Iraqis push toward IS-held Mosul in long-awaited offensive ADVERTISING Iraqis push toward IS-held Mosul in long-awaited offensive KHAZER, Iraq (AP) — The long-awaited offensive to retake Mosul from the Islamic State group began Monday with a volley of U.S.-led coalition
Iraqis push toward IS-held Mosul in long-awaited offensive
KHAZER, Iraq (AP) — The long-awaited offensive to retake Mosul from the Islamic State group began Monday with a volley of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and heavy artillery bombardments on a cluster of villages along the edge of Iraq’s historic Nineveh plain east of the militant-held city.
Iraq’s Kurdish peshmerga fighters led the initial assault, advancing slowly across open fields littered with booby-trapped explosives as plumes of black and orange smoke rose overhead — the opening phase of an unprecedented campaign expected to take weeks if not months, and involve more than 25,000 troops.
By the end of the day Kurdish forces had retaken some 200 square kilometers (80 square miles), according to the president of Iraq’s Kurdistan region. Peshmerga commanders on the ground estimated the offensive retook nine villages and pushed the frontline with IS back eight kilometers (five miles).
But the forces’ hold appeared fragile and the gains largely symbolic. Some of the villages were so small they comprised no more than a few dozen homes, and most were abandoned.
And though some troops were less than 30 kilometers (20 miles) from Mosul’s edges, it was unclear how long it would take to reach the city itself, where more than 1 million people still live. Aid groups have warned of a mass exodus of civilians that could overwhelm refugee camps.
FBI records: Effort to reduce Clinton email classification
WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior State Department official asked the FBI last year to help reduce the classification of an email from Hillary Clinton’s private server, according to FBI investigative files made public Monday. It was to be part of a bargain that would have allowed the FBI to deploy more agents in foreign countries, according to the files.
It was not immediately clear whether the State Department official or someone at the FBI first raised the prospect of a bargain over the email’s classification.
The bureau records, citing an FBI official whose name was censored, said Undersecretary for Management Patrick F. Kennedy sought assistance in exchange for a “quid pro quo.”
But the FBI said Monday it was the now-retired FBI official who first asked Kennedy about deploying more agents overseas. The State Department said the same.
The FBI ultimately rejected the idea, which would have allowed the State Department to archive a message related to the 2012 attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, in the basement of its Washington headquarters “never to be seen again,” according to the FBI files.
Amid talk of ‘rigged’ election, experts say fraud is rare
ATLANTA (AP) — Donald Trump has repeatedly warned of a “rigged” election, saying large-scale voter fraud is happening in the U.S. and suggesting it will affect the outcome of this year’s presidential race. There is no evidence that such widespread fraud exists.
Trump’s comments have alarmed voting rights experts and civil rights groups, who say they threaten to undermine faith in the nation’s elections. Meanwhile, House Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republicans are expressing confidence in the voting systems, while state election officials are saying they are committed to conducting fair and impartial elections.
It’s worth noting, too, that 29 of the nation’s secretaries of state are Republican.
Here’s a look at what Trump has been saying, along with historical data about voter fraud and what this could mean for Election Day.
State battles are hot; election isn’t just about White House
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Years of losses have left Democrats at historic lows in state legislatures. But now they’re seeking to wrest control of as many as a dozen chambers from Republicans, a key step in gaining more influence in redistricting.
The battle for statehouse control is playing out in more than half the states with tens of millions of dollars of planned political spending before the Nov. 8 general election. Democrats are hoping the turmoil surrounding Donald Trump’s presidential campaign can boost their fortunes in down-ballot races, although Hillary Clinton remains unpopular in many Republican-leaning regions.
“When you go district by district, when you look at where all these races are, we’re in a highly competitive environment,” said Matt Walter, president of the Republican State Leadership Committee.
“A volatile environment” is how it’s described by his counterpart Jessica Post, executive director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.
Money spent on TV advertising for state House and Senate races is up more than 50 percent compared with the same point in 2014, according to an analysis conducted for the Associated Press by the Center for Public Integrity of data from the media-tracking firm Kantar Media/CMAG.
Russia sets brief cease-fire for Aleppo as strikes kill 36
BEIRUT (AP) — Russian and Syrian forces will halt hostilities for eight hours in the eastern districts of Aleppo, Russia’s military announced on Monday, a day on which opposition activists said their airstrikes killed at least 36 people, including several children, in and around the divided city.
The two militaries will observe a “humanitarian pause” between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Oct. 20 to allow civilians and militants safe passage out of the city, Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of Russia’s general staff said in Moscow. Militants, the wounded and sick would be allowed to evacuate to the neighboring rebel-held province of Idlib.
U.N. humanitarian officials have pleaded with combatants to observe weekly 48-hour cease-fires to allow humanitarian relief into the city’s besieged eastern districts, but Russian and Syrian forces have only escalated their aerial and ground assault on the rebel-held areas in recent weeks. The airstrikes have claimed hundreds of lives, wounded many, flattened apartment buildings and laid waste to the already crippled medical sector.
But Russian and Syrian leaders are now capitalizing on a proposal made by the U.N.’s envoy earlier this month to allow al-Qaida-linked militants to leave in exchange for peace and local administration for the eastern districts.
Rebels in the east, along with many residents, spurned the proposition, citing their distrust of the government side. And Russia vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution mandating an immediate cease-fire.
