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<p>The Pentagon has announced that it expects to train 5,000 Syrian rebels per year as part of President Obama's new campaign to battle Islamic State militants.</p> <p>Details of the administration's $500 million plan to train and equip Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State began to surface Friday when Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby outlined the goals that U.S. military planners expected to achieve.</p>

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...

The U.S. government Friday defended its handling of James Foley's case after the slain journalist's mother told CNN that officials suggested the family could be charged if they tried to raise money to free him. Saying everything possible had been done to bring the journalist home, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters officials worked very closely with Foley's family and with his employer, GlobalPost CEO Philip Balboni. "Any advice that this department or other departments give to the families about what they should do in these situations is based solely on what is best for returning their loved one...

The State of Wisconsin can enforce a new voter identification law in this November's election, a federal appeals court said Friday. After hearing arguments on the issue earlier in the day, a three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals unanimously stayed a district court judge's order blocking enforcement of the new Wisconsin law or any similar measure imposing new voter identification requirements. "Having read the briefs and heard oral argument, this court now stays the injunction issued by the district court. The State of Wisconsin may, if it wishes (and if it is appropriate under rules of...

There might be as many as 31,000 fighters in terror group ISIS' army, the CIA has said, which is three times more than it previously feared. Ten Arab countries have meanwhile said that they will be helping the U.S. in the war against ISIS. "This new total reflects an increase in members because of stronger recruitment since June following battlefield successes and the declaration of a caliphate, greater battlefield activity, and additional intelligence," CIA spokesman Ryan Trapani said, according to BBC News on Friday. ISIS has captured a number of cities across Syria and Iraq; it has attacked minorities including...

A group helmed by a major donor and policy adviser to Democratic Senate candidate Michele Nunn is under investigation by the Georgia secretary of State for alleged voter fraud. Secretary of State Brian Kemp (R) said in a memo, reported by WSB-TV, that his office has “received numerous complaints about voter applications submitted by the New Georgia Project,” an organization launched to register and turn out voters to the polls. “Preliminary investigation has revealed significant illegal activities, including forged voter registration applications, forged signatures on releases, and applications with false or inaccurate information,” Kemp wrote in the memo. Nunn is...

WESTERN PACIFIC OCEAN (NNS) -- Two F/A-18 Hornets from Carrier Air Wing 17 embarked on the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) crashed at 5:40 p.m. local time, today, while operating at sea in the western Pacific Ocean. The initial report is that the two aircraft are assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 94 (VFA-94) and Strike Fighter Squadron 113 (VFA-113). One pilot was rapidly located and returned to Carl Vinson, and is currently receiving medical attention. Search efforts continue for the second pilot. The search for the second pilot includes guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill (CG 52) and guided-missile...

A suitcase containing plastic explosive was accidentally left at Sydney airport for three weeks by the Australian federal police in a serious training blunder. The AFP released a statement on Thursday apologising for mistakenly leaving a training device at the airport – containing 230g of plastic explosive ....

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has raised the public alert of a terror threat in Australia to high, “Our security agencies have raised the alert level based on an accummulation of indicators,” he said in a press conference today. The terror level has been set at medium on the National Terrorism Public Alert System since the system was introduced in 2003. The four levels include: • low — terrorist attack is not expected • medium — terrorist attack could occur • high — terrorist attack is likely • extreme — terrorist attack is imminent or has occurred. The move is expected...

Retired Marine Gen. John Allen will coordinate the broad international effort to battle the Islamic State militants, as the campaign against the extremist group ramps up and nations begin to determine what role each will play, U.S. officials said Thursday. Allen, who has been serving as a security adviser to Secretary of State John Kerry, is expected to work with the almost 40 nations around the world who have agreed to join the fight and help them coordinate what each will contribute, several officials told The Associated Press. The officials spoke about Allen's expected appointment on condition of anonymity because...

In Defense of Christians President Toufic Baaklini issued the following statement in response to a disruption at the Inaugural Summit Gala Dinner: “As Cardinal Rai so eloquently put it to the attendees of the In Defense of Christians’ inaugural Summit gala dinner: ‘At every wedding, there are a few problems.’ In this case, a few politically motivated opportunists chose to divide a room that for more than 48 hours sought unity in opposing the shared threat of genocide, faced not only by our Christian brothers and sisters, but our Jewish brothers and sisters and people of all other faiths and...

A group of Middle Eastern Christians booed Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, off the stage after speaking in support of Israel at an event in Washington, D.C. The event, sponsored by the group In Defense of Christians, was billed as a gathering of Middle Eastern Christian leaders. They were trying to raise awareness about the threat to Arab minorities by the Islamic terrorists. Cruz spoke about Christian solidarity with Israel and standing against terrorist groups like ISIS. But some in the crowd were Palestinian Christian supporters of the Syrian government and even the terrorist group Hezbollah. "Those who hate Israel hate...

Reading his first hand account of this day is very chilling. Check it out. https://twitter.com/AriFleischer

While Nato sat down for a summit to decide what to do about the war in Ukraine, and Vladimir Putin negotiated a ceasefire deal with Kiev, Russian society recoiled from reports about secret funerals of soldiers killed in Ukraine: missing sons, calls from husbands begging their wives to save them from ­battle, bodies with missing limbs arriving in coffins to Nizhny Novgorod, Orenburg, Pskov, Murmansk, Dagestan and other regions of Russia. The death toll for Russian soldiers jumped to more than 200 soldiers in a few days, between August 12th and September 2nd, in a war that was, officially, not...

JACKSON — The Mississippi Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Oct. 2 as a candidate tries to revive a lawsuit that challenged his Republican primary loss to six-term Sen. Thad Cochran. The high court has released a schedule for the appeal by state Sen. Chris McDaniel. Justices said they will handle the case quickly, as McDaniel requested. Justices gave McDaniel’s attorneys until Friday to file legal arguments in his appeal. They gave Cochran’s attorneys a Sept. 24 deadline to file arguments. The McDaniel camp must file a response to Cochran’s arguments by Sept. 26. Judge Hollis McGehee dismissed McDaniel’s lawsuit...

Free Syrian Army commanders around Arsal vehemently deny any involvement in recent clashes with the Lebanese security forces, but admit to cooperating with Islamist groups in military operations along the Syrian-Lebanese border. Often at odds on the Syrian battlefields, the FSA, Nusra Front and ISIS have entered a tenuous allegiance of convenience to fight Assad-aligned forces in the badlands surrounding Arsal. “We are collaborating with the Islamic State and the Nusra Front by attacking the Syrian Army’s gatherings in ... Qalamoun,” said Bassel Idriss, the commander of an FSA-aligned rebel brigade. “We have reached a point where we have to...

Peshmerga forces currently fighting IS Militants in Northern Iraq News / Kurdistan US to Make Peshmerga into Professional Army 11.09.2014 Hoshmand Sadiq BasNews, Erbil   The Kurdish Peshmerga Ministry has said that US support in the Kurdistan Region will not end wih sending weapons and military equipment.   The United State plans to make the Peshmerga forces into a professional Army.   “Beside sending military equipment, arming Peshmerga forces and carrying out air strikes against the IS insurgents. The US has agreed to help make Peshmerga forces into a professional army similar to other developed countries through training and...

(Memphis, TN) Monday, September 8, Mike Morrison of Memphis, Tennessee, did a video interview of Mexican nationals bused into the city’s Social Security Administration office, potentially to receive Social Security cards, Mexican passports in hand along with letters from our federal government (photos shown below). As Morrison also attests, leaving the scene in his vehicle, he was pulled over by a police officer, not for any traffic violation, but to be issued a vague and ominous threat for what he had just done. His entire video is posted below with the comments he attached to them in Facebook and YouTube....

The first public hearing in the Benghazi select committee investigation will be held a week from today on September 17. More from Fox News producer Chad Pergrum:  #BREAKING House Select Cmte on #Benghazi schedules 1st open hearing for 10 am et on September 17.— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) September 10, 2014 According to the Committee website, Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security Greg Starr, Independent Panel on Best Practices Chairman Mark J. Sullivan and former Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection for the Department of Homeland Security Todd Keil will be the witnesses.  1st #Benghazi hrng will focus on recommendations of State Dept's...

U.S. Confirms ISIL Planning Infiltration of U.S. Southern Border Sen. McCain voices concerns border is not secure BY: Adam Kredo A senior Homeland Security (DHS) official confirmed to Congress on Wednesday that militants associated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) are planning to enter the United States via the porous southern border.Francis Taylor, under secretary for intelligence and analysis at DHS, told senators during a hearing that ISIL supporters are known to be plotting ways to infiltrate the United States through the border.“There have been Twitter, social media exchanges among ISIL adherents across the globe...