Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Marine Corps to retry sergeant in Iraq war case
• U.S. moves forward with attack helicopter sale to Iraq
• US plans to sell 24 Apache helicopters to Iraq
• 5 Ways Life Has Become Intolerable for This Country's Women
• Syria talks to continue despite deadlock over power transfer
• Assad future blocks progress in Syria peace talks
• Senate panel OKs sale of helicopters to Iraq
• Key al-Qaida militant reportedly killed in Syria
• Q&A on Hagel's investigation of nuclear force
• After deadlock, Syria talks to tackle transition
• Nine killed in latest Iraq bloodshed
• UK Parliamentary Committee Meets Iranian Opposition Leader in Paris
• Predicting the coups of 2014
• Clinton: Gates a 'very good colleague'
• Tense session breaks up over Syria transition
• Meow! Hello Kitty, the cat superstar who predates YouTube, turns 40
• Activists: Key al-Qaida militant killed in Syria
• Adam Sternbergh Talks 'Shovel Ready,' The Terrifying Dystopian Novel That's 'More Plausible Than People Think'
• Iraq officials: Attacks kill 8, including 4 troops
• State of Foreign Policy: Not a Sharp Picture
• Questions and answers on Hagel's nuke force probe
• Brent eases towards $107, China slowdown stokes demand worries

Marine Corps to retry sergeant in Iraq war case Posted: 27 Jan 2014 04:43 PM PST SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Marine Corps will retry a sergeant whose murder conviction in a major Iraq war crime case has been overturned twice by military courts in recent years, a spokesman said Monday.

U.S. moves forward with attack helicopter sale to Iraq Posted: 27 Jan 2014 04:19 PM PST By Missy Ryan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration notified Congress on Monday of plans to sell 24 Apache attack helicopters to Iraq, part of an effort to bolster the military against al Qaeda-linked militants, after addressing lawmakers' concerns that held up the sale for months. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency said on its website it had informed Congress of the possible sale of the Boeing Co-built helicopters to the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who is in a standoff with Islamist militants in the western province of Anbar two years after the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. The administration also notified Congress of plans to lease Iraq up to six Apaches, which a U.S. defense official said would be used for training purposes until the purchased Apaches were delivered.

US plans to sell 24 Apache helicopters to Iraq Posted: 27 Jan 2014 02:23 PM PST The Pentagon informed Congress on Monday it plans to sell 24 Apache attack helicopters to Iraq in a deal worth $4.8 billion to help Baghdad battle anti-government militants. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government has lobbied Washington for weapons and intelligence as it takes on Al-Qaeda-linked fighters in Anbar province but it remains unclear if US lawmakers will approve the proposed package. Congress has 15 days to raise objections to the planned arms sale, which also includes 480 Hellfire missiles and associated radar and navigation systems, according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), which oversees foreign arms sales.

5 Ways Life Has Become Intolerable for This Country's Women Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:52 PM PST If she left, she could be beaten or abducted, like some of the other women who defied the restrictions. The family lived in the town of Tell Aran in northern Syria's Aleppo Governorate. It's part of the bigger story of how draconian restrictions on women—implemented by extremists in the country's ongoing civil war—have curtailed freedoms and changed their lives dramatically. Life before the war wasn't perfect, but Syrian women had relatively reasonable levels of independence in society, especially compared with their counterparts in the Arab world.

Syria talks to continue despite deadlock over power transfer Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:29 PM PST Syrian peace talks in Geneva were deadlocked Monday over the issue of transferring power, but neither side walked away and the UN said the question of a political transition would be back on the table. UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi admitted that talks "haven't produced much". "Tomorrow we are going to put forward the Geneva communique... Then we are going to decide with them how we are going to proceed in discussing its many elements," he said, in reference to a text agreed by world powers in 2012 that calls for the creation of a transitional governing body in Syria. Monday marked the third day of UN-sponsored talks between the two sides in Geneva and the first dealing with political issues.

Assad future blocks progress in Syria peace talks Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:05 PM PST GENEVA (AP) — The key issue of a transitional government to replace President Bashar Assad blocked any progress Monday in Syrian peace talks, described by one delegate as "a dialogue of the deaf."

Senate panel OKs sale of helicopters to Iraq Posted: 27 Jan 2014 12:53 PM PST A congressional panel has signed off on the sale of Apache helicopters to Iraq as it battles the growing threat from al-Qaida militants within its borders. New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, the Democratic ...

Key al-Qaida militant reportedly killed in Syria Posted: 27 Jan 2014 11:58 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — A senior figure in an al-Qaida-linked group in Syria has been killed in a bloody dispute with rival rebel factions that has raged for more than three weeks across opposition-held parts of the country, activists and an Iraqi intelligence official said Monday.

Q&A on Hagel's investigation of nuclear force Posted: 27 Jan 2014 11:21 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon's decision to look into what ails the Air Force group responsible for nuclear missiles was hardly a bolt from the blue.

After deadlock, Syria talks to tackle transition Posted: 27 Jan 2014 11:12 AM PST Syrian peace talks are to tackle the issue of the nation's political transformation but the issue of crafting an interim government is still far off, the UN's mediator said Monday. Speaking after regime and opposition negotiators said the process was deadlocked following initial efforts to talk politics, Lakhdar Brahimi announced that the so-called "Geneva communique" would be under discussion in Tuesday's session. "Tomorrow we are going to put forward the Geneva communique, of course the parties know it extremely well, and then we are going to decide with them how we are going to proceed in discussing its many elements," he added. The so-called "Geneva I" declaration, agreed at an international conference in the Swiss city in 2012, was meant to pave the way for a mutually agreed political transition in war-torn Syria.

Nine killed in latest Iraq bloodshed Posted: 27 Jan 2014 10:47 AM PST A series of attacks in Baghdad and Sunni Arab areas north of the capital killed nine people on Monday, as Iraq grapples with a months-long surge in nationwide violence. Coupled with a protracted stand-off between security forces and anti-government fighters in the western province of Anbar, unrest this month has left more than 850 people dead, fuelling fears Iraq is slipping back into the brutal conflict that plagued it in 2006-2007. Foreign leaders and diplomats have urged Iraq's Shiite-led government to address long-term grievances in the disaffected Sunni community to undercut support for militants, but with elections due in April, Prime Minister Nuri-al-Maliki has taken a hard line. Attacks on Monday struck in Baghdad, and in and around the restive mostly-Sunni cities of Baquba, Mosul and Samarra, security and medical officials said.

UK Parliamentary Committee Meets Iranian Opposition Leader in Paris Posted: 27 Jan 2014 10:45 AM PST PARIS, Jan. 27, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A high-level cross-party delegation of British parliamentarians from both Houses of Commons met today with the leader of the Iranian opposition to pursue a humanitarian issue that threatens the lives of thousands. The meeting involved the British lawmakers and Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), in the council's headquarters in north of Paris. At issue was the plight of more than 3,000 Iranian dissidents in Iraq, who have been subjected to assaults, missile attacks and other forms of terror that have left scores dead, hundreds wounded, and seven held hostage. According to NCRI the attacks are being carried out by Iraqi government at the behest of the mullahs in Iran to whom Nouri Maliki is beholden.

Predicting the coups of 2014 Posted: 27 Jan 2014 10:39 AM PST Political scientist Jay Ulfelder, who uses statistical models based on past history from who colonized a country to GDP to frequency of coups in a nation's past, takes a stab at it. As he writes: "Statistically speaking, the safest bet for any country almost any year is that a coup attempt won't occur.

Clinton: Gates a 'very good colleague' Posted: 27 Jan 2014 10:37 AM PST NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton praised former Defense Secretary Robert Gates' ability to work with presidents of both political parties on Monday, sidestepping a passage in his new book that asserts she cast a vote on the Iraq war for political purposes.

Tense session breaks up over Syria transition Posted: 27 Jan 2014 09:25 AM PST GENEVA (AP) — The first meeting meant to discuss the contentious issue of a Syrian transitional government broke up less than an hour after it began Monday following a tense session that one delegate described as "a dialogue of the deaf."

Meow! Hello Kitty, the cat superstar who predates YouTube, turns 40 Posted: 27 Jan 2014 07:55 AM PST Taiwanese girls and adult women unabashedly buy pencils, clothing, blankets, and theme meals bearing the white button-nosed cat with an extra-large head and no defined facial expression. Some fly on six Hello Kitty-festooned aircraft run by Taiwan's EVA Airways, stay in a hotel with 10 Hello Kitty guest rooms – cat images from bathrooms to pillowcases – and dine in the capital city's Hello Kitty-themed restaurants (reservations a must).  Women in central Taiwan can give birth at a 30-bed maternity hospital decorated with the signature cats, a means of soothing moods during labor. Sanrio doesn't disclose revenue for Taiwan, where its own stores also pack in shoppers.

Activists: Key al-Qaida militant killed in Syria Posted: 27 Jan 2014 06:50 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — Activist say a top militant who was the second in command in an al-Qaida-linked group has been killed in Syria in clashes with rival Islamic factions.

Adam Sternbergh Talks 'Shovel Ready,' The Terrifying Dystopian Novel That's 'More Plausible Than People Think' Posted: 27 Jan 2014 05:30 AM PST In a bombed out New York dystopia, a hardboiled hitman roams desolate streets while the rich suck feed-bags in an immersive virtual web sphere. Did you envision this as the future of New York or as more like a return to the crime-ridden 1970s New York? So in that sense it's a future New York, but it definitely was inspired by that past New York from the '70s and '80s, though I was a kid in the '70s and '80s and I didn't actually visit New York City myself until the early '90s. But I had an older sister who lived in New York back then, who moved to New York in the 1970s, who still lives in the same apartment in the East Village, and who has seen New York go through all these crazy changes. So as a kid I was fascinated by New York City as a kind of mythical place, and most of what I knew about it I got from little snippets from TV and movies.

Iraq officials: Attacks kill 8, including 4 troops Posted: 27 Jan 2014 04:22 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Officials say a suicide bomber has killed four Iraqi troops west of Baghdad while attacks elsewhere in the country killed four people.

State of Foreign Policy: Not a Sharp Picture Posted: 27 Jan 2014 02:30 AM PST The blogs and newspapers tell us President Obama will be firing on all cylinders when he delivers his State of the Union speech Tuesday. But here is a certainty: The president will quite possibly leave foreign policy questions altogether unaddressed. Obama and Secretary of State Kerry, given to improvisation with no evident strategy, appear to have taken an active role in doing damage—not by intent, plainly, but out of sheer inexperience and amateurism. In each of the main theaters of U.S. foreign policy, Washington is fumbling in an environment that, to be fair, would cause any administration anxiety.

Questions and answers on Hagel's nuke force probe Posted: 27 Jan 2014 12:54 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon's decision to look into what ails the Air Force group responsible for nuclear missiles was hardly a bolt from the blue.

Brent eases towards $107, China slowdown stokes demand worries Posted: 27 Jan 2014 12:38 AM PST By Manash Goswami SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Brent futures eased towards $107 a barrel on Monday as concerns over a slowdown in China stoked demand-growth worries, but bitterly cold weather across the northern Hemisphere and simmering tensions in the Middle East curbed losses. Emerging markets came under pressure as the U.S. Federal Reserve looked set to continue tapering its stimulus and as tighter credit conditions in China raised fears of a slowdown, hammering most risk assets including base metals and Asian shares. Yet expectations the West will pick up the slack in China's slowing oil demand-growth meant losses in crude futures were limited. Brent crude had slipped 32 cents to $107.56 a barrel by 0740 GMT, after settling 30 cents higher.

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