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Thousands of other Islamic State fighters are in detention facilities guarded by Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, America's key ally in the country. American officials say that Islamic State could still regenerate into a major threat. Four U.S. troops were wounded during a helicopter raid last month when an Islamic State leader triggered an explosion. U.S. Army Major General Matthew McFarlane, who commands the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, described attacks against U.S. forces as a "distraction from our main mission." McFarlane cited progress against Islamic State, including through the reduction in the numbers of internally displaced people at refugee camps -- a pool of vulnerable people who could be recruited by Islamic State.

[1/5] Israeli troops aim their weapons as they clash with Palestinians during a raid in Jericho in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 1, 2023. The head of a pro-settler party in Netanyahu's nationalist-religious coalition, Smotrich made the comments at a conference on Wednesday amid a spate of deadly Palestinian attacks and Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank. Asked about a weekend settler rampage through the Palestinian village of Huwara, which an Israeli general on Tuesday described as a "pogrom," Smotrich said: "I think that Huwara needs to be erased". Israeli forces killed one Palestinian and arrested six in the West Bank. One Palestinian was killed and scores were hurt as dozens of houses and cars were torched in what one Israeli commander described as a "pogrom".

☆ Israel arrests suspects in settler rampage described by general as 'pogrom'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Maayan Lubell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JERUSALEM, March 1 (Reuters) - Police have arrested six suspects over a settler rampage in the occupied West Bank earlier this week that an Israeli general described as a "pogrom" and which followed a deadly Palestinian gun attack. Israeli police said on Wednesday they expected to make more arrests during their ongoing investigation into the settler violence in and around Huwara, a Palestinian village where the two Israeli brothers from a nearby settlement were shot dead. "The incident in Huwara was a pogrom carried out by outlaws," he told N12 News late on Tuesday. A 'pogrom' is a mob attack, often approved by authorities, against a religious, racial, or national minority. POLITICAL TENSIONSFuchs' comments came amid increased tensions within the nationalist-religious government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which includes hard-line settlers demanding tough action against Palestinian attacks.

☆ Russia's struggles in Ukraine are showing US special operators that they'll need to fight without their 'tethers' to win future wars
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

For US special operators, the war is a reminder that such a network won't always be available. Ukraine thwarted Russia's initial attack and, with extensive Western support, has driven Russia's forces back. Logistics and special operatorsRomanian, Ukrainian, and US Army Green Berets conduct close quarters battle training in Romania in May 2021. We are trained and mentally prepared to fight without much logistical support," said the Green Beret, who was granted anonymity to discuss potential future operations. "Again, depending on the unit and the mission, we will require some sort of logistical support eventually.

☆ It's official: Costco workers are paid to be nice to you
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Costco employee handbook says front end workers must "greet every member with a smile." The company says it takes significant pride in putting members' needs first, outlining a high standard for workers. Costco boasts the highest customer satisfaction ratings of any major general merchandise retailer surveyed by the ASCI. Front-end workers should "greet every member with a smile and present yourself in a professional, friendly manner," the handbook says. Even with stockers and forklift drivers member service is considered our number one job."

☆ Iran says it has developed long-range cruise missile
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

"Our cruise missile with a range of 1,650 km has been added to the missile arsenal of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of the Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Force, told state TV. The television broadcast what it said was the first footage showing the new Paveh cruise missile. Iran has expanded its missile programme, particularly its ballistic missiles, in defiance of opposition from the United States and expressions of concern by European countries. Iran has said it had supplied Moscow with drones before the war in Ukraine. In November, the Pentagon said the United States was skeptical of reports quoting Hajizadeh as saying Iran had developed a hypersonic ballistic missile.

☆ Costco employee handbook requires workers to 'greet every member with a smile' and give them 'sincere gratitude'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Costco employee handbook says front end workers must "greet every member with a smile." Front-end workers should "greet every member with a smile and present yourself in a professional, friendly manner," the handbook says. It also says a smile is one of the easiest ways to demonstrate good customer service, and that they should "give each member your sincere gratitude." Costco employees told Insider that the smile requirement does not really stand out from the myriad other items they must keep in mind throughout the day, and that it's not specifically enforced anyway. Even with stockers and forklift drivers member service is considered our number one job."

☆ A top Russian military official is dead after falling out of a 16th-floor window, the latest in a string of untimely deaths
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Russian defense official has died after reportedly falling out of a high-rise window. Marina Yankina, who worked for Russia's Western Military District, was found dead on Wednesday. Her death is the latest in a string of untimely deaths among officials and allies tied to Vladimir Putin. Before Yankina joined the Western Military District, she worked for the Federal Tax Service of Russia. Last September, 67-year-old Russian energy oligarch Ravil Maganov also died after falling from a hospital window, Insider reported at the time.

☆ Taiwan says it has spotted no Chinese surveillance balloons
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TAIPEI, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Taiwan has not spotted any surveillance balloons from China in its vicinity, the island's defence ministry said on Tuesday, as a dispute between China and the United States over spy balloons triggers worries about rising military tensions. The U.S. military on Feb. 4 shot down what it called a Chinese spy balloon over South Carolina. A Taiwan military intelligence officer said the armed forces had not seen any surveillance balloons from China near the island that were similar to the one shot down over the United States. "The majority of the balloons near our waters were used for meteorological purposes," the officer, Major General Huang Wen-chi, told a regular briefing in Taipei, adding that the weather balloons posed no serious security threat. The balloons detected near Taiwan has no steering capability and thus they were unlikely to be used for surveillance purposes, he added.

For much of the winter, the war in Ukraine settled into a slow-moving but exceedingly violent fight along a jagged 600-mile-long frontline in the southeast. Now, both Ukraine and Russia are poised to go on the offensive. They are looking for vulnerabilities, hoping to exploit gaps, and setting the stage for what Ukraine warns could be Moscow’s most ambitious campaign since the start of the war. Ukraine must now defend against the Russian assault without exhausting the resources it needs to mount an offensive of its own. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has given an order to take all of the Donbas region by March, Ukrainian intelligence says.

☆ Nigerian rights panel, underfunded and overmatched, begins probe of powerful military
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +11 min

REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja/File PhotoFeb 7 (Reuters) - A special panel named by Nigeria's National Human Rights Commission launched an investigation Tuesday into recent Reuters reports on rights abuses by the country’s army. Nigerian military leaders said the abortion program did not exist and that children were never targeted for killing. The U.S. defense and state departments, the United Nations Secretary-General, the German foreign minister, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch all called for Nigeria to investigate the Reuters findings. In a 2002 paper, two Nigerian scholars called the body "a red herring” to distract from human rights violations. In 2013, the military allegedly killed as many as 200 civilians in the town of Baga, in northeastern Borno state.

☆ Beirut blast investigator puts off interrogations of top officials
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIRUT, Feb 6 (Reuters) - The judge investigating the deadly 2020 Beirut port blast said he had postponed interrogations of senior current and former officials that had been set to begin on Monday until a legal dispute over the extent of his powers can be resolved. Bitar, who denies the accusations, had set interrogation sessions for about a dozen current and former officials in February, beginning with former ministers Ghazi Zeaiter and Nouhad Machnouk on Monday. He had also set sessions for former prime minister Hassan Diab and the intelligence chief, Major General Abbas Ibrahim. Some 40 Lebanese lawmakers and groups representing judges and lawyers have called for Oueidat to reverse his decisions and allow Bitar to resume his investigation. Reporting by Timour Azhari; Editing by Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Fact Check-Clips of people fainting at public events are unrelated to COVID-19 vaccines
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A video compilation of people fainting includes clips that either predate or are unrelated to the COVID-19 vaccine. The footage, depictingAir Force Maj. Gen. James Martin Jr fainting, can be seen on CNN (here) and ABC 7News (here). It was taken in July 2020 and predates the COVID-19 vaccine rollout (here). All but two of the clips featured in this compilation predate the COVID-19 pandemic. The individuals portrayed in the two other videos, in April 2021 and July 2020, were not vaccinated at the time of filming.

☆ Kiribati to return to Pacific Islands regional group, ending rift
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, Jan 30 (Reuters) - The remote atoll nation of Kiribati said on Monday it would rejoin the Pacific Islands Forum, ending a split that had threatened unity at a time of increased superpower tensions in the strategically-located region. The statement said the Kiribati government had formally stated its "positive endorsement to rejoin the Pacific Islands Forum this year 2023". Kiribati, which is 3,000 kms (1,860 miles) southwest of the U.S. state of Hawaii, switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Beijing in 2019. Rabuka's coalition government narrowly won a general election in December, the first transition of power in Fiji in 16 years, but has since been warned by Fiji's military against making "sweeping changes". Fiji's President Wiliame Katonivere on Monday evening announced that Fiji's Chief Justice Kamal Kumar had been suspended on Rabuka's advice.

☆ Eritrea troops still on Ethiopian soil - U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Eritrean troops fought alongside the Ethiopian military and allied militias in the two-year conflict that pitted the Ethiopian government against rebellious forces in the northern region of Tigray. In November, however, the Ethiopia government and the Tigray forces signed an agreement to end the hostilities. The possible continuing presence of Eritrean troops in Tigray thus has been seen as a key obstacle to effective implementation of the deal. A senior Ethiopia military officer briefing foreign officials on Saturday denied there were any Eritrean troops in the country. A spokesperson for the Tigrayan forces, Getachew Reda,dismissed claims that the Eritrean troops had left Tigray and said "thousands" were still there.

☆ New Fiji govt suspends police commissioner, scraps China policing arrangement
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere said Commissioner of Police Sitiveni Qiliho had been suspended on the advice of the Constitutional Offices Commission, "pending investigation and referral to and appointment of, a tribunal". The Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem was also suspended by the commission, the statement said. Qiliho declined to comment to local media because he said he will face a tribunal over his conduct. On Thursday, Fiji Times reported Rabuka said his government would end a police training and exchange agreement with China. Republic of Fiji Military Forces Commander Major General Jone Kalouniwai earlier this month warned Rabuka's government against making "sweeping changes", and has insisted it abide by a 2013 constitution which gives the military a key role.

[1/3] George Bezdjian, whose daughter Jessica died in 2020 port explosion, holds her picture during a protest against steps taken this week to hamstring a probe into the 2020 port blast, in Beirut, Lebanon January 26, 2023. With friends and allies of Lebanon's most powerful factions, including Hezbollah, among those charged, the establishment struck back swiftly on Wednesday, when the prosecutor general charged Bitar with usurping powers. With deep fissures in the judiciary exposed, the tussle adds to the unravelling of a state accelerated by a three-year-long financial crisis, left to fester by the ruling elite. Attempts by a Lebanese judge to investigate Salameh have hit obstacles in Lebanon, where politicians have big sway over the judiciary. In opposing Bitar, Hezbollah has accused the United States of meddling in the investigation and Bitar of political bias.

BEIRUT, Jan 24 (Reuters) - The judge probing the 2020 Beirut blast has charged Lebanon's top public prosecutor, the then-premier and other senior current and former officials in connection with the devastating explosion, judicial sources said and court summons show. He also charged Prosecutor General Ghassan Oweidat, the head of Lebanon's domestic intelligence agency Major General Abbas Ibrahim, former army commander Jean Kahwaji and other current and former security and judicial officials, court sources said. [1/2] Relatives of some of the victims of the August 2020 Beirut port blast carry their pictures and banners during a protest outside the Justice Palace, in Beirut, Lebanon September 7, 2022. The embassy on Tuesday tweeted that the United States "support and urge Lebanese authorities to complete a swift and transparent investigation" into the blast. Diab, an academic, became prime minister in January 2020 and resigned less than a week after the blast.

☆ Lebanon blast investigator charges public prosecutor, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BEIRUT, Jan 24 (Reuters) - The judge investigating the 2020 Beirut port explosion has charged Lebanon's top public prosecutor and three other judges in connection with the catastrophic blast, two judicial sources said on Tuesday. Judicial sources said interrogations had been scheduled for February for 15 people, including the top security officials, Oweidat, two former ministers, and Hassan Diab, who was the prime minister at the time of the blast. Bitar met French judges visiting Beirut last week as part of a French investigation into the explosion, whose victims included two French nationals. Bitar resumed work on the basis of a legal interpretation challenging the reasons for its suspension, the judicial sources said. Hezbollah has campaigned against Bitar as he sought to question its allies and accused Washington of meddling in the probe.

☆ Ukraine says a team of military surgeons removed an unexploded grenade from inside the body of a Ukrainian soldier
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

A Ukrainian surgeon successfully removed a live grenade from inside a soldier's chest. The Armed Forces of Ukraine tweeted that the grenade could have detonated "at any moment." The surgery went well and the wounded soldier has been sent to recovery, Ukraine's military said. Two sappers were on hand to handle the live grenade after it was removed from the soldier's chest, according to Ukraine's armed forces. The Armed Forces of Ukraine tweeted that "everything went well — the wounded man has already been sent for rehabilitation and recovery."

☆ West backs Nigeria's war on extremists, and backs off on human rights
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Reuters Graphic | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +21 min

“While respect for human rights is unquestionably a high priority, we have many other equities at stake,” McCulley wrote. He said the focus on human rights had sent relations between the two countries into the “lowest ebb” in his three years there. Nigeria’s human rights record wasn’t only a moral issue – it was a legal one. Working under these laws provided “openings to incentivise and institutionalise” human rights protections within the Nigerian military, the State Department said. The pact also noted that London and Abuja had agreed on an “enhanced human rights dialogue” to ensure compliance with international rights standards.

Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama's Fiji First has not conceded defeat, while a coalition of three parties say they have a combined majority and have agreed on People's Alliance leader Sitiveni Rabuka as prime minister. In a statement on Facebook, Bainimarama said the military "has been deployed to complement the Police in maintaining law and order". Bainimarama has been prime minister for 16 years, taking power in a coup, and later winning two democratic elections in 2014 and 2018. New Zealand's Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said New Zealand was "aware of the statement from Fiji's Police Commissioner". The prime minister must be voted in by more than 50% of lawmakers on the parliament floor.

One hostage, a security official, died during the raid , he said. The army spokesman's comments provided the first detailed official account of the standoff, in which two security personnel were killed when the militants first took over the compound, and two commandoes killed in the ensuing raid. Later other militants at the centre broke into a storeroom where confiscated weapons had been stored. STANDOFFAfter talks failed to resolve a two-day standoff, army commandos stormed the centre on Tuesday. Earlier, residents said they heard explosions coming from the vicinity of the centre on Tuesday as helicopters hovered overhead.

[1/2] Participants look around Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force's vessel at a recruiting event in Yokosuka, Japan December 10, 2022. The five-year plan unveiled on Friday will double Japan's defence spending and add new capabilities, including long-range missiles and an expanded cyber warfare unit. "It is just a paper plan and that should be corrected," said Yoji Koda, a retired navy admiral, who commanded the Japanese fleet in 2007-2008. Koda said the plan would limit Japan's ability to fight in situations such as land invasions and sea battles, giving its foes an advantage. Japan's defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Since the early days of the invasion, Mr. Putin has conceded, privately, that the war has not gone as planned. “I think he is sincerely willing” to compromise with Russia, Mr. Putin said of Mr. Zelensky in 2019. To join in Mr. Putin’s war, he has recruited prisoners, trashed the Russian military and competed with it for weapons. To join in Mr. Putin’s war, he has recruited prisoners, trashed the Russian military and competed with it for weapons. “I think this war is Putin’s grave.” Yevgeny Nuzhin, 55, a Russian prisoner of war held by Ukraine, in October.

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