Yahoo! News: Iraq

Police hunt three Frenchmen after 12 killed in Paris attack
FBI says shooter at Texas VA clinic was ex-employee
US-led forces drop nearly 5,000 bombs on IS group
Canada opens its doors to 10,000 Syrian refugees. An example to others?
Could Tony Blair face charges for war crimes?
Canada opens doors to 13,000 Syrian, Iraqi refugees
'Boyhood,' 'Whiplash,' 'Guardians' get Writers Guild Award nominations
Review: 'American Sniper' is quintessential Eastwood
Attackers at French newspaper seen as trained Islamist fighters
U.S.-led air strikes have hit 3,222 Islamic State targets: Pentagon
12 dead in terrorist attack on Paris weekly; gunmen at large
Iraq: Attacks in and around Baghdad kill 8
Aid agencies rule out 'preferred option' of moving storm-hit Syrian refugees
Islamic State fighter praises attack on Paris satirical magazine
Gunmen in Charlie Hebdo Attack in Paris Likely 'Well Trained,' Experts Say
White House Rolls Out State of the Union ‘Spoilers’
Charlie Hebdo attack roils an already on-edge France
K of C to Host Haitian Amputee Athletes at Vatican Conference Called by Pope Francis
British PM frustrated at Iraq war inquiry delays
Israeli study: Suicide attacks nearly doubled worldwide in 2014
Jonas to help present Lincoln Awards for service to veterans
Online Degrees Can Give Government Employees a Career Boost
At least 12 dead in Paris after attack on satirical newspaper
12 dead in 'terrorist' attack at Paris paper
Radical Islam a growing threat to sub-Saharan Christians: report
Palestinian team aiming for knockout stage at Asian Cup
GB Auto aims to invest $1.5 bln in vote of confidence for Egypt
Syrians largest refugee group after Palestinians: U.N.
10 Things to Know for Wednesday

Police hunt three Frenchmen after 12 killed in Paris attack

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 04:39 PM PST

By John Irish and Antony Paone PARIS/REIMS (Reuters) - Police are hunting three French nationals, including two brothers from the Paris region, after suspected Islamist gunmen killed 12 people at a satirical magazine on Wednesday, a police official and government source said. The hooded attackers stormed the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a weekly known for lampooning Islam and other religions, in the most deadly militant attack on French soil in decades. ...

FBI says shooter at Texas VA clinic was ex-employee

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 04:06 PM PST

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — An Army veteran who fatally shot a psychologist at a West Texas veterans' hospital before killing himself was a former clerk at the clinic and had threatened the doctor in 2013, the FBI said Wednesday.

US-led forces drop nearly 5,000 bombs on IS group

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 03:39 PM PST

US-led aircraft have dropped nearly 5,000 bombs in the air war against Islamic State jihadists in Iraq and Syria, damaging or destroying more than 3,000 targets including tanks, the Pentagon said Wednesday. The latest figures released by the US military signal a steady expansion in the scale of the air campaign launched in August and also reveal an adversary with hundreds of armored and other sophisticated vehicles at its disposal. Since coalition air raids started in Iraq in August and in Syria in late September, US and allied aircraft have struck 58 tanks, 184 Humvee armored vehicles, 303 pickup trucks, 26 armored vehicles and 394 other vehicles, according to statistics from the Pentagon. It also remained unclear how many tanks or other vehicles the IS group still has in its arsenal after the air raids.

Canada opens its doors to 10,000 Syrian refugees. An example to others?

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 02:20 PM PST

Canada is coming to the rescue.

Could Tony Blair face charges for war crimes?

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 02:08 PM PST

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair could end up facing charges of crimes against humanity as a result of an inquiry consisting of a plethora of British government documents regarding conduct before, during, and after Britain's military involvement in Iraq.

Canada opens doors to 13,000 Syrian, Iraqi refugees

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 12:16 PM PST

Canada has agreed to resettle another 10,000 Syrian and 3,000 Iraqi refugees over the next three years in response to a UN plea for help, the immigration minister announced Wednesday. According to a report released earlier by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the number of Syrian refugees has outstripped Afghans as the largest displaced population in need of protection. Since 2009, Canada has welcomed 20,000 Iraqi refugees. More than 1,000 Syrian refugees have also landed on Canadian shores since the start of a Syrian civil war in 2011.

'Boyhood,' 'Whiplash,' 'Guardians' get Writers Guild Award nominations

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 12:12 PM PST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Independent films "Boyhood" and "Whiplash" as well as superhero blockbuster "Guardians of the Galaxy" received Writers Guild Awards nominations on Wednesday in one of Hollywood's top annual honors. "Boyhood," a coming-of-age chronicle and early Academy Award best picture favorite, earned a nod for best original screenplay for director Richard Linklater from the Writers Guild of America. The movie, which Linklater filmed over a dozen years, will vie against wresting biopic "Foxcatcher" by E. ...

Review: 'American Sniper' is quintessential Eastwood

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 11:38 AM PST

A mere six months after releasing the Four Seasons drama "Jersey Boys," Clint Eastwood has again lapped his younger directing colleagues with his second film of 2014 and his best movie in years. "American Sniper" is quintessentially Eastwood: a tautly made, confidently constructed examination of the themes that have long dominated his work.

Attackers at French newspaper seen as trained Islamist fighters

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 11:11 AM PST

By Nicholas Vinocur PARIS (Reuters) - The black-clad gunmen who stormed the Paris office of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday spoke perfect French and acted like trained Islamist commandos, shooting victims in an apparently well-prepared attack. While police have yet to catch or identify the attackers or explain their motives, amateur video shows at least one shouting "Allahu Akbar", Arabic for "God is Greatest", after the attack and saying they had "avenged the Prophet Mohammad". ...

U.S.-led air strikes have hit 3,222 Islamic State targets: Pentagon

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 11:09 AM PST

By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.-led air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria have damaged or destroyed 3,222 targets since August, including 58 tanks, 184 Humvees, 673 fighting positions and 980 buildings or barracks, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said he wasn't sure how many targets had been damaged versus destroyed, "but I'm confident that the destruction level is high. Our strikes are extraordinarily accurate." Release of the target damage list came a day after U.S. ...

12 dead in terrorist attack on Paris weekly; gunmen at large

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 11:03 AM PST

Masked gunmen stormed the Paris offices of a weekly newspaper that caricatured the Prophet Muhammad, methodically killing 12 people Wednesday, including the editor, before escaping in a car. It was France's ...

Iraq: Attacks in and around Baghdad kill 8

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 10:32 AM PST

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say eight people have been killed in bomb blasts and a shooting attack in and around the capital Baghdad.

Aid agencies rule out 'preferred option' of moving storm-hit Syrian refugees

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 10:14 AM PST

By Kieran Guilbert LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Aid agencies dismissed on Wednesday the idea of relocating hundreds of thousands of storm-hit Syrian refugees across the Middle East, citing the large number of refugees, a shortage of funding and a lack of authority. As blizzards, rain and strong winds battered countries including Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, several agencies prepared emergency supplies for refugees facing freezing temperatures in flimsy shelters. ...

Islamic State fighter praises attack on Paris satirical magazine

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 10:08 AM PST

By Mariam Karouny and Yara Bayoumy BEIRUT/DUBAI (Reuters) - A fighter of the Islamic State militant group praised Wednesday's attack on a French satirical magazine that killed at least 12 people, telling Reuters the raid was revenge for insults against Islam. Hooded gunmen stormed the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo in the worst militant assault on French soil in recent decades. The dead included top editors at Charlie Hebdo, a publication renowned for lampooning Islam, as well as two police officers. ...

Gunmen in Charlie Hebdo Attack in Paris Likely 'Well Trained,' Experts Say

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 09:16 AM PST

The deadly attack today on a satirical French newspaper that claimed the lives of at least 12 people in Paris appeared to be a well-planned and deliberately-executed assault by trained militants, according to counter-terrorism experts."They carried out the operation in a very calm, controlled way," said Richard Clarke, former White House counter-terrorism advisor and current ABC News consultant. "They appear to have fire discipline, not spraying bullets everywhere. They were people who did not look like they were wild, on some kind of spree, but who were accomplishing a military operation. ...

White House Rolls Out State of the Union ‘Spoilers’

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 08:58 AM PST

In an op-ed posted to the website Medium on Wednesday, Pfeiffer outlined the week ahead for Obama, dropping some hints about the proposals he would outline. "Six years later — as the President will note today — the American auto industry has roared back to life," Pfeiffer wrote. In remarks he is scheduled to deliver in Phoenix on Thursday, Obama will tout what the White House describes as another victory: the recovery of the housing market. Finally, Obama will speak Friday in Knoxville, Tenn. about education.

Charlie Hebdo attack roils an already on-edge France

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 08:38 AM PST

The terrorist attack at a Parisian satirical magazine is generating fresh fears of Europe's vulnerability to terrorism, amid a public backlash against Islam in pockets across the Continent.

K of C to Host Haitian Amputee Athletes at Vatican Conference Called by Pope Francis

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 08:27 AM PST

ROME, Jan. 7, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Three young men who exemplify the hope and healing that have been achieved against great odds since Haiti's 2010 earthquake will attend a Vatican conference this week to mark the fifth anniversary of the tragedy, courtesy of the Knights of Columbus.In addition to attending the Vatican conference on Saturday, Jan. 10, the Haitian delegation will also offer a demonstration of amputee soccer at a K of C soccer field in Rome.All three of the young men lost a leg in the earthquake that devastated Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010. ...

British PM frustrated at Iraq war inquiry delays

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 08:19 AM PST

London (AFP) - Prime Minister David Cameron said Wednesday it was "immensely frustrating" that a long-overdue report from Britain's Iraq war inquiry had still not been published.

Israeli study: Suicide attacks nearly doubled worldwide in 2014

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 08:18 AM PST

The worldwide incidence of suicide bombings nearly doubled last year, driven largely by worsening conflict in Iraq, according to a new Israeli study. Most were carried out by Sunni Muslim militants in the Middle East, but researchers also found a significant uptick in other parts of the Muslim world, including Nigeria.

Jonas to help present Lincoln Awards for service to veterans

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 08:18 AM PST

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nick Jonas is joining forces with Jerry Lewis, Gavin DeGraw and other entertainers Wednesday to honor those who serve and support U.S. veterans and military families with a new award.

Online Degrees Can Give Government Employees a Career Boost

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 06:30 AM PST

For government employees, moving up the career ladder doesn't always just take hard work. In many cases, it takes a degree to land the coveted corner office.

At least 12 dead in Paris after attack on satirical newspaper

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 06:22 AM PST

By Nicholas Vinocur and Antony Paone PARIS (Reuters) - Hooded gunmen stormed the Paris offices of a weekly satirical magazine renowned for lampooning radical Islam, killing at least 12 people, including two police officers in the worst militant attack on French soil in recent decades. One of the men was captured on video shouting "Allah!" as four shots rang out. Two assailants are then seen calmly leaving the scene and remain at large. ...

12 dead in 'terrorist' attack at Paris paper

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 06:06 AM PST

Heavily armed gunmen shouting Islamist slogans stormed a Paris satirical newspaper office Wednesday and shot dead at least 12 people in the deadliest attack in France in four decades. The capital was placed under the highest alert status after the attack on Charlie Hebdo, a satirical weekly that has sparked anger in the past among Muslims for publishing cartoons of the prophet Mohamed. The attack took place at a time of heightened fears in France and other European capitals over fallout from the wars in Iraq and Syria where hundreds of European citizens have gone to fight alongside the radical Islamic State group. President Francois Hollande, who immediately rushed to the scene of the shooting, described it as a barbaric terrorist attack.

Radical Islam a growing threat to sub-Saharan Christians: report

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 04:29 AM PST

PARIS, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Radical Islamists were the main persecutors of Christians around the world last year, not only in the Middle East but increasingly in sub-Saharan Africa, according to an annual survey monitoring religious freedom. Open Doors, an international group supporting persecuted Christians worldwide, said on Wednesday Islamic militants posed the greatest threat to the faith in 18 of the 20 countries that its annual World Watch List says are toughest for Christians. ...

Palestinian team aiming for knockout stage at Asian Cup

Posted: 06 Jan 2015 11:54 PM PST

While it didn't generate anything remotely like the attention of Germany's 7-1 thrashing of Brazil at the World Cup, the Palestinian team's 1-0 victory over the Philippines in the AFC Challenge Cup final may have been one of the most significant international football results of 2014.

GB Auto aims to invest $1.5 bln in vote of confidence for Egypt

Posted: 06 Jan 2015 11:03 PM PST

By Michael Georgy CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's GB Auto aims to invest $1.5 billion to build two new factories, its chief executive said, in a vote of confidence for the country's political stability. Political turmoil has hammered Egypt's economy since an uprising toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has pledged to get the economy back on track and lure back investors by creating a more business-friendly climate. ...

Syrians largest refugee group after Palestinians: U.N.

Posted: 06 Jan 2015 09:04 PM PST

By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - Syrians have overtaken Afghans as the largest refugee population aside from Palestinians, fleeing to more than 100 countries to escape war in their homeland, the United Nations said on Wednesday. At more than 3 million as of mid-2014, Syrians accounted for nearly one in four of the 13 million refugees worldwide being assisted by the U.N. refugee agency, the highest figure since 1996, it said in a report. Some 5 million Palestinians refugees are cared for by a separate agency, UNRWA. ...