| 'Spider in web' mastermind of Paris attacks killed in raid Posted: 19 Nov 2015 01:14 PM PST By John Irish and Gregory Blachier PARIS (Reuters) - The suspected Islamic State mastermind of the Paris attacks was among those killed in a police raid north of the capital, France confirmed on Thursday, bringing an end to the hunt for Europe's most wanted man. Authorities said they had identified the mangled corpse of Belgian national Abdelhamid Abaaoud from fingerprints in the aftermath of Wednesday's raid and gunbattle in which at least two people died including a female suicide bomber. The body had been found riddled with holes amid the wreckage in the aftermath of Wednesday's raid, Paris's prosecutor said in a statement. |
| Several Paris attackers were on U.S. watchlists: officials Posted: 19 Nov 2015 04:17 PM PST  By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - At least four of the Paris attackers were listed in a central counter-terrorism database maintained by the U.S. intelligence community, five U.S. officials said on Thursday. At least one and possibly more of the attackers was also on a more selective U.S. "no fly list", three of the officials said, though they would not provide a specific number. In coordinated attacks in Paris last Friday, 129 people were killed and more than 300 were wounded.
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| New Islamic State video threatens attack on White House Posted: 19 Nov 2015 02:30 PM PST Islamic State militants released a video on Thursday threatening the White House with suicide bombings and car blasts and vowing to conduct more attacks on France. The six-minute video released by Islamic State fighters in Iraq applauds last week's Paris attacks, according to a translation of the Arabic provided by the Maryland-based SITE Intelligence Group. The latest threat comes one day after the militant group put out a video showing scenes of New York City, which suggested it was also a target. |
| Five dead in Palestinian attacks in Tel Aviv, West Bank-Israel Posted: 19 Nov 2015 09:37 AM PST  A Palestinian fatally stabbed two people in a Tel Aviv office building and three other people were killed in an attack in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Israeli police and the army said. In the latest attack near the Gush Etzion settlement bloc in the West Bank, a police commander said a Palestinian drove along the shoulder of the main road and shot at crawling traffic, killing three people and wounding others. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the attacker's car stopped when it hit another vehicle and the driver was seized.
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| Kerry says U.S. can 'neutralize' Islamic State quicker than it did al Qaeda Posted: 19 Nov 2015 03:22 PM PST  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday the United States has the ability to "neutralize" Islamic State much faster than it was able to do with al Qaeda. "We are going to defeat Daesh. "We began our fight against al Qaeda in 2001 and it took us quite a few years before we were able to eliminate Osama bin Laden and the top leadership and neutralize them as an effective force.
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| Netanyahu wants U.S. release of Israeli spy Pollard kept low-key Posted: 19 Nov 2015 01:35 PM PST  By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed Israeli officials to keep low-key about Friday's scheduled release by the United States of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, a cabinet minister said. The former U.S. Navy analyst's espionage for Israel in the 1980s remains a strain on ties with Washington and his parole terms dictate that he stay in the United States for five years. Pollard, sentenced to life in prison after being convicted in 1987 of passing reams of classified information to Israel, has been behind bars since his arrest in 1985.
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| Fake pesticides endanger crops and human health in India Posted: 19 Nov 2015 04:59 PM PST  By Krishna N. Das FARIDABAD, India (Reuters) - Millions of unsuspecting Indian farmers are spraying fake pesticides onto their fields, contaminating soil, cutting crop yields and putting both food security and human health at risk in the country of 1.25 billion people. The use of spurious pesticides has exacerbated losses in the genetically modified (GM) cotton crop in northern India after an attack by whitefly, a pest, say officials. If unchecked, some of India's roughly $26 billion in annual farm exports could be hit.
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| France pushes U.N. to support fight against Islamic State Posted: 19 Nov 2015 04:49 PM PST  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - France wants the United Nations Security Council to push all able states to join the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq after the militants claimed responsibility for downing a Russian plane over Egypt and attacks in Paris, Lebanon, Turkey, and Tunisia. France circulated a draft resolution to the 15-member council on Thursday that calls on countries "to redouble and coordinate their efforts to prevent and suppress terrorist acts committed specifically" by the group, which is also known as ISIS and ISIL. On Wednesday, Russia submitted an edited draft of a text initially circulated to the council on Sept. 30.
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| Air France braces for fallout from Paris attacks Posted: 19 Nov 2015 04:49 PM PST By Cyril Altmeyer and Tim Hepher PARIS (Reuters) - Air France has experienced some reduction in traffic following last Friday's Paris attacks, but it is too early to say how severe the impact on bookings will be, a company source said on Thursday. "Clearly this type of absolutely tragic event has consequences, (but) it is too early to say what the impact is," the source said, adding, "We will have to adapt." Cancellations of bookings have exceeded new reservations, the chief executive of Franco-Dutch parent Air France KLM SA, Alexandre de Juniac, told CNBC on Thursday. The comments are the first sign of concern at France's national airline, which earlier this week said it had seen no immediate impact on plane occupancy over the weekend and that it was maintaining its schedules. |
| Julia Mancuso healing after hip surgery Posted: 19 Nov 2015 04:47 PM PST  COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo. (AP) — American skier Julia Mancuso went in for a simple hip surgery — if there is such a thing — and 5 1/2 hours later had one that was completely overhauled.
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| Haitians in Dominican Republic 'ghost citizens': Amnesty Posted: 19 Nov 2015 04:41 PM PST  The Dominican Republic violated international law by stripping several generations of people of Haitian descent of their citizenship, Amnesty International found. Tens of thousands of people were effectively rendered stateless and "ghost citizens," according to an Amnesty report pointing to policies set in motion in the 1990s and a more recent 2013 ruling. "Authorities in the Dominican Republic must urgently find a long-term solution to this crisis," Amnesty Americas director Erika Guevara-Rosas said.
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| Campaigns wind up in tense Argentina election Posted: 19 Nov 2015 04:37 PM PST  Noisy rallies Thursday marked the end of weeks of campaigning in Argentina's first ever presidential run-off, which could see a pro-business right-winger end 12 years of leftist government. Right-wing candidate Mauricio Macri, an economic liberal who polls show could win Sunday's vote, joined in an indigenous earth ceremony in the Andes before appearing in front of supporters. Macri, a rich former football executive, tried to shake off his elitist image by ending his campaign in a poor northern province, near a monument to independence heroes.
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| NL's Harper youngest unanimous MVP; Donaldson earns AL honor Posted: 19 Nov 2015 04:21 PM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — Bryce Harper became the youngest unanimous Most Valuable Player winner in baseball history Thursday, capturing the National League award despite his Washington Nationals missing the playoffs.
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| Family, border dangers keep Mexicans from returning to US Posted: 19 Nov 2015 04:21 PM PST  TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — There are many reasons for the historic reversal of migration between the U.S. and Mexico, according the Pew Research Center, which announced Thursday that more than 1 million Mexicans headed south to re-establish their lives in the last five years, while only 870,000 migrated north to the U.S.
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| Honduras to charge Syrians using false documents to get to US Posted: 19 Nov 2015 04:19 PM PST  Tegucigalpa (AFP) - Honduras moved Thursday to charge five Syrian men for using falsified Greek passports to try to get to the United States, while Costa Rica arrested a Syrian woman also using a suspect Greek passport.
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| Miami beats Mississippi State 105-79 in Puerto Rico Tipoff Posted: 19 Nov 2015 04:17 PM PST  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Sheldon McClellan scored 18 points to help Miami jump to a huge first-half lead on the way to a 105-79 win against Mississippi State in Thursday's first round of the Puerto Rico Tipoff.
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| A partial list of victims of the Paris attacks Posted: 19 Nov 2015 04:15 PM PST Here is a partial list of victims of Friday's attacks in Paris confirmed by The Associated Press and other media: |
| Hasna Ait Boulahcen: French 'cowgirl' turned suspected suicide bomber Posted: 19 Nov 2015 04:11 PM PST  Aulnay-sous-Bois (France) (AFP) - Hasna Ait Boulahcen, the woman believed to have blown herself up during the police raid that killed the suspected ringleader of the Paris attacks, swapped her party-girl persona for that of an Islamist radical just months before her death. Boulahcen's story is that of a young woman from a broken home with an unstable disposition, who was nicknamed "Cowgirl" because of her penchant for cowboy hats before her dramatic conversion to radical Islam. During Wednesday's dawn raid in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, she was heard responding to a member of the crack police team that was hunting for her cousin Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the alleged brains behind the attacks that killed 129 people last Friday.
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| US frustration over lack of democracy progress in Thailand Posted: 19 Nov 2015 04:10 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has expressed deep frustration over the lack of democratic progress in Thailand after last year's military coup, saying a new constitution there won't pass the "smell test" unless civil society helps to draft it. |
| Liberia president says ritual killings on the rise Posted: 19 Nov 2015 04:06 PM PST  Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Thursday vowed to crack down on those responsible for a rise in ritual killings in the West African country as it seeks to emerge from the shadow of an Ebola epidemic. In some areas of central Africa, body parts are prized for their supernatural powers and are used in black magic ceremonies. Local media have reported at least 10 related murders in Liberia since the summer.
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| Tehran slams 'Iranophobia' over UN rights criticism Posted: 19 Nov 2015 03:53 PM PST  Iran on Thursday accused countries backing a UN resolution criticizing its rights record of spreading "Iranophobia" and said they should instead focus on the threat from violent Islamic extremists. The resolution drafted by Canada was backed by a vote of 76 to 35 with 68 abstentions in a UN General Assembly committee. The resolution expresses "serious concern" over the use of the death penalty in Iran and calls on Tehran to end torture and other cruel treatment.
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| Venezuela president orders review of US ties over spying Posted: 19 Nov 2015 03:49 PM PST CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Nicolas Maduro said he will file a formal protest and review relations with Washington following a report of U.S. spying on Venezuela's state oil company, including intercepting calls and emails of ex-Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez. |
| Prosecutors: Man convicted in Russia for fatal NYC stabbings Posted: 19 Nov 2015 03:46 PM PST NEW YORK (AP) — A man who authorities say fatally stabbed his wife and her adult daughter in New York before fleeing to Russia has been tried and convicted overseas — marking the second time anyone has been convicted in Russia for a crime committed in the U.S., prosecutors said Thursday. |
| House votes to suspend US refugee program Posted: 19 Nov 2015 03:38 PM PST  The House of Representatives voted Thursday to ban Syrian and Iraqi refugees from entering the United States until tougher screening measures are in place, a move some slammed as giving in to xenophobia after the Paris attacks. Nearly four dozen Democrats went against their president to support the measure. The bill now heads to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain, but it sets up a clash with President Barack Obama, who has threatened to veto the bill and has criticized Republicans for "hysteria" and falling short of their humanitarian duty to take in the oppressed.
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| Argentine presidential campaigns spar over pope's comments Posted: 19 Nov 2015 03:36 PM PST  HUACALERA, Argentina (AP) — Argentina's presidential campaigns sparred Thursday over just whom the country's most famous son is supporting.
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| Terrorism top concern at Rio Olympics: security chief Posted: 19 Nov 2015 03:34 PM PST  The risk of a terrorist attack is the main security fear at the Rio Olympics, a top official said Thursday, with the Paris attacks highlighting the potential for Brazil to be sucked into conflict for the first time with Islamic extremists. "Terrorism is the number one worry," Jose Mariano Beltrame, the security chief for the state of Rio de Janeiro, told a news conference. With a low profile in international conflicts and no connection to US and European entanglements in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, Brazil has never been targeted by Islamist groups.
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| Kisner leads at Sea Island as Love & Son finish even Posted: 19 Nov 2015 03:34 PM PST  ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. (AP) — Davis Love III and Davis Love IV did everything together Thursday at Sea Island.
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| Treasury issues new rules to limit tax inversions Posted: 19 Nov 2015 03:33 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Thursday issued new rules aimed at reducing the tax benefits available to companies that move their tax addresses overseas. |
| The Latest: Police in Rotterdam detain 3 people Posted: 19 Nov 2015 03:32 PM PST  PARIS (AP) — The latest on the deadly attacks in Paris. (All times local):
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| Ecuador's President Correa may skip 2017 re-election bid Posted: 19 Nov 2015 03:23 PM PST QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa is praising loyalists who dominate the national assembly for backing his proposal to amend the constitution so he can't seek re-election in 2017. |
| Balkans limit entry on migrant route to war refugees Posted: 19 Nov 2015 03:22 PM PST  Countries along the migrant route through the Balkans have begun tightening restrictions by accepting only those fleeing war, causing a backlog of hundreds of people Thursday on the Greek-Macedonian border. Hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing conflict and poverty across the Mediterranean have travelled up from Greece through the Balkans this year, aiming to start new lives in more prosperous northern European countries. "Croatia is accepting migrants only from war-affected countries such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan," a Croatian police spokeswoman Marina Mandic told AFP.
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| France wants UN to authorize 'all necessary measures' against IS Posted: 19 Nov 2015 03:17 PM PST  France asked the UN Security Council Thursday to authorize countries to "take all necessary measures" to fight the Islamic State group after the jihadists claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks. A draft resolution presented to the 15-member council called on UN member states to "redouble and coordinate their efforts to prevent and suppress terrorist acts" committed by IS and other extremist groups linked to Al-Qaeda. The French draft resolution does not provide any legal basis for military action and does not invoke chapter seven of the UN charter that authorizes the use of force.
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| U.N. committee condemns Iranian intervention in Syria war Posted: 19 Nov 2015 03:17 PM PST  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee on Thursday adopted a Saudi-drafted resolution condemning Iranian and Russian intervention in Syria, a decision that the Syrian and Iranian delegations rejected as unhelpful and unjustified. The non-binding resolution, authored by Saudi Arabia and co-sponsored by Qatar and other Arab nations, the United States and other Western powers, was adopted by the 193-nation assembly's Third Committee. Without explicitly naming Russia, it said the General Assembly "strongly condemns all attacks against the Syrian moderate opposition and calls for their immediate cessation, given that such attacks benefit so-called ISIL (Daesh) and other terrorist groups, such as al Nusra Front." "ISIL" and "Daesh" are names for Islamic State.
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| FBI director says no credible threat of Paris-type attack in U.S Posted: 19 Nov 2015 03:14 PM PST  By Julia Edwards WASHINGTON (Reuters) - FBI Director James Comey said on Thursday there was no credible threat of an attack on U.S. soil similar to the ones last week in Paris and that his agency had taken terrorism investigations "up a notch." Comey and Attorney General Loretta Lynch discussed U.S. counterterrorism efforts with reporters as security concerns mounted following the killing of 129 people in Paris last Friday in attacks claimed by the Islamic State militant group. "We are not aware of any credible threat here of a Paris-type attack and we have seen no connection at all between the Paris attackers and the United States," Comey said.
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| Discarded cell phone led to Paris attacks ringleader Posted: 19 Nov 2015 03:09 PM PST  PARIS (AP) — French investigators tracked down the alleged ringleader of last week's Paris bloodshed after receiving a startling tipoff: The Islamic militant wasn't in Syria but in Europe, plotting yet another attack. A discarded cellphone found near a bloodied concert hall led them to his cousin, and then to a suburban Paris apartment where both died in a hail of bullets and explosions.
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| Djokovic beats Berdych to reach semis at ATP finals Posted: 19 Nov 2015 03:06 PM PST  LONDON (AP) — Novak Djokovic only needed a set. The Serb No. 1 rarely settles for less than two, though, especially against one of his favorite opponents.
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| Controlled explosion after scare at London tube station Posted: 19 Nov 2015 03:03 PM PST  British police on Thursday carried out a controlled explosion close to a central London underground station after a vehicle was abandoned nearby, but said no criminal investigation would be pursued. "There was an abandoned vehicle in Baker Street. There was a controlled explosion.
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