2013年9月26日星期四

Yahoo! News: Iraq

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yahoo! News: Iraq


Diplomats hail new Iranian attitude in nuke talks

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 03:39 PM PDT

CORRECTS DATE TO THURSDAY, SEPT. 26, 2013 FROM WEDNESDAY - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif attend a meeting of the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany during the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States and the other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council said Thursday they were pleased by a new tone and attitude from Iran in talks aimed at resolving the impasse over its nuclear program and set a new round of negotiations for next month.


HOPEFUL SIGNS AUGUR WELL FOR NEW U.S.-IRAN RELATIONSHIP

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 03:30 PM PDT

WASHINGTON -- It is simply impossible to understand Iran today -- with its layer upon layer of advanced fanaticism -- without understanding the historic and spiritual chaos of 1978.Washington's favorite, the Shah of Iran, had been ruling since the early 1950s, when the United States and Britain overthrew Mohammad Mossadegh, a progressive reformer. To everyone's surprise, the Shah had been ruling Iran like an enlightened dictator. As the construction boom exploded in the cities, there were jobs everywhere for the village boys. Women were free. ...

GOP senator blocks Air Force nominee over aircraft

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 03:17 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Kelly Ayotte is blocking Senate action on President Barack Obama's nominee for Air Force secretary until she gets answers about the fate of the military's A-10 attack aircraft.

Interpol issues alert for British terror widow

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 02:10 PM PDT

Hanout photo of copy of fake South African travelling passport of Samantha LewthwaiteLONDON (AP) — The tabloids call her "the white widow," a British-born Muslim convert who was married to one of the suicide bombers in the 2005 attack on London's transit system. And for days now, the British media have been rife with speculation she took part in the terrorist takeover at a Nairobi shopping mall.


World powers edge closer to UN deal on Syria

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 01:27 PM PDT

US President Barack Obama greets other leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York on September 24, 2013Damascus (AFP) - UN Security Council members edged closer Thursday to a resolution reinforcing a US-Russian deal under which President Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime will hand over its chemical weapons.


Syria's other toll: cultural gems stolen, looted

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 01:20 PM PDT

New York City (AFP) - Besides killing more than 100,000 people, Syria's civil war is exacting another irreparable toll as historic sites and artworks are looted or destroyed in the fighting.

Arabs battle Syrian Kurds as Assad's foes fragment

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 12:38 PM PDT

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebels and al Qaeda-linked fighters clashed with Kurds in northern Syria on Thursday, activists said, in a battle for territory highlighting the country's descent towards sectarian and ethnic fiefdoms after two years of war. The heavy fighting in the town of Atma on the border with Turkey's Hatay province followed outbreaks of internecine conflict by rival rebel forces elsewhere, which have undermined their military campaign to topple President Bashar al-Assad. ...

Second al-Qaida commander dies in Syria infighting

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 11:49 AM PDT

A Syrian man walks among rubble of destroyed residential buildings minutes after an airstrike hit Habit village, in the Syrian central province of Hama, Wednesday, Sep. 25, 2013. (AP Photo)DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A local al-Qaida commander was killed Thursday in northern Syria in ongoing clashes with Kurdish militiamen, the second to die in a week of infighting between extremist and moderate rebel factions.


Syria’s Many Battlefields: Islamist Rebels Wage War Against the Kurds

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 11:29 AM PDT

Last Wednesday, when jihadi fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) captured Azaz, a Syrian town barely four miles from the Turkish border, alarm bells sounded in Ankara, Brussels and Washington. An al-Qaeda franchise had just set up shop on NATO's doorstep. But that was hardly the only flashpoint along the fractious Turkey-Syria border. About 170 miles east, jihadists have been laying siege to another key border crossing, Ras al-Ayn, for months.

Rouhani insists Iran doesn't want nuclear weapons

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 11:13 AM PDT

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said today that "no nation should possess nuclear weapons" and that any use of them would be a "crime against humanity."

Jihadists torch statues, crosses in Syria churches

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 10:36 AM PDT

Men ride a motorbike past the remains of a building on August 1, 2013 in front of Saint Elie Church in Qusayr, in Syria's central Homs provinceBeirut (AFP) - Jihadist fighters linked to Al-Qaeda set fire to statues and crosses inside churches in northern Syria on Thursday and destroyed a cross on a church clock tower, a watchdog said.


Islamist fighters in Syria shove US-friendly rebels aside

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 10:13 AM PDT

A new coalition of Islamist rebel factions in Syria is refusing to recognize a leading Syrian political opposition group, potentially dealing a major blow to Western efforts to hold a peace conference to end more than two years of bloodshed.

Russia offers to guard Syria arms destruction

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 09:23 AM PDT

In this image taken from Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013, video obtained from the Sham News Network, Syrian opposition fighters fire at government forces near Daraa customs in Daraa al-Balad, Syria. Russia offered on Thursday to provide troops to guard facilities where Syria's chemical weapons would be destroyed, as U.N. inspectors prepared to continue their probe on the use of such agents in the country's civil war. (AP Photo/Sham News Network via AP video)DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Russia offered on Thursday to provide troops to guard facilities where Syria's chemical weapons would be destroyed, as U.N. inspectors prepared to continue their probe on the use of such agents in the country's civil war.


Turkish security forces capture most Kurds who tunneled out of jail

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 07:32 AM PDT

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - All but one of the 18 Kurds who broke out of a prison by digging a 70-metre tunnel in southeastern Turkey have been caught, officials said. The escapees, who were either convicted of, or charged with having ties to the illegal Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), escaped on Wednesday from a prison outside the city of Bingol. The provincial governor released a statement saying 17 fugitives had been caught near the village of Ortacanak, which is a mountainous, wooded area about 16 km (10 miles) from Bingol, after security forces launched an operation. ...

Market blasts kill 22 in Baghdad area

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 06:52 AM PDT

An Iraqi boy inspects a burnt out vehicle the day after a bombing in the Sadr City district of Baghdad on September 22, 2103Baghdad (AFP) - Bombings hit two markets in Baghdad province on Thursday, killing at least 22 people, while gunmen shot dead five members of one family south of the Iraqi capital, officials said.


Russia to guard destruction of Syria chemical arms

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 06:35 AM PDT

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad meets Russian deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov in DamascusDAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Russia offered on Thursday to provide troops to guard facilities where Syria's chemical weapons would be destroyed, as U.N. inspectors prepared to continue their probe on the use of such agents in the country's civil war.


Bomb attacks at markets in, near Baghdad kill 23

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 04:22 AM PDT

BAGHDAD (AP) — Bombs ripped through outdoor markets in and near Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 23 people and wounding dozens, the latest in a deadly wave that has hit Iraq in recent months, officials said.

Mortar round kills one at Iraq consulate, Damascus

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 04:12 AM PDT

A street in the Shebaa district of Damascus, destroyed during the Syrian conflict, September 17, 2013Damascus (AFP) - An Iraqi woman was killed on Thursday when a mortar round slammed into Iraq's consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus, a diplomat told AFP.


Bahrain stung by Obama comment on sectarian tensions

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 04:08 AM PDT

Flames are seen on the road after anti-government protesters threw a Molotov cocktail at riot police during clashes in the village of MaqushaBy Yara Bayoumy DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain voiced disappointment with President Barack Obama's description of the kingdom as beset by sectarian tension, arguing its problem was with "terrorists" who fomented division. Bahrain has been rocked by almost daily clashes by members of the Shi'ite Muslim majority since February 2011, when it quelled a Shi'ite-led uprising demanding the Sunni al-Khalifa dynasty give up power. In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, Obama mentioned "efforts to resolve sectarian tensions that continue to surface in places like Iraq, Bahrain and Syria". ...


Special Report: Hezbollah gambles all in Syria

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 03:59 AM PDT

File picture shows soldiers loyal to the Syrian regime gesturing while on their military vehicle in the village of Debaa near QusairBy Samia Nakhoul BEIRUT (Reuters) - In the photograph the two robed men stand shoulder-to-shoulder, one tall and erect, the other more heavyset. Both smile for the camera. The picture from Tehran is a rare record of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meeting Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shi'ite paramilitary group. ...


Poor and desperate, Syrian refugees beg on Yemen's streets

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 03:54 AM PDT

A Syrian refugee holding a child begs on a main street in SanaaBy Yara Bayoumy SANAA/ADEN, Yemen (Reuters) - Fleeing the bloodshed and destruction of civil war in Syria, Yosra Mustafa and 15 members of her extended family crossed into Turkey, but found life there too expensive. They tried their luck with Jordan, but were refused entry. Lebanon came to nothing. Never would they have expected to end up in Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries, itself riven by Islamist insurgency, rebellion by a northern Shi'ite group and separatist unrest in the south. "There is nowhere else to go to now. ...


Bomb blasts in markets across Baghdad kill 23 people

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 03:10 AM PDT

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Bombs left inside busy markets in mainly Sunni Muslim districts of Baghdad killed at least 23 people on Thursday, police said. The deadliest attack took place in Saba'a al-Bour on the capital's northern outskirts, where three bombs killed at least 15 people. In the Doura district of southern Baghdad, a bomb exploded in another market, killing at least eight people, police said. Relations between Iraq's communities have come under acute strain from the civil war in neighboring Syria, where mainly Sunni rebels are fighting to overthrow a leader backed by Shi'ite Iran. ...

Bomb attacks at markets in, near Baghdad kill 21

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 02:42 AM PDT

BAGHDAD (AP) — Bombs ripped through outdoor markets in and near Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 21 people and wounding dozens, the latest in a deadly wave that has hit Iraq in recent months, officials said.

Turkish security forces recapture Kurds who tunneled out of jail

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 01:30 AM PDT

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - All 18 Kurds who broke out of a prison by digging a 70-metre tunnel in southeastern Turkey have been caught, officials said. The escapees, who were either convicted of, or charged with having ties to the illegal Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), escaped on Wednesday from a prison outside the city of Bingol. Security forces captured them in a mountainous, wooded area near the village of Ortacanak, some 16 km (10 miles) from Bingol, officials said. Four of the fugitives were in prison pending trial on charges of belonging to or aiding the PKK. ...

Bombing at Baghdad market kills 7 people

Posted: 26 Sep 2013 01:05 AM PDT

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say a bombing at an outdoor market in southern Baghdad has killed seven people, including two women.

Today in History

Posted: 25 Sep 2013 09:01 PM PDT

Today is Thursday, Sept. 26, the 269th day of 2013. There are 96 days left in the year.

Foreign weapons sent to rebels in Syria worry Iraq

Posted: 25 Sep 2013 06:39 PM PDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Iraq's top diplomat warned outside nations Wednesday not to send military aid to Syria's rebellion for fear they could assist jihadist groups that he said might have a role in a future government in Damascus.

Bahrain's Ambassador to the United States releases statement in response to President Obama's speech at the UN General Assembly

Posted: 25 Sep 2013 06:35 PM PDT

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Bahrain's Ambassador to the United States, Houda Nonoo, released the following statement on her blog in response to President Barack Obama's comments on Bahrain in his speech to the UN General Assembly:"Yesterday, as I listened to President Obama deliver his speech at the 68th session of the General Assembly, I was disappointed to hear him compare the situation in Bahrain to that of the current situation in Iraq and the unfolding tragedies in Syria. ...

Foreign weapons sent to Syrian rebels worry Iraq

Posted: 25 Sep 2013 05:33 PM PDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Iraq's foreign minister says outside nations should not supply weapons to any of Syria's rebels for fear they could fall into the hands of extremist or terror groups.
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