| Top U.S. general: Unwise to share intelligence with Russia on Syria Posted: 22 Sep 2016 05:55 PM PDT  By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. general told Congress on Thursday it would be unwise to share intelligence with Russia and stressed that would not be one of the military's missions if Washington and Moscow were to ever work together against Islamist militants in Syria. The United States and Russia clinched a ceasefire deal earlier this month that held out the possibility of joint targeting of militants after a cessation of hostilities and delivery of humanitarian aid. The text of one of several related documents, published on Thursday by the State Department, said both countries would "share intelligence and develop actionable targets for military action" against the al Qaeda-linked group formerly known as Nusra Front.
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| Trump debate challenge: Keeping his cool if Clinton attacks Posted: 22 Sep 2016 05:43 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump's advisers are urging him to keep his cool during next week's presidential debate and resist attempts by Hillary Clinton to provoke him with questions about his business record, wealth or controversial comments about minorities.
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| Iran's Rouhani at U.N. calls on rival Saudi to cease 'divisive policies' Posted: 22 Sep 2016 03:57 PM PDT  By Parisa Hafezi and Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday called on regional rival Saudi Arabia to "cease and desist" from "divisive policies" if it was serious about regional peace and security. Rouhani was addressing the United Nations General Assembly the day after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef suggested Iran should be a better neighbor in the region and not interfere in the affairs of other countries. The leading Shi'ite Muslim power, Iran and Sunni monarchy Saudi Arabia are both fighting Sunni militants of Islamic State, which controls parts of Syria and Iraq and has supporters and sympathizers worldwide who have carried out bombings and shootings of civilians.
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| Iraq's Zebari accuses ex-PM Maliki of arranging dismissal as finance minister Posted: 22 Sep 2016 02:44 PM PDT  By Mahdi Talat ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Deposed Iraqi Finance Minister Hoshiyar Zebari on Thursday accused former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of orchestrating his removal from office, publicly exposing rifts within an increasingly unstable government. Zebari, who served for more than a decade as Iraq's foreign minister including under Maliki, is a leader in the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the uncle of the Kurdistan region's Prime Minister Massoud Barzani. "The side that is behind the questioning and withdrawal of confidence is the State of Law and its head Nuri al-Maliki in collusion unfortunately with the speaker of parliament Saleem al-Jabouri," Zebari told reporters at a hotel in the Kurdish capital Erbil.
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| German major sees lengthy battle for Islamic State Iraq stronghold Posted: 22 Sep 2016 02:42 PM PDT By Sabine Siebold ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Islamic State militants are expected to fight bitterly to hold onto their de-facto Iraqi capital, and the battle to retake Mosul will likely be a bloody one, a German major helping train local forces said on Thursday. Major Rene Braun leads a group of 40 German soldiers who are training Kurdish peshmerga forces on how to fight the ultra-hardline militants at close range, in a reconstructed village near Erbil and another site that simulates a large city. "Islamic State will fight long and hard, and then - as they've said themselves - they'll presumably regroup in north Africa," Braun told reporters. |
| Pentagon helping Southeast Asian allies tackle IS Posted: 22 Sep 2016 01:04 PM PDT  The United States is helping Southeast Asian allies do more to prevent the Islamic State group from gaining a greater foothold in the area, senior Pentagon officials said Thursday. The IS has already established a presence in several countries across the region including Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines, and authorities worry both about domestic attacks and nationals traveling to join the jihadists in Iraq and Syria. General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the United States is helping partners share intelligence and information on extremist groups.
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| Accused New York bomber's wife back; lawyer seeks access to suspect Posted: 22 Sep 2016 11:46 AM PDT  By David Ingram NEW YORK (Reuters) - The wife of the Afghan-born U.S. citizen charged in last weekend's bombings in New York City and New Jersey has returned to the United States, a law enforcement official said on Thursday, as a defense lawyer pressed to get access to the accused man. Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, has been held in a Newark, New Jersey, hospital since being arrested on Monday with wounds after a shootout with police. Rahami faces federal charges in both states stemming from a Saturday night bombing in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood that injured 31 people and explosives found in two New Jersey locations.
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| Pentagon weighs arming Syrian Kurds ahead of Raqa fight Posted: 22 Sep 2016 11:21 AM PDT  Washington is considering arming Syrian Kurdish forces who will join the offensive to retake the Islamic State group's stronghold of Raqa, the US military's top officer said Thursday. "We're in deliberation about exactly what to do with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) right now," General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. The SDF numbers about 30,000 fighters and is made up largely of Kurds, though Syrian Arabs also form a significant component.
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| Veterans Tour Lambeau Field with Wounded Warrior Project Posted: 22 Sep 2016 11:20 AM PDT GREEN BAY, Wis., Sept. 22, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Go Pack Go! Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) recently hosted a group of injured veterans – and diehard football fans – for an afternoon of living sports history at Green Bay's famous Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers. "I was so excited when I learned about this opportunity," said Marine veteran Gregory Kolaske. |
| Jordan's Brotherhood back in parliament after vote Posted: 22 Sep 2016 10:25 AM PDT  Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood has made a return to parliament after winning 16 seats in the 130-member house, according to results announced Thursday by the country's electoral commission. The Brotherhood's Islamic Action Front (IAF) contested Tuesday's polls after having boycotted two previous parliamentary elections in the kingdom, in 2010 and 2013, in protest at the electoral system and alleged voting fraud. The election came as Jordan, a key ally of Western countries, wrestles with the spillover of wars in neighbouring Syria and Iraq and the burden of hosting hundreds of thousands of refugees.
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| US: Shell that hit Iraqi base contained sulfur-mustard agent Posted: 22 Sep 2016 10:08 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — The top U.S. general says a rocket that landed on a military base in northern Iraq contained chemical agents that cause human skin to blister.
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| Freeports boom highlights risks of shady activities Posted: 22 Sep 2016 09:34 AM PDT  By Silke Koltrowitz and Paul Arnold GENEVA (Reuters) - Freeports springing up around the world as more investors store and trade physical assets are coming under increased scrutiny as potential black holes for dodging taxes, laundering money or financing extremists as bank secrecy erodes. Looted Turkish and Italian antiquities seized at the biggest Swiss freeport in Geneva raise the possibility that many artefacts illegally excavated from Libya, Syria or Iraq could lurk in these secretive storage sites, or be stowed there in the future. "We know that lootings helped finance terrorism in the past ... To avoid this happening again with Islamic State or others, we decided to systematically check incoming antiquities, starting Sept. 19," David Hiler, chairman of the Geneva Freeport, told Reuters in an interview.
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| U.S. presidential debates: from Kennedy-Nixon to Clinton-Trump Posted: 22 Sep 2016 09:07 AM PDT (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican rival Donald Trump face off on Monday in the first of a series of televised debates that could prove crucial to who wins the White House on Nov. 8. 1960: Seventy million viewers watched the first televised American presidential debate, which pitted Republican Vice President Richard Nixon against Democratic nominee John F. Kennedy. Nixon was recovering from a hospital visit and had a 5-o'clock shadow, having refused makeup. |
| OPEC in new push to clinch first deal to curb output since 2008 Posted: 22 Sep 2016 08:18 AM PDT  By Rania El Gamal and Alex Lawler DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) - As far as OPEC decision-making is concerned, Algeria, which plays host to oil ministers next week, has always been the land of surprises. The last two meetings of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) held in Algeria -- in 2004 and 2008 -- shocked the market with unexpected production cuts to prop up prices. The stars could align for OPEC again next week when its ministers return to Algiers and look ready to curb output for the first time in eight years, according to OPEC officials and sources.
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| Migrant dinghies wash up in Renaissance Florence with Ai Weiwei Posted: 22 Sep 2016 08:00 AM PDT  Red dinghies hang from the facade of a Renaissance palace in Florence in Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei's latest exhibition, a homage to those refugees who risk all to reach Europe by boat. "I have visited dozens of refugee camps in Greece, Turkey, Syria, Israel and the Gaza Strip and talked with all these people," said the 59-year old, an outspoken critic of the Chinese government who was once arrested for falling foul of the authorities.
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| Iraqi army says it recaptured key town south of Mosul Posted: 22 Sep 2016 07:35 AM PDT  By Ghazwan Hassan TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi forces backed by air strikes from the U.S.-led coalition gained complete control of the northern district of Shirqat on Thursday, bringing the military a step closer to a main push on Mosul later this year. Brigadier-General Yahya Rasool, spokesman for the military's joint operations command, said in a statement broadcast on state television that the district had been liberated from "the desecration of terrorism". Shirqat, on the Tigris river 100 km (60 miles) south of Mosul, has been surrounded for months by Iraqi troops and Iranian-backed Shi'ite Muslim militias allied to the government.
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| Iraq: Forces push IS militants from key northern town Posted: 22 Sep 2016 07:19 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and paramilitary forces, Iraqi government troops on Thursday pushed Islamic State group militants from a key town north of the Iraqi capital, days after launching an operation to retake it, a military spokesman said. |
| Two Spaniards arrested, accused of glorifying Islamic State Posted: 22 Sep 2016 07:13 AM PDT Two Spanish men have been arrested in Madrid accused of publicly praising Islamic State attacks on Paris and planning to join the militants, the interior ministry said on Thursday. Police detained the elder of the two after learning he had traveled to Turkey before returning to Spain several days later, the ministry said in a statement. Turkey borders both Syria and Iraq where Islamic State has seized territory. |
| Johnson and Trump Are Virtually Tied Among the US Military Posted: 22 Sep 2016 04:00 AM PDT  On the surface at least, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson are far apart when it comes to defense and military issues. "I'm gonna build a military that's gonna be much stronger than it is right now," Trump once said on NBC's Meet the Press.
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| Morocco detains four 'dangerous' IS suspects Posted: 22 Sep 2016 03:51 AM PDT  Moroccan police have arrested four "dangerous" suspected jihadists linked to the Islamic State group who were planning attacks across the country, the government said on Thursday. Investigators apprehended an individual on Wednesday in the northern city of Meknes who had been "planning terrorist attacks in Morocco," according to a statement from the interior ministry. Last week three suspected extremists were arrested around Tangiers, in northern Morocco, reportedly in the process of preparing "extremely serious terrorist acts", the statement said.
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| Britain ramps up humanitarian aid in Iraq ahead of Mosul offensive Posted: 22 Sep 2016 03:33 AM PDT By Lin Taylor LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Britain said on Thursday it will give 40 million pounds ($52.26 million) in humanitarian aid to Iraq, anticipating a wave of displaced people as government forces prepare to recapture the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State. The advance on Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city which fell in 2014 to the militant group, could begin as soon as next month. The United Nations says the Mosul offensive risks triggering a major humanitarian crisis, with one million or more people potentially fleeing the city. |
| India needs more than Rafale to match China: experts Posted: 22 Sep 2016 02:26 AM PDT  India may have just spent billions of dollars on hi-tech French fighter jets, but experts say it needs to do a lot more if it is going to face up to an increasingly assertive China. The world's top defence importer has signed several big-ticket deals as part of a $100-billion upgrade since Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi took power in 2014. An agreement to buy 36 cutting edge Rafale jets from France's Dassault aims to fix that.
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| Laserman, the Swedish Serial Killer Posted: 22 Sep 2016 01:00 AM PDT  An anti-immigrant killer hit the streets of Stockholm against a backdrop of xenophobic politicking.
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| Poet behind book about U.S. racism wins 2016 'genius grant' Posted: 21 Sep 2016 09:06 PM PDT  (Reuters) - A poet whose work explores the casual racism in the United States toward African-Americans is among the 23 winners of $625,000 "genius grants," the U.S. organization awarding them said on Thursday. Claudia Rankine, 53, was joined in the honor by leaders in fields as varied as civil rights law and microbiology, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation said in a statement. Rankine's 2014 book of poetry, "Citizen," which has won multiple literary awards, was among the works cited by the foundation for the grant.
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| Corbyn set to win but Labour could split Posted: 21 Sep 2016 08:15 PM PDT  Jeremy Corbyn is set to be re-elected head of the Labour Party on Saturday despite a power struggle with his own MPs that threatens to tear apart the historic movement. Corbyn is expected to win out against challenger Owen Smith, who launched his bid after a parliamentary rebellion in the wake of the shock Brexit vote that critics partly blamed on Corbyn's lacklustre campaign. The prospect has prompted some commentators to warn that Labour's weakness in opposing the government could increase the chances of Prime Minister Theresa May opting for a "hard Brexit" that would take Britain out of Europe's single market.
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| Socialist Corbyn set to win but UK Labour could split Posted: 21 Sep 2016 08:13 PM PDT Leftist Jeremy Corbyn is set to be re-elected head of Britain's opposition Labour Party on Saturday despite a power struggle with his own MPs that threatens to tear apart the historic movement. Corbyn is expected to win out against challenger Owen Smith, who launched his bid after a parliamentary rebellion in the wake of the shock Brexit vote that critics partly blamed on Corbyn's lacklustre campaign. The prospect has prompted some commentators to warn that Labour's weakness in opposing the government could increase the chances of Prime Minister Theresa May opting for a "hard Brexit" that would take Britain out of Europe's single market. |
| Meet southern Iraq's youngest Koran memorizer Posted: 21 Sep 2016 06:37 PM PDT Nine-year-old Saif Mustafa Lateef has recently been awarded the title of the youngest memorizer (hafiz) of the entire holy koran in the Iraqi city of Basra. Competing with thousands of Koran memorizers from ten Iraqi provinces in a Koran reciting and memorizing contest, held recently in the holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala, Saif came first as the youngest hafiz, beating hundreds of memorizers of his age. The contest is part of a program launched in 2009 by the administrative body of Imam Hussein Shrine in Kerbala city to teach males and females of different ages to recite and memorize the Koran, with the aim of reaching the target of 1,000 Koran memorizers. |
| 'No tolerance' for repeat of abuses in upcoming Iraq campaign: U.S. envoy Posted: 21 Sep 2016 06:31 PM PDT By Yara Bayoumy UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.S. envoy to the anti-Islamic State coalition said on Wednesday there would be "no tolerance" for sectarian torture and other abuses resulting from the planned offensive to recapture the group's de-facto Iraqi capital of Mosul. Brett McGurk, speaking at a meeting on the sidelines of the annual U.N. gathering of world leaders, said the coalition was already taking steps to ensure there would be no repeat of the abuses seen in the wake of the recapture of Iraq's Falluja in June, when Shi'ite militias detained, abused and tortured scores of Sunni civilians. "We must make sure the screening process in Mosul is done professionally with some third-party observers at the screening centers, that is what we hope to have," McGurk told the meeting. |
| Mosul: Iraq's second city, key to IS group Posted: 21 Sep 2016 05:41 PM PDT  Mosul was an Iraqi demographic mosaic of Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen and Christians that was gutted by years of violence culminating in the Islamic State group takeover in June 2014. Iraq's second-largest city, with a population now estimated at up to one million, mostly Sunni Arabs, Mosul is crucial to IS, which declared its Islamic "caliphate" there. The United Nations has estimated that the battle for Mosul could displace a million people, and affect up to 1.5 million civilians in all.
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| Iraq announces recapture of northern town from IS Posted: 21 Sep 2016 05:39 PM PDT  Iraq announced Thursday that its forces have recaptured a northern town from the Islamic State group in an operation launched ahead of a push for the city of Mosul. Security forces began the operation on Tuesday to oust the Islamic State group from Sharqat, a town near supply lines needed for the battle to retake second city Mosul from the jihadists. Iraqi forces "completely liberated the Sharqat district and raised the Iraqi flag over the government headquarters" in the town, the country's Joint Operations Command said in a statement that hailed the speed of the operation.
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| Push for Iraq's Mosul faces myriad challenges Posted: 21 Sep 2016 05:25 PM PDT  Iraq has promised to recapture Mosul by year's end and US top brass have hinted an operation could start next month, but the offensive to retake the jihadist bastion faces serious challenges. Mosul, Iraq's second city, is the ultimate prize in the country's war against the Islamic State group, which seized it and swathes of other territory in 2014. In the battle for Mosul, there will be "formidable challenges at all levels, one of the most important of them coordination between military units taking part in the battle," said Iraqi security analyst Jassim Hanoon.
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| U.S. tests for mustard agent after rocket attack near Iraq base Posted: 21 Sep 2016 04:30 PM PDT By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military is testing to see if a chemical agent may have been used in a rocket attack in Iraq by Islamic State that came within hundreds of yards (meters) of U.S. forces but injured no one, a U.S. military official said on Wednesday. The rocket fell on Tuesday in an unpopulated area near the Qayyara West base, where hundreds of U.S. forces are working to prepare an airfield ahead of Iraq's offensive to retake the city of Mosul from the radical group Islamic State, said the official, who spoke with Pentagon reporters on condition of anonymity. A group of U.S. forces inspected the fragments afterwards and took a small sample of a suspicious "tar-like, black, oily" substance, which initially tested positive for mustard agent but then tested negative in a subsequent examination, the official said. |
| Investigators try to determine if accused New York bomber had help Posted: 21 Sep 2016 03:29 PM PDT  By David Ingram and Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. authorities on Wednesday were looking into whether an Afghan-born American citizen charged with carrying out bombings in New York and New Jersey acted alone or had help as the city's top federal public defender sought access to the suspect. Police in New York City said they had not yet been permitted by doctors to speak to Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, who was arrested on Monday after being wounded in a gunfight with police in Linden, New Jersey. Rahami has been charged with wounding 31 people in a bombing in New York on Saturday that authorities called a "terrorist act." The Federal Bureau of Investigation released a photo of two men who found a second, unexploded pressure cooker device they say Rahami left in a piece of luggage in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood on Saturday night.
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