Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Ban report slams Syria aid access for third time
• Veteran health care woes become campaign issue
• US says UN approves sanctions on Boko Haram
• UN says ready to get aid into Syria despite gov't
• U.S. steps up scrutiny of American fighters in Syria
• ‘TakePart Live’ Launches Yearlong Vets Program Aimed at Millennials
• How the Ukraine crisis made Iran a better US partner on Syria
• Nigeria's Boko Haram kills 29 in village attack: sources
• Will It Be ‘President Jim Webb’?
• Thirty-two killed in three attacks on Shi'ite pilgrims in Baghdad
• House rebuffs Pentagon on defense spending
• Attacks in Iraq kill at least 29 people
• Iraq attacks on Shiite pilgrims kill 16
• China, Russia veto UN attempt to refer Syria to ICC
• Assad's forces break rebel siege of Aleppo prison
• 32 people killed in three attacks on Shi'ite religious pilgrims
• Suicide bomb attacks on Iraq pilgrims kill 11
• Suicide bomb attacks on Iraq pilgrims kill 10
• Pope to hear from Syria's refugees in Jordan
• Iraq's Kurds start exporting oil unilaterally
• Officials: Attacks in Iraq kill at least 9 people
• 'Miss Saigon' still a grand spectacle, 25 years on
• France appoints new Libya envoy to stem terrorism
• Iraq's oil exports increase 6 percent in April
• Fix to veterans' health care takes on new resolve
• U.S., Britain warn of kidnap threat to oil workers in south Iraq
• Pope to visit a land of disappearing Christians

Ban report slams Syria aid access for third time Posted: 22 May 2014 04:00 PM PDT United Nations (United States) (AFP) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday that humanitarian access in Syria was worsening, blaming the government in particular but also armed rebels in a third report on the matter. Ban said Damascus was still stopping aid convoys from crossing into Syria from Iraq, Jordan and Turkey in violation of Security Council Resolution 2139 adopted in February. The Council is due to debate the report on May 29. For now, the 15 members have failed to reach an agreement with Russia providing diplomatic cover to Damascus.

Veteran health care woes become campaign issue Posted: 22 May 2014 03:58 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The growing furor over veterans' health care moved to the political campaigns Thursday as congressional candidates from both parties called for Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki to be fired.

US says UN approves sanctions on Boko Haram Posted: 22 May 2014 03:53 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council officially declared Boko Haram a terrorist group linked to al-Qaida on Thursday and imposed sanctions against the Islamist militants who have carried out a wave of deadly attacks and the recent abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls in Nigeria.

UN says ready to get aid into Syria despite gov't Posted: 22 May 2014 02:52 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations secretary-general said the world body is poised to help get long-awaited humanitarian aid across borders into Syria even at crossings outside government control, in defiance of Damascus' insistence that all aid go through its authorities.

U.S. steps up scrutiny of American fighters in Syria Posted: 22 May 2014 02:39 PM PDT By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Justice Department has tapped a veteran prosecutor to probe the flow of foreign fighters, including Americans, who are joining Syria's rebels, U.S. officials said, in a sign of heightened alarm over the threat of radicalized militants returning home. The FBI also has formed a special team to identify U.S. citizens traveling to Syria to fight with anti-government groups, and is working with both intelligence and law enforcement agencies to investigate such individuals, a spokesman said. U.S. security agencies have expressed growing anxiety for months about a steady stream of Western militants heading to Syria. U.S. and allied officials say their main fear is that veteran fighters, radicalized by their Syrian experience, will launch terror attacks once they return home.

‘TakePart Live’ Launches Yearlong Vets Program Aimed at Millennials Posted: 22 May 2014 02:12 PM PDT In a new survey released Thursday by Participant Media, TakePart's parent company, a whopping 90 percent of respondents say that "young vets are not getting the support and help they need to successfully return to civilian life." The timely national phone survey collected responses just as investigators dug into allegations that 40 veterans died while waiting for medical appointments at Veterans Affairs facilities in Phoenix. The campaign is being championed by Meghan McCain, cohost of TakePart Live, the nightly news program on our sister network, Pivot. Her father, Sen. John McCain, and her brother James both served in the military.

How the Ukraine crisis made Iran a better US partner on Syria Posted: 22 May 2014 02:00 PM PDT The crisis over Ukraine, which has undercut already faltering US and Russian efforts to resolve the Syrian war, has prompted speculation that the US might either reach out to Iran to help resolve the impasse or act more unilaterally.  The US and Russia have been at loggerheads over Syria since the conflict began. Russia, a staunch backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has vetoed a number of United Nations Security Council resolutions on Syria, to the frustration of pro-opposition Washington. Moscow also has provided Mr. Assad with large quantities of weapons and ammunition.

Nigeria's Boko Haram kills 29 in village attack: sources Posted: 22 May 2014 12:43 PM PDT By Lanre Ola MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Suspected militants from Islamist group Boko Haram shot dead 29 farm workers as they tilled their fields in remote northeast Nigeria, a police source said on Thursday, amid a mounting insurgency increasingly targeting civilians. Boko Haram, which grabbed world headlines last month by kidnapping more than 200 schoolgirls further north in Borno, has stepped up its five-year-old campaign to carve an Islamic state out of the religiously mixed oil producer. Bomb attacks are growing more sophisticated, including two on the capital Abuja last month, and massacres of villagers in the area where Boko Haram is based are an almost daily occurrence. Boko Haram initially attacked mostly security forces, government officials and sometimes Islamic clerics who spoke out against it.

Will It Be ‘President Jim Webb’? Posted: 22 May 2014 11:40 AM PDT The onetime Virginia senator, and combat-decorated Marine, is not ruling out a run at the White House. Webb believes he is just the sort of centrist leader who can break the Democrat-Republican stalemate in Washington.

Thirty-two killed in three attacks on Shi'ite pilgrims in Baghdad Posted: 22 May 2014 10:52 AM PDT Thirty-two people were killed in three attacks on Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims walking in Baghdad on Thursday evening ahead of a major religious holiday, police and medical sources said. The attackers defied a shutdown of major roadways for Shi'ite religious faithful, who were heading to the Imam Kadhim shrine in Kadhimiya in western Baghdad to commemorate the death of the Shi'ite saint in 799. The deadliest was in eastern Baghdad, near Tayaran Square, where a minibus approached a crowd of pilgrims and exploded, killing 14 people and wounding 17 others, according to police and medical sources. Across Baghdad, in the western neighborhood of Mansour, a parked car exploded, killing six people and wounding 38.

House rebuffs Pentagon on defense spending Posted: 22 May 2014 10:48 AM PDT The House on Thursday overwhelmingly backed a $601 billion defense authorization bill that spares planes, ships and military bases in an election-year nod to hometown interests. Ignoring a White House ...

Attacks in Iraq kill at least 29 people Posted: 22 May 2014 10:19 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — A wave of suicide and car bomb attacks in Iraq killed at least 29 people and wounded dozens more on Thursday, officials said, as political rivals prepared to launch negotiations on forming a new government after last month's national elections.

Iraq attacks on Shiite pilgrims kill 16 Posted: 22 May 2014 09:53 AM PDT A series of bombings targeting Shiite pilgrims, including by a suicide attacker disguised as a woman, killed 16 people in Baghdad Thursday despite heavy security across the capital. The blasts are the latest in a protracted surge of nationwide bloodshed that has left more than 3,600 people dead this year, fuelling fears Iraq is slipping back into the brutal communal bloodshed that blighted the country in 2006 and 2007. Three blasts -- two suicide bombings and a vehicle rigged with explosives -- targeted pilgrims who were preparing for commemorations for a revered figure in Shiite Islam. The worshippers -- many from elsewhere in the country -- were all walking from across the city to the district of Kadhimiyah, site of a shrine dedicated to Imam Musa Kadhim, the seventh of 12 revered imams in Shiite Islam.

China, Russia veto UN attempt to refer Syria to ICC Posted: 22 May 2014 09:50 AM PDT United Nations (United States) (AFP) - China and Russia vetoed Thursday a draft UN Security Council resolution to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court for crimes committed by both sides in the three-year civil war. Western powers pressed for the resolution in the face of mounting atrocities in Syria, including chemical attacks, systematic torture, barrel bombings and blocked aid access. It was the fourth time China and Russia have blocked Western resolutions on the conflict, paralyzing Security Council efforts to end a war estimated to have killed more than 160,000 people.

Assad's forces break rebel siege of Aleppo prison Posted: 22 May 2014 09:42 AM PDT By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad's troops broke a year-long rebel siege of Aleppo's main prison on Thursday, cutting a main insurgent supply line and vowing to press on and recapture the whole of Syria's biggest city. State television showed soldiers inside the prison after they routed al Qaeda and other Islamist forces who had tried several times in recent months to break into the jail and free thousands of prisoners. The military gain comes 12 days before an election widely expected to deliver a landslide victory - and seven more years in power - for President Bashar al-Assad, whose forces have been cementing his control over the centre of the country. A military statement said the fighting around the prison, about 5 miles north-east of Aleppo, had cut a supply line linking the rebel-dominated rural hinterland with the contested city.

32 people killed in three attacks on Shi'ite religious pilgrims Posted: 22 May 2014 09:36 AM PDT Thirty-two people were killed in three attacks on Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims walking in Baghdad on Thursday evening ahead of a major religious holiday, police and medical sources said. The attackers defied a shutdown of major roadways for Shi'ite religious faithful who were heading to the Imam Kadhim shrine in Kadhimiya in western Baghdad to commemorate the death of the Shi'ite saint in 799. The deadliest attack was in eastern Baghdad, near Tayaran Square, where a mini-bus approached a crowd of pilgrims and exploded, killing 14 people, according to police and medical sources.

Suicide bomb attacks on Iraq pilgrims kill 11 Posted: 22 May 2014 09:22 AM PDT Two suicide bombings targeting Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad killed at least 11 people and wounded dozens more Thursday despite a heavy security deployment, Iraqi security and medical officials said. The evening attacks struck in Mansur, west Baghdad, and Baab al-Sharji, in the centre, as worshippers prepared to commemorate the death of a revered figure in Shiite Islam. The attacker was dressed in an all-black women's robe, or abaya, apparently to avoid attention, according to the capital's security spokesman, Brigadier General Saad Maan. The worshippers were walking to the northern neighbourhood of Kadhimiyah, site of a shrine dedicated to Imam Musa Kadhim, the seventh of 12 revered imams in Shiite Islam.

Suicide bomb attacks on Iraq pilgrims kill 10 Posted: 22 May 2014 09:17 AM PDT Baghdad (AFP) - Two suicide bombings targeting Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad killed at least 10 people and wounded dozens more on Thursday despite heavy security, Iraqi security and medical officials said.

Pope to hear from Syria's refugees in Jordan Posted: 22 May 2014 08:54 AM PDT Pope Francis will hear first-hand accounts of the horrors of Syria's war when he meets refugees in Jordan Saturday as he begins a three-day visit to the Holy Land. Many pilgrims who will flock to see him there, and at an open-air mass in the capital Amman, want Francis to use his visit to make a strident call for peace across the border in Syria. "He needs to see the situation of Christians in Syria. "In the past we lived in harmony and coexistence, but now Syrian Christians are in danger," she said, reflecting the view of many Christians -- Roman Catholic and Orthodox -- who sided with Assad, fearing the harsh Islamist ideology of some rebel factions.

Iraq's Kurds start exporting oil unilaterally Posted: 22 May 2014 08:50 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's self-ruled northern Kurdish region on Thursday started exporting crude oil to the international market through the Turkish port of Ceyhan despite objections from the central government in Baghdad, Turkey's energy minister said.

Officials: Attacks in Iraq kill at least 9 people Posted: 22 May 2014 08:38 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say a car bombing and a suicide attack have killed at least nine people and wounded 19.

'Miss Saigon' still a grand spectacle, 25 years on Posted: 22 May 2014 08:20 AM PDT LONDON (AP) — "Miss Saigon" has returned to London, helicopter and all — but will it take off?

France appoints new Libya envoy to stem terrorism Posted: 22 May 2014 08:18 AM PDT PARIS (AP) — France has appointed a special envoy for Libya as part of its efforts to address growing violence in the country and to deter Libya-based terrorism from spreading in Africa.

Iraq's oil exports increase 6 percent in April Posted: 22 May 2014 07:11 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's Oil Ministry says crude exports have averaged 2.51 million barrels a day in April, a nearly 6 percent increase from the previous month.

Fix to veterans' health care takes on new resolve Posted: 22 May 2014 05:21 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — After weeks of criticism for his detached response, President Barack Obama is showing new resolve to respond to a growing crisis over veterans' health care.

U.S., Britain warn of kidnap threat to oil workers in south Iraq Posted: 22 May 2014 02:48 AM PDT U.S. and British citizens, particularly oil workers, in the southern Iraqi province of Basra may be at risk of kidnapping by militant groups, the U.S. Embassy and British officials said. Basra is home to most of Iraq's oil and its gateway for exports. "Militant groups may be surveilling U.S. citizens for possible kidnapping operations, particularly oil company employees working in Basra province," the embassy said in a statement late on Wednesday.

Pope to visit a land of disappearing Christians Posted: 22 May 2014 12:13 AM PDT By Crispian Balmer BETHLEHEM West Bank (Reuters) - When Pope Francis visits the birthplace of Jesus next week, he will address a dwindling population of faithful whose exodus from the Holy Land could turn the shrines of Christendom into museum pieces. While ever growing numbers of Christian tourists pour into Bethlehem and the adjacent Jerusalem to visit the plethora of sites associated with Jesus, many Palestinian Christians hope to join a legion of relatives who have already moved out. The cradle of Christianity has not suffered the bloody mayhem seen in nearby Syria or Iraq, but still the Christians look to leave, blaming the Israeli occupation for withering their economic prospects and hobbling their freedom of movement. Local worshippers hope Pope Francis will use his fleeting trip to Israel and the West Bank on May 25-26 to recognize their plight, but doubt that he can do much to help just weeks after the collapse of the latest Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

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