Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Exclusive: As easy targets thin, Syria air strikes by U.S. allies plunge
• Doubts cast on cause of death for suspect in Pennsylvania killings
• Palestinians seek Arab backing for UN resolution
• 4 Issues That Could Derail Jeb Bush’s 2016 Hopes
• How did a Texas plumber's truck end up with Syrian rebels?
• Iraq Kurds, coalition jets in major push to retake Sinjar
• Cuba coup for pope with the popular touch
• Now you can see holiday lights from space, thanks to NASA
• In S.Sudan war, US Marine among thousands who vanished
• Iraq Kurds launch Sinjar offensive after coalition air strikes
• Final goodbye: Roll call of some who died in 2014
• Politics, shotgun marriage in government, war loom in 2015
• Mass grave of 230 killed by jihadists found in Syria: monitor
• Kurdish Iraqi forces launch operation in Sinjar
• Obamacare Sign-Ups Glitch Free in Year Two
• Top news of 2014 left public grasping for answers
• U.S.-led coalition conducts 67 air strikes against Islamic State: task force
• Over 230 bodies found in mass grave in eastern Syria: monitoring group
• India goes on security alert weeks before Obama trip
• AIA: Poll Shows Public Demand for Increased National Security Spending
• Army's blimp-like airships get East Coast test
• In northeast Iraq, flashes of resistance against Islamic State militants
• Over 120,000 pro-Assad fighters killed in Syria conflict: monitoring group
• UN extends cross-border aid delivery to Syria for a year
• UK came 'within days' of Sydney-style terror attack: top policeman
• U.N. Security Council renews cross-border Syria aid authorization
• Reports of U.S. Ground Fighters Emerge as ISIS Gains in Iraq
• Police took 'Syria-bound girl' off plane on London runway
• UK inquiry finds mistreatment, no torture of Iraq detainees
• Special Report: Inside Iraq's 'killing zones'
• UK inquiry: Soldiers mistreated Iraqi detainees
• Australia orders sweeping investigation after deadly hostage siege
• Inquiry clears British soldiers of murder and torture of Iraqis
• France: 5 terror attacks thwarted, networks broken
• AP PHOTOS: A look at 2014 in the business world
• Iraq seeks one-year deferral on Gulf War reparations
• German cabinet approves training mission to Iraq
• Germany to send up to 100 troops to train Kurds
• Iraq's Kurdistan says to deepen ties with Iran
• 'American Sniper' Stars, Writer Went Beyond Chris Kyle's Book

Exclusive: As easy targets thin, Syria air strikes by U.S. allies plunge Posted: 17 Dec 2014 03:57 PM PST By Phil Stewart and Yara Bayoumy WASHINGTON/DUBAI (Reuters) - As U.S. fighter jets pound Islamic State targets in Syria, Washington's coalition allies appear increasingly absent from the air war. Although President Barack Obama's administration announced the Syrian air strikes three months ago as a joint campaign by Washington and its Arab allies, nearly 97 percent of the strikes in December have been carried out by the United States alone, according to U.S. military data provided to Reuters. The data shows that U.S. ...

Doubts cast on cause of death for suspect in Pennsylvania killings Posted: 17 Dec 2014 03:21 PM PST By Daniel Kelley PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The Iraq War veteran accused of killing his ex-wife and five of her family members in Pennsylvania did not die of self-inflicted stab wounds as had been previously reported, according to the county coroner overseeing the autopsy. Bradley William Stone, 35, of Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, was the subject of a two-day manhunt after going on a killing spree that spanned three towns outside Philadelphia. His body was found on Tuesday. ...

Palestinians seek Arab backing for UN resolution Posted: 17 Dec 2014 02:54 PM PST The Palestinians on Wednesday sought Arab backing for a draft UN resolution that would set a two-year deadline for reaching a final settlement with Israel and pave the way to statehood. Jordan showed its reluctance to endorse the text, with the ambassador suggesting that a clash should be avoided at the UN Security Council over how to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. "We have to see with the Palestinians whether they would want to go with the text as is and risk whatever comes, or we can discuss and try to get something consensual," said Ambassador Dina Kawar. Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki said the draft would be submitted to the Security Council after the Palestinians agreed with France on a merged text.

4 Issues That Could Derail Jeb Bush’s 2016 Hopes Posted: 17 Dec 2014 02:18 PM PST Jeb Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, had a lot of problems locking up the GOP presidential nomination in 1988 until he started eating pork rinds, attending NASCAR events and tailoring his more moderate views to those of rip-roaring Reagan conservatives. Until now, Jeb Bush, the former two-term governor of Florida, has signaled he wouldn't pander to his party's far right conservatives by abandoning his own views – and let the chips fall where they may. Judging from the early response of conservatives to Bush's announcement on Tuesday that he would "actively explore" a presidential run, Bush likely will have a hard time selling his positions to rank-and-file voters in the crucial GOP primary and caucus races.

How did a Texas plumber's truck end up with Syrian rebels? Posted: 17 Dec 2014 01:58 PM PST What happened when Texas City plumbers put a black pickup truck up for auction more than a year ago?

Iraq Kurds, coalition jets in major push to retake Sinjar Posted: 17 Dec 2014 01:53 PM PST Iraqi Kurdish forces on Wednesday launched a broad offensive backed by mass bombing from US-led coalition warplanes to retake the northeastern Sinjar area from the Islamic State group. In neighbouring Syria, the bodies of 230 people from a tribe that rose up against the jihadists in the Deir Ezzor region have been found in a mass grave, a monitoring group said. Sixty-one air strikes were carried out in Iraq since Monday, some of the heaviest bombardment since a jihadist onslaught on the Sinjar region prompted the first US air raids four months ago. The US military said "45 strikes were conducted in support of the peshmerga (Kurdish army) and Iraqi security forces operating in the region".

Cuba coup for pope with the popular touch Posted: 17 Dec 2014 12:53 PM PST Pope Francis's pivotal role in a landmark breakthrough in US-Cuba relations was the latest coup for a pontiff whose personality and popularity have made him an influential player on the global stage. As the world digested news of the historic rapprochement, it emerged that the Vatican had played a central role in bringing together the global capitalist superpower and the tiny communist island whose mutual animosity once brought the planet to the brink of nuclear war. The success reflects how, barely 18 months after he was elected the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, Francis has given Vatican diplomacy the kind of profile it has not enjoyed since Jean-Paul II was being seen as a key player in the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism in eastern Europe. Underlining the extent to which Vatican diplomacy has been given new impetus under Francis, a statement said the Argentinian pope would continue to support the opening of a new chapter in relations between the former adversaries.

Now you can see holiday lights from space, thanks to NASA Posted: 17 Dec 2014 12:36 PM PST Clark Griswold's isn't the only house visible from space during the holidays. New satellite data collected by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration not only reveal that Christmas decorations are, in fact, visible from space, but offer a unique view of societal patterns and cultural differences across the globe.

In S.Sudan war, US Marine among thousands who vanished Posted: 17 Dec 2014 12:29 PM PST He survived civil war and fought in Iraq as a United States Marine, but when fighting erupted a year ago in his birth nation South Sudan, Lam Choul Thichoung vanished. The last his family heard from the 40-year old father-of-two and US citizen from Nebraska was a desperate message amid the crackle of gunfire saying he was heading back out into the dark on the war-torn streets to rescue his brother. "He was going to the US embassy for safety, but then he went back out to rescue his brother," said close friend and fellow US citizen Seth Mock, who also comes originally from South Sudan. He fought with the US marine corps in Iraq, and his military portrait shows a man standing stiff and proud in his army uniform, with white peaked cap and gleaming buttons.

Iraq Kurds launch Sinjar offensive after coalition air strikes Posted: 17 Dec 2014 12:27 PM PST ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Kurdish forces launched an operation to retake the town of Sinjar in northwest Iraq on Wednesday after coalition planes pounded Islamic State positions overnight, Kurdish officials said. The peshmerga fighters made gains against IS throughout the day, the officials said, driving the militants out of at least eight sub-districts in the Zumar area, east of Sinjar. If the peshmerga succeeded in recapturing the town, it would open up a corridor to Sinjar mountain, where hundreds of minority Yazidis have been besieged by IS militants since August. ...

Final goodbye: Roll call of some who died in 2014 Posted: 17 Dec 2014 12:25 PM PST They each turned a moment of violence into a call to action. For James Brady, that moment was when he was shot and wounded by a would-be presidential assassin. For Chung Eun-yong, it was the killings of his two children during a Korean War massacre.

Politics, shotgun marriage in government, war loom in 2015 Posted: 17 Dec 2014 12:15 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Tumultuous 2014 is not even in the books, and already the shape of 2015 looms. The new year promises more war, when the plan was for less. It brings a new order in government, with an institutionally weakened president and strengthened opposition.

Mass grave of 230 killed by jihadists found in Syria: monitor Posted: 17 Dec 2014 11:58 AM PST The bodies of 230 people killed by the Islamic State group have been found in a mass grave uncovered by their relatives in Syria's Deir Ezzor province, a monitoring group said Wednesday. The discovery brings the number of Shaitat tribal members slain during the jihadists' summer advance in Deir Ezzor province near Iraq to more than 900, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Britain-based group said it had "learned from trusted sources that more than 230 bodies have been found in a mass grave in the desert near Al-Kashkiyeh in the east of Deir Ezzor".

Kurdish Iraqi forces launch operation in Sinjar Posted: 17 Dec 2014 11:58 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Kurdish Iraqi forces launched a major operation Wednesday to retake the militant-held town of Sinjar in northern Iraq, part of a push to secure the road that leads directly to the Syrian border.

Obamacare Sign-Ups Glitch Free in Year Two Posted: 17 Dec 2014 11:54 AM PST Obamacare's technical issues seem to have been solved—at least on the sign-up side for Healthcare.gov. "Our call centers and our technology have done their jobs so far," Andy Slavitt, a principal deputy administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told reporters Tuesday.

Top news of 2014 left public grasping for answers Posted: 17 Dec 2014 11:23 AM PST Twenty-thousand feet down the answers may be waiting, hidden in some underwater canyon far off Australia's coast. But more than nine months after searchers began scouring the seas for a Malaysia Airlines jetliner that vanished with 239 people aboard, the catastrophe defies resolution.

U.S.-led coalition conducts 67 air strikes against Islamic State: task force Posted: 17 Dec 2014 11:21 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its allies have conducted 61 air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq in the past the three days, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement on Wednesday. The U.S.-led coalition also conducted six air strikes against the militant group in Syria, the statement said. Forty-five of the strikes in Iraq were "conducted in support of the Peshmerga (KSF) and Iraqi security forces operating in the region" and destroyed 50 targets, including militant fighters and various fighting positions and equipment, the statement said. ...

Over 230 bodies found in mass grave in eastern Syria: monitoring group Posted: 17 Dec 2014 10:32 AM PST BEIRUT (Reuters) - More than 230 bodies of people believed killed by Islamic State militants have been found in a mass grave in Syria's eastern Deir al-Zor province, activists said on Wednesday. The bodies were thought to be members of the al-Sheitaat tribe which had battled Islamic State militants, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and activists monitoring the conflict said. Their deaths would bring the number of Sheitaat members said to have been killed by the ultra-hardline Islamist group to over 900. ...

India goes on security alert weeks before Obama trip Posted: 17 Dec 2014 10:11 AM PST By Sanjeev Miglani NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has put security agencies on nationwide alert for a militant strike in the lead-up to a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama next month, citing an assault on a Pakistani school this week as a warning signal. An advisory sent out on Tuesday to law enforcement agencies after the Pakistan Taliban stormed the Peshawar school, calls for increased security at vulnerable installations such as public transport, including railways, and schools. ...

AIA: Poll Shows Public Demand for Increased National Security Spending Posted: 17 Dec 2014 09:30 AM PST ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 17, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Aerospace Industries Association released data today from a study conducted on their behalf by Harris Poll showing that after discussing present and future security threats facing the United States, more than two thirds of registered voters (69 percent) say that given the evolving and increased threats to America's security, the U.S. government should increase spending on America's national security relative to the caps set more than three years ago. ...

Army's blimp-like airships get East Coast test Posted: 17 Dec 2014 09:28 AM PST MIDDLE RIVER, Md. (AP) — The Army showed off a blimp-like airship Wednesday that is designed to help the military detect and destroy cruise missiles speeding toward the nation's capital or other major East Coast cities.

In northeast Iraq, flashes of resistance against Islamic State militants Posted: 17 Dec 2014 09:23 AM PST Upon a small card table set in the mud, on ground once controlled by the Islamic State, an Iraqi Army colonel unrolls his well-worn map of central and eastern Iraq.

Over 120,000 pro-Assad fighters killed in Syria conflict: monitoring group Posted: 17 Dec 2014 08:37 AM PST BEIRUT (Reuters) - More than 120,000 fighters supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have been killed in the country's civil war since it began in 2011, a group monitoring the war said on Wednesday. Syria's conflict began as a peaceful protest movement calling for reforms in 2011 but descended into civil war after a government crackdown. In total, more than 200,000 people have been killed and millions more have fled their homes. ...

UN extends cross-border aid delivery to Syria for a year Posted: 17 Dec 2014 08:30 AM PST UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Wednesday to extend cross-border delivery of humanitarian aid to Syrians in rebel-held areas without Syrian government approval.

UK came 'within days' of Sydney-style terror attack: top policeman Posted: 17 Dec 2014 08:21 AM PST LONDON (Reuters) - Britain thwarted a Sydney-style 'lone wolf' attack just days before it was due to happen, London's top policeman said on Wednesday, saying his force had foiled five terror plots in the last four months alone. Britain raised it terrorism alert to the second-highest level in August and last month said it was facing the biggest terrorism threat in its history because of radicalized Britons returning from fighting in Syria and Iraq. "They've been very close to going and hurting somebody, badly, or killing them ... ...

U.N. Security Council renews cross-border Syria aid authorization Posted: 17 Dec 2014 07:49 AM PST By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday renewed for 12 months its authorization for humanitarian access without Syrian government consent into rebel-held areas of Syria at four border crossings from Turkey, Iraq and Jordan. The unanimously adopted resolution authorizes aid deliveries across Al Yarubiyah on the Iraq border, Al-Ramtha from Jordan and Bab al-Salam and Bab al-Hawa from Turkey. The Turkish posts cross into territory held by Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot that has seized large swaths of Iraq and Syria. ...

Reports of U.S. Ground Fighters Emerge as ISIS Gains in Iraq Posted: 17 Dec 2014 07:45 AM PST Maybe that's why we had reports from an Iraqi field commander on Tuesday that U.S. forces had their first ground clash with ISIS terrorists at midnight on Monday, Baghdad time. After six weeks of defeats in Iraq, ISIS made its first gains in the western province of al-Anbar last week, threatening the remaining Iraqi government forces and its tribal Sunni allies who are defending the remaining cities and army camps there. After that, we will not be able to fight them with their advanced arms," said Sheikh Naeim al-Gaud, a tribal leader who suffered hundreds of losses in a massacre committed by ISIS several weeks ago near the city of Hit, western Iraq. It also borders Baghdad, Babil, Karbala, Najaf, Salahuddin and Nineveh provinces.

Police took 'Syria-bound girl' off plane on London runway Posted: 17 Dec 2014 07:16 AM PST London (AFP) - London police stopped a plane on the runway at Heathrow Airport to remove a 15-year-old girl intent on joining Islamist fighters in Syria, a report said Wednesday.

UK inquiry finds mistreatment, no torture of Iraq detainees Posted: 17 Dec 2014 06:23 AM PST London (AFP) - A British inquiry set up to probe allegations of atrocities carried out by UK troops in Iraq in 2004 cleared them of the most serious claims but found they had mistreated nine detainees.

Special Report: Inside Iraq's 'killing zones' Posted: 17 Dec 2014 06:17 AM PST By Ned Parker and Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Shi'ite militias and Iraqi security forces, engaged in an all-or-nothing struggle with radical Sunni group Islamic State, are blasting the Sunni farmlands that encircle Baghdad with heavy weapons. Military officers call their target areas in the rural belt "killing zones." "In these parts, there are no civilians," said Lieutenant Colonel Haider Mohammed Hatem, deputy commander of the armed forces around Abu Ghraib, just west of the capital. "Everyone in these killing zones we consider Islamic State." The death zones now scar the more than 200 km-long (124 mile) Baghdad Belt, as it is commonly known. Prime Minister Haider Abadi, a moderate Shi'ite Islamist who was sworn into office in September, has sought to curb the violence carried out under his predecessor Nuri al-Maliki.

UK inquiry: Soldiers mistreated Iraqi detainees Posted: 17 Dec 2014 06:16 AM PST LONDON (AP) — A judge-led inquiry on Wednesday found British soldiers mistreated nine Iraqi detainees after a 2004 battle, but it rejected allegations that soldiers murdered and tortured prisoners.

Australia orders sweeping investigation after deadly hostage siege Posted: 17 Dec 2014 06:05 AM PST By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Wednesday ordered a sweeping investigation into a deadly hostage siege after tough new security laws and the courts failed to stop a convicted felon from walking into a Sydney cafe with a concealed shotgun. Three people were killed, including hostage-taker Man Haron Monis, when police stormed the cafe early on Tuesday morning to free terrified hostages held at gunpoint for 16 hours. Police are investigating whether the two captives were killed by Monis or died in crossfire. ...

Inquiry clears British soldiers of murder and torture of Iraqis Posted: 17 Dec 2014 05:50 AM PST By Costas Pitas LONDON (Reuters) - Allegations that British troops executed captured Iraqi prisoners and tortured or seriously abused others after a battle in 2004 were based on lies, a long-running inquiry concluded on Wednesday, exonerating the armed forces. The Al-Sweady inquiry, which has lasted five years and cost 31 million pounds ($49 million), was charged with examining allegations made by Iraqis that British soldiers captured and then murdered 20 men after a battle in southern Iraq. ...

France: 5 terror attacks thwarted, networks broken Posted: 17 Dec 2014 05:10 AM PST PARIS (AP) — France has thwarted five terror attacks and dismantled 13 networks linked to extremists in Syria but the number of young people leaving to join the fight has doubled in the past year, the country's top security official said Wednesday.

AP PHOTOS: A look at 2014 in the business world Posted: 17 Dec 2014 04:24 AM PST LONDON (AP) — No one said the recovery from the global financial crisis would be easy and 2014 provided that in spades.

Iraq seeks one-year deferral on Gulf War reparations Posted: 17 Dec 2014 04:14 AM PST By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - Iraq has requested a one-year deferral of a $4.6 billion reparations payment for destroying Kuwait's oil facilities during its 1990-91 occupation, a U.N. official said on Wednesday. The request comes as Iraq's economy is being battered by both low oil prices and war with Islamic State militants. Kuwait and major powers on the ruling body of the U.N. Compensation Commission will consider the formal request at a special session in Geneva on Thursday, the official, who works on the commission, said. ...

German cabinet approves training mission to Iraq Posted: 17 Dec 2014 03:48 AM PST BERLIN (Reuters) - The German cabinet on Wednesday agreed to send around 100 German troops to northern Iraq to train Kurdish peshmerga forces fighting Islamic State (IS) militants. Islamic State has caused international alarm by capturing large expanses of Iraq and Syria and declaring an Islamic "caliphate". Western powers see the Kurds as a vital bulwark against further IS advances.In the last few months France, Britain, Germany and others have begun arming the Kurds, whose Soviet-era weaponry has proved ineffective against insurgents flush with hardware plundered from the Iraqi army. ...

Germany to send up to 100 troops to train Kurds Posted: 17 Dec 2014 03:05 AM PST BERLIN (AP) — The German Cabinet has agreed to send up to 100 troops to the northern Iraqi city of Irbil to train Kurdish forces for their fight against the Islamic State group.

Iraq's Kurdistan says to deepen ties with Iran Posted: 17 Dec 2014 02:19 AM PST LONDON (Reuters) - Iraqi Kurdistan plans to strengthen its relationship with Iran, the prime minister of the semi-autonomous region said on Wednesday in an acknowledgement of the deepening ties between Arbil and Tehran. Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said in a statement a new oil deal between Arbil and Baghdad would not impact the Kurdistan Regional Government's ties with Turkey, or its growing partnership with Iran. "We will continue to strengthen our relationship with our eastern neighbor Iran," Barzani said in a statement read at a Kurdish oil and gas conference in London. ...

'American Sniper' Stars, Writer Went Beyond Chris Kyle's Book Posted: 16 Dec 2014 10:47 PM PST Plus Bradley Cooper's co-stars reveal how they reacted to the actor's much-discussed transformation

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