Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Lukoil starts output from massive Iraq oilfield
• Iraq's West Qurna-2 oil field starts production
• Exclusive: Russia threatened countries ahead of U.N. vote on Ukraine: envoys
• Russia threatened countries ahead of UN vote on Ukraine-envoys
• Iraq parties jump the gun on election campaign
• The Week’s Best Reads
• Obama seeks to reassure Saudi Arabia over Iran, Syria
• Why is public support for the death penalty declining?

Lukoil starts output from massive Iraq oilfield Posted: 29 Mar 2014 07:39 AM PDT Basra (Iraq) (AFP) - One of the biggest undeveloped oilfields in the world has begun commercial production in south Iraq, officials said on Saturday, part of ambitious plans by Baghdad to dramatically ramp up output. The announcement was made during a ceremony attended by Oil Minister Abdelkarim al-Luaybi and Deputy Prime Minister Hussein al-Shahristani, as well as officials from Russian energy giant Lukoil, the principal firm developing the enormous West Qurna-2 field. "Production started today," said Nasir Hashim Fakhr, the Iraqi oil ministry official charged with the development of West Qurna-2 field in the southern Basra province. Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov said in a statement that the target was initially hit on Friday at West Qurna-2, one of the world's biggest undeveloped oil fields with known reserves of 12.9 billion barrels.

Iraq's West Qurna-2 oil field starts production Posted: 29 Mar 2014 04:46 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's oil minister says Russia's Lukoil-led group has begun pumping oil from the massive West Qurna-2 oil field in southern Iraq.

Exclusive: Russia threatened countries ahead of U.N. vote on Ukraine: envoys Posted: 29 Mar 2014 03:28 AM PDT By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia threatened several Eastern European and Central Asian states with retaliation if they voted in favor of a United Nations General Assembly resolution this week declaring invalid Crimea's referendum on seceding from Ukraine, U.N. diplomats said. The disclosures about Russian threats came after Moscow accused Western countries of using "shameless pressure, up to the point of political blackmail and economic threats," in an attempt to coerce the United Nations' 193 member states to join it in supporting the non-binding resolution on the Ukraine crisis.

Russia threatened countries ahead of UN vote on Ukraine-envoys Posted: 29 Mar 2014 03:08 AM PDT By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia threatened several Eastern European and Central Asian states with retaliation if they voted in favor of a United Nations General Assembly resolution this week declaring invalid Crimea's referendum on seceding from Ukraine, U.N. diplomats said. The disclosures about Russian threats came after Moscow accused Western countries of using "shameless pressure, up to the point of political blackmail and economic threats," in an attempt to coerce the United Nations' 193 member states to join it in supporting the non-binding resolution on the Ukraine crisis.

Iraq parties jump the gun on election campaign Posted: 28 Mar 2014 08:27 PM PDT Despite the disarray caused by the sudden mass resignation of election chiefs ahead of next month's polls, candidates for seats in the Iraqi parliament are pressing ahead with unofficial campaigning. Keeping the printing houses whirring, they have been putting up posters and distributing leaflets. But wary of breaking the rules, their early propaganda only obliquely refers to the polls, scheduled for April 30, or skirts election regulations by praising the security forces alongside party insignia. Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) has taken little action to curb such practises.

The Week’s Best Reads Posted: 28 Mar 2014 07:28 PM PDT From the interpreters we left behind to fend for their lives in Iraq to a creepy unsolved murder in Waco, the Daily Beast picks the best journalism from around the web this week.

Obama seeks to reassure Saudi Arabia over Iran, Syria Posted: 28 Mar 2014 06:09 PM PDT By Jeff Mason and Steve Holland RIYADH (Reuters) - President Barack Obama sought to reassure Saudi King Abdullah on Friday that he would support moderate Syrian rebels and reject a bad nuclear deal with Iran, during a visit designed to allay the kingdom's concerns that its decades-old U.S. alliance had frayed. Flying by helicopter to the king's desert camp, Obama underscored the importance of Washington's relationship with the world's largest oil exporter in a two-hour meeting that focused on the Middle East but did not touch on energy or human rights. Last year senior Saudi officials warned of a "major shift" away from the United States after bitter disagreements over its response to the "Arab spring" uprisings, efforts to negotiate with Iran, and Washington's decision not to intervene militarily in Syria, where Riyadh wants more American support for rebels.

Why is public support for the death penalty declining? Posted: 28 Mar 2014 05:12 PM PDT Public support for the death penalty is dropping in the United States, although more than half of adults still say they favor it as a punishment for murder. Fifty-five percent of US adults support the death penalty, according to a Pew Research Center analysis released Friday – down from a peak of 78 percent in 1996. The trend coincides with a drop in violent crime in most major cities – something that also peaked in the early-to-mid-1990s, notes Drew DeSilver for the Pew Research "Fact Tank" blog.

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