Bush- Blair Legacy Continues As
Attacks including Baghdad car bombs kill 66 in Iraq:
A series of car bombs hit Baghdad province on Thursday, killing at least 44 people, while 22 died in other attacks, including two suicide bombings in northern Iraq, officials said.
Syria rebels kill top intelligence officer:
"Major General Jamaa Jamaa was martyred while carrying out his national duties to Syria and its people and pursuing terrorists in Deir Ezzor," state television said in a breaking news alert.
Turkey says it fires on Islamist militant positions in Syria:
Turkey's army said on Wednesday it had fired on al Qaeda-linked militants in northern Syria after a stray mortar bomb hit Turkish territory, highlighting the growing threat from radical groups over its southern border.
Pressure Mounts on Turkey:
Turkey continues to deny that it is lenient with radical groups fighting to establish an Islamic regime in Syria, let alone actively supporting them, and the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is now much more open in its criticism of these groups than was initially the case.
Jihadists flooding into northern Syria put Turkey on edge:
The brutal, Al Qaeda-linked group rebels "invited" into Syria to help topple President Bashir Assad has virtually taken over northern Syria, raising fears that its brand of indiscriminate terror could spill into neighboring Turkey, where some 300 U.S. soldiers are based to protect Turkish airspace from Syrian missile attacks.
Bombs planted in confessional box of Syrian church:
Bombs have been planted in the confessional box of one of the world's oldest churches in the rebel-held town of Yabroud, Syria's most senior Christian leader has revealed.
Syria conflict: Christians 'fleeing homes':
A senior Church leader in Syria has said almost a third of the country's Christians have fled their homes.
Saudis struggling to supply Syrian rebels:
'We are not in the arms dealing business': The International Crisis Group reported that Saudi Arabia, deemed the leading ally of the Sunni rebels, was finding it difficult to maintain the flow of effective weapons in the war against Syrian President Bashar Assad.
70 Syrian Rebel Groups Break with Main Opposition:
Rebels in southern Syria say the National Coalition has "failed", announce they no longer recognize the Western-backed group.
Egypt: End deplorable detention and deportation of refugees from Syria: Amnesty:
The Egyptian authorities must end their appalling policy of unlawfully detaining and forcibly returning hundreds of refugees who have fled the armed conflict in Syria, said Amnesty International.
Fact or fiction?
Turkey blows Israel's cover for Iranian spy ring:
The incident, disclosed here for the first time, illustrates the bitter, multi-dimensional spy wars that lie behind the current negotiations between Iran and Western nations over a deal to limit the Iranian nuclear program. A Turkish Embassy spokesman had no comment.
Turkey dismisses report it exposed Mossad spy ring in Iran:
Turkey's Foreign Minister on Thursday dismissed allegations that Turkey last year deliberately exposed a group of up to 10 Iranians working as Mossad "assets." He claimed the allegation - made in a Washington Post article early Thursday and not denied by Israel - was part of an orchestrated campaign to discredit Turkey.
Israeli prime minister Netanyahu makes case for pre-emptive strike on Iran:
Speaking at an event to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, Netanyahu told law makers there are situations when a strike is justified.
Israeli troops kill Palestinian who rammed army base:
A Palestinian man who used a tractor to break into an Israeli army base in the West Bank has been shot and killed by soldiers, according to a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces.
Fact or fiction?
Iran slashed Hamas funding, senior official admits:
Iran penalized Hamas for leaving its headquarters in Syria last year by slashing funding for the movement, a senior Hamas official said this week, adding that Hezbollah showed more understanding of Hamas's position than Tehran did.
Even the World Bank understands: Palestine is being disappeared: Op - Ed:
Two recent images encapsulate the message behind the dry statistics of last week's report by the World Bank on the state of the Palestinian economy.
Five killed in South Sudan civil war-era bomb blast:
Five people including four children were killed in a South Sudanese market on Thursday when explosives left over from decades of civil war were accidentally set off, a reporter said.
Gunmen kill two Tunisian police in northern city:
Islamist militants killed two Tunisian policemen in clashes on Thursday in the northeastern city of Goubellat, a security source told Reuters.
Egypt advances draft law to curb protests:
Draft law approved by cabinet would require advance permission for protests and allow police to cancel rallies.
10 killed in a suicide attack in NW Pakistan:
At least 10 people including a provincial minister were killed and over 20 others injured in a suicide attack in Pakistan's northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday evening, officials and local media said.
Pakistani military official says 2 soldiers killed in separate incidents:
The official says a Pakistani Ranger was killed Thursday by "unprovoked firing" by Indian troops along the disputed northwestern India-Pakistan border.
US kills 2 people in Afghanistan:
An airstrike carried out by a US assassination drone has killed two people in the province of Nuristan in eastern Afghanistan, which borders Pakistan.
Afghan boy, six, and father shot during night raid by Australian special forces:
Australian special forces have been implicated in the deaths of a young boy and his father who were found shot dead after a night raid on a neighbouring house in southern Afghanistan last month.
30 million people living in slavery worldwide:
About 14 million slaves are being kept in India, with a further 2.1 million in Pakistan
US has killed far more civilians with drones than it admits, says UN:
A new report from a special U.N. investigator says drone strikes have killed far more civilians than U.S. officials have publicly acknowledged - at least 400 in Pakistan and as many as 58 in Yemen - and chides the U.S. for failing to aid the investigation by disclosing its own figures.
Report: NSA And CIA Collaborate On Drone Strikes:
The National Security Agency has been extensively involved in the U.S. government's targeted killing program, collaborating closely with the CIA in the use of drone strikes against terrorists abroad, The Washington Post reported after a review of documents provided by former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden.
Door May Open for Challenge to Secret Wiretaps:
Five years after Congress authorized a sweeping warrantless surveillance program, the Justice Department is setting up a potential Supreme Court test of whether it is constitutional by notifying a criminal defendant - for the first time - that evidence against him derived from the eavesdropping, according to officials.
British MPs set to investigate Guardian's involvement in Snowden leaks:
Keith Vaz says home affairs committee to look at newspaper's activities as part of inquiry into counter-terrorism
NSA chief Gen. Keith Alexander to retire:
U.S. National Security Agency chief Gen. Keith Alexander, who has steadfastly defended NSA mass surveillance, plans to retire in five months, the agency said.
NSA Revelations Kill IBM Hardware Sales in China:
The first shot was fired on Monday. Teradata, which sells analytics tools for Big Data, warned that quarterly revenues plunged 21% in Asia and 19% in the Middle East and Africa. Wednesday evening, it was IBM's turn to confess that its hardware sales in China had simply collapsed.
Jeremy Scahill Talks About Glenn Greenwald Website: Video -
Jeremy Scahill spoke out for the first time on Thursday about the website he is launching with fellow journalists Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras.
Experts Warn of Al Qaeda Biological Weapons Threat:
Experts warn of "grave danger" to global security over Syrian bioweapons; say Al Qaeda may already possess lethal agents.
Panama presses US to clean up chemical weapons it left on island:
Even as the United States presses for the rapid destruction of chemical weapons in Syria, a dispute lingers over unexploded chemical munitions that US soldiers left on a Panamanian island more than 60 years ago.
Deadly drug cartel shootout with Mexico police linked to "grenade-walking" scandal:
CBS News has learned of a shocking link between a deadly drug cartel shootout with Mexican police last week and a controversial case in the U.S. The link is one of the grenades used in the violent fight, which killed three policemen and four cartel members and was captured on video by residents in the area.
Chinese agency downgrades US credit rating:
A Chinese ratings agency downgraded its US sovereign credit rating Thursday despite Washington's resolution of the debt ceiling deadlock, warning that fundamentals for a potential default remained "unchanged".
Government reopens after bipartisan deal, but not without pork : Video -
Details reveal that the compromise bill includes $2.2 billion for a dam project in Kentucky, the home state of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. President Barack Obama signed the bill, which passed with bipartisan support in both houses of Congress, early Thursday morning
Buying time: US budget deal postpones financial doomsday:
In three months' time, US policymakers will again rehash the budget and the debt limit, which billionaire Warren Buffett called a "political weapon of mass destruction" in an interview with CNBC, saying it shouldn't be used by politicians to settle budget disputes, as it brings real financial harm.
Air Pollution 'Leading Cause of Cancer':
The air we breathe is laced with cancer-causing substances and is now classified as carcinogenic to humans, WHO says.
Skull of Homo erectus throws story of human evolution into disarray:
A haul of fossils found in Georgia suggests that half a dozen species of early human ancestor were actually all Homo erectus
