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WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time in the year-plus fight against Islamic State militants, the U.S. is putting American combat troops on the ground in a more permanent role in Iraq and Syria.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter told Congress on Tuesday that the U.S. military will deploy a new special operations force to Iraq to step up the fight against IS militants, who are unleashing violence and are determined to hold territory they have seized in Iraq and Syria. President Barack Obama previously announced he was sending fewer than 50 special operations forces to Syria.

The announcement of the new special operations force to Iraq comes as Republicans have called for more U.S. boots on the ground, while war-weary Americans stand divided about the prospect of greater military involvement.

Carter said the number in the new expeditionary force will be “larger” than 50.

According to a U.S. official, the force could total up to a couple hundred troops, including the assault teams, aviation units and other support units. It would likely be based in Irbil in northern Iraq. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the individual was not authorized to publicly discuss military planning.

Carter said the new force would focus on helping Iraq defend its borders and build its security forces, but also would be in position to conduct unilateral operations into Syria. Carter told the House Armed Services Committee that over time, the special operations force will be able to conduct raids, free hostages, gather intelligence and capture IS leaders. He said that will improve intelligence and generate more targets for attacks.

“This is an important capability because it takes advantage of what we’re good at. We’re good at intelligence, we’re good at mobility, we’re good at surprise,” Carter said. “We have the long reach that no one else has. And it puts everybody on notice in Syria. You don’t know at night who’s going to be coming in the window. And that’s the sensation that we want all of ISIL’s leadership and followers to have.”

Obama has set the maximum number of U.S. troops at 3,550, but it was not clear whether the president will increase that number to accommodate the new force, or whether the teams would have to be built within the current limit.

Carter, who testified alongside Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, updated lawmakers about U.S. actions in Iraq and Syria and the goal of helping local forces take the fight to IS.

They faced skeptical lawmakers who argued that the U.S. needs to be more forceful in countering the threat from IS, credited with attacks in Paris and Beirut and the downing of a Russian airliner.

Polling after the attacks in Paris and Beirut found Americans divided over sending U.S. ground troops to fight IS. A Gallup survey said 47 percent of Americans favored sending more ground troops to Iraq and Syria and 46 percent were opposed.

Republican Sen. John McCain called the move a “belated step forward” in the fight against IS. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy expressed concern about a possible mission creep, saying the “slow buildup of U.S. combat soldiers inside Syria and Iraq risks repeating the mistake of the Iraq War — believing that extremism can be defeated by U.S. troops absent local political and military capacity.”

Carter said the force might be American-only, but more likely would be mixed with Kurdish troops or others who are fighting the militants. He said the new force would conduct operations similar to two conducted earlier this year.

In October, U.S. special operations troops and Iraqi forces raided a compound in northern Iraq, freeing about 70 Iraqi prisoners who were facing execution. One U.S. service member was killed in the raid, the first American combat death in Iraq since the U.S. began its campaign against IS in August 2014. In May, a Delta Force raid in Syria killed IS financier Abu Sayyaf, yielding intelligence about the group’s structure and finances. His wife, held in Iraq, has been cooperating with interrogators.

Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, the chairman of the committee, said the U.S. military effort must be bolstered and directed by the military and not “White House aides micromanaging” military operations.

“If we’re going to be serious about ISIS, the president needs to assign the military a clear mission and then allow the military to carry it out,” Thornberry said, using another acronym for the militant network.

Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the top Democrat on the committee, said the group needs to be defeated, not just contained. He said IS gains strength by claiming to be fighting against Western aggression. “If all we have is Western aggression, we will never win,” he said.

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Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor and Robert Burns contributed to this report.

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Helsinki (AFP) – Shareholders in Finnish telecom group Nokia are widely expected to approve the company’s acquisition of French-American rival Alcatel-Lucent at an extraordinary general meeting in Helsinki on Wednesday.

Once the world’s top mobile phone maker, Nokia hopes the merger will help it become the world’s number one network equipment and service provider, with a combined revenue of nearly 25 billion euros ($26.5 billion).

Nokia called its shareholders to authorise the deal after it had obtained all necessary regulatory approvals for the deal last month, mainly from the United States, France and China.

The meeting was to begin at 1400 GMT.

Equity strategist Kristian Tammela at Nordea Wealth Management saw little risk of the transaction being rejected by Nokia’s shareholders.

“I don’t think anyone expects anything other than for the decision to be passed swiftly in good order. I expect it to be … a piece of cake,” Tammela told AFP.

After the approval, the last remaining step for the Finnish group is to conclude its public exchange offer, under which it has asked Alcatel-Lucent’s shareholders to swap their stakes, offering 0.55 Nokia shares for each Alcatel-Lucent share.

The acquisition will allow Nokia to expand from telecoms networks to Internet networks and ‘cloud’ services to better compete with its global rivals, the Swedish group Ericsson and Huawei of China.

“The combined company would lead in key geographies like North America and China… Our innovation capabilities will be massive, with an annual spending of 4.7 billion euros ($5 billion),” Nokia chief executive Rajeev Suri said in mid-November.

Analysts view the deal positively.

“In our opinion it makes sense. Of course every transaction has its difficulties and it won’t be easy but clearly it will bring the benefits of size,” Nordea’s Tammela said.

Nokia hopes to close the deal in the first quarter of 2016.

This year Nokia has recovered from the financial woes it suffered after failing to adapt to the rapid rise of smartphones, which ended with it selling its unprofitable handset division to Microsoft two years ago.

The reformation is not Nokia’s first. In its 150 years of existence, the company has redefined itself numerous times before, from a pulp, rubber and cable manufacturer to a television, computer and mobile phone maker.

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NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — A suburban Oklahoma City police officer picked up an unusual subject found wandering along a rural road.

Norman police Officer Kyle Canaan says it took a little pushing, pulling and some animal feed, but he got the miniature donkey nicknamed “Squishy” into the back of his patrol car and out of harm’s way Tuesday morning.

Canaan responded after a woman found the animal on the loose. She told local media she had a pen to keep the donkey in but no way to get it there.

The officer tells TV station KFOR the animal fit perfectly in his vehicle. He says, “I rolled the window down for it.”

The woman who found Squishy says if an owner doesn’t come forward, she plans to keep the donkey.

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De La Rue, the world’s biggest banknote supplier, is slashing its capacity from 8 billion notes a year to 6 billion.

The company said it would close four of its 8 production lines, and cut up to 300 jobs, to save around £13 million ($19.5 million).

De La Rue is struggling with falling profit margins and an increase in mobile internet-based payments, such as Apple Pay, taking over from cash.

Martin Sutherland, De La Rue’s chief executive, said: “Today we are announcing plans to achieve a more streamlined De La Rue, in line with the future needs of our global customers, focused on centres for excellence with investment that underpins our future.”

The move to cut cash production comes as economists begin to debate eliminating paper money altogether. It’s all down to negative interest rates. 

Central banks, particularly in Sweden and Switzerland, have targeted negative interest rates as a way to turn savers into spenders and get the economy moving. The logic goes that by making people pay interest to banks for keeping deposits, they’ll change their behaviour and spend it instead.

The only problem is that anyone can escape having to pay money on savings by taking it all out in the form of cash and hiding it in a shoe box somewhere, making the negative interest rate policy less effective.

The Bank of England’s Andy Haldane and European Central Bank’s Benoit Coeure have both identified cash as a problem for central banks wanting to push the boundaries of monetary policy.

Cash is also increasingly being seen as the payment system of choice for criminals and tax evaders. Harvard University’s Ken Rogoff argued this in a 2014 paper.

So, while De La Rue battles the rise of technology, there may be a bigger problem for bank notes and cash looming beyond that.

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When the leader of Britain’s opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, surprised his own Labour party by writing a public letter about how he is opposed to air strikes against ISIS (also known as the Islamic State) in Syria — it had a massive impact on his approval ratings.

Although Corbyn eventually gave his party a free vote, instead of whipping around to make sure everyone voted the same way, the impact was so “serious” that the latest YouGov poll, commissioned by The Times newspaper, showed that 65% of respondents think that he is “doing badly” as a leader. Only 24% think he is doing well.

His approval rating has almost halved since November 17.

“Many have been critical of Jeremy Corbyn for prioritising the views of Labour members over those who voted Labour in 2015, and for writing to MPs setting out his opposition to bombing Syria before the shadow cabinet had finalised its stance. This has had a serious impact on his approval rating,” added the polling house in a statement.

Look how terrible the slide is in his approval ratings — and he’s only been the leader of the Labour party since September:

Do not underestimate how terrible the polling results are.

YouGov pointed out that even Corbyn’s predecessor, Ed Miliband, “enjoyed better ratings than Jeremy Corbyn currently does for 15 months after the 2010 Labour leadership election.”

“Corbyn now has a net negative approval rating even among those who voted Labour in 2015 (-6, down from +27 in November),” said YouGov.

Meanwhile Britain’s Prime Minister and the leader of the Conservative party David Cameron is sitting pretty compared to Corbyn.

“Cameron has a neutral rating among the general public with 47% saying he is doing well and 47% saying he is doing badly, and our most recent voting intention figures have the Conservatives on 41% to Labour’s 30%,” said YouGov. “This lead of 11 is a four point improvement on the general election result.”

This in turn has boosted voting intentions:

Britain’s parliament will decide today whether it will launch a bombing campaign against ISIS in Syria.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who stepped up pressure for air strikes after last month’s Paris attacks, will lead the House of Commons into more than 10 hours of debate on joining the US-led international military action. The debate will start at 11.30 a.m. GMT while the vote on whether Britain will launch air strikes will be at 10 p.m. GMT.

Here are the latest air strike approval numbers within each party, according to YouGov:

Meanwhile, while the public support for a bombing in Syria is sliding, but it is still in the majority:

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BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s prime minister says his country’s forces are capable of defeating the Islamic State group without the help of foreign combat forces.

Haider al-Abadi’s statement late Tuesday came hours after U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter told Congress that a new special operations force will be deployed to Iraq to step up fighting against IS. The militant group controls a wide swath of Iraq and neighboring Syria.

Al-Abadi said his country needs training, weapons and advice from the International community and not “foreign forces fighting on Iraqi soil.” He added that such a move needs his government’s approval and full coordination.

Carter told the House Armed Services Committee that over time the special operations force will be able to conduct raids, free hostages, gather intelligence and capture IS leaders.

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RENO, Nev. (AP) — A Nevada hospital where a college student has been on life support since doctors declared her brain dead more than six months ago wants a judge to order new tests — over the objections of her father, who insists she’s alive and doesn’t want to pull the plug.

The case returns to Washoe County District Court on Wednesday after the Nevada Supreme Court overturned a ruling by a family court judge who decided in July that Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Reno could disconnect Aden Hailu from a ventilator and IV tube.

In unanimously granting Hailu’s father’s appeal, the high court on Nov. 16 directed Judge Frances Doherty to hold hearings on whether American Association of Neurology brain death guidelines cited by hospital doctors conform with Nevada’s Determination of Death Act and effectively determine whether she is legally dead or alive.

“Aden is alive, under both the AAN guidelines and Nevada state law,” said David O’Mara, the lawyer representing Fanuel Gebreyes, the Las Vegas father of the 20-year-old University of Nevada, Reno, freshman.

Hailu was hospitalized April 1 after complaining of stomach pain. She suffered severe low blood pressure and a lack of oxygen to the brain during surgery to remove her appendix and explore the cause of abdominal pain, and she never awoke from anesthesia, according to court documents.

Electroencephalogram, or EEG, tests conducted in early April showed brain function. But hospital doctors concluded May 28 that Hailu couldn’t breathe on her own without a ventilator, and they declared her brain dead, the documents said.

“It was Saint Mary’s administrators and lawyers who determined Aden’s death,” O’Mara said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “We should err on the side that this person is alive.”

The hospital had agreed to continue life support pending an appeal of Doherty’s refusal to grant a temporary injunction sought be Hailu’s father.

William Peterson, lead lawyer for the hospital and its parent Prime Healthcare Services, filed documents Nov. 25 asking Doherty to force the father to show why he should not be required to consent to another EEG.

The hospital attorney accused Gebreyes of trying “to avoid a prompt and timely testing of brain functions so as to delay a prompt and timely determination of death.”

Peterson said Gebreyes has insisted instead that his daughter be given thyroid medication and a tracheostomy so she can receive nutrition through her throat, not just fluids through an IV.

Gebreyes has declined to comment ahead of Wednesday’s status hearing.

“Aden needs treatment, not tests of her brain,” he wrote in a Nov. 20 letter to the hospital that he demanded be attached to her patient chart. “The Nevada Supreme Court ruled … that Aden Hailu is alive.”

O’Mara said in a Nov. 23 letter to the hospital that until Hailu is “given the opportunity to begin the healing process with a minimum of a tracheostomy, proper nutrition and thyroid medication, Saint Mary’s does not have consent to perform any EEG or brain vascular flow studies.”

“Prior to brain death even being determined, the doctor had recommended a tracheostomy,” O’Mara told the Associated Press. “That was not done because the hospital administrator and attorney already had gotten involved in the case. … For almost eight months, she has had a tube in her throat. She needs that tracheostomy immediately.”

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Associated Press writer Ken Ritter in Las Vegas contributed to this report

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MARYSVILLE, Wash. (AP) — Moving her finger over the laptop trackpad, 6-year-old Lauren Meek drags and drops a block of code to build a set of instructions. She clicks the “run” button and watches as the character moves through a maze. She then pumps her fist in excitement.

“Yes! This is so easy,” says Meek, a kindergartener at Marshall Elementary in Marysville, north of Seattle.

This fall, most elementary school students in the Marysville School District are getting 40-minute weekly computer science lessons as part of their core instruction — part of a growing effort nationwide to expose more public school children to computer science, even as early as in kindergarten.

Backed by technology leaders, nonprofits and companies, schools in New York, San Francisco and other cities have committed to offer computer science to students in all grade levels. Chicago also says computer science will eventually become a high school requirement.

Supporters say it’s not just about learning how to code, but learning how computers work. They say computer science teaches kids to think logically, be creative and exposes them early to the technology that will drive their future.

“In the 21st century, computer science is just as foundational as biology, chemistry,” said Hadi Partovi, founder and CEO of Code.org, a Seattle-based national nonprofit that works to expand access to computer science and increase participation by women and minorities.

The group is also behind a campaign to get millions of students to participate in an “Hour of Code,” which takes place next week.

Bringing computer science into the schools ensures that everyone has an opportunity to become digitally literate, said Yasmin Kafai, a professor of learning sciences at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education.

“We’re not talking about turning everybody into a computer programmer or computer scientist,” said Kafai. “It’s a basic literacy.”

Learning computer science also opens the door to high-demand jobs. By 2020, 4.6 million of 9.2 million science, technology, engineering and math jobs will be in computing, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Jim Taylor, author of “Raising Generation Tech,” says there’s no evidence at this point that coding or computational learning works or is even needed. Kids don’t need to learn how to use digital technology at such a young age either, he added.

“Technology is the solution du jour for all our education problems. The problem is that technology emerges so quickly and gains traction that we don’t have time to examine its efficacy or ramifications,” Taylor said.

Computer science doesn’t enjoy the benefits of other disciplines, including agreed-upon standards or robust assessments to measure learning, said Jeanne Century, director of Outlier Research & Evaluation at the University of Chicago’s Center for Elementary Mathematics and Science Education.

But it’s the same argument as for science and math, she said. There are practical issues, such as more jobs requiring computer science. “Just as important is the fact that computing is everywhere in our lives. It’s pervasive all around us. We need to understand computing.”

One of the challenges is finding enough well-prepared teachers. Among other efforts, an initiative of the National Science Foundation is seeking to have 10,000 well-trained computer science teachers in thousands of high schools.

Currently, computer science is taught in only about one of four high schools nationwide with fewer in lower middle and elementary school grades. And only 27 states allow a computer science course to be counted toward graduation requirements in math or science, according to Code.org.

But there’s been a surge in interest in recent years. In 2015, nearly 49,000 students took the Advanced Placement exam in computer science, a 25 percent increase from the previous year.

“Colleges are saying, ‘there’s an incredible demand, we’d like to see more students become better prepared when they get here’,” said Terry Redican, vice president of Advanced Placement program at The College Board.

A new AP computer science principles course debuts next fall. That exam is designed to be multidisciplinary, focused on real-world applications and aimed at increasing representation among women and underrepresented minorities.

At Marshall Elementary, where more than half the students are low-income, principal Kelly Sheward embraces computer science as an opportunity. “It’s access that we didn’t previously have,” and ensures the kids will be prepared as their peers for the digital future, she said.

During a recent lesson using Code.org curriculum, teacher Sheena York asks a class of fifth-graders to identify the pattern in the computer puzzle and solve it in using the fewest steps. She urges them to try different strategies, test their work as they go along and ask each other for help.

“I’m figuring this out piece by piece to see if this works,” said Isiah Gibbs, 10. “That doesn’t work. So I’ll try something else.”

In the lower grades, students may learn about algorithms, or a set of instructions, such steps in a baking recipe. Older students may write programs that create a game or interactive story. Many lessons don’t involve computers, and math and other concepts are integrated into the lesson, York said.

“It’s almost as important as reading and math,” said fifth-grade teacher Hank Palmer.

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Disney just launched its first virtual reality “experience” to tie in with the launch of the upcoming “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” movie.

It features the show’s iconic title sequence — and the Millennium Falcon being pursued by fighters.

The movie studio and Google have teamed up to release a series of virtual reality “experiences” based on the sci-fi blockbusters series, the companies announced earlier in November. They are being developed by Lucasfilm lab ILMxLAB.

You watch the experience using Google Cardboard, Google’s DIY virtual reality headset made of — you guessed it — cardboard. It works on both Android and iOS. Access the experience itself using the official Star Wars app: Download the Android version here, or the iOS version here. You watch it using Google Cardboard, Google’s DIY virtual reality headset made out of — you guessed it — cardboard.

In the US, you can pick up a special version of Cardboard from Verizon shops starting from today. Alternately, you can get one directly from Google or its partners. It will work on both iOS and Android.

If you don’t have a Google Cardboard headset, that’s not a problem. There’s also an option to view it as a regular video, moving the phone to see from different angles.

The first experience — named “Jakku Spy” — went live at 8AM GMT on Wednesday morning. The roughly minute-long clip features Star Wars’ iconic title sequence and the Millennium Falcon being pursued over the desert world Jakku by fighters. It appears to be the same chase scene seen in an earlier trailer for the movie.

It’s the first in a series of these experiences — 8 more are still to come, with the next dropping two days from now.

The VR project is one of a number of tie-ins between Google and Disney ahead of the new movies. Google users can also choose a special theme for their apps based on either the Light or Dark Side, and Easter eggs have been littered through Google’s products.

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” opens in cinemas on December 17.

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London-focused house builder Telford Homes has a pretty simple strategy — build normal houses in outer London areas where normal people can actually afford to live.

And that strategy is paying off handsomely. The builder released its half-year report on Wednesday, showing:

• Revenue more than doubled from £65 million ($98 million) to £139.5 million ($210.3 million);
• Pre-tax profit more than doubled from £9.4 million ($14.2 million) to £20.9 million ($31.5 million);
• Margins “in excess of the Group’s target levels.”

The reason for the booming business? London’s housing crisis. Telford CEO Jon Di-Stefano says in the update: “A fundamental lack of supply of homes in London is contributing to strong demand for our properties in non-prime locations.”

While activity at the top end of London’s property market is slowing due to factors like an increase in Stamp Duty, London’s sub-£1 million ($1.5 million) housing market — amazingly, what passes for affordable these days — is booming. This is where prices are rising fastest due to a chronic lack of supply.

That rocketing demand is why, despite rising sales and building costs, Telford is able to more than double revenues and profit from where it was a year ago.

Telford builds homes worth between £500 ($753) and £800 ($1,206) per square foot< ;and has seen booming demand in East London areas like Stratford, Whitechapel, and Limehouse.

Telford is also basing its 5-year growth strategy on the housing crisis, saying:

London still suffers from an acute shortage of homes compared to current need, let alone future population growth, and it is clear that any increase in supply needs to be in areas where tenants and owner-occupiers can actually afford to live. The imbalance between supply and demand in the Group’s typical locations is the primary driver of the Board’s plans to increase the number of homes that Telford Homes is building over the next few years.

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