| Syrian truce receives new blows with airstrikes, shelling Posted: 18 Sep 2016 05:04 PM PDT  BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's fragile cease-fire started to unravel on Sunday with the first aerial attacks on rebel-held neighborhoods of Aleppo and a southern village that killed at least eight people, violations that came as tensions between the American and Russian brokers of the deal worsened following a deadly U.S. strike on Syrian government forces.
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| Clinton, Trump to both meet with Egyptian president at U.N. Posted: 18 Sep 2016 04:55 PM PDT  By James Oliphant WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (Reuters) - An adviser to U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's campaign said on Sunday that Trump will meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday during the United Nations General Assembly, just as Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, is also scheduled to do. Clinton, who faces Trump in the Nov. 8 election, announced last week that she would meet both with Sisi and Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko in bilateral sessions expected to take place late on Monday.
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| Three US attacks in 24 hours probed for terror links Posted: 18 Sep 2016 02:18 PM PDT  Three separate attacks carried out in the United States on a single day -- a New York bombing, a Minnesota mass stabbing and a New Jersey pipe bomb blast -- were under investigation Sunday for potential terror links. Authorities say there is no evidence that any of the attacks were coordinated but the timing in less than 24 hours raises fears about security -- already a hot button issue in the country's deeply divisive presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Twenty-nine people were injured when a bomb exploded in New York's upmarket Chelsea neighborhood on Saturday night, damaging neighboring buildings, shattering glass and sending shrapnel flying across the street.
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| Turkish police detain 40 over links with Islamic State: Anadolu Posted: 18 Sep 2016 01:47 PM PDT Turkish counter-terror police detained 40 foreign nationals in raids in Istanbul over their suspected links with Islamic State, Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Sunday. Police carried out simultaneous raids to 23 addresses in Istanbul's conservative Fatih district detaining suspects from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Azerbaijan, Anadolu said. Some suspects are identified as having gone to the conflict areas inside Syria several times, Anadolu said. |
| Moscow says strikes on Syria army threaten U.S.-Russia ceasefire plan Posted: 18 Sep 2016 01:22 PM PDT  By Dmitry Solovyov and Lisa Barrington MOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Moscow stepped up its war of words with Washington on Sunday, saying air strikes by a U.S.-led coalition on the Syrian army threatened the implementation of a U.S.-Russian ceasefire plan for Syria and bordered on connivance with Islamic State. The diplomatic dispute heated up on the last day of a seven-day ceasefire marred by a surge of violence as warplanes hit the strategic northern city of Aleppo for the first time since the truce came into effect. On Saturday, the Russian Defence Ministry said U.S. jets had killed more than 60 Syrian soldiers in the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor in four air strikes by two F-16 and two A-10 fighter jets coming from the direction of Iraq.
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| Minnesota stabbings probed as 'potential' act of terror: FBI Posted: 18 Sep 2016 01:06 PM PDT  The FBI said Sunday it was investigating a stabbing spree at a Minnesota mall as a "potential act of terrorism," as local media identified the suspect as a 22-year-old Somali-American. Nine people were wounded Saturday in the attack in the city of St. Cloud before an off-duty policeman shot and killed the attacker. Police in St. Cloud confirmed that the assailant -- who has not been formally identified -- had asked some victims whether they were Muslim before stabbing them and made "some references to Allah" before launching his attacks.
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| Trump VP Pence says he views Cheney as a role model Posted: 18 Sep 2016 11:03 AM PDT  By Alana Wise WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate, Mike Pence, said he views former vice president Dick Cheney as a role model for the No. 2 job in the administration. "I frankly hold Dick Cheney in really high regard in his role as vice president and as an American," Pence said in an interview on ABC's "This Week" that was taped on Saturday and aired on Sunday. "Vice President Cheney had experience in Congress as I do and he was very active in working with members of the House and the Senate," Pence said.
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| U.S.-led forces strike Syrian troops, prompting emergency U.N. meeting Posted: 18 Sep 2016 10:46 AM PDT  By Angus McDowall and Andrew Osborn BEIRUT/MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S.-led coalition air strikes reportedly killed dozens of Syrian soldiers on Saturday, endangering a U.S.-Russian brokered ceasefire and prompting an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting as tensions between Moscow and Washington escalated. The United States military said the coalition stopped the attacks against what it had believed to be Islamic State positions in northeast Syria after Russia informed it that Syrian military personnel and vehicles may have been hit. The United States relayed its "regret" through the Russian government for what it described as the unintentional loss of life of Syrian forces in the strike, a senior Obama administration official said in an emailed statement.
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| Iran must stand strong against US on region conflicts: Khamenei Posted: 18 Sep 2016 09:04 AM PDT  Iran's supreme leader said the Islamic republic must stand strong against Washington on the region's conflicts, in an address Sunday to commanders of the elite Republican Guards force. "The Americans insist we negotiate with them on regional issues, especially on Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in the speech published on his official website. Major generals Mohammad Ali Jafari, the Revolutionary Guards chief, and Qassem Suleimani, head of its foreign operations wing, the Quds Force, were among hundreds of members who attended the speech.
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| 'No international terror link' to New York bombs Posted: 18 Sep 2016 08:57 AM PDT  A bomb that exploded in New York wounding 29 people and causing significant damage was under investigation Sunday as an act of terror, although officials say there is no overseas link. The blast tore through Chelsea, one of the most fashionable district of Manhattan packed with bars, restaurants and luxury apartment buildings, late Saturday at around 8:30 pm local time (0130 GMT Sunday). The attack put New York on full alert, just one day before world leaders are due to gather in the city for the UN General Assembly.
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| Islamic State, Pakistani Taliban faction say kill three soldiers in Pakistan Posted: 18 Sep 2016 06:45 AM PDT By Jibran Ahmad PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Three Pakistani soldiers were killed in an ambush in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Sunday, militants said, in an attack for which both Islamic State and a Pakistani Taliban faction claimed responsibility. Militants said they ambushed an unmarked vehicle ferrying soldiers on Sunday morning near the congested Daudzai area of Peshawar. The Pakistan army often uses unmarked vehicles for transportation of soldiers and other employees in volatile areas around Peshawar to avoid being identified and attacked. |
| France's Chirac hospitalised with lung infection Posted: 18 Sep 2016 06:40 AM PDT  French former president Jacques Chirac, 83, was hospitalised on Sunday with a lung infection, the second time in a year the frail elder statesman has received hospital care. The popular ex-president had just returned from a visit to Morocco with his wife Bernadette, Salat-Baroux added. The centre-right Chirac, who served two terms as head of state, is probably best remembered internationally for his opposition to the US military intervention in Iraq in 2003.
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| Turkey stops 137 migrants trying to reach Greek islands Posted: 18 Sep 2016 03:57 AM PDT ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey's state-run news agency says 137 migrants have been stopped trying to cross from Turkey's Aegean coastline to the Greek islands. |
| Drone Warfare: Should the Air Force Be Using Contractors as Pilots? Posted: 18 Sep 2016 02:15 AM PDT  As the Air Force beefs up its drone warfare squadrons, it has opened the door for more enlisted personnel to be trained as pilots of the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) used for surveillance and targeted killings. The Air Force's answer to the shortage of those who can operate what are also called remotely piloted aircraft (RPA): Hire civilian contractors. The New York Times said last week that hundreds of contractors are being used by the Air Force to operate drones performing reconnaissance and providing live feeds of firefights and special ops missions.
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