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US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet foreign ministers from around the world in Paris on Monday to discuss how to defeat Islamic State (IS) militants. French President Francois Hollande said the beheading of a British aid worker showed the world must act against IS. About 40 countries, including 10 Arab states, have signed up to a coalition to help fight IS in Iraq and Syria. Several Arab countries have offered to take part in air strikes on IS fighters in Iraq, US officials say. Mr Kerry says he is "extremely encouraged" by promises of military assistance to tackle...

When asked by “Meet The Press” host Chuck Todd if any nation has committed to putting boots on the ground in Syria to combat ISIS, White House Chief Of Staff Denis McDonough said “we’re not looking at that now.” Todd shot back, “Wait a minute, why not?” “We’re trying to put together the specifics of what we expect from each of the members” said the White House flack, referring to the “broad coalition” President Obama referenced in his speech Wednesday night. McDonough tried to walk back his initial quote though. ‘”If you know you need combat troops on the ground,...

Ukraine's defense minister said on Sunday that NATO countries were delivering weapons to his country to equip it to fight pro-Russian separatists and "stop" Russian President Vladimir Putin. Valery Heletey told a news conference he had discussed weapons deliveries in bilateral meetings with NATO defense ministers during a NATO summit in Wales on Sept. 4-5.

SIMFEROPOL, September 14. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s ruling party United Russia is winning elections to Crimea’s State Council, or legislature, according to exit poll results announced on Sunday after polling stations were closed. Thus, the results of the exit poll demonstrate that the United Russia is claiming 70.36% of the vote. Apart from the United Russia, two more parties - the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) and the Communist Party (CPRF) - are surmounting the five-percent barrier with 9.33 and 6.56% of the vote, respectively. Candidates from the rest nine political parties, according to the exit polls, are failing to win seats in...

A growing chorus of liberal Democrats is pushing President Obama to get Congress's explicit approval before launching missile strikes into Syria. The pressure from supporters on Capitol Hill is not only a headache for Obama, but also puts House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other top Democrats in the difficult position of bucking a broad segment of their own caucus in order to protect an ally in the White House. Scores of Democrats had signed letters a year ago advocating against military strikes targeting the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad without congressional backing. Thirteen months later the enemy...

World and corporate leaders should look for alternative business partners to minimize the fallout from trade barriers that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin may erect against countries that impose trade sanctions against his nation in response to his ill-conceived plot to send Russian fighters into neighboring Ukraine.Former KGB agent Putin has proven that he cannot be trusted and his willingness to adopt foreign policies that are detrimental to the economic interests of his people are telling. Nor will his legacy as Russia’s leader escape damage in the wake of his support of armed gunman from his country who infiltrated Ukraine to...

<p>Islamic State militants have set fire to Iraq’s largest oil refinery, escalating tensions in the region and raising questions about how much control ISIS could potentially gain over the world’s oil supply.</p> <p>This isn’t the first time this particular refinery has been attacked; it’s a favorite target of ISIS militants. They have attacked the refinery in the past as a way of securing fuel to smuggle to parties who fund their self-declared “caliphate” in northern Iraq and Syria.</p>

Ukraine and the EU are to delay the entry into life of a strategic free trade treaty for more than one year due to Russian concerns. The trade pact was originally to enter into force on 1 November, but following meetings between European Commission trade chief Karel De Gucht, Ukraine’s foreign minister, and Russia’s economy minister in Brussels on Friday (12 September) it will now be implemented on 31 December 2015. Defending the deal, De Gucht told press it means Russia will not impose trade restrictions on Ukraine in the next 15 months. …

Leaders of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood group and allied clerics said on Saturday that they are departing Qatar, where they had sought refuge following the ouster of Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and the crackdown on his supporters. Their presence in Qatar had severely strained Doha’s relations with Egypt as well as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, all of which view the more than 85-year-old Islamist movement as a threat. The expulsion threatens to further isolate the group, which rose to power in Egypt through a string of post-Arab Spring elections but suffered a dramatic fall from grace during...

Via Breitbart, another dim attempt by the White House to keep this new Iraq intervention in Americans’ rhetorical comfort zone. “Wars” are long, involve vast numbers of fighters on both sides, and absorb much blood and treasure; our “victories” in war lately tend to be unsatisfying and ephemeral too. “Counterterrorism,” though, is lightning fast, typically involves a small number of military assets, and is usually decisive. (It also conveniently doesn’t require a new AUMF.) The Bin Laden raid is the supreme example. By the White House’s own reckoning, rolling back ISIS will take three years at least, already involves a...

US airstrikes already making headway, says Israeli official. Israel may play a frontline role in the international coalition forming against Islamic State – the jihadi group sweeping through Iraq and Syria in its bid to reinstate a Middle East caliphate. As world powers unite around a US-led plan for military action to topple the militant group, Jerusalem is signaling that if Islamic State decides to spread out to Jordan – Israel will not hesitate to act. "We will use any means necessary," a senior Israeli official told local television station Channel 2. "Let me make this clear: If Islamic State...

[Russian tourists kidnapped in China????] Chinese hoteliers fraudulently lure vacationers from the rooms, and then block their keys, hold baggage and documents, without giving visitors the opportunity to leave the hotel. Passengers with their luggage in the international airport of Beijing, Beijing, China. Archival photo © AP Photo/Andy Wong MOSCOW, Sept. 12 - RIA Novosti. Association of Tour Operators of Russia reported that China has not given "Turpomoschi" permission for export of Russian tourists. "Turpomosch" take out customers, "Southern Cross" from China on Friday-Saturday On Friday and Saturday, "Turpomosch" was going to take out all the customers of China tour...

India learned the hard way with INS ‘Vikramaditya’ Like a lot of countries, India wants the best weapons it can afford. But ideological and financial concerns mean there are a lot of things it won’t buy from the United States or Europe. That pretty much leaves, well, Russia. India has been a big buyer of Russian weapons for 50 years. Those haven’t been easy years for New Delhi. India’s defense contracts with Russia have consistently suffered delays and cost overruns. And the resulting hardware doesn’t always work. Of all India’s Russian procurement woes, none speak more to the dysfunctional relationship...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union and Ukraine agreed on Friday to delay the implementation of their free-trade pact until the end of next year in a concession to Russia, which had complained its industry would be hurt by the deal. Russia and the West are bitterly at odds over Ukraine, and the European Union and United States both imposed new sanctions against Moscow on Friday over what they say is its military backing for separatist rebels in the east of the country. Russia, which denies involvement, said it would consider retaliating. But postponing the entry into force of the...

The heads of Iran and Russia’s state-run nuclear agencies discussed the construction of new nuclear plants in Iran during a meeting held on Friday around the same time that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, also sat down for a chat about Tehran’s ongoing nuclear negotiations with the West, according to regional reports. Behrouz Kamalvanda, a top official at Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) met early Friday with Sergey Kirivenko, the director general of Russia’s state-run nuclear company, Rosatom, to discuss way the two nations can “boost nuclear cooperation,” according to Iran’s state run news agencies....

The United States hit Russia's largest bank, a major arms maker and arctic, deepwater and shale exploration by its biggest oil companies with new sanctions on Friday to punish Moscow for intervening in Ukraine. The sanctions target companies including Sberbank, the country's largest bank by assets, and Rostec, a conglomerate that makes everything from Kalashnikovs to cars, by limiting their ability to access the U.S. debt markets. They will also bar U.S. companies from providing goods or services to help five Russian energy companies conduct deepwater, Arctic offshore and shale projects. The Russian companies affected are Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, Lukoil,...

Jane's confirms that Muslim nation purchased 12 boats, based on photographs on website of Azerbaijani president. Azerbaijan is reportedly acquiring 21 new coast-guard vessels from Israel, according to Eurasianet.org. While Azerbaijan made no formal announcement about such a purchase, Jane's, the defense and intelligence publication, confirmed Thursday that the Azerbaijan Coast Guard ordered six Shaldag Mk V patrol boats and six Saar 62 offshore patrol vessels. Jane's based its assertion on images obtained in mid-July showing details of work being done on the vessels at a new shipyard. Images of the vessels are available on the website of the president...

Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that the European Union had shown itself to be against the peace process in Ukraine by imposing a new set of sanctions against Moscow. "By taking this step, the European Union has de facto made its choice against a peaceful resolution of the inter-Ukrainian crisis," it said in a statement.

President BarackObama touted American leadership on several fronts during his primetime speech Wednesday, including with Russia. In a major reversal, Obama ordered the United States into a broad military campaign to “degrade and ultimately destroy” militants in two volatile Middle East nations, authorizing airstrikes inside Syria for the first time, as well as an expansion of strikes in Iraq. “It is America that has rallied the world against Russian aggression, and in support of the Ukrainian peoples’ right to determine their own destiny,” Obama said in a speech that was primarily about combatting the Islamic State. But several weeks ago,...

Igor Strelkov, the former commander of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, said Thursday he was relocating to Moscow to protect President Vladimir Putin from enemies and traitors. "The West and the 'fifth column' are making no secret of their plans to overthrow Putin. Their path is that of dragging out the war [in Ukraine] as long as possible," Strelkov was cited by LifeNews as saying at a news conference. Strelkov, a 43-year-old Muscovite also known by the surname Girkin, said he had no plans to return to eastern Ukraine and would instead stay in Moscow — the new battle front,...