Alive Links.org

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Latest on the killings of two black men in Baton Rouge (all times local):

Tue, 19 Sep 2017 12:46:14 -0400

By Sarah Dadouch BEIRUT (Reuters) - Jihadists launched an offensive against government-held parts of northwestern Syria near Hama on Tuesday in their biggest attack there since March, triggering heavy air strikes on rebel territory, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. It said air strikes hit three hospitals, a medical center and premises used by a rescue service in rebel-held Idlib. A Syrian military source denied the report, saying only insurgent convoys and positions had been hit.

Tue, 19 Sep 2017 12:17:31 -0400

Donald Trump says that Iran is a “murderous regime” and that the nuclear deal negotiated by his predecessor with the country is an “embarrassment”. Mr Trump gave the harsh assessment of the Persian nation during his first address to the United Nations General Assembly as President. “The Iran deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the US has ever entered into,” Mr Trump said.

Tue, 19 Sep 2017 11:35:00 -0400

A German First World War U-boat has been found off the Belgian coast almost totally intact and with the bodies of all 23 sailors onboard. The U-Boat II was found lying on its starboard side at the bottom of the North Sea at a depth of 27 metres, close to the coastal resort of Ostend. At this stage, it is unclear whether the submarine was sunk by a mine, a British ship or a British plane. The find is the best preserved of its kind in the North Sea. Its exact location is being kept secret to discourage trophy hunters. Although a part of the submarine’s bow is missing, the torpedoes remain in place. The submarine hatches are closed, which indicates that the vessel has never been discovered before and that the crew of 22 sailors and one commander have remained onboard for about 100 years. Belgian authorities have informed the German ambassador and processes to identify the men and to protect the discovery have begun. The find, which came after underwater scans suggested there could be a wreck in Belgian waters, was confirmed today by the governor of West Flanders. The well-preserved wreck of a World War One German submarine.   Credit: Yves Herman /Reuters During the First World War, the German fleet in Flanders numbered 19 submarines. 15 of them sank, 11 of them in the North Sea.  Between 1915 and 1916 30 similar models to the wreck were made. Images of the wreck are not clear enough to give the number of the U-Boot. The Het Laatste Niews newspaper reported it could be U-Boot 27, 29 or 32. All three were sank in 1916 and 1917 by British ships and by a British plane. The most promising theory is that the submarine hit a mine tethered to the bottom of the sea by a cable. The wreck is 27 metres long and six metres wide. The U-Boot II model was a bigger, improved version of the type I U-Boot. The 270-ton submarine could dive to a maximum of 50 metres and disappear under the waves in 30 to 45 seconds. Compared to the earlier model, it had more electrical power and batteries that allowed it to stay submerged for longer. Bodies of soldiers from the First World War are still being discovered in Belgium on the battlefields of Flanders.  In 2013 archaelogists examined a German U-Boot II submarine, which had washed up on the Kent coast.  

Tue, 19 Sep 2017 11:28:43 -0400

Turkey escalated its opposition to a Kurdish independence referendum in northern Iraq on Tuesday, training tank guns and rocket launchers across the southern border and saying the break-up of its neighbors could lead to global conflict. Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli said in Ankara next Monday's vote posed a major risk and Turkey would take "every step" needed to thwart any similar steps in its mainly Kurdish southeast. Iraqi Kurdish authorities have defied growing international pressure to call off the vote, which Iraq's neighbors fear will fuel unrest among their own Kurdish populations.

Tue, 19 Sep 2017 11:06:07 -0400