Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Obama approval rating slumping even in bluest of the blue California
• MULTICULTURALISM IS LOSING FAVOR IN EUROPE
• NATO coalition in Afghanistan shrinking
• Paul Ryan blames Obama in rise of Islamic State
• Video purports to show beheading of U.S. journalist
• Obama to Europe: NATO to oppose Russian aggression
• Islamic State issues video of beheading of U.S. hostage: SITE
• 'Islamic State' extremists murder second US reporter
• US war reporter Sotloff remembered as brave and fun
• Boko Haram attacks prompt concern for Nigeria's northeast
• Steven Sotloff beheading creates more troubles for Obama
• Congress pressures Obama on IS after 2nd beheading claim
• Obama heads into European maelstrom
• Egypt urges unity against jihadist 'barbarism'
• Islamic State beheads second US reporter
• Sotloff murder sparks outrage and condemnation, but should it drive policy?
• Executed Journalist Steven Sotloff Noted for His Heartfelt War Reporting
• US strike targets leader of Somali extremist group
• Taiwanese movie on young soldiers to open Asia's top film fest
• Relatives of missing Iraq soldiers storm parliament
• Christie to Mexico on trade mission, 2016 politics
• French mum reunited with daughter taken by alleged jihadi husband
• $3.3 Billion—A Drop in the Pentagon’s Afghan Waste Bucket
• The risk of European jihadis coming home: How do you calculate it?
• A look at dangers posed by the Islamic State group
• CAIR Condemns Killing of Journalist Steven Sotloff by 'Anti-Islamic' Terror Group ISIS
• Russia's gains cloud Obama's assurances to Baltics
• African leaders seek fund to fight militant groups
• What we know about Steven Sotloff, the second American purportedly beheaded by ISIL
• ISIL Has Reportedly Beheaded Journalist Steven Sotloff
• Welsh golf resort locked down for NATO summit
• Saudi Arabia says it arrests 88 for preparing 'terrorist' raids
• Saudi arrests 88 suspects in alleged al-Qaida cell
• Scores killed as Boko Haram insurgents overrun Nigerian town: sources
• Report accuses Islamic State group of war crimes
• Relatives of captured Iraqi soldiers storm parliament: witnesses
• Attack on Egypt security convoy kills 11 in Sinai: security sources
• Saudi arrests 88 in 'anti-terrorism' drive
• Five Best Tuesday Columns

Obama approval rating slumping even in bluest of the blue California Posted: 02 Sep 2014 04:06 PM PDT In a development many say harbingers ill for US Democrats everywhere in the midterm elections, President Obama's approval ratings have fallen to a record low in California. A statewide Field Poll, released Tuesday, found that nearly as many Californians disapprove of the president's job performance (43 percent) as approve (45 percent). "This reading is the poorest appraisal of the job performance that Obama has received of his presidency and is in sharp contrast to the 62 percent favorable perception that California voters had of him at the beginning of his second term," say pollsters Mark DiCamillo and Mervin Field. "Most of the recent decline in the president's approval ratings has occurred among subgroups of voters who had been among Obama's strongest supporters in prior polls," they add.

MULTICULTURALISM IS LOSING FAVOR IN EUROPE Posted: 02 Sep 2014 04:05 PM PDT A great deal of attention has rightly been concentrated on British Prime Minister David Cameron's strong language last weekend on how to deal with British jihadi, whether en route home or actively engaged in fighting with the Islamic State in Syria or Iraq. His comments included such good ideas as establishing stronger checkpoints at airports and taking away the militants' British passports, leaving them in the same league as the character in that old story of "The Man Without a Country." The really disturbing story of a threat from the Islamic State has been brewing for some years -- in the attempts by the Islamic community to Islamize British schools and to transform the British cultural world to one in which they dominate. An internal investigation into a number of British schools, particularly in Birmingham but not only there, has uncovered evidence of practices that have been haunting the halls of learning in English cities for the last two years.

NATO coalition in Afghanistan shrinking Posted: 02 Sep 2014 03:46 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Alongside the exodus of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, soldiers who hail from countries like Singapore and Slovenia, Mongolia and Malaysia have been packing up too, leaving behind an ever-shrinking NATO coalition.

Paul Ryan blames Obama in rise of Islamic State Posted: 02 Sep 2014 03:44 PM PDT MILWAUKEE (AP) — U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan blamed the Obama administration Tuesday for contributing to the circumstances that led to the swift ascent of the Islamic State, a militant group that purportedly beheaded a second American journalist in two weeks.

Video purports to show beheading of U.S. journalist Posted: 02 Sep 2014 03:37 PM PDT An Internet video purports to show the beheading of U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff by the Islamic State group.

Obama to Europe: NATO to oppose Russian aggression Posted: 02 Sep 2014 03:33 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Confronted by a Kremlin-backed military offensive in Ukraine, President Barack Obama and Western allies will approve plans this week to position at least 4,000 troops and military equipment in Eastern Europe, bolstering NATO's security commitments to nervous member states near the Russian border.

Islamic State issues video of beheading of U.S. hostage: SITE Posted: 02 Sep 2014 03:31 PM PDT By William Maclean DUBAI (Reuters) - The Islamic State militant group released a video on Tuesday purporting to show the beheading of a second American hostage, journalist Steven Sotloff, raising the stakes in its confrontation with Washington over U.S. A masked figure in the video seen by Reuters also issued a threat against a British hostage, a man the group named as David Haines, and warned governments to back off "this evil alliance of America against the Islamic State".

'Islamic State' extremists murder second US reporter Posted: 02 Sep 2014 03:31 PM PDT The so-called "Islamic State" has murdered a second American reporter, releasing another video Tuesday showing a masked militant with a British accent cutting the throat of a US captive. In the latest footage, the 31-year-old reporter Steven Sotloff calmly addresses the camera to say he is a victim of President Barack Obama's decision to press on with air strikes against the jihadists. "I'm back, Obama, and I'm back because of your arrogant foreign policy towards the Islamic State," the black-clad jihadist says, wielding a combat knife and speaking in a London accent. This was a reference to a video issued last month in which US journalist James Foley was murdered, again by a suspected British foreign fighter, and in almost identical fashion.

US war reporter Sotloff remembered as brave and fun Posted: 02 Sep 2014 03:29 PM PDT Steven Sotloff, the second US journalist murdered by Islamic State militants, was a respected reporter as well known for his irreverent humor as for his sensitive approach to Middle East conflicts. "He is a journalist who made a journey to cover the story of Muslims suffering at the hands of tyrants," Sotloff's mother, Shirley said in a last ditch appeal for mercy last week. In a video showing the beheading of fellow US journalist James Foley, militants had warned Sotloff would be next if President Barack Obama did not halt raids against the Islamic State in Iraq. On Tuesday, a video released by the same jihadist group showed the murder of 31-year-old Sotloff, just over a year after he had been taken captive while crossing the frontier from Turkey to Syria.

Boko Haram attacks prompt concern for Nigeria's northeast Posted: 02 Sep 2014 03:28 PM PDT Boko Haram militants have reportedly seized another town in Nigeria's far northeast after heavy fighting with government troops, with experts warning the region is on the brink of a "takeover". The claims were followed by an attack by the group on a nearby border crossing with Cameroon in which 40 Boko Haram members were said to have been killed. Nigeria's military denied that the northeastern town of Bama had fallen, but residents and a local lawmaker claimed the insurgents had driven out the troops and taken control of a military base. Some analysts have predicted that by seizing territory, Boko Haram is seeking to encircle the state capital, Maiduguri, 70 kilometres (45 miles) away, to make it the centre of a hardline Islamic state.

Steven Sotloff beheading creates more troubles for Obama Posted: 02 Sep 2014 02:47 PM PDT For the second time in two weeks, the Islamic State has released a video purporting to show the beheading of an American journalist, in this case freelance reporter Steven Sotloff. Regardless, the news presents more bad optics for President Obama, already beleaguered by crises in the Middle East and Ukraine. "The second beheading is a brutal act, and it's also a political act," says Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian at Princeton University. "And it's clearly meant to send a signal that Obama's not in control, that the airstrikes that have taken place are not really doing anything, and that [Islamic State] will continue to act aggressively and to kill."

Congress pressures Obama on IS after 2nd beheading claim Posted: 02 Sep 2014 02:26 PM PDT US lawmakers Tuesday called for Secretary of State John Kerry to present administration policy for "rolling back" the Islamic State's gains, after the rampaging group claimed it beheaded a second American. With members of the House and Senate warning that President Barack Obama has not done enough to combat the extremist group, House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Ed Royce said he was summoning Kerry to testify once Congress returns next week from its recess. The committee's top Democrat, Eliot Engel, said lawmakers were "horrified" by the apparent murder.

Obama heads into European maelstrom Posted: 02 Sep 2014 02:16 PM PDT US President Barack Obama on Tuesday flew directly into the worst East-West storm since the Cold War, heading first for Estonia, where he will warn Russia to keep its hands off former Soviet states now in NATO. With the crisis over Ukraine fast developing into a dangerous confrontation between the Western alliance and the Kremlin, Obama boarded Air Force One for the flight across the Atlantic on a trip which will also include a critical NATO summit in Wales. Another foreign policy saga stalking Obama -- the rise of the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq -- also took another turn for the worse Tuesday, with the apparent murder of US journalist Steven Sotloff depicted in a new video from the radical Sunni group.

Egypt urges unity against jihadist 'barbarism' Posted: 02 Sep 2014 01:58 PM PDT Egypt's foreign minister on Tuesday called for a "collective and international approach" against the "barbarism" of jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq. In an interview with AFP, Sameh Shoukri said: "What we need is a collective and international approach that takes into account all the different elements required to fight this phenomenon: political, military and social." Asked whether Egypt could envisage a possible military intervention against the extremists, the minister said Cairo was "ready to support the international community in terms of what might be decided on this subject" after a United Nations Security Council resolution. On Saturday, US Secretary of State John Kerry called for a global coalition to combat the Islamic State jihadist group and their "genocidal agenda".

Islamic State beheads second US reporter Posted: 02 Sep 2014 01:57 PM PDT The so-called "Islamic State" released a video on Tuesday showing a masked militant with a London accent apparently beheading an American journalist and threatening to kill a British captive. The footage, seen by AFP after it was found online by private terrorism monitor SITE, shows 31-year-old freelance reporter Steven Sotloff dressed in orange and on his knees in a desert landscape. The masked militant addresses US President Barack Obama, condemns air strikes against the Islamic State -- a Sunni jihadist group that operates in Iraq and Syria -- and cuts Sotloff's throat. "I'm back, Obama, and I'm back because of your arrogant foreign policy towards the Islamic State," the militant says, speaking in British English with a London accent.

Sotloff murder sparks outrage and condemnation, but should it drive policy? Posted: 02 Sep 2014 01:54 PM PDT In both cases, the video was designed to shock and frighten in service of the self-styled "Islamic State," a jihadi group based in Iraq and Syria. Mr. Foley's murder led to a surge in statements from the White House and Congress about the urgent need to confront the group, and Mr. Sotloff's killing will probably add fuel to US concern. Both stories have dominated television news the way few tales out of Syria ever do. Human Rights Watch reports that the group carried out a series of mass executions, mostly of captured Iraqi soldiers, at Saddam Hussein's old palace complex overlooking the Tigris.

Executed Journalist Steven Sotloff Noted for His Heartfelt War Reporting Posted: 02 Sep 2014 01:20 PM PDT Sotloff's Execution by ISIS Came One Week After His Mother Pleaded for Mercy

US strike targets leader of Somali extremist group Posted: 02 Sep 2014 01:04 PM PDT A U.S. airstrike in Somalia killed at least six members of the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, possibly including its leader who was in a car that was hit.

Taiwanese movie on young soldiers to open Asia's top film fest Posted: 02 Sep 2014 12:34 PM PDT A feature film portraying young Taiwanese soldiers at the height of cross-strait tension will open Asia's top movie festival next month, organisers said Tuesday, adding this year's event would feature more films from lesser-known Asian regions. "Paradise in Service" by acclaimed Taiwanese actor-director Niu Chen-Zer, also known as Doze Niu, is a fictional drama set on an island caught in the middle of a military standoff between China and Taiwan. The October 2-11 Busan International Film Festival in South Korea's port city of Busan will feature 314 movies from 79 countries, including 98 world premieres. The event features around 166 movies from Asia -- more than half of the total being shown.

Relatives of missing Iraq soldiers storm parliament Posted: 02 Sep 2014 12:13 PM PDT Angry relatives of missing Iraqi soldiers stormed the parliament building in Baghdad on Tuesday, attacked MPs and staged a sit-in for several hours in its main chamber, an official said. An emergency session of parliament, with relatives in attendance, will be held on Wednesday, Juburi's office said in a statement. Around 1,700 soldiers surrendered to the jihadist Islamic State (IS) group in June as its fighters seized second city Mosul and swept south towards Baghdad.

Christie to Mexico on trade mission, 2016 politics Posted: 02 Sep 2014 12:11 PM PDT NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is heading to Mexico on Wednesday, officially on a trade mission for his state. But the trip also serves as schooling for Christie, a potential 2016 presidential candidate with a lot of swagger but little foreign policy experience.

French mum reunited with daughter taken by alleged jihadi husband Posted: 02 Sep 2014 11:48 AM PDT A young French mother whose daughter had been smuggled by her father out of the country and possibly to Syria was reunited with the two-year-old in Turkey, a source close to the French interior minister said Tuesday. Meriam Rhaiem, 25, made headlines in March when she made an emotional appeal to French authorities to recognise her baby girl as "the youngest French hostage". Rhaiem, who lives in eastern France, had said she was certain her French husband, from whom she is divorcing, and who is wanted under an international arrest warrant, was in Syria where he was seeking to join jihadists. The father was arrested last weekend with their daughter Assia in Turkey, where he is still being held, the ministry source said, adding Rhaiem and her girl were due to fly back to France on Tuesday night on board a plane chartered by the interior ministry.

$3.3 Billion—A Drop in the Pentagon’s Afghan Waste Bucket Posted: 02 Sep 2014 11:45 AM PDT We've known from the start that a war in Afghanistan meant losing taxpayer money to corrupt officials.  Of course you can't blame the Afghans for everything.  In June, 2013, we learned that the Pentagon had no idea what 108,000 contractors were doing in Afghanistan. Add to these violations the additional insult of being slapped with $1 billion tax bill by the Afghan government in July of 2013 and you have a clear picture that the U.S. The Inspector General of the DOD has a new bone to pick with the Afghan government.

The risk of European jihadis coming home: How do you calculate it? Posted: 02 Sep 2014 11:37 AM PDT There are few anxieties in Europe's governments greater than the fear that European jihadis returning from the battlefields in Syria and Iraq could mastermind terrorist attacks at home. The new anti-terrorism proposals unveiled by British Prime Minister David Cameron Monday – which include police powers to strip suspected extremists temporarily of their passports – underscore this fact. Many analysts believe that leaders are over-exaggerating the risk – arguing that no 9/11-style attack for Europe is in-the-making. The most cited research out there comes from a study conducted by a Norwegian expert of extremism, Thomas Hegghammer, between 1990 and 2010.

A look at dangers posed by the Islamic State group Posted: 02 Sep 2014 11:35 AM PDT DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Islamic State militant group that has taken over large parts of Syria and Iraq and declared a self-styled caliphate poses one of the most significant threats to stability in the Middle East in years. But what danger does it immediately pose?

CAIR Condemns Killing of Journalist Steven Sotloff by 'Anti-Islamic' Terror Group ISIS Posted: 02 Sep 2014 11:26 AM PDT WASHINGTON, Sept. 2, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned the reported murder of American journalist Steven Sotloff by the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). In a statement, CAIR said: "No words can describe the horror, disgust and sorrow felt by Muslims in America and worldwide at the unconscionable and un-Islamic violence perpetrated by the terror group ISIS. In August, CAIR had condemned the killing by ISIS of journalist James Foley and had called for Sotloff's immediate release.

Russia's gains cloud Obama's assurances to Baltics Posted: 02 Sep 2014 11:13 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will travel to Russia's backyard for the second time this year to assure nervous nations of his ironclad commitment to their security. But his objectives will be clouded by the West's inability to halt the Russian aggression in Ukraine that has stoked fears in other former Soviet republics.

African leaders seek fund to fight militant groups Posted: 02 Sep 2014 10:58 AM PDT By Drazen Jorgic and Edith Honan NAIROBI (Reuters) - African leaders proposed on Tuesday creating a special fund to combat Islamist militant groups growing in strength from Kenya to Nigeria. African Union (AU) states announced the idea after Nairobi talks on a problem highlighted on Tuesday by capture of a town in north-eastern Nigeria by Boko Haram militants. A senior European Union official also told the summit that Islamic State's gains in Iraq and Syria, where it controls vast swathes of territory, could help set off a competition between it and al Qaeda to become the leading Islamist militant group in Africa.

What we know about Steven Sotloff, the second American purportedly beheaded by ISIL Posted: 02 Sep 2014 10:30 AM PDT Steven Sotloff, the other American journalist who was seen in a video that showed the beheading of James Foley by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, has been executed, a new video released by the militant group purports to show.

ISIL Has Reportedly Beheaded Journalist Steven Sotloff Posted: 02 Sep 2014 10:17 AM PDT ISIL has released a second video allegedly showing the beheading of journalist Steven Sotloff, according to SITE Intelligence Group. Breaking: ISIS has released a 2:46 minute video said to show the beheading of Steven Sotloff, according to SITE Intelligence Group. — New York Times World (@nytimesworld) September 2, 2014 David Cawthorne Haines in the video. The new video allegedly also threatens David Cawthorne Haines, a British hostage. The Wire spoke with Joe Cleffie of SITE to gather more information about the video, which the group found on "one of the jihadi forums."

Welsh golf resort locked down for NATO summit Posted: 02 Sep 2014 10:15 AM PDT A huge security operation involving 9,000 British police officers will secure a luxury Welsh golf resort hosting a NATO summit later this week, officials said Tuesday. Officers deployed across the golf course at the Celtic Manor Resort, in Newport, and along a 13-kilometre (eight-mile) steel fence around the site in anticipation of the arrival of 67 world leaders for crisis talks on Russia's role in the war in Ukraine. US President Barack Obama is attending the meeting of the military alliance and security is tight, not least because Britain last week raised its terrorism threat level. Overall, about 20 kilometres of security fencing has been erected around key venues in Newport and Cardiff, patrolled by squads of police on motorbikes as well as helicopters flying overhead.

Saudi Arabia says it arrests 88 for preparing 'terrorist' raids Posted: 02 Sep 2014 09:58 AM PDT By Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has detained 88 people, more than half of them Saudis, on suspicion of plotting "terrorist" attacks at home and abroad, the interior ministry said on Tuesday. A ministry statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency said the ministry had been following a number of suspects in view of what it called the spread of "strife and sick ideas" that lured members of the community to "places of strife". Some of the suspects had links to the Islamic State group operating in Syria and Iraq, to the Nusra Front group in Syria or to the al Qaeda branch in Yemen, Ministry spokesman Major General Mansour Turki told Reuters after a news conference. "They showed their support to the organizations in Syria and Iraq and also in Yemen, and they wanted to get involved in their activities.

Saudi arrests 88 suspects in alleged al-Qaida cell Posted: 02 Sep 2014 09:35 AM PDT RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — A top Saudi security official said Tuesday that police had arrested 88 men suspected of being part of an al-Qaida cell that was plotting attacks inside and outside of the kingdom.

Scores killed as Boko Haram insurgents overrun Nigerian town: sources Posted: 02 Sep 2014 09:27 AM PDT By Lanre Ola MAIDUGURI Nigeria (Reuters) - Islamist Boko Haram insurgents overran most of a northeastern Nigerian town on Tuesday after hours of fighting that killed scores and displaced thousands of residents, security sources said. The Islamists launched an attack on the town of Bama, 70 km (45 miles) from the Borno state capital of Maiduguri, on Monday. In a bungled air strike, several Nigerian troops were killed at the Bama armory by a war plane targeting the insurgents, a soldier on the ground told Reuters. Two months after Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria declared the area they seized an Islamic caliphate, Boko Haram has also for the first time explicitly laid claim to territory it says it controls in parts of northeast Nigeria.

Report accuses Islamic State group of war crimes Posted: 02 Sep 2014 09:05 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — An international rights group accused the extremist Islamic State group on Tuesday of systematic "ethnic cleansing" in northern Iraq targeting indigenous religious minorities, as well as conducting mass killings of men and abducting women.

Relatives of captured Iraqi soldiers storm parliament: witnesses Posted: 02 Sep 2014 09:03 AM PDT More than 100 relatives of Iraqi soldiers captured by Islamic State fighters broke into parliament armed with sticks, metal bars and stones on Tuesday to demand news of them, witnesses said. The crowd, mostly from Iraq's Shi'ite majority, smashed equipment, assaulted at least two staff members they mistook for lawmakers and refused to leave the building, said officials inside. A special forces unit came to remove them from the parliament," the employee said. Islamic State captured the soldiers in June at the start of its lightening advance through northern and central Iraq, where it declared an Islamic Caliphate and threatened to march on Baghdad.

Attack on Egypt security convoy kills 11 in Sinai: security sources Posted: 02 Sep 2014 08:39 AM PDT By Michael Georgy CAIRO (Reuters) - An attack on a convoy killed 11 members of the Egyptian security forces in the Sinai Peninsula on Tuesday, security and medical sources said. Two were killed by a roadside bomb and the others were shot as they tried to flee, the security sources said. Security sources said earlier that the attack killed 10 soldiers. Militants in Sinai have stepped up attacks on policemen and soldiers since then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July 2013.

Saudi arrests 88 in 'anti-terrorism' drive Posted: 02 Sep 2014 08:25 AM PDT Saudi Arabia has arrested 88 suspected extremists, more than half of them ex-Qaeda detainees who had previously been released, the interior ministry announced on Tuesday. Saudi King Abdullah on Friday underscored the threat posed by jihadists unless there is "rapid" action. Fifty-nine of them were "previously arrested over their links to the deviant group," the name used by Saudi authorities. The authorities launched a massive crackdown on Al-Qaeda following a spate of deadly attacks in the kingdom from 2003-2006.

Five Best Tuesday Columns Posted: 02 Sep 2014 07:41 AM PDT The Nato summit this week in Wales represents a crucial opportunity for America's most important allies to start doing more to share the burden. A western-dominated world is therefore in danger of looking increasingly like an anachronism – and that is the proposition that, in their different ways, President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Isis and the Chinese military are testing." Vladimir Putin, its historic foe, has been allowed to engineer its humiliation." By talking loudly, but doing nothing, Putin's position only grows stronger among those who back him. "All intelligence out of Moscow says the same, that [Nato's] bombast merely emboldens Putin.

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