Russia has started flying drones over Syria in
what appears to be its first aerial surveillance operations over the
war-ravaged country, U.S. defense officials told NBC News.
Although the officials said there was no
indication Russia had yet conducted combat missions using fighter jets
and attack helicopters, they said they expected such operations to start
soon.
Moscow has already sent in four SUKHOI attack
fighter jets, four HIND attack assault helicopters, four HIP transport
helicopters, along with tanks and artillery, the officials said.
A
MI-8 Helicopter flies during Russias large-scale Center-2015 military
exercises at Donguzsky Range on Sept. 19, 2015 in Orenburg, Russia. The
exercises aim to contain the outbreak of an armed conflict in Central
Asia. Sasha Mordovets / Getty Image
In addition, it has now flown in large
quantities of air-to-ground missiles, high-caliber ammunition for
attack-jet machine guns and aircraft fuel, the officials added.
According to one senior official: "They didn't fly all those attack aircraft in there to leave them sit on the runway."
The Russian Ministry of Defense was not available for comment when contacted by NBC News.
Russia, which supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, has over the past two weeks been building a military presence near the Syrian port city of Latakia.
The U.S. supports rebels fighting Assad,
but both Washington and Moscow have a common enemy in ISIS, which has
more recently joined the conflict and been the target of U.S.-led
airstrikes.
The U.S. officials said it is still unclear
exactly what the Russians intend to do militarily, but there is growing
concern they could reshape and control much of the combat operations
against ISIS in Syria.
One senior official said: "They could take over control and there's nothing we could do about it."
In a 50-minute phone call on Friday, U.S.
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter expressed concern about the military
buildup to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Soichu. Carter said the U.S.
and Russia needed to "deconflict" air operations in Syria to "avoid any
mistakes or miscalculations" between the two forces.
Greece's Alexis Tsipras has said his
left-wing Syriza party has a "clear mandate" after winning a second
general election in less than nine months.
But he said Greeks faced a difficult road and recovery from financial crisis would only come through hard work.
Syriza won just over 35%, slightly down on its previous result and still short of an overall majority.
But it will renew its coalition with the nationalist Independent Greeks. Opposition New Democracy gained 28%.
Far-right Golden Dawn came in third with 7%, slightly up on January's poll.
Syriza
was first elected in January on an anti-austerity mandate, but was
forced to accept tough conditions for Greece's third international
bailout.
Media captionVoters say the election result will not make a difference to life in Greece
Sunday's snap election was called after Mr Tsipras lost his majority in August.
Some
of his MPs who had opposed the new bailout conditions split to form a
new party, but it has failed to get into parliament. Turnout was low. Analysis: Paul Moss, BBC News, Athens Image caption
Syriza supporters in central Athens
It has been raining heavily in Athens, a drenching
downpour that left one Greek observer looking at the skies, and wryly
suggesting that the gods were angry at Sunday's election result.
And
it is hard to avoid the suggested symbolism, not of heavenly wrath but
of a country where the summer seems to have ended abruptly, and where
the celebrations of Syriza supporters last night have now given way to
the harsh reality their re-elected government must face.
It has
agreed to tough austerity measures insisted on by the IMF and European
Union, and now these must be implemented - cuts to pensions, rises in
taxes and an end to some of the regulation and financial allowances that
have kept many professions protected.
Farmers have already been
readying their tractors for road blockades; some of the unemployed are
contemplating their own protests. The new government's honeymoon will be
a short one. Five things we have learned from Greek election Tsipras, the man who risked Greece's future in euro "I feel vindicated because the Greek people have a
clear mandate to carry on fighting inside and outside our country to
uphold the pride of our people," Mr Tsipras told supporters in Athens.
"In Europe today, Greece and the Greek people are synonymous with resistance and dignity. Image copyrightAFPImage caption
Syriza supporters were jubilant as their party won its second election in a year
Image copyrightReutersImage caption
Greek citizens are likely to face further austerity
Mr Tsipras was joined at the celebrations by Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos.
"Together we will continue the struggle we began seven months ago," Mr Tsipras said.
Among
the challenges facing Mr Tsipras will be satisfying international
creditors that Greece is meeting the terms of the latest bailout package worth up to €86bn ($97bn, £61bn). It involved more austerity for ordinary Greeks.
Creditors carry out a review in October and there is still some opposition from within Syriza.
The European Commission on Monday urged Syriza to press on with reforms.
"There is a lot of work ahead and no time to lose," spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters.
Jeroen
Dijsselbloem, who heads the Eurogroup meetings of eurozone finance
ministers, said he was "ready to work closely" with the new Greek
government.
European Council President Donald Tusk said in a
letter to Mr Tsipras that many of the biggest challenges facing the EU
were the same as those facing Greece "including the refugee crisis and
the creation of sustainable growth and jobs".
The Greek electoral
system means the party with the largest number of votes wins a bonus of
50 seats - and Syriza will have 145 seats in the 300-seat parliament,
only four fewer than in Mr Tsipras's January victory.
The
Independent Greeks party, which is anti-austerity but agrees with Syriza
on little else, won 10 seats. New Democracy won 75, Golden Dawn 18.
Mr Tsipras won despite voters' rejection of austerity in a July referendum.
New government's priorities
In first 100 days: Cut wage and
pension costs again, but less than in previous five years (2% increase
in workers' pension contributions, 2% increase in pensioners' national
insurance contributions)
Reform early retirement: Decide which categories will qualify for it (and revamp whole pension system before January)
Recapitalise banks and set timetable for lifting capital controls
Hold more talks on debt repayments with EU-IMF lenders, with goal of debt relief deal in January
Adopt more tax reforms: farmers to see
income tax double and fuel subsidy scrapped; new penalties for tax
evasion (VAT increase was passed in July; corporation tax was raised by
3%, to 29%)
Privatise more than half of state electricity network (regional airports and much of road network already privatised)
There was a heavy down pour on Sunday 20th of September 2015 which left major passages along the city flooded with water gushing out of unknown sources. Indigowave Correspondent "Prince Davey" spoke with eye witnesses who expressed their shock over the sudden appearance of water blocking major roads.
Being a new working week (Monday) Workers and commuters were held up in traffic as a result of struggle to go through the only free routes which were yet to be flooded as at the time of this report caused them to go late to their offices and businesses. Living Faith Church Barnawa Kaduna was flooded and major structures in the Church auditorium were all standing in the flood, this caused the School Authority of Kingdom Heritage Model School Barnawa to declare a compulsory rest days for it's pupils until the incidence is tackled.
A car bomb has exploded at the gate
of Somalia's presidential palace in the capital Mogadishu killing at
least six people, witnesses say.
A conference debating the nature of Somalia's election in 2016 had just ended in the compound.
Presidential guards and a Turkish national are believed to be among the dead, as most delegates had left.
It is not yet known who carried out the attack but the Islamist group al-Shabab has targeted the palace before.
Al-Shabab lost control of Mogadishu in 2011, but often carries out attacks in the city.
The presidential palace is the seat of government and many top government officials live and work there.
A property owned by Zimbabwe's
government in South Africa has been sold to compensate white farmers
evicted from their land in Zimbabwe.
The auction followed a
five-year battle to force the government to pay legal costs, after it
lost a court challenge against its controversial land reforms.
The farmers' lawyer said it was a "symbolic victory" and vowed to target other Zimbabwe-owned properties.
Zimbabwe launched several court bids in a failed attempt to contest the ruling.
Property speculator Arthur Tsimatakopoulos bought the house for about $282,000, reports the BBC's Mohammed Allie in Cape Town.
But most of the cash will go on legal costs, the farmers' lawyer Willie Spies said.
"This
is a symbolic victory and we will pursue other commercial properties
owned by Zimbabwe," said Mr Spies, who represented the farmers through
AfriForum, a mainly white civil rights group in South Africa. Image copyrightAPImage caption
Thousands of white farmers were evicted under land reforms initiated by President Robert Mugabe
The case began when a group of nearly 80 white
farmers launched a case at a tribunal of the Southern African
Development Community (SADC), saying they had been targeted because of
their race.
President Robert Mugabe's land reforms, launched in 2000 and accompanied by violent evictions of thousands of white farmers, were aimed at redistributing farms to landless black Zimbabweans.
Critics
say the reforms mostly benefitted Mr Mugabe's associates, led to a drop
in agricultural production and damaged the economy. Earlier this year, Mr Mugabe admitted the process had been flawed.
The SADC tribunal, which was later disbanded, ruled that the farmers should be compensated.
Zimbabwe
rejected the verdict, but a South African court ruled that it could be
applied locally as South Africa was a member of SADC.
Three other
Zimbabwean properties targeted by AfriForum were declared to be covered
by diplomatic immunity, but the Cape Town house had been rented out
commercially and could therefore be seized, Mr Spies said.
In a
statement, AfriForum said it was campaigning against human rights abuses
and the "destruction of land ownership" in Zimbabwe.
German bank
group KFW Bank Gruppe, which joined the legal action and is believed to
be owed millions of dollars by the Mugabe government, would take most of
the money left over after legal fees were paid, Mr Spies added.
Chelsea striker Diego Costa has been charged with violent conduct by the Football Association after his side's
2-0 win over Arsenal
on Saturday.
Costa, 26, put his hands in the face of Arsenal
centre-back Laurent Koscielny prior to clashing with Gunners' defender
Gabriel, who was sent off.
The FA has also charged Gabriel with improper conduct and both clubs with failing to control their players.
Arsenal are to appeal Gabriel's dismissal and three-match ban.
Chelsea boss Mourinho clashes with press over Costa
Costa has until 18:00 BST on Tuesday, 22 September to
respond to the charge, which is for the incident with Koscielny as it
was missed by match officials but caught on video.
"Off the ball incidents which are not seen at the time
by the match officials are referred to a panel of three former elite
referees," said an FA statement.
"Each referee panel member will review the video
footage independently of one another to determine whether they consider
it a sending-off offence.
"For retrospective action to be taken, and an FA charge to follow, the decision by the panel must be unanimous."
Referee Mike Dean booked both Costa and Gabriel for
their spat, before the latter was dismissed for kicking out at the Blues
forward.
Gabriel and both clubs have until 18:00 BST on Thursday, 24 September to reply to their charges.
Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla was sent off in the match for tw
Calls are growing for Republican Ben Carson to quit the 2016 race after he said a Muslim should not be president.
Muslim-American groups, among others, have said these views make him unqualified to run himself.
Mr Carson, a Christian, made the comments on Sunday, adding that Islam was inconsistent with the Constitution.
Another
Republican presidential candidate, Bobby Jindal, said on Monday a
Muslim president should swear on a Bible to uphold the Constitution.
He
said a Muslim Republican who fought to protect religious liberty,
respected the Judeo-Christian heritage of the US and was committed to
destroying Islamic State and radical Islam, and condemned cultures that
treated women as second class citizens would get his vote.
But they must "place their hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the Constitution", he added.
The
Republican candidates for president are being asked about their views
on Islam since Donald Trump failed last week to correct a supporter who
said President Barack Obama was a Muslim.
Mr Trump, the Republican frontrunner, has since said he would have no problem appointing a Muslim to his cabinet. Image copyrightAPImage caption
Worshippers mark the end of Ramadan in New York
But
in an interview with NBC's Meet the Press, Mr Carson said the
president's faith matters if it differs with the values of America.
"I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation," he said.
He elaborated later when he told The Hill:
"Muslims feel that their religion is very much a part of your public
life and what you do as a public official, and that's inconsistent with
our principles and our Constitution."
Analysis - Jon Sopel, BBC North America editor
I
don't know whether Dr Carson's words will bolster his position among
the base after a somewhat lacklustre performance in the Republican
debate last week at the Ronald Reagan Library - but what about the
feelings of the three million Muslims who live in America?
How is
it going to feel to have a serious political figure, someone who
aspires to lead this nation, essentially saying being Muslim is
un-American?
These people who day in, day out serve their
communities, support their families, enrich the lives of fellow citizens
and make America the successful melting pot that it is.
Democrats
immediately denounced his remarks and Muslim groups called on Mr
Carson, a neurosurgeon who is riding high in the polls among Republican
voters, to quit the race.
"To me this really means he is not
qualified to be president of the United States," said Ibrahim Hooper,
spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
He noted that the US Constitution specifically does not require the president to have a certain religion.
Farhana Khera of Muslim Advocates said the "religious bigotry" was heard when JFK was hoping to be the first Catholic president.
And Haroon Moghul, a leading commentator on Islam, told CNN: "I think Carson's comments mean he should get out of the race".
One
of the latest polls, run by CNN/ORC, shows Mr Carson has slipped into
third place in the Republican race, trailing former Hewlett-Packard
chief Carly Fiorina and Mr Trump, who has consistently remained ahead of
the pack.
Senior Republicans had said after the 2012 election
that if the party did not become more inclusive, it would continue to
push away young voters.
A problem with Skype's status system has meant many people are currently unable to use the service.
Reports about Skype being unavailable started at about 09:00 BST on Monday morning in the UK.
In
a statement, Skype-owner Microsoft said it had "detected an issue with
the status settings" on Skype that show if someone is online or not.
The problem locked many people's status as offline - stopping them making calls even though they were connected.
Image copyrightTwitterImage caption
Skype acknowledged the problem in a tweet
In addition, said Microsoft, all the contacts of
affected users would show as offline meaning they would not be able to
call those people.
Many Skype users in the UK, Australia and Japan have all reported problems.
Skype support staff acknowledged the issue in a tweet and said the firm was working on a "quick fix".
In
a lengthier statement put on its blog, it said: "The status issue also
doesn't affect Skype for web, which can be used to make calls and send
instant messages."
In a later message, posted at 16:00 BST it said it had identified the problem.
"We're
in the process of reconnecting our users, and focused on restoring full
service. The issue did not affect Skype for Business users," it said.
It also apologised for the inconvenience being caused.
Several users contacted the BBC to discuss how they had been affected.
"What
is annoying me is that my eldest son is far away in Japan and Skype is
our main method of contact," said Howard Wensley from Blackpool.
Florence
Morimon from Norwich added: "I am a freelance translator and French
tutor so this kind of problem affect directly my business. I had to use
Google Hangouts to make a video call this morning, but the quality is
not as good."
Preparations
for the 2016 gubernatorial elections in Edo State has taken another
dimension with some members of the Peoples Democratic Party decamping to
the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Former
Governorship candidate, Lucky Imasuen, State Deputy Chairman,
Christopher Adesotu, a former member of House of Representatives and
Deputy Governorship candidate in the 2012 governorship election, Hon
John Abolagba, among other leaders have led over 5,000 of their
supporters to decamp into the All Progressives Congress APC.
Governor Adams Oshiomhole received the decampees by presenting them with the broom which is the symbol of the APC.
Preparations
for the 2016 gubernatorial elections in Edo State has taken another
dimension with some members of the Peoples Democratic Party decamping to
the All Progressives Congress (APC).