Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• U.S. to send new troops to Iraq even before Congress OKs funds
• CIA chief weighs unprecedented shake-up of spy agency
• U.S. releases five Guantanamo detainees to Georgia, Slovakia
• Sentencing delayed for terror supporter in Florida
• Warren Clearly Favored Over Hillary by Liberal Dems
• Australia fears Islamist radicals joining forces with biker gangs
• Egypt acquits doctor in female genital mutilation
• Jim Webb first to announce US presidential bid
• Iraq, Turkey vow to work together against IS group
• ISIS Leader Who Tortured and Killed Yazidis is Dead
• Iraq: Ballet school speaks to city's resilience
• Kasparov likens Putin to Hitler, urges West to act
• Egypt's Sisi calls on West to support Libya to avoid new Syria, Iraq
• Jim Webb all but launches presidential bid. Does he have a chance?
• Senior Islamic State figure killed in Mosul: sources
• UK men planned to behead member of the public, terrorism trial hears
• France opens probe into IS propaganda video
• Inspiring Women Honored For Life-long Commitment To Service
• For many Iranians, nuclear talks aren't about the sanctions
• Colombia's rebel-held general a bookish strategist
• Hagel: Islamic State presents new challenge to US
• Rights court orders Dutch to pay over Iraq death
• UAE targets Islamist accounts in money-laundering clampdown
• Storytelling trumps smartphones in Ebola crisis, experts say
• Aid workers in conflict zones no longer immune, now targeted
• Phil Klay wins National Book Award for fiction
• Writers Phil Klay and Evan Osnos win top National Book Awards
• UN chief urges action to tackle violent extremism

U.S. to send new troops to Iraq even before Congress OKs funds Posted: 20 Nov 2014 04:56 PM PST By David Alexander and Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some of the 1,500 new U.S. troops authorized to advise and train Iraqi forces in their fight against Islamic State militants will deploy to the country in the next few weeks without waiting for Congress to fund the mission, the Pentagon said on Thursday. Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said leading elements of the U.S. force would begin moving to Iraq in the coming weeks, even if Congress has not yet acted on a $5. ...

CIA chief weighs unprecedented shake-up of spy agency Posted: 20 Nov 2014 03:44 PM PST CIA Director John Brennan is weighing a dramatic overhaul of the leading US spy agency that is likely to meet fierce opposition from veteran agents, current and former intelligence officials said Thursday. The reorganization would dismantle the long entrenched separation between spying and analysis divisions in the agency, possibly replacing them with units focused on geographic areas or specific threats, said ex-intelligence officials familiar with the review. In a September 24 message to employees of the Central Intelligence Agency, Brennan said it was time "we take a close and honest look at ourselves" and examine whether the spy service needed to be restructured. The shake-up being contemplated would be "by far the most sweeping change in the organization and culture of the CIA in its history," said Bruce Riedel, a former agency officer.

U.S. releases five Guantanamo detainees to Georgia, Slovakia Posted: 20 Nov 2014 03:25 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has released five detainees from its detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including the first Yemeni detainee to be resettled since 2010, officials said on Thursday. Three of the detainees were sent to the Republic of Georgia, the U.S. military said in a statement, while two were sent to Slovakia. The decision to release four Yemeni detainees and one Tunisian reduces the number of people held at Guantanamo to 143, part of a slow-moving effort by President Barack Obama's government to eventually close the facility. ...

Sentencing delayed for terror supporter in Florida Posted: 20 Nov 2014 01:52 PM PST MIAMI (AP) — A man seeking a more lenient prison sentence than federal prosecutors want for supporting overseas terrorism must first demonstrate he has renounced extremist views and show remorse, a federal judge said Thursday.

Warren Clearly Favored Over Hillary by Liberal Dems Posted: 20 Nov 2014 01:49 PM PST Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues to loom as the odds-on favorite to capture the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, but don't tell that to her party's liberal wing.    As the "Ready ...

Australia fears Islamist radicals joining forces with biker gangs Posted: 20 Nov 2014 01:38 PM PST By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia is confronting what authorities say is a growing threat from homegrown Islamist radicals and fears a new danger is about to rumble over the horizon - would-be militants hooking up with biker gangs. Islamism and organized crime are already mixing, said retired New South Wales Assistant Police Commissioner Clive Small, and the new gang members use radical Islam as a justification for joining. ...

Egypt acquits doctor in female genital mutilation Posted: 20 Nov 2014 11:29 AM PST CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court on Thursday acquitted a doctor charged with performing female genital mutilation that led to a 13-year-old girl's death in a Nile Delta village, the country's first trial on charges of breaking the ban on the practice.

Jim Webb first to announce US presidential bid Posted: 20 Nov 2014 11:24 AM PST The dust has barely settled on midterm elections, but ex-senator Jim Webb has become the first candidate in America's upcoming presidential race -- and an early potential challenger to fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton. "I have decided to launch an exploratory committee to examine whether I should run for president in 2016," Webb said in a YouTube video posted late Wednesday. Creating such a panel permits a person to start legally raising funds, and traditionally signals the first official step in a presidential campaign process. "The 2016 election is two years away but serious campaigning will begin very soon.

Iraq, Turkey vow to work together against IS group Posted: 20 Nov 2014 10:11 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's prime minister said on Thursday that his country and neighboring Turkey have agreed on closer security and intelligence cooperation in the face of the threat posed by the Islamic State group.

ISIS Leader Who Tortured and Killed Yazidis is Dead Posted: 20 Nov 2014 09:37 AM PST The terrorist behind the massacre of hundreds of Shiite prisoners who were executed by ISIS after the fall of Mosul in June is dead. The U.S.-led air campaign and the Iraqi government's war against ISIS ...

Iraq: Ballet school speaks to city's resilience Posted: 20 Nov 2014 09:31 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Ann Khalid did not feel well but she insisted on dancing a brief scene from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake with her classmates. The 12-year-old is determined to one day have a career dancing and teaching ballet, not an easy path in a country torn for years by conflict.

Kasparov likens Putin to Hitler, urges West to act Posted: 20 Nov 2014 09:12 AM PST WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Russian chess master and political activist Garry Kasparov compared President Vladimir Putin's "one-man dictatorship" to the rule of Adolf Hitler on Thursday, warning that if the West fails to stop him now the price to do so could rise.

Egypt's Sisi calls on West to support Libya to avoid new Syria, Iraq Posted: 20 Nov 2014 08:59 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged the United States and Europe on Thursday to help the Libyan army in its fight against Islamist militants now to save the country from requiring intervention on the scale of Iraq and Syria. Sisi said there was a danger to the region from conflict in Libya where two governments vie for legitimacy, one in Tripoli linked to Islamist militias, and an internationally-recognized government in the eastern city of Tobruk. ...

Jim Webb all but launches presidential bid. Does he have a chance? Posted: 20 Nov 2014 08:58 AM PST Former Secretary of the Navy and Virginia Sen. Jim Webb (D) made it official on Wednesday night: He's setting up a presidential campaign exploratory committee. That makes him the first potential candidate of either party to take this important procedural step.

Senior Islamic State figure killed in Mosul: sources Posted: 20 Nov 2014 08:54 AM PST BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Islamic State leader has been killed in an air strike in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, residents and a local medical source said on Thursday. Radwan Taleb al-Hamdouni, whom the sources described as the radical militant group's leader in Mosul, was killed with his driver when their car was hit in a western district of the city on Wednesday afternoon. The ultra-hardline Islamic State swept through northern Iraq in June almost unopposed by the Iraqi army, consolidating gains made in the country's Sunni heartland region of Anbar. Hamdouni was buried later on Wednesday. ...

UK men planned to behead member of the public, terrorism trial hears Posted: 20 Nov 2014 08:23 AM PST LONDON (Reuters) - Three men appeared in court on Thursday charged with terrorism offences relating to an alleged plot to carry out a beheading in Britain. The men were arrested in London and High Wycombe, west of the British capital, two weeks ago. Nadir Ali Sayed, 21, his cousin Yousaf Shah Syed, 19, and Haseeb Hamayoon, 27, were charged with preparing to commit acts of terrorism. Prosecutors said the charge related to a plot to behead a member of the public. The men were remanded in custody to appear at London's Old Bailey court on Dec. 4. ...

France opens probe into IS propaganda video Posted: 20 Nov 2014 07:30 AM PST PARIS (AP) — France has formally opened a terrorism investigation into three French recruits of the Islamic State group calling for attacks back home in a propaganda video.

Inspiring Women Honored For Life-long Commitment To Service Posted: 20 Nov 2014 07:15 AM PST WASHINGTON, Nov. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress (FMC), will be celebrating the accomplishments of women during the 18th annual "Statesmanship Awards: A Salute to Service" fundraising gala to be held at the Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C. on March 25, 2015. Whether in politics, business or philanthropy, these outstanding women leaders have served the nation with dedication and sacrifice, and have embraced service as the core of their life's work. ...

For many Iranians, nuclear talks aren't about the sanctions Posted: 20 Nov 2014 06:02 AM PST Did years of US-engineered sanctions bring Iran to the nuclear negotiating table?

Colombia's rebel-held general a bookish strategist Posted: 20 Nov 2014 05:40 AM PST BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The general whose capture by rebels has put Colombia's peace talks on hold is one of the country's foremost counterinsurgency strategists who once received his officer's insignia from the hands of U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus.

Hagel: Islamic State presents new challenge to US Posted: 20 Nov 2014 04:45 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is calling the Islamic State group "an incredibly powerful new threat."

Rights court orders Dutch to pay over Iraq death Posted: 20 Nov 2014 02:42 AM PST PARIS (AP) — Europe's top human rights court is ordering the Netherlands to pay €25,000 euros ($31,000) in damages to the father of an Iraqi man who was shot dead by a Dutch soldier at a checkpoint in 2004, ruling that the investigation into the killing was inadequate.

UAE targets Islamist accounts in money-laundering clampdown Posted: 20 Nov 2014 01:47 AM PST DUBAI (Reuters) - United Arab Emirates banks have been banned from doing business with some Islamist groups including the Muslim Brotherhood, their representative said, as the country's central bank won powers to freeze suspect accounts for up to seven days. The government said it was stepping up efforts to cut off financing to groups it classifies as terrorist. The move was announced in a decree published on the prime minister's website, which did not mention specific groups. ...

Storytelling trumps smartphones in Ebola crisis, experts say Posted: 19 Nov 2014 11:11 PM PST By Stella Dawson WASHINGTON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Storytelling and plays trump smartphones to deliver messages on Ebola in some communities, illustrating how new technologies have their limits in aid delivery, humanitarian experts said on Wednesday. While smartphone apps are playing an increasingly important role for fast, accurate alerts about natural disasters and for quick delivery of food and shelter, aid experts at a Disaster Relief Summit said humanitarian groups should be wary of their use at the expense of traditional communication methods. ...

Aid workers in conflict zones no longer immune, now targeted Posted: 19 Nov 2014 10:45 PM PST By Stella Dawson WASHINGTON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Humanitarian groups in conflict zones need to reconsider how they protect aid workers now that insurgents no longer provide immunity for relief work, aid experts said on Wednesday. Attacks on humanitarian workers have increased steadily over the past decade, with 474 workers killed, kidnapped or seriously wounded in 2013, compared to 143 in 2003, according to Aid Worker Security Database statistics last updated on Wednesday. The database showed that kidnappings alone shot up to 141 in 2013, from only seven ten years earlier. ...

Phil Klay wins National Book Award for fiction Posted: 19 Nov 2014 09:42 PM PST NEW YORK (AP) — Phil Klay's "Redeployment," a debut collection of searching, satiric and often agonized stories by an Iraq war veteran, has won the National Book Award for fiction.

Writers Phil Klay and Evan Osnos win top National Book Awards Posted: 19 Nov 2014 08:12 PM PST By Patricia Reaney NEW YORK (Reuters) - Phil Klay and Evan Osnos were given the top prizes at the 65th National Book Awards, among the most prestigious literary prizes in U.S. publishing, at a gala dinner on Wednesday that honored the best fiction, non-fiction, poetry and young adult writers. Klay was awarded the fiction prize for "Redeployment," his book of stories about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Osnos earned his award for "Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China" in the non-fiction category. ...

UN chief urges action to tackle violent extremism Posted: 19 Nov 2014 03:30 PM PST UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday cautioned against tackling violent Islamic extremism through military means alone and urged governments to avoid counter-terrorism responses that could lead to rights abuses. The council was meeting to follow up on a resolution adopted in August aimed at choking off the flow of foreign fighters and financing to Islamist groups who now control vast swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.

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