| Trump offers national security adviser post to Vice Admiral Harward: sources Posted: 15 Feb 2017 05:35 PM PST  The Trump administration has offered the job of White House national security adviser, vacated by former U.S. intelligence official Michael Flynn, to Vice Admiral Robert Harward, said two U.S. officials familiar with the matter on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear if Harward, a former deputy commander of U.S. Central Command who has Navy SEAL combat experience, had accepted the offer, according to sources.
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| Venezuela shuts off CNN in Spanish after criticizing story Posted: 15 Feb 2017 05:34 PM PST  CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's government pulled CNN in Spanish from the nation's airwaves on Wednesday, shutting off the news channel after officials angrily criticized a report alleging the country's diplomats sold passports to members of a Middle East terror group.
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| Venezuela pulls Spanish-language CNN from air for 'distorting truth' Posted: 15 Feb 2017 05:24 PM PST By Girish Gupta and Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Maduro's government ordered the suspension of CNN's Spanish-language service from Venezuela's airwaves on Wednesday, accusing it of distorting the truth in coverage. U.S.-based 'CNN en Espanol' became unavailable on Venezuela's major cable providers minutes after a statement by telecommunications regulator Conatel announcing the suspension. The network had irked the socialist government with various reports, including one alleging passports and visas were being sold illegally at Venezuela's embassy in Iraq. |
| Trump calls for release of Venezuela opposition leader Posted: 15 Feb 2017 04:46 PM PST  US President Donald Trump on Wednesday called on Venezuela to free jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez "immediately," posting a picture of himself and Vice President Mike Pence with Lopez's wife at the White House. "Venezuela should allow Leopoldo Lopez, a political prisoner & husband of @liliantintor (just met w/ @marcorubio) out of prison immediately," Trump tweeted, along with the photo, which also features Florida Senator Marco Rubio.
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| Texas splits with other states to defend Trump's travel ban Posted: 15 Feb 2017 03:56 PM PST  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The state of Texas on Wednesday defended President Donald Trump's ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations as an assertion of presidential authority intended to protect the country from terrorists, splitting with states that have denounced the order as a religious attack.
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| Venezuela pulls Spanish-language CNN from air for 'distorting truth' Posted: 15 Feb 2017 03:52 PM PST By Girish Gupta CARACAS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Maduro's government ordered the suspension of CNN's Spanish-language service from Venezuela's airwaves on Wednesday, accusing it of distorting the truth in coverage. U.S.-based 'CNN en Espanol' became unavailable on some cable providers minutes after a statement by telecommunications regulator Conatel announcing the suspension. The network had irked the socialist government with various reports, including one alleging that Venezuelan passports and visas were being sold illegally at the embassy in Iraq. |
| Venezuela bans Spanish-language CNN for Iraq report Posted: 15 Feb 2017 02:57 PM PST  Venezuela pulled CNN's Spanish-language television channel off the air on Wednesday, accusing it of spreading "propaganda" about an alleged visa racket at the country's embassy in Iraq. The state National Telecommunications Commission ordered "the immediate suspension of broadcasts by the news channel CNN in Spanish" in Venezuela, a government statement said. President Nicolas Maduro had earlier said he wanted the US-based news channel "out" of the country, where state media dominate.
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| Pentagon boss to NATO nations: Increase military spending Posted: 15 Feb 2017 11:43 AM PST  BRUSSELS (AP) — In an ultimatum to America's allies, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told fellow NATO members Wednesday to increase military spending by year's end or risk seeing the U.S. curtail its defense support — a stark threat given Europe's deep unease already over U.S.-Russian relations.
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| Trump defence chief to NATO: pay up or we reduce support Posted: 15 Feb 2017 11:38 AM PST  US Defence Secretary James Mattis bluntly warned NATO allies Wednesday that Donald Trump's administration would "moderate its commitment" to the transatlantic alliance unless members met their spending pledges. Mattis's no-nonsense message to his counterparts in Brussels follows years of calls by Washington for allies to spend at least two percent of their GDP on defence, a goal that only a handful meet despite agreeing on it at a summit in 2014. It packs extra weight as it comes after Trump has said US help for NATO members -- already worried by the threat from Russia in the east -- might depend on how much they have paid.
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| Trump offers national security adviser post to Vice Admiral Harward: sources Posted: 15 Feb 2017 11:23 AM PST The Trump administration has offered the job of White House national security adviser, vacated by former U.S. intelligence official Michael Flynn, to Vice Admiral Robert Harward, said two U.S. officials familiar with the matter on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear if Harward, a former deputy commander of U.S. Central Command who has Navy SEAL combat experience, had accepted the offer, according to sources. |
| Texas attorney general backs Trump in travel ban litigation Posted: 15 Feb 2017 10:59 AM PST  President Donald Trump acted well within his authority in issuing his executive order on immigration, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told a federal appeals court on Wednesday. Paxton, a Republican, attached a brief in asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California for permission to argue in support of Trump's temporary ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Texas is the first state to back Trump in the closely watched litigation.
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| Mosul bombings temper residents' relief at Islamic State pushback Posted: 15 Feb 2017 10:57 AM PST  By Stephen Kalin MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - The first blast, down the street from his uncle's restaurant in eastern Mosul, sent Mohammed Badr racing towards the door to check the situation. The second one, moments later at the entrance of the restaurant itself, knocked him off his feet. Together, last Friday's twin suicide bombings killed 14 people and fractured the sense of safety and relief that many residents felt after Iraqi forces pushed the jihadists out of their neighbourhoods in months of heavy street-to-street fighting.
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| Iran's Rouhani in Kuwait to soothe Gulf ties Posted: 15 Feb 2017 10:51 AM PST  Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday visited Kuwait as part of a lightning two-nation tour aimed at mending ties with Gulf neighbours strained by the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. Rouhani held talks with Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, who last month launched a dialogue with the Islamic republic to normalise Iran-Gulf relations. An official statement cited by the KUNA news agency said they discussed bolstering bilateral ties in all fields.
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| U.S. commander expects tough battle in western Mosul Posted: 15 Feb 2017 10:33 AM PST  By Ayat Basma NORTH OF MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - Islamic State will put up a tough fight in the western side Mosul that remains under its control despite the losses the group suffered so far in the battle for the Iraqi, a U.S. commander said on Wednesday. "It is hard and hard every day here," Colonel Patrick Work, commander of the 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, said in an interview with Reuters TV at a brigade artillery position in northern Mosul. The United States is providing air and ground support to Iraqi and Kurdish forces trying to dislodge the hardline group from Mosul, captured in 2014.
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| Jordan commander: IS expands hold in border camp for Syrians Posted: 15 Feb 2017 09:24 AM PST  JORDAN-SYRIA BORDER (AP) — Armed Islamic State extremists are expanding their influence in a sprawling camp for displaced Syrians on Jordan's border, posing a growing threat to the U.S.-allied kingdom, a senior Jordanian military commander said.
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| Iran defeats U.S. Navy in defiant animated film Posted: 15 Feb 2017 08:53 AM PST  By Bozorgmehr Sharafedin DUBAI (Reuters) - A full-length animated film depicting an armed confrontation between Iran's Revolutionary Guards and the U.S. Navy is soon to open in Iranian cinemas, amid rising tensions over President Donald Trump's hardening rhetoric against Tehran. The director of the "Battle of Persian Gulf II", Farhad Azima, said that it was a remarkable coincidence that the release of the film - four years in the making - coincided with a "warmongering" president sitting in the White House. "I hope that the film shows Trump how American soldiers will face a humiliating defeat if they attack Iran," Azima told Reuters in a telephone interview from the city of Mashhad in eastern Iran.
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| Syrian Kurdish groups expect U.S. support, will fight any Turkish advance Posted: 15 Feb 2017 08:50 AM PST  By Ellen Francis BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian Kurdish militias and their allies expect continued U.S. support for their war against Islamic State in northern Syria and will fight Turkish forces if they advance towards Raqqa, a Kurdish leader said. Top Kurdish politician Ilham Ahmed spoke to Reuters from northeast Syria after returning from Washington where she pressed the new United States administration for political and military support.
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| UN temporarily pausing aid to eastern Mosul due to security Posted: 15 Feb 2017 08:28 AM PST  HASSAN SHAM CAMP, Iraq (AP) — The United Nations said Wednesday it was temporarily pausing aid operations to neighborhoods in the eastern half of the Iraqi city of Mosul as attacks by the Islamic State group continue to inflict heavy civilian casualties there.
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| U.N. aid to Mosul paused on security concerns, to resume soon Posted: 15 Feb 2017 08:02 AM PST  Security concerns forced the United Nations to pause its aid operations this week in east Mosul, which Iraqi forces recaptured from Islamic State last month, but they will resume soon, a U.N. humanitarian official said on Wednesday. "Based on reports of insecurity, the U.N. decided that we would not send missions into eastern parts of Mosul until we reassess security conditions," said Lise Grande, the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq.
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| Suicide truck bomber kills at least 15 in Sadr City suburb of Baghdad: security sources Posted: 15 Feb 2017 07:40 AM PST BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomber detonated a pick-up truck on Wednesday in Sadr City, a heavily populated poor Shi'ite suburb of Baghdad, killing at least 15 and wounding 50, security sources said. The explosion, the deadliest in Baghdad so far this year, targeted a crowded street full of garages and used car dealers. Islamic has stepped up bombings in Iraq last year, in retaliation to a U.S.-backed campaign that dislodged the hardline Sunni group from most Iraqi cities it took over in 2014. The militants also control parts of neighboring Syria. ... |
| Dutch intelligence agency warns of child jihadists Posted: 15 Feb 2017 07:39 AM PST THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Netherlands' main intelligence service says it's treating Dutch children in conflict zones in Iraq and Syria as "jihadist travelers" since they may have received military training. |
| World's diplomats seeking reassurance from US at G20 meeting Posted: 15 Feb 2017 06:01 AM PST  BONN, Germany (AP) — Foreign ministers from most of the world's leading powers are heading to a diplomatic summit of the Group of 20 industrialized and emerging economies in Germany, with all eyes on the new U.S. Secretary of State for clues about the direction Washington will take over the next four years.
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| France's Le Pen to visit Lebanon: government source Posted: 15 Feb 2017 05:36 AM PST  French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen will visit Lebanon next week for talks with leaders of Paris's former mandate territory, a Lebanese government source said Wednesday. "Madame Le Pen will be in Beirut on the 19th and 20th, and will meet (President Michel) Aoun and (Prime Minister Saad) Hariri on Monday," the source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. The latest polls for April's presidential vote show Le Pen, who heads the far-right National Front (FN) party, leading with 27 percent in the first round, but she is not expected to triumph in a run off.
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| Greek soccer hero helps refugees win battle against boredom Posted: 15 Feb 2017 04:06 AM PST  SKARAMANGAS, Greece (AP) — Soccer fans of a certain age may still remember Antonis Nikopolidis for his resemblance to American actor George Clooney and as the goalkeeper who helped Greece become surprise European Champions in 2004.
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| U.N. warns of catastrophic dam failure in Syria battle Posted: 15 Feb 2017 04:00 AM PST  By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations is warning of catastrophic flooding in Syria from the Tabqa dam, which is at risk from high water levels, deliberate sabotage by Islamic State (IS) and further damage from air strikes by the U.S.-led coalition. The earth-filled dam holds back the Euphrates River 40 km (25 miles) upstream of the IS stronghold of Raqqa and has been controlled by IS since 2014. Water levels on the river have risen by about 10 meters since Jan. 24, due partly to heavy rainfall and snow and partly to IS opening three turbines of the dam, flooding riverside areas downstream, according to a U.N. report seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
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| UN 'extremely concerned' over conditions in west Mosul Posted: 15 Feb 2017 01:58 AM PST  Living conditions in west Mosul, where jihadists are hunkering down among 750,000 Iraqi civilians, are deteriorating fast and a source of great concern, the UN's top aid official said Wednesday. "We are extremely concerned about the rapid deterioration of the conditions in west Mosul," United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Iraq Lise Grande told reporters. "Families are in big trouble, half of the shops have been closed," she said while visiting Hasansham, a displacement camp between Mosul and Arbil, the nearby capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.
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| Mattis' reassurance tour in Europe could include US requests Posted: 14 Feb 2017 09:30 PM PST  BRUSSELS (AP) — For Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, the next few days will be a reassurance tour with a twist.
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| West Mosul eating once a day and bracing for worse Posted: 14 Feb 2017 04:43 PM PST  As the noose tightens around holdout jihadists in west Mosul, so does the belt around the waists of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians trapped there with dwindling supplies. "We're trying to build up some reserves but we have very little food left at home," said Umm Sameer, a mother from the Ras al-Jadda neighbourhood of west Mosul. After retaking eastern Mosul from the Islamic State group last month, Iraqi federal forces are now preparing to move on the part of the city that lies on the west bank of the Tigris River.
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