| Oil dips over doubts that high OPEC compliance with announced cuts will last Posted: 14 Feb 2017 05:33 PM PST  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices dipped on Wednesday over concerns that producer club OPEC would not be able to maintain its high compliance so far with output cuts aimed at reining in a global fuel supply overhang. Brent crude futures were trading at $55.80 per barrel at 0115 GMT, down 17 cents from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures , were down 20 cents at $53 per barrel.
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| Nervous NATO allies seek reassurance from Trump's defense chief Posted: 14 Feb 2017 03:10 PM PST  By Robin Emmott and Phil Stewart BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European allies will tell the United States' new defense secretary on Wednesday that NATO is not the weak alliance U.S. President Donald Trump has accused it of being, at one of the most anticipated NATO meetings in years. At their first face-to-face encounter with Jim Mattis, European defense ministers will also seek reassurances from their U.S. counterpart that Trump is committed to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which has guaranteed Europe's security for almost 70 years. "Mattis's performance is going to be really important," said Adam Thomson, a former British ambassador to NATO and director of the European Leadership Network think tank in London.
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| Winning the hearts of Islamic State’s potential recruits Posted: 14 Feb 2017 02:13 PM PST As it began to lose more territory last year in Iraq and Syria, Islamic State (IS) posted a 55-page document online that aims to entice Muslims to operate on its behalf – as "media operatives" – in spreading its radical and violent message in the digital universe. After translating the document, researchers at King's College London issued a report this week that offers an important recommendation: To counter the group's attempt to deputize Muslims as propagandists will take more than showing the negative aspects of IS, such as the dismal life for its jihadi fighters or its misguided ideology. "[R]efuting the Islamic State's claims to legitimacy is not enough – and will never be enough – to degrade its brand," the report says. |
| Petraeus, other ex-officers in line to replace White House security advisor Flynn Posted: 14 Feb 2017 01:34 PM PST  Three retired senior military officers are seen as possible replacements for White House national security advisor Michael Flynn, who resigned in a scandal over his private phone calls with Russia's US ambassador. The storied army general credited with the success of the 2007 Iraq war "surge" has wanted to get back into the action for years after his career was cut short in 2012 by an affair with his biographer.
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| 'Choose life, not death' reform center tells Iraqi teenage militants Posted: 14 Feb 2017 12:20 PM PST  By Michael Georgy DOHUK, Iraq (Reuters) - Wearing funky beads, Laith Abbas comes across as just another Iraqi teenager trying to look cool, until he describes how he clutched an AK-47 assault rifle at checkpoints along with other Islamic State militants who terrorized Mosul. Abbas is one of 54 teenagers Kurdish authorities are trying to de-radicalise at a reform center in the northern city of Dohuk for youths and women suspected of aiding Islamic State. The idea is to prevent the hardline Sunni group from brainwashing a new generation of suicide bombers and fighters into threatening Iraq's stability again after an ongoing army offensive in their stronghold of Mosul ends.
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| After Flynn resigns, Dems ask what did Trump know and when Posted: 14 Feb 2017 12:17 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — The resignation of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn elicited a simple but persistent question Tuesday from congressional Democrats: What did President Donald Trump know and when did he know it?
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| Thousands in Iraq pay homage to victims of Baghdad protest Posted: 14 Feb 2017 12:12 PM PST  Thousands of Iraqis, mostly supporters of prominent cleric Moqtada Sadr, gathered in Baghdad Tuesday to pay their respects to seven people killed last week during a protest for electoral reform. On February 11, thousands of Sadr supporters and other Iraqis staged a demonstration demanding the country's election commissioners be replaced and the electoral law overhauled. The protest turned violent when some demonstrators tried to force their way through a security cordon to head to the seat of the electoral commission in the heavily fortified Green Zone.
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| Valentine's Day returns to Iraq's IS-free east Mosul Posted: 14 Feb 2017 12:06 PM PST  Mosul (Iraq) (AFP) - Valentine's Day returned Tuesday to the eastern sector of the Iraqi city of Mosul from where the Islamic State group was expelled last month, at least for a group of enthusiastic schoolchildren.
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| Flynn resignation has 'no impact' on US message to NATO: Pentagon chief Posted: 14 Feb 2017 11:27 AM PST  The resignation of President Donald Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, will have "no impact" on America's message to worried NATO partners, Pentagon chief Jim Mattis said on Tuesday ahead of a key alliance meeting. Flynn was forced from his key post late Monday amid allegations he had discussed US sanctions strategy with Russia's ambassador Sergey Kislyak before taking office. US defence secretaries routinely visit NATO, but Mattis's trip is significant as he seeks to reassure allies -- rattled by Trump's past rhetoric on the alliance -- that America is not abandoning long-standing security doctrine to forge closer ties with Moscow.
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| Flynn, fired once by a president, now removed by another Posted: 14 Feb 2017 11:10 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Fired by one American commander in chief for insubordination, Michael Flynn has now been removed by another.
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| White House names possible shortlist for Flynn replacement Posted: 14 Feb 2017 10:56 AM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — His administration dealt a significant blow after less than a month in office, President Donald Trump must now fill a vital national security post after the resignation of embattled national security adviser Michael Flynn.
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| Trump's baptism of fire Posted: 14 Feb 2017 10:47 AM PST  In more than three turbulent weeks at the White House, President Donald Trump has moved quickly to take a string of controversial initiatives. On January 27 Trump issued a decree summarily denying entry to all refugees for 120 days, and travelers from Muslim-majority Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days. Refugees from Syria were blocked indefinitely.
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| Free hairdos to boost confidence of displaced Iraqi women Posted: 14 Feb 2017 08:55 AM PST  Twice a month, beautician Chnoor Khezri takes her equipment to a camp near Mosul and gives displaced Iraqi women who have lost everything a proper pampering and some fresh confidence. In a small room inside the camp, the young Iranian Kurd takes out her brushes and scissors and puts blue wax to heat up in a pot. More than 3,600 women have endured freezing temperatures and the most rudimentary comfort levels in this camp's tents since they fled the fighting between Iraqi forces and the Islamic State group in Mosul.
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| Report says Islamic State extremists using mainstream media Posted: 14 Feb 2017 07:38 AM PST LONDON (AP) — A report based on a translated Islamic State group document says the extremists consider mainstream media to be an effective weapon for spreading its radical message. |
| Free hairdos boost displaced Iraqi women Posted: 14 Feb 2017 07:11 AM PST  Twice a month, beautician Chnoor Khezri takes her equipment to a camp near Mosul and gives displaced Iraqi women who have lost everything a proper pampering and some fresh confidence. In a small room inside the camp, the young Iranian Kurd takes out her brushes and scissors and puts blue wax to heat up in a pot. More than 3,600 women have endured freezing temperatures and the most rudimentary comfort levels in this camp's tents since they fled the fighting between Iraqi forces and the Islamic State group in Mosul.
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| IS counterattacks as Iraqi forces prepare for Mosul push Posted: 14 Feb 2017 06:23 AM PST  HAMDANIYAH, Iraq (AP) — The Iraqi army has been moving troops around Mosul ahead of an expected push to retake its western half from the Islamic State group in the final decisive battle for the city, a commander said Tuesday.
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| Flynn: pro-Russia and fixated on Islamic extremism Posted: 14 Feb 2017 03:51 AM PST  President Donald Trump's national security adviser Michael Flynn, who resigned late Monday over his controversial contacts with Russia, is a former military intelligence chief who saw militant Islam as the main threat to global stability. The 58 year-old retired three-star general -- a slim, energetic figure with sharp facial features -- however had accommodating views on Russia and China, two countries that former president Barack Obama regarded as the main US strategic opponents. During the 2016 presidential campaign Flynn was one of the few high-profile former military figures who advised candidate Trump, and was on the short list to be the Republican's vice presidential candidate.
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| Cult Finnish director calls for compassion for migrants Posted: 14 Feb 2017 03:48 AM PST  After six years of silence cult Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki returned to the screen Tuesday with "The Other Side of Hope", a call for mercy towards migrants seeking asylum in Europe. The new comedy-drama drew cheers at a press preview at the Berlin film festival, one of Europe's top cinema showcases, where it is in competition for the Golden Bear top prize to be awarded Saturday. The film recounts the melancholy fate of Syrian migrant Khaled, played by Syrian actor Sherwan Haji, who ends up against his will in remote Finland -- a hostile place on first impression peopled by taciturn, cold Finns.
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| White House names possible shortlist for Flynn replacement Posted: 13 Feb 2017 11:04 PM PST NEW YORK (AP) — His administration dealt a significant blow after not even a month in office, President Donald Trump must now fill a vital national security post after the resignation of embattled national security adviser Michael Flynn. |
| Today in History Posted: 13 Feb 2017 09:01 PM PST Today in History |
| Top Trump aide Flynn resigns over Russia contacts Posted: 13 Feb 2017 04:09 PM PST  Donald Trump's national security advisor Michael Flynn resigned after it was revealed he misled top officials over his contacts with Russia, an unprecedented departure so early into a US president's administration. The White House late Monday said Trump had accepted Flynn's resignation amid allegations the retired three star general discussed US sanctions strategy with Russia's ambassador Sergey Kislyak before taking office. Flynn admitted that he "inadvertently briefed" the now Vice President Mike Pence with "incomplete information" about his calls with Kislyak.
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