As fighting continues in east Ukraine, U.S. releases images said to implicate Russia

KIEV, Ukraine — Rebels and government troops fired on each other’s positions Sunday in a strategically important city in eastern Ukraine, sending residents into bomb shelters, as Washington released images that it said prove Russia is shooting across the border into Ukraine to support separatists. At least 13 civilians were reported killed in the fighting around Horlivka, an industrial city of almost 300,000 people about 30 miles from the rebel bastion of Donetsk. According to a resident reached by telephone, parts of the city are without water or electricity, grocery stores are empty, and rebels and residents are fleeing. The Ukrainian military denied targeting civilians and said the pro-Russian rebels were to blame for the damage and casualties. The military accused the rebels of firing into residential neighborhoods. Continue Story...

Australia to send 100 extra police, troops to Ukraine: PM Abbott

(Reuters) - Australia will send 100 additional police and some defense force personnel to Europe to join a planned Dutch-led international security force to secure the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crash site, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Friday. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers, some of whom will be armed, will join a contingent of 90 AFP officers already in London waiting for a deal with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to be approved by Ukraine's parliament. "This is a humanitarian mission, with a clear and simple objective," Abbott told reporters. "I expect the operation on the ground in Ukraine, should the deployment go ahead, to last no longer than a few weeks." Abbott announced on Thursday that 50 police officers had been deployed to London ahead of the mission, but a police spokeswoman said on Friday that the number was 90. It was unclear why the discrepancy had occurred. Continue Story...

U.S. embassy in Libya evacuated

WASHINGTON — The U.S. embassy in strife-torn Libya was evacuated early Saturday, under cover of American warplanes and spy aircraft, according to the State Department and Pentagon. Personnel from the embassy were evacuated as security deteriorated in the capital of Tripoli. "Due to the ongoing violence resulting from clashes between Libyan militias in the immediate vicinity of the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, we have temporarily relocated all of our personnel out of Libya," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement. Embassy personnel were taken to temporary offices in neighboring Tunisia with security provided by U.S. forces. Harf said the embassy is not closed but operations were temporarily suspended. Continue Story...

Reports: 12-hour cease-fire in Gaza

GAZA CITY - Israel has agreed to a unilateral 12-hour cease-fire in Gaza starting on Saturday morning, according to several news reports. Reuters, CNN and Yahoo! News reported that the cease-fire comes after Israel's Security Cabinet unanimously rejected a cease-fire proposal Friday that called for a week-long truce in the deadly conflict. "Israel has agreed to a 12-hour ceasefire from 07:00 am Saturday," said a U.S. official travelling with Secretary of State John Kerry, according to Yahoo! News. Kerry was leaving Cairo without securing a longer cease-fire deal between Israel and Palestinian movement Hamas. The cease-fire suggests progress is being made toward a longer end to recent conflict in Gaza. Continue Story...

Syria conflict: Isis 'overruns' Raqqa military base

Fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) say they have overrun a large Syrian military base on the outskirts of the city of Raqqa. The Islamist fighters have released images of captured soldiers being beheaded after the battle for the base. The Syrian army did not confirm that the base had fallen, but said it was organising a counter-attack. Isis already controls much of Raqqa province, and recently seized a swathe of territory in neighbouring Iraq. The group, which has changed its name to Islamic State, describes the territory under its control in Iraq and Syria as a caliphate. The Raqqa base, manned by Division 17 of the Syrian army, is said to have been captured overnight after coming under siege from Isis fighters. Continue Story...

ISIS destroys ‘Jonah’s tomb’ in Mosul

The radical Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group has destroyed shrines belonging to two prophets, highly revered by both Christians and Muslims, in the northern city of Mosul, al-Sumaria News reported Thursday. “ISIS militants have destroyed the Prophet Younis (Jonah) shrine east of Mosul city after they seized control of the mosque completely,” a security source, who kept his identity anonymous, told the Iraq-based al-Sumaria News. “The militants closed all of the mosque doors and prevented worshipers from entering to pray,” the source said. A witness who did not wish to give his name said that ISIS militants “first stopped people from praying in it, they fixed explosive charges around and inside it and then blew it up in front of a large gathering of people,” according to Agence France-Presse. Continue Story...

Israel Braces for 'Day of Rage' After Deadly Overnight Protests

EAST JERUSALEM, Israel - Thousands of Israeli security forces were deployed around Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday as Palestinian leaders called for a “day of rage” after the biggest protests in years shook the West Bank overnight. Confrontations between Palestinians and police erupted in East Jerusalem's Wadi al-Joz neighborhood after Friday prayers during a protest to show solidarity with people in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli strikes have killed more than 800 since July 8. Reuters reported that three Palestinians were shot dead in the occupied West Bank in separate incidents involving both the Israeli army and a civilian who appeared to be a Jewish settler, medics and witnesses said. The deaths could not immediately be verified by NBC News. It was the first time in almost a decade that the Palestinian Authority gave permission for such a march, making a dramatic shift in relations between President Mahmoud Abbas's government and Israel. Continue Story...

US: Russia Firing Artillery at Ukraine Military

e Obama administration on Thursday accused Russia of firing artillery from its territory into Ukraine to hit Ukrainian military sites and asserted that Moscow is boosting its supply of weaponry to pro-Russian separatists. "We have new evidence that the Russians intend to deliver heavier and more powerful multiple rocket launchers to separatist forces in Ukraine and have evidence that Russia is firing artillery from within Russian to attack Ukrainian military positions," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters. She said the evidence derived from "some intelligence information" but declined to elaborate, saying it would compromise sources and methods of intelligence collection. Continue Story...

At least 16 dead in attack on UN school in Gaza

The school was being used to shelter hundreds of people from the ongoing violence in the region. Continue Story...

Ukraine fighting rages as Australia ready for MH17 site deployment

onetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - Fighting between Ukrainian troops and rebels raged Thursday near the crash site of Malaysian flight MH17, as countries which lost 298 citizens in the disaster moved to deploy their police to secure the impact zone. The Dutch team leading the crash probe was stuck in Kiev, unable to join a handful of international investigators at the rebel-controlled site. Meanwhile, Ukraine's army reported four soldiers killed over the last 24 hours in its offensive to retake the eastern industrial heartland from the pro-Russian insurgents. Two Ukrainian fighter jets were shot down Wednesday 45 kilometres (28 miles) from the crash site, just as the first bodies recovered from the fated flight were flown out to the Netherlands, which counts 193 citizens lost in the disaster. While the Dutch offered a solemn ceremony for the victims' remains, soldiers hoisting 40 wooden coffins into as many waiting hearses, British experts began analysing the black boxes from the MH17 flight in the hopes of discovering details about the tragedy. Continue Story...

FAA cancels flight ban to Israel, Europe withdraws warning

Hours after extending a 24-hour ban that went into effect Tuesday, the FAA cancels flight restrictions in response to increased Israeli security measures. Just twelve hours after it renewed a 24-hour ban on US flights to and from Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, the Federal Aviation Authority on Thursday withdrew the ban, setting the stage for US and international carriers to resume flights. Europe's Aviation Safety Agency, which had issued a "strong recommendation" against flights to Tel Aviv, retracted its warning later in the day. Continue Story...

Boko Haram Displaces 15,000 Nigerians After Civilian Massacre

The Islamic insurgency slaughtered dozens of civilians and has taken control of a strategic area in Nigeria The insurgent Islamist group Boko Haram raided an army base in northeast Nigeria and massacred around 50 civilians in nearby villages over the weekend, filling a power vacuum in the region after the evacuation of Nigerian troops. Continue Story...

Obama orders Pentagon advisers to Ukraine to fend off Putin-backed rebels

A team of Pentagon officials is heading to Ukraine to help the country rebuild its fractured military, a mission that lawmakers and analysts expect will result in recommendations for greater military assistance in the country’s fight against pro-Russia separatists amid international outrage over the downing of a commercial airplane. Within the next few weeks, a group of Defense Department representatives who specialize in strategy and policy will head to Kiev to evaluate specific programs that the United States may want to help bolster, said Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman. Continue Story...

Syrian opposition coalition dissolves interim government

The National Coalition of Syrian opposition members said it had voted to force out its "interim government" and form a new one within a month. Attempts to form a viable government-in-exile for Syria's opposition have been hamstrung by rivalries between its backers and among its members as well as by its inability to establish itself inside Syria. The National Coalition is designated as the main body representing the opposition by the United States and other major powers. Continue Story...

Last few Iraqi Christians flee violence and threats in Mosul as Isis continues its takeover

Radical insurgents in Iraq have reportedly set fire to a church, amid a wake of thefts and ultimatums directed at Christians in the country’s second-largest city of Mosul. Continue Story...

What is Israel's endgame in Gaza?

CNN) -- A river of blood runs through Gaza, as homes are smashed to rubble and hospital emergency rooms overflow. The volley of Hamas rockets into Israel continues, even when met with the preeminent firepower of the Israeli military's bombs, missiles and shells. The legions of dead are swelling by the hundreds. It's horrifying. But the world has seen it all before -- twice. Operation Protective Edge looks much like its forerunners in 2008 and 2012.Continue Story...

2 Fighter Jets Shot Down, Ukraine Says, as Clashes Intensify

KIEV, Ukraine — Fighting intensified in the rebel-controlled region of Ukraine on Wednesday, with military officials reporting that two Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jets had been shot down near the village of Dmytrivka. Few details of the latest downings were available. But before news of the jets’ loss emerged, a spokesman for Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council in Kiev said that the military operation to suppress the insurgents was advancing in the east, with government troops having retaken the cities of Severodonetsk and Popasna in the Luhansk region, as they continued an aggressive push from the north and west. Continue Story...

U.S. Officials: No Evidence Of Direct Russian Link To Malaysia Plane Crash

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior U.S. intelligence officials said Tuesday that Russia was responsible for "creating the conditions" that led to the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, but they offered no evidence of direct Russian government involvement. The intelligence officials were cautious in their assessment, noting that while the Russians have been arming separatists in eastern Ukraine, the U.S. had no direct evidence that the missile used to shoot down the passenger jet came from Russia. Continue Story...

ISIS Robs Christians Fleeing Its Edict in Mosul: Convert, Leave, or Die

The last Christians have left one of their holiest cities, running from ISIS demands to become Muslim or be slain—but as a final indignity, their money and even crucifixes were stolen. Continue Story...

A Blast, a Fire and an Israeli Soldier Goes Missing

JERUSALEM — Israeli officials said on Tuesday that it was still not clear whether an Israeli soldier missing in Gaza had been captured or had died in combat. The Israeli military said it had recovered the remains of six other soldiers who were killed in the same incident, but had not found or identified those of Sgt. Oron Shaul, 21, a soldier with the Golani brigade who is from Poria, in northern Israel. Continue Story...

France tells UK look to London oligarchs before damning Mistral

PARIS (Reuters) - France's foreign minister hit back at Britain on Tuesday, telling Prime Minister David Cameron he should do something about UK-based Russian oligarchs before questioning France's plan to sell Mistral helicopter carriers to Moscow. Continue Story...

Islamic State crushes and coerces on march towards Baghdad

(Reuters) - Using its own version of "soft" and "hard" power, the Islamic State is crushing resistance across northern Iraq so successfully that its promise to march on Baghdad may no longer be unrealistic bravado. Continue Story...

Dutch prepare to fly out MH17 bodies as EU moves to punish Russia

Kharkiv (Ukraine) (AFP) - Dutch experts on Tuesday prepared to fly out bodies recovered from downed Malaysian flight MH17, as Europe moved to punish Russia for fanning the rebellion in east Ukraine that it believes led to the crash. Continue Story... .

FAA Orders US Air Carriers to Suspend All Flights to Israel

American air carriers have suspended flights from the United Stated to Israel "for a period of up to 24 hours" after the FAA issued a warning in response to a rocket strike this morning near Tel Aviv's main airport, officials said. Continue Story...

Hollande says French warship delivery will ‘depend on Russia’s attitude’

French President François Hollande on Monday said the decision on whether to deliver a second Mistral warship to Russia will “depend on Moscow’s attitude” over the Ukraine crisis amid mounting US-UK opposition to the deal. Continue Story...

Beijing sinks South China Sea code of conduct

Beyond being a shrewd military strategist, the ancient Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu was also a great advocate of legal equality. In The Art of War, Sun Tzu’s sixth century BCE classic, he argued: ‘When it comes to establishing rules and regulations, everyone, high and low, should be treated alike.’ Regrettably, China’s foreign policy mandarins seem to regard this egalitarian lesson as irrelevant in the realm of international relations. In Beijing’s estimation, China is neither on an equal footing with other nations nor first among equals; it is rather a sui generis Middle Kingdom among mere minnows. Continue Story...

Knights of Anger: Baghdad’s Militias Are Ready for War With ISIS

AGHDAD, IRAQ—In a small, nondescript building in a middle-class neighborhood here in the Iraqi capital, a young man in fatigues laughs as he shows me a video on his cellphone. “Keep watching,” he says. “The terrorist starts to cry.” Continue Story...

Russia challenges accusations that Ukraine rebels shot down airliner

MOSCOW, July 21 (Reuters) - Russia's Defence Ministry on Monday challenged accusations pro-Russian rebels were to blame for shooting down a Malaysian airliner and asked the United States to produce satellite images to support its assertions. At a briefing in which generals used flashing radar images on big screens in a state-of-the-art conference room, the ministry said a Ukrainian fighter jet had tracked the airliner despite Kiev's assertions that no aircraft were nearby. The ministry also denied supplying the separatists in east Ukraine with SA-11 Buk anti-aircraft missile systems, known as "Gadfly" in NATO, or "any other weapons". Continue Story...

Ukraine says Russian officer pushed the button to shoot down MH17

Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- As bodies from Thursday's air disaster reached a facility Tuesday in Kharkiv, Ukraine, the Ukrainian government ratcheted up its accusations against Moscow, saying a Russian officer shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Vitaly Nayda, Ukraine's director of informational security, made the accusation in an interview with CNN. The person was "absolutely" a Russian, he said. "A Russian-trained, well-equipped, well-educated officer ... pushed that button deliberately." Continue Story...

China 'spy ship' at US-led navy exercise off Hawaii

China says it has the right to send a surveillance ship to monitor a US-led naval exercise, after US media reported the vessel's presence off Hawaii over the weekend. Navy ships had the right under international law to operate in "waters outside of other countries' territorial waters", the defence ministry said. China is also taking part in the drill. Continue Story.....

Israel finds Hamas are no longer amateur fighters

Gaza City (CNN) -- Israel's ground incursion into Gaza, which it says is intended to destroy Palestinian militants' tunnels and stop rocket fire into Gaza, has entered its fifth day with the death toll mounting on both sides and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arriving in Egypt. CNN's Ben Wedeman, a veteran Middle East correspondent, puts the incursion into perspective. Continue story...

Kremlin-backed rebels hand over MH17 black boxes to Malaysia

DONETSK, Ukraine - It took nearly five days and hours of negotiations late into night, but Russia-backed rebels ceded some ground and turned over the flight recorder devices from Malaysia Airlines flight 17, shot down by a surface-to-air rocket last week, to Malaysian officials. They also promised to release the bodies recovered from the crash site some 40 miles east in the village of Grabove, which were inside refrigerated railcars at the Donetsk train station but would soon be on their way to the Ukrainian-controlled eastern city of Kharkiv, and declared a ceasefire within a six-mile radius around the crash site to allow international investigators safe access to the area. Continue Story...

Welcome

I will be getting my new blog running ASAP. With all the conflict in the world today....this will be your one stop shop for the latest news and updates.