Obama under fire for saying no ‘complete strategy’ yet for training Iraqis | Fight Against ISIS Militants Lags Because They’re Nimble…and the U.S. Isn’t | TIME | Belgian security forces arrest 16 in crackdown on Chechen groups | Putin warned of fresh sanctions over Ukraine -FT | Russia Wields Aid and Ideology Against West to Fight Sanctions

Obama under fire for saying no ‘complete strategy’ yet for training Iraqis | Fight Against ISIS Militants Lags Because They’re Nimble…and the U.S. Isn’t | TIME | Belgian security forces arrest 16 in crackdown on Chechen groups | Putin warned of fresh sanctions over Ukraine -FT | Russia Wields Aid and Ideology Against West to Fight Sanctions - World News Review

Belgian security forces detained 16 people on Monday in a national crackdown on groups of Chechens, some of whom were suspected of fighting in Syria.

The arrests of the alleged jihadis came in 21 raids in cities ranging from Ostend and Antwerp in the north to Namur in the south.

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However, Belgian prosecutors later said that most of the suspects had been released. Two were held for further investigation and three more arrest warrants were issued for suspects who had not been found.

Belgium’s Islamist groups have been in the sights of international security services for several years but had not been widely seen as a risk to domestic security until a dramatic shoot-out in the town of Verviers in January. Two jihadis died in the gun battle and 15 people were arrested across the country on suspicion of planning an attack against the police.

Since January, the Belgian army has guarded EU institutions and embassies in the capital.

Belgium is seen as particularly vulnerable to Islamist groups because it has more citizens per capita fighting in Iraq and Syria than any other EU state. Between 350 and 450 Belgians have made the trip, according to estimates from analysts and the Belgian government.

The prosecutor’s office had originally said that one of the groups was suspected of planning a terror attack in Belgium but later issued a statement that it had not found “up to this point” sufficient evidence to support that. The four arrested in connection with this probe had been released “pending the subsequent steps in the investigation”.

Belgium’s federal prosecutors said that Monday’s arrests had been made in close co-operation with US security services, particularly in monitoring the WhatsApp instant messaging service that the suspects were using on their smartphones.

The Belgian authorities said the raids had been co-ordinated as part of two separate but related probes.

The first investigation centred on the apparent radicalisation of Chechens living on the Belgian coast to fight abroad. The focal figure in the inquiry was a jihadi who returned to Ostend for medical treatment after being wounded in Syria. Twelve raids took place in connection with these suspected jihadis in Ostend and Bredene on the North Sea coast.

As in previous investigations, the prosecutors said that there seemed to be a particular concentration of jihadis from Belgium fighting around Aleppo. The groups with apparent links to Belgian-based suspects were Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian franchise of al Qaeda, and the Caucasus Emirate, an umbrella group for many Islamist fighters seeking independence from Russia.

The second probe concerned the possible attack in Belgium and targeted a group of Chechens in the city of Leuven.

In February, the leader of a Belgian Islamist group responsible for sending dozens of young Muslims to fight for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant was jailed for 12 years following one of Europe’s largest terror trials.

Fouad Belkacem, the 32-year old founder of Sharia4Belgium, was one of 46 defendants in a case that shed light on the recruitment of foreign fighters who have left Europe to fight in Syria.

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Calls mount to fire Texas officer who threw girl to ground
Monday June 8th, 2015 at 6:15 PM

AUSTIN, Texas A rally is planned for Monday in the Dallas-area city of McKinney calling for the firing of a police officer seen in a viral video throwing a bikini-clad teenage girl to the ground and pointing his pistol at other youths at a pool party disturbance.

McKinney Police Corporal Eric Casebolt has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation of how he responded to a disturbance at the party on Friday in the city about 30 miles north of Dallas, an incident that has raised fresh questions about racial bias in U.S. policing.

Casebolt, who is white, is seen shouting obscenities at black youths in a multiracial crowd, shoving a black teenage girl, briefly pointing his gun at the youths and throwing the girl in her bathing suit, who is black, to the ground, burying his knees in her back.

"We are demanding that the officer be fired and be charged with assaulting the youth," said Dominique Alexander, the president of the Next Generation Action Network, which is organizing the rally.

The incident comes after a string of cases over the past year fueled waves of protests across the United States over what civil rights activists say is law enforcement's unjustified use of force, often lethal, against minority groups.

Alexander and other civil rights leaders met McKinney officials and told reporters afterward they see the officer's actions as being racially motivated. They also said they want a U.S. Justice Department probe of the incident.

Casebolt, a 10-year veteran once named the department's patrolman of the year, was questioned by authorities on Monday, local media reported. He has not spoken publicly about the incident.

The seven-minute video, viewed more than 4 million times on YouTube as of Monday, shows officers responding to the incident, which police said started when scores of youths attended a party with a DJ at a community's pool and refused requests to leave.

At the start of the video, one officer is speaking cordially with teens, telling them, "Don’t take off running as soon as cops get here."

Dajerria Becton, the girl who was thrown to the ground by Casebolt, told local broadcaster KDFW that the officer twisted her arm and grabbed her by the hair.

"Him getting fired isn’t enough," she said.

Several people wrote on the McKinney Police Facebook page that the youths antagonized police and that they should have obeyed when officers told them to stay put and keep quiet. A few area residents told local media the case was about unruly teens and not about race.

McKinney has about 150,000 people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. African-Americans make up 10.5 percent of the population and whites about 75 percent.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Alan Crosby)

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Putin warned of fresh sanctions over Ukraine
Monday June 8th, 2015 at 6:14 PM

The Group of Seven countries on Monday threatened Russian president Vladimir Putin with new

economic sanctions if Moscow escalated military backing for the separatists in eastern Ukraine.

With violence mounting once again in eastern Ukraine, the G7 leaders issued a much tougher warning to the Kremlin than had been expected, with Japan significantly hardening its line and backing a common approach with its partners, the US, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and the UK.

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“We are concerned about the recent increase in fighting along the line of contact,” said the G7 in a statement at the end of the summit in southern German resort of Elmau.

Existing economic sanctions could be“rolled back” when Russia implemented its side of the Minsk ceasefire agreement signed in February. “However, we also stand ready to take further restrictive measures in order to increase the cost on Russia should its actions so require,” the leaders added.

President Barack Obama said discussions were taking place about additional measures that the G7 “might need to take if Russia, working through the separatists, doubled down on aggression inside of Ukraine”.

Moscow continues to deny that its forces are directly involved in the fighting in eastern Ukraine, which flared last week with a separatist offensive on the outskirts of Donetsk.

In words that will be welcome by Washington hawks, keen on giving Kiev military assistance, the US president warned Mr Putin against the pursuit “of a wrong-headed desire to recreate the glories of the Soviet empire”.

The G7 leaders discussed the possibility of supplying arms to Kiev, in an echo of the debate last summer when American hawks unsuccessfully pressed Mr Obama to approve weapons shipments. Officials said the discussion had been hypothetical, with no leader suggesting such steps were on the political agenda.

Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, characteristically avoided the tough rhetoric but said: “We are ready to increase sanctions if the situation makes it necessary.”

The G7 statement does not change western policy, since the US and the EU have already pledged to increase sanctions in the event of a big new military push by the Russia-backed separatists. But, with Japan falling into line, the international pressure on Russia has increased just days before an EU summit at which EU leaders are expected to back extending their sanctions regime until the end of January and keep it in line with the implementation of the Minsk accord.

Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, told the summit that Tokyo was concerned about protecting Ukraine’s territorial integrity and opposing the change of borders by force, according to Japanese and EU officials. His new-found resolve seems to be driven at least partly by China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea, where its claims to disputed islands have put it at loggerheads with other states in the region.

“We are concerned by current conflicts which indicate an erosion of respect for international law and of global security,” said the G7 in a clear reference to tensions far beyond Ukraine - in the Middle East, and north Africa, as well as East Asia.

The G7 partners also urged Kiev to fulfil its side of the Minsk agreement, which includes devolving power to the separatist regions, in a move that Kiev is reluctant to implement for fear of further compromising its integrity. And they backed Ukraine’s efforts to implement economic reforms, promising more financial support, without giving details.

Japan, which hosts next year’s G7 summit, had already put “solidarity with Ukraine” on the agenda on the basis that Russia, which attended summits until its invitation was suspended last year over the Ukraine crisis, will still be persona non grata.

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The Election Loss for Turkey’s Erdogan Is a Victory for Democracy | TIME
Monday June 8th, 2015 at 6:11 PM

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Turks dealt a staggering blow to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday in the only language he understands: votes. The invigorating result was to reaffirm the exciting changes that Erdogan engineered in Turkish society when he first emerged as the nation’s leader a dozen years ago—the same changes that Sunday’s result showed Erdogan failed to properly appreciate. He thought it was all about him.

The great and historic success of Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, known by the Turkish-language initials AKP, was in empowering the heartland voters the country’s governing elite had never quite trusted. Built as a parliamentary democracy, Turkey was crippled through most of its first eight decades in existence by the paradoxical unwillingness of the people in power to abide by the wishes of the electorate.

Again and again, the country’s military grabbed power whenever things were going in a direction the generals deemed dangerous. Each time, their excuse for seizing power was safeguarding the “secular democracy” put in place by the nation’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the charismatic former officer who shaped a modern state from the remains of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. Ataturk died in 1937, but the paternalism of his early state lived on. It even had a name: Kemalism, a kind of governing rigidity, hostile to religious expression and deeply invested in “the state,” that critics said Ataturk himself would have disowned for stunting the growth of a mature democracy.

And that’s what AKP’s 2002 ascendance appeared to announce. For most of its first decade in power, Erdogan’s party made Turkey’s democracy credible. Each election brought it a larger share of the vote for the party, and with it, the political clout that allowed AKP to finally sideline the generals. The party did so partly by governing moderately, despite Erdogan’s earlier embrace of political Islam. Under AKP, sharia was cast not as a replacement for electoral democracy but rather the a moral force that informed one party’s politics—not unlike the Christian Democrats of postwar West Germany, as Erdogan liked to point that out.

Another thing Erodgan liked to point out was that he constituted the personal embodiment of this morality. Unlike previous Turkish leaders, he was a working class son of the land, the self-described “black Turk” who took the country back from the elitist secularists known as “white Turks.”

The only problem: He did not govern as a democrat. “He thinks democracy is winning elections, period,” Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkey program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy told me last year. To Erdogan, a thumping victory at the ballot box is a mandate to do as you please, and he brooked no dissent, either within AKP or from outside. Famously thin-skinned (on the night of his first election, he took umbrage at a simple question by threatening to have me declared an enemy of the state), he not only sued journalists, but made Turkey what Reporters Without Borders called “the world’s largest prison for journalists,” with 42 then behind bars in 2013, the year Freedom House shifted its description of Turkish news media from “partly free” to “not free.”

As a majoritarian, Erdogan acted on the same presumption that doomed the Muslim Brotherhood—an Islamist party he admires—in Egypt, where the military had not yet been defanged. In Turkey, Erdogan sailed on, riding out mass protests over his high-handed style of governing, and a corruption scandal that produced a tape of him instructing his son to move tens of millions of Euros out of a home safe. Last August, 52 percent of Turkish voters made him him president, a largely ceremonial office that Erdogan made clear he had plans to expand. Erdogan set out to restructure Turkey’s entire system of governance to suit his opinion of himself—a presidential system, with powers as vast as the $615 million presidential palace he built in Ankara in anticipation of victory: 1,150 rooms, including space for five official food testers.

But to alter the constitution, AKP needed to win a supermajority of the 550 seats in the Grand National Assembly in the June 7 election. At the start of the campaign, Erdogan asked the public to give his party 400 seats—a super-duper majority. He fell a bit short—the 256 seats AKP won was not even enough for a simple majority. For the first time since 2002, AKP will need to find a partner in order to govern. None of the other parties say they want to serve as junior partner, including the Peoples’ Democratic Party, or HDP, the upstart whose 13 percent of the vote cost AK its majority . HDP is a Kurdish party, long linked to the guerrilla movement that fought a separatist war on behalf of the country’s largest minority, which Kemalists refused to recognize as an ethnicity. In the election, however, HDP campaigned on peace, and drew not only from the Kurdish southeast of Turkey but also the substantial population of ethnic Turks who no longer feel threatened by a minority identity in the land. And surely many who oppose Erdogan.

Led by a former human rights activist named Selahattin Demirtas, the campaign signaled a healing of the Turkish body politic that only a few analysts, such as Cagapty, saw as inevitable, given the forces that the rise of AKP had set in motion — from the empowerment of the electorate, to the economic boom that, though fading lately, nonetheless created both new wealth and new expectations of governance.

“I think Turkey’s future is it will be governed by liberals,” Cagapty said last year. He reasoned that Erdogan’s days were numbered by the “large, liberal middle class” spawned by economic growth in the Anatolian heartland that the elite had long ignored. “So he’s in fact created his own political nemesis.” And in the process, accidentally produced a bit of good news in a region where authoritarianism is rising unchallenged almost everywhere else.

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Obama says Putin on doomed drive to recreate Soviet glories
Monday June 8th, 2015 at 6:10 PM

KRUEN, Germany U.S. President Barack Obama accused President Vladimir Putin of wrecking Russia's economy in a doomed drive to recreate the glories of the Soviet empire and G7 leaders said they could step up sanctions against Moscow if violence in Ukraine escalated.

At the conclusion of a Group of Seven summit in the Bavarian Alps, leaders expressed concern about an upsurge in fighting in eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists have clashed with Kiev's troops in violation of a ceasefire agreed in April.

The strongest rhetoric came from Obama, who told a news conference the Russian people were suffering severely because of Putin's policies.

It was the second summit of the group of leading industrial nations to exclude Russia since Putin was frozen out of what used to be the G8 after Moscow's annexation of Crimea last year, a move the G7 condemned in their communique as "illegal".

"He's got to make a decision," Obama said of Putin. "Does he continue to wreck his country's economy and continue Russia's isolation in pursuit of a wrong-headed desire to recreate the glories of the Soviet empire, or does he recognize that Russia's greatness does not depend on violating the territorial integrity and sovereignty of other countries."

The Kremlin played down Putin's absence from the summit, saying he preferred "other formats" that were more effective and better reflected the balance of global economic power.

"It's impossible now to get together in seven or eight people and effectively discuss global problems," RIA news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.

G7 sources said the Ukraine crisis and how to handle Russia had taken up two-thirds of the discussion at a Sunday dinner devoted to foreign policy.

One source, describing the Ukraine economy as a "catastrophe", said there was a consensus among the leaders that the country could not be allowed to fail.

Canada's Stephen Harper and Japan's Shinzo Abe both visited Kiev before the G7 summit and voiced strong support for President Petro Poroshenko, the sources said.

SANCTIONS

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the summit host, who has led diplomacy to engage Putin in a diplomatic solution to the conflict, told reporters that sanctions against Russia could be lifted if Moscow and the separatists fully implemented a peace deal struck in the Belarus capital Minsk earlier this year.

But she added that Europe and the United States were also prepared to toughen sanctions. German officials said this would be necessary if separatists seized more territory in eastern Ukraine, especially around the strategic port city of Mariupol.

Poroshenko told his military last week to prepare for a "full-scale invasion" by Russia in response to an upsurge in fighting, which has gone far beyond the low-level skirmishing seen in recent months.

"As we've seen again in recent days, Russian forces continue to operate in eastern Ukraine, violating Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Obama said.

"Russia is in deep recession. So Russia's actions in Ukraine are hurting Russia and hurting the Russian people. And the G7 is making it clear that if necessary we stand ready to impose additional significant sanctions against Russia."

(Additional reporting by Paul Carrel, Paul Taylor, Michelle Martin in Kruen, Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow; Writing by Noah Barkin)

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The ‘Obama is a Muslim’ conspiracy theory gets a Shiite twist from a former Iraqi lawmaker
Monday June 8th, 2015 at 6:06 PM

In a video posted to YouTube on Sunday, former Iraqi member of parliament Taha al-Lahibi is shown giving an unusual explanation for why he thinks President Obama is being "more cooperative with Shiite Iranians."

Obama is willing to work with Iran because of the "Shiite background" of his parents, Lahibi reasoned during an interview on an Arabic-language satellite channel. The former lawmaker pointed to the U.S. president's middle name as proof, with Hussein also being the name of Shiite Islam's holiest martyr.

American readers may groan when they hear Obama, a practicing Christian, being accused of a covert Islamic agenda. Even before he was elected, rumors swirled that Obama, whose estranged father has been described as a Muslim who lost his faith, had been educated at a radical Islamic school as a child in Indonesia. Despite frequent debunkings of these conspiracy theories, they persist: In one poll conducted last year, 54 percent of Republicans were found to believe that Obama was a Muslim "deep down."

In the Middle East, the theory takes on another edge. Before the 2008 U.S. presidential election, state-run Iranian newspapers published articles suggesting that the Democratic contender was a Shiite Muslim, despite a distinct lack of proof (Obama's father comes from Kenya, where Sunni Islam is dominant). When Obama won the presidency, there was even some pride in Iraq's Shiite strongholds, such as Baghdad's Sadr City district. "When Obama won," one local told Time magazine in 2008, "it was a big day in Sadr City. Many people felt, Now we have a brother in the White House."

In 2015, with Iranian-backed Shiite militias a powerful force in Iraq's battle against the Sunni Islamic State extremist group and Obama pursuing a nuclear deal with Iran, the rumors may have resurfaced. Lahibi, once a politically mainstream if relatively obscure Sunni lawmaker, has also suggested recently that the Islamic State was "founded by the Syrian regime with the help of Iran and was penetrated by the United States afterwards," according to Iraqi News.

Lahibi's comments do not have widespread support in Iraq. "If nothing else, these latest comments may serve as an indication of how polarized things have become in Iraq since the emergence of ISIS," Reidar Visser, an independent Iraq analyst, said in an e-mail. The Islamic State is also known as ISIS and ISIL.

Hayder al-Khoei, an associate fellow at London's Chatham House, noted that Lahibi had been mocked online for these and other comments. "Conspiracies and rumors from fringe elements aside, this nonsense doesn't have much traction in Iraq at all," Khoei said.

Lahibi isn't the only one who has recently peddled the theory that Obama has Shiite lineage, however. "There is one thing we must not forget. I am not peddling some theory, and I am not being racist, but Barack Hussein Obama is the son of a Shiite Kenyan father," Syrian writer Muhydin Lazikani said during a recent interview with the London-based al-Hiwar television channel.

"All the childhood memories of the man who rules the White House are Shiite memories," Lazikani added. "This is why the Iranian issue is so important to him, and why he is so anxious for Iran to emerge victorious, and for Syria and all the countries of the Arab Gulf to be shattered."

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Former Officer to Face Charges in Shooting of Unarmed Black Man
Monday June 8th, 2015 at 6:06 PM

Voice Of America

A South Carolina grand jury has indicted a white former police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black man fleeing after a traffic stop.

Michael Slager was fired and accused of murder in the April 4th killing of 50-year-old Walter Scott. Slager, a police officer at the time, pulled Scott over for driving with a broken brake light.

Slager initially said he opened fire after Scott had taken his electronic stun gun during a scuffle.

A video, taken by a bystander with a cellphone camera, showed Scott running away as Slager pulls his gun and fires eight shots.

Prosecutor Scarlett Wilson said if convicted of murder, Slager would face between 30 years and life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The South Carolina incident is one of the latest in a series of fatal encounters in the United States between unarmed black males and white police, including the shootings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Ohio, and the chokehold death of Eric Garner in New York City.

The incidents led to large protests across the nation over aggressive police tactics in minority communities.

The U.S. Justice Department has launched investigations into possible civil rights violations by police in a number of the cases.

Europe and Greece Are Playing Chicken—and Washington Isn’t Helping | TIME
Monday June 8th, 2015 at 6:05 PM

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With each passing day, it seems the stakes climb higher in Greece’s game of chicken with Europe. What is Washington’s attitude toward all this? The U.S. needs a solid, stable E.U. to coordinate on foreign policy priorities like Russia, ISIS and the rise of China. The U.S. just wants the Greeks and the rest of Europe to work out their differences.

So what is Washington’s strategy? It seems to be an incoherent mix of what I call “Indispensable America” (the U.S. must lead), “Moneyball America” (target your strategy shrewdly), and “Independent America” (this problem is not OUR problem).

At the G7 press conference in Germany, President Obama was asked whether European governments were being too difficult on Greece. The President responded by nudging the Greeks: “It is going to require Greece being serious about making some important reforms.” Then he prodded everyone else: “If both sides show sufficient flexibility, we can get this problem resolved….but it will need tough decisions from all involved.”

These comments reflect American pride that U.S. security guarantees dating back to World War II made the European project possible—as well as the accompanying sense of entitlement that requires the sole superpower to weigh in when things are going wrong almost anywhere in the world. That’s the Indispensable America worldview.

Then again, the Administration’s willingness to mainly stay out of this question and let the Germans lead reflects a Moneyball approach: stay out of it publicly but work behind the scenes through Berlin, Europe’s increasingly capable leader.

But beyond the U.S. financial contribution to the International Monetary Fund role in this struggle, Washington has offered virtually nothing of real value to narrow the gap between Greece and its creditors. That’s the Independent America approach. Americans can’t bankroll European unity, and ultimately, this story is none of Washington’s business.

Individually, each these approaches make some sense. Combining them in an ad-hoc manner doesn’t.

What does the President mean when he says: “We can get this problem resolved.” Who is “we?” The U.S. is either involved or it isn’t. There’s no point in applying pressure on all sides if you’re not offering anything to help untie their knot.

Bremmer is a foreign affairs columnist and editor-at-large at TIME. He is the president of Eurasia Group, a political-risk consultancy, and a Global Research Professor at New York University. His most recent book is Superpower: Three Choices for America’s Role in the World

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Obama under fire for saying no ‘complete strategy’ yet for training Iraqis
Monday June 8th, 2015 at 6:03 PM

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Obama says US reviewing range of options for training Iraqis

President Obama took heat Monday for admitting he doesn't yet have a "complete strategy" in hand for training Iraqis to fight the Islamic State -- months into the coordinated campaign to defeat the deadly terrorist network.

"When a finalized plan is presented to me by the Pentagon, then I will share it with the American people," Obama said, adding, "We don't yet have a complete strategy."

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul said in a statement: "It is no surprise this administration does not have a 'complete strategy' for training Iraqis to fight ISIS. What is surprising is that the president admitted it."

The president addressed the ISIS fight during a press conference on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Germany. He appeared to be speaking specifically to a new strategy for accelerating the training and equipping of Iraqi security forces. "We're reviewing a range of plans for how we might do that," Obama said.

A U.S. official afterward stressed to Fox News that Obama was indeed talking only about optimizing that train-and-equip mission, "including integration of Sunni fighters," and not "overall strategy." State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke also said Obama was not speaking to overall strategy.

But the comments nevertheless fueled critics' concerns about the direction of the U.S. mission, particularly on the heels of ISIS gains in Ramadi, and the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., tweeted: "Pres Obama admits: 'We don't yet have a complete strategy' to combat #ISIS"

Republican National Committee spokesman Michael Short cited a similar comment Obama made 10 months ago, saying in a statement, "the fact he still doesn't have a final plan for the deteriorating situation in Iraq is unacceptable."

A military official also took issue with Obama's claim that he was waiting for options from the Pentagon. "What the f--- was that? We have given him lots of options, he just hasn't acted on them," the official told Fox News.

Obama, similarly, said last August that the U.S. did not "have a strategy yet" for confronting ISIS in Syria. The administration later approved airstrikes in Syria.

Underscoring the work to be done training Iraqi forces, a Pentagon official told Fox News that zero soldiers are being trained at the al-Asad Air Base in Anbar -- the province where ISIS seized the city of Ramadi last month.

However, the Pentagon says 2,598 are in training at other locations in Iraq. And 8,920 Iraqi soldiers have been trained to date by the U.S. military.

Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren backed up the president on his assertion he was still awaiting a "finalized plan" from the Pentagon. He said Defense Secretary Ash Carter has assembled a group of "experts" to develop courses of action to "increase support" to Iraqi forces. Warren would not give a timeline on when this "finalized plan" would be presented to the White House.

A separate defense official told Fox News that any potential increases in the size of the U.S. military presence would likely be in the "train-and-equip" mission and not tactical air controllers to call in close air support against ISIS forces by U.S. aircraft flying overhead.

Echoing the president, the official said, "the problem is the number of recruits" that the U.S. military can train. "We are sending weapons as quickly as we can to Iraq, I don't think we can send anymore," he said.

Obama put some of the responsibility on the Iraqis themselves, urging them to be more inclusive. Speaking Monday, shortly after meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, Obama said a "big part" of the solution is "outreach to Sunni tribes."

"We've seen Sunni tribes who are not only willing and prepared to fight ISIL, but have been successful at rebuffing ISIL. But it has not been happening as fast as it needs to," he said. "And so, one of the efforts that I'm hoping to see out of Prime Minister Abadi and the Iraqi legislature when they're in session is to move forward on a national guard law that would help to devolve some of the security efforts in places like Anbar to local folks and to get those Sunni tribes involved more rapidly."

Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson contributed to this report.

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· · · ·

Turkey recalls ambassador to Brazil over Armenian genocide legislation
Monday June 8th, 2015 at 6:00 PM

World | Mon Jun 8, 2015 4:34pm EDT

ISTANBUL

ISTANBUL The Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Monday it had recalled its ambassador to Brazil for consultation, after the Latin American country's Senate passed legislation recognizing the massacre of Armenians during World War One in Turkey as genocide.

The ministry also summoned Brazil's ambassador to Ankara on June 3 over the matter, it said in an emailed statement.

Muslim Turkey accepts that Christian Armenians died during the upheaval of World War One but rejects declarations or legislation by foreign governments that classify the deaths as genocide.

"We view the decision by the Brazilian Senate that distorts reality and overlooks the law as irresponsible and we condemn it," the Foreign Ministry said.

Armenians, two dozen countries and most Western scholars consider the killings genocide.

(Reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

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Fight Against ISIS Militants Lags Because They’re Nimble…and the U.S. Isn’t | TIME
Monday June 8th, 2015 at 5:59 PM

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President Obama rattled off a list of what has gone wrong in the U.S.-led fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria during a wrap-up press conference Monday following the G-7 summit in Germany. Although he didn’t come out and say it, he made clear that while ISIS militants are “nimble and they’re aggressive and they’re opportunistic,” those fighting them—led by his Administration—are not.

Reading between the lines, he also suggested that responsibility for the poor showing thus far can be blamed on the Pentagon, Iraq and Turkey—but not him or his White House staff. It was a deft example of blame-shifting that also has the consequence of relegating the presidency to the status of an also-ran.

“We don’t yet have a complete strategy because it requires commitments on the part of the Iraqis,” Obama said, in words that quickly ricocheted around the world. The comment unfortunately echoed one from last summer that sent aides and Pentagon officials wincing: “We don’t have a strategy yet,” he had said in August.

Obama spoke of ISIS’s resilience following thousands of air strikes led by the U.S. (Monday’s listedhere), where ISIS is defeated in one place only to surface in another. “We have made significant progress in pushing back [ISIS] from areas in which they had occupied or disrupted local populations,” Obama said. “But we’ve also seen areas, like in Ramadi, where they’re displaced in one place and then they come back in in another. And they’re nimble and they’re aggressive and they’re opportunistic.”

Obama went on to contrast those characteristics with the sclerotic response of those battling the Islamic State. It was those particulars that proved jarring, a full year (as of Thursday) after ISIS troops drove Iraqi forces out of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, and 10 months after it began beheading American hostages:

One of the areas where we’re going to have to improve is the speed at which we’re training Iraqi forces…We’re reviewing a range of plans for how we might do that, essentially accelerating the number of Iraqi forces that are properly trained and equipped and have a focused strategy and good leadership. And when a finalized plan is presented to me by the Pentagon, then I will share it with the American people.

Bottom line: the Pentagon is the bottleneck.

That is not the way to win friends in uniform. True, the Pentagon has no desire to get involved in another ground war in the region. The recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq killed 6,849 Americans, will cost at least $3 trillion, and have achieved few of the goals set by their U.S. architects in exchange for that blood and treasure. In that way, though, the U.S. military is no different from Obama, who was elected promising to extricate the U.S. from those conflicts. Their co-dependency has created a tepid war plan, half-heartedly carried out.

We don’t yet have a complete strategy because it requires commitments on the part of the Iraqis as well about how recruitment [of Iraqi troops] takes place; how that training takes place. And so the details of that are not yet worked out…One of the things that we’re still seeing is, in Iraq, places where we’ve got more training capacity than we have recruits.

Bottom line: blame the Iraqis.

Iraq remains a deeply-divided society, pitting Sunnis against Shiites against Kurds. With mistrust and bloodlust rampant among them, creating a unified national army to fight ISIS may not be possible in the short term. There was a realpolitik reason Washington tolerated what it often calls autocrats in polite company (known elsewhere in the world as dictators and tyrants) in Egypt, Iraq and Libya. Even when anti-American, they brutally tightened the lid on their sectarian pressure cookers. If the U.S. has decided it’s not wise to keep such potentates in power, it should hardly be surprised when the lids blow off.

The other area where we’ve got to make a lot more progress is on stemming the flow of foreign [ISIS] fighters…We are still seeing thousands of foreign fighters flowing into first Syria and then, oftentimes, ultimately into Iraq…A lot of it is preventable, if we’ve got better cooperation, better coordination, better intelligence, if we are monitoring what’s happening at the Turkish-Syria border more effectively. This is an area where we’ve been seeking deeper cooperation with Turkish authorities, who recognize it’s a problem but haven’t fully ramped up the capacity they need.

Bottom line: it’s the Turks’ fault.

Turkey has performed poorly as the one NATO ally bordering Syria and Iraq throughout the anti-ISIS campaign. But with its own restive Kurdish minority, and fearing Syrian strongman Bashar Assad more than ISIS, it has been content to remain largely on the sidelines.

So there’s a germ of truth in each of Obama’s claims. But that shouldn’t keep the commander-in-chief from looking in the mirror when it comes to assigning culpability for the timorous anti-ISIS campaign and its lackluster results.

Read the whole story

· · · ·

Hackers Can Be Fought Without Violating Americans’ Rights
Sunday June 7th, 2015 at 10:44 PM

The scope and sophistication of recent cyberattacks on American government, business and personal accounts are chilling. The latest, a breach of federal personnel records that could affect more than four million current and former employees, is a reminder that enhancing the nation’s cyberdefenses has to be an urgent priority.

Yet, in tailoring new programs and policies to fight hackers, members of Congress and the Obama administration should not allow a siege mentality to take hold.

The disclosures by Edward Snowden about the abuses of the National Security Agency have led to important reforms that have sought to prevent the government from collecting information about Americans in unlawful ways and to strengthen privacy safeguards. But that process still has a long way to go, and it would be unwise to let the rising threat of cyberattacks snarl it or roll it back.

This week, The New York Times and ProPublica, relying on documents leaked by Mr. Snowden,reported that the N.S.A. and the F.B.I. have cooperated closely on cyberthreat investigations in recent years.

The partnership, which has eroded a firewall that once kept criminal and intelligence probes separate, raises serious privacy concerns. As the N.S.A. sweeps up information from suspected hackers abroad under the authority of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, it may be gathering large amounts of data about American citizens. Currently, such data, which could include copies of stolen emails and financial records, can be stored in databases. Law enforcement personnel may query it to build criminal cases against Americans that are unrelated to tracking down hackers.

Representative Ted Poe, a Texas Republican and former judge, has been among the outspoken critics of the practice, known as “backdoor searches,” which he sees as a breach of constitutional protections against unreasonable searches. “The line is very muddy,” Mr. Poe said, referring to the collaboration between the F.B.I. and the N.S.A. “I’m very suspicious about how they work together on issues that cross the line.”

Cooperation between the N.S.A. and law enforcement agencies should not be inherently suspect, and will no doubt be crucial to enhancing protections against cyberattacks. It must, however, be done in a manner that is clearly lawful and that safeguards the privacy and civil liberties of American citizens.

The powers granted to intelligence agencies under Section 702, which were billed primarily as terrorism-fighting tools, expire in December 2017. Lawmakers should not wait until then to demand a fuller and clearer accounting of how the government has interpreted those authorities. It remains unclear, for instance, just how much information about Americans the N.S.A. sweeps up in the course of cyberinvestigations and later makes available to other government agencies. Also unclear is how routinely that data is searched by law enforcement personnel, and under what guidelines.

Experience has shown that Americans cannot count on intelligence agencies to be judicious, or the Obama administration to be forthcoming, so lawmakers should create tighter rules that ensure that intelligence programs have the robust privacy and civil liberty safeguards that the law and the Constitution require.

A cybersecurity bill currently before lawmakers, which sets ground rules for cooperation between the government and the private sector, may be an appropriate vehicle for that debate. Alternatively, reforms to Section 702 could be made in appropriations bills.

While the recent changes to the Patriot Act were insufficient, it is encouraging, at least, that more members of Congress from both parties have begun championing privacy in debates about national security. “It wasn’t really something Congress was engaged in in a bipartisan way,” Mr. Poe said.

Read the whole story

· ·

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Page 3

Russia Wields Aid and Ideology Against West to Fight Sanctions
Sunday June 7th, 2015 at 10:37 PM

WASHINGTON — The war in Ukraine that has pitted Russia against the West is being waged not just with tanks, artillery and troops. Increasingly, Moscow has brought to bear different kinds of weapons, according to American and European officials: money, ideology and disinformation.

Even as the Obama administration and its European allies try to counter Russia’s military intervention across its border, they have found themselves struggling at home against what they see as a concerted drive by Moscow to leverage its economic power, finance European political parties and movements, and spread alternative accounts of the conflict.

The Kremlin’s goal seems to be to sow division, destabilize the European Union and possibly fracture what until now has been a relatively unified, if sometimes fragile, consensus against Russian aggression. At the very least, if Russia can peel off even a single member of the European Union, it could in theory prevent the renewal later this month of economic sanctions that are scheduled to expire absent the unanimous agreement of all member states.

President Obama arrived in Germany on Sunday for a Group of 7 summit meeting at which he plans to rally European allies to stand firm against Russia, especially as violence flares again in eastern Ukraine despite a shaky cease-fire. In the days leading up to his trip, both American and European officials publicly voiced concerns about President Vladimir V. Putin’s subterranean — and sometimes more overt — efforts to win allies in the West.

“As it tries to rattle the cage, the Kremlin is working hard to buy off and co-opt European political forces, funding both right-wing and left-wing anti-systemic parties throughout Europe,” Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said in a speech last month at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “President Putin sees such political forces as useful tools to be manipulated, to create cracks in the European body politic which he can then exploit.”

That is a conclusion shared by Britain’s government.

“On the question of Russian money, yes, of course we are concerned about what is clearly a Kremlin strategy of trying to pick off, shall we say, the brethren who may be less committed or more vulnerable in the run-up to the June decision,” said the British foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, last week. “It will not have escaped the Kremlin’s notice that this is a unanimity process and they only need one.”

Whether the strategy will succeed remains uncertain.

American officials and European diplomats said they were confident for now that the sanctions would be renewed at a European Union summit meeting to be held in Brussels on June 25 and 26. Germany, the union’s most dominant member, supports extending sanctions until next January, and smaller nations may be loath to defy Berlin. But there is no appetite for adding more sanctions, as some American officials would like.

Russia’s efforts to influence the West have taken on different forms.

Russia has traditionally used its status as an energy supplier to sway customers in Europe, and it is now pressing countries in southeastern Europe, including struggling Greece, to support a newnatural gas pipeline project with promises of economic benefits. Russian oligarchs have long kept so much of their money in Cypriot banks that the island nation is seen as a financial outpost for Moscow.

For several years, Russia has paid for a government-sponsored insert in newspapers and websites in 26 countries (including in The New York Times). More recently, it has proposed expanding RT, its international television network, which broadcasts in English and three other languages and delights in pointing out the foibles of the West, to French and German.

American and European officials have accused Moscow of financing green movements in Europe to encourage protests against hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a move intended to defend Russia’s gas industry. And a shadowy “troll farm” in St. Petersburg uses Twitter to plant fake stories about chemical spills or Ebola outbreaks in the West.

Since long before the Ukraine crisis, money has been a means for Mr. Putin to try to shape events in the West.

After Chancellor Gerhard Schröder stepped down in Germany, he was given a lucrative position with Gazprom, the Russian state energy giant. When President George W. Bush was in office, Mr. Putin asked “would it help you” if Donald L. Evans, Mr. Bush’s close friend and former commerce secretary, were given a high-paying Russian corporate job. (Mr. Bush rejected the idea.)

Russia appears to be getting some traction lately in countries like Greece, Hungary, the Czech Republic and even Italy and France. Not only is it aligning itself with the leftists traditionally affiliated with Moscow since the Cold War, but it is making common cause with far-right forces rebelling against the rise of the European Union that are sympathetic to Mr. Putin’s attack on what he calls the West’s moral decline.

The most prominent example has been the National Front in France, which under Marine Le Pen has confirmed taking an $11.7 million loan from the First Czech-Russian Bank in Moscow, which has been tied to the Kremlin. She has denied a news report that the money was just the first installment of an eventual $50 million in loans to help her party through a presidential election in 2017.

Austria’s far-right Freedom Party denied charges of dependency on the Kremlin, allegations made by its left-wing rival, the Social Democratic Party after the Freedom leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, posted pictures of himself and other party leaders at a conference in Moscow that called for an end to sanctions against Russia. Mr. Strache said in a statement that “we are convinced of our neutrality and we do not get financial donations or credits” from Russia.

The German tabloid Bild reported that the anti-euro Alternative for Germany Party had benefited from cheap gold sales from Russia, which the party denied. There have been investigations into some members of Hungary’s far-right Jobbik Party for any financial ties to Russia. And there have been similar accusations and inquiries in Bulgaria, with its far-right Attack Party; in Slovakia, with its People’s Party; and in the Baltic States, especially with Latvia’s pro-Russian party.

Far-right parties seen as aligned with Moscow vote against resolutions in the European Parliament critical of Russia and have sent observers to referendums and elections in separatist-held regions of Ukraine like Crimea and Donetsk, alongside members of some far-left parties like Die Linke in Germany and KKE in Greece.

The Political Capital Institute, a research organization in Budapest, which first documented Russian interest in Eastern European far-right parties in 2009, reported in March that Moscow’s interest had now spread to Western European countries as well. It listed 15 far-right European parties as “committed” to Russia.

The institute’s report said the newfound affiliations “are not necessarily financial, as commonly assumed,” but may involve professional and organizational help. Either way, it said, “Russian influence in the affairs of the far right is a phenomenon seen all over Europe as a key risk for Euro-Atlantic integration.”

Carl Bildt, a former prime minister and foreign minister of Sweden, said the trend was a major concern for Europe. It is “very clear that the Kremlin has every interest in fracturing Europe in whatever ways possible,” he said by email. “And it actively seeks to play on every division that it sees.”

Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has expressed similar worries about what he calls Russia’s “ability to employ other instruments of power” besides armed force.

“President Putin considers NATO to be a threat and will look for opportunities to discredit and eventually undermine the alliance,” he said in an email forwarded by a spokesman. “Putin’s ultimate objective is to fracture NATO.”

But Fiona Hill, a former national intelligence officer on Russia and now a scholar at the Brookings Institution, said that with the exception of Ms. Le Pen’s party in France, the assertions about Russia financing European parties seemed based more on speculation than facts.

“The question is how much hard evidence does anyone have?” she asked. “And it’s useful for the Russians themselves not to refute rumors and maybe even perpetrate some of them. They want everyone to think everyone is corrupt, everyone can be influenced.”

Either way, David Kramer, a former assistant secretary of state under Mr. Bush and now a scholar at the McCain Institute for International Leadership in Washington, said he thought that any Russian financing of European parties could backfire by alienating the governing elite in Europe.

“It is a big concern,” he said, “but I wonder if at the end of the day they’re going to shoot themselves in the foot and waste this money.”

Read the whole story

· · · · · ·

Review: ‘The Great War of Our Time’ by Michael Morell with Bill Harlow

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E! Online Would You Live or Die in Jurassic World ? Play Our Game to Find Out Your Fate! E! Online Have you ever wondered how you would fare in a land overrun by dangerous and deadly dinosaurs? Well you're in luck! In celebration of ...

» G7 pledges to cut emissions by up to 70% before 2050 - Irish Times
08/06/15 15:30 from World - Google News
Salon G7 pledges to cut emissions by up to 70% before 2050 Irish Times Group of Seven leaders agreed on Monday to wean their economies off carbon fuels and supported a global goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but they stopped s...

» Nepal parties resolve disputes over constitution after quake
08/06/15 15:29 from Reuters: International
KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Feuding political parties said on Monday they had agreed to split Nepal into eight federal provinces, ending years of stalemate over the new constitution intended to stabilize the country after civil war and the abo...

» Texas Mayor Says City Takes Pool Incident 'Very Seriously' - ABC News
08/06/15 15:29 from Google News - Top Stories
USA TODAY Texas Mayor Says City Takes Pool Incident 'Very Seriously' ABC News 2:45 p.m. (CDT). The mayor of a Texas city where an officer was seen on video pushing a 14-year-old girl to the ground during a pool party says city le...

» Court's 'Jerusalem' decision frustrates American Israelis - USA TODAY
08/06/15 15:26 from Google News - Top Stories
Minneapolis Star Tribune Court's 'Jerusalem' decision frustrates American Israelis USA TODAY JERUSALEM — The Supreme Court's decision to uphold a long-standing State Department policy to list only the word "Jerusalem...

» Mexico's ruling party close to keeping majority despite violence, graft
08/06/15 15:25 from Reuters: International
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto was close to retaining a slim majority in the lower house of Congress on Monday despite losing support in mid-term elections marked by anger over corruption, gang violence and ...

» Video released of terror suspect shot by police - USA TODAY
08/06/15 15:25 from Google News - Top Stories
ABC News Video released of terror suspect shot by police USA TODAY Authorities in Boston released a surveillance video Monday that shows six plainclothes law enforcement officers surrounding a terrorism suspect in the moments before poli...

» China to Have Veto at Infrastructure Bank
08/06/15 15:24 from WSJ.com: World News
The China-led Asian infrastructure bank aims to differentiate itself with a leaner structure meant to showcase Beijing’s reputation for speed and efficiency.

» Obama: Supreme Court Should Not Have Accepted Obamacare Challenge - Huffington Post
08/06/15 15:21 from Top Stories - Google News
Huffington Post Obama: Supreme Court Should Not Have Accepted Obamacare Challenge Huffington Post On Monday, President Barack Obama said the Supreme Court should not have taken up the challenge to the Affordable Care Act in King v. Burwe...

» Belgium raids suspected Islamists, fails to confirm attack plot
08/06/15 15:20 from Reuters: International
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian police raided suspected Islamist militants, mostly of Chechen origin, on Monday but found no evidence to confirm suspicions that they were planning an attack, prosecutors said.

» Turkey elections: Early poll warnings as fears grow coalition deal won't be made - Telegraph.co.uk
08/06/15 15:18 from Google News - World
Telegraph.co.uk Turkey elections: Early poll warnings as fears grow coalition deal won't be made Telegraph.co.uk Turkey was facing a period of prolonged instability on Monday after opposition parties refused to join a coalition with ...

» Turkey elections: Country faces long period of instability as fears grow of no ... - Telegraph.co.uk
08/06/15 15:18 from World - Google News
Telegraph.co.uk Turkey elections: Country faces long period of instability as fears grow of no ... Telegraph.co.uk Turkey was facing a period of prolonged instability on Monday after opposition parties refused to join a coalition with th...

» South Carolina ex-police officer indicted in Walter Scott killing - CNN
08/06/15 15:17 from Google News - Top Stories
NBCNews.com South Carolina ex-police officer indicted in Walter Scott killing CNN (CNN) A grand jury indicted former North Charleston, South Carolina, police officer Michael Slager on a murder charge Monday in connection to the April sho...

» Reports: Experts Cut Forecast For US Economic Growth
08/06/15 15:16 from Voice of America
Key economists and top U.S. business leaders say U.S. economic growth will continue this year, but at a slower pace than they first estimated. That is the conclusion of a survey of members of the National Association for Business Economi...

» FIFA: No grounds to strip Russia or Qatar of World Cup
08/06/15 15:16 from CNN.com - World
There are no legal grounds for FIFA to take the 2018 World Cup from Russian or the 2022 event from Qatar, soccer's world-governing body said Monday.

» Court upholds 1,000 lashes, prison for blogger
08/06/15 15:16 from CNN.com - World
Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court upheld a sentence of 10 years imprisonment and 1,000 lashes for blogger Raif Badawi, his sister, Samar Badawi, said Monday.

» Police question woman who worked at New York prison where inmates escaped - Reuters
08/06/15 15:12 from Top Stories - Google News
Reuters Police question woman who worked at New York prison where inmates escaped Reuters NEW YORK Authorities were questioning a woman who worked at an upstate New York prison where two convicted killers escaped over the weekend as a ma...

» Live: Apple Music revealed at WWDC - USA TODAY
08/06/15 15:10 from Google News - Top Stories
Los Angeles Times Live: Apple Music revealed at WWDC USA TODAY Apple (AAPL) kicks off its Worldwide Developers Conference with a keynote Monday, where it's widely expected the tech giant will reveal more details about its long-rumore...

» Video released of Boston terror suspect's fatal shooting - Washington Post
08/06/15 15:08 from Google News - Top Stories
Los Angeles Times Video released of Boston terror suspect's fatal shooting Washington Post BOSTON — Surveillance video released Monday of the fatal shooting of a Boston man suspected of plotting to kill police officers shows six plai...

» Family of slain Boston man: Video shows he wasn't aggressor - Washington Post
08/06/15 15:08 from Top Stories - Google News
Fox News Family of slain Boston man: Video shows he wasn't aggressor Washington Post BOSTON — The family of a Boston man killed by terror investigators says surveillance video of his fatal shooting doesn't show him brandishing a ...

» Greece, Creditors Consider Extending Eurozone Bailout
08/06/15 15:07 from WSJ.com: World News
Greece’s international creditors have suggested extending the country’s bailout program until March 2016, but disagreements over the conditions risk undermining that plan.

» Jeb Bush picks Republican veteran Danny Diaz as campaign manager - Reuters
08/06/15 15:05 from Google News - Top Stories
Reuters Jeb Bush picks Republican veteran Danny Diaz as campaign manager Reuters WASHINGTON Republican Jeb Bush has picked a veteran of party politics, Danny Diaz, as his campaign manager in the race for the Republican presidential nomin...

» AP Top News at 2:44 p.m. EDT
08/06/15 15:04 from TheUnion local.com | TheUnion.com
AP Top News at 2:44 p.m. EDT ELMAU, Germany (AP) - Acknowledging military setbacks, President Barack Obama said Monday the United States still lacks a "complete strategy" for training Iraqi forces to fight the Islamic State. He urged Ira...

» Orwellian: U.N. inquiry condemns spying, torture, abuse in Eritrea
08/06/15 15:03 from Los Angeles Times - World News
The government of Eritrea has committed gross and systematic human rights abuses against a large part of the population, according to a United Nations report released Monday.

» McKinney, Texas, Cop Who Pulled Gun at Pool Party Meets With Investigators - NBCNews.com
08/06/15 15:02 from Top Stories - Google News
NBCNews.com McKinney, Texas, Cop Who Pulled Gun at Pool Party Meets With Investigators NBCNews.com A Texas police officer who pulled his gun on teenagers at a pool party and wrestled a bikini-clad girl to the ground was questioned by int...

» Obama: 'No complete strategy' yet on training Iraqis - CNN
08/06/15 15:01 from World - Google News
CNN Obama: 'No complete strategy' yet on training Iraqis CNN Telfs-Buchen, Austria (CNN) President Barack Obama said Monday his top national security advisers were still working to solidify training plans for Iraqi defense forces...

» Boy Smuggled in Suitcase to Spain Reunited With His Mother
08/06/15 15:00 from TIME: Top World Stories
Adou Ouattara had been living in a youth home for migrants for a month

» Obama: US Reviewing Strategies for Training Iraqi Troops - Wall Street Journal
08/06/15 14:56 from World - Google News
Wall Street Journal Obama: US Reviewing Strategies for Training Iraqi Troops Wall Street Journal KRÜN, Germany—The U.S. hasn't yet developed a “complete strategy” for training the Iraqi military to fight Islamic State extremists, Pre...

» Putin warned of fresh Ukraine sanctions
08/06/15 14:56 from FT.com - World
G7 leaders close ranks to voice concerns after surge in violence in east of country

» David Cameron Expects His Ministers' Support in EU Renegotiations - Wall Street Journal
08/06/15 14:54 from World - Google News
Wall Street Journal David Cameron Expects His Ministers' Support in EU Renegotiations Wall Street Journal LONDON—U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said Monday that he expected ministers to support him as he embarks on his renegotiati...

» Romania’s PM dismisses corruption charges
08/06/15 14:54 from FT.com - World
Opposition lawmakers launch censure motion and attempt to strip leader of his immunity

» David Cameron Expects His Ministers' Support in EU Renegotiations
08/06/15 14:53 from WSJ.com: World News
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said Monday that he expected ministers to support him as he embarks on his renegotiation with the EU.

» S Korea baffled by spread of Mers virus
08/06/15 14:52 from FT.com - World
Government under fire over spread of the disease, with highest number of cases outside Saudi Arabia

» Israel would gain $120bn from peace — study
08/06/15 14:51 from FT.com - World
Rand report calculates the potential dividend a resolution of Palestinian conflict would bring

» U.N. finds Eritrea may have committed crimes against humanity
08/06/15 14:49 from Reuters: International
GENEVA (Reuters) - Eritrea may have committed crimes against humanity, a year-long U.N. human rights inquiry said in a report published on Monday describing extrajudicial killings, widespread torture, sexual slavery and enforced labor.

» 'Mutual respect' will help improve Philippines-China relationship, Aquino says - BusinessWorld Online Edition
08/06/15 14:49 from Google News - World
AsiaOne 'Mutual respect' will help improve Philippines-China relationship, Aquino says BusinessWorld Online Edition The relationship between the Philippines and China may improve as long as one has “mutual respect” for the other,...

» Apple WWDC 2015: Apple Music, updates to iOS, Apple Watch, Apple Pay and ... - CBS News
08/06/15 14:47 from Top Stories - Google News
CBS News Apple WWDC 2015: Apple Music, updates to iOS, Apple Watch, Apple Pay and ... CBS News Last Updated Jun 8, 2015 3:07 PM EDT. Apple's 2015 Worldwide Developers Conference kicked off Monday in San Francisco, with CEO Tim Cook t...

» China seeks to protect few unspoilt areas
08/06/15 14:47 from FT.com - World
Effort to safeguard remaining natural areas as mass tourism threatens the wilderness

» Turkey's Ruling Party Loses Parliamentary Majority
08/06/15 14:47 from Voice of America
Turkey's ruling party Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its absolute majority in parliament Sunday, in a stunning electoral defeat for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's bid to rewrite the country's constitution to create a presiden...

» Erdogan’s post-poll dilemma: step back or forge ahead
08/06/15 14:45 from FT.com - World

» Erdogan faces dilemma after election
08/06/15 14:45 from FT.com - World
President remains at heart of Turkish political process despite AKP’s disappointment

» Obama: US lacks 'complete strategy' for training Iraqis
08/06/15 14:43 from AP Top Headlines At 7:05 a.m. EDT
ELMAU, Germany (AP) -- Acknowledging military setbacks, President Barack Obama said Monday the United States still lacks a "complete strategy" for training Iraqi forces to fight the Islamic State. He urged Iraq's government to allow more...

» Alleged home wrecker to face NSW court - Sky News Australia
08/06/15 14:42 from Google News - World
Sky News Australia Alleged home wrecker to face NSW court Sky News Australia A man who allegedly stole a bulldozer and flattened a family home will appear in a NSW court. The 48-year-old was arrested this morning following the alleged ra...

» Calls mount to fire Texas officer who threw girl to ground - Reuters
08/06/15 14:40 from Google News - Top Stories
New York Times Calls mount to fire Texas officer who threw girl to ground Reuters AUSTIN, Texas A rally is planned for Monday in the Dallas-area city of McKinney calling for the firing of a police officer seen in a viral video throwing a...

» Emperor sans clothes: Turkish election strips Erdogan of former glory
08/06/15 14:40 from Los Angeles Times - World News
It’s difficult to pinpoint just when the leader once nicknamed “The Sultan” became a figure more akin to the emperor who had no clothes.

» Burundi Electoral Board Urges Voting Delay
08/06/15 14:38 from Voice of America
Burundi's electoral commission has recommended postponing national elections after violent unrest sparked by the president's decision to seek a third term. The National Independent Election Commission said Monday that the presidential el...

» Ant-Man Teaser for 6-Minute IMAX Preview with Jurassic World - ComingSoon.net
08/06/15 14:38 from world - Google News
ComingSoon.net Ant-Man Teaser for 6-Minute IMAX Preview with Jurassic World ComingSoon.net This weekend sees the release of Jurassic World on traditional and IMAX screens around the world , and those seeing the film in the larger format ...

» Regional Poll Fuels India-Pakistan Tensions
08/06/15 14:37 from Voice of America
A paradise for professional mountaineers and casual tourists alike, Gilgit-Baltistan is famous for being home to the world’s second largest mountain, K-2, and the meeting point of three of the world’s mightiest mountain ranges - the Kara...

» South Carolina police officer in Walter Scott shooting indicted on murder charge - Washington Post
08/06/15 14:34 from Google News - Top Stories
USA TODAY South Carolina police officer in Walter Scott shooting indicted on murder charge Washington Post The North Charleston, S.C., police officer who fatally shot Walter Scott as he fled a traffic stop this year was indicted by a gra...

» Gambia's Jammeh wants ICC to investigate migrant deaths
08/06/15 14:32 from Reuters: International
BANJUL (Reuters) - Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has called for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the deaths of African migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean by boat to Europe.

» Turkey’s election wounds president and opens political uncertainty
08/06/15 14:32 from World: World News, International News, Foreign Reporting - The Washington Post
ISTANBUL — Turkey’s president and his political allies began the difficult process of damage assessment Monday after being upended by a dramatic election shift that wiped away their hold on parliament.Read full article >>

» Pistorius to be released on parole on Aug. 21 - Reuters
08/06/15 14:31 from Google News - World
Reuters Pistorius to be released on parole on Aug. 21 Reuters JOHANNESBURG South African athlete Oscar Pistorius will be released on parole on Aug. 21 after serving 10 months of a five-year sentence for culpable homicide of his girlfrien...

» The United States women are winning the World Cup. Middle fingers up to the ... - SB Nation
08/06/15 14:26 from world - Google News
The United States women are winning the World Cup. Middle fingers up to the ... SB Nation The United States have nothing to be afraid of at the World Cup. They should approach every game like they know they're going to win. They shou...

» Under the Sea: Google Views for World Oceans Day - Discovery News
08/06/15 14:25 from world - Google News
Discovery News Under the Sea: Google Views for World Oceans Day Discovery News As the official World Oceans Day website explains: “The ocean regulates the climate, feeds millions of people every year, produces oxygen, is the home to an i...

» Bronx man who was beaten and kept in solitary confinement as a teen at Rikers ... - New York Daily News
08/06/15 14:23 from Google News - Top Stories
New York Daily News Bronx man who was beaten and kept in solitary confinement as a teen at Rikers ... New York Daily News A Bronx man who spent three years as a teen in Rikers Island enduring beatings by guards and inmates and long stint...

» Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference: Updates to iPhone, iPad, OS X and ... - CBS News
08/06/15 14:23 from Google News - Top Stories
CBS News Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference: Updates to iPhone, iPad, OS X and ... CBS News Last Updated Jun 8, 2015 2:22 PM EDT. Apple's 2015 Worldwide Developers Conference kicked off Monday in San Francisco, with CEO Tim ...

» US court invalidates law that let Jerusalem-born citizens list Israel on passports - Haaretz
08/06/15 14:17 from World - Google News
Haaretz US court invalidates law that let Jerusalem-born citizens list Israel on passports Haaretz Ruling considered a victory for the Obama administration who says Congress encroached on president's power in passing law; Palestinian...

» Did inmates have inside help in `Shawshank'-style breakout?
08/06/15 14:17 from AP Top Headlines At 7:05 a.m. EDT
DANNEMORA, N.Y. (AP) -- Investigators are looking into whether civilian employees or outside contractors helped two murderers obtain the power tools they used to break out of a maximum-security prison near the Canadian border, New York's...

» Voices: Qatar worries it might lose World Cup - USA TODAY
08/06/15 14:17 from world - Google News
MLSsoccer.com Voices: Qatar worries it might lose World Cup USA TODAY The headquarters of the 2022 World Cup, overseen by Harvard-educated Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani and Hassan Al Thwadi, his Sancho Panza, has hardly been known a...

» Inside Sunken Cruise Ship As Cabins Searched
08/06/15 14:16 from Sky News | World News | First For Breaking News
A video shows rescue teams searching through debris in cabins and includes images of a bag and a watch as well as suitcases.

» Comparing 'Shawshank Redemption' to NY prison escape 'dangerous' - USA TODAY
08/06/15 14:15 from Google News - Top Stories
Daily Caller Comparing 'Shawshank Redemption' to NY prison escape 'dangerous' USA TODAY The escape of two prisoners from a maximum-security facility in New York has all the makings of hit movie plot – a seemingly impossib...

» EU referendum: David Cameron clarifies his clarification - The Guardian
08/06/15 14:15 from Google News - World
The Guardian EU referendum: David Cameron clarifies his clarification The Guardian David Cameron's approach to the EU referendum was in danger of slipping from confusion to farce when he clarified his position by saying he had not ye...

» If Supreme Court rules against Obamacare, few contingencies are in place - Los Angeles Times
08/06/15 14:14 from Google News - World
Washington Times If Supreme Court rules against Obamacare, few contingencies are in place Los Angeles Times Millions of Americans could soon lose health insurance when the Supreme Court decides the latest challenge to the Affordable Care...

» US Supreme Court rebuts Jerusalem passport law - BBC News
08/06/15 14:13 from Google News - World
ABC News US Supreme Court rebuts Jerusalem passport law BBC News The US Supreme Court has invalidated a 2002 passport law allowing Jerusalem-born American citizens to claim their birthplace as Israel. Congress went too far in passing the...

» Former Rikers Inmate Held Without Trial Dies - Huffington Post
08/06/15 14:13 from Google News - Top Stories
Huffington Post Former Rikers Inmate Held Without Trial Dies Huffington Post Kalief Browder, who was held at Rikers Island for three years without a trial, committed suicide on Saturday. We speak with his lawyer, and then discuss why Rik...

» Green Beat 060815 Solar Impulse Web
08/06/15 14:13 from Voice of America
Two pilots attempt to circumnavigate the globe in a plane using no fossil fuel. VOA's Rebecca Ward reports.

» Apple Announces Upgrades for iPhone and Mac Operating Systems - New York Times
08/06/15 14:10 from Google News - Top Stories
New York Times Apple Announces Upgrades for iPhone and Mac Operating Systems New York Times SAN FRANCISCO — For years, Apple's winning strategy for selling iPhones and Macintosh computers has been offering exclusive, high-quality sof...

» Amani Yahya, Yemen's first female rapper: I will find a way, I will shine - The Guardian
08/06/15 14:06 from Google News - World
The Express Tribune Amani Yahya, Yemen's first female rapper: I will find a way, I will shine The Guardian Amani Yahya: 'I got anonymous phone calls and threats. They said I should stop what I was doing, that I should be ashamed....

» Supreme Court strikes down 'born in Jerusalem' passport law
08/06/15 14:06 from AP Top Headlines At 7:05 a.m. EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Siding with the White House in a foreign-policy power struggle with Congress, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that Americans born in the disputed city of Jerusalem can't list Israel as their birthplace on passports....

» Pistorius 'to be freed from jail in August' - Sky News Australia
08/06/15 14:05 from Google News - World
Sky News Australia Pistorius 'to be freed from jail in August' Sky News Australia Oscar Pistorius is likely to be freed in August as he faces an appeal over his sentence for killing his girlfriend, a family member has said. The P...

» Hollande cunning tames unruly Socialists
08/06/15 14:04 from FT.com - World
Party discipline demonstrates president’s adroit manoeuvring despite poll defeats and economic woe

» Economy at Top of AU Summit Agenda in S. Africa
08/06/15 14:04 from Voice of America
The 25th African Union [AU] summit is underway in South Africa, with leaders expected to focus on security challenges across the continent, the issue of migrants crossing the Mediterranean, and improving infrastructure. South African Min...

» Obama eulogizes Beau Biden at Del. funeral - Minneapolis Star Tribune
08/06/15 14:04 from Google News - Top Stories
Minneapolis Star Tribune Obama eulogizes Beau Biden at Del. funeral Minneapolis Star Tribune Mourning a loss that touched people from the streets of Delaware to the White House and beyond, President Barack Obama joined Vice President Joe...

» Obama, G-7 Leaders to Extend Russian Sanctions - Wall Street Journal
08/06/15 14:00 from Google News - World
Wall Street Journal Obama, G-7 Leaders to Extend Russian Sanctions Wall Street Journal Speaking at the G-7 summit in Germany, President Obama said the U.S. and G-7 leaders will extend existing sanctions against Russia that were due to ex...

» Apple WWDC 2015 Live Updates - New York Times
08/06/15 13:58 from Google News - Top Stories
New York Times Apple WWDC 2015 Live Updates New York Times IOS 9, the latest version of Apple's mobile system, will have better battery life and will include improvements to Siri, its personal assistant. Apple will soon surpass one m...

» Turkish Markets Sink on Political Uncertainty After Election Result - Wall Street Journal
08/06/15 13:56 from Google News - World
Wall Street Journal Turkish Markets Sink on Political Uncertainty After Election Result Wall Street Journal A failure by Turkey's ruling party to secure a majority in national elections has unleashed a wave of uncertainty in the coun...

» EU Increases Burundi Aid
08/06/15 13:55 from Voice of America
Burundi's electoral commission has recommended pushing back national elections, after unrest sparked by President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to seek a third term. The presidential election originally was set for June 26, but there has ...

» US Reviewing Strategies for Training Iraqis - Wall Street Journal
08/06/15 13:55 from Google News - World
Wall Street Journal US Reviewing Strategies for Training Iraqis Wall Street Journal Speaking at the G-7 summit in Germany, President Obama said the U.S. hasn't yet developed a 'complete strategy' for training the Iraqi milita...

» Long road ahead as G7 eyes fossil fuel goal
08/06/15 13:54 from FT.com - World
Defining emissions cuts marks a turning point but many fear the work has only just begun

» Belgium cracks down on Chechen groups
08/06/15 13:53 from FT.com - World
The country has more citizens per capita fighting in Iraq and Syria than any other EU state

» Belgium holds 16 in crackdown on Chechens
08/06/15 13:53 from FT.com - World
Concern over Islamists as Belgian jihadis fight in Iraq and Syria

» June 8, 2015
08/06/15 13:52 from Voice of America
A look at the best news photos from around the world.

» G7 to support climate insurance for poor, finance disappoints - Reuters
08/06/15 13:51 from Google News - Top Stories
Energy Voice G7 to support climate insurance for poor, finance disappoints Reuters BONN, Germany, June 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Group of Seven leaders agreed on Monday to provide insurance against climate hazards for up to 400 mi...

» In Myanmar, Debate Over Citizenship Involves Ethnicity, Religion, Poverty
08/06/15 13:47 from Voice of America
This month Myanmar resumes a process that could grant citizenship to people who for years have been stateless. But the plan involves first requiring Rohingya to abandon the name they have long used for themselves, and instead call themse...

» G7 leaders bid 'Auf Wiedersehen' to carbon fuels
08/06/15 13:46 from Reuters: International
KRUEN, Germany (Reuters) - Leaders of the world's major industrial democracies resolved on Monday to wean their energy-hungry economies off carbon fuels, marking a major step in the battle against global warming that raises the chances o...

» Russia orders quicker build-up of military facilities in Kurile Islands
08/06/15 13:44 from Reuters: International
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on Monday ordered the speeding up of construction of military and civilian infrastructure on a chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean where Moscow and Tokyo have rival territorial ...

» Plunged into uncertainty, Turkey could face early election
08/06/15 13:41 from Reuters: International
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey faced the prospect of weeks of political turmoil after the ruling AK Party lost its parliamentary majority in weekend polls, dealing a blow to President Tayyip Erdogan's ambitions to acquire sweeping new powers.

» Women's World Cup: Scouting a Mystery Opponent Can Take Some Detective ... - New York Times
08/06/15 13:36 from world - Google News
New York Times Women's World Cup: Scouting a Mystery Opponent Can Take Some Detective ... New York Times In the age of an expanded Women's World Cup, which this year grew to 24 teams for the first time, Neid and Germany are not a...

» Outrage after video shows officer pulling gun on teens - CNN
08/06/15 13:36 from Google News - World
CNN Outrage after video shows officer pulling gun on teens CNN (CNN) The outrage was immediate. After a video surfaced of a chaotic confrontation between teens and police at a community pool in Texas, calls for one officer's dismissa...

» Fitch: Turkey Election Heightens Political, Policy Uncertainty - Reuters
08/06/15 13:34 from Google News - World
NBCNews.com Fitch: Turkey Election Heightens Political, Policy Uncertainty Reuters (The following statement was released by the rating agency) LONDON, June 08 (Fitch) The inconclusive result of Turkey's parliamentary election increas...

» UPDATE 3-UK's Cameron trips up over Europe at G7 summit, denies U-turn - Reuters
08/06/15 13:34 from Google News - World
Belfast Telegraph UPDATE 3-UK's Cameron trips up over Europe at G7 summit, denies U-turn Reuters ... * UK to vote on whether to stay in EU by end of 2017. * Cameron has pledged to reshape UK's EU ties beforehand. * Faces potentia...

» Pistorius to Be Released From Prison Aug. 21 - New York Times
08/06/15 13:34 from Google News - World
TSN Pistorius to Be Released From Prison Aug. 21 New York Times JOHANNESBURG — Oscar Pistorius will be released from prison for good behavior on Aug. 21 and go under house arrest after serving just 10 months for killing girlfriend Reeva ...

» Supreme Court strikes down law in Jerusalem passport case - CNN
08/06/15 13:31 from Google News - World
Al-Bawaba Supreme Court strikes down law in Jerusalem passport case CNN (CNN) The Supreme Court struck down part of a federal statute Monday that allowed Americans born in Jerusalem to record in their passport "Israel" as the p...

» Texas officer on leave after video shows him pushing teen
08/06/15 13:29 from AP Top Headlines At 7:05 a.m. EDT
McKINNEY, Texas (AP) -- A suburban Dallas police officer has been placed on administrative leave after a video was posted online showing him pushing a 14-year-old girl in a swimsuit to the ground and pointing his gun at other teens....

» Rand Corp. examines costs, benefits to five Israeli-Palestinian scenarios - Los Angeles Times
08/06/15 13:28 from Google News - World
Los Angeles Times Rand Corp. examines costs, benefits to five Israeli-Palestinian scenarios Los Angeles Times With relations between Israelis and Palestinians in deep crisis and bilateral talks going nowhere, the debate over the benefit ...

» Syrian air strikes kill 49 in Idlib province as dissidents meet in Cairo to forge new ... - Times of Oman
08/06/15 13:27 from Google News - World
Times of Oman Syrian air strikes kill 49 in Idlib province as dissidents meet in Cairo to forge new ... Times of Oman Beirut/Cairo: At least 49 civilians, including six children, were killed on Monday in Syrian government air strikes on ...