Yahoo! News: Iraq

---

• Iraq says 'terrorists' seize chemical weapons site
• Func Test Sapphire Two Chapters
• Func Test Sapphire Six Chapters
• Afghan poll feud threatens Obama's smooth exit hopes
• Holder: Threat from Syria endangers Europe, US
• Iraqi parliament to meet early next week
• Iraq tells U.N. 'terrorist groups' seized former chemical weapons depot
• China dismisses claims of links to hackers targeting U.S. Iraq experts
• Arab football fans turn to Israel TV for World Cup
• Syrian Kurds demobilise 149 child soldiers, says rights group
• World Cup entangled with Mideast soaring conflicts
• UN highlights hardships for lone female Syrian refugees
• An Interview With the Founder of Move Loot, the Airbnb of Used Furniture
• Oil prices extend losses as supply worries ease
• Iran's supreme leader reveals demands in nuclear talks
• Syria troops converge as rebels ready for Aleppo showdown
• Jury begins hearing Ventura's defamation case
• There's an iPhone Charger That Looks like An Umbilical Cord
• As Rosie O'Donnell Is Rumored to Rejoin 'The View,' A Look Back at Her Greatest Hits [UPDATED]
• Jury seated to hear Ventura's defamation case
• Ex-Minnesota governor alleges 'American Sniper' defamed him
• Jordan army launches recruitment drive
• Isis Mobile Wallet: Not To Be Confused With ISIS Militants
• Why latest US spying allegations in Germany could force Merkel to act
• Turkey seeks to boost peace talks with Kurds
• US probes dozens for Syria extremism, urges cooperation with Europe
• Russia's arms sales boom with Soviet designs
• Security Firm Says Chinese Hackers Targeting U.S. Experts on Iraq
• U.S. warns Afghans not to form 'parallel government'
• Terror and sympathy from Turkish hostages seized in Iraq
• Iranian journalist sentenced to two years and 50 lashes
• U.S. urges countries to combat foreign fighters going to Syria
• Syria opposition meets in Istanbul to choose new leader
• France set to prevent jihadists going to fight or train abroad
• Crisis-hit Iraqis feel betrayed by bickering leaders
• Fewer than 100 Americans probed for fighting in Syria, Iraq: U.S. Attorney General
• Summer test for 'Islamic State' call to young European radicals: EU official
• Bombings kill eight in Iraq
• Islamic state claims Baghdad bombs; parliament to meet on Sunday
• Iraqi parliament brings forward next session to July 13: speaker

Iraq says 'terrorists' seize chemical weapons site Posted: 08 Jul 2014 04:11 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iraq said the Islamic State extremist group has taken control of a vast former chemical weapons facility northwest of Baghdad, where 2,500 chemical rockets filled with the deadly nerve agent sarin or their remnants were stored along with other chemical warfare agents.

Func Test Sapphire Two Chapters Posted: 08 Jul 2014 03:54 PM PDT for running functional for sapphire experience for having two chapters.

Func Test Sapphire Six Chapters Posted: 08 Jul 2014 03:54 PM PDT for running functional for sapphire experience for having six chapters.

Afghan poll feud threatens Obama's smooth exit hopes Posted: 08 Jul 2014 03:45 PM PDT The United States, which pointedly stayed mute during two rounds of voting for Afghanistan's next president, swung into action as claims of mass electoral irregularities threatened the country's first democratic transfer of power — in which Washington has a huge stake. At a perilous moment for Afghanistan, Obama made an unusual call to Abdullah Abdullah, the candidate alleging he was cheated out of power by mass stuffing of ballot boxes.

Holder: Threat from Syria endangers Europe, US Posted: 08 Jul 2014 03:03 PM PDT Attorney General Eric Holder called on European nations Tuesday to deal more aggressively with the threat posed by the thousands of Westerners who have traveled to Syria to join the fighting there.

Iraqi parliament to meet early next week Posted: 08 Jul 2014 03:03 PM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's parliament Tuesday officially rescheduled its next session for early next week after criticism over initial plans for a five-week break, amid pressure for political leaders to agree on a new government that can confront militants who have overrun much of the country's north and west.

Iraq tells U.N. 'terrorist groups' seized former chemical weapons depot Posted: 08 Jul 2014 02:38 PM PDT Iraq's government has lost control of a former chemical weapons facility to "armed terrorist groups" and is unable to fulfill its international obligations to destroy toxins kept there, the country's U.N. envoy told the United Nations. In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, made public on Tuesday, Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim said the Muthanna facility north of Baghdad was seized on June 11. He said remnants of a former chemical weapons program are kept in two bunkers there. "The project management spotted at dawn on Thursday, 12 June 2014, through the camera surveillance system, the looting of some of the project equipment and appliances, before the terrorists disabled the surveillance system," Alhakim wrote in the letter dated June 30.

China dismisses claims of links to hackers targeting U.S. Iraq experts Posted: 08 Jul 2014 02:25 PM PDT By Joseph Menn SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - China on Tuesday disputed claims by a U.S. security firm that linked years of hacking by a secretive local group it calls "Deep Panda" to unnamed government officials of that country, saying the firm was merely seeking publicity. "Chinese laws prohibit cyber crimes of all forms, and Chinese government has done whatever it can to combat such activities," Geng Shuang, press counselor for China's embassy in Washington, said in response to questions from Reuters. On Monday, Crowdstrike said that a highly sophisticated group of hackers believed to be associated with the Chinese government, who for years targeted U.S experts on Asian geopolitical matters, has suddenly begun breaching computers belonging to experts on Iraq as the rebellion there escalated. The security firm, whose staff includes a number of former U.S. government officials, added that it had "great confidence" that Deep Panda was affiliated with the Chinese government but declined to elaborate.

Arab football fans turn to Israel TV for World Cup Posted: 08 Jul 2014 02:12 PM PDT BEIRUT (AP) — With the World Cup in faraway Brazil coming at a time of unprecedented sectarian violence and soaring tension in the Middle East, some Arab football fans have been reduced to watching matches in secret or even — and this is where it gets complicated — on a TV channel owned by Israel.

Syrian Kurds demobilise 149 child soldiers, says rights group Posted: 08 Jul 2014 02:10 PM PDT Syrian Kurdish forces have demobilised scores of child soldiers from their ranks over the past month, a Swiss group that works to save under-age fighters said Tuesday. The main Kurdish militia in Syria made a public promise in June to stop using child soldiers and halt their recruitment. A total of 149 militia members under the age of 18 have since been demobilised, according to Elisabeth Decrey Warner, head of Geneva Call. Those children are cut off in a part of northern Syria where the Kurds are trying to stem an assault by jihadists from the Islamic State (which was formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant), which already controls swathes of Syria and Iraq.

World Cup entangled with Mideast soaring conflicts Posted: 08 Jul 2014 02:04 PM PDT BEIRUT (AP) — With the World Cup in faraway Brazil coming at a time of unprecedented sectarian violence and soaring tension in the Middle East, some Arab football fans have been reduced to watching matches in secret or even — and this is where it gets complicated — on a TV channel owned by Israel.

UN highlights hardships for lone female Syrian refugees Posted: 08 Jul 2014 01:38 PM PDT Thousands of Syrian refugee women are caught in a "spiral of hardship, isolation and anxiety," widowed or separated from their husbands and struggling to survive, the UN warned on Tuesday. In a new report, the UN agency for refugees UNHCR highlighted the plight of some 145,000 Syrian refugee women who are fending for themselves and their families in dire circumstances across the Middle East. "Forced to take sole responsibility for their families after their men were killed, captured or otherwise separated, they are caught in a spiral of hardship, isolation and anxiety," said the report, unveiled by UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres at a Amman news conference. Guterres said Syrian refugee women "are suffering enormously" and appealed for more funds to help them.

An Interview With the Founder of Move Loot, the Airbnb of Used Furniture Posted: 08 Jul 2014 01:32 PM PDT Move Loot is a start up based in San Francisco designed to make your moving process a little less painful and a lot less wasteful. Move Loot allows you to sell gently used furniture by uploading a picture of it to their app, setting a price and a pick up time. They'll do the rest.  The process streamlines the furniture sales process, offering buyers a unique variety of cool pieces, all of which has been confirmed clean and in good condition.  Bobbit: The four founders all moved from different places to San Francisco, so we had to sell all our furniture and then buy it all over again.

Oil prices extend losses as supply worries ease Posted: 08 Jul 2014 01:15 PM PDT Oil prices extended their losing streak Tuesday as concerns eased about supply disruptions from the Middle East, with Libya exports set to resume and Iraq unrest not yet affecting exports. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for August fell 13 cents to $103.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its eighth straight day of decline. Brent North Sea for delivery in August lost $1.30 to close at $108.94 a barrel in London trade. "The Brent market remains under pressure from expectations that Libyan crude oil exports will soon resume and that the Sunni insurgency in Iraq will have little impact on oil output from the south," said Tim Evans of Citi Futures.

Iran's supreme leader reveals demands in nuclear talks Posted: 08 Jul 2014 01:02 PM PDT Iran's supreme leader revealed Tuesday his country's demands for a massive long-term increase in its nuclear enrichment capability, laying bare huge gaps between Tehran and world powers negotiating a deal. The comments, published on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's website, represent a dramatic intervention in the talks currently taking place in Vienna between Iran and the P5+1 group of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany, for a nuclear accord. His remarks relate to the enrichment process of producing fuel from centrifuges for nuclear power stations, which the West and Israel says, in highly extended form, could be used to develop an atomic bomb.

Syria troops converge as rebels ready for Aleppo showdown Posted: 08 Jul 2014 12:59 PM PDT Elite government forces backed by Hezbollah converged Tuesday on the north Syrian city of Aleppo as rebels bolstered their own fighters in readiness for a major showdown, a monitor said. Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was likely that pro-regime forces were preparing to lay siege to rebel-held parts of Aleppo, the country's pre-war commercial capital. "Commando troop reinforcements from the Republican Guard and from (Lebanon's) Hezbollah continued to be sent, in a bid to surround Aleppo city," the Observatory said. At the same time, "rebel and (allied) Islamist brigades sent reinforcements of their own... through the eastern entrance to Aleppo city," added the Britain-based organisation.

Jury begins hearing Ventura's defamation case Posted: 08 Jul 2014 12:57 PM PDT ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Jesse Ventura brought his defamation lawsuit before home-state jurors Tuesday in a bid to punish the estate of late "American Sniper" author Chris Kyle, who bragged in an autobiography that he knocked the former Minnesota governor out during a barroom scrap almost a decade ago.

There's an iPhone Charger That Looks like An Umbilical Cord Posted: 08 Jul 2014 12:45 PM PDT Featured in Discover Magazine's recent "10 Geeky Gifts Inspired by Science" Guide, this delightful charger resembles a human umbilical cord. The Grow Cable was created by artist Iizawa Mio, as a statement about the human attachment to technology.  This is supposed to mimic a mother feeding a fetus through the umbilical cord, except it is just you, alone in a room with your shivering iPhone.

As Rosie O'Donnell Is Rumored to Rejoin 'The View,' A Look Back at Her Greatest Hits [UPDATED] Posted: 08 Jul 2014 12:09 PM PDT Rosie's taking a little extra time to enjoy The View. The rumors that the former Queen of Nice – who dramatically abdicated her throne after less than a year on-air in 2007 – is heading back to the morning talk show are enough to make Elisabeth Hasselbeck quake in her boots. While the cast is in flux for now (only Whoopi Goldberg remains from last season's cast), whomever fills the panel will have a fiery liberal presence to contend with. Never quiet, always honest, Rosie O'Donnell's first time on The View was a tenure to remember – and one we could never forget.

Jury seated to hear Ventura's defamation case Posted: 08 Jul 2014 11:30 AM PDT ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A jury was set to hear opening statements Tuesday in Jesse Ventura's defamation case against the estate of a slain sniper who had claimed he punched the former Minnesota governor and professional wrestler inside a bar.

Ex-Minnesota governor alleges 'American Sniper' defamed him Posted: 08 Jul 2014 10:58 AM PDT By Todd Melby ST. PAUL Minn. (Reuters) - Jurors in a federal trial that began on Tuesday will hear videotaped testimony from a late Navy SEAL accused of defamation by former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura. Ten jurors were selected to hear the case against former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, who was killed in 2013 at a Texas shooting range by a troubled Iraq war veteran he was trying to mentor. Ventura, a former Navy SEAL who served one term as governor, contends his reputation was damaged by Kyle's best-selling 2012 book, "American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History," and subsequent public statements. Ventura's lawsuit, filed against Kyle in 2012, now names as the defendant his widow, Taya Kyle, as the overseer of Kyle's estate.

Jordan army launches recruitment drive Posted: 08 Jul 2014 10:51 AM PDT Jordan's army launched a recruitment drive on Tuesday to address "a general shortage", following last month's advances by jihadist militants in neighbouring Iraq. "The Jordan Armed Forces announces the need to recruit a number of males due to a general shortage. A Jordanian government official said it was a "routine" procedure. The announcement came after jihadists in neighbouring Iraq and Syria declared an "Islamic caliphate" on June 29.

Isis Mobile Wallet: Not To Be Confused With ISIS Militants Posted: 08 Jul 2014 10:48 AM PDT Isis Wallet, a mobile wallet app, is changing its name so it isn't confused with Islamic extremists rampaging through Iraq. "We have no interest in sharing a name with a group whose name has become synonymous with violence and our hearts go out to those who are suffering," Isis CEO Michael Abbott told the Verge.

Why latest US spying allegations in Germany could force Merkel to act Posted: 08 Jul 2014 10:01 AM PDT The latest allegations of US spying on Germany come amid growing anti-Americanism there – and they're fueling calls for Chancellor Angela Merkel to take a tougher stance against her North American ally. "What affects her is [criticism] that she is not standing up to [the US]," says Ulrike Guerot, a European political analyst in Berlin. The allegations, first reported in the German media last week and to which Merkel responded Monday, involve claims that a German man working for the country's intelligence agency sold secret documents to a foreign power, allegedly the US. The US ambassador to Germany was summoned to clarify the case, but the US has so far declined to respond to the specific allegations.

Turkey seeks to boost peace talks with Kurds Posted: 08 Jul 2014 09:43 AM PDT ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish lawmakers debated legislation Tuesday to restart a stalled peace process with the Kurdish rebels — a development that could also help Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan win Kurdish votes as he seeks election as president next month.

US probes dozens for Syria extremism, urges cooperation with Europe Posted: 08 Jul 2014 09:38 AM PDT US Attorney General Eric Holder called Tuesday for cooperation with Europe to stem the "grave threat" of extremists travelling to Syria, saying dozens of aspiring fighters were being investigated by Washington. On a trip to Oslo, Holder highlighted the urgency in clamping down on US and European nationals seeking to join extremist organisations in Syria and Iraq. "The Syrian conflict has turned that region into a cradle of violent extremism. U.S. intelligence officials estimate that of some 23,000 violent extremists operating in Syria, more than 7,000 are foreign fighters, including dozens of Americans.

Russia's arms sales boom with Soviet designs Posted: 08 Jul 2014 09:27 AM PDT Russian arms exports to the world are booming, but a big expansion of sales is needed to help rebuild the Russian military-industrial complex and help fund the country's ambitious rearmament program, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday. Exports of Russian weaponry were at a healthy $5.6 billion in the first half of this year, while the total orders on the books of state arms exporters have fattened from $35 billion at the beginning of this year to over $50 billion now, Mr. Putin told the government commission dealing with arms exports. "We have no idea about any details of the deals our government does in this field," says Alexander Golts, military expert with the online journal Yezhednevny Zhurnal. "Are they profitable? According the the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute [SIPRI] Russia was the world's second-biggest arms merchant in 2012, with about 26 percent of the global market compared to the US with 30 percent.

Security Firm Says Chinese Hackers Targeting U.S. Experts on Iraq Posted: 08 Jul 2014 09:06 AM PDT A private cyber security firm has discovered evidence that a suspected Chinese government hacker group has been targeting U.S. experts on Iraq. CrowdStrike — a firm consisting of former U.S. government officials and credited with exposing the motives of Russian hacker group Energetic Bear — claims they have discovered that hackers belonging to "Deep Panda" have shifted from attacking experts associated with Southeast Asian geopolitical affairs to attacking the computers of U.S. think tank employees specializing in Iraq. The hacking began on June 18 —the day the rebel group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) attacked an oil refinery.  "They immediately started going after Middle East specialists and experts, so it was a clear indication they were receiving tasking," CrowdStrike VP of Intelligence Adam Meyers told The Wire.

U.S. warns Afghans not to form 'parallel government' Posted: 08 Jul 2014 08:40 AM PDT By Mohammad Aziz and Mirwais Harooni KABUL (Reuters) - The United States warned on Tuesday that it would withdraw financial and security support from Afghanistan if anyone tried to take power illegally, as supporters of presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah rallied in Kabul for a parallel government. Preliminary results announced on Monday gave Ashraf Ghani, a former World Bank official, 56.44 percent in the run-off on June 14, but Abdullah immediately rejected the outcome, saying the vote had been marred by widespread fraud. Thousands of Abdullah's supporters gathered in the capital Kabul, demanding that he form a parallel government, a move likely to plunge a country already beset by deep ethnic divisions into even greater disorder. Underscoring the magnitude of the crisis, Abdullah said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is currently in Beijing, would visit Kabul on Friday.

Terror and sympathy from Turkish hostages seized in Iraq Posted: 08 Jul 2014 08:26 AM PDT By Humeyra Pamuk SANLIURFA Turkey (Reuters) - When truck driver Vehbi Demir was handcuffed by masked Islamists wielding machine guns and driven to an unknown destination, he little imagined he would end up sympathizing with the militants' cause. Demir was among 32 Turkish truck drivers seized by fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL) in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul last month, as the Sunni insurgents seized territory in an offensive that threatens to break up the country. Jubilant crowds greeted the drivers in the eastern Turkish town of Sanliurfa after their surprise release last week, but 49 others, including diplomats, special forces soldiers and children, are still being held by ISIL.

Iranian journalist sentenced to two years and 50 lashes Posted: 08 Jul 2014 07:59 AM PDT Iranian journalist and blogger Marzieh Rasouli reported to Evin prison on Tuesday to serve a two-year sentence and receive 50 lashes over charges of spreading anti-government propaganda, sources close to the journalist said. The case has angered some Iranian journalists, who had hoped that the election of a moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, last year would bring greater political and cultural freedoms at home, a development that has yet to materialize.

U.S. urges countries to combat foreign fighters going to Syria Posted: 08 Jul 2014 07:57 AM PDT By Aruna Viswanatha and Gwladys Fouche WASHINGTON/OSLO (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder urged countries in Europe and elsewhere on Tuesday to do more to keep their own citizens from traveling to Syria to fight, saying the world cannot allow Syria to become a training ground for violent extremists. In a speech in Norway, Holder said other countries could learn from U.S. efforts to conduct undercover sting operations and use laws against preparing to commit attacks, tactics he said have helped confront the threat in the United States. Speaking at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Oslo, Holder also urged Europeans to share information about travelers to Syria with the United States, which does not require visas for travelers from European Union countries. "We have a mutual and compelling interest in developing shared strategies for confronting the influx of U.S.- and European-born violent extremists into Syria," Holder said, according to prepared remarks.

Syria opposition meets in Istanbul to choose new leader Posted: 08 Jul 2014 07:51 AM PDT The Syrian National Coalition, the main exiled opposition group seeking the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, was Tuesday meeting outside Istanbul to choose a new president tasked with keeping alive the campaign to unseat the Syrian regime. The meeting is also overshadowed by the advance of Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria who have now declared the imposition of a caliphate on swathes of territory in both countries. A decision on the successor to Ahmad Jarba as the new leader of the coalition could be made late Tuesday at the meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sile or on Wednesday, sources close to the talks told AFP. The West now appears more preoccupied with the rise of Islamic militants in Syria and Iraq than heeding the Syrian opposition's calls for arms and even military intervention to oust the regime.

France set to prevent jihadists going to fight or train abroad Posted: 08 Jul 2014 07:31 AM PDT By John Irish and Gérard Bon PARIS (Reuters) - France plans to ban individuals linked to radical Islamist groups from leaving the country in a bid to prevent attacks by militants returning from the Middle East, according to a draft bill set to be unveiled on Wednesday. France has seen a sharp rise this year in citizens going to join Islamic militants in Syria and now Iraq. "We have a duty to react as almost 800 young people are involved," Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told Tuesday's edition of the daily Le Parisien. Of that figure, some 600 French nationals are either currently in Syria or planning to go there, he said.

Crisis-hit Iraqis feel betrayed by bickering leaders Posted: 08 Jul 2014 07:26 AM PDT Iraq may be fracturing along sectarian and ethnic lines, but its people are uniting in anger and disbelief at protracted political haggling over government posts amid a raging Sunni Islamist insurgency. Bickering lawmakers on Monday delayed for almost five weeks a parliamentary session meant to decide a new government aimed at countering the militant onslaught, before moving the date forward again to July 13, still more than two months after April elections. After years of legislative paralysis and accusations of sectarianism, a new unity government is seen as one of the best ways of draining the resentment that has poisoned politics and allowed militants led by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group to overrun vast tracts of the country at lightning speed. "The postponement of the parliamentary session was a shock to Iraqis living amid a sea of blood and a lack of services and jobs," said Essam al-Bayati, a professor at the University of Kirkuk in northern Iraq.

Fewer than 100 Americans probed for fighting in Syria, Iraq: U.S. Attorney General Posted: 08 Jul 2014 07:23 AM PDT The U.S. Justice Department has opened fewer than a hundred investigations into American citizens who may have traveled to Syria or Iraq to fight, the U.S. Attorney General said on Tuesday. It is not precise," Eric Holder told reporters after meeting the Norwegian justice minister to discuss the issue of radicalization. "We are concerned about our citizens leaving our shores to go to Syria, to Iraq, to be involved in the fight there and to potentially come back to the United States and do something of a criminal nature in our country." (Reporting by Gwladys Fouche;

Summer test for 'Islamic State' call to young European radicals: EU official Posted: 08 Jul 2014 07:17 AM PDT By Steve Scherer and Ilaria Polleschi MILAN (Reuters) - The long summer break will test the ability of the militant "Islamic State" group led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to draw radical Islamist students in Europe to fight in Iraq and Syria, an EU official said in Milan on Tuesday. In Oslo, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder urged countries in Europe and elsewhere to do more to keep their own citizens from traveling to Syria to fight. In a meeting held late Monday in Milan, nine European Union countries agreed to share intelligence and seek to fight radical Islam on the Internet to counter the risk of European citizens going to fight in Syria or Iraq bringing violence back home. In the past month, the violence in Iraq and the declaration of a caliphate, an Islamic state, across parts of Iraq and Syria have heightened the importance of the European initiative, EU counter-terrorism coordinator Gille de Kerchove told reporters on Monday.

Bombings kill eight in Iraq Posted: 08 Jul 2014 07:14 AM PDT Bombings north of Baghdad killed eight people on Tuesday, police and a doctor said, as Iraq struggles to regain ground overrun in a major jihadist-led offensive. In the deadliest attack, a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle at a checkpoint south of Samarra, killing five people, among them three police, and wounding seven others, including four police. Militants, led by jihadists from the Islamic State group, launched a major offensive on June 9 that has overrun large areas of five Iraqi provinces. While government forces have since performed better, they have yet to make major gains in offensive operations.

Islamic state claims Baghdad bombs; parliament to meet on Sunday Posted: 08 Jul 2014 06:58 AM PDT By Isra'a al-Rubei'i and Maggie Fick BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamist militants claimed responsibility for suicide bombings in Baghdad, and there were signs the deadlock paralysing Iraq's parliament might finally be loosening in the face of the threat from the "Islamic State" that has seized much of the country. The Sunni Muslim group, which has taken over large areas of Syria and Iraq, posted web photos of two men with scarves covering their faces, posing in front of its black and white flag and machineguns. It identified them as the Baghdad bombers and said they were Lebanese and Libyan. Baghdad had seen few attacks compared to the violence in other areas hit by the Islamic State's lightning offensive last month.

Iraqi parliament brings forward next session to July 13: speaker Posted: 08 Jul 2014 05:30 AM PDT Iraq's new parliament has brought forward the date of its next session to July 13, the acting speaker said on Tuesday, after a five-week delay announced on Monday was criticised by local lawmakers and the United States. The first session of the parliament elected in April ended last week without agreement on the three key posts of prime minister, president and parliamentary speaker, with the country in crisis over the seizure of large parts of the north and west by Sunni Islamist insurgents." For the sake of the public interest and committing to the constitutional procedures and preserving the continuity of building democracy ... we decided to change the date (of the next session) to July 13," Mehdi al-Hafidh said in a statement. "Any delay in this could jeopardise the security of Iraq and its democratic course and increase the suffering of the Iraqi people." On Monday, citing the failure of the main Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish political groupings to reach agreement, Hafidh had said the next session would not be held until Aug. 12.

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