Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Marine wants new lawyers in Iraq slaying retrial
• Top Asian News at 12:30 a.m. GMT
• Top Asian News at 12:00 a.m. GMT
• Top Asian News at 11:30 p.m. GMT
• Top Asian News at 11:00 p.m. GMT
• Wounded vet stars at Obama State of Union address
• Top Asian News at 10:30 p.m. GMT
• Top Asian News at 10:00 p.m. GMT
• Top Asian News at 9:30 p.m. GMT
• Baghdad bombs and shooting kill at least 19
• Intel chief: al-Qaida wants to attack US
• Top Asian News at 9:00 p.m. GMT
• Who is Cory Remsburg? And what does he mean to Obama?
• Clapper says Syrian al-Qaida wants to attack US
• PepsiCo holding benefit for veterans
• Rising terror threat from Syria, Africa: US spy chief
• Bombings, shooting kill 20 people in Iraq
• Intel chief: Syrian al-Qaida wants to attack US
• Top Asian News at 8:30 p.m. GMT
• Bitterness of Syrian war on display at talks
• Top Asian News at 8:00 p.m. GMT
• Activists: Siege of Damascus camp grows deadlier
• Top Asian News at 7:30 p.m. GMT
• Egypt turns away Indian Shiite pilgrims
• Turkish military strikes al Qaeda-linked rebels in Syria: media
• Barrel bombs kill 13 in Syria's Aleppo
• Iraq releases rare 'ISIL chief' photo
• Iraq forces 'take back control' of western areas
• Bombing, shooting kill 7 people in Iraq
• Islamic Extremists Are Selling Fuel to the Assad Regime They Allegedly Hate
• Israeli general says al Qaeda's Syria fighters set up in Turkey
• Syria's media put differences aside at foundering peace talks
• Obama's State of the Union challenges Congress on inequality
• Fugitive Iraq VP warns Anbar conflict may spread over crackdown on Sunnis
• German foreign policy perks up under new gov't
• Text of Obama's State of the Union address
• Obama calls for limited strikes against al-Qaida
• Give diplomacy a chance, says Obama
• Obama Calls for 'Opportunity for All' in the State of the Union

Marine wants new lawyers in Iraq slaying retrial Posted: 29 Jan 2014 04:47 PM PST SAN DIEGO (AP) — A Camp Pendleton Marine whose Iraq war crime case is being retried after his conviction was overturned says he wants a new military defense lawyer.

Top Asian News at 12:30 a.m. GMT Posted: 29 Jan 2014 04:32 PM PST BANGKOK (AP) — Hotel occupancy rates in central Bangkok have plunged. Conventions have been canceled. Business deals have been postponed. Tourist bookings for coming months are way down. The latest spasm in Thailand's near decade of political upheaval is taking an economic toll as anti-government protesters barricade Bangkok's major intersections and confrontations between protesters and supporters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra periodically flare into deadly clashes.

Top Asian News at 12:00 a.m. GMT Posted: 29 Jan 2014 04:02 PM PST BANGKOK (AP) — Hotel occupancy rates in central Bangkok have plunged. Conventions have been canceled. Business deals have been postponed. Tourist bookings for coming months are way down. The latest spasm in Thailand's near decade of political upheaval is taking an economic toll as anti-government protesters barricade Bangkok's major intersections and confrontations between protesters and supporters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra periodically flare into deadly clashes.

Top Asian News at 11:30 p.m. GMT Posted: 29 Jan 2014 03:32 PM PST BANGKOK (AP) — Hotel occupancy rates in central Bangkok have plunged. Conventions have been canceled. Business deals have been postponed. Tourist bookings for coming months are way down. The latest spasm in Thailand's near decade of political upheaval is taking an economic toll as anti-government protesters barricade Bangkok's major intersections and confrontations between protesters and supporters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra periodically flare into deadly clashes.

Top Asian News at 11:00 p.m. GMT Posted: 29 Jan 2014 03:03 PM PST BANGKOK (AP) — Hotel occupancy rates in central Bangkok have plunged. Conventions have been canceled. Business deals have been postponed. Tourist bookings for coming months are way down. The latest spasm in Thailand's near decade of political upheaval is taking an economic toll as anti-government protesters barricade Bangkok's major intersections and confrontations between protesters and supporters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra periodically flare into deadly clashes.

Wounded vet stars at Obama State of Union address Posted: 29 Jan 2014 02:48 PM PST PHOENIX (AP) — For a few moments at least, there were no politics in the State of the Union address. It was just Sgt. 1st Class Cory Remsburg, a severely wounded Army Ranger, up there in the balcony overlooking the House chamber.

Top Asian News at 10:30 p.m. GMT Posted: 29 Jan 2014 02:32 PM PST BANGKOK (AP) — Hotel occupancy rates in central Bangkok have plunged. Conventions have been canceled. Business deals have been postponed. Tourist bookings for coming months are way down. The latest spasm in Thailand's near decade of political upheaval is taking an economic toll as anti-government protesters barricade Bangkok's major intersections and confrontations between protesters and supporters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra periodically flare into deadly clashes.

Top Asian News at 10:00 p.m. GMT Posted: 29 Jan 2014 02:03 PM PST BANGKOK (AP) — Hotel occupancy rates in central Bangkok have plunged. Conventions have been canceled. Business deals have been postponed. Tourist bookings for coming months are way down. The latest spasm in Thailand's near decade of political upheaval is taking an economic toll as anti-government protesters barricade Bangkok's major intersections and confrontations between protesters and supporters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra periodically flare into deadly clashes.

Top Asian News at 9:30 p.m. GMT Posted: 29 Jan 2014 01:32 PM PST BANGKOK (AP) — Hotel occupancy rates in central Bangkok have plunged. Conventions have been canceled. Business deals have been postponed. Tourist bookings for coming months are way down. The latest spasm in Thailand's near decade of political upheaval is taking an economic toll as anti-government protesters barricade Bangkok's major intersections and confrontations between protesters and supporters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra periodically flare into deadly clashes.

Baghdad bombs and shooting kill at least 19 Posted: 29 Jan 2014 01:22 PM PST Car bombs in mainly Shi'ite districts of the Iraqi capital and a shooting killed at least 19 people on Wednesday, police said, driving the death toll so far this month to nearly 1,000, according to Iraq Body Count. No group claimed responsibility for the blasts, but members of the country's Shi'ite majority are often targeted by Sunni Islamist insurgents, some linked with al Qaeda, who have regained ground in Iraq over the past year. The al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has exploited resentment among minority Sunnis against the Shi'ite-led government for policies perceived as unfairly penalizing their once-dominant community. On January 1, militants overran two cities in the Sunni heartland province of Anbar, which shares a border with Syria, where ISIL is also active.

Intel chief: al-Qaida wants to attack US Posted: 29 Jan 2014 01:04 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — The Syrian militant group tied to al-Qaida, the al-Nusra Front, wants to attack the United States and is training a growing cadre of fighters from Europe, the Mideast and even the U.S., the top U.S. intelligence official told Congress on Wednesday.

Top Asian News at 9:00 p.m. GMT Posted: 29 Jan 2014 01:03 PM PST BANGKOK (AP) — Hotel occupancy rates in central Bangkok have plunged. Conventions have been canceled. Business deals have been postponed. Tourist bookings for coming months are way down. The latest spasm in Thailand's near decade of political upheaval is taking an economic toll as anti-government protesters barricade Bangkok's major intersections and confrontations between protesters and supporters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra periodically flare into deadly clashes.

Who is Cory Remsburg? And what does he mean to Obama? Posted: 29 Jan 2014 01:01 PM PST Cory Remsburg has taken 10 tours of Iraq and Afghanistan. And, on Tuesday, he was a guest of honor at President Obama's State of the Union speech, his story the stirring, poignant conclusion to Mr. Obama's address to the nation. Michelle Obama's seating box at the speech, as is tradition, was filled with people who represent themes that the president addressed in his speech, each one a tangible reminder, often with an emotional lilt, of what Obama has accomplished or still hopes to accomplish in office. Mr. Remsburg, seated to Mrs. Obama's right, was the final invitee to get Obama's nod Tuesday evening, receiving the audience's longest standing ovation of the evening.

Clapper says Syrian al-Qaida wants to attack US Posted: 29 Jan 2014 01:00 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — The Syrian militant group tied to al-Qaida, the al-Nusra Front, wants to attack the United States and is training a growing cadre of fighters from Europe, the Mideast and even the U.S., the top U.S. intelligence official told Congress on Wednesday.

PepsiCo holding benefit for veterans Posted: 29 Jan 2014 12:57 PM PST NEW YORK (AP) — PepsiCo Inc. is making a $1 million donation and streaming a live concert Friday to benefit injured military veterans and their families.

Rising terror threat from Syria, Africa: US spy chief Posted: 29 Jan 2014 12:56 PM PST Syria's civil war serves as a "huge magnet" for terror groups, while sub-Saharan Africa has become a "hothouse" for extremists, US intelligence chief James Clapper warned Wednesday. Presenting an annual intelligence assessment, Clapper described a mounting danger from "globally dispersed" violent extremists from the Middle East to Africa aligned or inspired by Al-Qaeda, even as the terror group's core leadership has been steadily weakened in Pakistan. The raging conflict between President Bashar al-Assad's regime and rebel forces has lured Al-Qaeda-linked militants to Syria, where they could possibly prepare to mount attacks on the West, Clapper said.

Bombings, shooting kill 20 people in Iraq Posted: 29 Jan 2014 12:47 PM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Car bombs and a shooting, mainly in Shiite areas, killed 20 people in the Iraqi capital on Wednesday, officials said, as authorities released a rare photograph of a man they say is the leader of al-Qaida's local branch.

Intel chief: Syrian al-Qaida wants to attack US Posted: 29 Jan 2014 12:42 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — The Syrian militant group tied to al-Qaida, the al-Nusra Front, wants to attack the United States and is training a growing cadre of fighters from Europe, the Mideast and even the U.S., the top U.S. intelligence official told Congress on Wednesday.

Top Asian News at 8:30 p.m. GMT Posted: 29 Jan 2014 12:32 PM PST BANGKOK (AP) — Hotel occupancy rates in central Bangkok have plunged. Conventions have been canceled. Business deals have been postponed. Tourist bookings for coming months are way down. The latest spasm in Thailand's near decade of political upheaval is taking an economic toll as anti-government protesters barricade Bangkok's major intersections and confrontations between protesters and supporters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra periodically flare into deadly clashes.

Bitterness of Syrian war on display at talks Posted: 29 Jan 2014 12:04 PM PST GENEVA (AP) — The bitterness and rancor stirred by Syria's civil war were on full display this week at peace talks in Switzerland — and not just in the closed room where rival delegations are seeking a way to end the three-year conflict.

Top Asian News at 8:00 p.m. GMT Posted: 29 Jan 2014 12:02 PM PST BANGKOK (AP) — Hotel occupancy rates in central Bangkok have plunged. Conventions have been canceled. Business deals have been postponed. Tourist bookings for coming months are way down. The latest spasm in Thailand's near decade of political upheaval is taking an economic toll as anti-government protesters barricade Bangkok's major intersections and confrontations between protesters and supporters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra periodically flare into deadly clashes.

Activists: Siege of Damascus camp grows deadlier Posted: 29 Jan 2014 11:56 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — Starvation and illnesses exacerbated by hunger or the lack of medical aid in a Palestinian camp in Damascus besieged for months by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad have killed at least 85 people, activists said Wednesday.

Top Asian News at 7:30 p.m. GMT Posted: 29 Jan 2014 11:32 AM PST BANGKOK (AP) — Hotel occupancy rates in central Bangkok have plunged. Conventions have been canceled. Business deals have been postponed. Tourist bookings for coming months are way down. The latest spasm in Thailand's near decade of political upheaval is taking an economic toll as anti-government protesters barricade Bangkok's major intersections and confrontations between protesters and supporters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra periodically flare into deadly clashes.

Egypt turns away Indian Shiite pilgrims Posted: 29 Jan 2014 11:29 AM PST CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian officials say they have barred entrance to the country to 52 Shiite pilgrims from India who came to visit historic Shiite Muslim shrines.

Turkish military strikes al Qaeda-linked rebels in Syria: media Posted: 29 Jan 2014 10:18 AM PST ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The Turkish armed forces attacked a convoy of al Qaeda-linked rebel vehicles in Syria in retaliation for cross-border fire on Tuesday, destroying three vehicles, Turkish media said on Wednesday. Turkish troops opened fire on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) positions in northern Syria after a mortar shell fired from Syria landed in Turkish territory during clashes between ISIL and the Free Syrian Army, broadcaster NTV reported. It said a pick-up truck, a lorry and a bus were destroyed in the Turkish retaliation on Tuesday evening. ...

Barrel bombs kill 13 in Syria's Aleppo Posted: 29 Jan 2014 09:24 AM PST Syrian government forces dropped barrel bombs on rebel-held districts of Aleppo Wednesday, killing 13 people as they pressed an assault southeast of the northern city, a monitoring group said. More than 20 of the controversial unguided munitions were also dropped on the town of Daraya, southwest of the capital, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Government troops meanwhile battled rebel forces near Krak des Chevaliers, a famed Crusader castle between the central city of Homs and the Mediterranean coast, the Britain-based group added. The fighting came even as both the government of President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition National Coalition reported "positive" results at peace talks in Geneva after four days of deadlock.

Iraq releases rare 'ISIL chief' photo Posted: 29 Jan 2014 09:10 AM PST The Iraqi interior ministry Wednesday published a photograph purportedly of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, an Al-Qaeda-linked group fighting in Iraq and Syria. The photograph, the first of its kind published by an official source, provides a rare glimpse of the man leading a militant group blamed for killing countless Iraqis, as well as fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. "Intelligence forces have obtained a recent portrait of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and they also got three handwritten letters," said the statement accompanying the photograph, published on the ministry's website. Baghdadi's group has been blamed for a litany of attacks across Iraq in recent months, and ISIL has been involved in a deadly standoff with government forces in western Iraq's Anbar province.

Iraq forces 'take back control' of western areas Posted: 29 Jan 2014 09:06 AM PST Iraqi forces Wednesday wrested back control of key areas west of Baghdad that have been out of government hands for weeks amid a deadly standoff between militants and security forces. The battles in Anbar province, a mostly-Sunni desert region bordering on Syria, and a protracted surge in nationwide violence, have killed more than 850 people this month, fuelling fears Iraq is slipping back into the all-out conflict that plagued it from 2006 to 2008. Washington has said it plans to sell Iraq 24 Apache attack helicopters in a $4.8 billion deal to help the country fight militants.

Bombing, shooting kill 7 people in Iraq Posted: 29 Jan 2014 08:57 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi authorities say a bombing near a pastry shop and a separate shooting have killed seven people in the capital.

Islamic Extremists Are Selling Fuel to the Assad Regime They Allegedly Hate Posted: 29 Jan 2014 07:45 AM PST The al-Qaeda affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has control of Syria's oil and gas resources, and is selling that fuel to the Assad government that it's supposedly there to fight, according to a New York Times report. Other Syrian opposition leaders have long suspected that the extremist group has some sort of secret agreement with the Assad regime. People are increasingly referring to "good" rebels and "bad" rebels in Syria, and by "bad" they absolutely mean ISIS, along with the Nusra Front. They came over from Iraq with the hopes of establishing an Islamic state if the Assad regime is deposed.

Israeli general says al Qaeda's Syria fighters set up in Turkey Posted: 29 Jan 2014 07:25 AM PST By Dan Williams TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Some of the al Qaeda militants going to fight in Syria have bases in neighboring Turkey and can easily access Europe from the NATO member state, Israel's military intelligence chief said on Wednesday. Major-General Aviv Kochavi, presenting a map of the Middle East marked with areas of al Qaeda presence, told a security conference al Qaeda fighters from around the world entered Syria weekly, "but they do not stay" there. The map showed three al Qaeda bases inside Turkey.

Syria's media put differences aside at foundering peace talks Posted: 29 Jan 2014 06:43 AM PST By Mariam Karouny GENEVA (Reuters) - Journalists and activists loyal to opposing sides of Syria's civil war have managed something the negotiators at this peace conference haven't - talking to each other. Inside the wood-paneled negotiating room at the United Nations' "Geneva 2" talks, delegates for President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition fighting to topple him do not even address each other, only their mediator Lakhdar Brahimi. After days of ignoring each other, journalists began to make eye contact. Can you say they committed crimes?" The group of journalists and activists ended their exchange by agreeing they all love Syria.

Obama's State of the Union challenges Congress on inequality Posted: 29 Jan 2014 05:03 AM PST President Barack Obama vowed to reverse a tide of economic inequality threatening the American dream, seeking to outflank Republicans and revive a second term blighted by self-inflicted wounds and partisan warfare. In his annual State of the Union address, Obama promised to wield his executive powers in a "year of action" to lift up workers, improve education and clean the environment if his foes in Congress balk at more sweeping action. "America does not stand still -- and neither will I," Obama said, talking past the lawmakers gathered in the House of Representatives directly to millions of television viewers. "Our job is to reverse these trends," Obama said, pounding out his points with a punchy, optimistic delivery, apparently keen to suggest that despite five grueling years he still has energy and purpose for his task.

Fugitive Iraq VP warns Anbar conflict may spread over crackdown on Sunnis Posted: 29 Jan 2014 04:15 AM PST By Amena Bakr DOHA (Reuters) - Iraq's fugitive vice president warned that an armed stand-off in Anbar province could spread to other parts of the country as Sunni Muslim opposition to Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki grows. Stirred by a bloody raid to arrest a Sunni politician in the Anbar city of Ramadi, fighters of the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and tribal allies took over Falluja and parts of nearby Ramadi three weeks ago at a time of rising Sunni anger with the Shi'ite-led government. Tarek al-Hashemi, a Sunni sentenced to death in 2012 after an Iraqi court convicted him of running death squads while vice president, something he denies, has accused Maliki of pursuing a political witch-hunt against his Sunni opponents. "I'm not optimistic about the future... I think this spark in Anbar will spread to other provinces," Hashemi told Reuters in an interview this week in his Doha office guarded by Qatari security men.

German foreign policy perks up under new gov't Posted: 29 Jan 2014 03:41 AM PST BERLIN (AP) — Germany has been called a reluctant giant — Europe's biggest power, but one that balks at a front-line leadership role beyond finance.

Text of Obama's State of the Union address Posted: 29 Jan 2014 12:10 AM PST Text of President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, as delivered and provided by the White House:

Obama calls for limited strikes against al-Qaida Posted: 28 Jan 2014 07:30 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the U.S. must remain vigilant against al-Qaida as the terror network takes root across the Mideast and North Africa.

Give diplomacy a chance, says Obama Posted: 28 Jan 2014 04:35 PM PST President Barack Obama declared Tuesday that America must move away from a permanent war footing to give diplomacy a chance to resolve some of the world's toughest problems, such as the nuclear standoff with Iran. "The fact is, that danger remains," Obama warned in the annual State of the Union address, adding the United States had "to remain vigilant" in face of changing global threats. "While we have put Al-Qaeda's core leadership on a path to defeat, the threat has evolved, as Al-Qaeda affiliates and other extremists take root in different parts of the world," Obama told US lawmakers, highlighting hotspots like Yemen, Somalia, Iraq and Mali. "So even as we actively and aggressively pursue terrorist networks, through more targeted efforts and by building the capacity of our foreign partners, America must move off a permanent war footing."

Obama Calls for 'Opportunity for All' in the State of the Union Posted: 28 Jan 2014 03:48 PM PST President Obama's fifth State of the Union Address, presented for just over an hour on Tuesday night, focused largely on two things: how the government can bolster the economic situation of people out of work or living in poverty, and how he himself can make those changes even if Congress doesn't. The White House produced a fact sheet with all of his proposals, which includes raising the minimum wage, improving the earned income tax credit, increased energy production, new manufacturing institutes, a retirement savings account for all Americans, more infrastructural investment, and more. The minimum wage issue was a key indicator of what Obama plans: He'll raise wages for federal contractors unilaterally, but demands Congress raise them for everyone else.

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