| US plans to shift military assets to Syria in Russia deal Posted: 15 Sep 2016 02:29 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military will have to shift surveillance aircraft from other regions and increase the number of intelligence analysts to coordinate attacks with Russia under the Syria cease-fire deal partly in order to target militants the U.S. has largely spared, senior officials say.
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| Syria ceasefire deal in balance as Aleppo aid plan stalls Posted: 15 Sep 2016 02:25 PM PDT  By Tom Perry and Tom Miles BEIRUT/GENEVA (Reuters) - Russia said the Syrian army had begun to withdraw from a road into Aleppo on Thursday, a prerequisite for pressing ahead with international peacemaking efforts as the government and rebels accused each other of violating a truce. An organization that monitors the war also said the Syrian army had begun moving away, but insurgent groups in Aleppo said they had not seen the army withdrawing from the Castello Road, needed to allow aid deliveries into the city, and would not pull back from their own positions near the road until they did. The Pentagon said it could not confirm reports of a withdrawal but U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the ceasefire was holding "by and large", adding both Washington and Moscow believed it was worth continuing.
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| Veteran US diplomat John Buzbee dies at 50 Posted: 15 Sep 2016 02:03 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — John Buzbee, a veteran Foreign Service officer who served across the Middle East, including two stints in Iraq after the 2003 U.S. invasion, died Thursday from complications from metastatic colon cancer. He was 50.
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| The Latest: More than 1,000 migrants deported from 'Jungle' Posted: 15 Sep 2016 12:57 PM PDT  BERLIN (AP) — The Latest on Europe's migration crisis (all times local):
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| In Canada, all must help integrate immigrants: Trudeau Posted: 15 Sep 2016 12:10 PM PDT  Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that the successful integration of immigrants into society requires efforts by all Canadians, as the country prepares for another wave of Syrian refugees. "If we are going to have success stories of Syrians in Canada everyone has to be involved," Trudeau said during a talk with the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, at the Global Progress Summit in Montreal. During the panel discussion, Khan praised Canada as "beacon" among industrialized nations for its positive treatment of immigrants.
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| WHY IT MATTERS: Refugees Posted: 15 Sep 2016 11:53 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — THE ISSUE: The United States is the proud home of "the mother of exiles," the Statue of Liberty. But of the millions of exiles from the Syrian war, only about 10,000 have reached U.S. shores.
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| Kosovo Islamic party leader charged with incitement Posted: 15 Sep 2016 10:02 AM PDT Prosecutors in Kosovo have brought charges against the leader of the country's only Islamic political party, accusing him of inciting viewers to resist state authority during a television broadcast two years ago. In a 2014 television broadcast, Fuad Ramiqi, leader of the then recently-founded LISBA party, criticized authorities over the arrest of several imams on incitement charges and said: "We will not remain idle in the face of terror." He told Reuters: "These accusations against me are unfounded and politically motivated." Prosecutors said two of the imams faced terrorism-related charges, though they did not publish the indictments. |
| Refugees seek damages from Macedonia over police expulsions Posted: 15 Sep 2016 09:01 AM PDT  ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Eight asylum seekers are taking legal action against Macedonia for expelling them back to Greece after a chaotic mass border crossing earlier this year.
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| Kosovo brings terror, hate charges against 4 Albanian imams Posted: 15 Sep 2016 08:26 AM PDT PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — A Kosovo prosecutor has charged five ethnic Albanians, including four imams, with crimes that include carrying out terrorist acts and inciting hatred. |
| Wounded Warrior Project Exceeds Goal in Mental Health Services Posted: 15 Sep 2016 08:01 AM PDT JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Sept. 15, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) surpassed another monumental goal when it extended the reach of its mental health services for post-9/11 combat warriors and their caregivers, exceeding the organization's bold fiscal year target of serving 2,500 – with less than 30 days still remaining in fiscal year 2016. Just last month, WWP announced setting an unprecedented record by securing more than $71 million in annualized monetary benefits for wounded service members in FY 2016 through their Benefits Service program – an annual high for the organization. "We remain committed to this generation of wounded warriors," said Mike Linnington, WWP chief executive officer. |
| Frontex says 23,000 migrants reached Italy in August Posted: 15 Sep 2016 07:11 AM PDT  Some 23,000 irregular migrants arrived in Italy in August, the European Union's border agency said on Thursday, most crossing the Mediterranean on what has become the main immigration route into Europe. The vast majority of the 117,900 people who arrived in Italy this year came by boat from Libya. Rescuers pulled some 650 migrants to safety and recovered five dead bodies from boats in difficulty off the coast of Libya on Wednesday, Italy's coastguard said.
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| Merkel wants Germany to get refugees into workforce faster Posted: 15 Sep 2016 04:10 AM PDT  By Georgina Prodhan and Andreas Rinke FRANKFURT/BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday that Germany needed "viable solutions" to integrate refugees into the workforce faster after she met blue-chip companies that have hired just over 100 refugees since around a million arrived last year. Merkel, her popularity undermined by her open-door policy, summoned the bosses of some of Germany's biggest companies to Berlin on Wednesday to account for their lack of action and exchange ideas about how they can do better.
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| Kenyan police find note suggesting Islamic State link to Mombasa attack Posted: 15 Sep 2016 03:14 AM PDT  By Joseph Akwiri MOMBASA (Reuters) - Three women who were killed when they attacked a Kenyan police station last week had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, according to a handwritten note police believe they penned before the assault, an officer said on Thursday. Kenya has faced a spate of Islamist militant attacks in recent years, usually claimed by the Somali group al Shabaab, but Sunday's assault on a police station in the port city of Mombasa by the three women was claimed by Islamic State. Islamic State has seized territory in Syria and Iraq, inspiring offshoot groups in the Middle East and Africa.
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| Saudi prince warns Iran against using force to pursue rivalry Posted: 14 Sep 2016 10:53 PM PDT  A senior Saudi official, responding to Iranian criticism of Riyadh's management of the haj pilgrimage, urged Iran to end what he called wrong attitudes toward Arabs and warned it against any use of force in its rivalry with the kingdom. Mecca province governor Prince Khaled al-Faisal, in remarks likely to be seen as a reference to Iran, added that the orderly conduct of the pilgrimage this year "is a response to all the lies and slanders made against the kingdom". The remarks carried by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) on Wednesday evening follow an escalating war of words between Shi'ite Muslim Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia since a crush at the annual haj pilgrimage a year ago in which hundreds of pilgrims, many of them Iranians, died.
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| In leaked emails, Powell calls Trump a 'national disgrace' Posted: 14 Sep 2016 09:38 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — In a trove of newly leaked emails, former Secretary of State Colin Powell calls Donald Trump "a national disgrace" and suggests his own Republican Party is "crashing and burning."
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| Jordan's Brotherhood eyeing greater clout in new vote Posted: 14 Sep 2016 07:59 PM PDT  After years of self-imposed political exile, Jordan's influential Muslim Brotherhood is gearing up to compete in next week's general election aiming to reestablish its role as a major parliamentary force. The vote comes as Jordan -- a key Western ally long lauded for its relative stability -- finds itself under pressure from neighbouring conflicts and ruffled by domestic issues, including stubborn unemployment and growing radicalisation. Brotherhood officials and analysts say the September 20 vote will pose a key test of the ability of the state to hold a fair election and of its willingness to accept a result that may boost the Islamists.
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| Aligned with Russia in Syria, Pentagon awkwardly treads on new terrain Posted: 14 Sep 2016 07:41 PM PDT  By Phil Stewart and Yeganeh Torbati WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For Pentagon officers who cut their teeth during the Cold War, the prospect of U.S. battlefield cooperation with Russia in Syria is not only uncomfortable. Against that background, the reactions of U.S. military officials range from caution to outright skepticism over a Geneva-based "joint integration center" that may soon bring together American and Russian militaries to discuss shared targets for the first time since World War Two. There is a trust deficit with the Russians," acknowledged General Joseph Votel, head of the U.S. military's Central Command, even as he voiced support for the initiative at a forum on Wednesday.
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