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U.S.-led coalition stages 27 air strikes on Islamic State: statement

The United States and its coalition partners targeted Islamic State in 27 air strikes in Friday’s round of daily attacks on the militant group in Iraq and Syria, the Command Joint Task Force said in a statement on Saturday. Twenty-two of the strikes were in Iraq with the greatest concentrations near the cities of Bayji and Mosul, where tactical units, buildings, fighting positions, weapons and vehicles were hit. Islamic State

Another 2,200 migrants rescued off Italy as tensions mount

Italy’s coastguard on Saturday coordinated the rescue of 2,200 migrants in the Mediterranean after receiving distress calls from more than 20 overcrowded vessels drifting in waters off Libya. One of the biggest single-day rescue operations to date was ongoing as nightfall approached. Two navy ships, the Cigala Fulgosi and the Vega, picked up, respectively, 507 and 432 migrants from two wooden boats in danger of sinking just off Libya, the

'Wrong place, right people': heroes of the French train shooting

By Saturday, U.S. Airman First Class Spencer Stone was recovering from knife wounds in a hospital in France, being thanked for foiling what the French government called an attempted terrorist attack. Stone was touring Europe with two friends he grew up with in California. “He was the first one to jump on him, he’s the one who got cut up … none of us are injured but Spencer took a

'Give me back my gun,' train attacker pleaded with Americans

A gunman tackled by young Americans on a train between Amsterdam and Paris pleaded with them to hand back his Kalashnikov after they overpowered him, one of the group said. “Everything happened very fast,” Anthony Sadler, a student travelling with friends Alek Skarlatos and Spencer Stone, both members of the US military, told France’s BFMTV. My friends and I got down and then I said ‘Let’s get him’,” said Skarlatos,

Gunman slays guard at NYC federal building, kills himself

A gunman shot and killed a security guard at a federal building in Lower Manhattan on Friday before killing himself, and investigators are seeking a motive, police said. Police identified the gunman as Kevin Downing, a 68-year-old former federal employee from Fort Lee, New Jersey. The New York Daily News said he was a retired Army Reserve captain outraged over being fired by the Department of Labor.

Judge rules U.S. government must swiftly release immigrant children in detention

By Victoria Cavaliere LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A U.S. federal judge on Friday ordered the government to swiftly release immigrant children held at detention centers, affirming a July ruling that said some minors who crossed the border illegally were being detained in violation of a long-standing settlement. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles gave the administration of President Barack Obama until Oct. 23 to comply