Appeals mount to save Iraq's Yazidis from extinction
Dohuk, Iraq (AFP) Aug 05, 2014 -
Iraqi helicopters dropped supplies Tuesday to thousands of people hiding from jihadists in desolate mountains, many of them from the Yazidi minority which officials warned risked being massacred or starved into extinction.
A Yazidi lawmaker broke down in tears during a parliament session as she urged the government and the international community to save her community from Islamic State mili ...
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China probes Canadian Christian couple for alleged spying
Beijing (AFP) Aug 05, 2014 -
China is investigating a Canadian Christian couple for alleged espionage, state media and their son said Tuesday, a week after Ottawa accused Beijing of cyber-spying.
Kevin Garratt and Julia Dawn Garratt "are under investigation for suspected theft of state secrets about China's military and national defence research," the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The couple first came to C ...
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Iraq chaos catches up with Kurdistan
Baghdad (AFP) Aug 04, 2014 -
It was nearly the perfect heist. In June, Iraq's Kurds snuck in behind retreating government troops to grab long-coveted land and watched from their new borders as Baghdad and jihadists fought over the rump state.
But the move dragged Kurdistan's celebrated peshmerga out of their comfort zone and the cash-strapped force is now taking heavy losses along its extended front.
"They've bitten ...
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PKK urges Kurdish groups to unite against Iraq militants
Ankara (AFP) Aug 05, 2014 -
The outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which for years waged a deadly insurgency against Turkish authorities, called on all Kurdish armed groups Tuesday to unite against radical Islamist militants who have seized swathes of northern Iraq.
"Our efforts alone are not enough. There must be a joint (effort)" against the Islamic State (IS), the PKK's military leader Murat Karayilan said in ...
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Lebanon army urges France to speed up weapons delivery
Beirut (AFP) Aug 05, 2014 -
Lebanon's army chief General Jean Kahwaji urged France on Tuesday to speed up the delivery of weapons under a Saudi-financed deal, as his troops battle jihadists on the Syrian border.
"This battle requires equipment, materiel and technology that the army doesn't have," Kahwaji told AFP.
"That's why we need to speed up the delivery of the necessary military aid by finalising the list of w ...
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Army eyes lighter weight combat vehicles
Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md. (UPI) Aug 5, 2013 -
The U.S. Army is looking to reduce the weight of its armored vehicles by 40 percent in years ahead and has reached out to industry and academia for help.
According to the Science and Technology Division at the Army Capabilities Integration Center, the weight equation translates to slower deployment times.
"The problem is the ability to deploy rapidly to turn the tide, to transiti ...
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Iraq air force backs Kurds against jihadists, scores flee
Baghdad (AFP) Aug 04, 2014 -
Baghdad's air force and Kurdish fighters from Syria joined forces with Iraq's embattled peshmerga Monday to push back jihadists whose latest attacks sent thousands of civilians running for their lives.
The Islamic State, or IS, raised its black flag in Sinjar on Sunday after ousting the peshmerga troops of Iraq's Kurdish government, forcing thousands of people from their homes.
The conqu ...
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