Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• APNewsBreak: Tentative deal reached on VA reform
• Tanker with Iraqi Kurdish crude cleared to unload cargo off Texas
• Islamic militants destroy historic mosque in Mosul
• 'Please stop!', Pope Francis makes plea for peace
• Pope urges peace in Middle East, Ukraine for children's sake
• Jihadists make fresh Syria advance: NGO
• Sorry, Hillary: The Russian ‘Reset’ Never Worked
• Syria retakes Homs gas field from hardline group
• Pope: World War I should teach us: No more war
• Shiite militia display jihadist bodies in Iraq city
• Why Israel, Under Siege from All Sides, Stands Firm
• Iraq's Mosul counts the cost of insurgent rule
• A nation in peril - Iraq's struggle to hold together
• Destroy Hamas? Something worse would follow: Pentagon intel chief

APNewsBreak: Tentative deal reached on VA reform Posted: 27 Jul 2014 04:32 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairmen of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees have reached a tentative agreement on a plan to fix a veterans' health program scandalized by long patient wait times and falsified records covering up delays.

Tanker with Iraqi Kurdish crude cleared to unload cargo off Texas Posted: 27 Jul 2014 04:27 PM PDT By Erwin Seba and Terry Wade HOUSTON (Reuters) - A tanker carrying crude oil from Iraqi Kurdistan was cleared by the U.S. Coast Guard to unload its cargo at sea off Texas on Sunday as a State Department official signaled Washington would not intervene to block delivery of the controversial crude. Coast Guard officials went aboard the tanker United Kalavrvta on Sunday and verified the ship and crew's ability to safely offload the oil, a Coast Guard spokesman said. The ship set sail from the Turkish port of Ceyhan in June with a load of crude oil supplied by a new pipeline from the Kurdish oilfields.

Islamic militants destroy historic mosque in Mosul Posted: 27 Jul 2014 03:52 PM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Militants from the Islamic State group blew up a mosque and shrine dating back to the 14th century in Mosul on Sunday, local residents said, the latest casualty in a week that has seen a half dozen of the Iraqi city's most revered holy places destroyed.

'Please stop!', Pope Francis makes plea for peace Posted: 27 Jul 2014 08:53 AM PDT Pope Francis made an emotional plea for peace on Sunday in an impromptu addition to comments delivered at his weekly Angelus address in Saint Peter's Square. As the Argentinian-born pontiff wrapped up his regular address to the faithful, he spoke of the upcoming centenary of the outbreak of World War One and said his thoughts were on the Middle East, Iraq and Ukraine in particular.

Pope urges peace in Middle East, Ukraine for children's sake Posted: 27 Jul 2014 08:08 AM PDT Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis called Sunday on warring parties in the Middle East, Iraq and Ukraine to put an end to violence which is wounding and killing countless children.

Jihadists make fresh Syria advance: NGO Posted: 27 Jul 2014 07:19 AM PDT Islamic State jihadists, building on vast land grabs in Iraq, have seized an army position in the Syrian city of Hasakeh, a monitoring group said Sunday. On another front in Syria's complex civil war, rebels seeking President Bashar al-Assad's ouster captured a weapons depot in Hama province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. In Hasakeh in the northeast, "IS jihadists took over the army's Regiment 121 (base) at Maylabiyeh" after a three-day battle, said the Britain-based Observatory. On Twitter, supporters of IS, which first emerged in Syria's war in spring 2013, celebrated the army position's "liberation" at the hands of the jihadists.

Sorry, Hillary: The Russian ‘Reset’ Never Worked Posted: 27 Jul 2014 07:15 AM PDT In the netherworld of America's political subconscious, John F. Kennedy had nothing to do with starting the Vietnam War; So in advance of Hillary Clinton's formal campaign for president, let us put this one to bed right now: The Obama administration's Russia reset never worked. It's important to remember this, because Hillary's campaign has to rest (at least partially) on the myth of her success with the State Department, which itself has to rest (more than partially) on the myth of her success with Russia. The Russia reset was the highest-profile element of her time running American diplomacy, and thus is central to her narrative.

Syria retakes Homs gas field from hardline group Posted: 27 Jul 2014 07:07 AM PDT Syrian army said on Sunday it recaptured a gas field east of the central city of Homs that was seized by hardline Islamic State fighters earlier this month. Syrian television showed footage of soldiers running and deploying in a vast desert area which it said was the Sha'ar gas field. The army said in a statement it retook the field after a "precise operation in which dozens of terrorists were killed." However, a source from the Islamic State said the fighters pulled out after destroying the field's equipment and capturing at least 15 tanks and dozens of rockets which were used to guard the field. "There is no point in staying there and become an easy target for the regime and its warplanes." Islamic State, previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant, has advanced in Syria and taken over swaths of territory in neighboring Iraq in what it has described as a bid to establish an Islamic caliphate.

Pope: World War I should teach us: No more war Posted: 27 Jul 2014 03:54 AM PDT VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is marking the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I with an impassioned plea for people to "not repeat the mistakes of the past," urging them to embrace dialogue to overcome conflicts.

Shiite militia display jihadist bodies in Iraq city Posted: 27 Jul 2014 03:47 AM PDT Shiite militiamen in Iraq's city of Baquba dragged the bodies of Islamic State jihadist fighters through the streets Sunday and hung them from a bridge and a utility pole. An AFP correspondent saw two bodies displayed in the centre of Baquba, a Shiite-dominated city barely 60 kilometres (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, but security officials counted at least four.

Why Israel, Under Siege from All Sides, Stands Firm Posted: 27 Jul 2014 03:00 AM PDT Hamas, the terrorist organization engaged in a quickly evolving war with Israel, fired rockets toward Tel Aviv this weekend – rejecting the U.N.-requested extension of the 12-hour humanitarian ceasefire. In doing so, the group has restarted the age-old conflict after Israel had briefly paused the battle while giving credence to Israeli arguments about why it continues to fight. The short-lived peace allowed Palestinians to assess the damage done by the Israeli Defense Force during the 19-day conflict. Israel, meanwhile, which has suffered 43 casualties – of which 40 were soldiers – pledged Friday that it would not continue the fight unless provoked by Hamas.

Iraq's Mosul counts the cost of insurgent rule Posted: 27 Jul 2014 02:21 AM PDT When Islamic State fighters first seized Iraq's city of Mosul, life improved for many residents. The bomb attacks, shootings and kidnappings that kept many residents of Iraq's second city in a constant state of fear all but stopped when IS took control six weeks ago. The many streets closed off by Iraq's Shiite-dominated security forces, despised by many in the mainly Sunni city, were reopened. Now I can get to my shop in 10 minutes," said Mohammed Azhar, 32.

A nation in peril - Iraq's struggle to hold together Posted: 27 Jul 2014 02:12 AM PDT By Dominic Evans BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Salman Khaled has already lived through Baghdad's sectarian disintegration; "Things are really tense and it could get worse," said the 23-year-old Sunni Muslim student. "If the politicians continue as they are doing now, we are on the path to separation." When Khaled's father was shot dead by Shi'ite gunmen at the height of Baghdad's religious bloodshed seven years ago, his family took shelter in a Sunni neighborhood of the capital. Today the family lives in the Adhamiya district, close to the Abu Hanifa mosque where one of Sunni Islam's most influential theologians is buried.

Destroy Hamas? Something worse would follow: Pentagon intel chief Posted: 26 Jul 2014 07:37 PM PDT A top Pentagon intelligence official warned on Saturday that the destruction of Hamas would only lead to something more dangerous taking its place, as he offered a grim portrait of a period of enduring regional conflict. The remarks by Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, the outgoing head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, came as Israeli ministers signaled that a comprehensive deal to end the 20-day-old conflict in the Gaza Strip appeared remote. At least 1,050 Gazans - mostly civilians - have been killed, and 42 Israeli soldiers and three civilians in Israel have died. Flynn disparaged Hamas for exhausting finite resources and know-how to build tunnels that have helped them inflict record casualties on Israelis.

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