Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• About 40 percent of Syrians need humanitarian aid: U.N.
• Iraq VP sets parliamentary poll for April 30
• UN: Private security to earn $244B by 2016
• Iraq passes election law after weeks of debate
• Inside Iran: ABC News Goes Inside The' Den of Spies'
• U.S. military doctors abetted prisoner abuse, study says
• Shootings, bombings kill 12 in Iraq
• For Obama, a sudden struggle with personal appeal
• Iran Guards commander killed in Syria: reports
• Five Best Monday Columns
• Syria Kurds rout jihadists across northeast: monitor
• Syria government vows to vaccinate all children
• Syrian government says aid, vaccinations will reach all
• 13 dead in north Iraq violence
• Four extra sites opened to search for U.S. troops missing in Vietnam
• Iran Revolutionary Guards commander killed in Syria
• Suicide bombing in Syrian village kills 6
• Bahrain jails four for life, six to 15 years for Iran-linked cell
• Elusive Al-Qaida leader in Syria stays in shadows

About 40 percent of Syrians need humanitarian aid: U.N. Posted: 04 Nov 2013 02:11 PM PST By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations estimates that around 9.3 million people in Syria or about 40 percent of the population need humanitarian assistance due to the country's 2-1/2-year, the U.N. humanitarian office said on Monday. "The humanitarian situation in Syria continues to deteriorate rapidly and inexorably," U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos told the U.N. Security Council behind closed doors, according to her spokeswoman Amanda Pitt. "The number of people we estimate to be in need of humanitarian assistance in Syria has now risen to some 9.3 million," Pitt said, summarizing Amos' remarks to the 15-nation council. "Of them, 6.5 million people are displaced from their homes, within the country." The population of Syria is around 23 million.

Iraq VP sets parliamentary poll for April 30 Posted: 04 Nov 2013 01:57 PM PST Iraq will hold a general election on April 30 after lawmakers agreed on polling regulations Monday, setting a marker that officials hope could end political deadlock fuelling a surge in violence. The poll will come amid concern that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has amassed too much power, and criticism from voters over rampant corruption, poor basic services and high unemployment despite swelling government coffers thanks to rising oil exports. Khuzaie is standing in for President Jalal Talabani, who has been in Germany for nearly a year receiving treatment for a stroke. The parliamentary election would be the first national poll since March 2010, and comes amid prolonged political deadlock, long-standing disputes within the national unity government and a months-long spike in violence.

UN: Private security to earn $244B by 2016 Posted: 04 Nov 2013 01:28 PM PST The private military and security business is growing by 7.4 percent a year and on track to become a $244 billion global industry by 2016, the U.N.'s expert on mercenaries reported Monday. The United States ...

Iraq passes election law after weeks of debate Posted: 04 Nov 2013 01:18 PM PST Iraqi lawmakers passed a new election law on Monday after weeks of debate, paving the way for polls to be held next year and allaying fears that they would be delayed due to deteriorating security. The parliamentary election is seen as a crucial test for Iraq, the world's number four oil exporter last year according to OPEC, which has suffered from political deadlock and violent instability since the departure of U.S. forces in December 2011. Vice President Kudhair al-Khuzaie issued a decree on Monday setting April 30 as the date for the parliamentary election. U.S. President Barack Obama urged Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during a visit to Washington last week to secure approval of the law and hold free and fair elections next year "so people can resolve differences through politics instead of violence".

Inside Iran: ABC News Goes Inside The' Den of Spies' Posted: 04 Nov 2013 12:09 PM PST ABC News Correspondent Muhammad Lila Reports from Iran This Week

U.S. military doctors abetted prisoner abuse, study says Posted: 04 Nov 2013 12:06 PM PST By Jane Sutton MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. military doctors violated medical ethics by collaborating in the abuse of prisoners during interrogations after the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, an independent study concluded on Monday. "These practices included designing, participating in, and enabling torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of detainees," concluded the study by the Task Force on Preserving Medical Professionalism in National Security Detention Centers. The panel is made up of 19 military, health, legal and human rights experts who studied public records concerning the role of health professionals in detainee operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, at secret CIA prisons and at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba during the last dozen years. They said that in the rush to obtain information that could prevent future attacks, the Defense Department and the CIA improperly demanded that medical personnel violate their ethical obligation to "do no harm." A Pentagon spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Todd Breasseale, said detainees receive humane medical care and that the allegations in the report were not new.

Shootings, bombings kill 12 in Iraq Posted: 04 Nov 2013 11:15 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — A double suicide bombing and other attacks killed 12 people in Iraq on Monday, said officials, while Iraqi legislators passed a law laying the groundwork for next year's parliamentary elections.

For Obama, a sudden struggle with personal appeal Posted: 04 Nov 2013 11:06 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — For years, President Barack Obama's personal favorability ratings served as a political firewall that sustained him through an economic recession, grueling fights with congressional Republicans, and the grind of a re-election campaign.

Iran Guards commander killed in Syria: reports Posted: 04 Nov 2013 08:53 AM PST An Iranian commander of the Revolutionary Guards was killed in Syria by "terrorists" while defending "oppressed Syrian people" near Damascus, media reports said Monday. Iran -- a key ally of President Bashar al-Assad's embattled regime -- has repeatedly denied it has troops fighting in Syria. The Mehr news agency said commander Mohammad Jamali Paqale, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, had recently volunteered to defend a Shiite shrine near the Syrian capital.

Five Best Monday Columns Posted: 04 Nov 2013 08:33 AM PST De Blasio "has challenged this formula," but he's created expectations that will be tough to meet. "Even in the unlikely event that all his proposals are enacted, New York will remain a chronically unequal place. The forces responsible for rising inequality — technical progress, globalization, the decline of labor unions and a broader attack on workers' rights, a culture of overcompensation on Wall Street and many corporate boards — are largely beyond the purview of any mayor." Most importantly, a "de Blasio mayoralty will be widely viewed as a test case for liberal reformers everywhere." Steven Greenhouse, who covers labor issues for The New York Times, tweets, "Bill de Blasio is seen by many as standard bearer for new era or progressive populism."

Syria Kurds rout jihadists across northeast: monitor Posted: 04 Nov 2013 08:18 AM PST Kurdish fighters have driven jihadists from 19 towns and villages across northeastern Syria in recent days, a week after capturing a key Iraqi border crossing, a monitoring group said Monday. The Committees for the Protection of the Kurdish People (YPJ), the main Kurdish militia in Syria, has battled other rebel groups in a bid to carve out an autonomous region in the northeast, where the army is no longer deployed. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that relies on local activists and other sources, said that "since Saturday, a total of 19 localities have fallen into the hands of Kurdish fighters." The Kurdish and jihadist fighters have long been battling for control of the northeastern Hasake province bordering Turkey and Iraq, which is rich in petroleum and grain.

Syria government vows to vaccinate all children Posted: 04 Nov 2013 07:57 AM PST DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A senior Syrian official vowed Monday that authorities would vaccinate the country's children against polio after 10 cases emerged in the northeast, saying the government would work with international organizations to ensure even rebel-held areas were reached.

Syrian government says aid, vaccinations will reach all Posted: 04 Nov 2013 07:43 AM PST The Syrian government promised on Monday to ensure delivery of vaccinations and humanitarian aid across the country, after an outbreak of polio in the northeast and warnings of malnutrition in areas under military siege. The polio virus has been confirmed so far in 10 of them, and experts say it could spread quickly across the region. "We want vaccinations to reach every Syrian child wherever they are - either in a conflict zone or an area where the Syrian army is present," Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told a televised news conference in Damascus. "This must reach every Syrian child and we pledge this (will happen), and we will grant every opportunity to humanitarian organizations to reach every Syrian child." He did not say how the government, fighting a 2-1/2-year-old war with rebels battling to topple President Bashar al-Assad, could guarantee delivery of supplies.

13 dead in north Iraq violence Posted: 04 Nov 2013 07:28 AM PST A series of attacks north of Baghdad -- including multiple bombings targeting police -- killed 13 people on Monday, as Iraq grapples with its worst bloodshed since 2008. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has appealed to Washington for greater cooperation in fighting militancy as wide-ranging operations targeting insurgents and tightened security measures have done little to quell a months-long surge in violence. Monday's violence concentrated on security forces for a second consecutive day, with suicide bombers hitting police sites in multiple cities in north Iraq. In the deadliest attack, multiple bombings targeting a police station in the predominantly Sunni Arab town of Sharqat, in Salaheddin province, left four policemen dead and a dozen more wounded, according to police and medical sources.

Four extra sites opened to search for U.S. troops missing in Vietnam Posted: 04 Nov 2013 07:05 AM PST By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vietnam advised the United States at the start of high-level talks this week it would open four additional sites to investigators seeking the remains of American military personnel missing since the Vietnam War, a senior U.S. defense official said. Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Vikram Singh, who oversees U.S. military ties with South and Southeast Asia, said an eight-member delegation led by Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh told U.S. defense officials about the decision at the outset of talks at the Pentagon this week. A U.S. official said on Friday the sites were in the southern part of Vietnam and were small areas where specific incidents are believed to have taken place. The Defense Department's POW/Missing Personnel Office says 1,643 Americans are still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War, including 1,275 in Vietnam and the rest in Laos, Cambodia and China.

Iran Revolutionary Guards commander killed in Syria Posted: 04 Nov 2013 05:47 AM PST A commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards has been killed in Syria after volunteering to defend a Shi'ite shrine in Damascus, the Iranian Mehr news agency said on Monday. Commander Mohammad Jamalizadeh of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the southeastern province of Kerman was killed in the last few days by "Wahhabi terrorists", the agency said, giving no more details. He did not travel to Syria for the IRGC, but volunteered to defend the Sayyida Zainab mosque in the southern suburbs of Damascus, Mehr said.

Suicide bombing in Syrian village kills 6 Posted: 04 Nov 2013 05:36 AM PST DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden truck in a central, Shiite Syrian village on Monday, state media reported, killing six in the latest attack to underscore the growing sectarian nature of the country's three-year-old conflict.

Bahrain jails four for life, six to 15 years for Iran-linked cell Posted: 04 Nov 2013 12:39 AM PST A Bahraini court sentenced four Shi'ite Muslims to life and six others to 15 years in jail on charges of setting up a militant cell linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard that aimed at assassinating public figures in the Gulf Arab kingdom. In February, Bahrain, a Western ally which hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet, accused Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard of setting up the "terror" cell, which it said planned to attack its airport and government buildings. Bahrain has accused Shi'ite power Iran of fuelling unrest in the country since a 2011 uprising led by majority Shi'ites demanding reforms and more share in running the kingdom ruled by the Sunni Muslim al-Khalifa dynasty. Authorities say the cell is part of the "Imam Army", a group that includes Bahrainis from inside and outside the country as well foreigners.

Elusive Al-Qaida leader in Syria stays in shadows Posted: 04 Nov 2013 12:02 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — Before he became head of an al-Qaida-linked group that is one of the most feared bands of radicals fighting the Syrian regime, he was a teacher of classical Arabic who fought American troops in Iraq and quickly rose through the ranks of the global terrorist network.

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