Wednesday, May 20, 2015

5/20/15

Obama set to speed arms, training to Iraq tribes after rout Following capture of key city of Ramadi by Islamic State forces, Washington wants to see a swift counter-attack.

Apocalyptic skies return above Chile after second volcano erupts More astonishing images of a volcanic eruption have emerged from Chile, this time from Villarrica in southern Chile.

U.S. Weighing Punishments for Russia's Nuclear Violations The Obama administration is considering a range of options to respond to Russia's ongoing violation of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty. Part of the response could involve deploying new U.S. weapons to Eastern Europe.

Ukraine's Poroshenko talks of 'real war' with Russia Ukraine's president has told the BBC his country is now in a "real war" with Russia - and that Ukrainians should prepare for a Russian offensive.

Anti-Semitic imagery on sale in Moscow hotels Simon Wiesenthal Center demands that Russia take legal measures against producers and distributors of neo-Nazi products sold in Holiday Inn and Hilton gift shops.

Christians in the Middle East rank high on Peoples Under Threat list The risk for Christians noted to be especially high in Iraq.

Existence of Jewish people "in doubt" due to low conversion rate, report finds More than 50% of former Soviet Union conversion candidates drop out, according to Israel Democracy Institute report.

Islamic State 'closes in' on Syria's Palmyra Islamic State militants are reported to have seized a third of the Syrian town next to Palmyra, one of the Middle East's greatest archaeological sites.

Gates: "We don't have a strategy at all" in Middle East Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates declared "we don't have a strategy at all" in the Middle East on Tuesday's "Morning Joe" on MSNBC.

Pentagon intelligence report warning of Benghazi attack was circulating on day it happened At the very time President Obama, then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other top leaders were blaming spontaneous protests for the deadly Benghazi attack, the Defense Department broadly circulated a detailed intelligence report that said an Al Qaida-linked group planned the assault 10 days beforehand.