| Man gets 38-year prison term for killing Iraqi man in Dallas Posted: 24 May 2016 04:32 PM PDT DALLAS (AP) — An 18-year-old man has been sentenced to 38 years in prison for fatally shooting an Iraqi man taking photos of his first snowfall in Texas. |
| U.N. urges Falluja combatants to let civilians escape fighting Posted: 24 May 2016 03:45 PM PDT The United Nations on Tuesday pleaded with combatants in Iraq's embattled Falluja to protect civilians escaping the fighting as Iraqi forces shelled Islamic State targets in an attempt to retake the militant stronghold just west of the capital. Earlier the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said a number of women and children had died while trying to leave the city. "We're calling on all parties to the conflict to take all measures to protect civilians caught in the middle," Farhan Haq told reporters. |
| Iraq forces keep up shelling of Falluja, U.N. concern mounts for civilians Posted: 24 May 2016 03:21 PM PDT  By Ahmed Rasheed and Stephen Kalin BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi forces shelled Islamic State targets in Falluja on Tuesday, the second day of an assault to retake the militant stronghold just west of Baghdad, as international concern mounted for the security of civilians. The United Nations refugees agency UNHCR said women and children died while trying to leave the city. About 100,000 civilians are estimated to be in Falluja which, in January 2014, became the first Iraqi city to be captured by Islamic State, six months before the group declared its caliphate.
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| U.S. arrests New York man for providing support to Islamic State Posted: 24 May 2016 03:15 PM PDT A former plumbing assistant from New York City was arrested on Tuesday and charged with providing material support to Islamic State by trying to help an undercover law enforcement official travel to Syria to fight with the militant group. Sajmir Alimehmeti, a 22-year-old from the Bronx borough, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan, which said he had expressed support for Islamic State since 2014. The U.S. citizen was arrested at his Bronx residence on Tuesday morning, where authorities found an Islamic State flag, a martial arts weapon and combat-survival knives, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan Quigley said in court. |
| Lake Chad Basin is world's most neglected humanitarian crisis: U.N. aid chief Posted: 24 May 2016 03:06 PM PDT  By Alex Whiting ISTANBUL (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - West Africa's Lake Chad region is the world's most neglected humanitarian crisis, where poverty and desertification have been compounded by violence caused by Boko Haram, the U.N. aid chief said on Tuesday at the World Humanitarian Summit. The gap between the suffering and the humanitarian response may be bigger than in Syria, Iraq or Yemen, a senior Red Cross official said. Violence has forced more than 2.4 million people to flee their homes in Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad, according to the United Nations.
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| Erdogan says Turkey parliament will block EU migrant deal if no visa-free travel Posted: 24 May 2016 01:52 PM PDT  President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday warned the European Union that the Turkish parliament would block laws related to the landmark deal to stem the flow of migrants to Europe if Ankara was not granted its key demand of visa-free travel. The stark and unexpected warning from Erdogan came amid spiralling tensions between the Turkish strongman and the bloc over a string of issues ranging from existing accords and human rights as he seeks to further consolidate his powers. "If that (the visa exemption) is not what will happen... no decision and no law in the framework of the readmission agreement will come out of the parliament of the Turkish Republic," Erdogan said at the close of the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul.
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| U.S.-backed Syrian alliance launches new attack near Islamic State capital Posted: 24 May 2016 01:06 PM PDT  By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - A U.S.-backed alliance of Syrian militias launched a new offensive against Islamic State fighters near their de facto capital of Raqqa city on Tuesday, a monitoring group and an official said. The Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance is the main Syrian partner for the U.S.-led alliance battling the Islamic State group that controls large areas of northern and eastern Syria. Aided by U.S.-led air strikes, the YPG has driven Islamic State from wide areas of northern Syria over the last year or more, though its advances have recently slowed.
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| NYC Opera announces 1st full season after bankruptcy Posted: 24 May 2016 12:52 PM PDT  NEW YORK (AP) — The revived New York City Opera announced its first full season following its emergence from bankruptcy, planning 28 performances of six works in 2016-17 that include the U.S. debut of Antonio de Literes' "Los Elementos" and area premieres of Peter Eotvos' "Angels in America" and Tobin Stokes' "Fallujah."
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| Twin assaults in Syria, Iraq pile pressure on IS Posted: 24 May 2016 12:34 PM PDT  Kurdish-Arab forces launched a major assault against the Islamic State group in Syria's Raqa province Tuesday and Iraqi forces advanced on it in Fallujah, piling pressure on the jihadists in two strongholds. It was the "deadliest bomb attack" on any regime-held area in Syria's five-year war, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group. The Syrian Democratic Forces on Tuesday announced its largest offensive to date against IS territory north of the IS stronghold of Raqa city.
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| Strike on Taliban chief shows dimming US hopes for Afghan peace Posted: 24 May 2016 12:15 PM PDT  The US killing of Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour marks a significant shift for President Barack Obama, highlighting a new willingness to target the group's leaders in Pakistan and risk retaliatory attacks against struggling Afghan security forces. The move also shows that Obama has -- at least for now -- abandoned hopes of bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table for peace talks. US drones killed Mansour on Saturday in a remote area in Pakistan along the border with Afghanistan, the first known American assault on a top Afghan Taliban leader on Pakistani soil.
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| Top UN official urges 'new approach' to aid Posted: 24 May 2016 11:53 AM PDT  Spending on humanitarian relief has tripled in the last 10 years but is still too small to meet demand, a top UN official told AFP Tuesday as she called for a fundamental re-think of the aid system. "We are spending as a world now three times as much on humanitarian relief as we did 10 years ago and it is still not enough. Every appeal is under-subscribed," said Helen Clark, head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
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| Another suit accuses VA physician assistant of sexual abuse Posted: 24 May 2016 10:36 AM PDT KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A veteran who served in Iraq is the latest person to file a lawsuit accusing a former physician assistant at a Veteran's Administration hospital in Kansas of sexual abuse. |
| Dutch MPs vote to strip jihadists of dual nationality Posted: 24 May 2016 10:31 AM PDT  Dutch MPs voted on Tuesday to strip dual nationals of their Dutch citizenship if they join terror groups such as the so-called Islamic State group to fight as jihadists, officials said. The move comes in the wake of attacks in Paris last year and in Brussels in March, carried out by European extremists thought to have returned home after joining radical organisations in Syria or Iraq as foreign fighters. The lower house of parliament approved the controversial bill to revoke the Dutch citizenship of people with dual nationality, if they are deemed to have joined foreign terror groups like IS or Al-Qaeda -- even if they have not been convicted of any crime.
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| UN to raise $3.8 billion for education in war zones and natural disaster areas Posted: 24 May 2016 10:21 AM PDT Because of Syria's civil war, 2.6 million Syrian children have stopped attending school. In war-torn Iraq, the classrooms in 1,200 schools were closed to turn the buildings into shelters. In South Sudan, 400,000 children withdrew from school. |
| Key stages in the war against IS Posted: 24 May 2016 09:41 AM PDT  In neighbouring Iraq, government forces have also launched an offensive to recapture Fallujah, a key IS stronghold west of Baghdad. On August 8, 2014, US jets strike IS positions in northern Iraq in response to an appeal from Baghdad, in the first American military operation in the country since troops withdrew in late 2011. Already entrenched in neighbouring Syria, IS seized swathes of Iraqi territory in a lightning offensive launched in June 2014 and marked by a complete collapse of the security forces.
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| Syrian base used by Russia damaged in IS attack: report Posted: 24 May 2016 08:32 AM PDT  Satellite imagery appears to show extensive damage to an air base in Syria used by Russian forces following an attack by fighters from the Islamic State group, US intelligence company Stratfor said Tuesday. The claim was immediately denied by Russia's defence ministry which said that the damage had been there for months and was due to fighting between Syrian government forces and "militants from terror groups". Stratfor released satellite images dated from May 14 and May 17, implying that the damage to the T-4 base, also known as Tiyas, was caused in that time.
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| Hope for Wounded Veteran Families Wishing to Start a Family Posted: 24 May 2016 07:47 AM PDT WASHINGTON, May 24, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Senate approved a bill Thursday that could help wounded veterans and their spouses start a family. Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) applauds the vote by the Senate but knows there is much more work to do. Too many veterans have returned home from Iraq and Afghanistan having lost their chance to start a family naturally. |
| Wounded Veterans Swing into Action Posted: 24 May 2016 07:12 AM PDT DALLAS, May 24, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Kenneth Gibbs will remember August 19, 2004, for the rest of his life. WWP's purpose is to raise awareness and to enlist the public's aid for the needs of injured service members, to help injured servicemen and women aid and assist each other, and to provide unique, direct programs and services to meet their needs. |
| As fighters return from Libya, Tunisia faces growing challenge Posted: 24 May 2016 07:02 AM PDT  By Patrick Markey and Tarek Amara BEN GUERDANE, Tunisia (Reuters) - After a U.S. air strike killed a Tunisian jihadist commander in western Libya in late February, dozens of Islamic State fighters sneaked across the border into Tunisia and attacked an army barracks and police bases in the town of Ben Guerdane. In the battle that followed, Islamic State militants shot dead local Tunisian anti-terrorism chief Colonel Abdel Atti Abdelkabir metres from his home. Residents, including the colonel's brother, say they recognised some of the attackers as former neighbours and classmates who had left to train with Islamic State in Libya.
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| Iraq's Fallujah operation gives PM political reprieve Posted: 24 May 2016 06:28 AM PDT  Iraq's operation to recapture jihadist bastion Fallujah has given Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi a political reprieve, drawing attention away from repeated setbacks to reform efforts that have angered protesters. Dressed in a black uniform of a type worn by Iraqi special forces, Abadi visited the command centre for the operation to retake Fallujah, an IS stronghold just 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Baghdad. "For Abadi, (Fallujah) provides not just a distraction but, if executed well, a demonstration of some level of effective command and control from Baghdad," said Patrick Skinner, a former CIA case officer who is now with The Soufan Group consultancy.
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| Tony Blair says defeating IS requires 'proper ground war' Posted: 24 May 2016 06:02 AM PDT  LONDON (AP) — The Islamic State group will be defeated only with a ground war involving Western troops, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday.
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| Hard-line cleric voted leader of Iran's Assembly of Experts Posted: 24 May 2016 05:24 AM PDT  TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A hard-line Iranian cleric who has been in the country's power structure since its 1979 Islamic Revolution was chosen on Tuesday to lead the Assembly of Experts, a clerical body that picks the country's next supreme leader.
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| Malian to seek forgiveness for razing of Timbuktu, ICC told Posted: 24 May 2016 04:48 AM PDT  A Malian jihadist will seek forgiveness from his people for attacking the world heritage site of Timbuktu when he pleads guilty at an unprecedented case before an international war crimes court, his lawyer said Tuesday. Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi will become the first person to admit to war crimes charges before the International Criminal Court (ICC) based in The Hague at a joint hearing and sentencing due to be held in the coming months. Mahdi is the first jihadist suspect to appear before the ICC and the first person to be solely charged with war crimes for an attack on a global historic and cultural monument.
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| Iraq says clashes with IS outside Fallujah briefly subside Posted: 24 May 2016 04:36 AM PDT  BAGHDAD (AP) — Clashes between Iraqi government forces and the Islamic State group outside the city of Fallujah briefly subsided on Tuesday, the second day of a large-scale military operation to drive militants out of their key stronghold west of Baghdad.
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| US and Russia scramble to save Syria truce Posted: 24 May 2016 04:27 AM PDT  Washington and Moscow scrambled to salvage Syria's shaky ceasefire on Tuesday as the country reeled from jihadist bombings that killed more than 160 people in President Bashar al-Assad's coastal heartland. A regime offensive outside the capital has severely strained an already fragile nationwide ceasefire between the regime and non-jihadist rebels intended to pave the way for peace talks to end the five-year conflict. The latest attempts to salvage the truce come after at least 161 people were killed in car bombings and suicide attacks on Monday in the northwestern cities of Jableh and Tartus that were claimed by the Islamic State group.
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| Air Force to Congress: We Can’t Afford All of These Fighter Jets Posted: 24 May 2016 04:15 AM PDT  The Pentagon says its total aviation inventory will shrink by roughly 10 percent over the next decade because it can't afford to build and modernize enough planes to keep up with the pace of aircraft retirements, according to a new agency report. The "Annual Aviation Inventory and Funding Plan Fiscal Years 2017-2046," submitted to Congress last month and obtained by Defense News, shows the Defense Department's aviation fleet would drop from 14,516 aircraft in the current fleet to 13,109 aircraft by 2026 – a drop of 1,407. The assessment found that the Air Force and Navy's fighter jet fleets would be hard hit in the coming years, going from 3,327 today to 2,981, a loss of 346 warplanes.
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| 4 Facts About Earning an Undergrad Degree in the UAE Posted: 24 May 2016 04:00 AM PDT The United Arab Emirates has earned a reputation as a world-class travel destination. The data show that the majority were Arab international students coming from Syria, Oman, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Iraq and Yemen, as well as a large number of students from India. The UAE, along with Saudi Arabia, leads the United Kingdom in attracting students from Arab countries and has become the third most popular destination, followed by France and the U.S., for students from the region, according to the institute. |
| Greek police evacuate hundreds from Idomeni refugee camp Posted: 24 May 2016 02:59 AM PDT  IDOMENI, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities sent hundreds of police into the country's largest informal refugee camp Tuesday to support the gradual of evacuation of the Idomeni site on the Macedonian border.
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| Evacuating a Greek Refugee Camp Posted: 24 May 2016 02:38 AM PDT Greek authorities have begun an operation to evacuate the irregular Idomeni camp near the border with Macedonia that houses more than 8,000 people. More than 400 riot police have been sent to the camp that is home to migrants and refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Greek authorities insist force will not be used to empty the camp. The AP adds: |
| In Iran, dividends of nuclear deal are slow to appear Posted: 24 May 2016 02:30 AM PDT  By Samia Nakhoul and Richard Mably TEHRAN (Reuters) - Hopes that Iran would quickly reintegrate with world markets after its nuclear deal, bringing investment and opportunities to a young population, are turning to frustration. An opaque business environment in Iran and political uncertainty in the United States are to blame. Tehran's hotels are buzzing with businessmen keen for a slice of a big new emerging market, more industrially developed than most oil and gas-rich nations but isolated since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that turned Iran into a pariah state for most of the West and many of its Middle Eastern neighbors.
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| Hardliner elected as head of Iran's top clerical body Posted: 24 May 2016 12:51 AM PDT  A powerful anti-Western cleric was chosen on Tuesday as the head of Iran's new Assembly of Experts, in a sign that hardliners are still in firm control of the body in charge of choosing the next supreme leader. Ahmad Jannati, 90, is a an outspoken critic of President Hassan Rouhani and his attempts to end Iran's global isolation by normalizing ties with the West. The 88-member assembly, consisting mostly of elderly clerics, is expected to choose the successor to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is 77 and rumored to be in frail health.
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| IS attacks undermine Iraqi state in war weary capital Posted: 24 May 2016 12:16 AM PDT  BAGHDAD (AP) — Even as Iraq slowly claws back territory from the Islamic State group, faith in the government is crumbling among many, particularly the country's Shiites, angered by political disarray and the continual pounding of the capital, Baghdad, by militants' bombings.
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| Man convicted of murder in Dallas shooting of Iraqi man Posted: 23 May 2016 09:34 PM PDT  DALLAS (AP) — An 18-year-old was convicted of murder Monday in the killing of an Iraqi man who was taking photos of his first snowfall in Texas.
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| US strike on Taliban leader: Game changer or not? Posted: 23 May 2016 05:19 PM PDT Recommended: How well do you know Afghanistan? At a time when the Taliban controls more territory than at any time since 2001, the killing of Mullah Akhtar Mansour in Pakistan Saturday is a symbolic victory for the US and Afghan forces in their effort to stabilize Afghanistan. |
