Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Exclusive: Iraq tells U.N. that 'terrorist groups' seized nuclear materials
• Slain sniper author didn't fear Ventura lawsuit
• Fed sees October end for monthly bond buying
• De Mistura succeeds Brahimi as U.N. Syria mediator: diplomats
• Business Highlights
• Iran connection: Why are Gaza rockets reaching so deep into Israel?
• Review: 'Boyhood' _ simple story, stunningly told
• Fed split on signals for first rate increase
• Kurds threaten legal action against Iraq oil buyers
• Fifty-three blindfolded bodies found in Iraq as political leaders bicker
• Iraqi leader accuses Kurds of hosting militants
• Oil on 2-week slide even with Mideast turmoil
• Israel Has a New Weapon Against Hamas: International Indifference
• Another spy? Germany fumes as US espionage scandal worsens.
• Bahrain questions opposition leader after expelling U.S. diplomat
• Syria rebels storm Sunni village, kill 14
• 'American Sniper' widow: husband planned to donate book proceeds
• Sniper author had no fear of Ventura lawsuit
• Dutch special forces in Mali tackle changing threat: minister
• Widow: No intent to profit from 'American Sniper'
• VA's Newest Scandal: Whistleblower Retaliation
• Diplomats: Staffan de Mistura is new Syria envoy
• 50 bodies found in Iraq, raising sectarian worries
• Iraqi Christians' flee violence, fear end of long history
• VA apologizes to whistleblowers facing retaliation
• Turkey's Kurds prefer peace prospects at home to perilous statehood in Iraq
• Don't Pay Any Mind to Financial News Gurus
• How the Prices At Alibaba's First U.S. Shopping Site Compare to Amazon
• Oil down closer to $103 on boost in Libya supplies
• Shale boom confounds forecasts as U.S. set to pass Russia, Saudi Arabia
• Iraq PM says Kurdish Arbil becoming a base for 'Islamic State' militants
• Geese caused deadly US military chopper crash in Britain
• Iraqi officials: 50 bodies found south of Baghdad
• Investigation blames birds for US helicopter crash
• Singapore says citizens participate in Syria conflict
• Syrian opposition bloc elects new president
• Oil prices trade mixed ahead of US inventories data
• World Cup entangled with Mideast conflicts
• Iraqi security forces find 53 blindfolded bodies south of Baghdad
• How Putin outmaneuvered the US in resupplying the Iraqi military

Exclusive: Iraq tells U.N. that 'terrorist groups' seized nuclear materials Posted: 09 Jul 2014 04:04 PM PDT By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Insurgents in Iraq have seized nuclear materials used for scientific research at a university in the country's north, Iraq told the United Nations in a letter appealing for help to "stave off the threat of their use by terrorists in Iraq or abroad." Nearly 40 kilograms (88 pounds) of uranium compounds were kept at Mosul University, Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in the July 8 letter obtained by Reuters on Wednesday. "Terrorist groups have seized control of nuclear material at the sites that came out of the control of the state," Alhakim wrote, adding that such materials "can be used in manufacturing weapons of mass destruction." "These nuclear materials, despite the limited amounts mentioned, can enable terrorist groups, with the availability of the required expertise, to use it separate or in combination with other materials in its terrorist acts," said Alhakim.

Slain sniper author didn't fear Ventura lawsuit Posted: 09 Jul 2014 03:30 PM PDT ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Jurors in Jesse Ventura's defamation case on Wednesday watched video testimony from a slain military sniper, who said he didn't fear being sued for claiming in his autobiography that he had punched the former Minnesota governor inside a bar.

Fed sees October end for monthly bond buying Posted: 09 Jul 2014 02:55 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve officials are in broad agreement that they will likely announce an end to their monthly bond buying program in October, bringing to a close the third round of massive bond purchases the central bank has relied upon to boost economic growth following the Great Recession.

De Mistura succeeds Brahimi as U.N. Syria mediator: diplomats Posted: 09 Jul 2014 02:53 PM PDT By Michelle Nichols and Tom Miles UNITED NATIONS/GENEVA (Reuters) - Veteran United Nations official Staffan de Mistura, a former U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan and Iraq, will replace Lakhdar Brahimi as the international mediator seeking an end to Syria's civil war, diplomats said on Wednesday. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters later on Wednesday that consultations were still continuing on the appointment and he hoped to make an announcement "very soon." The move comes amid worsening violence as Islamist militants seized swathes of Syria and Iraq and after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was re-elected in a June 3 poll described by Ban as a blow to international efforts to end to the conflict.

Business Highlights Posted: 09 Jul 2014 02:48 PM PDT ___ A summer without swagger for Hollywood Hollywood's summer at the box office isn't just missing nearly 20 percent of last summer's revenue. It's lacking swagger. Summer is the season for mega-budget, ...

Iran connection: Why are Gaza rockets reaching so deep into Israel? Posted: 09 Jul 2014 02:25 PM PDT As Israel is contending with rockets launched from Hamas-controlled Gaza that are reaching deeper into its territory, a classified United Nations Security Council report concludes that a shipment of weapons intercepted by Israel on a cargo boat in the Red Sea last March originated in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. Iran is barred from exporting weaponry under an arms embargo approved by the Security Council in 2007. The Security Council report apparently does not establish the ultimate destination of the arms shipment, but the method of using building materials to cover over arms shipments has been used in the past to smuggle arms into Gaza. It's the same longer-range, larger-payload rocket that Israel reports has been fired from Gaza in the current fighting.

Review: 'Boyhood' _ simple story, stunningly told Posted: 09 Jul 2014 02:19 PM PDT Early in "Boyhood," Richard Linklater's bracingly original, utterly enthralling new film about the passage of time through the lens of one boy's life, we find our characters at a real Houston Astros game. And, with the cameras rolling, wouldn't you know it — the Astros hit a home run.

Fed split on signals for first rate increase Posted: 09 Jul 2014 02:15 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve officials are in broad agreement that they will likely announce an end to their monthly bond buying program in October, bringing to a close the third round of massive bond purchases the central bank has relied upon to boost economic growth following the Great Recession.

Kurds threaten legal action against Iraq oil buyers Posted: 09 Jul 2014 01:58 PM PDT Iraqi Kurdistan threatened on Wednesday to take legal action against buyers of the country's oil unless the autonomous region is paid its share of revenue from any sales. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said buyers of Iraqi oil were complicit in violating the constitution because the Baghdad central government has cut the region's 17 percent entitlement of the national budget. It is unclear whether the threat will influence major buyers of Iraqi crude, but it nevertheless illustrates the KRG's increasingly assertive stance in a long-running dispute with Baghdad over control of its natural resources.

Fifty-three blindfolded bodies found in Iraq as political leaders bicker Posted: 09 Jul 2014 01:53 PM PDT By Raheem Salman and Isra' al-Rubei'i BAGHDAD Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces found 53 corpses, blindfolded and handcuffed, south of Baghdad on Wednesday as Shi'ite and Kurdish leaders traded accusations over an Islamist insurgency raging in the country's Sunni provinces. Officials said dozens of bodies were discovered near the mainly Shi'ite Muslim village of Khamissiya, with bullets to the chest and head, the latest mass killing since Sunni insurgents swept through northern Iraq. "Fifty-three unidentified corpses were found, all of them blindfolded and handcuffed," Sadeq Madloul, governor of the mainly Shi'ite southern province of Babil, told reporters. He said the victims appeared to have been killed overnight after being brought by car to an area near the main highway running from Baghdad to the southern provinces, about 25 km (15 miles) southeast of the city of Hilla.

Iraqi leader accuses Kurds of hosting militants Posted: 09 Jul 2014 01:09 PM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — The ethnic and sectarian tensions that threaten to tear Iraq apart flared Wednesday as the prime minister accused the Kurdish self-rule region of harboring the Sunni militants who have overrun much of the country, and 50 bodies were discovered dumped in a village south of Baghdad.

Oil on 2-week slide even with Mideast turmoil Posted: 09 Jul 2014 12:51 PM PDT NEW YORK (AP) — The price of oil fell for the ninth straight day Wednesday as global supplies continue to flow despite unrest in the world's most important oil-producing region.

Israel Has a New Weapon Against Hamas: International Indifference Posted: 09 Jul 2014 12:28 PM PDT As it seems to be embarking on its third war with Hamas in less than six years, Israel faces a foe that has lost most of its key allies and the attention of the international community.  The outrage that accompanied last week's discovery of the bodies of three kidnapped Israelis and a suspected revenge attack in which a Palestinian teenager was kidnapped and murdered has dissipated, even as the violence that followed has escalated. On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced yet another expansion of the Israel Defense Forces' ongoing operation in Gaza. ›We have therefore significantly expanded our operations against Hamas and the other terrorist organizations in Gaza.› — Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) July 8, 2014 Ordinarily, this moment would be accompanied by a cascade of international opprobrium from Palestinian supporters, demands for restraint, and perhaps calls from Israel's own allies to rein in its forces.

Another spy? Germany fumes as US espionage scandal worsens. Posted: 09 Jul 2014 12:20 PM PDT The cases come as Germany attempts to normalize relations with the US over earlier NSA spying allegations. The new revelations threaten to bring German opinion of the US to new lows, and derail the transatlantic agenda. The German Federal Prosecutor's office confirmed that it is investigating a second possible case, after German media reported that a German man may have been spying for the US in the military industry. In the first case, which emerged last week and is also still under investigation, German media reported that a man working for Germany's intelligence agency was arrested for handing documents to the CIA.

Bahrain questions opposition leader after expelling U.S. diplomat Posted: 09 Jul 2014 12:11 PM PDT By Yara Bayoumy DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain interrogated its top opposition leader on Wednesday after expelling a senior U.S. diplomat for meeting him, a remarkable slap at Washington from an ally that hosts the U.S. Navy's Middle East fleet. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Tom Malinowski left Bahrain late on Tuesday, the U.S. Embassy said, after the foreign ministry ordered him out because he had "intervened flagrantly" in the country's internal affairs by "holding meetings with one party". Bahrain's opposition al-Wefaq group said late on Wednesday that its leader Sheikh Ali Salman had been summoned to meet the public prosecutor on Thursday.

Syria rebels storm Sunni village, kill 14 Posted: 09 Jul 2014 11:20 AM PDT BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian rebels rampaged through a Sunni village in the central province of Hama Wednesday, firing indiscriminately at civilians and killing 14 people, including seven women, state media and opposition activists said.

'American Sniper' widow: husband planned to donate book proceeds Posted: 09 Jul 2014 10:56 AM PDT By Todd Melby ST. PAUL Minn. (Reuters) - The widow of a late Navy SEAL accused of defaming former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura testified on Wednesday in a federal trial that her husband was a humble man who planned to give away proceeds from a best-selling book. At the heart of the trial is whether Ventura and Chris Kyle, who was killed in 2013 at a Texas shooting range by a troubled Iraq war veteran, got into an altercation after a chance encounter at a California bar in October 2006. When asked Wednesday by Ventura's attorney whether Kyle's story about the confrontation was true, Kyle's widow, Taya Kyle, replied: "My husband doesn't lie." They also planned to give away the proceeds from Kyle's best-selling 2012 book, "American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History," she said. "We are trying to find the right places and not just throw it away," Taya Kyle said, adding that her husband did not display the medals he received and kept the descriptions of his deeds tucked in a notebook.

Sniper author had no fear of Ventura lawsuit Posted: 09 Jul 2014 10:42 AM PDT ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — "American Sniper" author Chris Kyle said before he died that he had no fear of a defamation lawsuit by former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura.

Dutch special forces in Mali tackle changing threat: minister Posted: 09 Jul 2014 10:00 AM PDT By David Lewis DAKAR (Reuters) - Dutch troops have joined a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali to meet a growing security threat from the region to the Netherlands, and Europe as a whole that "softer" approaches can no longer contain, the Dutch foreign minister said. The Netherlands has deployed some 450 Special Forces troops, intelligence operatives and attack helicopters to a U.N. force rolling out across northern Mali, where al Qaeda-linked Islamists occupied swathes of the country before being driven back last year by French troops.

Widow: No intent to profit from 'American Sniper' Posted: 09 Jul 2014 09:45 AM PDT ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The widow of "American Sniper" author Chris Kyle, facing a defamation lawsuit from former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura over an anecdote in the book, testified Wednesday that the couple never intended to profit from it.

VA's Newest Scandal: Whistleblower Retaliation Posted: 09 Jul 2014 09:12 AM PDT The Veterans Affairs scandal is taking a new turn as a special counsel is receiving a growing number of complaints from employees that the agency retaliated against them for attempting to expose problems. Carolyn Lerner, special counsel with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, told...

Diplomats: Staffan de Mistura is new Syria envoy Posted: 09 Jul 2014 09:03 AM PDT UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Veteran Italian-Swedish diplomat Staffan de Mistura has been chosen by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to replace Lakhdar Brahimi as the international point man on Syria, U.N. diplomats said Wednesday.

50 bodies found in Iraq, raising sectarian worries Posted: 09 Jul 2014 08:31 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials discovered 50 bodies, many of them blindfolded and with their hands bound, in an agricultural area outside a city south of Baghdad on Wednesday, raising concerns over a possible sectarian killing amid the battle against a Sunni insurgency.

Iraqi Christians' flee violence, fear end of long history Posted: 09 Jul 2014 07:21 AM PDT By Robin Emmott BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The violence in Iraq is hastening the end of nearly 2,000 years of Christianity there as the few remaining faithful flee Islamic State militants, archbishops from Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk said on Wednesday. War and sectarian conflict have shrunk Iraq's Christian population to about 400,000 from 1.5 million before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, and now even those who stayed are leaving for Turkey, Lebanon and western Europe, the prelates said on a visit to Brussels seeking European Union help to protect their flocks. The three - Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako, Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Mosul Yohanna Petros Mouche and Kirkuk's Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Youssif Mirkis - are all Eastern Catholics whose churches have their own traditional liturgy but are loyal to the pope in Rome. If the situation does not change, Christians will be left with just a symbolic presence in Iraq," said Sako, who is based in Baghdad.

VA apologizes to whistleblowers facing retaliation Posted: 09 Jul 2014 07:20 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — A top official at the Veterans Affairs Department says he is sorry that VA employees have suffered retaliation after making complaints about poor patient care, long wait times and other problems.

Turkey's Kurds prefer peace prospects at home to perilous statehood in Iraq Posted: 09 Jul 2014 06:59 AM PDT By Ayla Jean Yackley ISTANBUL (Reuters) - What has long been a dream for the Middle East's Kurds, an independent state, is within reach in Iraq, but Turkey's Kurds, wearied by a 30-year conflict with Ankara, see a brighter future at home, where negotiations could deliver the rights they have fought for. At Istanbul's Kurdish Institute, where 400 students are learning Kurdish, they are riveted by events across the border in Iraqi Kurdistan, which appears to be hurtling toward independence as state forces retreat and Sunni militants, led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), an al Qaeda offshoot, seize parts of northern Iraq. Events are not, for now at least, stirring separatist sentiment in Turkey, where many Kurds prefer to put their faith in greater autonomy within the established borders of a booming economy than in the vagaries of a new nation state surrounded by hostile neighbors.

Don't Pay Any Mind to Financial News Gurus Posted: 09 Jul 2014 06:22 AM PDT It has long been my view that much of what passes for "financial news" is little more than an infomercial for the securities industry. It also serves to feed the egos of self-confident pundits, who feed viewers a daily grist of musings that often include predictions about the direction of the markets, the possibility of inflation and whether interest rates are likely to rise or fall. Art Cashin is a frequent contributor to CNBC. He recently observed that "caution is in the air." This came less than a month after his insight that the Standard & Poor's 500 index could "taste 1,950 points." When Cashin is not personalizing the collective mood of millions of investors all over the world, a formidable task you may think would be a full-time job, he works as director of floor operations at the New York Stock Exchange for UBS.

How the Prices At Alibaba's First U.S. Shopping Site Compare to Amazon Posted: 09 Jul 2014 05:42 AM PDT When news of Alibaba's IPO became public, speculation began that they would look to end Amazon's e-commerce domination in the United States. Now that 11 Main, Alibaba's first U.S. e-commerce site, has fully launched, The Wire investigated to see exactly how the two compare.

Oil down closer to $103 on boost in Libya supplies Posted: 09 Jul 2014 05:26 AM PDT Oil prices inched down toward $103 a barrel Wednesday as supply concerns dissipated and investors awaited the release of figures on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined fuels that will be a key indicator of demand.

Shale boom confounds forecasts as U.S. set to pass Russia, Saudi Arabia Posted: 09 Jul 2014 05:15 AM PDT By Catherine Ngai NEW YORK (Reuters) - Four years into the shale revolution, the U.S. is on track to pass Russia and Saudi Arabia as the world's largest producer of crude oil, most analysts agree. When that happens and by how much, though, has produced disparate estimates that depend on uncertain factors ranging from progress in drilling technology to the availability of financing and the price of oil itself. Forecasts for U.S. shale oil production vary from an increase of 7.5 million barrels per day by 2020 – almost doubling current domestic output of 8.5 bpd -- to a gain of 1.5 million bpd, or less than half of what Iraq now produces. In 2012, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimated that production from eight selected shale oil fields would range from 700,000 bpd of so-called tight oil to 2.8 million bpd by 2035.

Iraq PM says Kurdish Arbil becoming a base for 'Islamic State' militants Posted: 09 Jul 2014 05:14 AM PDT Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Wednesday the Kurdish-controlled city of Arbil was becoming an operations base for the Islamic State militant group that seized swathes of northern and western Iraq last month. Maliki is under pressure as Sunni Muslim militants, led by the al Qaeda offshoot Islamic State, hold large parts of the north and west of the country and have threatened to march on the capital. "We will never be silent about Arbil becoming a base for the operations of the Islamic State and Baathists and Al Qaeda and the terrorists," Maliki said in his weekly televised address.

Geese caused deadly US military chopper crash in Britain Posted: 09 Jul 2014 04:56 AM PDT A flock of geese caused the deaths of four US airmen whose military helicopter crashed over a nature reserve in eastern England, investigators said Wednesday. The US Air Force HH-60 Pave Hawk, based at Lakenheath airbase, came down in Norfolk on January 7 while on a training mission. As the helicopters approached, a flock of geese flew off from the reserve in Cley-next-the-Sea, probably startled by the noise, the military investigators' report said. At least three birds crashed through the windscreen into the cockpit, knocking the pilot, co-pilot and aerial gunner unconscious, said a statement from the Accident Investigation Board, issued by US Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa.

Iraqi officials: 50 bodies found south of Baghdad Posted: 09 Jul 2014 04:48 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials discovered 50 bodies, many of them blindfolded and with their hands bound, in an agricultural area outside a city south of Baghdad on Wednesday, raising concerns over a possible sectarian killing amid the battle against a Sunni insurgency.

Investigation blames birds for US helicopter crash Posted: 09 Jul 2014 04:37 AM PDT LONDON (AP) — Geese penetrated the windscreen of an HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter during evening training mission in January, disabling the pilot and co-pilot and leading to the crash that killed four U.S. Air Force crewmembers, a military investigation revealed Wednesday.

Singapore says citizens participate in Syria conflict Posted: 09 Jul 2014 04:21 AM PDT A handful of Singaporean citizens have gone to Syria to participate in the conflict there, raising concern about a terrorist threat in the city-state, a senior government official was quoted by a state-owned TV network as saying. As Sunni Islamist rebels surge into Iraq from Syria, security officials in Southeast Asia and Australia worry that the conflict is radicalizing a new generation of militants, who are being influenced to an unprecedented degree by social media. Teo Chee Hean, Singapore's deputy prime minister and home affairs minister, told parliament on Wednesday that Haja Fakkurudeen Usman Ali, a naturalized Singaporean citizen, had taken his wife and three children to Syria, Channel NewsAsia reported. "The presence of former foreign fighters in our region - whether they originate from Southeast Asia or elsewhere - is a security threat to us," Teo said.

Syrian opposition bloc elects new president Posted: 09 Jul 2014 04:21 AM PDT BEIRUT (AP) — Members of Syria's main Western-backed opposition bloc on Wednesday elected a new president, the Syrian National Coalition said in a statement.

Oil prices trade mixed ahead of US inventories data Posted: 09 Jul 2014 04:16 AM PDT Global oil prices diverged on Wednesday as dealers await US stockpiles report for the latest reading on energy demand in the world's top crude consuming nation. Brent North Sea for delivery in August fell 11 cents to stand at $108.83 a barrel in London late morning trade. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for August rose 15 cents to $103.47 a barrel compared with Tuesday's close. The US government's Department of Energy (DoE) will later publish its crude reserves data for the week ending July 4.

World Cup entangled with Mideast conflicts Posted: 09 Jul 2014 04:06 AM PDT 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 ...

Iraqi security forces find 53 blindfolded bodies south of Baghdad Posted: 09 Jul 2014 03:42 AM PDT Iraqi security forces found 53 corpses, blindfolded and handcuffed, in a town south of Baghdad early on Wednesday, local officials said. Sunni Islamist fighters seized control of large parts of northern and western Iraq last month, sweeping toward Baghdad in the most serious challenge to the Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki since the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 2011. Sunni militants have been carrying out attacks around the southern rim of Baghdad since the spring. In response, Shi'ite militias have been active in the rural districts of Baghdad, abducting Sunnis they suspected of terrorism, many of whom later turn up dead.

How Putin outmaneuvered the US in resupplying the Iraqi military Posted: 09 Jul 2014 02:19 AM PDT The retreat of U.S. contractor and embassy personnel, and failure to follow through in a timely fashion on U.S. promises of military equipment for Iraq, is feeding a widespread narrative of declining American influence and commitment to the Middle East.

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