| Powerful Iraqi Shiite cleric Sadr quits politics Posted: 16 Feb 2014 09:22 AM PST  Najaf (Iraq) (AFP) - Powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, leader of a major political movement and a key figure in post-Saddam Iraq, has announced his exit from politics two months before elections. The decision, if confirmed as permanent, brings to a close a political career that began with his fierce opposition to the US military presence in Iraq, and has spanned more than a decade. "I announce my non-intervention in all political affairs and that there is no bloc that represents us from now on, nor any position inside or outside the government nor parliament," Sadr said in a written statement received by AFP on Sunday. Ahead of legislative elections in April, Sadr's movement currently holds six cabinet posts as well as 40 seats in the 325-member parliament.
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| Iraq's Sadr: cleric, militia chief, kingmaker Posted: 16 Feb 2014 09:21 AM PST  Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has bowed out of Iraqi politics, was a fierce critic of the US-led invasion, chief of a once-feared militia and political kingmaker. Sadr, who has a grey-streaked, bushy black beard and wears the black turban of a "sayyid," or descendant of the Prophet Mohammed, gained widespread popularity in the months after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. His rise, aided by the reputations of two famed relatives -- including his father, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr -- killed during Saddam Hussein's rule, eventually translated into political power. "I announce my non-intervention in all political affairs and that there is no bloc that represents us from now on, nor any position inside or outside the government nor parliament," Sadr said in a written statement received by AFP on Sunday.
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| Saudi Internet monitors turn focus on Syria-fuelled radicalism Posted: 16 Feb 2014 09:02 AM PST  By Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) - Syria's civil war has led to a new, greater threat of Islamist radicalism in Saudi Arabia that requires a more aggressive "war of ideology" on the Internet, says the man responsible for online monitoring in the kingdom. Remarks by the head of the Saudi Ideological Security Directorate (ISD) suggest that the unit, known for keeping tabs on liberal activists and women drivers as well as Islamist extremists, is turning its focus increasingly towards those using the Internet to recruit fighters for jihad abroad. This month King Abdullah decreed that any Saudi who goes overseas to fight faces jail terms of 3-20 years. Authorities believe 1,000-2,000 of the kingdom's citizens have gone to Syria to join the war there.
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| Iraq attacks kill 17, army fights to retake town from militants Posted: 16 Feb 2014 06:30 AM PST At least 17 people were killed in attacks across Iraq on Sunday as troops fought to evict Islamist militants from the northern town of Sulaiman Pek, security sources and medics said. Armored vehicles and special police forces with heavy machineguns arrived in Sulaiman Pek to reinforce troops battling there for several days backed by helicopters gunships. "Clashes are continuing today in the town centre," the town's mayor, Talib Mohammed, told Reuters. We can't even look out of the window, as bullets and blasts are not stopping." Militants raised the black flag of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) - a hardline Sunni group also fighting in neighboring Syria - over parts of Sulaiman Pek, 160 km (100 miles) north of Baghdad, on Thursday. |
| Kerry visits largest mosque in Southeast Asia Posted: 16 Feb 2014 05:01 AM PST  US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Southeast Asia's largest mosque during his visit to Indonesia Sunday, paying tribute to Islam in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation. After removing his shoes outside the Istiqlal mosque in the heart of Jakarta, Kerry took a 20-minute tour through the vast building accompanied by grand imam Kyai al-Hajj Ali Mustafa Yaqub. The administration of US President Barack Obama has worked hard to try to repair relations with the Muslim world, which were badly frayed under the previous administration with the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Obama, who spent part of his childhood in Jakarta, also visited the mosque in 2010 when he travelled to the archipelago.
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| Key Shiite Iraqi cleric says he quits politics Posted: 16 Feb 2014 04:45 AM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — One of Iraq's most influential Shiite clerics, Muqtada al-Sadr, says he has decided to quit politics, distancing himself from any political movement that uses his name.
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| Iraq Shi'ite cleric who fought U.S. forces says quitting politics Posted: 16 Feb 2014 03:50 AM PST  Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who led revolts against U.S. forces in Iraq before their pullout and became a major influence in the government, said he is leaving political life and has dissolved his movement. Sadr gave no reason for the retirement announced via a handwritten statement on his website.
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| Lord Byron, Interventionist Posted: 16 Feb 2014 03:45 AM PST  What Lord Byron learned when he waded into the fight for Greece's independence—and why it still matters.
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| Iraq militants take credit for killing 15 troops Posted: 16 Feb 2014 12:16 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — The main al-Qaida breakaway group in Iraq has claimed responsibility for an audacious attack on a military barracks that left 15 troops killed. |
