Russia can chose between Assad or legitimate Syrian govt: Obama

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday Russia and Iran must decide whether they want to prop up Syrian President Bashar al Assad or “save the Syrian state” by finding a Syrian government that can be legitimate.

Mr. Obama made the comment during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Mr. Obama said the goal of recent diplomatic efforts is to create space that could eventually lead to a “pivot” and political transition. He said a hoped-for ceasefire might not be observed by all parties but would create “pockets of calm.”

Mr. Obama’s comments come amid U.S. hopes that Russia may be warming to the idea of a future Syria that doesn’t include Mr. Assad.

Suspected Mastermind of Paris Attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, Dead: Reports

Washington:  Within hours of the French Ambassador telling NDTV that there were indications that Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud -- the suspected mastermind of the Paris terror attacks -- had killed himself, US daily Washington Post reported Abaaoud is dead.

The Post cited two unnamed intelligence officials, who said forensic experts confirmed it while combing through the aftermath wreckage at the building of a Paris suburb after a 7-hour siege. Reuters, which cited the Post report, said it could not independently confirm it.

"I have information that led us to suspect that he has committed suicide. I do not have any particular documents saying that but that is the first indication we have received," Ambassador Francois Richier said. "We need to wait for confirmation of the outcome of the operation."

A DNA test is expected to provide the final evidence.

Abaaoud, the 28-year-old member of the Islamic State terror group, was believed to be among the suspects who were holed up in an apartment during the seven-hour raid by the French police and army.

Abaaoud was initially believed to be in Syria.
 

Today's raid targeted Abaaoud, said police sources. Gunfire and explosions erupted at around 4.30 am this morning at Saint Denis.

Two terrorists were killed, including a woman who detonated a suicide belt. The woman, say unconfirmed reports, was Abaaoud's relative.

Abaaoud was thought to have pulled the strings from Syria for the attacks that killed 129 people in Paris on Friday.
 

Soldiers flooded into the area and heavily armed police were seen deploying along a street full of shops in the center of the district, while ambulances and fire engines filled the streets.

Some residents were evacuated, some still in their underwear, and authorities warned residents to keep away from windows.

The raid came as Europe was placed on high alert after footage from the scene of one of Friday's attacks in Paris, which killed 129 and injured 350, revealed a ninth suspect may have taken part.
 

Story First Published: November 18, 2015 23:55 IST

Obama says Putin a 'constructive partner' in Syria talks

MANILA: US President Barack Obama on Wednesday praised Russia's role in talks to end the Syria crisis and offered the prospect of better ties if Moscow focused military strikes on the Islamic State group.

Obama said Russia had been a "constructive partner in Vienna in trying to create a political transition," referring to international talks in Austria.

But, he said, there were still differences over the fate of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, and Moscow's current military focus on defending him.

"There is obviously a catch, which is Moscow is still interested in keeping Assad in power," Obama said.

But he added: "Those differences have not prevented us at looking at how could we set up a cease fire."

Obama also expressed hope that Russia may shift the military focus from defending Assad to attacking the Islamic State group.

Putin's government recently blamed the jihadists for downing a Russian aircraft over Egypt in October, killing 224 people on board.

"In their initial military incursion into Syria, they have been more focused on propping up President Assad," Obama said.

"If, in fact, he shifts his focus and the focus of his military, to what is the principle threat, which is ISIS, then that is what we want to see," Obama said using another acronym for the group.

"We are going to wait and see whether Russia does end up paying more attention to ISIL targets. If it does so, that's something we welcome."

Obama was speaking after a meeting with Philippine President Benigno Aquino in Manila.

2 Air France Flights Heading From US to Paris Diverted: Reports

Two Air France flights en route to Paris from the United States were diverted on Tuesday because of security issues, and passengers and crew were safely removed, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

An Airbus A-380 that departed from Los Angeles landed in Salt Lake City, where passengers and crew were being taken off the plane and escorted into the terminal, an FAA spokesman said.

A separate flight that left Dulles International Airport outside Washington was diverted to Halifax International Airport in Nova Scotia, also because of an unspecified security concern, and passengers and crew had disembarked, the FAA said.

Halifax airport spokesman Peter Spurway said the Air France Boeing 777 jet was diverted to Halifax at 10:15 pm. eastern time and was currently sitting at the end of the airport's main runway.

"It's an RCMP matter," Spurway said referring to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. "The passengers are being deplaned at this point and being transferred to a secure area of the terminal building because they're international passengers."

CNN, citing a US government official, reported that Flight 65, the flight which originated in Los Angeles, was diverted after a bomb threat was called in from the ground. The official did not know if anyone was arrested in connection with that incident.

"Several law enforcement agencies are working in concert, following established protocol, to determine the nature of the threats which caused the aircraft to divert," FBI Special Agent Todd Palmer, of the agency's Salt Lake City division, told the network.

Security officials have been on high alert since last week's deadly attacks in Paris, claimed by Islamic State militants, killed 129 people.

© Thomson Reuters 2015

Story First Published: November 18, 2015 09:01 IST

It Can Happen to Anyone: Obama's Credit Card Declined

Washington:  Apparently, even the president of the United States can have trouble with his credit card.

Barack Obama on Friday said his card was declined at a New York restaurant he went to while visiting the United Nations.

"I was there during the General Assembly, and my credit card was rejected," Obama said at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where he unveiled new measures to stem credit card fraud and identity theft.

"It turned out, I guess I don't use it enough. So they thought there was some fraud going on," he said to laughter, adding "fortunately, Michelle had hers."

The president signed an executive order which adds "chip-and-pin" protection for US government cards and payment terminals, at a time when the financial industry is moving in the same direction.

"I was trying to explain to the waitress, no, I really think that I've been paying my bills," Obama said.

"Even I'm affected by this."

Story First Published: October 18, 2014 02:52 IST    

US's fight against ISIS finally gets a name: 'Inherent Resolve'

WASHINGTON: It may be less punchy than previous nicknames for US conflicts in the Middle East; remember Operation Desert Storm andits thunderous attacks on Saddam Hussein's occupation army; but the Pentagon has finally named its fight against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria: Operation Inherent Resolve. 

The naming process, which took weeks of quiet deliberation behind closed doors at US Central Command and at the Pentagon, is part of a package of administrative moves under way to organize a long-term military campaign. 

But that name, Inherent Resolve.  It sounds, well, inherently bland. 

It's less awe-inspiring than any of the names chosen for US military operations in Iraq over the past two decades such as Desert Shield, Desert Storm or Desert Fox, for example. It appears to convey the no-drama approach that marks President Barack Obama's style. 

The staff of Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the final decision on the name, said Dempsey spokesman, Col. Ed Thomas. Thomas offered no details about the process. 

Central Command, which is executing the campaign, took a stab at explaining the choice. 

"Inherent Resolve is intended to reflect the unwavering resolve and deep commitment of the U.S. and partner nations in the region and around the globe to eliminate the terrorist group ISIL and the threat they pose to Iraq, the region and the wider international community," it said, using a common acronym for the Islamic State group. 

Military operations are routinely given official names, in part for administrative reasons. 

But they are meant also to bolster public support and international credibility. The US-led effort to protect Kurds who fled their homes in northern Iraq in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War, for example, was called Operation Provide Comfort. A US military disaster relief mission in Bangladesh that same year was Operation Sea Angel. 

The US military's effort against Ebola in West Africa is called Operation United Assistance. The name for the US role in an international air campaign in Libya in 2011 was Odyssey Dawn. 

The naming of the current air campaign in Iraq and Syria comes as Obama and his military advisers wrestle with directing a coalition of partner nations toward a common goal: destroying the Islamic State group. It has been slow going thus far, with officials cautioning that it could drag on for months or years. 

The US has more than 1,400 military personnel in Iraq, mostly in Baghdad, but Obama has ruled out sending combat troops. The US says it has no troops in Syria. 

The US has a long and difficult history of military involvement in Iraq, beginning with the George H W Bush administration's initial response to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. 

That effort was dubbed Operation Desert Shield to deter Saddam from invading Saudi Arabia; in early 1991 that transitioned to a US-led air and ground campaign, Operation Desert Storm, which successfully expelled Iraqi troops from Kuwait but left Saddam in power in Baghdad. 

In December 1998, in response to Saddam's refusal to comply with U.N. weapons inspectors, President Bill Clinton launched Operation Desert Fox — four days of airstrikes against weapons installations and command headquarters in Baghdad. 

Promising to "shock and awe" Saddam's forces, President George W Bush launched Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003, an air-and-ground campaign that quickly toppled Saddam's regime but opened the door to a homegrown Sunni insurgency that turned the war into an eight-year struggle. 

The practice of naming military operations goes back at least to World War II, when code names were assigned mainly to preserve security. The code names were classified, unlike the nicknames of modern operations. 

In a 1995 article in Parameters, a US Army War College academic journal, Gregory C Sieminski wrote that the Pentagon's Vietnam-era guidelines for naming military operations cautioned against counterproductive name choices, specifying that they must not express "a degree of bellicosity inconsistent with traditional American ideals or current foreign policy" or convey "connotations offensive to good taste or derogatory to a particular group, sect or creed." 

There should be no fear that Operation Inherent Resolve is too bellicose. 

Sieminski argued that careful naming of military operations can provide a public relations boost and help shape what he called a war of images. "In that war, the operation name is the first — and quite possibly the decisive — bullet to be fired," he wrote. 

US to be 'More Aggressive' in Monitoring Ebola Response: Barack Obama

Washington, United States:  US President Barack Obama on Wednesday pledged a "much more aggressive" response at home to the Ebola threat, and insisted that the risk of a serious outbreak on US soil was low.

After a crisis meeting with top aides at the White House, Obama underlined the importance of helping African countries stem the spread of the virus, calling such aid "an investment in our own public health."

"If we are not responding internationally in an effective way... then we could have problems," Obama said in comments aired on US television.

The meeting -- attended by Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, among others -- came after a second US Ebola infection was diagnosed at a Texas hospital where a Liberian man died a week ago.

Obama said meeting participants discussed "monitoring, supervising, overseeing in a much more aggressive way exactly what's taking place in Dallas" to ensure those lessons are "transmitted to hospitals and clinics all across the country."

"This is not a situation in which, like a flu, the risks of a rapid spread of the disease are imminent," Obama said, adding he "shook hands with, hugged and kissed" nurses who had treated an Ebola patient at Emory University hospital in Atlanta.

"They followed the protocols. They knew what they were doing and I felt perfectly safe doing so," he said.

"I am absolutely confident that we can prevent a serious outbreak of the disease here in the United States... The key thing to understand about this disease is that these protocols work."

The White House said Obama had canceled plans to visit Rhode Island and New York on Thursday so he could follow up on the Ebola meeting.

So far, Ebola has killed nearly 4,500 people, the vast majority of them in West Africa, where the outbreak began early this year.

Since the announcement last month that the United States would send at least 3,000 troops to West Africa to help fight the outbreak, Obama has repeatedly criticized the international response to the health crisis as insufficient.

Story First Published: October 16, 2014 08:09 IST    

US Air War Has A Name: 'Operation Inherent Resolve'

Washington:  After more than two months of air strikes, American commanders have finally decided on a name for the US-led war on Islamic State jihadists - "Operation Inherent Resolve."

The decision was taken "a few days ago" by the chiefs of all the armed services, said Colonel Ed Thomas, spokesman for the US military's top officer, General Martin Dempsey.

"The operation is called 'Operation Inherent Resolve,'" Thomas told reporters Wednesday.

He offered no explanation as to why the Pentagon chose the name, which had already been cited in media reports as a possible choice that was rejected by some officers.

The US military usually announces the name of a military operation from the start.

The named operations also offer a way of organizing medals for service and valor, and that requirement might have provided the top brass an extra incentive to arrive at a decision.

The 2003 American invasion of Iraq was known as Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the war in Afghanistan is still known as Operation Enduring Freedom.

During the US occupation of Iraq from 2003 to 2011, there were more than 500 named operations, including Operation Airborne Dragon, Operation Soda Mountain and Operation Tapeworm.

Shortly after troops began arriving in Liberia last month to help in the effort against the Ebola outbreak, the Pentagon unveiled the name of that mission: Operation United Assistance.

But there had been no official moniker until now since US warplanes started bombing the IS group in Iraq in early August, prompting a spate of speculation and sarcasm.

Some commentators alleged that the lack of a name reflected the White House's lack of enthusiasm for intervening in Iraq and Syria. But US officials dismissed the idea as ridiculous.

Some reporters tweeted suggestions for possible names, including one favorite that referred to the American-made Humvee vehicles seized by IS militants - "Operation Hey That's My Humvee."

Story First Published: October 15, 2014 23:03 IST    

US, Russia to step up intelligence sharing on IS militants: Kerry

PARIS: US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday that he and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov have agreed to step up intelligence sharing over the Islamic State (IS) group. 

"I suggested to Foreign Minister Lavrov that we intensify intelligence cooperation with respect to ISIL and other counter-terrorism challenges of the region and we agreed to do so," Kerry said using an alternative name for the IS jihadists. 

 He said that during a three-hour-and-15-minute meeting in Paris, the two top diplomats had discussed "whether Russia could do more to support Iraqi security forces" fighting IS. 

The hardline group has seized large swathes of territory in both Iraq and Syria. 

"The foreign minister indeed acknowledged their preparedness to help with respect to arms, weapons, they are doing that now, they already have provided some, and also potentially with the training and advising aspects," said Kerry. 

He said he and Lavrov recognised "that ISIL has absolutely no place in the 21st century". 

"No decent country by any definition can support the horrors perpetrated by ISIL. And no civilised country should shirk its responsibility to stand up and be part of the effort to stamp out this disease." 

For his part, Lavrov said that while Moscow and Washington still had "differences of opinion" they both had a particular role to play in resolving global problems. 

"They must cooperate more effectively, especially in the fight against terrorism."