Al Qaeda militant threatens Lebanese Shi'ites after wife detained

BEIRUT Sat Dec 6, 2014 5:12am EST

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A leading member of Syria's al Qaeda branch, Abu Ali al-Shishani, has pledged to attack Lebanese women and children and end talks to free more than two dozen members of the Lebanese security forces, after his wife was detained by authorities.

The threat, delivered in a video distributed on jihadist websites, was published on Friday hours before the group said it killed one of the captive Lebanese soldiers it holds.

Lebanese authorities earlier this week said they had detained a wife of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The wife of Shishani, a fighter in the Nusra Front, al Qaeda's official Syrian wing, has also been arrested.

The women were apparently viewed by some Lebanese security elements as a possible bargaining chip with the militants to gain the release of the captive soldiers.

Sitting in front of a black flag with two militants by his side, Shishani said Shi'ite Muslim women and children and families of Lebanese soldiers were now legitimate targets.

"My wife, Ola Mithqal al Oqaily ... was taken two days ago from Tripoli, the city that is called the city of Islam and Muslims," Shishani said.

"If my wife is not released soon, do not dare to dream about the release of the soldiers without negotiations.

"All your wives, children and men are legitimate targets now," he said, using the phrase "slaves of (late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah) Khomeini" to refer to Shi'ites.

Many Sunni Syrian rebels and hardline Lebanese Sunni Islamists accuse Lebanon's army of working with the Lebanese Shi'ite movement Hezbollah which has sent fighters to aid Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a member of the Shi'ite-derived Alawite minority.

(Reporting by Oliver Holmes in Beirut and Ali Abdelatty in Cairo, editing by Louise Heavens)

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Top U.S. justice official promises probe after NYC police chokehold death

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Kabul police chief quits after South African family die in Taliban attack

By Kay Johnson and Jessica Donati
KABUL Sun Nov 30, 2014 10:43am EST

1 of 2. Smoke and fire rise from a foreign aid workers' guest house after a Taliban attack in Kabul November 29, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Omar Sobhani
KABUL (Reuters) - The Kabul police chief resigned on Sunday after Taliban gunmen killed three members of a South African family in the capital, while officials said Afghan forces had ousted insurgents trying to seize former U.S. and British base Camp Bastion in the south.
Taliban fighters breached the perimeter of Camp Bastion in the southern Afghan province of Helmand three days ago, just one month after the base was handed over to the Afghan army.
The latest Taliban attacks have dented confidence in the country's security force and added to concern the police and army will struggle to hold strategic territory after most foreign troops pull out at the end of 2014.
The guest house attacked by the Taliban in Kabul on Saturday, the third attack on a foreign guest house in 10 days, was home to staff of the U.S.-based charity Partnership in Academics and Development (PAD).
PAD said on its website that three people were killed by insurgents who used guns and explosives. They were identified as members of the same South African family - a father and his two teenage children - by a colleague of the mother, who was not in the compound at the time.
The family had lived in Afghanistan for nearly 12 years, with the father running the charity and the mother working as a doctor at a Kabul clinic, the colleague said.
The Taliban said on Saturday they had attacked the foreign guesthouse because they believed it to be a Christian center. This was the second time this year the Taliban targeted a group that it said had links to Christianity.
The 17-year-old son had been applying to universities in the United States, while his sister was 14, according to their mother's colleague, who asked not to be identified for security reasons.
Kabul's police spokesman declined to comment on the reason for the chief's resignation.
"We can only confirm... he will not continue his job as police chief anymore," Hashmat Stanekzai said.
PAD, which supports education in Afghanistan, could not be reached immediately for comment.
Violence across Afghanistan has surged this year as the Taliban and their allies have stepped up their activities ahead of the scheduled withdrawal of most international troops by the end of next month.
Over the past 10 days, three compounds used by foreign organizations have been hit by armed attackers. In separate attacks in Kabul, two American soldiers, two British embassy workers and dozens of Afghan civilians have died.
In Helmand province, Afghan soldiers ousted a group of Taliban from Camp Bastion after a third day of fighting. At least five soldiers were killed in the battle that started late on Thursday.
By Sunday, troops were clearing the part of the sprawling base that had been seized by a few dozen insurgents, according to the governor's spokesman, Omar Zwak.
Violence in another part of Helmand added to the weekend toll, Zwak said, with 12 soldiers dying in Sangin district after their smaller outpost was attacked.
(This story has been refiled to fix layout of third paragraph, no change to text)
(Additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni; Editing by Richard Borsuk and Raissa Kasolowsky)

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Spieth shares lead after McIlroy blows up in Sydney

By Nick Mulvenney
SYDNEY Sat Nov 29, 2014 4:12am EST

Jordan Spieth of the United States tees off on the fourth hole during the first round of the Australian Open golf tournament in Sydney, November 27, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Jason Reed
SYDNEY (Reuters) - American Jordan Spieth shot a two-under-par 69 for a share of a one-stroke lead with locals Greg Chalmers and Brett Rumford after blustery conditions caused chaos in the third round of the Australian Open on Saturday.
Firm greens and difficult pin positions but most of all the gusting wind left Spieth, Chalmers (71) and Rumford (69) on five-under -- a leading score unchanged from Friday -- with only five other players below par for the tournament.
While Adam Scott was among them in a share of fourth with fellow Australian Rod Pampling after both shot 69s, Rory McIlroy suffered a spectacular mid-round collapse that saw the world number one drop five shots in two holes and finish with a 76.
"The course is on a razor's edge as they are trying to create a golf course that's as unplayable as they can get it without it being so and it's right on that point," Rumford told reporters.
"It's tough, I'm certainly not saying it's easy, you seem as though you are pedaling a million miles an hour going no where."
Spieth described conditions as "brutal" and was pleased with his mix of five birdies and three bogeys, one of which came at the ninth hole when his approach shot hit the pin and bounced back off the green.
"The wind was flipping, it was tough to get the right yardage let alone the accuracy," he said.
"I felt like I really hung in there nicely. To grab five bogeys on a day like today, if I can do that tomorrow I think I will be in good shape."
TOUGH DAY
World number three Scott snared his third birdie of the day when he sent a 25-foot putt snaking across the green at the 17th but would have gone even lower had his putter otherwise been working as well as his irons.
"It's a tough day out there but I think I struck the ball very well, solid, so I didn't feel like I was grinding," Scott said.
"A shame to miss a couple of short ones but made up for it on 17 with a long one."
Pampling fired the shot of the day with an iron from 120 meters for an eagle at the 10th and could have had a share of the lead had he not missed a three-foot birdie putt on the 18th.
McIlroy's driving was to blame for his slump as he found thick scrub at the ninth for a triple bogey and went into the trees for a double bogey at the 10th to plummet down the leaderboard.
The Northern Irishman ended the day with a share of 14th on one-over but is still only six shots off the pace as he looks to defend the title he won last year.
(Editing by John O'Brien)

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