| Six killed, many injured, by roadside bombs in southeast Turkey Posted: 30 May 2016 01:56 PM PDT  By Seyhmus Cakan and Ayla Jean Yackley DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Roadside bombs killed at least six people in two separate attacks on security forces in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast on Monday, security sources said, adding to the violence that has flared across the region in the last 24 hours. One bomb hit a passing police vehicle in the town of Silopi in Sirnak province near the border with Iraq, the sources said, hours after Turkish warplanes struck camps belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq. Turkey's Dogan News Agency said the bomb had been placed inside a manhole and was detonated as a police vehicle passed.
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| Oil prices edge higher in thin trade; OPEC eyed Posted: 30 May 2016 01:53 PM PDT  Oil prices inched up toward $50 a barrel on Monday, although uncertainty ahead of an OPEC producer-group meeting later in the week was expected to cap gains. While OPEC has been unable to agree on an output freeze to support prices, Iraq was the latest Middle East producer to raise its export quota ahead of the meeting, supplying 5 million barrels of extra crude to its partners in June. "So far there's pretty much a consensus that nothing will happen and that the same strategies will continue, which are basically produce as much as you want and go for market share," said energy economist James L. Williams of WTRG Economics in Arkansas.
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| Experimental installations put the social in social science Posted: 30 May 2016 01:44 PM PDT  NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The truck-size metal container sitting in a downtown park here isn't meant to raise awareness about the global shipping industry, though it may nudge some people's curiosity in that direction.
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| NATO summit to raise military presence in Poland, region Posted: 30 May 2016 01:03 PM PDT  WARSAW, Poland (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday that an upcoming "landmark summit" will enhance the alliance's defensive and deterrent presence in Poland and in the region, but decisions as to the number still haven't been finalized.
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| The Latest: Italy breaks up unofficial migrants' tent camp Posted: 30 May 2016 12:22 PM PDT  POZZALLO, Sicily (AP) — The Latest on Europe's migration crisis (all times local):
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| Elite Iraqi forces push into Fallujah, expect fierce battle Posted: 30 May 2016 12:16 PM PDT  CAMP TARIQ, Iraq (AP) — Elite Iraqi special forces began their push Monday into Fallujah, expecting to encounter the stiffest resistance yet in the campaign to free territory from the Islamic State group.
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| Iraq forces push into streets of IS-held Fallujah Posted: 30 May 2016 11:49 AM PDT  Iraqi forces thrust into Fallujah Monday, ushering a new urban phase in the week-old operation to retake the jihadist bastion that also raised concerns over the fate of trapped civilians. Led by the elite counter-terrorism service (CTS), Iraq's best trained and most seasoned fighting unit, the forces pushed into Fallujah before dawn, commanders said. "Iraqi forces entered Fallujah under air cover from the international coalition, the Iraqi air force and army aviation, and supported by artillery and tanks," said Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi, the commander of the operation.
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| Kerry to head to China for talks Posted: 30 May 2016 11:40 AM PDT  Top US diplomat John Kerry will travel to Beijing for talks on a range of issues as part of a trip that will also take him to Mongolia and France, the State Department said Monday. The June 5-7 visit comes at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing over the Asian giant's military expansion in the South China Sea. The United States disputes China's sovereignty in the region and has conducted several "freedom of navigation" operations in which it deliberately sails or flies close to the islands, attracting the ire of Beijing.
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| Obama marks Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery Posted: 30 May 2016 11:35 AM PDT  ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — President Barack Obama challenged Americans on Memorial Day to fill the silence from those who died serving their country with love and support for families of the fallen, "not just with words but with our actions."
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| 4 killed in bomb attack targeting police in southeast Turkey Posted: 30 May 2016 11:35 AM PDT ISTANBUL (AP) — Kurdish rebels on Monday detonated a bomb in southeast Turkey as a police armored vehicle was passing by, killing at least four people, the state-run news agency reported. |
| Turkey's Erdogan accuses Russia of arming PKK militants Posted: 30 May 2016 09:52 AM PDT  By Orhan Coskun and Ece Toksabay ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has accused Russia of providing anti-aircraft weaponry and rockets to militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), government officials said on Monday, confirming reports in local media. Speaking to reporters on board his airplane after a visit to the southeastern province of Diyarbakir over the weekend, Erdogan accused Moscow of transferring weaponry to the PKK via Iraq and Syria, the pro-government Star newspaper said. "At this moment, terrorists are using anti-aircraft guns and missiles supplied by Russia.
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| It’s Memorial Day. Who are we remembering? Posted: 30 May 2016 08:51 AM PDT There's an official definition of Memorial Day, and then there's the way American citizens actually celebrate it. Memorial Day, to the US government, is the time to remember those who died while serving in the military. Recommended: Are you smarter than a US Marine? |
| Iraq Kurds retake nine villages from IS Posted: 30 May 2016 08:46 AM PDT  Iraq's Kurdish peshmerga forces wrapped up an operation east of the Islamic State group's northern hub of Mosul Monday after recapturing nine villages, a statement said. The Kurdistan Region Security Council said the operation launched before dawn on Sunday "had achieved its key objectives". The KRSC statement listed nine villages that had been occupied by IS since the summer of 2014 and were previously mainly inhabited by northern Iraq's Kakai and Shabak minorities.
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| Delaware National Guard HQ to unveil Beau Biden signs Posted: 30 May 2016 08:03 AM PDT NEW CASTLE, Del. (AP) — The Delaware National Guard is unveiling new signs naming its headquarters after former state attorney general and National Guard Major Beau Biden. |
| Iraqi army storms to edge of Islamic State-held Falluja; fresh bombings hit Baghdad Posted: 30 May 2016 07:37 AM PDT  By Maher Nazeh and Saif Hameed SOUTHERN OUTSKIRTS OF FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - The Iraqi army stormed to the southern edge of Falluja under U.S. air support on Monday and captured a police station inside the city limits, launching a direct assault to retake one of the main strongholds of Islamic State militants. A Reuters TV crew about a mile (about 1.5 km) from the city's edge said explosions and gunfire were ripping through Naimiya, a largely rural district of Falluja on its southern outskirts. An elite military unit, the Rapid Response Team, seized the district's police station at midday, state TV reported.
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| Residents return to ravaged Turkish town as curfew lifted Posted: 30 May 2016 07:05 AM PDT  Yüksekova (Turkey) (AFP) - Residents on Monday cautiously returned to a war-ravaged town in Turkey's southeast after authorities partially lifted a more than two-month curfew following a major operation against Kurdish militants. The curfew in Yuksekova, which has been in place since March 13, was lifted between 6:00am and 8:00pm (0300-1700 GMT) and the hours are to be further extended during the upcoming Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, the local province of Hakkari said in a statement. After the measure was announced, hundreds streamed back to the town which lies in Turkey's extreme southeastern corner on the border with Iran and Iraq, an AFP photographer said.
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| Jordan heads into elections by fall as parliament dissolved Posted: 30 May 2016 05:45 AM PDT AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Jordan is heading into parliamentary elections by September, after King Abdullah II dissolved the current legislature. |
| Military veteran finds a mission nursing fellow vets at VA Posted: 30 May 2016 05:32 AM PDT  COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Nursing assistant Tom Alligood wears camouflage scrubs during his emergency room shifts at the Dorn VA hospital because he says it helps other veteran patients realize they've "walked over the same dirt," the 62-year-old former Army tanker says.
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| The Latest: Iraqi forces start pushing into IS-held Fallujah Posted: 30 May 2016 02:53 AM PDT  BAGHDAD (AP) — The Latest on developments in Iraq (all times local):
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| Bomb attacks kill 11 in Baghdad area: police Posted: 30 May 2016 02:46 AM PDT  Three bomb blasts in and around Baghdad killed at least 11 people and wounded dozens on Monday in the latest wave of attacks to hit the Iraqi capital, police said. The deadliest attack was a car bomb blast in a market area at around 9:00 am (0600 GMT) that killed at least seven people, according to a police colonel. In nearby Sadr City, a sprawling Shiite neighbourhood of north Baghdad which has been repeatedly targeted, at least two people were killed when an explosives-laden motorbike was blown up.
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| Can Obama’s Successor Sort Out His Middle East Mess? Posted: 30 May 2016 02:15 AM PDT  On one side of this question is Iran, on the other, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf monarchies. Just how the next president manages a diplomatic and political evolution the Obama administration began but couldn't have handled more clumsily will determine how much we pay for gasoline and how much of our taxes go to the Pentagon (which is too much already). After years of sanctions brought Iran very near to an economic crisis, it has cooperated fully in eliminating its nuclear capabilities according to the agreement reached last July.
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| Philippine military says 54 Muslim rebels killed in south Posted: 30 May 2016 02:03 AM PDT MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Intense fighting between Philippine troops and a little-known Muslim group apparently inspired by the Islamic State group has killed 54 militants and two soldiers, officials said Monday. |
| U.S.-backed Syrian alliance widens offensive near IS capital Posted: 30 May 2016 01:21 AM PDT  A U.S.-backed alliance of Syrian militias is widening an offensive against Islamic State near its de facto capital of Raqqa, targeting an area where the group controls a disused air base, a monitoring group and a Kurdish official said on Monday. The Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), which includes the Kurdish YPG militia, launched an attack against Islamic State-held areas north of Raqqa city last week. The city itself is not a target of the current offensive however, the SDF has said.
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| Starving Iraqis risk all to flee IS's crumbling rule Posted: 30 May 2016 12:22 AM PDT  Amriyat al-Fallujah (Iraq) (AFP) - Eight hands stretch towards the aluminium plate -- it's the first meal of rice this Iraqi family who just escaped jihadist rule in the Fallujah area has had in two years. The tent has just been put up, a sheet of bubble wrap strewn on the gravel as a makeshift rug and the heat is searing but Nasra Najm, her daughter and grandchildren have a smile on their face. Iraqi forces a week ago launched a broad operation aimed at retaking the city of Fallujah, one of IS's most emblematic bastions, in the western province of Anbar.
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| Soccer-Rusty Australia ring changes for Greece games Posted: 30 May 2016 12:02 AM PDT Australia coach Ange Postecoglou will ring the changes for the Socceroos' friendlies against Greece following their 2-1 defeat to England on Friday as he tries new combinations for the next round of 2018 World Cup qualifiers. Australia will be reinforced by talismanic striker Tim Cahill and a number of Asia-based stalwarts for the Greece matches in Sydney on Saturday and Melbourne next week. "The England game was a real challenging one for us," Postecoglou told reporters in Sydney on Monday. |
| Iraq: from IS gains to the battle for Fallujah Posted: 29 May 2016 05:46 PM PDT  Events in Iraq from the breakthrough by Islamic State group (IS) fighters in 2014 to the government counter-attack. On January 4, Iraq loses its first key town since the US-led invasion of 2003. The vast Anbar province that surrounds the two towns is predominantly Sunni Muslim and fiercely resisted US troops when they occupied Iraq.
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| What Journalists Really Need Are Guns Posted: 29 May 2016 05:00 PM PDT  Last year, war-torn regions like Syria and Iraq led the world in journalist fatalities. Could arms help?
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| Stories for Memorial Day Posted: 29 May 2016 02:28 PM PDT  A Memorial Day poem in the Atlantic Monthly, 149 years ago. I would like to mention three. The first is a story my wife Deb wrote in our American Futures series two years ago, from Columbus, Mississippi. It is about the origin, or at least one origin, of Memorial Day observances in the United States just after the Civil War, and it directly involves the then-fledgling Atlantic Monthly magazine. You can read it here.
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| A veteran's race against time to return WWI Purple Hearts Posted: 29 May 2016 02:25 PM PDT  ST. ALBANS, Vt. (AP) — A group that seeks to reunite lost Purple Hearts with service members or their descendants is embarking on an ambitious project: to return 100 such medals or certificates earned in World War I before the 100th anniversary next April of the United States' entry into the conflict.
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