Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Syria neighbors alarmed by refugee flow, want more aid access
• Assad to face 2 others in Syrian presidential poll
• Kurds say Iraq presidency their 'right'
• Thousands flee Syria rebel infighting
• Homs accord on rebel pullout as Syria army advances
• How women are scaling barriers to combat
• On calm campus in northern Iraq, uneasy thoughts of Baghdad
• Activists: Rebel infighting in east Syria kills 62
• Court names Assad, 2 others for Syrian election
• Syria's Nusra sets conditions to stop fighting ISIL
• Shelling kills 11 in Iraq's Fallujah: doctor
• 19 dead in Iraq as pilgrims, family targeted
• Report: Rebel infighting in eastern Syria kills 62
• Bahraini Shi'ite youth risk radicalization as political talks stall
• Today in History
• Life After the Medal of Honor
• Condoleezza Rice Is Latest Commencement Speaker to Face Backlash
• UN says Syrian refugees need 'massive' international support
• Iraq oil exports rebound but sales hit by attacks

Syria neighbors alarmed by refugee flow, want more aid access Posted: 04 May 2014 12:02 PM PDT By Suleiman Al-Khalidi ZAATARI, Jordan (Reuters) - The four main host countries for Syrian refugees said at a meeting on Sunday that only the wider distribution of aid inside Syria could curb an exodus that is putting huge strains on neighboring states. After talks at the Zaatari camp in Jordan with the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, ministers from Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon urged the implementation of a U.N. resolution passed in February that demanded rapid unhindered access for aid. "A crucial aspect of ending this crisis is to improve access for humanitarian aid inside Syria," High Commissioner Antonio Guterres told reporters.

Assad to face 2 others in Syrian presidential poll Posted: 04 May 2014 11:49 AM PDT BEIRUT (AP) — Embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad will face two other candidates in the coming June presidential election, the country's Supreme Constitutional Court announced Sunday, a vote he's widely expected to win amid the country's raging civil war.

Kurds say Iraq presidency their 'right' Posted: 04 May 2014 11:01 AM PDT Arbil (Iraq) (AFP) - Iraqi Kurds have a "right" to the federal presidency, the country's autonomous Kurdish region said on Sunday, signalling the start of public jockeying for positions following parliamentary polls. President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, has held the position since 2006, but his term is at an end, leaving the question of who will succeed him in doubt. The federal presidency "is a right of the people of Kurdistan, and we affirm this right to the Kurdish people," the region's presidency said in an online statement. It is also a link between their three-province autonomous region and Baghdad, which are at odds over various long-running disputes.

Thousands flee Syria rebel infighting Posted: 04 May 2014 10:21 AM PDT Fighting between al Qaeda's Syria branch and a splinter group in eastern Syria has forced more than 60,000 people to flee their homes, emptied villages and killed scores of fighters, a monitoring group said. Fighters from the al Qaeda branch, the Nusra Front, also arrested a rebel commander from a more moderate group and several other insurgent leaders in a southern province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Infighting among insurgents has undermined the three-year-old rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad and killed thousands of people since the start of the year. The British-based Observatory said the Nusra Front had taken over control of the town of Abreeha from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a former al Qaeda affiliate formally disowned by the group this year.

Homs accord on rebel pullout as Syria army advances Posted: 04 May 2014 09:02 AM PDT Rebels said Sunday they struck a deal to withdraw from the army-besieged heart of Hos city, as government forces advanced on a strategic town near the Syrian capital, a month before elections. The deal over the Old City of Homs, under total blockade since June 2012, will see some 2,250 people, mostly fighters, evacuate the flashpoint city in central Syria. Rebels will head to opposition-held areas in the north of Homs province, handing over control to the army, opposition sources told AFP. The deal brought together -- for the first time -- representatives of President Bashar al-Assad's security forces, the rebels and Damascus backer Iran.

How women are scaling barriers to combat Posted: 04 May 2014 09:01 AM PDT Jacqueline Beachum steels herself for the daunting task ahead: saving a fellow Army soldier who lies unconscious a few yards away. She has to drag the soldier to safety even though, at 270 pounds clad in full body armor, he weighs about twice what she does. Staff Sgt. Terry Kemp, in charge of training a unit of men and women here, timed the drill with a stopwatch, quietly encouraging Beachum as he strode alongside her. Welcome to one of the most sweeping studies ever undertaken of the latent physical strength of men and women.

On calm campus in northern Iraq, uneasy thoughts of Baghdad Posted: 04 May 2014 07:16 AM PDT Each bombing in Baghdad brings a surge of dread, uncertainty, and even guilt to Amal Methboub, a university student in Iraq's relatively peaceful north. Many of those explosions target Amal's home district of Karrada, where the fourth-year student's seven siblings and widowed mother eke out a living.  Amal earns remarkably high grades at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS) and dreams of law school, but she struggles with long periods away from her close-knit family – and the frequent bombings that could take them away from her for good.  Yet hers is a rare good news story from Iraq – a victory-in-progress despite chronic political instability that last week's election seems unlikely to end. The Monitor has chronicled the impoverished Methboub family since late 2002.

Activists: Rebel infighting in east Syria kills 62 Posted: 04 May 2014 06:31 AM PDT BEIRUT (AP) — Heavy fighting between rival Islamic rebel groups in eastern Syria has killed 62 fighters and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes over several days of violence, activists said Sunday.

Court names Assad, 2 others for Syrian election Posted: 04 May 2014 06:06 AM PDT BEIRUT (AP) — An official with Syria's Supreme Constitutional Court says President Bashar Assad and two others will be candidates in coming June presidential elections.

Syria's Nusra sets conditions to stop fighting ISIL Posted: 04 May 2014 04:28 AM PDT Beirut (AFP) - Syria's Al-Qaeda affiliate on Sunday set its conditions to stop battling the rival Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, despite an order by the Al-Qaeda chief to quit fighting.

Shelling kills 11 in Iraq's Fallujah: doctor Posted: 04 May 2014 04:24 AM PDT Baghdad (AFP) - Shelling in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, held by anti-government fighters for over four months, has killed 11 people in less than 24 hours, a doctor said on Sunday.

19 dead in Iraq as pilgrims, family targeted Posted: 04 May 2014 03:04 AM PDT Samarra (Iraq) (AFP) - Militants have attacked a bus carrying Shiite pilgrims north of Baghdad, killing 11 people, while a family of eight was shot dead south of the capital, Iraqi officials said Sunday. In the deadliest attack, a bombing and shooting targeting the bus of Shiite pilgrims killed 11 people and wounded 21, police and a doctor said. The pilgrims were returning from Samarra north of the capital, when a roadside bomb blast on the outskirts of the town of Balad was followed by gunmen opening fire on the bus. His body lies in a venerated shrine in Samarra that also houses his son Hassan al-Askari, the 11th imam.

Report: Rebel infighting in eastern Syria kills 62 Posted: 04 May 2014 02:29 AM PDT BEIRUT (AP) — Activists say heavy fighting between rival Islamic rebel groups has killed 62 fighters in eastern Syria.

Bahraini Shi'ite youth risk radicalization as political talks stall Posted: 04 May 2014 12:29 AM PDT By Rania El Gamal MANAMA (Reuters) - Dozens of black-clad, masked men parade through Bahrain's Shi'ite Muslim villages, some holding petrol bombs and others denouncing al Khalifa, the Sunni Muslim monarchy that has ruled the Gulf Arab island since the 18th century. Scenes like these, broadcast in online videos in recent months, might once have been dismissed as a cry for attention by groups from Bahrain's big Shi'ite community seeking to shore up a flagging cause for democratic reform. Nor do the bombs disturb everyday life in most of Bahrain, where explosions tend to target security forces in the mainly Shi'ite villages, far away from the capital. But we are fighting back and will kill whoever is killing us." The strategically vital kingdom, which hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet, has wrestled with low-level but persistent civil unrest since a Shi'ite-led uprising was put down in 2011, becoming a front line in a region-wide tussle for influence between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran across the Gulf.

Today in History Posted: 03 May 2014 09:01 PM PDT Today is Sunday, May 4, the 124th day of 2014. There are 241 days left in the year.

Life After the Medal of Honor Posted: 03 May 2014 08:21 PM PDT Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer speaks about the controversy over his actions in Afghanistan, his suicide attempt, political ambitions and the work he's doing for veterans.

Condoleezza Rice Is Latest Commencement Speaker to Face Backlash Posted: 03 May 2014 06:53 PM PDT Rice Announced She Will Not Speak at Rutgers University Graduation

UN says Syrian refugees need 'massive' international support Posted: 03 May 2014 05:29 PM PDT Zaatari refugee camp (Jordan) (AFP) - The United Nations on Sunday rebuked donors for not doing enough to help millions of Syrian refugees in the region as well as host countries, saying "massive" aid is needed. "These countries received about three million registered and unregistered Syrian refugees... the truth is that this enormous impact is not being fully recognised by the international community," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said at a meeting of senior diplomats and officials from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey. "Let me be very clear, there has been very little support," he said at northern Jordan's Zaatari refugee camp, which is home to more than 100,000 Syrians.

Iraq oil exports rebound but sales hit by attacks Posted: 03 May 2014 05:02 PM PDT Iraq's oil exports rebounded last month, government figures released on Sunday showed, despite militant attacks that forced the authorities to stop pumping crude through northern pipelines bound for Turkey. The country exported more than 75 million barrels of oil in April, an average of over 2.5 million barrels per day, bringing in overall revenue of more than $7.5 billion, a statement issued by the oil ministry said. All of those sales were made via export terminals in southern Iraq leading to the Gulf, the ministry said, because militant attacks forced the suspension of exports via northern pipelines to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. Despite the northern unrest, however, average daily exports rebounded from March, when Iraq's exports averaged 2.4 million bpd.

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