NEW YORK , United States (AFP) — A 24-year-old Jordanian-American was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Tuesday after acknowledging he tried to join the Islamic State group. Alaa Saadeh, of New Jersey, was arrested in June of last year and pleaded guilty on October 29. The specific charge was conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist group. Saadeh was accused of having planned to join the Islamic State group and of helping […]
North America
Obama to make historic visit to Hiroshima
by Andrew BEATTY WASHINGTON , United States (AFP) — Barack Obama will this month become the first sitting US president to visit Hiroshima, but the White House is scotching talk of an apology for the devastating 1945 nuclear bombing of the city. Obama, accompanied by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, will make the deeply symbolic visit on May 27, after attending a G7 summit in south-central Japan, his spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday. The White House […]
IS leader for Iraq’s Anbar province killed in air strike: Pentagon
WASHINGTON , United States (AFP) — A US-led coalition air strike has killed a senior Islamic State leader in Iraq’s Anbar province, along with three other IS jihadists, the Pentagon said Monday. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the May 6 strike near the town of Rutba — deep in the Anbar desert — targeted Abu Wahib, IS’s “military emir” for the vast western province. Wahib was “a former member of Al-Qaeda in Iraq who has […]
Wildfire spared 90 percent of Fort McMurray: Alberta premier
by Michel COMTE FORT MCMURRAY, Canada (AFP) — Fort McMurray is largely intact despite a week of damage from the wildfires devastating Canada’s oil sands region, Alberta’s premier said after touring the ghost town on Monday. Firefighters warned, however, that the tens of thousands of evacuated residents would not be able to return for at least two weeks. “It was a miracle we got the entire population out safely,” Alberta Premier Rachel Notley told reporters. […]
Trump picks Christie to lead White House transition
NEW YORK , United States (AFP) — Donald Trump on Monday picked New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to lead his White House transition team in the event the billionaire wins the November presidential vote. Christie, 53, essentially joined team Trump in February, endorsing Trump just after the governor himself dropped out of their party’s presidential primary. “Governor Christie is an extremely knowledgeable and loyal person with the tools and resources to put together an unparalleled […]
Twitter cuts intel agencies off from analysis service: report
WASHINGTON , United States (AFP) — Twitter has barred US intelligence agencies from accessing a service that sorts through posts on the social media platform in real time and has proved useful in the fight against terrorism, the Wall Street Journal reported. The newspaper, in its report Sunday evening, cited a senior US intelligence official as saying that Twitter seemed worried about appearing too cozy with intelligence services. Twitter owns about a five percent stake […]
Weather aids firefighters battling blaze in Canada oil region
by Michel COMTE FORT MCMURRAY, CANADA (AFP) –– Authorities battling a forest fire in Canada looked to Mother Nature for more help Monday, as cooling temperatures and rain slowed the spread of the blaze that had forced the evacuation of an entire city. There was more good news too, with the amount of land charred less than originally feared and the last of 25,000 people trapped north of Fort McMurray in Alberta province safely evacuated in […]
Panama braces for online release of Panama Papers
by Juan José Rodríguez PANAMA CITY , Panama (AFP) — The Panama Papers scandal promises to deepen around the world on Monday when a journalists’ group with access to the digital cache of documents is to put many of them online. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) is to release the documents in a searchable database at 1800 GMT on Monday accessible to the public at offshoreleaks.icij.org. The US-based organization said the release “will […]
Wildfire’s advance slowing in Canada’s Fort McMurray: official
FORT MCMURRAY , Canada (AFP) — The wildfires around the Canadian city of Fort McMurray were moving “much, much more slowly” on Sunday, Alberta premier Rachel Notley said, as she also lowered the estimate of the area destroyed so far. Officials earlier Sunday had warned that the fires could reach neighboring Saskatchewan province but as the day wore on the advancing edge of the blaze had slowed and the fire is still 40 kilometers (25 miles) […]
Canada fire ‘out of control,’ may double in size
by Michel Comte Fort McMurray, Canada (AFP) — A ferocious wildfire wreaking havoc in Canada was expected to double in size Saturday, officials warned, cautioning that the situation in the parched Alberta oil sands region was “unpredictable and dangerous.” “This remains a big, out of control, dangerous fire,” Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said of the raging inferno the size of London that forced the evacuation of the city of Fort McMurray. Winds were pushing […]
INC brethren in Canada prepare aid for wildfire victims
(Eagle News) — Iglesia Ni Cristo members in Canada prepare food and other items to help victims of the forest fire still raging in Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada. Some of those affected by the wildfires have already reached Edmonton, Canada with harrowing tales of how they had escaped the infernal flames. The usual five hours of driving time from Fort McMurray to Edmonton became 15 hours of travel time because of heavy traffic […]
INC brethren in Canada prepare food and aid for forest fire victims
Iglesia Ni Cristo members in Canada prepare food and other items to help those in need in Canada, including the people affected by the raging forest fire in Fort McMurray, Canada. Many of residents in the areas where the fires continue to rage drove to Edmonton, as they tried to escape the wildfires that had engulfed their homes. (Eagle News Service)
