General: Airstrikes may get harder to target
WASHINGTON – The Army’s top officer warned Friday that it will become increasingly difficult to target and launch precision airstrikes against Islamic State militants hiding among the Iraqi population.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno told reporters that so far the targets American warplanes and drones have hit in Iraq have largely been out in the open and were “clearly identifiable.”
Now, he said, the militant fighters are starting to infiltrate the population, and there are reports that they are using children and others as shields.
Women to be allowed to go to Ranger school
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Army is opening the door for women to go to Ranger school.
It’s one of the first steps in the broader effort to allow women to begin moving into more grueling combat jobs.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno says he believes he will be able to put women in the Ranger course next spring.
While completing the leadership course would let women wear the coveted Ranger tab, it does not let them become members of the Ranger regiment. Currently only men can be in the 75th Ranger Regiment.
Alibaba stock jumps 40 percent on first day
NEW YORK – Alibaba debuted as a publicly traded company Friday and swiftly climbed more than 40 percent in a mammoth IPO that offered eager investors seemingly unlimited potential for growth and a way to tap into the burgeoning Chinese middle class.
The initial public offering was on track to be the world’s largest, with the possibility of raising as much as $25 billion.
Trading under the ticker “BABA,” shares opened at $92.70. By the end of the day, the stock rose $25.89, or 38 percent, to close at $93.89.
Nations trying to get Iran talks on track
UNITED NATIONS – With little more than two months to deadline, Iran and six world powers on Friday launched a fresh effort at narrowing stubborn differences on what nuclear concessions Tehran must agree to in exchange for full sanctions relief.
The talks once again bring Iran to the negotiating table with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany. But this time they are taking place on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
France launches attack on militants
PARIS – France is back at America’s side in conducting military strikes in Iraq.
More than a decade after spurning President George W. Bush’s war against Saddam Hussein, France on Friday became the first country to join U.S. forces pounding targets inside Iraq from the air in recent weeks, this time in pursuit of militants of the Islamic State group.
Two French Rafale jets fired four laser-guided bombs to destroy a weapons and fuel depot outside the northern city of Mosul, part of the territory the militants have overrun in Iraq and neighboring Syria, officials said.
Associated Press
