Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Iraqis welcome change of PM but challenges loom
• US stocks defy geopolitics to push higher
• U.S. aid to Iraq may speed up despite billions already spent
• Iraqi Sunnis say could join new government, fight Islamic State
• UN, EU move against IS in Iraq
• UN approves measure to combat al-Qaida fighters
• Islamic State 'massacres' 80 Yazidis in north Iraq: officials
• Clinton's break with Obama on Syria _ what's next
• Congressman's Push to Curb Police Militarization Gets Big Boost After Ferguson
• UN Council targets jihadists in Iraq, Syria
• U.N. Security Council blacklists Islamist militants in Iraq, Syria
• TSX steady as Ukraine weighs, energy shares rally
• Why global turmoil hasn't sunk US markets. Yet.
• The Evolution of Police Militarization in Ferguson and Beyond
• Iraq Yazidi's anguish over the children they left behind
• Celebs Who Served: Film and TV Stars Give Back to the Armed Forces
• Iraq's al-Maliki: Stern, unwavering, heavy-handed
• After crisis-filled start, Obama's vacation pace slows for a day
• Hezbollah sees Islamic State insurgents as threat to Gulf, Jordan
• U.S. lawmakers want to end transfers of military equipment to police
• Seeing Iraq horror, Europe pledges aid and arms
• Obama’s Mission Not-Accomplished, Insist Iraqi And U.N. Officials
• UN Council adopts resolution targeting Iraq Islamists
• EU gives European governments go-ahead to arm Iraqi Kurds
• Turkey calls for help with Syria refugees as tensions rise
• Challenge for US forces in Iraq: align military mission with the political
• Hollande, African leaders honour 'southern D-Day' veterans
• 32 killed in Syria's Daraa, Aleppo
• EU ministers agree on arming Iraq Kurds to end 'slaughter'
• Canada sending two cargo planes to help deliver weapons to Kurds
• EU ministers 'alarmed' by Russian troops in Ukraine
• France marks 70 years since Allies freed south
• Canada to bring arms to Kurds in Iraq
• Are the US, France, and UK lining up to support the 'terrorist' PKK in Iraq?
• Car bomb kills at least 22 in southern Syria
• Israel weighing how to deal with UN war probe
• ISIL could pose threat to US, Europe, officials say
• Top Saudi cleric calls for code of conduct to curb violence
• 'Healthy' market hit by Russia-Ukraine headlines: 'Know what you own,' Lindzon says

Iraqis welcome change of PM but challenges loom Posted: 15 Aug 2014 04:24 PM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Nouri al-Maliki's decision to step down as Iraq's prime minister raised hopes Friday for a new government that can roll back an increasingly powerful Sunni insurgency and prevent the country from splitting apart.

US stocks defy geopolitics to push higher Posted: 15 Aug 2014 04:06 PM PDT A flare-up in tensions in Ukraine on Friday threatened to derail the climb in US stock markets, but traders finally dismissed geopolitics to deliver another week of gains on Wall Street. The prospects of new US and European involvement in Iraq's domestic war, and Ukraine's claim that it destroyed Russian armored vehicles inside its territory late Thursday, failed to dampen buying.

U.S. aid to Iraq may speed up despite billions already spent Posted: 15 Aug 2014 03:26 PM PDT By Arshad Mohammed and Missy Ryan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States may accelerate U.S. economic and military aid to Iraq with the end of Nuri al-Maliki's eight-year reign but will first want proof that the country's new leaders have abandoned his sectarian ways. Maliki's surprise announcement that he would give way to Haider al-Abadi as Iraq's prime minister removes the man blamed by Washington for the revival of vicious sectarianism in Iraq and the advance of the Islamic State deep into Iraqi territory. U.S. officials said his departure, which may not occur until September, could open the door to greater military and economic assistance to a new Iraqi government if it adopts an inclusive agenda.

Iraqi Sunnis say could join new government, fight Islamic State Posted: 15 Aug 2014 03:19 PM PDT By Raheem Salman and Michael Georgy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Tribal leaders and clerics from Iraq's Sunni heartland offered their conditional backing on Friday for a new government that hopes to contain sectarian bloodshed and an offensive by Islamic State militants that threatens to tear the country apart. One of the most influential tribal leaders said he was willing to work with Shi'ite prime minister-designate Haider al-Abadi provided a new administration respected the rights of the Sunni Muslim minority that dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Ali Hatem Suleiman left open a possibility that Sunnis would take up arms against the Islamic State fighters in the same way as he and others joined U.S. and Shi'ite-led government forces to thwart an al Qaeda insurgency in Iraq between 2006 and 2009. Yet amid the signs that political accords were possible in the fractious nation, some 80 members of Iraq's Yazidi minority were "massacred" by Islamic State insurgents, a Yazidi lawmaker and two Kurdish officials said on Friday.

UN, EU move against IS in Iraq Posted: 15 Aug 2014 03:12 PM PDT Iraqis and foreign powers voiced relief Friday after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki agreed to step down, as the UN targeted Islamist militants and the EU backed the arming of their Kurdish rivals. As aid groups tried to cope with the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by Islamist advances in northern Iraq, ingredients of a fightback began falling into place. In New York, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution aimed at weakening Islamists in Iraq and Syria by cutting off funding and the flow of foreign fighters. On Maliki's decision to step down, US National Security Adviser Susan Rice said it was "another major step forward" in uniting Iraq, where so-called Islamic States jihadists have snapped up large swathes of land in a lightning and brutal offensive, raising the spectre of genocide.

UN approves measure to combat al-Qaida fighters Posted: 15 Aug 2014 03:00 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Responding to the growing terrorist threat in Iraq and Syria, the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions Friday on six men for recruiting or financing foreign fighters, and threatened additional sanctions against those supporting terrorist groups.

Islamic State 'massacres' 80 Yazidis in north Iraq: officials Posted: 15 Aug 2014 03:00 PM PDT Islamic State insurgents "massacred" some 80 members of Iraq's Yazidi minority in a village in the country's north, a Yazidi lawmaker and two Kurdish officials said on Friday. "They arrived in vehicles and they started their killing this afternoon," senior Kurdish official Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters. A push by Islamic State militants through northern Iraq to the border with the Kurdish region has alarmed the Baghdad government, drawn the first U.S. air strikes since the end of American occupation in 2001 and sent tens of thousands of Yazidis and Christians fleeing for their lives. Yazidi parliamentarian Mahama Khalil said he had spoken to villagers who had survived the attack.

Clinton's break with Obama on Syria _ what's next Posted: 15 Aug 2014 02:59 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton's split with President Barack Obama over a foreign policy "organizing principle" isn't likely to be the last time differences emerge between the two. How she handles those breaks could be among her biggest challenges to a successful run for president in 2016.

Congressman's Push to Curb Police Militarization Gets Big Boost After Ferguson Posted: 15 Aug 2014 02:56 PM PDT Rep. Hank Johnson didn't like the Pentagon's surplus military transfer program long before Ferguson, Missouri, turned into a war zone. The Georgia Democrat, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, for months had been shopping around legislation to boost accountability and limit the kind of military equipment that local police departments could acquire, for free, from the Department of Defense. Then 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed, and the police department in that small town northwest of St. Louis transformed itself into an army preparing for an invasion. Scenes of police officers in full body armor, carrying machine guns and lobbing canisters of tear gas into crowds of protesters filled television and computer screens.

UN Council targets jihadists in Iraq, Syria Posted: 15 Aug 2014 02:06 PM PDT The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Friday aimed at weakening Islamists in Iraq and Syria with measures to choke off funding and the flow of foreign fighters. It represents the most wide-ranging response yet by the top United Nations body to the jihadists who now control large swaths of territory in both countries and have been accused of atrocities. The British-drafted measure also placed six Islamist leaders -- from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other nations -- on the Al-Qaeda sanctions list, which provides for a travel ban and assets freeze. The six include senior Al-Qaeda leaders who have provided financing to the Al-Nusra Front in Syria and Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, the spokesman for the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), now renamed Islamic State (IS).

U.N. Security Council blacklists Islamist militants in Iraq, Syria Posted: 15 Aug 2014 02:01 PM PDT By Michelle Nichols and Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council took aim at Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria on Friday, blacklisting six people including the Islamic State spokesman and threatening sanctions against those who finance, recruit or supply weapons to the insurgents. The 15-member council unanimously adopted a resolution that aims to weaken the Islamic State - an al Qaeda splinter group that has seized swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria and declared a caliphate - and al Qaeda's Syrian wing, Nusra Front.

TSX steady as Ukraine weighs, energy shares rally Posted: 15 Aug 2014 01:54 PM PDT By John Tilak TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index was little changed on Friday as signs of an escalation of conflict in Ukraine weighed on sentiment, but a jump in the oil price helped drive up shares of energy producers. Oil prices rallied on uncertainty surrounding the Ukraine crisis as Russia is a major producer of oil and natural gas. Ukraine said its artillery destroyed part of a Russian armoured column that entered its territory overnight and said its forces came under shellfire from Russia. The Toronto market has been volatile in the past two weeks because of the flaring of tensions in Ukraine, Iraq and Israel.

Why global turmoil hasn't sunk US markets. Yet. Posted: 15 Aug 2014 01:42 PM PDT Europe appears on the brink of another recession. Islamic militants have seized Iraqi territory. Russian troops have massed on the Ukraine border, and the resulting sanctions are disrupting trade. An Ebola ...

The Evolution of Police Militarization in Ferguson and Beyond Posted: 15 Aug 2014 01:27 PM PDT At first, it only transferred excess personal property from the Defense Department to federal and state agencies for drug-related activities. Since 2006, the Pentagon has distributed 432 mine-resistant armored vehicles to local police departments. Spearheaded by the War on Drugs, and later, as The New Republic reported, the September 11 terrorist attacks, the 1033 program has made suburban towns like Ferguson look like war zones, and has prompted many to decry what's known as the "militarization" of policing. While there are obvious distinctions between the missions and capabilities of the police and the military, when a town like Ferguson looks like this...

Iraq Yazidi's anguish over the children they left behind Posted: 15 Aug 2014 01:24 PM PDT Al-Hasakah (Syria) (AFP) - Juno Khalaf brought most of his family to the relative safety of a Syrian refugee camp but he is wracked with anguish over the son and daughter who got separated in their escape from Iraq. A Yazidi, Khalaf joined his co-religionists in headlong flight when jihadists of the Islamic State group stormed their hometown of Sinjar nearly two weeks ago.

Celebs Who Served: Film and TV Stars Give Back to the Armed Forces Posted: 15 Aug 2014 01:11 PM PDT The passing of Robin Williams this week shocked the nation, and one of the communities that loved him most was the veteran community. The Good Morning, Vietnam star was one of the first celebrities to entertain the troops in Iraq, performing shows in Baghdad in 2003, and he would go on to perform on six more USO tours in more than a dozen countries, including Afghanistan. Williams joins a short list of celebrities whose commitment and support for the military did not end with a simple "thank you for your service." As with Bob Hope, Marilyn Monroe, and Gary Sinise, his entertainment of the troops spanned years and earned him their love and respect.  Many celebrities have taken the time to express their gratitude and support for the veteran community, and recently a slew of veterans who have become celebrities are giving back.

Iraq's al-Maliki: Stern, unwavering, heavy-handed Posted: 15 Aug 2014 01:08 PM PDT When a rocket struck in Baghdad's Green Zone in 2007 during a news conference by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the world's top diplomat ducked and looked unsettled. Al-Maliki, however, never flinched, and dismissed the attack as "nothing."

After crisis-filled start, Obama's vacation pace slows for a day Posted: 15 Aug 2014 01:04 PM PDT By Elizabeth Barber OAK BLUFFS Mass. (Reuters) - Nearly a week after arriving on the island of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, U.S. President Barack Obama appeared to take his first full day off since the start of his summer retreat. Since arriving on Saturday, Obama has had to mix his leisure time with work, making calls to leaders and speaking to the press while fitting in time to golf. Obama spent a bright, almost cloudless day biking and golfing on Oak Bluffs, a stretch of the island where swans swim on private ponds and rock walls undulate across tidy meadows. Just after noon, first lady Michelle Obama sped past reporters on a bike path in Manuel F. Correllus State Forest, a roughly 5,000-acre (2,000-hectare) reserve.

Hezbollah sees Islamic State insurgents as threat to Gulf, Jordan Posted: 15 Aug 2014 12:55 PM PDT By Tom Perry BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Hezbollah leader described the radical Islamist movement that has seized large areas of Iraq and Syria as a growing "monster" that could threaten Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Gulf states, according to an interview printed on Friday. In a separate speech, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Islamic State also posed an existential threat to his own nation, Lebanon, the target of an incursion by Islamist insurgents from Syria this month.

U.S. lawmakers want to end transfers of military equipment to police Posted: 15 Aug 2014 12:50 PM PDT By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers alarmed by the aggressive police response to protests in Ferguson, Missouri, are pushing for Congress to limit the Pentagon's ability to provide civilian police departments with military equipment such as armored vehicles designed for the battlefield. Georgia Democrat Hank Johnson wrote colleagues in the House of Representatives this week seeking support for legislation to curtail a program that passes surplus equipment from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to municipal U.S. police forces, free of charge. Because of the program "our local police are quickly beginning to resemble paramilitary forces," Johnson said.

Seeing Iraq horror, Europe pledges aid and arms Posted: 15 Aug 2014 12:35 PM PDT BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Friday forged a unified response to the rapid advance of Islamic militants in Iraq and the resulting refugee crisis, allowing direct arms deliveries to Kurdish fighters battling the Sunni insurgents. Several EU nations pledged more humanitarian aid.

Obama’s Mission Not-Accomplished, Insist Iraqi And U.N. Officials Posted: 15 Aug 2014 12:34 PM PDT Iraqi government and U.N. officials say thousands of Yazidi refugees are still dying on Mount Sinjar, even though President Barack Obama has declared his top-priority rescue mission to be successfully accomplished. He stays in contact with his family via cellphone.

UN Council adopts resolution targeting Iraq Islamists Posted: 15 Aug 2014 12:19 PM PDT United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Friday unanimously adopted a resolution aimed at weakening Islamists in Iraq and Syria by cutting off funding and the flow of foreign fighters.

EU gives European governments go-ahead to arm Iraqi Kurds Posted: 15 Aug 2014 11:56 AM PDT By Adrian Croft and Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union gave a green light on Friday to individual EU governments to supply arms and ammunition to Iraqi Kurds battling Islamist militants, provided they had the consent of authorities in Baghdad. EU foreign ministers holding an emergency meeting in Brussels on the Iraq and Ukraine crises welcomed the decision by several EU governments to send weapons in response to an appeal by Iraqi Kurdish President Masoud Barzani. The United States is already supplying weapons to Peshmerga fighters from Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, who are struggling to stem advances by militants from the Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot.

Turkey calls for help with Syria refugees as tensions rise Posted: 15 Aug 2014 11:34 AM PDT Turkey's relief agency said Friday it was time for the world to start "sharing the burden" of the 1.2 million Syrian refugees it is hosting, after tensions between Turks and refugees again turned violent. The latest clashes in the southeastern city of Gaziantep were sparked by the fatal stabbing earlier this week of a Turkish landlord, allegedly by his Syrian tenant, and led to a major exodus of refugees from the city. Hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees have fled their country's civil war to neighbouring Turkey in the last three years after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- now president-elect -- announced an open-door policy. Some 285,000 Syrian refugees are living in refugee camps, mostly in the southeast, according Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).

Challenge for US forces in Iraq: align military mission with the political Posted: 15 Aug 2014 11:32 AM PDT In part, that's because it turned out that there were "far fewer Yazidis" – the ethnic group that the US military had deployed to assess needs for their protection – "trapped on Mount Sinjar than previously feared," Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, explained to reporters Thursday. "Those who remain on Mount Sinjar are in better condition than we previously thought," he said, adding that the US military discovered that many Yazidis actually live on Mount Sinjar "and may not want to leave." As a result of these efforts and discoveries, President Obama said, "We do not expect there to be an additional operation to evacuate people off the mountain, and it's unlikely that we're going to need to continue humanitarian air drops on the mountain." So, then, does that mean that US military operations in Iraq will come to an end?

Hollande, African leaders honour 'southern D-Day' veterans Posted: 15 Aug 2014 11:30 AM PDT President Francois Hollande and 15 African leaders paid tribute Friday to the hundreds of thousands of troops who, 70 years ago, launched the southern invasion of occupied France that opened up a second western front against Hitler's Nazis. After a colourful military ceremony on the aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle under clear blue southern France skies, Hollande said Europe "should never forget that its salvation came from the south." Hollande was joined on the carrier by 15 leaders from France's former African colonies, in recognition of the key role soldiers from these countries played in liberating France, two months after D-Day smashed the first hole in Germany's defences.

32 killed in Syria's Daraa, Aleppo Posted: 15 Aug 2014 10:57 AM PDT At least 22 people were killed Friday when a car bomb exploded in front of a mosque in Daraa province of southern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. In northern Syria, the Observatory reported 10 people killed when regime helicopters dropped explosive-packed "barrel bombs" on Aleppo city. North of Aleppo city, the Observatory said jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) group extended their advances, seizing Baghaydin village near the border with Turkey. On Wednesday, IS fighters captured eight villages in the area between Aleppo and the border from rival rebel groups.

EU ministers agree on arming Iraq Kurds to end 'slaughter' Posted: 15 Aug 2014 10:46 AM PDT EU ministers agreed at an emergency meeting on Friday to back the arming of overwhelmed Iraqi Kurd fighters in the face of an onslaught by Islamic State jihadists.

Canada sending two cargo planes to help deliver weapons to Kurds Posted: 15 Aug 2014 10:44 AM PDT Canada is sending two military cargo planes to Iraq to help deliver weapons to Iraqi Kurds who are battling Islamic militants, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Friday. The United States has asked European countries to supply arms and ammunition to forces in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, according to U.S. and European officials. Harper said Canada was prepared to provide further assistance to the Kurdish fighters, who are struggling against better-armed militants from the Islamic State group. Two Canadian air force transport planes - a Hercules and a Globemaster - were on their way to Iraq along with a 30-strong military crew, he said in a statement.

EU ministers 'alarmed' by Russian troops in Ukraine Posted: 15 Aug 2014 10:37 AM PDT EU ministers urged Russia on Friday to put an "immediate stop" to all forms of hostilities near the Ukrainian border after reports that a Russian armoured convoy had entered conflict-torn eastern Ukraine. In a statement at the end of a meeting primarily on the crisis in Iraq, the ministers said Russia must "put an immediate stop to any form of border hostilities, in particular to the flow of arms, military advisers and armed personnel into the conflict region, and to withdraw its forces from the border." While arriving for talks focused mainly on the unfurling crisis in Iraq, ministers expressed deep concern at the reported Russian incursion and threatened a vigorous response if Moscow failed to reverse course. "I am very alarmed by the report," said British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond as Britain summoned Moscow's ambassador to London over the latest events.

France marks 70 years since Allies freed south Posted: 15 Aug 2014 10:31 AM PDT TOULON, France (AP) — France paid tribute Friday to Allied troops — including veterans from the United States and from French colonies in Africa — who landed 70 years ago on Mediterranean shores to liberate French land from Nazi occupation.

Canada to bring arms to Kurds in Iraq Posted: 15 Aug 2014 10:29 AM PDT OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Canada is committing two cargo planes to move military supplies into northern Iraq as part of the international effort to bolster Kurdish forces against Islamic militants.

Are the US, France, and UK lining up to support the 'terrorist' PKK in Iraq? Posted: 15 Aug 2014 10:21 AM PDT The PKK is a separatist group that has long fought the Turkish government in an effort to carve out an independent Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey. PKK members have long lived in a refugee camp in Makhmour, a town in Iraqi Kurdistan that earlier this month was the front line in a battle to prevent an IS advance on Erbil, the Iraqi Kurdish capital. France has promised to send weapons to Iraq's peshmerga and the UK is also moving to arm the Iraqi Kurds. Reporters in Iraqi Kurdistan have spotted PKK fighters working with the peshmerga near Makhmour, and elsewhere, in recent weeks, so it's likely that some of the foreign support will end up in their hands.

Car bomb kills at least 22 in southern Syria Posted: 15 Aug 2014 10:12 AM PDT BEIRUT (AP) — A car bomb exploded outside a mosque in an opposition-held town in southern Syria on Friday, killing at least 22 people, activists said.

Israel weighing how to deal with UN war probe Posted: 15 Aug 2014 09:33 AM PDT JERUSALEM (AP) — With the Gaza war seeming to have calmed, Israel is now preparing for its next big battle: a diplomatic and legal challenge over Palestinian civilian deaths in its campaign against Hamas militants.

ISIL could pose threat to US, Europe, officials say Posted: 15 Aug 2014 09:33 AM PDT U.S. counterterrorism officials have dramatically ramped up their warnings about the threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), concluding that the well-armed group is expanding its ambitions outside the Middle East and may be planning terror attacks against western Europe—and even the U.S. homeland.

Top Saudi cleric calls for code of conduct to curb violence Posted: 15 Aug 2014 08:47 AM PDT A top Saudi Muslim cleric called on Friday for a global code of conduct for leaders, scholars and young people to halt a further slide into violence and "terror" in the Middle East. The U.S.-allied kingdom has grown increasingly alarmed since militants from an offshoot of al Qaeda captured large areas of neighboring Iraq and Syria and declared an Islamic caliphate. At his Friday sermon in Mecca, the imam and preacher of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Sudais, decried "mass massacres against humanity" in Gaza, Syria and Iraq. He said "there was an urgent need to prepare a global code of conduct in which the leaders and scholars would deliver their messages and in which the youths would set their thoughts right and the path of the new media is set right," SPA added.

'Healthy' market hit by Russia-Ukraine headlines: 'Know what you own,' Lindzon says Posted: 15 Aug 2014 08:40 AM PDT StockTwits Chairman Howard Lindzon is generally upbeat about the market but is concerned that investors don't really understand what they own in all those ETFs.

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