anti-migrant rhetoric voiced by some political leaders across the developed world.
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| Czech government agrees to send pilot trainers to Iraq Posted: 30 Mar 2016 04:31 AM PDT PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech government has approved a Defense Ministry plan to send up to 35 instructors to Iraq to train pilots for Czech-made planes. |
| Today in History Posted: 29 Mar 2016 09:01 PM PDT Today is Wednesday, March 30, the 90th day of 2016. There are 276 days left in the year. |
| Buenos Aires Film Fest Expands Competition Slates Posted: 29 Mar 2016 09:00 PM PDT Peter Bogdanovich and three-time Oscar-winning composer Michel Legrand are set to be among the festival guests. |
