Washington, November 8
President Barack Obama has approved sending up to 1,500 more troops to Iraq, roughly doubling the number of US forces on the ground helping Iraqi and Kurdish forces battle the militant group Islamic State, US officials said on Friday.

Obama's decision greatly expands the scope of the US campaign and the geographic distribution of American forces, some of whom will head into Iraq's fiercely contested western Anbar province for the first time to act as advisers.

It also raises the stakes in Obama's first interactions with Congress after his Democratic Party was thumped by Republicans in mid-term elections this week. The White House said it would ask Congress for $1.6 billion for a new "Iraq Train and Equip Fund" and billions more for operations to battle the group.

Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said those funds would need to be approved before the first additional forces head to Iraq, something one official speculated could happen in just weeks.

"(Iraqi forces are) going on the offence now. And what this is designed to do is to help them continue to be able to do that, to improve their capability and their competence on the battlefield," Kirby said, stressing no American ground forces will take on combat roles.

Alarmed by the advance of Islamic State militants across Iraq, Obama began sending non-combatant troops back to Iraq in the summer for the first time since he withdrew US forces from the country in 2011.

At the time of the withdrawal, the Pentagon boasted of Iraqi military capabilities. But Iraqi forces crumbled in the face of Islamic State's offensive, exposing the toll sectarian strains and mismanagement took on the military.

Officials denied the new US troop buildup amounted to "mission creep" and said it was justified partly because of new Iraqi Shia Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's efforts to reach out to Sunni tribesmen and new calls from Iraq's most senior Shi'ite cleric to rush to the Sunni tribes' aid.

About 1,400 US troops are now on the ground, just below the previous limit of 1,600 troops. The new authorization gives the US military the ability to deploy up to 3,100 troops. — Reuters

The Pentagon plan The Pentagon said it planned to establish several sites across the country to train nine Iraqi army brigades and three brigades of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters The training will focus on tasks such as battlefield leadership, tactical organisation, logistics and intelligence matters. About 870 of the additional US troops would be involved in "hands-on training" and the remaining 630 or so will help establish "advise and assist" operations centers

Washington, November 8
Within days of Republicans gaining hold of the US Congress, the White House and Grand Old Party leadership appeared to be headed for confrontation over the crucial immigration reforms.

The White House yesterday said that President Obama is all set to take executive actions before the year-end to fix the broken immigration reform.

"The President made a promise that he's going to ask on immigration reform before the end of the year, and that's exactly what he's going to do," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.

He, however, did not give any details of the forthcoming executive actions.

An estimated 11.7 million illegal immigrants, including several thousand Indians, were living in the US currently.

The Republican leadership, however, warned the White House against any such move.

Issuing a stern warning, Speaker of the House of Representative John Boehner said "Obama is going to burn himself" and "poison the well" if he goes down that path.

"The Speaker warned that unilateral action by the President on executive amnesty will erase any chances of doing immigration reform and will also make it harder for Congress and the White House to work together successfully on other areas where there might otherwise be common ground," said a statement issued by his office after Boehner met Obama yesterday. — PTI

Beijing, November 8
China and Pakistan today inked 20 agreements amounting to Chinese investment reportedly worth about $46 billion, as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held wide-ranging talks with the leadership here.

Sharif, who is here to take part in the neighbourhood leaders conference being organised by China on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders meeting, held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.

Terming China and Pakistan as "iron friends", Xi, told Sharif that the two countries will continue to support each other and strengthen cooperation. "Iron friends" is a term used in China to mean trustworthy friends whose friendship is as solid as iron.

Besides issues related to China's concerns over terrorist attacks in Xinjiang with militants infiltration from across the border in Pakistan, the two leaders discussed the emerging situation in Afghanistan in view of the US plans to pullout its troops from the war-torn country. — PTI

China pledges $40 bn for Silk Road plan Chinese President Xi Jinping today committed $40 billion to give a push to the country's mega plan aimed at reviving the ancient Silk Road The goal of the fund is to ‘break the connectivity bottleneck’ in Asia, said Xi at the summit attended by leaders of Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan and Tajikistan.

Ayotzinapa, November 8
Mexico was confronted today with possibly one of the grisliest massacres in years of drug violence after gang suspects confessed to incinerating the bodies of 43 missing students and dumping them in a river.

The disappearance of the students six weeks ago has gripped Mexico. Gang-linked police attacked the young men in the southern state of Guerrero on September 26, in violence that left six other persons dead.

The confessions may have brought a tragic end to the mystery, which has sparked international outrage and triggered protests in the biggest crisis of President Enrique Pena Nieto's administration.

But at the young men's Ayotzinapa teacher-training college, exhausted parents of the victims refuse to accept they are dead until DNA tests confirm their identities, saying the government has repeatedly fed them lies.

In taped confessions, the suspects said they bundled the 43 in the back of two trucks, took them to a nearby landfill, killed them and used fuel, wood, tires and plastic to burn their bodies for 14 hours. — AFP

New York, November 8
Hundreds of Sikhs protested outside the United Nations headquarters here demanding justice in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case even as a report on the killings and human rights abuses against the community was presented to the world body.

Victims of the 1984 riots met with officials of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) here yesterday, sharing evidence and documentary evidence about riots that followed the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The victims also told Human Rights Officer Stenfano Sensi of OHCHR about the alleged role of Congress leaders in the riots while hundreds of Sikhs from North America rallied outside the UN Headquarters on the 30th anniversary of the anti-Sikh riots.

Rights group 'Sikhs For Justice' (SFJ) submitted a report titled 'November 1984 Sikh Genocide' to Sensi for submission to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

According to attorney Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal advisor to SFJ, "First time in 30 years UN afforded an opportunity to the victims of November 1984 to present in person testimony and evidence to show that violence against Sikhs was genocidal in nature".

"The facts and evidence presented to the Human rights Commission proves that 1984 violence is Genocide as per article 2 of the Genocide Convention," added Pannun. During the conversations, survivors of the riots Gurdeep Kaur and Jasbir Singh shared their experiences. — PTI

New York, November 8
Selfie has recently made its way into the dictionary, but the world's first known self-portrait was taken 175 years ago by an American photographer. In 1839, amateur chemist and photography enthusiast Robert Cornelius, then 30 years old, had created what is believed to be the first photographic self-portrait.

He had set up his camera at the back of his father's shop in Philadelphia, removed the lens cap, ran into the frame and sat stock still for five minutes before running back and replacing the lens cap.

He wrote on the back of the photo: "The first light picture ever taken. 1839."

Cornelius, son of a Dutch immigrant, had developed an interest in Chemistry at school and after leaving school, he worked for his father specialising in silver plating and metal polishing, Mashable reported.

He made a silver daguerrotype plate for the photographer Joseph Saxton, which sparked his interest in the field of photography.

Following the self-portrait, Cornelius became a photographer specialising in portraits, but he only operated for about two years before returning to his father's lamp business.

He managed it for 20 years and held many patents for improved lamp designs. In fact, the business became the largest lighting company in America. Cornelius retired in 1877 as a wealthy man. He died in 1893, aged 84. — PTI

Moscow, November 8
Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov said today that US involvement in resolving the conflict in Ukraine would be a "step in the right direction", after meeting with his US counterpart John Kerry in Beijing.

Lavrov's remarks appeared to soften Russia's line on the crisis ahead of high-level meetings between President Vladimir Putin and world leaders at an APEC summit in China and a Group of 20 summit in Australia next week.

"Our positions on what is happening in Ukraine do not correspond with the United States, but if Washington is interested in contributing to the reconciliation of the situation and creating dialogue between Kiev and the rebel leadership... I think that would be a step in the right direction," the Russian foreign minister said in comments shown on state television. — AFP