Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• U.S. Senate passes budget deal, focus shifts to spending
• Officials: Baucus to be named ambassador to China
• Syria jihadists torturing, killing detainees: Amnesty
• US sanctions al-Qaida supporters
• Head of Qaeda's Syria branch says does not seek rule in first TV appearance
• Syria defends jailing of British doctor who died in prison
• Syria opposition insists West wants Assad out
• UK's top soldier laments Britons' waning appetite for wars
• On Arab Spring anniversary, Tunisia again inspires
• Iraq police hero sacrifices himself to save pilgrims
• EU and U.N. Partner to Reach Millions of Syrians in Desperate Need of Humanitarian Assistance
• AP-GfK poll: Obama int'l ratings top domestic ones
• EU hands 147 mln euros more to UN agencies to help Syrians
• The Beauty vs. Japan’s Beasts
• Syria's Islamic Front spurns talks with U.S.: diplomat
• Arms smugglers get lighter sentences than bank robbers
• Officials: Attacks across Iraq kill at least 11
• Jihadists Hunt Moderates
• Why the U.S. Paid Karzai's Top Man
• The Crony Obama Donors in Charge of DHS
• Second worst year for journalists in jail
• Today in History
• Iranian Bombs and Black Swans

U.S. Senate passes budget deal, focus shifts to spending Posted: 18 Dec 2013 04:47 PM PST By David Lawder and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate passed a two-year budget deal on Wednesday to ease automatic spending cuts and reduce the risk of a government shutdown, but fights were already breaking out over how to implement the budget pact. By a vote of 64-36, the Senate sent the measure to President Barack Obama to be signed into law, an achievement for a divided Congress that has failed to agree on a budget since 2009. He also urged Congress to pass an extension of long-term unemployment benefits that expire at year-end for some 1.3 million jobless Americans, a move sought by Democrats that was not part of the deal struck by Republican Representative Paul Ryan and Democratic Senator Patty Murray. The budget measure, passed in the House of Representatives last week by an overwhelming margin, restores overall fiscal 2014 spending levels for government agencies to $1.012 trillion, trimming the across-the-board budget cuts that were set to begin next month by about $63 billion over two years.

Officials: Baucus to be named ambassador to China Posted: 18 Dec 2013 04:26 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama intends to nominate Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., as ambassador to China, Democratic officials said Wednesday, turning to a lawmaker well-versed in trade issues to fill one of the nation's most sensitive diplomatic posts.

Syria jihadists torturing, killing detainees: Amnesty Posted: 18 Dec 2013 04:15 PM PST Amnesty International on Thursday accused an Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group in Syria of abducting, torturing and killing detainees at secret prisons in areas under its control. The rights group said detainees held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) include children as young as eight and that minors have been sentenced to severe floggings and held with adults in "cruel and inhuman conditions". It described individuals being seized by masked men, held for weeks on end in solitary confinement at unknown locations and tried by self-styled Islamic sharia courts that mete out death or floggings with little if any due process. Former detainees described being beaten with rubber generator belts or cables, tortured with electric shocks and being forced into a painful stress position known as the "scorpion" in which the detainee's wrists are bound over one shoulder.

US sanctions al-Qaida supporters Posted: 18 Dec 2013 02:58 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Wednesday imposed sanctions on two al-Qaida supporters and added militants to its lists of terrorists.

Head of Qaeda's Syria branch says does not seek rule in first TV appearance Posted: 18 Dec 2013 01:34 PM PST The leader of Syria's al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front said in his first televised interview that his group was not seeking to rule Syria, but future rule must be based on Islamic law. The hardline Nusra Front is one of the most powerful groups fighting alongside rebels trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad. Its leader, known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, rarely gives public messages and had never appeared on a public forum until his interview with the pan-Arab news channel Al Jazeera, parts of which were aired late on Wednesday. "The Nusra Front does not seek to rule society on its own when we reach the stage of the liberation of Sham (Syria)," Abu Golani told Al Jazeera in the pre-recorded interview.

Syria defends jailing of British doctor who died in prison Posted: 18 Dec 2013 01:18 PM PST Syria said Wednesday that a British doctor alleged to have been effectively murdered in custody had hanged himself after being arrested for "unauthorised activities." Meanwhile, regime warplanes pounded Aleppo for a fourth straight day in raids that have killed at least 189 people and overwhelmed the northern city's hospitals, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said, citing local medics. The death of Dr Abbas Khan just days before he was to be handed over to a British lawmaker sparked a diplomatic row with London, which accused President Bashar al-Assad's regime of effectively murdering the 32-year-old orthopaedic surgeon. But state news agency SANA said Khan had entered Syria illegally and undertaken "unauthorised activities."

Syria opposition insists West wants Assad out Posted: 18 Dec 2013 01:14 PM PST A senior member of the Syrian opposition said Wednesday Western nations had offered reassurances that President Bashar al-Assad will play no role in a negotiated political transition. His remarks appeared to contradict recent press reports suggesting that Western nations, fearing the rising power of jihadist groups in Syria, may want Assad or members of his inner circle to remain in power during the transition. Monzer Aqbiq, an advisor to the leader of the Syrian National Coalition, insisted that remarks behind closed doors at a meeting last week in London among countries backing the opposition matched a statement issued after the meeting, which said: "Assad will have no role in Syria, as his regime is the main source of terror and extremism in Syria." "The 11 countries (including the United States, France and Britain), and behind them the 100 members of the 'Friends of Syria,' agree that there should be no role for Assad," Aqbiq told AFP.

UK's top soldier laments Britons' waning appetite for wars Posted: 18 Dec 2013 01:00 PM PST By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - The head of Britain's armed forces said on Wednesday his country had become sceptical about projecting military force around the world after two back-to-back wars, urging Britons not to lose what he called their "courageous instinct". Speaking just over three months after the British parliament voted against military action in Syria, Nicholas Houghton's comments reflect anxiety in the armed forces about what they view as a growing political and public reluctance to use them to intervene in global hot spots. Military chiefs are concerned military inaction could threaten Britain's global reach and undermine their own ability to protect and increase an already reduced defence budget at a time of fiscal austerity. "The UK's armed forces have never, in the 40 years I have known, been held in such popular high regard," Houghton told the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in a speech in London.

On Arab Spring anniversary, Tunisia again inspires Posted: 18 Dec 2013 12:26 PM PST In the United States, that came when George Washington left the presidency. In the Arab world, a similar event will soon take place in the country that sparked the Arab Spring three years ago this month. But what stands out is that an Islamist party, Ennahda, is giving up the reins of state, albeit under political pressure. The Arab Spring has faltered in places such as Egypt, Syria, and Libya.

Iraq police hero sacrifices himself to save pilgrims Posted: 18 Dec 2013 11:21 AM PST Baquba (Iraq) (AFP) - An Iraqi policeman gave his own life on Wednesday in an attempt to protect pilgrims, embracing a suicide bomber just moments before an attack to shield others from the blast. The bomber struck in Khales, northeast of Baghdad, killing five people and wounding 10, a police colonel and a doctor said. The police hero was named as Ayyub Khalaf, 34, who was married and had two children, aged six and nine. Khalaf's cousin Hassan Jassem also praised his actions.

EU and U.N. Partner to Reach Millions of Syrians in Desperate Need of Humanitarian Assistance Posted: 18 Dec 2013 10:57 AM PST WASHINGTON, Dec. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The European Commission is signing today three major contracts with United Nations agencies totaling 147 million euro to deliver vitally needed aid to people directly affected by the Syrian crisis. The Heads of the UN Refugee Agency, the UN World Food Program and UNICEF, meeting with the EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva in Brussels today, are participating in a signing ceremony for this substantial humanitarian funding. "The conflict in Syria has consumed tens of thousands of lives, uprooted millions from their homes, destabilized the region and consigned an entire generation of the young to an uncertain future," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

AP-GfK poll: Obama int'l ratings top domestic ones Posted: 18 Dec 2013 10:54 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's approval ratings for handling foreign policy issues generally top his ratings for most domestic issues, including the economy and health care, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. But the poll also suggests a majority of Americans want the president to pull troops out of Afghanistan faster than he's doing, and many are skeptical about a tentative nuclear deal with Iran.

EU hands 147 mln euros more to UN agencies to help Syrians Posted: 18 Dec 2013 10:32 AM PST The European Union handed UN agencies 147 million euros for emergency aid to Syria on Wednesday, its biggest single donation so far to victims of the crisis. "The suffering of the Syrian people is a stain on the world's conscience," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso days after the UN launched an appeal for emergency humanitarian aid for Syrians. A total of 63 million euros were signed over to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 61 million euros for the World Food Programme (WFP) and 23 million for UNICEF. Saying the EU contracts with the UN were "the largest ever", Humanitarian Affairs Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said the 33-month war "is an extraordinary catastrophe that requires an extraordinary message."

The Beauty vs. Japan’s Beasts Posted: 18 Dec 2013 10:00 AM PST When Ikumi Yoshimatsu refused to work for any mafia-connected talent agency, she found out standing up for the right thing is a sure way to get knocked off your throne.

Syria's Islamic Front spurns talks with U.S.: diplomat Posted: 18 Dec 2013 08:53 AM PST By Stephen Kalin BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamist rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad's forces in Syria have rejected overtures from the United States to sit down and talk, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Wednesday. The Syrian government said it was "reprehensible" that Washington was prepared to enter a dialogue with the Islamic Front, which comprises six major Islamist rebel groups and which Damascus considers a terrorist organization. The developments highlighted Washington's difficulties in engaging with the faction-ridden rebels in Syria's civil war. "The Islamic Front has refused to sit with us, without giving any reason," U.S. Syria envoy Robert Ford told Al Arabiya television, speaking in Arabic, a day after Secretary of State John Kerry said such talks might take place.

Arms smugglers get lighter sentences than bank robbers Posted: 18 Dec 2013 05:48 AM PST A Reuters review of 185 convictions for arms trafficking or arms embargo violations during the past eight years shows offenders received a median sentence of 21 months. In 2011, the Department of Justice asked the U.S. Sentencing Commission to set five-year mandatory minimum sentences for violating the Arms Export Control Act. The commission declined, highlighting the need to distinguish between cases with little impact on national security - like gun-smuggling to Mexico - and trafficking that involved missiles or weapons of mass destruction. The commission recommended tougher punishment when national security is most compromised, specifically mentioning arms trafficking to China.

Officials: Attacks across Iraq kill at least 11 Posted: 18 Dec 2013 04:15 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say attacks across the country have killed 11 people, including three Pakistani Shiite pilgrims.

Jihadists Hunt Moderates Posted: 18 Dec 2013 02:45 AM PST A top Free Syrian Army commander's slaying by al Qaeda-linked jihadists is just the latest in a string of murders that has triggered a defection crisis in the Western-backed opposition.

Why the U.S. Paid Karzai's Top Man Posted: 18 Dec 2013 02:45 AM PST The Afghan president's top aide was on two USAID contractors' payroll, drawing more than $100,000 a year as part of a program to install West-backed technocrats in the government.

The Crony Obama Donors in Charge of DHS Posted: 18 Dec 2013 12:00 AM PST Dirty Harry Reid sabotaged the filibuster, and now the Democrats are running wild in Washington. Thanks to Reid's crony-coddling rule change, unqualified stooges will manage the Obama Department of Homeland Security. On Monday night, Senate Democrats voted 57-37 to end debate on the nomination of Jeh Johnson to head DHS. The White House performed its Snoopy happy dance soon after, with President Obama declaring Johnson "a strong leader with a deep understanding of the threats we face and a proven ability to work across agencies and complex organizations to keep America secure."

Second worst year for journalists in jail Posted: 17 Dec 2013 09:28 PM PST The number of journalists killed and imprisoned fell in 2013 but it was still the second worst year on record for reporters in prison, a US-based watchdog said Wednesday. So far this year, 52 journalists have been killed as a direct result of their work, down from 73 last year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), based in New York. For the second consecutive year, Turkey was the world's leading jailer of journalists, followed closely by Iran and China. "Jailing journalists for their work is the hallmark of an intolerant, repressive society," said CPJ executive director Joel Simon.

Today in History Posted: 17 Dec 2013 09:01 PM PST Today is Wednesday, Dec. 18, the 352nd day of 2013. There are 13 days left in the year.

Iranian Bombs and Black Swans Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:45 AM PST Many improbable catastrophes might wreck the all-important Iran negotiations. One of them is named Giuliani.

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