Thursday 21 May 2015

Dunya TV

Dunya TV

McDonald's CEO 'proud' of pay hike; protesters want more

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NEW YORK (AP) -McDonalds CEO Steve Easterbrook said Thursday he was incredibly proud of a decision to bump pay for some workers, even after protesters called on the company to do more outside its annual shareholder meeting.Easterbrook, who stepped into his role in March, is fighting to revive sluggish sales and convince people that McDonalds is a modern, progressive burger company. But the push comes at a time when protests for pay of $15 an hour and a union have been spreading around the country.Hundreds of protesters turned out in Oak Brook, Illinois on Wednesday and Thursday before the companys meeting.McDonalds had said in April that it would raise pay for workers at company-owned stores to at least $1 above the local minimum wage and let them earn paid time off. It will also offer up to $700 in college tuition help to eligible workers at all stores.Labor organizers and workers have dismissed the move on pay in part because they say it leaves so many workers out in the cold. The vast majority of the more than 14,300 McDonalds restaurants in the U.S. are owned by franchisees. McDonalds has stood by its position that it doesnt control pay decisions at franchised locations.During the meeting, the company got support from at least one shareholder, who said that actress Sharon Stone and Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos were among those who have worked at McDonalds. If the chain paid $15, he said, those people would still be working at McDonalds.Members of Corporate Accountability, a regular critic of McDonalds marketing practices, also repeated their request that the company retire Ronald McDonald and stop marketing to children.But Easterbrook defended the companys use of the red-headed clown, who he noted recently got a new outfit that makes him feel trendier.With regards to Ronald, Ronalds here to stay, Easterbrook said.Shareholders also approved a proposal to give investors access to the director nomination process. The UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust, which filed the proposal, had said the costs to put forward nominees for board seats could be prohibitive under the current system.Institutional Investor Services and Glass Lewis, two proxy advisory firms, had backed the proposal.McDonalds had opposed the proposal, which it said could enable shareholders with special interests to nominate directors and introduce a potentially expensive and destabilizing dynamic into its board election process.Becca Hary, a McDonalds spokeswoman, said the company would evaluate the advisory vote and the board will consider it to determine whats appropriate.

EU seeks to keep partnership with ex-Soviet nations on track

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RIGA (AP) -The European Union on Thursday urged six post-communist countries to move closer to the 28-nation bloc as a way to resist Russias bullying tactics and build a brighter future for their citizens.Speaking at the opening of a two-day summit in Riga, EU President Donald Tusk warned the former Soviet republics they had little to gain from falling back into Moscows orbit instead of deepening their partnership with the West.The Eastern Partnership isnt a beauty contest between Russia and the EU, Tusk said. But let me be frank, beauty does count. If Russia was a bit softer, more charming, more attractive, perhaps it would not have to compensate its shortcomings by destructive aggressive and bullying tactics against itsneighbors.German Chancellor Angela Merkel backed up Tusks criticism of Moscow, saying that the EU makes a crystal clear difference with Russia. We accept that the different Eastern Partnership nations can go their own way and we accept these different ways.The EUs partnership program with Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Belarus suffered a major setback 1 ½ years ago, when Ukraines then-president Viktor Yanukovych withdrew from signing an association agreement and opted for closer links with Moscow and President Vladimir Putin.After Yanukovych was ousted, Ukraines new leadership turned back toward the EU but paid a heavy price: Russia annexed Crimea, large swaths of eastern territory bordering Russia are embroiled in conflict and the nation is in deep economic decline.Meanwhile, Armenia and Belarus limited their relations with the EU by joining Russias Eurasian Economic Union and Azerbaijan is showing little excitement about the EU partnership, sending its foreign minister to Riga instead of its president.Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova are still seeking deeper integration, but many EU countries are reluctant to open the door for membership in the Western club.The EU promised grants of 200 million euros ($223 million) over the next 10 years to promote small and medium-sized businesses in the three countries.But Merkel on Thursday said the EU should not raise any false expectations in the talks with the eastern partners.The Eastern Partnership is not an instrument for (EU) enlargement but it is an instrument to get closer to the EU, Merkel said.Eastern nations face many challenges to deepen ties with the EU, including improving justice systems and economic structures and fighting corruption.Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko assured that his country was ready to tackle corruption and improve the investment climate.The talks in Riga were expected to end Friday with a declaration that reaffirmed the Eastern Partnership but also touched on the conflict in Ukraine.Now we have the full evidence of the presence of the Russian army, the regular troops, Poroshenko said.On the eve of the Riga summit, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told lawmakers that Moscow doesnt see our neighbors aspirations to strengthen ties with the European Union as a tragedy, but to make those processes develop positively they mustnt hurt the interests of the Russian Federation.European leaders arriving in Riga stressed that the partnership was moving at different speeds due to the differing ambitions among the eastern countries.Belarus and its authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko have also been kept at arms length because of political and human rights complaints that earned the nation the moniker of the last dictatorship in Europe.Icy relations have somewhat warmed recently and Belarus sent its highest delegation yet, led by its foreign minister, though it didnt include Lukashenko himself.Its important to stress that countries can make this progression individually, according to their own circumstances and demands, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said. I think thats one of the strengths of this partnership.

Obama cites 'personal interest' in locking down Iran deal

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WASHINGTON (AP) -President Barack Obama says he has a personal stake on ensuring that negotiations with Iran produce an agreement that keeps Tehran from producing a nuclear weapon over the long-term.He says in an interview with The Atlantic that if Iran has a nuclear weapon in 20 years he would be held accountable.Look, 20 years from now, Im still going to be around, God willing. If Iran has a nuclear weapon, its my name on this, he said. I think its fair to say that in addition to our profound national security interests, I have a personal interest in locking this down.Critics of an agreement say the president is so determined to burnish his legacy that he will accept a less-than-ironclad commitment from Iran. The talks involve Iran, the U.S., four other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germanya group call the P-Five Plus One. Israel and some Persian Gulf allies worry that Iran may simply be delaying its ability to build a nuclear weapon in order to have economic sanctions against it lifted.But Obama and his aides say his investment in the talks and a realization that it could in fact damage his legacy is why he will pursue a strong and enforceable agreement.Hes not going to sign a bad deal precisely because its his name thats on it, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Thursday when asked about Obamas response.The Atlantic interview covered a range of Middle East issues, from U.S. Israel relations to Iran to the status of the fight against the Islamic State. The interview occurred before the takeover of the city of Palmyra by Islamic State militants, but after the city of Ramadi in Iraq fell to Islamic State fighters.Obama called the loss of Ramadi a source of concern, but added: I dont think were losing.Theres no doubt there was a tactical setback, although Ramadi had been vulnerable for a very long time, primarily because these are not Iraqi security forces that we have trained or reinforced, he said.Earnest, addressing the fall of Palmyra in Syria, said Thursday that the fight against Islamic State will take time.Until were able to build up local forces on the ground in Syria who can take the fight to ISIL in their own country, you know, this is going to continue to be a difficult challenge, and one that is not going to be solved overnight, he said, using one of the acronyms for the militants.He reiterated Obamas commitment to not placing U.S. combat troops on the ground to fight the militants and dismissed critics of Obamas strategy.

Fears mount over Palmyra as IS expands territory in Syria

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DAMASCUS (AP) -Fears mounted over the fate of one of the Mideasts most prominent archaeological sites after Islamic State militants overran the historic Syrian town of Palmyra, seizing control Thursday of its temples, tombs and colonnades within hours.The takeover also expanded the extremists hold, making them the single group controlling the most territory in Syria.The Syrian regime appears to be in terminal decline, and the Islamic State group in its timing is capitalizing on recent losses by government forces in the north and south, said Amr Al-Azm, an antiquities expert and professor at Shawnee State University in Ohio.The militants overran the famed archaeological site early Thursday, just hours after seizing the nearby town in central Syria, activists and officials said.They also captured Palmyras airport and the notorious Tadmur prison, delivering a startling new defeat for President Bashar Assad, whose forces quickly retreated. Hundreds of Palmyra residents fled the town of 65,000, and many more were trying to escape, said Talal Barazi, the governor of central Homs province, which includes Palmyra.An oasis set in the Syrian desert, Palmyra is a strategic crossroads linking the capital Damascus and cities to the east and the west. Its capture raised alarm over some of the worlds most important ancient ruins, whose fate remained unknown Thursday, and no photos or video emerged from the militants.We are in a state of anticipation and fear, said Maamoun Abdulkarim, the head of the Antiquities and Museum Department in Damascus. The city is now totally controlled by gunmen and its destiny is dark and dim.A UNESCO world heritage site, Palymra boasts 2,000-year-old towering Roman-era colonnades, temples and priceless artifacts that have earned it the affectionate name among Syrians of the Bride of the Desert.They are the remnants of an Arab client state of the Roman Empire that briefly rebelled and carved out its own kingdom in the 3rd Century, led by Queen Zenobia, with Palmyra as its capital. Before the war, it was Syrias top tourist attraction, drawing tens of thousands of visitors each year.It includes a 3,000-seat amphitheater overlooking a colonnaded main avenue where plays, concerts and youth festivals were staged.With the capture of Palmyra, the Islamic State militants now control half of Syria and most of the countrys oil wells, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, making it the group with the most territory under its authority among the myriad factions fighting in the countrys civil war.Its vast terrain inside Syria stretches from the groups westernmost strongholds in Aleppo province to its core territory in northeastern Syria down to central Syria, with footholds in Damascus.Palmyras location in Syrias heartland offers the militants several important advantages, said Faysal Itani, a resident fellow at the Atlantic Council. The town can now be used as a launching pad to threaten government positions and supply lines south of Aleppo and east of Homs and Hama, and open up a new approach to Damascus, seat of Assads power.IS can also threaten regime supply lines to the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, where government forces are still holding out against the militants.If IS manages to cut off Deir el-Zour, it is likely that the city would fall, essentially ending regime presence in that province, and consolidating IS core territory, he said.The fall of Palmyra follows major setbacks for Assad in northern and southern Syria. This is simply an indication of how overstretched the regime is, Itani said.The militants capture of Palmyra came just days after Islamic State fighters seized the strategic Iraqi city of Ramadi, illustrating the extremists ability to advance on multiple fronts at opposite ends of a sprawling battlefield that spans the two countries, where it has declared a caliphate or Islamic state on the territory it controls.At the White House, Press Secretary Josh Earnest described the developments in Palmyra and Ramadi as setbacks, but insisted the U.S.-led air campaign was making progress overall in degrading ISIL capabilities.The head of the U.N.s cultural agency called on Syrias warring factions to immediately end hostilities around the archaeological site.I am extremely worried about what happens in Palmyra, UNESCO chief Irina Bokova said. Palmyra is an extraordinary world heritage site in the desert and any destruction to Palmyra is not just a war crime, but ... an enormous loss to humanity.Al-Azm said he expected the militants to turn to looting and excavating the towns antiquities, selling the artifacts on the black market before eventually destroying the site.In taking Palmyra, IS also seized control of the notorious Tadmur Prison, freeing some of those imprisoned inside, said Bebars al-Talawy, a Homs activist.The government had already transferred thousands of detainees from the prison to a jail near Damascus as IS attacked the city, al-Talawy said.Thousands were believed to still be inside, he said, but he couldnt provide precise figures.The prison survives in the collective memory of Syrians as the place where dissidents were held for decades and prisoners tortured.A report by a local Lebanese station that 27 Lebanese prisoners, including some jailed since the 1980s, were among those freed from Tadmur triggered confusion in Beirut among families of missing Lebanese, many of whom believe their loved ones have been languishing in Syrian prisons for decades.An amateur video posted online purported to show IS fighters inside the Tadmur Prison setting fire to a giant poster of Assad and cheering. The video and its location could not be independently verified but appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting of the events.Palmyras fall came at a deadly toll.The Observatory said Thursday that according to its estimates, 462 people have been killed since IS began its offensive on Palmyra and nearby areas on May 13. It said the dead included 241 troops and pro-government gunmen, as well as 150 IS fighters. The rest were civilians, presumably killed by IS or in cross-fire.Meanwhile, Islamic State militants made further inroads in Iraqs Anbar province, seizing the Iraqi side of a key border crossing with Syria after Iraqi government forces pulled out, according to Athal al-Fahdawi, a local councilman. The fall of the al-Walid crossing will help the militants to shuttle weaponry and reinforcements more easily across the Iraqi-Syrian borders.Despite the Islamic States stunning victories in Palmyra and Iraq, the extremists suffered a setback in Syrias northeastern province of Hassakeh, where they have come under attack by Kurdish fighters.The Kurdish fighters captured much of the Abdul-Aziz Mountain near the village of Tel Tamr on Wednesday, according to the Observatory and the Kurdish forces known as the Peoples Protection Units, or YPG.The Observatory said YPG fighters were backed by airstrikes of the U.S.-led coalition, which has been bombing IS positions in Syria since September.

US presses Israel on talks for Middle East nuclear-free zone

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UNITED NATIONS (AP) -The United States has sent a top official to Israel amid an effort to revive talks on a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons, a central issue of a landmark treaty review conference that some fear will end Friday without progress on global disarmament.The State Department confirmed that the assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation was in Israel to discuss the issue. An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman declined comment on Thomas Countrymans visit, saying it was a very sensitive matter.Establishing a zone free of nuclear weapons in one of the worlds most tense regions is a rare point of agreement between the United States and Russia these days. Frustrated by the delay of a conference on the zone that was supposed to take place three years ago, Russia has proposed that U.N.-led talks be held no later than March 2016.A draft proposal by a review conference subcommittee on regional issues, dated Wednesday, would impose an even earlier deadline, saying the U.N. secretary-general should convene talks by Dec. 15 if Israel and its neighbors cant agree on arrangements by then.That has alarmed Israel, which is not a party to the treaty and has never publicly declared what is widely considered to be an extensive nuclear weapons program. Israel was furious when the United States at the treaty review conference five years ago signed off on a document that called for talks on a Middle East nuclear-free zone by 2012.With a new document that threatens to pressure Israel again, the U.S. visit this week is meant to calm things down. This administration and this president do not break commitments to our Israeli partners, and any suggestion to the contrary is offensive, White House spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in a statement.Israel is concerned about talks being held without its agreement on an agenda, said Emily Landau, head of the Arms Control program at the Institute for National Security Studies, an Israeli think tank. If talks single out Israel as the only state that needs to take action, obviously its not something Israel will be able to agree to, she said.On Thursday, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the U.S. was working to ensure that a final text meets our interests and Israels. She stressed that the U.S. and Israel share the goal of a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction.The review conference for the landmark Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty takes place just every five years, and a failure to agree on a way forward would highlight the growing frustration of countries without nuclear weapons to get the nuclear-armed ones to take concrete steps to disarm. The United States and Russia hold more than 90 percent of the estimated 16,000 nuclear weapons in the world today.Israel showed up at the review conference this year as a surprise observer. It blamed its Arab neighbors for the failure of progress toward achieving a Middle East free of nuclear weapons, saying that after five rounds of consultations with some of its neighbors in Switzerland between October 2013 and June 2014 on a possible agenda, the other states discontinued the meetings.Israel did not say why the talks were discontinued but noted that they were the first direct engagement between Israel and its neighbors on this issue in over 20 years.

US prosecutors would face high bar in filing Amtrak charges

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PHILADELPHIA (AP) -The driver at the controls of a train that derailed in Philadelphia, killing eight people, remains the focus of an inquiry by federal transportation safety investigators. But a second probe could prove more personally devastating: Prosecutors are trying to determine if he committed a crime.Brandon Bostian, 32, could face criminal charges if law enforcement finds he was reckless or negligent when the train approached a curve at 106 mph, according to former prosecutors. But any prosecution would have to pass a high bar.Federal investigators said Wednesday that Bostian used his cellphone the day of the crash, but his lawyer has said it was stowed away and turned off during the ill-fated trip to New York. The lawyer said Bostian then retrieved it from the twisted wreckage and used it to call for help.Lawyers suggest the charges under review would include reckless endangerment, involuntary manslaughter, third-degree murder and aggravated assault especially if he were on his phone or intentionally distracted.Jurors, though, must find significant negligence to convict someone of those crimes.Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams expects to wait until the National Transportation and Safety Board issues its findings before deciding on charges. U.S. Attorney Zane Memeger is also keeping tabs on the probe.Bostians lawyer, Robert Goggin, has not responded to repeated requests for comment from The Associated Press. He told ABC that his client suffered a concussion and has no memory of the moments leading up to the May 12 derailment, which killed a U.S. Naval Academy midshipman, an Italian wine broker and six others and injured dozens.That could cut both ways at trial.Train drivers have been charged following other deadly train wrecks.In Canada, a rail driver who is accused of failing to secure the brakes on an oil train was charged with 47 counts of criminal negligence for the ensuing derailment and explosion that killed 47 people. His case remains pending.

Clinton speeches raised at least $12 million for foundation

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PORTSMOUTH (AP) -The Clinton Foundation said Thursday that Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton have raised at least $12 million to support the familys philanthropy since 2002 by delivering paid speeches to an assortment of corporations, universities and foreign entities.The speeches may have brought in as much as $26.4 million to the foundation, which released a list of nearly 100 speeches and a broad range of the fees the Clintons received for delivering them.The fees benefited the Clinton Foundation, the global charity the former president started after he left the White House. The foundations finances have come under heavy scrutiny as Hillary Rodham Clinton seeks the White House for a second time.The foundations voluntary release of the speaking fees followed last weeks filing of the former secretary of states financial disclosure at the start of her presidential campaign. Bill and Hillary Clinton reported they earned more than $30 million combined in personal income since January 2014, with most of it coming from paid speaking engagements around the globe.Most of the fees paid to the foundation were for speeches by former President Bill Clinton, who raised between $8.7 million and $19.35 million by delivering 72 speeches during the past decade. The foundation received between $500,000 and $1 million in fees from speeches by the former president to Hanwha, a business conglomerate in South Korea; the Nigerian ThisDay newspaper group; and Dublin-based DMC Communications Ltd. on behalf of the All Ireland Scholarships.Bill Clinton also delivered lectures on behalf of the foundation to the Beijing Huaduo Enterprise Consulting Company, the China Real Estate Development Group, the Thailand Ministry of Energy, the Qatar First Investment Bank and the U.S. Islamic World Conference. The fees for those speeches were between $250,000 and $500,000.Hillary Clinton brought in between $2.95 million and $6.25 million for 16 speeches on the foundations behalf. Financial institutions such as Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Carlyle Investment Management paid at least $250,000 to the foundation for speeches by the former New York senator and first lady.Telmex Foundation, one of several charitable organizations under the umbrella of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, a longtime Clinton friend, also paid the foundation at least $250,000 for a Hillary Clinton speaking engagement.The Democratic presidential hopeful also brought in money to the foundation from speeches at several colleges and universities, including Colgate University, the University of California, Los Angeles, Hamilton College, the University of Miami and the foundation for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.Daughter Chelsea Clinton generated between $370,000 and $800,000 during that period, the records show.Craig Minassian, a spokesman for the foundation, noted that the foundation has listed more than 300,000 donors on its website and posting these speeches is just another example of how our disclosure policies go above and beyond whats required of charities.

Colombia bids farewell to victims of deadly flooding

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SALGAR (AP) -Thousands of mourners poured into the streets Thursday to bid farewell to dozens of the victims of a deadly mudslide that ravaged this coffee-growing town nestled deep in the AndesChurch bells rang out as a caravan of funeral coaches arrived from Medellin, three hours away, carrying the bodies of the first 33 of 84 people killed in Mondays flash flood.A military band played Taps as soldiers positioned the caskets in front of the towns main church, where Bishop Cesar Balbin read a letter of condolences sent by Pope Francis. Several high-ranking military officers attended but President Juan Manuel Santos, who visited Salgar in the aftermath of the tragedy, stayed behind in Bogota to welcome Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.Mourners, many of them wailing and grasping at caskets, had to be held back by police trying to prevent the crowds from entering the towns cemetery. One woman fainted.The above-ground vaults had been prepared for the burials by gravedigger John Edison Londono, who had worked around the clock since the mudslide.The frenzied pace was an emotional as well as a professional response to tragedy. By stoically losing himself in his work, Londono postponed grieving for 15 of his own relatives who were among the at least 84 dead.Its very sad, sad, sad, Londono told The Associated Press. But you need to be on your feet, ready to fight, to help bury all of our compatriots.None of those buried Thursday were among the relatives lost by Londono.The flash flood triggered by heavy rains was Colombias deadliest natural disaster since 1999. An unknown number of people remained missing, but authorities said the chances of finding anyone alive buried under the mud were nil.Authorities have turned their attention to providing shelter and assistance to the more than 500 people affected by the tragedy. The goal is to rebuild, but Londono said that might prove difficult, because many longtime residents are ready to leave out of fear of another disaster.Coffee plantations that had been standing for a century were wiped out. Entire neighborhoods were converted into grey moonscapes. The body of at least one victim was carried by the raging current more than 60 miles (100 kilometers) downriver.Londono said the town cemetery could not handle the demands. Although there are 101 above-ground concrete vaults available for burials, he said many of them had been overtaken by mold and moisture and needed to be cleaned out.

Son of former Honduras president arrested in Haiti

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TEGUCIGALPA (AP) -The son of former President Porfirio Lobo was arrested in Haiti in an apparent anti-drug operation carried out by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Haitian authorities, the ex-president and the Honduran government confirmed Thursday.Fabio Lobo Lobo, 43, was arrested Wednesday night in Haiti and taken to New York to appear before a judge, according to a statement from the Honduran government. Lobo was arrested by Haitian authorities with the support of the DEA.Porfirio Lobo said Thursday in an interview with the governments Channel 8 television that he was facing a situation that he would never wish on any parent.I cannot say that he is guilty; I cannot say that he is not, Lobo said.Fabio is not a child, Lobo added. He is a man with a family and must answer for his actions.Lobo said he hopes his son can prove his innocence. As a father, he added, he is very hurt.DEA officials did not return calls seeking comment.Porfirio Lobo served as Honduras president from 2010 to 2014. He was elected following a coup that removed Manuel Zelaya the presidency in 2009.

Obama's trade bill narrowly clears a key Senate hurdle

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WASHINGTON (AP) -In a triumph for President Barack Obama, sweeping legislation to strengthen the administrations hand in global trade talks advanced toward Senate passage Thursday after a showdown vote that remained in doubt until the final moment.The 62-38 vote, two more than the 60 needed, came from a solid phalanx of Republicans and more than a dozen Democrats. But the decisive thumbs-up came from Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington after she and a few others seized the moment as leverage to demand a vote next month on legislation to renew the Export-Import Bank.The legislation would allow Obama to make trade deals that Congress could either support or reject but not change. Previous presidents have had similar authority, and administration officials argue that Japan and other Pacific-region countries in a current round of 12-nation trade talks will be unwilling to present bottom-line offers if they know lawmakers can seek more concessions.It was a nice victory. Were going to continue and finish up the bill this week, Republican Majority leader Mitch McConnell, Obamas most important Senate ally on the trade bill, said after sealing the agreement. Cantwell, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and others had sought the agreement.The Senate action to move toward a final vote was a big step forward, Obama said at the White House, predicting that a trade deal would open up access to markets that too often are closed. The president was up late Wednesday night placing telephone calls to lawmakers, and he spoke with Cantwell again shortly before the vote.Final Senate passage would clear the way for a fierce struggle in the House.The real political divide is over the value of international trade agreements themselves, and the result has been a blurring of traditional political lines.Supporters say such agreements benefit the American economy by lowering barriers overseas and expanding markets for U.S. services and goods.But in rebuttal that became particularly pronounced two decades ago when President Bill Clinton sought and won a North American Free Trade Agreement, labor unions and Democratic allies in Congress argue the deals cost jobs at home and send them to nations with lax environmental and safety standards and low wages.

US concludes airstrike in Syria killed 2 innocent children

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WASHINGTON (AP) -Two children were likely killed during an American airstrike targeting al-Qaeda-linked militants in Syria last year, and two other adults were wounded, according to an investigation released Thursday by the U.S. military.The 76-page report concludes that the strikes were designed to destroy Khorasan Group extremists, bomb-making experts, meeting places and facilities where explosives were made and stored. The investigation found that the killed and wounded civilians probably lived near one of the targeted locations.This is the first of four ongoing U.S. military investigations into allegations of civilian casualties resulting from airstrikes against Islamic State militants and other extremists in Iraq and Syria that began last August. One other probe into an airstrike in Syria and two investigations into airstrikes in Iraq are still pending.According to the report, the strikes on November 4-5, near Harim City, hit their intended targets, but officials said they could not determine if the civilians were killed by those strikes or secondary explosions caused by the bombings.From the investigation it can be determined that sound procedures were followed and must be followed in the future, Lt. Gen. James Terry, commander of the military operations against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, wrote in a handwritten note on the report. Terry ordered and approved the investigation.The report added, Reasonable measures were undertaken to avoid the death or injury of civilians during the strike. It said that, nonetheless, the death of any civilians is regrettable, and that the military will continue to try to mitigate civilian casualties to the maximum extent possible.Human rights groups have estimated that far more civilians have been killed in U.S. and coalition airstrikes since operations began.The airstrikes against the Khorasan Group that day marked only the second time, since the bombing campaign in Syria began, that U.S. operations had targeted the group, which officials contend is a Nusra Front cell that has been plotting to attack American and Western interests.According to the report, the airstrikes launched by multiple aircraft destroyed six buildings and damaged two others at two separate compounds. It said initially the compounds were civilian facilities on a no strike list, but intelligence assessments concluded they were later converted to military use by the Khorasan Group.The protected status of the compounds was lifted, the report said, after determination that their predominant use was for hostile purposes a meeting place and safe-house for foreign extremists. It said multiple intelligence reports concluded the facilities were used by known members of the Khorasan Group.It said the intelligence assessments indicated the sites were used for meetings and storage and specific bomb-makers and explosives experts whose names were redacted met there.The investigation notes that other independent or media reports after the bombings suggested that one of the children killed was the daughter of a Nusra Front fighter.The probe was prompted by numerous reports, photos and video claiming to show a varying number of civilian casualties resulting from the strikes The report said photos showed the bodies of two female children that were dusty, and which appeared to have sustained injuries to their ear drums, consistent with having been in close proximity to blast overpressure injuries.The investigation said there had been no indications prior to the strikes that children were present.

Pentagon says US anti-armor weapons due in Iraq next week

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WASHINGTON (AP) -An expedited shipment of 2,000 lightweight shoulder-fired weapons intended to help the Iraqi army stop the Islamic State groups increasingly effective use of car bombs should arrive in Iraq as soon as next week, the Pentagon said Thursday.The shipment is among a variety of weaponry and equipment the U.S. agreed to send to Iraq on an expedited basis after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi visited Washington in April to plead for more help in fighting the extremists.Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said the shipment of shoulder-fired AT-4 weapons was not in response to the fall of Ramadi over the weekend, although the militants effective use of enormous car bombs there put a spotlight on Iraqi army deficiencies and prompted the White House to consider ways of strengthening U.S. support for Iraq.The AT-4 is relatively lightweight and is designed to penetrate armor, making the weapon useful in stopping what the military calls vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices, or car bombs, before they approach their intended target.In an update to the overall cost of U.S. military involvement in Iraq and Syria, Warren said that as of April 9 the U.S. had spent $2.1 billion since it began bombing in Iraq in August. The Syria bombing campaign began the following month.

IS executes 17 people in Syria's Palmyra: monitor

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BEIRUT (AFP) - Fighters from the Islamic State group executed at least 17 people, including civilians, after the jihadists seized Syrias ancient city of Palmyra on Thursday, a monitor said.IS executed 17 people, including civilians and loyalist fighters. At least four of them were beheaded, Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, told AFP.He said the civilians were working for a local administrative council, while the fighters included at least one regime soldier and members of the National Defence Forces, a pro-government militia.They were accused of working with the regime, Abdel Rahman said.A Syrian activist told AFP via Facebook that IS ordered residents to stay indoors.IS is preventing residents from leaving their homes and is combing civilian houses to find regime loyalists, said the activist who calls himself Mohammad Hassan al-Homsi.He said he had spoken by phone to people in Palmyra who told him they wanted to flee the city but were afraid of doing so after hearing about the executions, especially the reported beheadings.According to the Observatory, at least 460 people were killed in the battle for Palmyra that began on May 13, including 49 who were executed by the jihadist group, nine of them children.

Iran rules out nuclear inspections of military sites

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TEHRAN (AFP) - Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday ruled out allowing nuclear inspectors to visit military sites or to question scientists if Tehran strikes a long-sought deal with world powers.We have already said that we will not allow any inspections of military sites by foreigners, the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.They also say that we must allow interviews with nuclear scientists. This is interrogation. I will not allow foreigners to come and talk to scientists who have advanced the science to this level, Khamenei said.Speaking at a graduation ceremony for military cadets, he said that no intelligent government would allow such a thing and excessive demands must be resisted.Khamenei, who has the final word on all policy matters in Iran, said Tehran would refuse to allow the insolent enemy to talk to its scientists, adding that other countries hide the identities of their nuclear experts.Several Iranian atomic scientists were assassinated between 2010 and 2012 in attacks Tehran blamed on Israel and the US.The United States as well as Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany are in the midst of negotiations with Tehran to finalise a deal by June 30 that would prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, in exchange for an easing of crippling economic sanctions.For several weeks, political and technical experts have been trying to finalise the terms of a final agreement. They were due to gather again on Wednesday in Vienna for talks.If fully implemented, a deal would see Iran dramatically scale back its nuclear activities and submit those that remain to what US President Barack Obama has described as the most robust and intrusive inspections and transparency regime ever negotiated.The issue of inspections is a sticking point in the negotiations.In late April, Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tehran was ready to accept the highest level of international transparency available to members of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).But Zarif said this week that the NPT additional protocol did not grant inspectors access without limits or reason.He said that the rules allowed some access but not inspections of military sites, in order to protect national military or economic secrets.The additional protocol provides for snap inspections of nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and requires that information be provided on all activities regarding the nuclear fuel cycle.Iran is a signatory of the NPT and voluntarily implemented the additional protocol between 2003 and 2006, but ceased applying it after its nuclear programme was referred to the UN Security Council.Iran has long asserted its nuclear programme is for peaceful energy purposes, and that international concern about it seeking a nuclear bomb is misplaced.

Obama cites 'personal interest' in locking down Iran deal

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WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama says he has a personal stake on ensuring that negotiations with Iran produce an agreement that keeps Tehran from producing a nuclear weapon over the long-term.He says in an interview with The Atlantic that if Iran has a nuclear weapon in 20 years he would be held accountable.Look, 20 years from now, Im still going to be around, God willing. If Iran has a nuclear weapon, its my name on this, he said. I think its fair to say that in addition to our profound national security interests, I have a personal interest in locking this down.Critics of an agreement say the president is so determined to burnish his legacy that he will accept a less-than-ironclad commitment from Iran. The talks involve Iran, the U.S., four other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany a group call the P-Five Plus One. Israel and some Persian Gulf allies worry that Iran may simply be delaying its ability to build a nuclear weapon in order to have economic sanctions against it lifted.But Obama and his aides say his investment in the talks and a realization that it could in fact damage his legacy is why he will pursue a strong and enforceable agreement.Hes not going to sign a bad deal precisely because its his name thats on it, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Thursday when asked about Obamas response.The Atlantic interview covered a range of Middle East issues, from U.S. Israel relations to Iran to the status of the fight against the Islamic State. The interview occurred before the takeover of the city of Palmyra by Islamic State militants, but after the city of Ramadi in Iraq fell to Islamic State fighters.Obama called the loss of Ramadi a source of concern, but added: I dont think were losing.Theres no doubt there was a tactical setback, although Ramadi had been vulnerable for a very long time, primarily because these are not Iraqi security forces that we have trained or reinforced, he said.Earnest, addressing the fall of Palmyra in Syria, said Thursday that the fight against Islamic State will take time.Until were able to build up local forces on the ground in Syria who can take the fight to ISIL in their own country, you know, this is going to continue to be a difficult challenge, and one that is not going to be solved overnight, he said, using one of the acronyms for the militants.He reiterated Obamas commitment to not placing U.S. combat troops on the ground to fight the militants and dismissed critics of Obamas strategy.
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