Free Republic

ARIS — Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday that Saudi Arabia had agreed to support military intervention in Syria. At a news conference on the sidebar of a meeting with Arab League foreign ministers, Mr. Kerry noted that he had received Saudi assurances of support for what he called “the strike.”

AFP - Saudi Arabia plans to supply the Syrian opposition with anti-aircraft missiles to counter President Bashar al-Assad's air force, German news weekly Der Spiegel reported Sunday. The article, citing a classified report received by the German foreign intelligence service and the German government last week, said Riyadh was looking at sending European-made Mistral-class MANPADS, or man-portable air-defence systems. Der Spiegel noted the shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles can target low-flying aircraft including helicopters and had given mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan a decisive edge against Soviet troops in the 1980s. Saudi Arabia is a key supporter of the Syrian rebels and has...

The powerful U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has once again rebuked the State Department over its positive environmental assessment of TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL pipeline. In a lengthy, highly technical letter sent Monday to the top State Department officials overseeing the pipeline permit process, the EPA raises serious concerns about the project's carbon footprint and criticizes the department's draft analysis. It urges the State Department to rethink its finding that the controversial pipeline would not significantly spur production of Alberta's carbon-intensive oilsands or boost greenhouse gas emissions. The letter, signed by EPA official Cynthia Giles, said the State assessment included "insufficient...