U.N. Envoy Says Libya Peace Process Will Continue

U.N. Envoy Says Libya Peace Process Will Continue

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Despite rejections announced by hard-liners in both political factions recently, the envoy said he was hopeful that a vote would soon go before Parliament.

What We Know About the Lives of Bashar al-Assad and His Family 

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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s trip to Russia Tuesday marked his first known travels outside his country since its civil war began in 2011. Assad’s family also appears to have remained in the country’s capital for the past half decade.
The trip to Moscow, reportedly at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, marks a show of strength for Assad. In addition to showing his ties a powerful ally, Assad’s move demonstrates that he doesn’t fear his government will be overthrown in his short but notable absence.
The family is apparently based in the capital, Damascus, which remains relatively untouched by the violence that has raged in the eastern parts of the country. But the presidential palace, which was reported to cost up to $1 billion and sits atop a hill outside the city, reportedly serves primarily as a workplace. Assad and his family live “elsewhere,” according to a Daily Telegraph interview conducted in the palace’s guest house in February. It’s unclear how often the palace is used, author Jeremy Bowen reports:
The marble guest house is built in the style of a small hotel; the library leads off a central majlis, or sitting area, with perhaps 30 armchairs. The fountains at the corners of the majlis were dry when I visited on 8 February. It felt as if the place had been opened up for our benefit.
As for Assad’s wife Asma, she has not been a regular presence on the global stage since 2011, when a controversial Vogue profile entitled “A Rose In the Desert ” described the British-born 40-year-old as “glamorous, young, and very chic.” (Vogue later took the article down from its website as the civil war worsened). But Asma has remained visible within the country, often appearing inInstagram posts trying to depict a sense of normalcy in the country.
Little is known about the whereabouts of Assad’s young children—Karim (born 2004), Zein (2003) and Hafez (2001)—but it seems safe to assume that they’re safely held behind the defenses of the Syrian armed forces.
Regardless of the reasons why the family may stay put, it’s unclear where else they would go. In the past, the pair has traveled through Western Europe on getaways to spots like Paris and Rome. But since the start of the civil war, the pair has been banned from traveling in the European Union, though Asma is technically still permitted to return to the United Kingdom, where she was born. Within the region, leaders of many other countries have little fondness for Assad, perhaps aside from Iran — though Assad has said previously that he has vacationed in Qatar.
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Netanyahu and Merkel hold joint press conference in Berlin

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From: Washington Post
Duration: 00:00

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and German Chancellor Angela Merkel give a joint news conference in Berlin. Netanyahu abruptly cancelled a trip to Berlin last week due to escalating violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

‘Assad regime did us no harm’ – Syrian refugees in Lebanon blame ISIS for their fate 

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From: RussiaToday
Duration: 03:23

Syrian refugees in Lebanon pointed to Islamic State as the biggest evil in Syria that made them leave the country.
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Joe Biden Denies Democrats With Decision To Not Run For President 

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Vice President Biden has announced his intentions regarding the 2016 Presidential Election: He won't run. Does this effectively give Hillary the nomination?

Landscape altered as Clinton, GOP prepare for Benghazi hearing

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The House Select Committee on Benghazi has been furiously preparing for months to interrogate Hillary Rodham Clinton, but on the eve of Thursday's hearing it is not Clinton who is on the defensive. It is the committee.
     
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Feds Spend $1.1 Million Studying the ‘Freshman 15’

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has spent over $1.1 million studying the “freshman 15,” trying to determine whether friends influence their college peers to eat more.
Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) highlighted the project as an example of wasteful spending, calling out the agency for studying a myth invented by Seventeen magazine.
“The ‘freshman 15’ is an old legend around college campuses; the idea that new college students, away from home and confronted with a campus food service smorgasbord tend to put on a few extra pounds,” Paul’s latest edition of “The Waste Report” reads. “Well the National Institutes for Health aims to get to the bottom of this with a $380,000 grant to study how social relationships in college contribute to weight-related problems. Because it’s not the food you eat, it’s the friends you make.”
Arizona State University received a $380,272 grant for the study this year. The project has cost taxpayers $1,143,919 overall since it began in 2013.
The grant for the project argues there is a “lack of research focusing on the role of friends” on eating habits. The study is tracking “how friendships are created” to “better describe the mechanisms by which friends are prospectively associated with weight-related behaviors and outcomes.”
Sen. Paul cited other studies that question whether college weight gain is truly a problem.
“Numerous independent studies spanning decades have agreed that freshman only gain around 2.7 to 3.5lbs over their entire freshman year,” Paul said. “It turns out it was Seventeen magazine that arbitrarily put the number at 15 back in 1989.”
“But even the 2 to 3lbs might not even be a problem,” he continued. “An Ohio State University (OSU) study comparing college freshman to their non-college peers and found only a discrepancy of about half a pound, attributing most of the weight gain at the tail end of growing to adult size. The OSU study concludes, ‘anti-obesity efforts directed specifically at college freshmen will likely have little impact on obesity prevalence among young adults.’”
Paul concluded that the cost of this year’s $380,000 in funding for the study could have paid for 14 students to attend Arizona State University in-state this year. Over the course of the study, 42 students could have attended ASU, which costs $27,000 for in-state tuition.
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Palestinian Terrorists Release Video Showing Lethal Stabbing Methods 

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Palestinian terrorists have released an instructional video depicting a masked man who teaches viewers how to stab a person, according to a copy of that film provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
The video shows a masked man in military fatigues standing before a Palestinian flag sharpening a knife. A rifle can be seen leaning against the wall in the background.
The video was posted to a YouTube account called Free Pal.
The individual, who does not speak during the video, picks up several knives to show the viewer which type is most effective when committing murder. Flimsy knives that can be knocked from one’s hand will not do, according to the instructional video.
The man then grinds the knife to sharpen the edges and inflict greater damage. Several other methods of sharpening the knife also are depicted.
He then tests the knife on his arm to show how sharp it is.
After this, the masked man performs several thrusting moves with the knife to demonstrate the most effective way in which to stab a person. He also shows the proper place in the neck to stab and slit throats.

Ex-Centcom chief Abizaid assesses U.S. options, actions in Middle East

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The U.S. can’t have any decisive influence in the Middle East without using ground forces there, most likely as a raiding force to “degrade and destroy” ISIS, a former commander of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan says.
     

Marijuana use in US adults doubles in decade, surveys show

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CHICAGO (AP) -- Marijuana use among U.S. adults doubled over a decade, rising to almost 10 percent or more than 22 million mostly recreational users, government surveys show....

Cameron: 'Strong relationship is in the interests of both Britain and China' 

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David Cameron says that both he and Chinese President Xi Jinping believe that a "strong relationship is in the interests of both Britain and China".









Elderly British couple hacked to death in Tobago in suspected robbery 

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The bodies of Richard and Grace Wheeler were discovered in their home on the Caribbean island











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Russian official called out after image of 'terrorist' turns out to be from 'Harold & Kumar' 

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Kal Penn had to step in.















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Explainer: Why Assad And Putin Met In Moscow

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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has made his first foreign trip in four years for a surprise meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Why?

Syrian Kurds form new administration in semi-autonomous area 

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Syria’s Kurds have expanded their semi-autonomous region in northern Syria, announcing Wednesday a new administration in a majority Sunni-Arab town they seized from the Islamic State group this summer.















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Russia diplomacy follows Assad visit

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President Putin speaks to key players in the Middle East in the wake of the Syrian president's brief surprise visit to Moscow.

TPP Is Surprising Vote of Confidence in Globalization

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The Trans-Pacific Partnership has stirred the most opposition in the one country that gives up the least sovereignty: the U.S.

Gates, Slim target maternal, newborn health in Central America

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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The foundations of the two of the world's richest men are stepping up efforts to use innovative data and mobile technology to end easily preventable deaths of mothers and newborns in the poorest pockets of Mexico and Central America.









  
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'The most expensive divorce in history' ends after Russian billionaire reaches deal with ex-wife 

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Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev and his ex-wife Elena appear to have reached an amicable deal











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VP Joe Biden Will Not Run for President in 2016

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From: AssociatedPress
Duration: 01:27

Vice President Joe Biden says he won't run for president in 2016. His decision finalizes the Democratic Party's field of White House candidates and sets Biden on a glide path toward the end of his decades-long political career. (Oct. 21)
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Editorials from around New York 

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Recent editorials of statewide and national interest from New York's newspapers:
The Middletown Times Herald-Record on Gov. Andrew Cuomo's continued support of General Electric.
Oct. 15
The dredges are gone, taking with them the possibility that General Electric might clean up more of the cancer-causing pollutants it dumped for years ...

Xi to ink nuclear power deal as UK seeks Chinese investment

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LONDON (AP) - Britain will be China's "partner of choice" in the West, Prime Minister David Cameron declared Wednesday, as China demonstrated its commitment by putting down a 6 billion-pound ($9.3 billion) stake in the U.K.'s first nuclear power plant since the 1980s.
Chinese President Xi Jinping signed the nuclear ...

John Brennan's hacked emails to be released by WikiLeaks

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CIA Director John Brennan's hacked emails have been handed over to WikiLeaks and will soon be made public, the secret-spilling group said on Wednesday.
"We have obtained the contents of CIA Chief John Brennan's email account and will be releasing it shortly," WikiLeaks said on Twitter.
The FBI and ...

US Marine Corps Pilot Dies in Jet Crash in England

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A U.S. Marine Corps pilot died Wednesday after he crashed his F-18 crashed taking off from a British airbase, according to U.S. and British officials.
The New York Times reported that the pilot, who has not yet been identified, was the only casualty reported in the crash. A press release posted on the U.S. Marines website Wednesday said that the crash occurred at 5:30A.M.
According the Marines, the jet, a F-18C Hornet, belonged to the Marine Attack Fighter Squadron 232 based in California.
“A III Marine Aircraft Wing F/A-18C Hornet belonging to Marine Attack Fighter Squadron 232 stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California crashed in the vicinity of Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England at approximately 5:30 a.m. (EST), today,” the news release read.
“It is unknown at this time if the pilot ejected from the single-seat aircraft. More information will be released from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Public Affairs office as it becomes available.”
The jet, along with five others, was returning home from Bahrain. The other planes were diverted to an air base close by.
The United Kingdom Coast Guard is currently investigating the crash and the cause remains unknown.

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FBI: Fewer Americans leaving to join ISIS - The Hill

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The Hill

FBI: Fewer Americans leaving to join ISIS
The Hill
Fewer Americans are seeking to leave the United States and join Islamic extremists in the Middle East, the head of the FBI said on Wednesday. The change is preliminary, FBI Director James Comey cautioned during a hearing on Capitol Hill, but it could ...

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