Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Marine arraigned in Iraq slaying retrial
• Syria peace talks face total deadlock as death toll soars
• US changing suits after dismal speedskating start
• Car bomb attack outside Syria mosque kills scores: monitor
• Kerry says Obama seeks Syria options, none presented yet
• Bahrain: Blasts hit police 3 years after uprising
• Once hounded, Sephardic Jews find Spanish embrace
• US struggling at oval, focus on high-tech suits
• Iraq forces battle to retake town from militants
• Bahrain: Blast hits police 3 years after uprising
• Al Qaeda splinter group executes 21 in Syria: report
• Iraqi troops regain ground from militants in northern town
• Al Qaeda splinter group executes 13 in Syria: report
• Graft allegations test West's ties to Somali president
• Is the Tea Party's Dream an Illusion?
• Insight: Graft allegations test West's ties to Somali president

Marine arraigned in Iraq slaying retrial Posted: 14 Feb 2014 04:27 PM PST SAN DIEGO (AP) — A Marine sergeant who is being retried in an Iraq war crimes case has been arraigned on charges that include murder and obstruction of justice.

Syria peace talks face total deadlock as death toll soars Posted: 14 Feb 2014 03:46 PM PST Syria's faltering peace process ground to total deadlock Friday amid growing concern of complete collapse despite international pressure, as the death toll on the ground continued to soar. On the penultimate day of the current round of UN-brokered peace talks, Syria's warring sides appeared further apart than ever, agreeing on only one thing: that the negotiations so far were going nowhere. "We deeply regret that this round did not make any progress," said Syria's deputy foreign minister, Faisal Muqdad, after meeting UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi. As the parties in Geneva failed to agree even on an agenda for their talks, the death toll inside Syria continued to climb.

US changing suits after dismal speedskating start Posted: 14 Feb 2014 03:25 PM PST SOCHI, Russia (AP) — They were touted as the fastest speedskating suits in the world.

Car bomb attack outside Syria mosque kills scores: monitor Posted: 14 Feb 2014 02:40 PM PST A car bombing outside a mosque in southern Syria killed scores of people Friday and rebels detonated mines under a hotel in the north, killing 18 loyalists, monitors said. At least 47 people, including 14 rebel fighters, were killed when the car blew up in front of the mosque in the rebel-held village of Yaduda in the southern Daraa province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. On another front, the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) executed dozens of people as it was forced by rival rebels to withdraw from five villages including Hreitan, an opposition stronghold in the northern province of Aleppo. Though rebels once welcomed ISIL in the fight against President Bashar al-Assad, horrific abuses in areas under their domination have turned much of the opposition against them.

Kerry says Obama seeks Syria options, none presented yet Posted: 14 Feb 2014 01:03 PM PST U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday that President Barack Obama had again asked for policy options on Syria but that none have yet been presented to him. Kerry told reporters Obama was concerned about the deterioration in the humanitarian situation in Syria and also by the fact that peace talks between the opposition and government had not produced a discussion of a transitional government as had been planned. "And when these options are ripe and when the president calls for it, there will undoubtedly be some discussion about them." White House spokesman Jay Carney said in Washington that Obama expected his national security team to constantly re-evaluate policy options on Syria and other issues.

Bahrain: Blasts hit police 3 years after uprising Posted: 14 Feb 2014 12:56 PM PST MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Explosions targeted police in Bahrain on Friday as clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters on the third anniversary of the Gulf nation's uprising left dozens wounded, authorities and activists said.

Once hounded, Sephardic Jews find Spanish embrace Posted: 14 Feb 2014 12:27 PM PST MADRID (AP) — They were burned at the stake, forced to convert or chased into exile. Now Spain is moving to right a half-millennium old "historic mistake" against its onetime flourishing Sephardic Jewish community: the European Union country is on the verge of offering citizenship to descendants of victims estimated to number in the millions.

US struggling at oval, focus on high-tech suits Posted: 14 Feb 2014 12:08 PM PST SOCHI, Russia (AP) — They were touted as the fastest speedskating suits in the world.

Iraq forces battle to retake town from militants Posted: 14 Feb 2014 10:22 AM PST Tikrit (Iraq) (AFP) - Iraqi forces fought Friday to retake part of a northern town and nearby areas seized by gunmen, killing over a dozen militants and at least temporarily regaining territory, officials said. The Thursday takeover of part of Sulaiman Bek and nearby villages in Salaheddin province came as gunmen hold a major city and part of another in the western province of Anbar, in a stand-off that has lasted weeks. Local official Talib al-Bayati told AFP that security forces backed by tanks and other armour began attacking militant-held areas on Friday morning. Engineers moved in first to search for bombs, he said, adding that security forces had killed 17 militants in the area since Thursday.

Bahrain: Blast hits police 3 years after uprising Posted: 14 Feb 2014 09:09 AM PST MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — An explosion rocked a bus carrying police in Bahrain on Friday, while security forces used tear gas in clashes with anti-government protesters on the third anniversary of an uprising in the small Gulf island nation.

Al Qaeda splinter group executes 21 in Syria: report Posted: 14 Feb 2014 08:26 AM PST An al Qaeda splinter group in Syria executed at least 21 people including fighters from rival rebel groups and their relatives, a monitoring group said on Friday, an incident that could worsen infighting among enemies of President Bashar al-Assad. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which has attracted many foreign militants into its ranks, is a small but powerful fighting force in Syria that emerged from the Sunni Islamist insurgency in neighboring Iraq. In Syria, it has alienated many civilians and opposition activists by imposing harsh rulings against dissent in areas it controls. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said ISIL militants had executed 17 men in Haritan, just northwest of Aleppo, one of the most contested areas in an almost three-year-old civil war between insurgents and Assad's forces.

Iraqi troops regain ground from militants in northern town Posted: 14 Feb 2014 05:17 AM PST Iraqi troops backed by helicopter gunships regained ground in the northern town of Sulaiman Pek on Friday, a day after parts of it were overrun by Sunni Islamist insurgents, the mayor said. At least 12 militants were killed by the army, according to the town's mayor, Talib Mohammed, who identified the militants as members of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). "We have to admit it's not an easy job as snipers and roadside bombs planted by militants are forcing military forces to be slow and vigilant." Sunni Islamist militants have been regaining ground in Iraq over the past year, particularly in the western province of Anbar, where gunmen opposed to the country's Shi'ite-led government took over the city of Falluja last month. The Iraqi army has surrounded Falluja and threatened a ground assault to retake it unless the militants lay down their arms by Friday.

Al Qaeda splinter group executes 13 in Syria: report Posted: 14 Feb 2014 04:42 AM PST An al Qaeda splinter group in Syria executed at least 13 people including relatives of fighters from rival rebel groups before withdrawing from a town near Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday. The London-based monitoring group said the men killed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants included rebels who were detained by ISIL after laying down their arms. The Observatory said their bodies had been thrown into a well. Several Islamist and more secular rebel factions joined forces in January for an offensive to try to push their former ISIL allies out of rebel-held regions in northern and eastern Syria.

Graft allegations test West's ties to Somali president Posted: 14 Feb 2014 02:07 AM PST By Drazen Jorgic NAIROBI (Reuters) - A resignation letter by Somalia's central bank governor sent from Dubai has thrown Western donors into a quandary over supporting a government they need to fight al Qaeda's local allies. Governor Yussur Abrar quit after only seven weeks in the job, alleging she had been pressured to accept arrangements she believed would open the door to corruption. With one email, she sucked President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud into a dispute over the recovery of frozen Somali assets from abroad, embarrassing foreign donors who have pledged billions to rebuild his shattered nation after two decades of chaos. Divisive clan politics have bedevilled Somalia throughout its long civil war and more recent insurgency by the Islamist militants of al Shabaab, the local franchise of al Qaeda.

Is the Tea Party's Dream an Illusion? Posted: 14 Feb 2014 12:00 AM PST "There is no education in the second kick of a mule," said Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. With some such thought in mind, Speaker John Boehner strode to the floor of the House to offer a "clean" debt ceiling bill and relied on Nancy Pelosi's Democrats to pass it. Had he added a GOP wish-list bill to the debt ceiling, Harry Reid's Senate would have rejected it. President Obama would have denounced it as putting at risk the full faith and credit of the United States.

Insight: Graft allegations test West's ties to Somali president Posted: 13 Feb 2014 11:32 PM PST By Drazen Jorgic NAIROBI (Reuters) - A resignation letter by Somalia's central bank governor sent from Dubai has thrown Western donors into a quandary over supporting a government they need to fight al Qaeda's local allies. Governor Yussur Abrar quit after only seven weeks in the job, alleging she had been pressured to accept arrangements she believed would open the door to corruption. With one email, she sucked President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud into a dispute over the recovery of frozen Somali assets from abroad, embarrassing foreign donors who have pledged billions to rebuild his shattered nation after two decades of chaos. Divisive clan politics have bedeviled Somalia throughout its long civil war and more recent insurgency by the Islamist militants of al Shabaab, the local franchise of al Qaeda.

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