| For US and Russia, war in Syria is mainly in the air Posted: 10 Sep 2016 04:44 PM PDT  The United States and Russia, two former Cold War foes that have brokered a ceasefire deal for Syria, rely mostly on air raids in their separate military campaigns in the war-wracked country. Here are key points about how these two powers are trying to fulfill their military objectives in Syria, where a bloody civil war has raged since 2011. The Russians are backing President Bashar al-Assad's regime, saying they are fighting "terrorist" groups.
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| Fifteen years after 9/11, America in perpetual war Posted: 10 Sep 2016 03:29 PM PDT  The 9/11 attacks of 2001 forever changed America and upended its foreign and national security policy, leaving the country for the past 15 years in a war against jihadists -- without ending the upheaval in the Middle East. Barack Obama, who will leave the White House in January, is the president who tried to get the US military out of the quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan -- devastating "war on terror" conflicts launched by his predecessor George W. Bush in the wake of the suicide plane strikes that killed nearly 3,000 people.
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| Woman charged over failed jihadist Paris attack Posted: 10 Sep 2016 02:38 PM PDT  French anti-terror judges charged a woman Saturday over a failed jihadist attack near Paris's Notre Dame cathedral, where a car full of gas canisters was found last weekend. The mother of three, named as 29-year-old Ornella G., is one of several women detained in the past week on suspicion of planning new attacks in France, a country on high alert after a string of jihadist assaults in the past 18 months. According to investigators, her fingerprints were found in the Peugeot car that was abandoned last Sunday a few hundred metres from Notre Dame in an area thronging with tourists.
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| US designer with Iraqi roots stuns NY fashion week Posted: 10 Sep 2016 12:34 PM PDT  Oday Shakar is still young but he has already lived through more than your average American fashion designer: childhood bullying, two years in Iraq after the Gulf War and cancer. "I realized I needed to find beauty in my own story so that's where I grabbed inspiration for this, so I mix contemporary Middle Eastern art with beautiful simple silhouettes for everyday (wear)," Shakar told AFP. "My aunt studied fashion design and wasn't able to pursue it, so in a way I'm doing all of this because she didn't get the chance and I have the opportunity, being an American," he said.
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| WHY IT MATTERS: Issues at stake in election Posted: 10 Sep 2016 12:32 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — A selection of issues at stake in the presidential election and their impact on Americans, in brief:
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| 'Snowden' director Stone urges Obama to issue pardon Posted: 10 Sep 2016 11:34 AM PDT  A new film by anti-establishment director Oliver Stone starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden asks audiences to weigh in. Stone -- who has unveiled his espionage thriller biopic about the largest data leak in US history at the Toronto film festival -- called Saturday on US President Barack Obama to pardon Snowden before the end of his term. "Mr. Obama could pardon him and we hope so," Stone told reporters at the festival, the largest in North America and a launch pad for Oscar contenders.
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| Explosions in and around Baghdad kill 12: police, medical sources Posted: 10 Sep 2016 11:33 AM PDT Five explosions in and around Baghdad killed at least 12 people on Saturday and wounded 27 others, police and medical sources said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Islamic State regularly targets civilian areas and security forces in the capital. The deadliest blast came in Arab al-Jabour, an area of date palm groves on Baghdad's southern outskirts, when an improvised explosive device went off near a civilian vehicle, killing four civilians. |
| Fewer orders, more coaching: Army rookies learn to fire guns Posted: 10 Sep 2016 08:19 AM PDT  FORT JACKSON, S.C. (AP) — As gun ownership drops among young Americans and the Army trains a generation more accustomed to blasting out emojis on cellphones than taking aim at targets, drill sergeants are confronting a new challenge: More than half of raw recruits have never held, let alone fired, a weapon.
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| Wounded US veteran to compete in paratriathlon on 9/11 Posted: 10 Sep 2016 07:46 AM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Fifteen years ago, Melissa Stockwell was a senior at Colorado, wearing her ROTC uniform as she watched the Sept. 11 attacks unfold on television.
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| Iranians flock to Iraq's Karbala for holy plan B Posted: 10 Sep 2016 07:29 AM PDT  Barred from Mecca amid an escalating spat between Tehran and Saudi Arabia, masses of Iranian Shiite faithful have converged on the holy Iraqi city of Karbala for an alternative pilgrimage. The row that has prevented Iranians taking part in this year's hajj pilgrimage is diverting hundreds of thousands to the shrine of Imam Hussein, one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam. Not all of those had planned to travel to Mecca but many of the 64,000 Iranians who were allocated places for this year's hajj ended up in the holy Iraqi city this weekend.
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| EU ups Greece refugee aid after damning report Posted: 10 Sep 2016 07:08 AM PDT  The European Commission announced 115 million euros in extra funding Saturday to help Greece deal with migrants, a day after a damning report into conditions migrants face. The new EU money aims "to improve conditions for refugees in Greece, and make a difference ahead of the upcoming winter," said EU aid and crisis management commissioner Christos Stylianides. The EU announcement came after Human Rights Watch published a report Friday slamming the "prolonged arbitrary detention" of child asylum seekers in Greece.
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| Obama urges unity on eve of 9/11 anniversary Posted: 10 Sep 2016 04:13 AM PDT  President Barack Obama on Saturday urged Americans to remain united in the face of terrorist attacks, in a barely-veiled jab at Republican White House nominee Donald Trump 15 years after 9/11. "In the face of terrorism, how we respond matters," Obama said in his weekly radio and online address, delivered on the eve of the 15th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks in the United States. It's what makes us resilient," Obama said.
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| AP FACT CHECK: Trump's false claim of opposing the Iraq War Posted: 10 Sep 2016 02:16 AM PDT  NEW YORK (AP) — Over and over again, Donald Trump says he opposed the Iraq War before it started. But no matter how many times the Republican candidate for president says it, the facts are clear: He did not.
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| N. Korea's nuclear threat growing after largest test: analysts Posted: 10 Sep 2016 01:41 AM PDT  North Korea's nuclear threat has grown significantly following its latest and largest nuclear test and a series of missile launches, analysts say, with some South Korean newspapers even theorising about an atomic attack on Seoul. With a force of 10 kilotons, the blast was two-thirds the size of the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in August 1945. More importantly, the North claimed it had successfully tested a nuclear warhead that could be mounted on a missile.
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| Foiled Paris plot highlights new role of female jihadists Posted: 10 Sep 2016 12:54 AM PDT  Long cast in supporting roles in the shadow of their male counterparts, women are taking an increasingly active role in the organisation and execution of attacks by jihadist groups. Anti-terrorism prosecutor Francois Molins says the would-be attackers were guided by the Islamic State group in Syria. "A terrorist cell made up of young women totally receptive to the deadly ideology of Daesh has been dismantled," Molins said at a news conference Friday, using the Arabic name for IS.
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| Toronto: Can Oliver Stone's 'Snowden' Hack the Box Office? Posted: 09 Sep 2016 09:00 PM PDT Following such high-profile cyber-thriller flops as 2013 TIFF entry 'The Fifth Estate,' the stakes are high as the director's drama attempts to connect with fest audiences. |
