Beijing faces defiance in Hong Kong on vote reform - SFGate

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong pro-democracy legislators have disrupted a Beijing official's speech as he sought to explain a decision to tightly limit voting reforms for the southern Chinese financial hub.They chanted slogans and held up placards accusing China's central government of "breaking its promise" to let Hong Kong directly elect its leader.The noisy demonstration at the start of Li Fei's address was a rare occasion on which a Beijing official...

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Iraqi forces, US strikes break ISIS siege on northern Shiite town - New York Daily News

JM LOPEZ/EPA Peshmerga fighters fire a cannon at Islamic State positions during heavy clashes in Duz-Khurmatu, Iraq, on Sunday. The Iraqi military retook control of the northern town of Amirli from ISIS militants, who had besieged it for nearly two months. Iraqi security forces and a coalition of militiamen on Sunday broke a six-week siege imposed by the Islamic State terror army on a northern Iraqi village, amid mounting criticism over the Obama...

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China Restricts Voting Reforms for Hong Kong - New York Times

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Iraqi forces, US strikes break ISIS siege on northern Shiite town - New York Daily News

JM LOPEZ/EPA Peshmerga fighters fire a cannon at Islamic State positions during heavy clashes in Duz-Khurmatu, Iraq, on Sunday. The Iraqi military retook control of the northern town of Amirli from ISIS militants, who had besieged it for nearly two months. Iraqi security forces and a coalition of militiamen on Sunday broke a six-week siege imposed by the Islamic State terror army on a northern Iraqi village, amid mounting criticism over the Obama...

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Hong Kong pro-democracy activists heckle China official day after vote ruling - Reuters

By Clare JimHONG KONG Sun Aug 31, 2014 10:59pm EDT 1 of 8. Pro-democracy lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung is blocked by security guards as he protests against Li Fei (not pictured), deputy general secretary of the National People's Congress (NPC) standing committee, as Li speaks on the podium during a briefing session in Hong Kong September 1, 2014.Credit: Reuters/Bobby Yip HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong pro-democracy activists heckled a senior...

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Obama Needs New Strategy to Defeat Islamic State, Lawmakers Say - Businessweek

Lawmakers expressed support for stronger U.S. action against extremists in Iraq and Syria, with both Democrats and Republicans calling on President Barack Obama to formulate a more aggressive strategy against the group known as Islamic State.“I think it’s very, very serious. We have to have a strategy to deal with it in Syria and Iraq, in this new caliphate, and to prevent that caliphate from expanding,” Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat,...

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Israel claims West Bank land for possible settlement use, draws US rebuke - Reuters

By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM Sun Aug 31, 2014 7:02pm EDT 1 of 4. Israeli women walk in a Jewish settlement known as 'Gevaot', in the Etzion settlement bloc, near Bethlehem August 31, 2014. Israel announced on Sunday a land appropriation in the occupied West Bank that an anti-settlement group termed the biggest in 30 years and a Palestinian official said would cause only more friction after the Gaza war. Some 400 hectares (988 acres) in the Etzion...

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Israel seizes land in West Bank block - The Globe and Mail

Israel on Sunday laid claim to nearly 1,000 acres of West Bank land in a Jewish settlement block near Bethlehem – a step that could herald significant Israeli construction in the area – defying Palestinian demands for a halt in settlement expansion and challenging world opinion.Peace Now, an Israeli group that opposes the construction of settlements in the West Bank, said that the action Sunday might be the largest single appropriation of West Bank...

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Choosing between Hezbollah and the Islamic State - Haaretz

Although Islamic State’s homepage declared that the organization, along with other opposition groups, had taken over the Quneitra crossing between Syria and Israel on the Golan Heights, and even though its flag was hoisted nearby, IS isn’t there yet. Rather, it is the Nusra Front, along with the Syria Revolutionaries Front – an alliance of a dozen Islamist organizations working together with the Free Syrian Army – that control the border crossing.This...

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Hong Kong Group Vows Fight Over China 'Puppet' Poll Plan - Bloomberg

Protest leaders in Hong Kong vowed to start an era of civil disobedience that may bring chaos to one of the world’s financial capitals after they accused China of betraying its promise to deliver greater democracy.The activist group Occupy Central With Love and Peace said the time for negotiation had passed and it will carry out its threat to stage a mass occupation of Hong Kong’s financial district, without specifying a date.China, which seven years...

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China Limits Hong Kong Vote - Wall Street Journal

Updated Aug. 31, 2014 8:16 p.m. ETChina's government ruled that candidates for Hong Kong's top leadership post must be approved by a committee heavily loyal to Beijing, providing a clear demarcation of how far it will allow democracy to proceed in the territory.The decree capped months of blunt reminders from Beijing of who is in charge in the former British colony, and quickly drew ire from pro-democracy voices in Hong Kong, who have threatened...

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Obama's 'cautious' approach on ISIS is panned - CNN

Sen. Dianne Feinstein says Obama's approach to ISIS might be "too cautious"Republicans insist the threat ISIS poses to the U.S. is immediateObtaining intelligence about ISIS from war-torn Syria has been difficult, Democrats say(CNN) -- After President Barack Obama said he didn't yet have a strategy for ISIS in Syria, even a Democrat on Sunday criticized the President's approach to fighting the extremist terror group.There's been the expected GOP...

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