| US officials not ruling out terrorism in airport shooting Posted: 07 Jan 2017 05:52 PM PST  US authorities are not ruling out "the terrorism angle" as a potential motive of the Iraq war veteran accused of killing five people at the Fort Lauderdale International Airport, officials said. Esteban Santiago, 26, was charged in the shooting rampage Friday that also wounded six and sent thousands scrambling for safety before authorities shut down the airport in Florida, a major gateway to the Caribbean and Latin America. "We continue to look at all avenues and all motives for this horrific attack," said George Piro, the special agent in charge of Miami's FBI field office.
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| Public areas of airports seen as most vulnerable to attack Posted: 07 Jan 2017 04:58 PM PST  ATLANTA (AP) — In a post-9/11 world, American airports have taken all sorts of steps to keep travelers safe. But significant vulnerabilities remain.
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| Airport gunman charged, US seeks death penalty Posted: 07 Jan 2017 04:24 PM PST  FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The Iraq war veteran accused of killing five travelers and wounding six others at a busy international airport in Florida was charged Saturday and could face the death penalty if convicted.
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| Alleged airport gunman charged, US seeks death penalty Posted: 07 Jan 2017 04:22 PM PST  The Iraq war veteran accused of killing five travelers and wounding six others at a busy international airport in Florida was charged Saturday and could face the death penalty if convicted.
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| Brother of airport shooting suspect says US gov't failed him Posted: 07 Jan 2017 04:15 PM PST  PENUELAS, Puerto Rico (AP) — The brother of a man accused of killing five people at a Florida airport questioned Saturday why his brother was allowed to keep his gun after U.S. authorities knew he'd become increasingly paranoid and was hearing voices.
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| Gun was given back to Florida shooting suspect last month Posted: 07 Jan 2017 04:13 PM PST  Police in Alaska took a handgun from the man accused of killing five people at Fort Lauderdale's airport on Friday, but they returned it to him last month after a medical evaluation found he was not mentally ill, authorities said on Saturday. Esteban Santiago, a 26-year-old Iraq war veteran, had a history of acting erratically and investigators are probing whether mental illness played a role in the latest U.S. mass shooting. According to court papers, he told agents he planned the attack and bought a one-way ticket to Florida.
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| Gun was given back to Florida shooting suspect last year Posted: 07 Jan 2017 03:39 PM PST Police in Alaska last year took a handgun from the man accused of killing five people at Fort Lauderdale's airport on Friday, but returned it to him last month after a medical evaluation found he was not mentally ill, authorities said. Esteban Santiago, a 26-year-old Iraq war veteran, had a history of acting erratically and investigators are probing whether mental illness played a role in America's latest mass shooting. Marlin Ritzman, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's office in Anchorage, told a news conference on Saturday that Santiago walked into the office in November and told agents his mind was being controlled by a U.S. intelligence agency. |
| The Latest: US seeks death penalty in airport shooting Posted: 07 Jan 2017 03:25 PM PST  FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The Latest on Airport Shooting-Florida (all times local):
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| Police say gun was returned to Florida airport shooting suspect last year Posted: 07 Jan 2017 01:55 PM PST  (Reuters) - Police in Alaska said on Saturday they had returned a handgun to the Florida airport shooting suspect which was temporarily taken from him when he underwent a mental evaluation late last year. Anchorage Police Chief Christopher Tolley said it was not immediately clear if it was the same gun used in Friday's deadly rampage in Fort Lauderdale. Officials told a news conference the gun was returned to the suspect, Esteban Santiago, 26, because the Iraq war veteran had not committed a crime.
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| FBI: Gunman flew to Florida specifically to attack airport Posted: 07 Jan 2017 01:17 PM PST The Iraq war veteran accused of killing five travelers and wounding six others at a busy international airport in Florida appears to have traveled there specifically to carry out the attack, authorities said Saturday, but they don't know why he chose his target and have not ruled out terrorism. |
| Fort Lauderdale shooting: Evidence of gaps in the mental health system? Posted: 07 Jan 2017 01:01 PM PST It's unclear whether the suspected gunman, Esteban Santiago, had ever been formally diagnosed with an illness. The shooting seems to serve as an example of a type of mass violence that is actually much rarer than most people believe: studies show that the mentally ill account for just 1 percent of gun violence against strangers, although almost two-thirds of the American public sees such incidents as a reflection of failures in the mental health system, the Pew Research Center reports. |
| Blast in Syrian town on Turkish border kills nearly 50 Posted: 07 Jan 2017 12:51 PM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — A car bomb ripped through a busy commercial district in a rebel-held Syrian town along the Turkish border Saturday, killing nearly 50 in a huge explosion that damaged buildings and left rescuers scrambling to find survivors amid the wreckage, opposition activists said.
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| Iraq says deal reached over Bashiqa, Turkey says issue will be solved Posted: 07 Jan 2017 11:47 AM PST  Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Saturday an agreement had been reached with Turkey over an Iraqi demand that Turkish forces withdraw from the Bashiqa camp near Mosul in the north of the country, Iraqi state TV reported. Turkish forces have been stationed in Bashiqa since before a recent offensive against Islamic State in northern Iraq.
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| FBI: Airport gunman traveled to Florida for massacre Posted: 07 Jan 2017 10:48 AM PST The Iraq war veteran accused of killing five travelers and wounding six others at a busy international airport in Florida appears to have traveled there specifically to carry out the attack, authorities said Saturday. |
| Turkish PM visits Iraq amid spat over unauthorized troops Posted: 07 Jan 2017 10:39 AM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim commenced a two-day visit to Iraq Saturday, the first since the two governments quarreled over the presence of unauthorized Turkish troops in northern Iraq, straining relations between the two neighbors fighting the Islamic State group.
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| Iraqi forces close in on Tigris in Islamic State stronghold Mosul Posted: 07 Jan 2017 09:07 AM PST  By Stephen Kalin and Ahmed Rasheed MOSUL, Iraq/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi special forces closed in on the Tigris river that runs through central Mosul on Saturday, advancing in parallel with other troops and forcing Islamic State to retreat in its last major stronghold in the country. Islamic State has been driven out of more than half the areas it held east of the Tigris river, which bisects the city, but is still in control of the west. It will be harder for the jihadists to defend Mosul once Iraqi forces reach the river.
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| Iraq PM says Turkish troop problem solved soon Posted: 07 Jan 2017 08:16 AM PST  Iraq and Turkey's prime ministers held talks Saturday in Baghdad which both said reflected progress in resolving a bitter row over the presence of Turkish troops in northern Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said at a joint press conference after meeting Turkey's Binali Yildirim that the issue would be solved soon. Turkey has for some time maintained troops at a base near Bashiqa, a town just northeast of Mosul, and reinforcements dispatched there in 2015 led to a deterioration in relations between the two neighbours.
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| US goes from bandleader to bystander in Syria peace efforts Posted: 07 Jan 2017 07:35 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Stung by years of failure to stop Syria's bloodshed, the United States is now just a bystander to the civil war as President Barack Obama's tenure ends.
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| Entering Mosul from north, Iraqi army faces gruelling urban combat Posted: 07 Jan 2017 06:35 AM PST By Isabel Coles NORTH OF MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - In the morning, spirits were high among Iraqi troops battling Islamic State for control of Mosul as they advanced on the northern edge of the city, helped by a salvo of rockets fired by the U.S.-led coalition. "It's that time of day," said an American adviser as his Iraqi counterparts rushed to make contact with their men on the ground via walkie-talkie following the blast. Vastly outnumbered and overpowered, Islamic State militants have adopted the strategy of waiting for Iraqi forces to reach their target before launching a counterattack when their enemy is worn out after a day's fighting. |
| Investigators seek motive in Florida airport shooting Posted: 07 Jan 2017 05:14 AM PST Federal investigators will on Saturday pursue all angles in determining the motives behind a mass shooting in which an attacker opened fire in a crowded baggage claim area at Fort Lauderdale's airport, killing five people. Authorities said they had taken decorated Iraq war veteran Esteban Santiago into custody following the shooting and questioned him at length. The 26-year-old was arrested, booked and jailed on suspicion of murder early on Saturday, according to Broward County Sheriff's Office. |
| Work together for change, Obama says in farewell preview Posted: 07 Jan 2017 05:00 AM PST  President Barack Obama on Saturday spoke about the importance of ordinary people working together for change in a preview of the farewell address he will deliver in Chicago next week. Many departing US presidents have given farewell addresses as they leave office, a tradition dating to the first US president, George Washington, in 1796. "The running thread through my career has been the notion that when ordinary people get involved, get engaged, and come together in collective effort, things change for the better," Obama said in his weekly radio address.
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| Florida airport reopens after five shot dead Posted: 07 Jan 2017 03:29 AM PST  Florida's Fort Lauderdale International Airport was open again Saturday after a shooting rampage by an Iraq war veteran that killed five people, wounded eight, and sent thousands scrambling for safety. Police identified the suspect as 26-year-old Esteban Santiago, who was in custody and being questioned by the FBI over the shooting that shut down the airport, a major gateway to the Caribbean and Latin America. Santiago, who earlier complained that the CIA was forcing him to watch Islamic State jihadist videos, allegedly opened fire randomly with a semi-automatic handgun Friday shortly before 1:00 pm (1800 GMT) in the baggage claim area of Terminal 2.
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| In Istanbul district, horror but scant surprise at links to nightclub shooter Posted: 07 Jan 2017 01:39 AM PST  By Humeyra Pamuk ISTANBUL (Reuters) - In a working-class Istanbul neighborhood that Central Asian migrants have called home for decades, there is horror but scant surprise that a gunman who killed 39 people in a nightclub on New Year's Day may have spent time in their community. Just beyond the ancient walls on Istanbul's historic peninsula, Zeytinburnu could not be farther removed from the upscale Ortakoy district on the shores of the Bosphorus where the gunman opened fire with an automatic rifle last Sunday. The gunman, whom Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak has said is thought to be an ethnic Uighur, is believed to have traveled by taxi from Zeytinburnu before the shooting and to have returned to a restaurant there afterwards, asking to borrow money to pay the driver.
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| Today in History Posted: 06 Jan 2017 09:01 PM PST Today in History |
| Iraq forces near Tigris River in Mosul Posted: 06 Jan 2017 04:00 PM PST  Iraqi forces battling the Islamic State group in Mosul are approaching the Tigris River, which runs through the centre of the city, the spokesman for the Counter-Terrorism Service said Saturday. Iraq launched a massive operation on October 17 to retake Mosul from the jihadists, who seized the city more than two and a half years ago, and its forces have recaptured a number of neighbourhoods on the east side of the river. The smaller but more densely populated west side of Iraq's second city remains completely under IS control.
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