2014年12月11日星期四

Yahoo! News: Iraq

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yahoo! News: Iraq


U.S. crude crashes below $60 as 6-month rout pushes on

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 04:59 PM PST

A customer holds a nozzle to fill up his tank in a gasoline station in NiceBy Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. crude fell below $60 a barrel on Thursday for the first time in five years, breaking through a key psychological support level that triggered fresh selling as some traders said they saw no reason for a rebound any time soon. While better U.S. economic data supported the market earlier in the day, those gains could not be sustained toward the close. In the absence of any news that could temper the bearish mood, traders said pent-up pressure led to a late-selloff that carried on after the close, pushing prices as low as $58.96. ...


Jurors convict man of killing girl found in dryer

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 04:50 PM PST

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Jurors convicted a man Thursday of snatching an 8-year-old girl from a Topeka apartment, raping her, killing her and stashing her body in a dryer.

CIA letter shows pre-war concern about Iraq 9/11 link

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 04:23 PM PST

In a letter sent to US Senator Carl Levin in March this year and just now declassified, CIA Director John Brennan said field agents had "expressed significant concern" over the reportThe CIA declassified a letter Thursday that suggests US intelligence had grave doubts about part of the case made by former president George W. Bush's White House to justify the war in Iraq. In the run-up to the March 2003 invasion, US officials including then vice president Dick Cheney alleged that 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta had met an Iraqi spy in Prague before the attacks. The alleged meeting was cited as evidence of a possible link between Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.


Obama administration mobilizes to save faltering spending bill

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 04:12 PM PST

Boehner departs following a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in WashingtonBy David Lawder and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration made a last-ditch attempt on Thursday to drum up Democratic support to salvage a faltering $1.1 trillion spending bill, just hours ahead of a midnight U.S. government shutdown deadline. Administration officials from President Barack Obama down to staff at the Department of Education were phoning Democrats in the House of Representatives to ask them to set aside objections to a financial provision and pass the measure to fund most of the government through September. ...


In 2003, U.S. experts doubted key Iraq war claim: cable

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 03:31 PM PST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A CIA cable disclosed on Thursday showed that U.S. counter terrorism officials in 2003 discounted reports that a leader of the Sept. 11 attacks met an Iraqi intelligence official in Prague just before the attacks, further undermining a Bush administration argument for the invasion of Iraq. Senator Carl Levin released a newly declassified section of a March 11, 2003 cable that undercut administration statements that Mohammed Atta and Iraqi agent Ahmad al-Anian had met in the Czech capital in April 2001. "here is not one or FBI expert that ... ...

Food insecurity rising despite record cereal output

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 03:07 PM PST

Farmers use a forage harvester during corn harvest in Godewaersvelde, northern France, on October 5, 2014World cereal output is expected to hit record highs this year but food insecurity is worsening across the globe thanks to Ebola and civil conflicts, the UN's food agency said Thursday. The Food and Agriculture Organization said 2014 was heading to be a bumper year for cereals, with "an all-time record of more than 2.5 billion tonnes". The record harvest "will outpace projected world cereal utilisation in 2014/15 allowing stocks to rise to their highest level since 2000".


Jihadist Killings Equal to a 9/11 Pentagon Attack Every Day for a Month

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 02:54 PM PST

Jihadist Killings Equal to a 9/11 Pentagon Attack Every Day for a MonthFive thousand killed.In one month.Five thousand.That is the toll jihadist violence took around the world in just 30 days, from Nov. 1 to Nov. 30, 2014.There were 664 jihadist attacks in 14 countries across the world last month, according to a detailed study done by King's College London in collaboration with the BBC.And 5,042 people were killed in them.Extreme Jihadists in Iraq Hundreds of Westerners Join Middle East Jihadists Militants Take Iraq's Largest Oil Refinery That's roughly the equivalent of an MH17 flight crashing in Ukraine every 36 hours. ...


Oil closes below $60, 1st time since July 2009

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 02:06 PM PST

The price of oil fell below $60 for the first time since July 2009 on Thursday and ended trading in New York at $59.95.

'Leviathan' Wins Best Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 01:57 PM PST

Emile Sherman, Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Lu Zhong were also winners

Seven dead in Kabul after two suicide attacks

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 01:39 PM PST

Two suicide attacks in Kabul, one targeting a play at a French-financed school, killed at least seven people on Thursday, the latest in a wave of violence assaulting the city as NATO forces pull out.

UN warns of Sahel spillover from Libya turmoil

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 01:26 PM PST

Armed civilians clash with Islamist militiamen in Libya's eastern coastal city of Benghazi on November 2, 2014The chaos in Libya, where Islamic State fighters are said to be gaining a foothold, threatens to engulf Sahel countries and must be quickly brought under control, a UN envoy warned Thursday. Ethiopian diplomat Hiroute Guebre Sellassie told the Security Council that the humanitarian and security crises in the band of semi-arid land south of the Sahara desert were worsening, pointing to turmoil in Libya as a key factor. "If the situation in Libya is not quickly brought under control, many states in the region could be destabilized in the near future," said the UN envoy for the Sahel. Libya has been sliding deeper into crisis, torn by rival governments and parliaments battling powerful militias, despite UN efforts to broker talks on ending the violence.


Senator: Bush misled nation in run-up to Iraq war

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 01:06 PM PST

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee released new information on Thursday that he claims is evidence that the Bush administration misled the nation in the run-up to the war in Iraq.

Futuristic Laser Weapon Ready for Action, US Navy Says

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 12:40 PM PST

Futuristic Laser Weapon Ready for Action, US Navy SaysThe U.S. Navy announced that its high-tech laser weapon is ready to disable and destroy enemy drones and small boats, should the need arise. The 30-kilowatt laser weapon system (LaWS) is housed aboard the USS Ponce, a naval vessel stationed in the Arabian Gulf— a body of water located south of Iraq that separates the Saudi Arabian peninsula from Iran. "On USS Ponce, LaWS has been in test and development mode since August 2014 in the Gulf. We are now beyond testing – it's operational and the laser weapon is not in a box waiting for a special occasion,"Klunder told reporters at a news briefing Wednesday (Dec. 10) in Washington, D.C.


Iraq says record 17 million Shiite pilgrims in Karbala

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 12:35 PM PST

Shiite Muslims gather outside the Imam Hussein shrine on December 11, 2014, in the central Iraqi city of Karbala in preparation for the the Arbaeen religious festivalIraqi Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi said Thursday that the number of pilgrims in the city of Karbala for the annual Arbaeen commemoration had reached a record 17.5 million this year. Arbaeen, which marks the end of the 40-day period of mourning after the anniversary of Imam Hussein's death, is considered one of the largest religious gatherings in the world. The Arbaeen commemoration is on Saturday December 13, but millions of Shiite faithful have been walking to Karbala from all over Iraq, and large numbers from across the Iranian border, for days. The Iraqi authorities had reported already last week that at least one million Iranians, the largest number on record, had come to Iraq for Arbaeen this year.


No edge for F-35 on most missions: report

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 11:46 AM PST

This undated handout file image obtained courtesy of the Joint Strike Fighter program site shows the F-35 fighter jetOttawa (AFP) - The F-35 has no clear edge over three other fighter jets Canada is considering to replace its aging fleet, a declassified government-commissioned report says.


Senate Democrats back new use of force agreement against IS

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 11:30 AM PST

This US Air Forces Central Command photo released by the Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System shows a US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle flying over Iraq on September 23, 2014, after conducting airstrikes in SyriaDemocrats on a Senate panel on Thursday unanimously supported a new authorization for military force against Islamic State jihadists without US ground troops, signaling their willingness to tie President Barack Obama's hands on war policy. In a party-line vote, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a three-year authorization for use of military force that would supercede the open-ended AUMF's passed in 2001 and 2002 in the aftermath of Al-Qaeda's 9/11 attacks on the United States. The US-led coalition has already carried out some 1,100 airstrikes in Syria and Iraq since September targeting IS extremists in a bid to defeat the group, which has seized large swathes of territory, executed opponents and imposed harsh Islamic law.


ISIS leader: "If there was no American prison in Iraq, there would be no ISIS"

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 11:10 AM PST

ISIS leader: "If there was no American prison in Iraq, there would be no ISIS"In an incredible scoop, the Guardian's Martin Chulov interviewed a senior leader of ISIS— one who came up through the ranks with the group's top leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The single most interesting quote from the ISIS leader, whom Chulov refers to as Abu Ahmed, is quite disturbing: he credits the group's rise, in large part, to American prison camps during the Iraq war, which he says gave him and other jihadist leaders an invaluable forum to meet one another and to plan their later rise. Abu Ahmed was imprisoned in a US-run detention center in southern Iraq called Camp Bucca in 2004.


Senate committee votes for new war powers

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 11:09 AM PST

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday voted to authorize President Barack Obama's war against the Islamic State group — the first vote in Congress to explicitly grant him war powers in the U.S. battle against the militant extremists.

Congress losing last WWII vets, a tea party fave

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 10:59 AM PST

FILE - In this April 11, 2014, file photo, Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Texas is seen in his hometown of Rockwall, Texas. As the session winds down this week, Congress is saying farewell to its last two veterans of World War II, the House member whose lodgings inspired TV's WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is saying farewell to its last two veterans of World War II, the member whose lodgings inspired Amazon's "Alpha House" show, a founding firebrand of the tea party, the senator dubbed "Dr. No" and a few dozen other lawmakers this week as another session of bickering winds down.


Military Families Besieged By Door-to-Door Alarm Salespeople

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 09:47 AM PST

Military Families Besieged By Door-to-Door Alarm SalespeopleA Utah-based home alarm company, once praised by Mitt Romney, is aggressively marketing to military families, and its door-to-door sales force is accused by some of using sales tactics that have earned the company an "F" grade from the Better Business Bureau.Some salespeople from Vivint Security of Provo, Utah have been accused of misleading the families of U.S. troops and exploiting the concerns of deployed U.S. soldiers for the safety of their families back home. ...


State Dept deputy approved by panel, full Senate next

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 09:35 AM PST

Current Deputy National Security Advisor, Tony Blinken, speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House on July 28, 2014 in Washington, DCA US Senate panel on Thursday approved Tony Blinken as deputy secretary of state, setting up a potential full confirmation vote on President Barack Obama's nominee before Congress adjourns this week. If confirmed, Obama's deputy national security advisor Blinken would be the State Department's number two to top diplomat John Kerry, capping a fierce behind-the-scenes tussle over who would rise to the post. Obama named veteran diplomat Wendy Sherman, who is leading the US team in nuclear negotiations with Iran, to step in temporarily. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved Blinken as part of a bloc of nominees.


Islamic State orders wifi cut during prayers: Syria monitor

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 08:38 AM PST

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State militants have ordered shopkeepers to shut down their wireless Internet during prayer times in the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor, a group monitoring the Syrian conflict said on Thursday. It was a further example of Islamic State imposing controls on public life as it seeks to build what it describes as a caliphate in the heart of the Middle East. The ultra-radical insurgents hold large tracts of territory in Syria and Iraq and are the target of a U.S.-led bombing campaign in both countries. ...

Massive defense bill clears Senate hurdle

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 08:31 AM PST

WASHINGTON (AP) — A sweeping defense policy bill that would give President Barack Obama authority to expand the campaign against Islamic militants cleared a major hurdle on Thursday.

NATO reviewing Iraq request to help build up military

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 07:59 AM PST

Iraqi soldiers guard a conference on fighting the Islamic State group, at Al-Asad air base in Iraq's Anbar province on November 11, 2014NATO is reviewing an Iraqi request for help building up its military as the government struggles to beat back extremist Islamic State (IS) jihadists, the alliance said Thursday. "Iraq has now requested NATO support in defence capacity building," alliance head Jens Stoltenberg told regional partners at the NATO and Gulf Security conference in Qatar on Thursday. IS made huge gains earlier this year, advancing to Baghdad's doorstep and stoking fears the militants might seize control of the country from the hapless Iraqi government.


Panel advances Obama's pick for No. 2 US diplomat

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 07:33 AM PST

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate panel has advanced the president's nominee to be America's No. 2 diplomat over the objections of Sen. John McCain and other Republicans.

Saudi police say arrests made in shooting of Dane

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 07:11 AM PST

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Three Saudis with suspected ties to the Islamic State extremist group are under arrest for opening fire and wounding a Danish citizen last month, the kingdom's interior ministry said in a statement Thursday.

Saudi Arabia links Dane's shooting to Islamic State, arrests three

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 07:08 AM PST

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has arrested three suspects in connection with the shooting of a Danish man in Riyadh last month, and investigations show it was carried out on behalf of Islamic State, an interior ministry spokesman said on Thursday. The spokesman, Major General Mansour Turki, said security forces recovered the handgun and a vehicle used in the Nov. 22 attack, which the victim survived. "The confessions and the results of the initial investigations showed that they carried out the crime in support and sympathy with Islamic State," he said. ...

Algeria: Another kidnapper of French hiker killed

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 06:29 AM PST

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algeria's justice minister says a second member of the group that kidnapped and beheaded a French hiker last September has been identified and killed by the army.

Saudi arrests three IS 'supporters' for shooting Dane

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 06:12 AM PST

Three Islamic State supporters in Saudi Arabia are arrested for shooting and wounding a Danish citizen with a Glock pistolThree supporters of the Islamic State group in Saudi Arabia have been arrested for shooting and wounding a Danish citizen last month, the interior ministry said on Thursday. "The perpetrators of this vile attack, three Saudis, have been arrested," ministry spokesman General Mansour al-Turki said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. Denmark has confirmed that one of its nationals was shot and wounded in the Saudi capital Riyadh on November 22. Last week an IS-linked media group released a video claiming to show the shooting of a Danish citizen by its "supporters" in Saudi Arabia, US-based monitoring group SITE said.


Iraq's Sadr readies militia to fight for Samarra

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 05:45 AM PST

Demonstrator holds a picture of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr during a protest in BaghdadBy Saif Hameed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's powerful Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has put his militia on alert to battle Islamic State militants for the city of Samarra, home to a Shi'ite mosque whose destruction eight years ago plunged the country into sectarian war. Sadr's office said the announcement was a response to the "exceptional conditions and imminent danger to the sacred city of Samarra from the legions of terrorists," a reference to the Sunni Muslim Islamic State fighters who surround Samarra. ...


The Best Book I Read This Year

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 05:31 AM PST

The Best Book I Read This YearThe Atlantic's editors and writers share their favorite titles—new, classic, or somewhere in between—from a year of reading. Random House


Algerian troops kill militant involved in Frenchman's beheading

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 05:21 AM PST

A woman places a candle near flowers and messages outside the mountain guides bureau in tribute to Herve Gourdel in Saint-Martin-VesubieALGIERS (Reuters) - Algerian security forces have killed a second militant involved in the kidnapping and beheading of a French tourist in September, the Algerian justice minister said on Thursday. Militants claiming loyalty to Islamic State militants fighting in Iraq and Syria killed Herve Gourdel in the mountains east of Algiers, where the Frenchman had been planning a trekking trip before he was kidnapped in September. ...


NATO chief hails Gulf role in fighting extremists

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 05:17 AM PST

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, left, Qatar Defense Minister Hamad bin Ali al-Attiyah, center, and Bahrain's Minister of Foreign Affairs Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, right, speaks during the opening of NATO and Gulf Security conference in Doha, Qatar, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014. (AP Photo/Osama Faisal)DOHA, Qatar (AP) — NATO's secretary-general on Thursday praised Gulf nations for their role in fighting extremists in Syria and Iraq, and said tackling the threat the militants pose will require long-term multinational efforts.


Germany planning to train Kurdish fighters in Iraq

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 05:01 AM PST

BERLIN (AP) — Germany plans to participate in an international military mission aimed at training Kurdish fighters battling Islamic extremists in Iraq.

Jihadist cases stretch German justice to the limit: prosecutor

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 04:43 AM PST

Attorney General Harald Range of the Federal Prosecutors Office addresses a news conference in KarlsruheKARLSRUHE, Germany (Reuters) - Germany's justice system is struggling to cope with waves of suspected jihadists returning from Syria and the speed at which young Muslims are being radicalized, the top public prosecutor said on Thursday. Federal Prosecutor General Harald Range said his office was investigating 46 of the most serious cases, involving 83 people suspected of offences like belonging to Islamic State or al Qaeda. Regional prosecutors were investigating 100 more. That is a huge increase on the five investigations of eight suspects that prosecutors had to deal with in 2013. ...


'Stronger than ever' jihadists kill 5,042 in a month

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 03:49 AM PST

Troops inspect a British embassy vehicle which was targeted in a suicide attack in Kabul on November 27, 2014Jihadist attacks around the world in November killed a total of 5,042 people, showing Islamist extremism is "stronger than ever" despite Al-Qaeda's declining role, a new study published on Thursday said. There were 664 attacks in 14 countries during the month, according to the joint report by the BBC World Service and the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at King's College London. The research found Islamic State jihadists in Iraq and Syria were responsible for around half of the violence -- 308 attacks responsible for 2,206 deaths. "The data makes it clear that jihadists and Al-Qaeda are no longer one and the same," the report said.


UN: No sign of Islamic State group militants in Philippines

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 03:47 AM PST

French Jean-Paul Laborde, center, U.N. Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED), gestures beside Philippine Department of Justice, Justice Undersecretary Atty. Francisco Baraan III, right, and Sue Takasu, U.N. Senior Legal Officer, left, as they meet reporters at the Department of Justice in Manila, Philippines on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014. Laborde said there is no evidence that Islamic State militants have gained a foothold in the Philippines but added the country can take more steps to help fight a group that has vowed to expand its reach.(AP Photo/Aaron Favila)MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A U.N. counterterrorism official said Thursday there was no evidence that Islamic State militants have gained a foothold in the Philippines, where Muslim rebels are active, but added that the country can take more steps to help fight a group that has vowed to expand its reach.


U.N. says rich nations pledge to take 100,000 Syrian refugees

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 02:07 AM PST

Syrian refugee Alkalas and her daughters pose for a portrait in the living room of their house in Kessel EikBy Katie Nguyen GENEVA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday that Western governments had heeded a call to take in more Syrian refugees from neighboring countries and estimated that, in all, more than 100,000 places would be offered in the coming months. UNHCR, which wants to resettle 130,000 Syrians outside the region by the end of 2016, said the figure includes 62,000 places that have already been pledged by countries such as Germany and Sweden. The outcome was criticized by aid agency Oxfam, which said Western states could have done more. ...


U.S. closes Bagram prison, says no more detainees held in Afghanistan

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 01:13 AM PST

By Frank Jack Daniel KABUL (Reuters) - The United States said on Thursday it had shut its last detention facility in Afghanistan and no longer had custody of detainees there, closing a much-criticized chapter in Washington's fight against Islamic extremism. The U.S. Defense Department said it had recently transferred the last detainees from Bagram Airfield north of the capital, Kabul. It closed the prison there on Dec. 10, a day after a Senate report detailed abuse at a secret CIA prison in Afghanistan. The U.S. ...

Taliban suicide blast kills six Afghan soldiers in Kabul

Posted: 10 Dec 2014 10:39 PM PST

Afghan security personnel inspect the site where a suicide bomber on foot targeted a bus of soldiers, killing six, in Kabul on December 11, 2014A suicide bomber killed at least six Afghan soldiers in the suburbs of Kabul Thursday morning, officials said, the latest in a spate of Taliban attacks in the capital.


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