Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Drugs on Maersk ship where 2 ex-SEALs died
• NJ judge throws out NYPD spying lawsuit
• Obama's Syria 'red line' has echoes in his warning to Ukraine
• The Dalai Lama spent the day with hundreds of conservatives in Washington, D.C.
• Five killed at blast in Syrian refugee camp near Turkey: monitor
• Maersk: Alabama leaves port after probe of deaths
• Officer not charged in Ohio crash that killed 6
• Lead prosecutor out in US Army general sex case
• Moscow says US policy on Syria aids 'terrorism'
• Russia FM talks weapons, Syria during Iraq visit
• Iraq mortar attack kills 17
• Mortar attack against Iraqi town kills at least 22
• An Army of Ted Cruzes: Louisiana candidate takes a page from a tea party hero
• Mortars strike Iraqi town, killing at least 22
• Mortar attack on crowded market in Iraqi town kills 20
• Mortars strike Iraqi town, killing at least 15
• Iraq offers hefty bounties for killing, capturing jihadists
• Deadly blast rocks Syria border crossing
• Syria jihadists raise rebel banner in truce suburb
• Obama finds that the world intrudes on his travels
• UN Security Council presented with Syria aid resolution
• Obama may escalate role in Syrian war
• Walker’s Presidential Aspirations on Shaky Ground
• Iraq's oil exports dip by 4.8 percent in January
• No parole chance, ex-soldier hangs self in cell
• Plan to move base highlights US problem on Okinawa
• UN experts urge halt to ransoms financing al-Qaida

Drugs on Maersk ship where 2 ex-SEALs died Posted: 20 Feb 2014 03:59 PM PST NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Drugs were in the room where two former Navy SEALs were found dead aboard the Maersk Alabama, a ship that was the focus of a 2009 hijacking dramatized in the movie "Captain Phillips," a company spokesman said Thursday.

NJ judge throws out NYPD spying lawsuit Posted: 20 Feb 2014 03:33 PM PST NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Police Department's intelligence unit didn't discriminate against Muslims with far-reaching surveillance aimed at identifying "budding terrorist conspiracies" at Newark mosques and other locations in New Jersey, a federal judge ruled on Thursday.

Obama's Syria 'red line' has echoes in his warning to Ukraine Posted: 20 Feb 2014 03:25 PM PST By Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama's stern warning this week to Ukrainian officials was the closest thing to a "red line" moment he has had since his threat in 2012 to act against the Syrian government if it used chemical weapons. But Obama's admonition on Wednesday to not "step over the line" in cracking down on mass protests rocking the Ukraine raised questions on whether he would be any more effective at matching words with deeds than he has been in Syria's three-year-old civil war. His decision to lay down another rhetorical "line" in a geopolitical crisis left many foreign policy experts puzzled, especially given the limited options he has at his disposal for dealing with the Ukraine's spiraling conflict. "Hasn't he learned his redline lesson?" tweeted Robert Danin, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.

The Dalai Lama spent the day with hundreds of conservatives in Washington, D.C. Posted: 20 Feb 2014 03:08 PM PST The Dalai Lama meets with conservatives in Washington, D.C. to discuss capitalism and the secret of happiness.

Five killed at blast in Syrian refugee camp near Turkey: monitor Posted: 20 Feb 2014 02:30 PM PST ISTANBUL/BEIRUT (Reuters) - An explosion believed to have been caused by a car bomb tore through a Syrian refugee camp at a border post on the frontier with Turkey on Thursday, killing five people, a monitoring group said. Turkey is sheltering more than 600,000 refugees from Syria's almost three-year-long civil war and has kept its border open throughout the conflict. Ambulances ferried the injured from the refugee camp to the southern Turkish city of Kilis, where a state hospital official said at least 40 people were being treated. A Turkish border official said the blast near Turkey's Oncupinar border post, which sits opposite the Syrian Bab al-Salameh gate, could be felt several kilometers (miles) away, but that the border gate remained open.

Maersk: Alabama leaves port after probe of deaths Posted: 20 Feb 2014 02:27 PM PST NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The Maersk Alabama has left port from the island nation of Seychelles after authorities there completed an onboard investigation into the deaths of two former Navy SEALs aboard the ship that was the focus of a 2009 hijacking dramatized in the movie "Captain Phillips," a company spokesman said Thursday.

Officer not charged in Ohio crash that killed 6 Posted: 20 Feb 2014 02:17 PM PST COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio police officer whose cruiser slammed into a stopped car in the middle of an intersection tried to veer away but couldn't avoid the crash that killed six members of a family, and there is no basis to charge him, authorities announced Thursday.

Lead prosecutor out in US Army general sex case Posted: 20 Feb 2014 12:45 PM PST RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The lead military prosecutor in the case against a U.S. Army general facing sexual assault charges has resigned shortly before a court martial is set to begin.

Moscow says US policy on Syria aids 'terrorism' Posted: 20 Feb 2014 11:30 AM PST Moscow accused Washington Thursday of prolonging the Syrian conflict by supporting the opposition, on the eve of a UN Security Council vote that threatens to further deepen big power divisions. On the ground, a car bomb exploded at a border crossing between Syria and Turkey as rebels battled to prevent regime forces from seizing their last stronghold in the strategic Qalamun region. And Syria's government media said Jordan was seeking to stir up the southern front in the country's conflict after a stalemate in peace talks held in Geneva this month. Speaking in Baghdad, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said America's policy on Syria "encourages extremists who are financing terrorism and supplying terrorist organisations and groups with weapons".

Russia FM talks weapons, Syria during Iraq visit Posted: 20 Feb 2014 10:25 AM PST Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Baghdad on Thursday for talks with senior Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, that focused on weapons sales and Syria. The visit, which follows a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi last week, may point to increased efforts by Moscow to expand ties with Middle Eastern countries with which Washington has had close relations. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said during a joint news conference with Lavrov that Russia had promised "to accelerate the urgent process of delivering weapons to help Iraqi forces in their confrontation with uncontrolled terrorism, which comes from the Syrian border to our provinces in the western area."

Iraq mortar attack kills 17 Posted: 20 Feb 2014 10:03 AM PST Hilla (Iraq) (AFP) - Five mortar rounds struck the Mussayib area south of Baghdad on Thursday, killing 17 people, police and a doctor said. A car bomb killed one person in Mussayib on Tuesday, one of 10 such blasts to hit central Iraq that day.

Mortar attack against Iraqi town kills at least 22 Posted: 20 Feb 2014 10:02 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — A mortar attack struck a busy area in a mainly Shiite town south of Iraq's capital Thursday, killing at least 22 people and wounding more than 50, authorities said.

An Army of Ted Cruzes: Louisiana candidate takes a page from a tea party hero Posted: 20 Feb 2014 09:58 AM PST Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz has inspired a new crop of conservative candidates to run against fellow Republicans.

Mortars strike Iraqi town, killing at least 22 Posted: 20 Feb 2014 09:43 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — A mortar attack in a town south of Iraq's capital killed at least 22 people Thursday and wounded more than 50, authorities said.

Mortar attack on crowded market in Iraqi town kills 20 Posted: 20 Feb 2014 09:40 AM PST At least 20 people were killed in Iraq when three mortar rounds struck a crowded market in a mainly Shi'ite Muslim town of Mussayab on Thursday evening, police and medics said. It was not clear who fired the mortars or from where, but the Shi'ite community is a target of Sunni Islamist insurgents who have been regaining ground in Iraq over the past year and in recent weeks overran several towns. Last year was Iraq's bloodiest since sectarian violence began to abate in 2008. Many in Iraq's once-dominant Sunni Muslim minority feel they have been sidelined in the Shi'ite-led political order that took shape after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 that toppled Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein.

Mortars strike Iraqi town, killing at least 15 Posted: 20 Feb 2014 09:25 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Authorities in Iraq say a mortar attack has struck a residential area of a town south of Baghdad, killing at least 15 people and wounding more than 50.

Iraq offers hefty bounties for killing, capturing jihadists Posted: 20 Feb 2014 09:04 AM PST Iraq, struggling to curb its worst violence in years, is offering bounties of up to $25,000 for killing or capturing a foreign jihadist fighter, state television reported Thursday. The defence ministry is offering 20 million dinars ($16,666/12,165 euros) to anyone who "kills a foreign terrorist from ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) and Al-Qaeda" and 30 million dinars to anyone who captures "a terrorist from among them," it reported. ISIL is a powerful jihadist group that carries out frequent attacks in Iraq, and has also flourished across the border during Syria's bloody civil war. The bounties are the latest in a series of measures Iraq has enacted in a bid to curb a year-long surge in violence, which has reached levels not seen since 2008, when the country was emerging from a brutal period of sectarian killings in which tens of thousands died.

Deadly blast rocks Syria border crossing Posted: 20 Feb 2014 08:55 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — A powerful explosion ripped through a Syrian border post Thursday near a refugee camp on the border with Turkey, setting cars ablaze and killing at least five people, Syrian opposition activists and Turkish state media said.

Syria jihadists raise rebel banner in truce suburb Posted: 20 Feb 2014 08:40 AM PST Three days after rebels and the Syrian army agreed a truce at Babbila near Damascus, jihadists said they rejected the deal and hauled down and trampled on Syria's flag Thursday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) -- the most radical group in Syria's revolt -- "announced their rejection of any armistice" with the authorities. Video footage showed ISIL members tearing down regime flags hoisted above the Babbila municipality building during the truce and replacing them with the black banner of the jihadists. On Monday, the army and rebels agreed a truce in the capital's southern suburb, the latest in a series of local ceasefires in Damascus flashpoints.

Obama finds that the world intrudes on his travels Posted: 20 Feb 2014 05:41 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Even given President Barack Obama's own penchant for finding foreign travels eclipsed by distractions, his day-trip to Mexico stands out as a tour de force of multitasking.

UN Security Council presented with Syria aid resolution Posted: 20 Feb 2014 05:15 AM PST United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Western countries presented the UN Security Council late Wednesday with a draft resolution on humanitarian aid for Syria but Russia so far does not back it, raising the risk of a veto. The vote on the draft, which involved intense negotiations with Russia, Syria's main ally, is expected Friday. Its presentation to the council was confirmed in a tweet by the Australian ambassador Gary Quinlan.

Obama may escalate role in Syrian war Posted: 20 Feb 2014 03:06 AM PST A week after saying military action isn't the plan "right now," the president eyes his options and considers the worst foreign policy crisis of his administration.

Walker’s Presidential Aspirations on Shaky Ground Posted: 20 Feb 2014 03:00 AM PST But a raft of emails released by a state appeals court judge Wednesday have Badger State governor Scott Walker facing some of the same questions as his embattled Garden State counterpart, Chris Christie. Even if Walker is not eventually implicated of any wrongdoing, the documents released Wednesday, as well as other information arising from a pair of criminal cases related to his rise from Milwaukee County Executive to Governor of Wisconsin raise some troubling questions about his choice of personnel and his awareness  -- or lack thereof -- of what was going on in his own office. Much has been written and said about Walker as the Republican reformer who successfully beat back labor unions over collective bargaining in a blue state and handily survived a recall election that positioned him for a possible run for president in 2016.  Until now, however, there has been relatively little attention paid – outside Wisconsin – to the criminal conduct of many who surrounded him. The more than 25,000 pages of e-mails released on Wednesday were gathered as part of a now-concluded investigation that led to conviction of Kelly Rindfleisch, a former Walker deputy chief of staff, on charges that she essentially worked as a campaign staffer for a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor while on the clock in Walker's office.

Iraq's oil exports dip by 4.8 percent in January Posted: 20 Feb 2014 02:14 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's Oil Ministry says crude exports have averaged 2.229 million barrels a day in January, a decrease of nearly 4.8 percent from the previous month.

No parole chance, ex-soldier hangs self in cell Posted: 20 Feb 2014 01:18 AM PST LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Facing life in federal prison with no chance at parole while carrying a conviction of raping and killing a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, a former U.S. soldier hanged himself in his cell in Arizona.

Plan to move base highlights US problem on Okinawa Posted: 19 Feb 2014 11:32 PM PST CAMP SCHWAB, Japan (AP) — For 10 years, Hiroshi Ashitomi has been coming to the beach near his Okinawa home every day to sit. He loves nothing more than the sea around the island, the rare sightings of dugongs and sea turtles, the tan sand and the crags out by the breakwater. He believes the sea is the greatest gift of his ancestors and he wants to pass it on to future generations.

UN experts urge halt to ransoms financing al-Qaida Posted: 19 Feb 2014 09:35 PM PST UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. experts are urging a halt to hefty ransom payments that have made kidnapping a core tactic for al-Qaida and its affiliates in recent years.

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