Search-and-rescue operations are under way off the coast of Hawaii after two Marine CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters on a nighttime training mission collided, with six people aboard each aircraft.
The latest Associated Press dispatch from nuclear negotiations in Lausanne, Switzerland, reads like satire: “The United States is considering letting Tehran run hundreds of centrifuges at a once-secret, fortified underground bunker in exchange for limits on centrifuge work and research and development at other sites, officials have told The Associated Press.”
A building in New York City’s East Village collapsed on Thursday afternoon, with the New York Post reporting that up to 30 people have been injured. Witnesses flooded social media with pictures and descriptions of the building.
Venezuela, a fertile ground for major-league talent, now repels many of the players it produced.
World-renowned author and staunch critic of Islam Ayaan Hirsi Ali appeared on the The Daily Show this week, where host Jon Stewart attempted to challenge her assertion that Islam is different from the world’s three major Abrahamic religions–Judaism, Christianity, and Islam–as Hirsi Ali asserts in her latest book, Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has vowed to collect millions of signatures for a petition against American President Barack Obama, demanding that he repeal executive sanctions against high-ranking armed forces officials in the country over human rights abuses against anti-socialist protesters.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari visited Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday in an event that appears intended to strengthen ties between Baghdad and Damascus in light of their mutually shared threat of Islamic State (ISIS) invasion. Iraq’s desire to forge stronger ties with Assad flies in the face of American diplomatic efforts to isolate the dictator after his alleged use of chemical weapons on civilians.
On June 4, Breitbart News reported the names of six soldiers who lost their lives searching for Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl after he was reported missing in Afghanistan’s Paktika province on June 30, 2009.
Two weeks ago, the seemingly effective Iraqi operation to retake the city of Tikrit from ISIS ground to an abrupt halt, the “final push” delayed for an indefinite period out of concerns over collateral damage, according to Iraqi officials. It was widely speculated the more pertinent problem was that Islamic State forces proved to be much harder to dislodge than anyone wanted to admit, so time was needed to bring up reinforcements and prepare the battlespace.
The budget committee of the United Nations is usually sparsely attended and, to all but technical experts, downright boring, but on Tuesday morning it was packed and, for a budget committee meeting, downright lively, even contentious. The issue was spousal benefits for LGBT couples.
A coalition of over ten countries, with the backing of the United States, has commenced a full-scale military operation against the Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Obama administration’s “revisions” to the Iranian nuclear deal include abandoning crucial demands for U.N. inspection of suspected weapons sites that Iran has been resisting for years, even during the toughest of economic sanctions.
Russia signed a $10 billion deal to build Jordan’s first nuclear power plant. It is the third nuclear deal for Russia and the second within that region.
In a surprising assessment that indicates the Venezuelan economy is doing worse than its socialist government has indicated, a Barclay’s report on the nation’s oil exports show that the nation has reduced exports of crude to the Caribbean by at least half, including exports to its greatest political ally, Cuba.
Travel schedules of Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif suggest that the parties may gather for a “signing” ceremony on Sunday, March 29 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The Islamic State has taken over at least parts of the Tunisian town of Tataouine, with over 4,000 jihadists currently housed there. The government of Tunisia insists, however, that the town’s most recognizable pop culture institution remains safe from jihadist destruction.
French authorities released much new information about the horrible Germanwings crash in the Alps this morning, but some vital questions remain unanswered. Why is the French prosecutor so firmly convinced that the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, deliberately crashed the plane?
The Islamist government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sentenced two cartoonists to 11 months in prison for drawing a magazine cover in which some claim it is implied that Erdogan is homosexual. The cartoon also overtly depicts Erdogan discussing killing journalists.
The news that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is to be tried for desertion casts the 2014 prisoner swap in a new light. President Barack Obama traded five senior Taliban leaders, who had been imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay, for Bergdahl–and did so without giving Congress 30 days’ advance notice. In doing so, the Obama administration broke the law, according to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. That violation was not just a crime, but also, in context, a high crime.
ROME, Italy– At dawn on Wednesday, Italian special forces executed the final stage of a counterterrorist operation, breaking up an ISIS terrorist cell in northern Italy.
On Wednesday, the government of Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes against Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, which has now collapsed into civil war. Egypt is set to join in the Saudi effort even as Saudi Arabia establishes a no-fly zone. Meanwhile, rebels claimed that Yemen’s president, Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, fled Aden in advance of their consolidation of power on the ground. And Iran, which has fomented the chaos in Yemen, has warned Saudi Arabia that it had taken a “dangerous step.”
At least three of five Taliban fighters swapped for the freedom of Bowe Bergdahl, a Taliban captive now being charged with desertion, are reportedly actively making efforts to join the terrorist cause once again.
Pope Francis returned to the topic of Christian joy Thursday, calling the joy of the Gospel the ID card of a true Christian and “the touchstone of a person’s faith.”
A Miami man admitted he tried to sell seven guns believed to have been owned by family members of Iraqi dictator Sadaam Hussein, weapons that were sent to New Jersey to be seen by prospective buyers, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said.
Last night, we learned that black-box audio recordings appeared to show the pilot of the doomed Germanwings Flight 9525 had been locked out of the cockpit and was attempting to gain entry – politely at first, but acting with increasing urgency as the plane descended, until at the end it sounded as if he was trying to smash the armored cockpit door down.
US joins Iran and Iraq in fighting ISIS in Tikrit; Saudi Arabia begins airstrikes against Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen; Obama administration continues to hail Yemen as a model
