Yahoo! News: Iraq

---

• Senate blocks change to military sex assault cases
• General admits guilt on 3 counts; denies assault
• Syria war may last 10 more years
• Lawsuits revived by soldiers over waste disposal
• Dropped grenade probably caused Pendleton deaths
• The recidivism rate of former Guantánamo prisoners is really low – and falling
• The dawning of the age of genomic medicine, finally
• U.S. Army general admits to lesser counts in sex crimes trial
• RT anchor quits on air as cold war rhetoric heats up
• Bombings, clashes in Iraq kill at least 42
• With Kerry’s Poll Numbers Rising, Will He Run in 2016?
• NPC Newsmaker Program: Amidst Growing Concern Over Honor Violence in Europe, Congresswoman, NGOs, Women Take on Issue in Washington
• Bombs kill 26 people in Iraq
• Bombings, shootings kill 22 in Iraq
• Airline: Iraq stops landing over official's son
• Separate bombings in Iraq kill at least 37
• Separate bombings in Iraq kill at least 34
• The Malala Fund spotlights need to educate child refugees
• Separate bombings in Iraq kill at least 27
• Syria security HQ blast 'kills five'
• Jon Stewart Gives Republicans the Old-Fashioned Shaming They Deserve
• Qatar rift is pivotal test for disunited Gulf families
• Iraqi minister's son misses flight, forces plane back: airline
• Separate bombings in Iraq kill at least 20
• Separate car bombings in Iraq kill at least 13
• Don't worry: World War III will almost certainly never happen
• Prince Harry launches event for wounded servicemen
• Military Gateway to the Middle Class Is Vanishing
• Cobham says U.S. defence, currency headwinds to hit 2014 profits
• Israel says it seized Gaza-bound rocket shipment from Iran
• U.S. freedom of navigation operations in 2013 targeted China, Iran
• Exxon to cut spending but sees production rising

Senate blocks change to military sex assault cases Posted: 06 Mar 2014 03:34 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Bowing to the Pentagon, the Senate agreed after impassioned debate Thursday to leave the authority to prosecute rapes and other serious crimes with military commanders in a struggle that highlighted the growing role of women in Congress.

General admits guilt on 3 counts; denies assault Posted: 06 Mar 2014 03:27 PM PST FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) — An Army general accused of sexual assault is pleading guilty to three lesser charges, but maintains his innocence on five remaining counts.

Syria war may last 10 more years Posted: 06 Mar 2014 02:34 PM PST The brutal war in Syria could grind on for a decade as Iran and Russia prop up President Bashar al-Assad's regime and jihadist groups flood the battlefield, experts warned Thursday. Assad has chosen a deliberate "Machiavellian strategy" of standing by while militant groups such as al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant flourish, leaving the US-backed moderate opposition fighting on two fronts, lawmakers were told. "It's now clear that Assad's fall is not the inevitability that many analysts believed a year ago," said analyst Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, referring to former confident predictions by the US administration that Assad's days were numbered. "The major role jihadists now play has deterred Western countries and others from throwing significant weight behind the opposition," argued Gartenstein-Ross, an expert with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

Lawsuits revived by soldiers over waste disposal Posted: 06 Mar 2014 02:25 PM PST RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Thursday revived dozens of lawsuits by soldiers and others who claim they were harmed by improper waste disposal while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Dropped grenade probably caused Pendleton deaths Posted: 06 Mar 2014 01:43 PM PST CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) — A dropped or kicked grenade was the "most probable cause" of an explosion that killed four Marines during a training exercise last year at Camp Pendleton and a captain and master sergeant who were in charge were relieved of their duties, a base spokesman said Thursday.

The recidivism rate of former Guantánamo prisoners is really low – and falling Posted: 06 Mar 2014 01:39 PM PST The US Director of National Intelligence yesterday issued its latest report on the release of alleged militants from the military's Guantánamo Bay prison, and the numbers show that what the US calls the recidivism rate for former prisoners is remarkably low, and has fallen sharply since 2009. Despite the fear-mongering over how Guantánamo holds some of the most fearsome terrorists on the globe, the vast majority of men released from the detention facility haven't engaged in violence since. In the early years of Guantánamo, large numbers of people who had never engaged in violence were handed over to the US by Afghan militias on false claims that they were Taliban or were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. While 32.1 percent of those released, at most, engaging in violence since, that's a fantastic recidivism rate when compared to criminals released from US prisons, where the three-year rate is more than 60 percent.

The dawning of the age of genomic medicine, finally Posted: 06 Mar 2014 01:30 PM PST By Julie Steenhuysen LA JOLLA, California (Reuters) - When President Bill Clinton announced in 2000 that Craig Venter and Dr. Francis Collins of the National Human Genome Research Institute had succeeded in mapping the human genome, he solemnly declared that the discovery would "revolutionize" the treatment of virtually all human disease. The expectation was that this single reference map of the 3 billion base pairs of DNA -- the human genetic code -- would quickly unlock the secrets of Alzheimer's, diabetes, cancer and other scourges of human health. As it turns out, Clinton's forecast was not unlike President George Bush's "mission accomplished" speech in the early days of the Iraq war, said Dr. Eric Topol of Scripps Translational Science Institute, which is running a meeting On the Future of Genomic Medicine here March 6-7.

U.S. Army general admits to lesser counts in sex crimes trial Posted: 06 Mar 2014 01:06 PM PST By Colleen Jenkins FORT BRAGG, North Carolina (Reuters) - A U.S. Army general pleaded guilty on Thursday to military crimes of having an adulterous affair, asking junior female officers for nude photos and possessing pornography on his laptop while deployed in Afghanistan. Brigadier General Jeffrey Sinclair, the defendant in a rare court-martial against a top U.S. military officer, stood firm in his resolve to fight charges that he sexually assaulted a female captain during their three-year relationship. Sinclair, 51, a married father of two, said the affair with the woman 17 years his junior was consensual throughout, but he agreed it was inappropriate by military standards. Sinclair was stripped of command in southern Afghanistan in May 2012 as a result of the criminal allegations.

RT anchor quits on air as cold war rhetoric heats up Posted: 06 Mar 2014 12:49 PM PST RT anchor Liz Wahl's decision to quit live on air yesterday, citing its "whitewashing" of the actions of President Vladimir Putin's government, is an opportunity to revisit the Russian government-owned channel's true purpose: A layered propaganda and disinformation operation.  For all the self-celebrating American journalists and political commentators: was there even a single U.S. television host who said anything comparable to this in the lead-up to, or the early stages of, the U.S. invasion of Iraq?

Bombings, clashes in Iraq kill at least 42 Posted: 06 Mar 2014 12:46 PM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Bombings targeting shoppers across central Iraq and clashes near the militant-held city of Fallujah killed at least 42 people Thursday, authorities said.

With Kerry’s Poll Numbers Rising, Will He Run in 2016? Posted: 06 Mar 2014 11:53 AM PST This hasn't been exactly a banner month for Hillary Clinton. Recent publication  of voluminous journals and memos written by Clinton's best friend, the late political scientist Diane Blair, dredged up the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinski affair and revealed the depth of Hillary's contempt for the press. Many Democratic lawmakers are grumbling that the organizing and fundraising on behalf of a possible Clinton campaign by the Ready for Hillary and Priorities USA independent super PACs is distracting from the their efforts to retain control of the Senate this fall.   And just this week at a private gathering in Long Beach, Calif., Clinton compared Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in Crimea to those of Hitler in the 1930s – a line seemingly designed to demonstrate her toughness, but hardly the politic comment of a skillful former Secretary of State.

NPC Newsmaker Program: Amidst Growing Concern Over Honor Violence in Europe, Congresswoman, NGOs, Women Take on Issue in Washington Posted: 06 Mar 2014 11:40 AM PST WASHINGTON, March 6, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In an effort to draw attention to the prevalence of honor violence – including forced marriage, disfigurement and female genital mutilation (FGM), and to promote passage of the International Violence Against Women Act now pending in the U.S. House of Representatives, Muslim women and human rights activists will address the issue at a National Press Club Newsmakers news conference on Tuesday, March 11.  The issue has been the subject of increasing alarm in the UK, with a public petition late last month to bring FGM education to schools.  They will be joined by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), sponsor of the bipartisan International Violence Against Women Act, (IVAWA), and Kiersten Stewart of Futures Without Violence. Speaking will be author Raheel Raza, president of the Council for Muslims Facing Tomorrow and founder of Canada's Forum 4 Learning, and Manda Zand Ervin, an Iranian political refugee who is dedicated to publicizing the plight of Iranian women under the Islamic Sharia laws.

Bombs kill 26 people in Iraq Posted: 06 Mar 2014 10:21 AM PST By Kareem Raheem BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 26 people were killed in Iraq on Thursday as insurgents set off roadside bombs and detonated explosives-packed cars in Baghdad and elsewhere, police said. Security forces are battling Sunni Muslim insurgents in the western province of Anbar, where militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) overran the city of Falluja on January 1. In less than 30 minutes, three parked car bombs exploded in Baghdad on Thursday night targeting Shi'ite neighborhoods. A car bomb in the western Shi'ite district of al-Ammal killed four people and wounded 12 on a busy commercial street, police said.

Bombings, shootings kill 22 in Iraq Posted: 06 Mar 2014 10:19 AM PST Baquba (Iraq) (AFP) - A dozen bombings in central Iraq and two shootings in the north killed 22 people Thursday, officials and doctors said, as the country suffers its worst violence in years. Iraq has been hit by a year-long surge in bloodshed that has reached levels not seen since 2008, driven by widespread discontent among its Sunni Arab minority and by the civil war in neighbouring Syria. On Thursday evening, four car bombs exploded in Baghdad, killing at least 11 people and wounding 47, officials said. The bombings targeted a cafe, a market, a main street and an area of car dealerships.

Airline: Iraq stops landing over official's son Posted: 06 Mar 2014 10:02 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — Iraqi authorities on Thursday denied permission to a plane belonging to Lebanon's national carrier to land in Baghdad after a son of an Iraqi minister missed the flight, Middle East Airline said in a statement.

Separate bombings in Iraq kill at least 37 Posted: 06 Mar 2014 09:16 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — A series of bombings Thursday struck commercial areas in central Iraq, killing at least 37 civilians, authorities said.

Separate bombings in Iraq kill at least 34 Posted: 06 Mar 2014 08:54 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — A series of bombings Thursday struck commercial areas in central Iraq, killing at least 34 civilians, authorities said.

The Malala Fund spotlights need to educate child refugees Posted: 06 Mar 2014 08:42 AM PST The toll on refugee children, who make up about 50 percent of refugees, can be immense. "Many have seen unspeakable things and are traumatized," says Shiza Shahid, chief executive officer of the Malala Fund. Making sure refugee children continue their education is an important way to get them focused on the future. "School is a way to say, 'Let's start to move forward with life,' both from a social standpoint and a skills standpoint," says Ms. Shahid, who last October co­-founded the Malala Fund with Malala Yousafzai, the teenage girl from Pakistan who was shot in the head by the Taliban for promoting the education of girls.

Separate bombings in Iraq kill at least 27 Posted: 06 Mar 2014 08:27 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — A series of bombings Thursday struck commercial areas in central Iraq, killing at least 27 civilians and wounding more than 70, authorities said.

Syria security HQ blast 'kills five' Posted: 06 Mar 2014 07:54 AM PST At least five people were killed and more than 20 wounded on Thursday in a bomb blast near a security headquarters in central Syria's city of Hama, a monitor said. "A truck packed with explosives detonated... near a branch of the military intelligence, killing at least five people and injuring more than 20," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. In the northern province of Raqa, two suicide bombers blew themselves up inside Base 17, an army base under siege by opposition forces, according to the Observatory, a Britain-based group that relies on activists and other witnesses inside Syria. Clashes between regime forces and ISIL broke out after the blasts, which the Observatory said killed several soldiers.

Jon Stewart Gives Republicans the Old-Fashioned Shaming They Deserve Posted: 06 Mar 2014 07:03 AM PST While everyone rushed to Twitter to shame John Travolta for screwing up Idina Menzel's name at the Oscars, Jon Stewart took the beginning of The Daily Show last night to remind America of a "truly shameful behavior that for some reason did not explode the Twitterverse" – Republicans' latest blocking of legislation in the Senate. Late last week, Republicans in the Senate blocked a bill that would have expanded education and healthcare benefits to U.S. veterans, because they argued that it added too much to the budget deficit.  And yet, Stewart points out, our shaming of Senate Republicans' latest exploits was woefully inadequate: "The relative lack of shaming aimed at Republican Senators fucking over veterans shows a real problem with our nation's Shame-O-Meter." Where does 'eating a whole box of Cheez-its in one sitting' fall?

Qatar rift is pivotal test for disunited Gulf families Posted: 06 Mar 2014 06:52 AM PST By Angus McDowall and Sylvia Westall RIYADH/KUWAIT (Reuters) - A breach between Qatar and some of its Gulf Arab neighbors is a pivotal test for a three-decade-old union of monarchies formed to stand united when threatened by common enemies. Critics of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) blame its inadequacies on petty jealousies, border disputes, or the perceived dominance of its biggest member, Saudi Arabia. Born more out of fear than greed, the GCC, which also includes Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman, has managed to present a united front at times of threat ranging from Iranian revolution to Iraqi invasion. Now, even as most Gulf Arab economies are booming and the GCC touts itself as a rare outpost of stability in a turbulent region, the member countries have never appeared more divided.

Iraqi minister's son misses flight, forces plane back: airline Posted: 06 Mar 2014 06:45 AM PST A passenger plane flying from Lebanon to Iraq on Thursday turned back after the Iraqi transport minister's son missed the flight and phoned Baghdad to stop the aircraft from landing, Middle East Airlines (MEA) said. Marwan Salha, acting chairman of MEA, told Reuters the flight, scheduled to leave at 1240, had been delayed for six minutes while MEA staff looked for Mahdi al-Amiri, son of Hadi al-Amiri, and his friend in the business lounge. "The plane took off but one of the passengers turned out to be the son of the minister of Iraq." Salha said that when Amiri arrived at the gate he was angry and said: "I will not allow the plane to land in Baghdad." Twenty-one minutes into the flight, the Baghdad airport station manager called MEA operations to tell them there was no clearance to land, Salha said.

Separate bombings in Iraq kill at least 20 Posted: 06 Mar 2014 06:15 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — A series of bombings Thursday struck commercial areas in central Iraq, killing at least 20 civilians and wounding about 60, authorities said.

Separate car bombings in Iraq kill at least 13 Posted: 06 Mar 2014 05:44 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Officials in Iraq say separate attacks in the country's center have killed at least 13 civilians and wounded about 40.

Don't worry: World War III will almost certainly never happen Posted: 06 Mar 2014 04:23 AM PST Yet today — in the shadow of a flare up which some are calling a new Cold War between Russia and the U.S. — I believe the threat of World War III has almost faded into nothingness. That is, the probability of a world war is the lowest it has been in decades, and perhaps the lowest it has ever been since the dawn of modernity. Steven Pinker's studies into the decline of violence reveal that deaths from war have fallen and fallen since World War II. It's no coincidence that the end of the last global war coincided with the invention of atomic weapons.

Prince Harry launches event for wounded servicemen Posted: 06 Mar 2014 03:36 AM PST LONDON (AP) — Britain's Prince Harry is launching the "Invictus Games," a new sporting event for wounded, injured and sick service personnel.

Military Gateway to the Middle Class Is Vanishing Posted: 06 Mar 2014 03:15 AM PST For Ted White, a licensed mental health therapist and proud homeowner, neither of those steps would have been easy, or perhaps even possible, without a career in the Army. He took advantage of the GI bill and the Army College Fund to jumpstart his civilian career after serving in the military in Germany and California from 1994 through 1998. He also credits his military service for enabling him to buy a house in La Vista, Nebraska, where he lives today with his wife and two daughters. "The VA home loan has helped a lot," White told The Fiscal Times, referring to a program administered by the Veterans Administration that guarantees a portion of mortgages.

Cobham says U.S. defence, currency headwinds to hit 2014 profits Posted: 06 Mar 2014 01:30 AM PST By Brenda Goh LONDON (Reuters) - British defence supplier Cobham said it expects the tough U.S. defence spending environment and unfavourable currency exchange rates to weigh on profits this year, after it posted a 4 percent decline in full-year 2013 pretax profits. Western defence firms are being squeezed as their biggest customers in the United States and Europe reduce spending amid a withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq. BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce also recently warned on earnings, citing U.S. budgetary pressures. Cobham, which pioneered in-flight fuelling and also makes communication equipment for military and commercial airplanes, said on Thursday it would maintain its forecast for low-to-mid single-digit decline in organic revenue in 2014, with a return to growth from the following year.

Israel says it seized Gaza-bound rocket shipment from Iran Posted: 05 Mar 2014 10:31 PM PST By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli navy seized a ship in the Red Sea on Wednesday that was carrying dozens of advanced Iranian-supplied rockets made in Syria and intended for Palestinian guerrillas in the Gaza Strip, the military said. The announcement came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in the United States to press his case for tougher international action against Iran over its disputed nuclear programme and support for Islamist guerrilla groups. The Panamanian-flagged cargo vessel Klos C was boarded in international waters without resistance from its 17-strong crew in a "complex, covert operation", military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner told reporters. Lerner said dozens of M302 rockets were found aboard the Klos C, a weapon that could have struck deep into Israel from Gaza and would have significantly enhanced the firepower of the Palestinian enclave's Hamas rulers and other armed factions.

U.S. freedom of navigation operations in 2013 targeted China, Iran Posted: 05 Mar 2014 09:09 PM PST By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military carried out freedom of navigation operations challenging the maritime claims of China, Iran and 10 other countries last year, asserting its transit rights in defiance of efforts to restrict passage, a Pentagon report said on Thursday. The Defense Department's annual Freedom of Navigation Report to Congress for the 2013 fiscal year showed the U.S. military targeted not only countries such as Iran, with whom it has no formal relations, but treaty allies such as the Philippines, too. The U.S. military conducted multiple operations targeting China over what Washington believes are "excessive" claims about its maritime boundaries and its effort to force foreign warships to obtain permission before peacefully transiting its territorial seas.

Exxon to cut spending but sees production rising Posted: 05 Mar 2014 01:11 PM PST Exxon Mobil Corp. says it will cut capital spending by 6 percent this year and overall production will be flat. The shares fell nearly 3 percent. The nation's biggest oil company said Wednesday that it ...

You are subscribed to email updates from Iraq News Headlines - Yahoo! News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610