BOSTON (AP) — Funeral arrangements for an American killed in Syria while fighting the Islamic State group have been set for later this week. Keith Broomfield, who had no military training, is believed to be the first U.S. citizen to die fighting alongside Kurdish forces against ISIS. Broomfield, 36, of Westminster, will be buried Wednesday … Continue reading
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Tariq Aziz was laid to rest Saturday after a ceremony in his honor at a church in the Jordanian capital, Amman, eight days after the debonair Iraqi diplomat died in prison of a heart attack. Hundreds of Iraqis and Jordanians attended the church services of Aziz, the only Christian in Saddam … Continue reading
AKCAKALE, Turkey (AP) — Thousands of Syrians cut through a border fence and crossed over into Turkey on Sunday, fleeing intense fighting in northern Syria between Kurdish fighters and jihadis. The flow of refugees came as Syrian Kurdish fighters closed in on the outskirts of a strategic Islamic State-held town on the Turkish border, Kurdish … Continue reading
BAGHDAD (AP) — Government forces and Shiite militiamen repelled two Islamic State group attacks in Anbar province on Saturday, officials said. In one attack, they used anti-tank missiles to stop four would-be suicide car bombers, officials said, as violence continues to roil the war-torn country. Police and military officials said IS fighters attacked the government-held … Continue reading
BORDER GUARD FORCES COMMAND, Jordan (AP) — Jordan’s military on Monday unveiled a new phase of a border surveillance system that U.S. officials say provides an effective defense against infiltration attempts, including by Islamic State militants. The kingdom plays a high-profile role in the U.S.-led military coalition against the extremists, who control large parts of neighboring … Continue reading
BEIRUT (AP) — Government airstrikes on a northwestern Syrian village Monday killed at least 49 people and left survivors screaming in anguish as they pulled bodies from the rubble, according to activists and videos of the chaotic aftermath. The Local Coordination Committees said two air raids on the village of Janoudiyeh in Idlib province killed … Continue reading
BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah gunmen repelled an attack Tuesday by Islamic State extremists in an area along the Lebanon-Syria border as a major battle between the two groups looms in the rugged mountainous region, Hezbollah’s TV station reported. According to Al-Manar TV, the IS group targeted several Hezbollah positions outside the northeastern Lebanese border village … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. may have to backtrack on promises to suspend only nuclear-related economic sanctions on Iran in an emerging nuclear deal. Officials and others involved say the problem derives from what has been a strong point of the sanctions effort that many credit with pushing Iran into negotiations. Under the sanctions, developed … Continue reading
BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — U.N.-brokered negotiations aimed at stemming Libya’s collapse into a failed state threatened to fall apart after the country’s internationally recognized parliament on Tuesday dropped out of the talks in protest over a plan that would mean sharing power with its rivals. The wrangling over the U.N. draft plan came as militants … Continue reading
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Kiavash Sharifi can hardly describe the feeling of tip-toeing across an abyss on a thin ribbon of webbing that bends ever so slightly downward. The 22-year-old is one of a growing number of Iranians embracing the extreme sport of slacklining — a high-wire walk on a flat line of webbing strung … Continue reading
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday denounced the French telecom giant Orange SA for announcing it will sever business ties with the Jewish state, highlighting a wave of public anger over the Palestinian movement to boycott Israel. Netanyahu spoke a day after Orange’s CEO, Stephane Richard, said in Cairo that he … Continue reading
PARIS (AP) — The U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State is doubling down on its strategy to fight the extremists, insisting on staying the course it set last year despite the radical group’s recent conquests on both sides of the border between Iraq andSyria. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi pressed his case Tuesday for more … Continue reading
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee entered the race for president Wednesday by calling for the U.S. to switch to the metric system, take an “open-minded approach” to drug trafficking and consider negotiating with Islamic State militants. With his announcement, Chafee became the biggest longshot among Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Democratic rivals, … Continue reading
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Assailants fired on a campaign vehicle belonging to Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party and killed its driver, officials said Thursday, in the latest violence against politicians or political parties ahead of Sunday’s general election. The governor’s office for Bingol province said the 35-year-old driver was found shot dead near the hired minibus of … Continue reading
BAGHDAD (AP) — Islamic State militants have reduced the amount of water flowing to government-held areas in Iraq’s western Anbar province, an official said Thursday, the latest in the vicious war as Iraqi forces struggle to claw back ground held by the extremists in the Sunni heartland. It’s not the first time that water has … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 