Analysts: IS ignores al-Qaida's call to reunite to fight West, but their feud has tapered off
Al-Qaida is using U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in Syria as a reason to extend olive branches to the renegade Islamic State group, saying the two should stop feuding and join forces to attack Western targets — a reunification that intelligence analysts say would allow al-Qaida to capitalize on the younger group's ruthless advance across the region.
Analysts are closely watching al-Qaida's repeated overtures, and while a full reconciliation is not expected soon — if ever — there is evidence the two groups have curtailed their infighting and are cooperating on the Syrian battlefield, according to activists on the ground, U.S. officials and experts who monitor jihadi messages.
Al-Qaida is saying, "Let's just have a truce in Syria," said Tom Joscelyn, who tracks terror groups for the Long War Journal. "That is what's underway now. ... What we have seen is that local commanders are entering into local truces. There are definitely areas where the two groups are not fighting."
The Islamic State group has seized about a third of Iraq and Syrian territory and is terrorizing civilians to impose a strict interpretation of Islamic law. Their advances led to airstrikes by the United States and a coalition of Western and Persian Gulf nations in both Iraq and Syria.
IS was kicked out of al-Qaida in May after disobeying its leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri. So far, IS has not publicly responded to al-Qaida's calls to reunite — the most recent on Oct. 17 from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen-based offshoot that denounced the airstrikes and called on rival militant groups to stop their infighting and together train their sights on the West.
After rocket explosion, commercial space company to recover debris, look for what caused it
The owners of a commercial supply ship that exploded moments after liftoff promised to find the cause of the failed delivery mission to the International Space Station and warned residents to not touch any debris they might stumble across from the craft, which was carrying hazardous materials.
Crews planned to hit the ground at daybreak Wednesday to search for pieces of Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo module, which blew up Tuesday night just moments after lifting off from NASA's launch complex at Wallops Island, Virginia, said Bill Wrobel, director of the facility.
The cargo ship was carrying 5,000 pounds of experiments and equipment for NASA, as well as prepackaged meals and freeze-dried Maryland crabcakes for a Baltimore-born astronaut who's been in orbit for five months. All of the lost materials will be replaced and flown to the 260-mile-high space station, NASA space station program manager Mike Suffredini said. He said astronauts at the station currently have enough supplies to last until spring.
The accident could draw scrutiny to the space agency's growing reliance on private U.S. companies in the post-shuttle era. NASA is paying billions of dollars to Virginia-based Orbital Sciences and the California-based SpaceX company to make station deliveries, and it's counting on SpaceX and Boeing to start flying U.S. astronauts to the orbiting lab as early as 2017. It was the fourth Cygnus bound for the orbiting lab; the first flew just over a year ago. SpaceX is scheduled to launch another Dragon supply ship from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in December.
Until Tuesday, all of the supply missions by Orbital Sciences and SpaceX had been near-flawless.
Joe Biden the tiebreaker: What happens if the Senate between Dems, GOP is tied after midterms?
It's the stuff of a campaign manager's dream: The sitting vice president, in the midst of his own run for president, dashes across Pennsylvania Avenue and bursts into the Senate to cast the deciding vote on make-or-break legislation, saving the day for his party while C-SPAN cameras capture the moment.
For Joe Biden, it could become a reality — in the event of a deadlocked Senate after the midterm elections.
If the Senate splits evenly between Democrats and Republicans, the vice president's role as the 101st senator would instantly be elevated. That in turn would raise Biden's own profile heading into 2016, when Biden has said he may run for president again. It could even help him try to rival the rock-star status that Democrats have already bestowed upon Hillary Rodham Clinton.
"It makes Joe Biden suddenly a hugely relevant Washington figure," said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University. "It shows he's a power player."
On the other hand, it could also make Biden the face of messy political fights on Capitol Hill, potentially alienating some voters along the way.
Where's the czar? Federal Ebola response raises questions about White House coordination
President Barack Obama's commander in the fight against Ebola was expected to operate below the public radar. But did that mean invisible?
Ron Klain has barely been seen, and a week before midterm elections, Obama is pressing to dispel criticism that the government can't manage the Ebola crisis.
The White House's behind-the-scenes coordination of the Ebola response is being severely tested, while the Pentagon and states like New York and New Jersey take public steps that are far firmer than federal guidelines. That's creating the appearance of a crazy quilt of Ebola measures.
"The CDC is behind on this," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Tuesday. "Governors ultimately have responsibility to protect the public health of people within their borders."
Some public health law experts say the government could have anticipated differences in approaches and acted sooner to establish federal guidelines for states to follow.
The politics of Ebola: Tricky balancing act for Christie, Cuomo could have ramifications
Two ambitious governors — one Republican, one Democrat — known for their no-nonsense, take-charge style in a calamity have set off a furor with their aggressive handling of the Ebola crisis, and how it plays out could shape their political futures.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie won praise for their decisive response to Superstorm Sandy two years ago, and their reaction to Ebola seemed rooted in the same philosophy: They would take bold steps to reassure a jittery public with a display of bipartisan cooperation.
But their style this time has proved far more divisive.
"This is a big moment, and a lot of people are watching carefully," said William Eimicke, professor of public affairs at Columbia University. "It's about balance and judgment, and voters will remember if this was handled well or not."
The two men hurriedly put together a mandatory, three-week quarantine plan for health care workers returning from Ebola-stricken West Africa that has come under fire from the White House, medical groups and some quarters of the media, even as the new guidelines were emulated by other states and seemed to influence the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which tightened its recommendations.
In a once-graceful building, Myanmar's story is told by the residents of 12 tiny apartments
The little apartment building was graceful once. Maybe even beautiful. There is an elegance in the arched windows now covered with grime. It's in the ornamental pillars, coated with paint so faded that it's hard to say if the building is yellow or white. It's in wide windows kept open through the endless hot months, bringing in the breeze from the Yangon River.
The building whispers of a past. Of middle-class lives. Of a cosmopolitan, colonial city that was once a great Asian crossroad, the capital of a country once called Burma. But that was a long time ago.
Now, in the late afternoons when the breeze starts to pick up, two old friends carry out plastic chairs to sit in front of a building battered by time, monsoons and history. They talk about the neighborhood and their children. They worry about money.
U Tin Win has spent 67 years in the building on 41st Street, moving in when he was 6 years old. His friend Round Namar isn't sure how long it's been. Sixty-five years? Seventy? "All I know," Namar says, "is my mother told me I was born here."
All those years the two have lived next door to one another, in ground-floor apartments each a little bigger than a shipping container.
Zambian President Michael Sata dies after an illness; Cabinet plots political transition
Zambian leader Michael Sata, a longtime opposition leader who was finally elected president in 2011, died after an illness, the Zambian government said Wednesday. The Cabinet held a meeting to discuss a political transition, which would include elections within 90 days in the southern African nation.
Sata died shortly after 11 p.m. on Tuesday at London's King Edward VII hospital, where he was being treated, Cabinet secretary Roland Msiska said in a statement.
Sata's wife, Christine Kaseba, and his son, Mulenga Sata, were at the 77-year-old president's side when he died, Msiska said. Mulenga Sata is the mayor of the Zambian capital, Lusaka.
"I urge all of you to remain calm, united and peaceful during this very difficult period," Msiska said in an appeal to Zambians.
The Cabinet discussed plans for a political handover, a Zambian official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. Article 38 of the Zambian constitution requires that presidential elections be held within 90 days of the president's death.
As midterms draw near, Gabby Giffords finds few allies willing to challenge NRA on gun control
She has delivered the same 64-word speech eight times already, but Gabby Giffords is struggling to get through the ninth.
"Together, we can win elections," the former Arizona congresswoman tells her Seattle audience before starting to stumble.
After a moment of confused silence, an aide whispers the next line, and Giffords continues the broken sentence: "... change our laws."
Four years after she was shot in the head and went on to inspire millions with her recovery, Giffords is as committed as ever to pushing for tighter gun-control laws. But in the final days of this year's midterm elections, few candidates are willing to rally to her cause. There's little to suggest those elected next week will pursue the changes she seeks in the nation's gun laws.
As Giffords visited nine states in the past two weeks, the National Rifle Association was working in at least 30, with advertising and get-out-the-vote manpower, to strengthen its position in Washington and state capitals. She will be widely outspent this year by the NRA and others who support the rights of gun owners.
Group of Syrian rebels enter Kurdish town from Turkey to help in fight against IS militants
Syrian activists and Kurdish officials say a small group of Syrian rebels have entered the embattled border town of Kobani to help Kurdish fighters battling Islamic State extremists.
The group of around 50 armed fighters is from the Free Syrian Army, an umbrella group of mainstream rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Idriss Nassan, a Kurdish official from Kobani, said the group crossed to Kobani through the Mursitpinar border crossing with Turkey.
Their arrival early on Wednesday came several hours after a group of Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga troops arrived in Turkey, also on their way to Syria to help their Syrian Kurdish brethren fight IS militants.
The peshmerga fighters from Iraq are expected to cross into Syria later in the day.
