2014年11月19日星期三

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Yahoo! News: Iraq


Virginia woman waives hearing on Islamic State charges

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 05:22 PM PST

By John Clarke (Reuters) - A Virginia woman on Wednesday waived a preliminary hearing on terrorism charges over allegedly lying to U.S. investigators about using social media to promote and recruit for the militant Islamic State group. Heather Coffman, 29, of Henrico, Virginia, was arrested on Monday after trying to recruit an undercover FBI agent for Islamic State, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court in Richmond. Authorities began investigating Coffman, the mother of a 7-year-old child, in June after noticing her Facebook activity, according to the criminal complaint. ...

VVA National President States Strong Support For H.R. 5484, the Toxic Exposure Research Act

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 04:37 PM PST

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Representatives Dan Benishek (R-MI) and Mike Honda (D-CA) have introduced the Toxic Exposure Research Act (H.R. 5484) that will, when enacted into law, establish a national center at a VA medical facility for research on the diagnosis and treatment of health conditions of descendants of veterans exposed to toxic substances during their service in the U.S. Armed Forces.On November 19, at 2:00 p.m. ...

UN impose sanctions on Libya's Ansar al-Sharia

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 04:32 PM PST

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions Tuesday on the Libyan Islamist militant group Ansar al-Sharia, which took part in the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, for its ties to al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.

AFCEA International Presents Its Most Prestigious Awards

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 03:51 PM PST

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Rep. Michael J. Rogers (R-MI) received AFCEA International's highest honor, the David Sarnoff Award, at the association's Honors night held at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., on November 18. The award recognizes individuals who have made lasting and significant contributions to global peace and security. Previous Sarnoff Award winners include Gen. Keith B. Alexander, USA, commander, U.S. Cyber Command; director, NSA; and chief, Central Security Service; and James R. Clapper Jr., director of national intelligence. ...

Top Obama aide won’t rule out unilateral easing of Cuba policy

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 03:37 PM PST

U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Tony Blinken speaks on Syria at the White House in WashingtonA year after President Barack Obama said the United States must "update our policies" on Cuba, his pick for the No. 2 job at the State Department, Tony Blinken, refused to rule out unilateral steps by the president in the next two years — provided Alan Gross goes free.


France identifies second national in IS execution video

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 03:34 PM PST

Members of the Islamic State jihadist group, among them a jihadist believed to be French citizen Maxime Hauchard (R), also known as Abu Abdallah al-Faransi, are shown in this video still released November 16, 2014 by Al-Furqan MediaFrance on Wednesday identified a second national who appeared unmasked in a grisly Islamic State execution video and announced it was sending more jets to the region to step up air strikes. He said French aircraft in Iraq had pummelled trenches used by IS fighters around the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Tuesday night. Currently France is using nine Rafale jets based in the more distant United Arab Emirates as part of a US-led international campaign to provide air support to Iraqi and Kurdish forces fighting the group. Meanwhile, Nozad Hadi, the governor of Arbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan region, blamed IS jihadists for a suicide car bombing which left four dead on Wednesday.


Jihad lures teens from unsuspected corners of France

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 03:27 PM PST

members of the Islamic State group parading in a street in the Syrian city of RaqaFor the French public, the idea is deeply jarring: youngsters from everyday backgrounds with names like Maxime, Helene and David joining the jihad or turning up in brutal Islamic State execution videos. One was identified as Maxime Hauchard, 22, from a village in Normandy in northern France, seen with a knife to the neck of one of the 18 Syrian prisoners decapitated in the video. Meanwhile, the picture of a smiling, young David Drugeon -- the 24-year-old killed by a US drone in Syria this month -- is hard to square with reports that he was a senior bomb-maker for the Khorasan group, an Al-Qaeda offshoot planning attacks in the West. She recently co-authored a report examining the backgrounds of 160 families who had contacted the centre seeking help with a child's radicalisation.


UN Security Council adds Libya Islamists to terror list

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 03:19 PM PST

An image from a video made available on October 9, 2014, by the media outlet of the Ansar al-Sharia group, al-Raya Media Foundation, allegedly shows a tank belonging to the group in Benghazi, LibyaThe UN Security Council on Wednesday added to its terror list a Libyan Islamist group accused of involvement in the 2012 attack on the US mission in Benghazi that killed the ambassador and three other Americans. The council blacklisted Ansar al-Sharia for its ties to Al-Qaeda, slapping an arms embargo, assets freeze and global travel ban on the extremists at the request of Britain, France and the United States. The measure targets Ansar al-Sharia Benghazi and its sister group Ansar al-Sharia Derna, which both have links to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and other violent radical outfits. In October, Ansar al-Sharia Derna pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS), the Islamist group that has seized control of territory in Iraq and Syria.


Aide: Obama open to limits in war authorization

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 03:15 PM PST

In this July 28, 2014, Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken speaks at the White House in Washington. The Obama administration is open to limits on the duration of its military efforts in Iraq and Syria and on the potential use of ground forces in a new war authorization against the Islamic State, a top presidential adviser said Wednesday. Blinken, nominated by President Barack Obama to be Secretary of State John Kerry's deputy as the No. 2-ranked U.S. diplomat, was testifying Wednesday at a confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is open to limits on the duration of its military efforts in Iraq and Syria and on the potential use of ground forces in a new war authorization against the Islamic State, a top presidential adviser said Wednesday.


US woman charged in terror case detained

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 03:04 PM PST

RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) — A woman charged with lying to federal investigators about supporting the Islamic State militant group softly answered yes-or-no questions from the judge Wednesday in agreeing to remain in jail until her trial.

Trial set after vanishing Marine request is denied

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 02:56 PM PST

FILE - In this July 19, 2004 file photo, Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun makes a statement to the media outside Quantico Marine Base in Quantico, Va. Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Cliff Gilmore said Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2014, that a judge decided last week to deny Cpl. Hassoun's request for another Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing. Gilmore said Hassoun's general court-martial is scheduled to begin at Camp Lejeune on Dec. 8 before the judge, Marine Maj. Nicholas Martz. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A judge has declined a request for a new hearing on evidence against a U.S. Marine accused of deserting his unit a decade ago in Iraq and later winding up in Lebanon, a military spokesman said Wednesday.


Vets' moms to Congress: Boost suicide prevention

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 02:41 PM PST

This handout photo, taken in November 2010, provided by Ride 2 Recovery, shows Clay Hunt in the 2010 Florida Ride. The mother of a Marine Corps veteran who killed himself in 2011 is urging Congress to bolster mental health service for veterans to slow a suicide epidemic that takes the lives of an estimated 22 veterans every day. Clay Hunt was just 26 when he committed suicide, following tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. His mother, Susan Selke, said Hunt reached out to the Veterans Affairs Department but did not receive adequate treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and other problems. (AP Photo/Ride 2 Recovery)WASHINGTON (AP) — Marine Corps veteran Clay Hunt was just 26 when he committed suicide, following tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Virginia woman charged in terror case detained

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 02:34 PM PST

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia woman charged with lying to federal investigators about supporting the Islamic State militant group softly answered yes-or-no questions from the judge Wednesday in agreeing to remain in jail until her trial.

War in Iraq 'different' this time: US military chief

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 02:19 PM PST

A member of the Iraqi police special forces holds his weapon as he rides a car during a parade in Iraq's holy city of Najaf before heading to fight Islamic State (IS) group jihadists on November 19, 2014US military action in Iraq has a better chance of success than the last war there because American troops are playing a supporting role to local forces from the start, top officer General Martin Dempsey said Wednesday. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff also voiced cautious optimism that Iraqi forces were gaining strength and predicted they would make progress on the battlefield in the coming months against the Islamic State group. As an example, Dempsey cited an episode that played out during his recent visit to Iraq over the weekend.


US condemns IS bombing in Kurdish region of Iraq

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 02:09 PM PST

Iraqi security forces stand at the site where a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle in the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital Arbil on November 19, 2014The United States on Wednesday condemned a suicide bombing by Islamic State extremists in the usually safe Kurdish region of Iraq that killed at least four people and left more than two dozen injured. "The United States strongly condemns the continued terrorist attacks in Iraq, including the suicide car bomb attacks today in Basrah and the Iraqi Kurdistan Region in front of the Arbil Provincial Council Building that took a number of innocent lives," the US State Department said in a statement. "The Iraqi people are determined to stand against the violence and horrific ideology of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)," the US government said, using an alternate acronym for IS.


US renews strikes on Khorasan group in Syria

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 02:01 PM PST

Smoke rises after an airstrike from US-led coalition against IS militants in the Syrian town of Kobane, on November 8, 2014American warplanes have carried out another air strike on the Khorasan group in northwest Syria, the latest of several raids on the Al-Qaeda offshoot, the US military said Wednesday. US aircraft "struck and destroyed a storage facility associated with a network of veteran Al-Qaeda operatives, sometimes called the 'Khorasan Group,' whose members are plotting external attacks against the United States and its allies," Central Command said in a statement. The group has been hit by US forces in three previous strikes -- once in September at the start of air raids in Syria against the Islamic State group, and twice this month, according to Central Command, which is overseeing the air war. The Khorasan group had been an obscure cell until US intelligence officials called attention to it in September, days before dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched from naval ships against the militants near Aleppo.


US strategy against Islamic State: Iraq first, but not Iraq only, Dempsey says

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 01:38 PM PST

America's top military officer is pushing back against criticism of President Obama for not having a clear strategy against the Islamic State (IS).

Biden, Morocco king focus on non-military aspects of terror war

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 01:37 PM PST

US Vice President Joe Biden (L) shakes hands with Morocco's King Mohammed VI at the royal palace in Fez on November 19, 2014Rabat (AFP) - US Vice President Joe Biden and Moroccan King Mohammed VI discussed Wednesday their countries' strategic alliance and efforts to achieve peace and security in Africa and the Middle East, Biden's office said.


Secret Service says 'fell short' protecting White House

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 01:34 PM PST

Acting Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy testifies before the House Judiciary Committee on November 19, 2014, in Washington, DCThe Secret Service admitted Wednesday to an "inexcusable" series of failures that allowed a disturbed veteran to make it deep into the White House armed with a knife. Joseph Clancy, acting director of the Secret Service, told the House Judiciary Committee that the front door of the presidential mansion had been unlocked, allowing Omar Gonzalez to make his way unchallenged into the building on September 19 after scaling the White House fence. Clancy, who took over after director Julia Pierson resigned that month amid an outcry over several security lapses at the White House, said the Gonzalez incident was "simply inexcusable" and vowed a "comprehensive, bottom-to-top assessment" to improve protection of President Barack Obama and his family. "While we strive for perfection, we have, on limited occasions, fallen short of that goal," he said, adding that he was working to improve communication between Secret Service agents and management and had met agents at the White House and listened to their concerns.


Secret Service chief says agency 'severely damaged' by lapses

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 12:26 PM PST

Acting Secret Service Director Clancy testifies before a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in WashingtonBy Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The acting head of the U.S. Secret Service said on Wednesday that the agency charged with protecting the president had been "severely damaged" by harmful lapses, including allowing a knife-carrying man to jump a fence and run into the White House in September. Joseph Clancy told the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee he had sought to establish a culture of trust within the Secret Service since replacing Julia Pierson, who resigned under fire as director on Oct. 1. ...


U.S.-led air strikes target Islamic State, Khorasan in Syria: officials

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 12:24 PM PST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.-led forces conducted six air strikes against Islamic State militants and one against the al Qaeda-affiliated Khorasan Group in Syria since Monday and 24 air strikes in Iraq during the same period, the U.S. military said. In Syria, the military said on Wednesday that five strikes by U.S. and partner forces hit near Kobani, the contested border city near Turkey that Islamic State militants are fighting to control. Those damaged three buildings and hit two tactical and one large Islamic State unit, U.S. Central Command said. ...

Egypt says it detains Nusra fighter returning from Syria

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 12:24 PM PST

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's interior ministry said on Wednesday it had arrested an Egyptian militant who had returned from fighting in Syria with a group linked to the al Qaeda affiliate Nusra Front in order to train Egyptians in bombmaking. A statement posted to the ministry's Facebook page said Hany Shaheen Ali Shaheen confessed to receiving orders from the Islamist Furqan Brigade to train Islamists in Egypt's Gharbia province. ...

Artists Must Be Delusional

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 11:56 AM PST

The story told in Gruff Rhys's American Interior—a vast, interdisciplinary epic by the lead singer of acclaimed rock band Super Furry Animals—sounds outlandish, but is as true as life. The project chronicles the travels of John Evans, an 18th-century pauper who came to the United States looking for the descendants of Madog, a mythical Welsh hero said to have sailed to America three centuries before Columbus. For many years, it was said that a lost, Welsh-speaking tribe—proof of pre-Columbus contact—roamed the Great Plains. ...

Obama thanks Saudi Arabia for helping fighting IS

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 11:44 AM PST

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is thanking Saudi Arabia for its role in the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group.

AP Exclusive: From IS militant to Iraq informant

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 11:15 AM PST

FILE - In this file photo taken Wednesday, June 25, 2014, fighters of the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) parade in the northern city of Mosul, Iraq. BAGHDAD (AP) — The former Islamic State group commander walked into the visitors' room of his Baghdad prison, without the usual yellow jumpsuit and shackles his fellow inmates wear. In slippers and a track suit, he greeted guards with a big smile, kissing them on the cheeks.


US airstrike hits al-Qaida-held town in Syria

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 11:01 AM PST

BEIRUT (AP) — An overnight American-led airstrike struck al-Qaida militants in northwestern Syria, the U.S. military and Syrian activists said Wednesday.

World terrorism deaths spiked last year – but only in five countries. Why?

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 10:57 AM PST

Terrorism is up – but concentrated in a handful of countries where an even smaller number of terror groups are carrying out the bulk of attacks.

New Kurdish offensive targets Islamic State group

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 10:41 AM PST

BAGHDAD (AP) — Kurdish forces, backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, launched a new offensive Wednesday targeting the Islamic State group in areas of Iraq that the extremists had captured this past summer.

Marine who vanished twice to face trial on desertion charge

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 10:27 AM PST

U.S. Marine Corps Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun reads a prepared statement outside the gate at Quantic..WINSTON-SALEM N.C. (Reuters) - A U.S. Marine accused of deserting the military after disappearing in Iraq and then again failing to report for duty in North Carolina nearly 10 years ago will face a court martial in December, the Marine Corps said on Wednesday. Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun, an Arabic interpreter, was listed as a deserter for almost a decade before being taken into military custody earlier this year, according to the Marine Corps. ...


Second Frenchman identified on IS beheading video: prosecutor

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 10:09 AM PST

A road sign is seen at the entry of Champigny-sur-Marne, East of ParisPARIS (Reuters) - French authorities have identified a second French militant who appears on a beheading video released by Islamic State (IS) at the weekend, a state prosecutor said on Wednesday. Officials said on Monday that one of the men shown herding prisoners to their execution was Maxime Hauchard, a Frenchman Muslim convert who left for Syria in 2013. In a statement, the state prosecutor said that a second Frenchman, Mickael Dos Santos - a 22-year-old man from a town east of Paris who converted to Islam and left for Syria in August 2013 - had been identified. ...


Erdogan raps US on Syria ahead of Biden visit

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 09:58 AM PST

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan (C) at the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, on November 10, 2014 in AnkaraPresident Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday chided the United States for failing to meet Turkey's conditions to play a bigger role in the anti-jihadist coalition in Syria, in a new sign of strains ahead of a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden. Biden arrives in Istanbul on Friday for a key three-day visit aimed at finding some common ground with Turkey in the fight against Islamic State (IS) militants who have captured swathes of Iraq and Syria. Relations between the United States and Turkey, NATO's sole Muslim-majority member state, have hit a rocky period amid divergences on how best to resolve Syria's civil war.


Officer Christopher Nebbeling Receives Officer of the Month Award

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 09:54 AM PST

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund has announced the selection of Officer Christopher Nebbeling, of the West Palm Beach (FL) Police Department, as the recipient of its Officer of the Month Award for November 2014.Located in the nation's capital, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund is a nonprofit organization dedicated to telling the story of American law enforcement and making it safer for those who serve. ...

Knights of Columbus Sends $2.2 Million to Christian Refugees in Iraq and Syria

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 09:43 AM PST

NEW HAVEN, Conn., Nov. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Knights of Columbus Christian Refugee Relief fund has donated $2.2 million to help displaced Iraqi and Syrian Christians and other religious minorities who continue to face violent persecution and the very real prospect of extinction.Intended to help families living in very difficult situations as refugees, the funds will help provide permanent housing for the increasing number of displaced families in Iraq. ...

Egypt sees 'new era' in Arab ties after Qatar thaw

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 08:44 AM PST

Supporters of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi set fire to a Qatari national flag during a demonstration outside the Qatari embassy in Cairo last yearEgypt on Wednesday hailed a "new era" in Arab solidarity after Gulf states agreed to welcome Qatar back to the fold following a row over its support for Islamists. The Egyptian army's overthrow last year of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi strained ties with Qatar, which had been a key Morsi backer. His overthrow led to differences among Gulf states, with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia hailing his replacement, while Qatar repeatedly denounced it.


France says jets strike IS targets to break Kirkuk frontline

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 07:48 AM PST

Islamic State flags flutter on the Mullah Abdullah bridge in KirkukPARIS (Reuters) - France said on Wednesday that Rafale jets had struck Islamic State targets alongside coalition planes near the northern Iraq city of Kirkuk to help breach the group's frontlines, and was sending six fighter jets to Jordan to ramp up its strikes. Two Dassault-built Rafale fighters, both armed with four missiles, targeted trenches used by Islamic State to besiege the oil city at around 0330 GMT (10:30 p.m. ET), the ministry said in a statement. ...


Source: Cyprus on lookout for Syria-bound jihadis

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 07:40 AM PST

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus has intensified screening at its ports, airports and checkpoints that dot the island's dividing line to prevent Europeans from passing through en route to Syria to join the Islamic State group, an official said Wednesday.

An Ahmadinejad comeback? Why rumors are a warning shot for Iran's Rouhani.

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 07:18 AM PST

The morning is chilly and still dark at 6:25 a.m. when the first disciple arrives at "Square 72," the cramped, tree-lined roundabout in eastern Tehran where Iran's lightning-rod former president lives humbly – and plots an improbable political comeback.

Frustrated senators have questions about Obama’s Islamic State strategy. On Wednesday, they may get answers

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 07:06 AM PST

USA-DIPLOMACY/OBAMAOne day after the midterm elections, President Barack Obama declared that he wanted Congress to give him explicit legal authority to wage war on the so-called Islamic State. But lack of direction since then from the White House has frustrated Democrats and Republicans alike.


Egypt making slow progress on genital mutilation

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 07:00 AM PST

This undated photo provided by the Women's Center for Guidance and Legal Awareness, shows a portrait of Sohair el-Batea, who died last year after undergoing a female genital mutilation operation by Dr. Raslan Fadl, in Egypt. On Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014 a court is expected to issue a verdict in Egypt's first-ever prosecution of a doctor accused of committing FGM. Thirteen-year-old Sohair died during the operation last year. Rights advocates say the outcome of this case could set a key precedent for deterring doctors and families in the future. (AP Photo/Women's Center for Guidance and Legal Awareness)MANSHIET EL-IKHWA, Egypt (AP) — Raslan Fadl, the first doctor in Egypt to be put on trial for committing female genital mutilation, is still practicing even through a 13-year-old girl died after he performed the procedure. And in this Nile Delta Village, he has plenty of patients.


France to send six fighter jets to Jordan to target Islamic State

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 06:59 AM PST

PARIS (Reuters) - France will send six Mirage fighter jets to Jordan to strike Islamic State fighters in Iraq, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Wednesday. "There were nine Rafale (jets) in the United Arab Emirates and they will be reinforced with six Mirage fighter jets to support our action," Le Drian told parliament. Two French diplomats told Reuters on Nov. 13 that putting the jets in Jordan would increase the number of missions against IS and help reduce costs at a time when the government is under pressure to cut spending. (Reporting By John Irish)

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