2014年5月7日星期三

Yahoo! News: Iraq

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yahoo! News: Iraq


Prosecutor: Shooting of dad, a veteran, justified

Posted: 07 May 2014 03:30 PM PDT

This undated photo released by the Vermont National Guard shows Kryn Miner, an Army veteran who was shot and killed by a relative on April 26, 2014 in Essex, Vt., after Miner had threatened family members with a gun. No one has been charged in the shooting. Miner, who had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, held the position of chief warrant officer 2 and was assigned to the headquarters company of the Guard's 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. (AP Photo/ Vermont National Guard)BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A teenager's fatal shooting of a troubled Army veteran father who threatened his family then tossed the child a loaded gun was legally justified, a Vermont prosecutor said Wednesday.


U.S. to nominate Iraq ambassador as Egypt envoy

Posted: 07 May 2014 02:53 PM PDT

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Robert Stephen Beecroft speaks during a news conference in BaghdadThe Obama administration plans to nominate its ambassador in Iraq to be the new U.S. envoy in Cairo, U.S. officials said on Wednesday, as U.S.-Egyptian ties remain strained following the Egyptian army's ouster of an elected president last year. Robert Stephen Beecroft, a longtime diplomat who has been U.S. ambassador in Baghdad since 2012, would replace Anne Patterson, who left the Cairo post last year and is now serving as a senior official on Middle East issues in Washington. It is not clear when Beecroft would be formally nominated, the officials said on condition of anonymity. U.S. ambassador positions must be confirmed by the Senate.


House panel works on bill to rebuff Pentagon cuts

Posted: 07 May 2014 02:14 PM PDT

House Republicans are sparing Cold War-era aircraft, military bases and ships from Pentagon cuts as even tea partyers abandon their drive to slash federal spending in an election year. The House Armed ...

Syrian opposition calls for arms against Assad's air force

Posted: 07 May 2014 12:59 PM PDT

(L-R) Senator Bob Corker, Syrian opposition leader Ahmad al-Jarba and Foreign Relations Committee chairman Senator Bob Menendez on May 7, 2014 in Washington, DCThe leader of the Syrian opposition made a powerful plea to a reluctant US administration Wednesday for anti-aircraft weapons to end "the nightmare" of civilians under seige from daily barrel bombings. At the start of his first official visit to Washington, Ahmad Jarba told a US think-tank that opposition forces need "efficient weapons to face these attacks including air raids, so we can change the balance of power on the ground." This would "open the door for a real political solution," he insisted, committing his Syrian National Coalition to ensuring that any weapons such as anti-aircraft missiles would not fall into the wrong hands. Equipping the rebels with heavy weapons would both send a powerful signal to the Syrian regime and boost the rebels standing among an increasingly desperate population caught in the crossfire, opposition officials say privately.


7% of Journalists Are Republicans?

Posted: 07 May 2014 12:10 PM PDT

7% of Journalists Are Republicans?Most reporters and editors say they're independent in a new survey, but are they just crypto-Democrats?


White House awaits top aides' back-to-back memoirs

Posted: 07 May 2014 10:56 AM PDT

FILE - In this July 25, 2012, file photo, then-Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Two of President Barack Obama's closest first-term advisers will soon spill insider details on the administration's handling of the early days of the Great Recession, the White House's cautious response to the Syrian civil war and the genesis of clandestine talks with Iran. The memoirs from former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Geithner will be the latest installments in an often awkward Washington ritual: one-time confidants signing big book contracts to examine a presidency that is ongoing and policy decisions that still are being implemented. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — Over the next month, two of President Barack Obama's closest first-term advisers will spill insider details on the administration's handling of the early days of the recession, the White House's cautious response to Syria and the genesis of clandestine talks with Iran.


Nul Points: A History of Eurovision's Greatest Trainwrecks

Posted: 07 May 2014 10:23 AM PDT

Nul Points: A History of Eurovision's Greatest TrainwrecksSince Eurovision adopted its current voting system, where dozens of countries assign between one and 12 points to the competition's entries via telephone voting, only 14 songs out of thousands have received the most dreaded rating of all: "Nul points." It's the phrase every Eurovision entry has nightmares about, and it hasn't happened in the competition's finals since 2003. This perfectly ordinary ditty ("Mile After Mile" in English) was probably doomed by the very unenthusiastic delivery from singer Jahn Teigen, whose red pants were so velvety they appear as two shapeless blurs on camera. Apparently Teigen hated the arrangement and re-recorded it as a rock song, and it was a huge hit in Norway, but we have no way of proving that.


Deadly Tornado's Track Seen from Space (Photo)

Posted: 07 May 2014 09:57 AM PDT

Deadly Tornado's Track Seen from Space (Photo)A new satellite image reveals the damage wrought by an EF4 tornado as it tore through Arkansas on April 27. This image, released yesterday (May 6), was taken on May 2 by NASA's Advanced Land Imager on the Earth-Observing-1 satellite, according to NASA's Earth Observatory. The storm that spawned this tornado came from a system that moved in from the Rocky Mountains, pushing a cold front with it, according to the National Weather Service office in Little Rock, Arkansas. The interaction of cold air with moist, warm air created the perfect breeding ground for thunderstorms, and the NWS warned that tornadoes and hail were possible.


Nearly 300 killed in Fallujah-area unrest, says Iraqi doctor

Posted: 07 May 2014 09:01 AM PDT

Smoke rises from an Iraqi army vehicle following an attack by armed militants in the Anbar city of Fallujah, on January 26, 2014Violence in and around the Iraqi city of Fallujah, held by anti-government fighters for months, has killed at least 295 people since late last year, a doctor said Wednesday. At least 1,296 people have also been wounded in the area, a short drive west of Baghdad, between December 30 and May 7, Dr Ahmed Shami, chief medic at the city's main hospital, told AFP. A crisis erupted in the desert province of Anbar on December 30 when security forces dismantled Iraq's main Sunni Arab anti-government protest camp just outside provincial capital Ramadi, to the west of Fallujah. Anti-government fighters subsequently seized all of Fallujah and shifting parts of Ramadi, and security forces have failed to wrest back control.


Marine turned VA Civilian Discusses Saving Veterans from Foreclosure in new "I Am AFGE" Documentary

Posted: 07 May 2014 09:00 AM PDT

WASHINGTON, May 7, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Christopher Lee Castle joined the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2008, eager to give back to the military community after having served in the Marine Corps. It was the height of the Great Recession, and Christopher's job as a loan specialist in the Veterans Benefits Administration meant he was soon counseling veterans and family members who were going through foreclosures on their VA guaranteed home loans and facing other economic hardships. Christopher shares his story in the latest documentary produced by the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents Christopher and more than 210,000 other bargaining unit employees throughout the Department of Veterans Affairs. The documentary series is part of AFGE's year-long campaign, "I Am AFGE," to increase the public's awareness and appreciation of the women and men who work for them every day.

Papal Agency Joins Major Ecumenical Effort in Support of Persecuted Middle East Christians

Posted: 07 May 2014 08:30 AM PDT

NEW YORK, May 7, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Aid to the Church in Need (ACN USA), an international Catholic charity that supports the persecuted and suffering Church around the world, has committed to the "Pledge of Solidarity & Call to Action on behalf of Christians and other Small Religious Communities in Egypt, Iraq and Syria." Today, a multi-faith initiative launched by Reps. Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA) at the US Capitol, called on US-based Churches and religious leaders, lay and clergy—Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant— for a stronger involvement in support of Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East. ACN USA joined leading Catholic organizations and individuals to lend its support especially to the cause of persecuted Christians. "Events of recent days, weeks, months and even years in Syria, Iraq and Egypt have revealed an increasingly blatant and violent campaign of Christian religious targeting and persecution that has provoked an unprecedented exodus of faithful from the region," said ACN USA Chairman of the Board George Marlin.

Obama's top advisers set to spill insider details

Posted: 07 May 2014 08:26 AM PDT

Obama's top advisers set to spill insider detailsOver the next month, two of President Barack Obama's closest first-term advisers will spill insider details on the administration's handling of the early days of the Great Recession, the White House's ...


No joy for tea party in early round of GOP primaries, including N. Carolina

Posted: 07 May 2014 05:40 AM PDT

The Republican establishment is breathing a collective sigh of relief after Tuesday's victory by Thom Tillis – speaker of the House in North Carolina – in the state's GOP primary for US Senate. Speaker Tillis won 46 percent of the vote, beating seven other competitors, including two insurgent candidates with high-profile support. He can now focus immediately on defeating freshman Sen. Kay Hagan (D), one of the Democrats' most vulnerable senators in the November elections. Kentucky and Georgia are next."

Iraq awards 2 deals worth nearly $1B for oilfield

Posted: 07 May 2014 04:40 AM PDT

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's Cabinet has approved two deals with two oilfield services providers jointly worth nearly $1 billion to run operations at the country's largest oil field.

Today in History

Posted: 06 May 2014 09:00 PM PDT

Today is Wednesday, May 7, the 127th day of 2014. There are 238 days left in the year.

In North Carolina, Republican establishment favorite wins Senate primary

Posted: 06 May 2014 08:09 PM PDT

Thom Tillis waves to supporters as he celebratesBy John Whitesides WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A North Carolina Republican backed by the party establishment fought off Tea Party and Christian conservative rivals on Tuesday to win the nomination to take on vulnerable Democratic Senator Kay Hagan in November. State House Speaker Thom Tillis was projected to capture more than 40 percent of the vote, surpassing the amount needed to avoid a costly July runoff with the second-place finisher. Republicans must pick up six seats to win a Senate majority. With about 90 percent of the vote counted, Tillis had 45 percent to Tea Party favorite Greg Brannon's 27 percent and 18 percent for evangelical minister Mark Harris.


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