Islamic State

World News

Video Purports To Show Beheaded Japanese Hostage

5:02pm January 24, 2015

by Scott Neuman

The unconfirmed video was released after a deadline to pay a $200 million ransom for the lives of Kenji Goto and Haruna Yakawa passed. It appears to change the Islamic State kidnappers' demands.

World News

Fate Of Japanese Hostages Unclear After Islamic State's Deadline Lapses

1:23pm January 23, 2015

by Krishnadev Calamur

A video purportedly by the militants says "the countdown has begun." Japan says it's still trying to secure Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto's release. The Islamists want $200 million for their release.

World News

4 Linked To Paris Attack Appear In French Court

2:14pm January 20, 2015

by Krishnadev Calamur

The four men, all in their 20s, are accused of providing logistical support to Ahmed Coulibaly, the gunman who took hostages at a Kosher supermarket during the Jan. 7-9 Paris attacks.

A photo from a video clip posted on YouTube shows a man with a knife threatening two captives identified as Haruna Yukawa (right) and Kenji Goto Jogo. The Islamic State says it wants $200 million for their release.

World News

Islamic State, In Video, Threatens To Kill 2 Japanese Hostages

12:12pm January 20, 2015

by Krishnadev Calamur

In a message to Japan's prime minister, the group said it will kill the men unless it gets $200 million — equivalent to Japan's pledge in nonmilitary aid to countries facing threats from the group.

A mentally disabled Yazidi man is carried to a bus that will bring him to the Kurdish city of Dohuk, after being released by Islamic militants, in Alton Kupri, outside Kirkuk, Iraq, on Sunday.

ISIS Frees 200 Elderly Yazidis; Reportedly 'Too Expensive To Feed'

9:07am January 18, 2015

by Scott Neuman

The mostly infirm refugees from the religious minority were released by the self-declared Islamic State. Speculation is that they had become a burden to the militants.

Belgian paratroopers guard outside a Jewish school in the central city of Antwerp on Saturday, a day after authorities made several arrests of alleged Islamist extremists who they say were plotting attacks.

Greece Arrests Four In Latest Anti-Terror Raids

4:15pm January 17, 2015

by Scott Neuman

The arrests are said to include Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who is believed to have been the mastermind behind a foiled plot to conduct attacks in Belgium.

World News

France 'At War With Jihadism And Radical Islamism,' Prime Minister Says

8:02pm January 13, 2015

by Krishnadev Calamur

But Manuel Valls said the country wasn't at war with ordinary Muslims or their religion. His remarks came ahead of a 488-to-1 vote to reauthorize French airstrikes against the Islamic State in Iraq.

Safi al-Kasasbeh and his wife Saafia are the parents of Moath al-Kasasbeh, the Jordanian air force pilot captured by the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Syria. The worried parents are proud of their son, but say Jordan should not be involved in the coali

World News

With A Son Missing, Family Questions Jordan's Mission Against ISIS

7:13am January 09, 2015

by Alice Fordham

The family of the Jordanian air force pilot recently captured in Syria has deep misgivings about the kingdom's decision to join the U.S. in the fight against the self-proclaimed Islamic State.

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King Abdullah (right) and Crown Prince Salman (left) are shown in this 2012 poster. The king, who is at least 90, was hospitalized last week and Salman on Tuesday stepped in for the monarch and delivered an annual televised speech to the nation.

With The Saudi King Ailing, Succession Speculation Begins

8:47pm January 06, 2015

by Michele Kelemen

King Abdullah, who's at least 90, was hospitalized last week and Crown Prince Salman delivered an annual televised speech Tuesday. One analyst says the kingdom is stable, perhaps too much so.

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NPR's Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep interviews President Obama on Dec. 17 in the Oval Office, where they discussed U.S. involvement in the Middle East and the world as a whole.

Waiting For A Break: Obama On 'Strategic Patience' In Foreign Policy

10:22am January 05, 2015

by Steve Inskeep

"I believe in diplomacy, I believe in dialogue, I believe in engagement," the president says of Iran and other regimes perceived as U.S. enemies. But he says restoring relations is a gradual process.

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