Obama Seeks $500m To Support Syria's Rebels

President Barack Obama is seeking $500m from US lawmakers to train and equip "vetted" Syrian rebels, the White House says.

Mr Obama has been under pressure from some lawmakers to bolster assistance to moderate Syrian insurgents. 

If approved, the budget request would mark the first open US military involvement in the Syrian conflict, which began three years ago.

There is already a covert CIA training programme for the rebels, US officials have previously confirmed. 

A prime White House concern has been weaponry ending up in jihadist hands

The $500m is part of a broader $66bn overseas operations request sent by the administration to Congress on Thursday.

White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in an emailed statement the money would go towards "appropriately vetted elements" of the opposition.

"These funds would help defend the Syrian people," she wrote, "stabilize areas under opposition control, facilitate the provision of essential services, counter terrorist threats, and promote conditions for a negotiated settlement." 

The insurgency in neighbouring Iraq had focused minds in the administration

It is not clear what type of military equipment would be included under the request.

US officials last year said they had begun shipping small-arms ammunition, as well as non-lethal assistance, to the rebels.

But the administration balked at opposition requests for portable anti-aircraft missiles.

A prime concern for the White House has been that such weaponry could wind up in the hands of jihadists.

Syria's moderate rebels are waging a war on two fronts - against the forces of President Bashar al Assad and Islamist militants.

The Obama administration has renewed its focus on Syria's conflict in recent weeks as it fans an al Qaeda-inspired insurgency in neighbouring Iraq.

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Suarez Gran Sticks Boot Into 'Barbaric' Fifa

Luis Suarez: A Huge Talent But Trouble

Updated: 6:06am UK, Friday 27 June 2014

By Paul Kelso, Sports Correspondent, in Rio de Janeiro

To his countrymen, Luis Suarez is an unambiguous character.

He is the boy from an impoverished quarter of Salto who became a hero; a natural who plays with the ferocious pride and raw spirit that embodies the national self-image.

You do not have to be Uruguayan to admire his luminous talent. Watching him score the goals that eliminated England in Sao Paulo last week it was impossible not to admire the certainty of his play, the single-minded ability not just to try but to deliver.

But it is equally hard to ignore his recidivist, violent streak, and nor should we try.

Uruguay has rushed to his defence this week, but none of the conspiracies or indulgences offered by his countrymen can sweeten Suarez's offences.

Three times on a professional football field he has bitten an opponent. It is conduct we train out of pets and children, assuming that adult humans do not need to be reminded.

Who knows where it comes from. An army of experts have had their say in the last few days, offering explanations ranging from the Freudian to the footballing.

For everyone, save Suarez, the answer is largely irrelevant. What matters for his club and country is what happens next.

For Liverpool it is a pressing question. The club and its fans love Suarez but they have good reason to feel let down.

They backed him ham-fistedly through the Patrice Evra racism storm, and then with far more assurance and self-awareness following his assault on Branislav Ivanovic.

Last season they seemed to get a return on that pastoral care. Suarez was focused and fabulous, his goals fully deserving a clean sweep of player of the year awards from his fellow pros and the journalists his teammates now accuse of conspiring, and supporters groups.

Anfield fully expected to return to the barricades for Suarez this summer, but they anticipated the attack would come from Real Madrid and Barcelona, once more hunting his signature.

Instead, they will welcome back a player who will not be available until November and will attract only negative vibes in the meantime. Restoring trust on both sides will be a major challenge for manager Brendan Rogers.

There is perhaps only one group for whom Suarez's inexplicable conduct is good news.

It is not often that Fifa has been able to scale the moral high-ground in recent times but the swift, decisive judgment against Suarez offered them a chance they were not going to miss.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter resisted repeated invitations from Sky News to offer a word on Suarez's ban but the message of his silence was clear. The World Cup show has been a wow. Presented with a pantomime villain Fifa banished him to the wings.

For once, few will argue it was the right move.

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Father Of Mass Murderer Tells Of 'Nightmare'

The father of a young man who killed six people in California before taking his own life last month has given his first interview since the tragedy.

Filmmaker Peter Rodger told ABC News' Barbara Walters that no one in his family had any indication that his son, Elliot, had violent intentions.

Mr Rodger said: "Every night I go to sleep, I wake up and I think of those young men and young women that have died and who are injured and were terrorised and my son did that.

"My son caused so much pain and suffering for so many families."

Elliot Rodger turned the gun on himself after killing six people

Asked how he felt when he woke up in the morning he replied: "It's like a reverse nightmare situation.

"When you go to sleep normally, you have a nightmare and you wake up and everything is ok.

"Now I go to sleep, I might have a nice dream and then I wake up and slowly the truth of what happened dawns on me and, you know, that is that my son was a mass murderer."

Mr Rodger, who was assistant director on the Hollywood blockbuster Hunger Games, said he had no idea his son was violent.

"There's no way I thought that this boy could hurt a flea. I mean, this is the most unbelievable thing, Barbara, what I don't get is we didn't see this coming at all."

Rodger, 22, killed six people on May 23 and injured 13 more before turning the gun on himself in Isla Vista, California, near two universities.

The killing spree began with Rodger stabbing three people at his apartment.

He then drove around the city firing on people outside a sorority house and inside a delicatessen, before taking his own life.

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Jihadist's Mother Pleads For Him To Return Home

Faith Lost In Iraq PM Amid Political Limbo

Updated: 5:46pm UK, Friday 20 June 2014

By Sam Kiley, Foreign Affairs Editor, in Baghdad

The US President, Shia politicians, Sunni chieftans and none other than the Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani has joined the clamour for Iraq's Prime Minister to move fast and form a government.

The nation has languished since elections on April 30 in a political limbo that arguably undermined faith in the central government, even among the Shia-dominated armed forces.

That might, partly, explain their rapid collapse in the face of far fewer forces from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) plus their allies.

But now that Iraq's supreme court has ratified the results of the elections what possible reason could Nouri al Maliki have for delay?

One explanation may simply be political.

His stewardship over previous years has entrenched sectarian divisions and seen an explosion in corruption.

His party bloc won 92 of the 328 seats in Iraq's parliament and he'll need 165 to form a coalition administration.

He, therefore, has to get involved in some serious horse trading with other Shia parties to build his coalition.

But they are now losing faith in him. Particularly in his apparent refusal to reach out to Sunni parties and offer them stakes in the central government - such as a security portfolio and a ministry which would give them access to patronage systems such as an education or public works - so that they feel both secure and that they have an investment in the future political structures.

A more conspiratorial thesis, fuelled by the conspiratorial utterances of lame duck ministers left over from the previous administration, is that Iraq's latest travails are the fault of external forces.

Jordan, Saudi Arabia (both Sunni countries), the US and others are being blamed for manipulating the Middle East and somehow creating ISIS.

There is evidence of Saudi individual, and possible state funding, for extremist militant groups in Syria, which may include ISIS.

And Jordan has played a significant role in trying to boost the fortunes of the non-extremist Free Syrian Army.

But Mr al Maliki may have calculated that he can either weather the latest storm - or let ISIS form an impoverished caliphate in the desert north of his country which would leave the Shia with Baghdad and the south.

It's the south, after all, that holds the lion's share of the world's second largest oil reserves.

It can ship its oil out through the Gulf, via Kuwait, or via Iran.

A Shia state or semi-state would not only be self-sufficient - it would be spared the burden of sharing Iraq's spoils with other sectarian groups like the Sunni and the Kurds (who already have their own autonomy and oil industry).

Such a move, or allowing events to drift to this reality, would place the south of Iraq firmly inside Iran's imperial embrace.

That is not something that Saudi Arabia would be able to tolerate in the long term as it vies with Iran for influence in the Middle East.

Nor is it anything that a rump Sunni 'caliphate' would be able to live with - the extremists within it would forever plot how to steal it back by force.

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South Korean Siege Soldier Captured Alive

A South Korean soldier who opened fire on his own unit has been captured alive after a failed suicide attempt, according to an official.

Some 4,000 soldiers backed up by helicopters had surrounded the army sergeant, identified only by his surname Lim, and were involved in a tense 24-hour stand-off at the weekend.

Lim, 22, had opened fire on members of his own unit at a guard post in a base near the border with North Korea on Saturday, killing five of his colleagues and wounding seven others.

Thousands of soldiers hunted Yim after he fled the base in Goseong

A Defence Ministry official said Lim shot himself in the stomach and after being captured was rushed to hospital.

"At around 2.55pm, Sergeant Lim harmed himself in his side with a K2 rifle and was sent to hospital," the official said.

Lim had fled with an assault rifle and 60 rounds of ammunition after the grenade and gun attack at the end of his shift.

He was discovered hiding in dense woods near a school six miles from the base. When troops tried to capture him on Sunday, he stood his ground and opened fire. 

Officials had negotiated with him via a loud hailer to persuade him to surrender and threw him a mobile phone so he could talk to his father.

Some 500 residents evacuated from nearby homes during the initial shootout

The soldier was reportedly in tears when he asked negotiators to hand their phone to his father. "He talked to his parents for several minutes, and they pleaded with him to surrender," an official said.

Yim's motives remain unclear. He had been on a scheduled list to be discharged from the army in September and was described as an introvert who had difficulty adapting to military life.

He was on a list of "those who require special attention," said an officer, who added there had been concerns about his psychological health, but he was deemed fit to be deployed to the outpost after passing a test in November.

The initial shooting happened at an outpost in Goseong, about 205 miles northeast of the capital Seoul.

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'Spread Of Terror' Fears As ISIS Tightens Grip

Barack Obama and John Kerry have said ISIS, which is carrying out a lightning offensive in Iraq, could grow in power, destabilise the region and pose a threat to the US.

The American president spoke hours after the Islamist militants made dramatic gains by capturing four towns in western Iraq on Sunday.

Haditha, Anah, Rawa and Rotba - along with a number of villages - were taken as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) swept east from the Syrian border, where it captured a border crossing on Saturday, in its latest offensive.

The group was also reported to have seized two more border crossings - the Turaibil crossing with Jordan and the al Walid crossing with Syria.

Secretary of State Mr Kerry has arrived in Baghdad on an unannounced visit for talks with Iraq's embattled Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki.

"We're going to have to be vigilant generally," Mr Obama said.

"Right now the problem with ISIS is the fact that they're destabilising the country. That could spill over into some of our allies like Jordan."

Sky's Sam Kiley says Iraqi forces 'folded-up without a fight'

But he said that was just one of an array of threats the US must guard against, citing the group Boko Haram in north Africa and al Qaeda groups in Yemen.

"What we can't do is think that we're just going to play whack-a-mole and send US troops occupying various countries wherever these organisations pop up," Mr Obama said on CBS Face The Nation.

"We're going to have to have a more focused, more targeted strategy and we're going to have to partner and train local law enforcement and military to do their jobs as well."

Secretary of State John Kerry, on a diplomatic tour of the Middle East and Europe, said: "ISIL is a threat to all of the countries in the region and no country is safe from that kind of spread of terror."

John Kerry warned of the 'spread of terror' while speaking in Cairo

Western countries, including Britain, have concerns about the possibility of young men who have joined the insurgency in Iraq or Syria later launching terror attacks at home.

The mother of Reyaad Khan, one of two Britons to appear in an ISIS recruitment film posted online, has made an emotional appeal on Sky News for her son to return home to Cardiff.

Speaking from Baghdad, Sky's Foreign Affairs Editor Sam Kiley said the militants' rapid grab of power "is very significant as it appears the Iraqi army has folded-up without a fight.

"These are major strategic prizes, not necessarily big towns but all of them on the main route to Syria and on the Euphrates river."

Satellite image of Iraqi forces bombing a suspected ISIS target

He added: "The international community is very fearful that if this landscape of ungoverned space becomes established as an Islamist heartland it will attract jihadis from all over the world."

Kiley said the big prize appears to be Haditha, which contains an important power-generating plant for Baghdad.

Dozens of Iraqi tanks, armoured vehicles and special forces troops were being sent to Haditha in an attempt to regain control and protect a dam across the Euphrates, according to Sky sources.

ISIS had already taken control of the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi in predominantly Sunni Anbar province before it seized Iraq's second city Mosul, and Baiji, home to the country's largest oil refinery, in an aggressive offensive in the north.

Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith has said the UK could provide logistical support if the US were to begin its own bombing raids.

Young Iraqis have been flocking to recruitment centres at the weekend to join the counter-offensive against ISIS. According to official records, some two million young men have volunteered in the past seven days.

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