Yahoo! News: Iraq

---

• Festival brings 13 plays including 'Rupert' to DC
• Panel urges end to US ban on transgender troops
• Fighting for Assad, Hezbollah buries its own
• WAR AS A SPECTATOR SPORT
• Syrian death toll exceeds 146,000 as fourth year begins -group
• Iraq executes seven, including Saddam-era agents
• With training and partnerships, U.S. military treads lightly in Africa
• Suicide car bomb kills 4 soldiers in Iraq's Anbar
• EU visit to Tehran elicits accusation of political meddling
• Coptic Solidarity Mourns Loss of Advocate Reverend Keith Roderick
• With training and partnerships, US military treads lightly in Africa
• UAE summons Iraq ambassador over Saudi 'terrorism' charge

Festival brings 13 plays including 'Rupert' to DC Posted: 13 Mar 2014 02:32 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Rupert Murdoch is getting the cabaret treatment in a new play about his 60 years building a newspaper and television empire.

Panel urges end to US ban on transgender troops Posted: 13 Mar 2014 02:13 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The United States should join the dozen other nations that allow transgender people to serve in the armed forces, an independent commission said in a report released Thursday, saying there is no medical reason for the decades-old ban and calling on President Barack Obama to lift it.

Fighting for Assad, Hezbollah buries its own Posted: 13 Mar 2014 01:38 PM PDT They had come to help bury Mohammed Jaber Jaber, the latest fighter from the Lebanese Shiite militant group killed in the Syrian war. This scene is replayed on a near-daily basis in Shiite-populated areas of Lebanon, as relatives, friends, and Hezbollah supporters converge to pay their respects to the slain fighters who are lauded as "martyrs." Hezbollah says the sacrifices are necessary to prevent Syria falling to Sunni jihadist forces.  "This is a danger that threatens all Lebanese," said Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, at a speech last month. More practically, Syria is a key component in a regional alliance that includes Hezbollah and its patron, Iran.

WAR AS A SPECTATOR SPORT Posted: 13 Mar 2014 01:00 PM PDT The latest is Jimmy Fallon, the new "Tonight Show" host, who responded to Secretary of State John Kerry's reaction to the news that Russian soldiers were moving into Crimea: Why are we in Afghanistan? Why were we in Vietnam? A defining moment of that illness, for me at least, was the introduction of a 30-year-old Army Ranger, Cory Remsburg, by President Obama during his State of the Union message in January.

Syrian death toll exceeds 146,000 as fourth year begins -group Posted: 13 Mar 2014 12:32 PM PDT Over 146,000 people, more than a third of them civilians, have been killed in Syria's uprising-turned-civil war which enters its fourth year this month, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday. The last U.N. figures, released in July 2013, put the death toll at least 100,000 but the United Nations said in January it would stop updating the toll as conditions on the ground made it impossible to make accurate estimates. Reuters could not verify the death toll of 146,065 published by the UK-based Observatory, an anti-government group which uses a network of sources across Syria to document the violence there. The revolt against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011 as peaceful street protests but transformed into an armed insurgency after a fierce security crackdown.

Iraq executes seven, including Saddam-era agents Posted: 13 Mar 2014 09:53 AM PDT Iraq executed seven people Thursday, including three men convicted of the 1994 killing in Beirut of the father of a current MP, despite international condemnation over Baghdad's use of the death penalty. The executions, carried out by hanging, were the first to be confirmed since January 23 and brought to at least 44 the total number of people put to death so far this year. Among those executed were three men -- Hadi Hassuni, Abdul Hassan al-Majid and Farukh Hijazi -- who were convicted in April 2011 over the April 1994 murder of Sheikh Taleb al-Suhail al-Tamimi, and termed agents of the ousted Saddam regime.

With training and partnerships, U.S. military treads lightly in Africa Posted: 13 Mar 2014 09:13 AM PDT By David Lewis DIFFA, Niger (Reuters) - On a dusty training ground in Niger, U.S. Special Forces teach local troops to deal with suspects who resist arrest. "Speed, aggression, surprise!" an instructor barks as two Nigeriens wrestle a U.S. adviser out of a car. The drill in the border town of Diffa is part of Exercise Flintlock, a counter-terrorism exercise for nations on the Sahara's southern flanks that the United States organizes each year. Washington's aim is to tackle Islamist militants in the Sahel region while keeping its military presence in Africa light.

Suicide car bomb kills 4 soldiers in Iraq's Anbar Posted: 13 Mar 2014 08:48 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Officials in Iraq say a suicide car bomb targeting an army checkpoint has killed four soldiers in embattled Anbar province.

EU visit to Tehran elicits accusation of political meddling Posted: 13 Mar 2014 06:48 AM PDT The European Union's meeting with Iranian activists in Tehran has pricked hardliners' belief that human rights will be the next issue used to justify international meddling in Iran's internal affairs. That fear prompted a small protest yesterday outside the embassy of Austria, where EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton met with well-known activists on International Women's Day on March 8. For protesters, her meeting is evidence that if a nuclear deal is ever reached, other issues like human rights and ballistic missile capacity will be used to continue putting pressure on Iran.

Coptic Solidarity Mourns Loss of Advocate Reverend Keith Roderick Posted: 13 Mar 2014 03:00 AM PDT WASHINGTON, March 13, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Coptic Solidarity is deeply saddened to learn of the unexpected passing of Reverend Keith Roderick in Springfield, Illinois on March 10th. We extend our condolences to his family and friends and those who worked with him over the past three decades to defend the human rights of oppressed people around the world, particularly in the Muslim world. Roderick started his human rights career advocating for dissidents in the Soviet Union as the director of the Society of St. Stephen.  His lifetime commitment to the liberty struggle made him a modern day hero. Reverend Keith Roderick helped found the Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR) in 1993, which was the very first US based coalition to speak on behalf of the persecuted around the world.  He served as the Secretary General of the CDHR which is composed of a consortium of over fifty-five organizations working together to champion the rights of minorities living in Islamic countries.

With training and partnerships, US military treads lightly in Africa Posted: 13 Mar 2014 12:14 AM PDT By David Lewis DIFFA, Niger (Reuters) - On a dusty training ground in Niger, U.S. Special Forces teach local troops to deal with suspects who resist arrest. "Speed, aggression, surprise!" an instructor barks as two Nigeriens wrestle a U.S. adviser out of a car. The drill in the border town of Diffa is part of Operation Flintlock, a counter-terrorism exercise for nations on the Sahara's southern flanks that the United States organises each year. Washington's aim is to tackle Islamist militants in the Sahel region while keeping its military presence in Africa light.

UAE summons Iraq ambassador over Saudi 'terrorism' charge Posted: 12 Mar 2014 10:48 PM PDT The United Arab Emirates summoned Iraq's ambassador on Wednesday to protest against his prime minister's accusations that its ally Saudi Arabia was funding terrorism, state news agency WAM reported, while Bahrain called the comments "irresponsible". Saudi Arabia has already rejected Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's assertion on Saturday that it and Qatar were funding Sunni Muslim insurgents fighting in Iraq's western Anbar province. Maliki has long had chilly ties with Sunni-led Gulf Arab states, which in turn view him as too close to Shi'ite Muslim Iran. UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said that Maliki's statements were "completely untrue and not based on any accurate assessment of the situation in the region with regards to terrorism," WAM reported.

You are subscribed to email updates from Iraq News Headlines - Yahoo! News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610