Yahoo! News: Iraq

---

• Top Asian News at 11:30 p.m. GMT
• How Islamic State led Americans to a more practical foreign policy
• Former CIA chief 'uncomfortable' with Iran role in Iraq
• Hillary Clinton blasts Republicans over Iran nuclear letter
• Colonial Williamsburg offers to protect Iraqi artifacts
• Saudi seeks to minimise domestic impact of oil fall: king
• IRAQ IS NOT OUR PLACE
• New low in relations between Obama, congressional GOP
• James McMurtry back with somber look at US heartland
• US stocks fall sharply on fears the Fed may soon raise rates
• IS claims execution of Arab Israeli accused of spying: video
• Obama war request in trouble in Congress, mostly from Democrats
• Houthi leader accuses Gulf states of backing al Qaeda in Yemen
• July trial set for lawsuit against US in militia slayings
• Battle Over $534 Defense Budget Could Get Ugly
• US military hopes to learn from victim of chimp attack
• GOP senator behind Iran letter: Hard-charging rookie
• Noir Festival to Feature Q&A With Son of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall
• To Stop Iran Deal, Tom Cotton Drops a Diplomatic Bombshell
• 34 killed in explosion at market in northeastern Nigeria
• IS jihadists in Iraq blow up key Tikrit bridge
• Frenchman gets three years for helping girl of 14 to go to Syria
• Iraq seizes town on outskirts of Islamic State-held Tikrit
• Libya oilfield attack is blow to U.N. peace talks
• Islamic State says it has killed two men for homosexuality
• Iraqi troops, militia retake strategic town north of Tikrit from Islamic State
• AP Interview: Syrian magnate denies buying Islamic State oil
• Overshadowed by IS, Somalia's Shebab loses jihadist lustre
• A Islamic scholar tells a female Lebanese TV host to 'shut up.' What happens next?
• Terror fight's tricky question: Should Islamic State be shut down on Twitter?
• Jordan's king says Mideast peace needed to defeat extremists
• Amman city cleaners to bin orange jumpsuits over IS videos
• China says IS fighters back from Syria caught in Xinjiang
• Bosnia to donate ammunition to Iraq to help fight IS
• 10 Things to Know for Today
• U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association to Honor 2015 Distinguished Graduates
• Iraqi man seeing snow for 1st time is fatally shot in US
• Iraqi man seeing snow for 1st time is fatally shot in Dallas
• With help from his allies, Syria's Assad looks set to stay
• U.S., allies conduct 12 air strikes in Syria, Iraq

Top Asian News at 11:30 p.m. GMT Posted: 10 Mar 2015 04:32 PM PDT LETPADAN, Myanmar (AP) — Hundreds of riot police charged at students protesting Myanmar's new education law on Tuesday, pummeling them with batons and then dragging them into trucks, bringing a quick, harsh end to a weeklong standoff. Authorities said more than 120 people were arrested. Security forces threw stones and jumped over fences as they broke up the demonstration. Dozens of students and monks were chased into a Buddhist monastery, said Honey Oo, a student leader.

How Islamic State led Americans to a more practical foreign policy Posted: 10 Mar 2015 04:27 PM PDT After flirting with the idea of stopping the world and getting off – or at least of shutting out the world's problems and turning inward – Americans in recent months have shifted to favor a more robust United States foreign policy and a tougher stance from President Obama toward international threats. A string of polls reveals that a growing majority of Americans favor US "boots on the ground" to defeat the Islamic State, if necessary. Indeed, after saying the US was doing "too much" in Iraq and Afghanistan, a majority of Americans now say the US isn't doing enough to counter threats from the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) to Russia, polls say. All this taken together suggests that an America increasingly confident about its economic position and gradually putting Iraq and Afghanistan in the rearview mirror wants a stronger US role in global affairs.

Former CIA chief 'uncomfortable' with Iran role in Iraq Posted: 10 Mar 2015 04:13 PM PDT Former CIA chief Michael Hayden said Tuesday he was "uncomfortable" with Iran's growing influence in Iraq, made especially evident by an offensive in Tikrit. The city, which is the home town of former president Saddam Hussein, is the target of as assault led by Iraqi troops and Shiite militias backed by Tehran. "I am made uncomfortable by the growing Iranian influence in Iraq. I am made uncomfortable by the fact that it looked like a Shia advance against a Sunni town," said Hayden, who headed the Central Intelligence Agency between 2006 and 2009.

Hillary Clinton blasts Republicans over Iran nuclear letter Posted: 10 Mar 2015 03:58 PM PDT By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday excoriated Republican senators for their letter warning Iran against a nuclear deal with President Barack Obama, saying they either were trying to help Tehran or harm the U.S. commander-in-chief. Monday's open letter to Iran's leaders, signed by 47 Republican senators, sparked a political firestorm. Vice President Joe Biden also sharply criticized the lawmakers while three potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, former Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, threw their support behind the letter.

Colonial Williamsburg offers to protect Iraqi artifacts Posted: 10 Mar 2015 03:33 PM PDT WILLIAMSBURG, Virginia (AP) — The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Virginia says it has offered to house Iraqi artifacts to protect them from destruction by the Islamic State group.

Saudi seeks to minimise domestic impact of oil fall: king Posted: 10 Mar 2015 03:08 PM PDT Saudi Arabia is trying to minimise the impact of plunging oil prices on its economy, King Salman said Tuesday in a wide-ranging address which promised a more diversified economy. Over the second half of last year the global price of crude oil dropped by about half, from above $100 a barrel. Saudi Arabia is the Arab world's largest economy, and much of its spending is on health, education and social services as well as infrastructure. Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest crude exporter and oil makes up about 90 percent of government revenue.

IRAQ IS NOT OUR PLACE Posted: 10 Mar 2015 03:00 PM PDT The story of the week -- which may soon become the story of the Iraqi war -- was the picture of the hawk-nosed, cold-eyed Qassem Suleimani, head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, standing confidently on Iraqi soil, overseeing his fighters attacking Tikrit. Everything seemed to be going well for these Iranian Shiite militias, who were deep into Iraq. In short, it was not a good week in the Middle East for the American soldiers and strategy. As if that were not enough, it was more or less at this point that the Pentagon announced the spring attacks it had planned to take back the Iraqi city of Mosul (2 million people) were now going to be delayed, while special analysts estimated that Iranians coordinate as many as 100,000 Iraqi fighters brought together by Iraqi clerics sympathetic to Iran.

New low in relations between Obama, congressional GOP Posted: 10 Mar 2015 02:47 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Relations between President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans have hit a new low.

James McMurtry back with somber look at US heartland Posted: 10 Mar 2015 02:36 PM PDT James McMurtry has spent 25 years exploring the underbelly of the US heartland with his guitar. Back with his first album in six years, "Complicated Games," the Texas-based folk singer offers somber takes on American life -- the United States both of small-town megastores and sweeping scenic beauty -- in songs that at once seem timely and universal. "I've only written two political songs in all my life," the soft-spoken McMurtry, who sports a grizzled beard and round glasses, told AFP.

US stocks fall sharply on fears the Fed may soon raise rates Posted: 10 Mar 2015 02:33 PM PDT NEW YORK (AP) — The seventh year of the U.S. bull market is off to a rocky start.

IS claims execution of Arab Israeli accused of spying: video Posted: 10 Mar 2015 02:21 PM PDT The Islamic State released a video Tuesday purporting to show a young boy executing an Arab Israeli who it claimed infiltrated the group in Syria to spy for the Jewish state. In the video, a youth identifying himself as 19-year-old Mohammed Said Ismail Musallam recounts how he was recruited by Israeli intelligence. In February, Musallam's father denied in comments to AFP the IS claim that his son was an Israeli agent. IS accused him of working for Mossad because he tried to run away," Said Musallam said, claiming that his son had travelled to Syria to join the jihadists.

Obama war request in trouble in Congress, mostly from Democrats Posted: 10 Mar 2015 02:19 PM PDT By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama's request to authorize military force against Islamic State has made little progress since he sent it to Congress, and it may never pass, due largely to opposition from his fellow Democrats. Obama asked Congress for an authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) against Islamic State a month ago, after agitation from lawmakers worried that the military campaign he began in August overstepped his constitutional authority. Congressional leaders anticipated quick hearings and votes on the plan, which proposed a three-year time frame for the campaign and repealing the 2002 authorization used for the Iraq War.

Houthi leader accuses Gulf states of backing al Qaeda in Yemen Posted: 10 Mar 2015 02:00 PM PDT The head of Yemen's Houthis accused Gulf Arab states on Tuesday of supplying weapons and funds to Islamist militants, in an effort to create an environment in the southern part of the country where al Qaeda could flourish. Speaking in a speech broadcast on al-Maseerah television, a media outlet of Ansarullah, the Houthi political wing, Abdel-Malek al-Houthi also accused unnamed parties of recruiting al Qaeda militants from abroad to justify a Western operation to occupy Yemen. "Is there a just and equitable position for Gulf Arab states toward the Yemeni people?" Abdel-Malek said in the speech. "Is there any position other than to send support, money and weapons, to the takfiri elements, and to facilitate the atmosphere for al Qaeda in the southern provinces," he added, using an Arabic expression to describe Sunni Muslim militants.

July trial set for lawsuit against US in militia slayings Posted: 10 Mar 2015 12:53 PM PDT SEATTLE (AP) — A federal judge has set a July 2016 trial date for a lawsuit filed against the United States by the parents of two teens who were killed in 2011 by an anti-government paramilitary group in the woods near the Fort Stewart Army base in Georgia.

Battle Over $534 Defense Budget Could Get Ugly Posted: 10 Mar 2015 12:26 PM PDT The battle to eliminate a spending cap on future defense spending intensified on Tuesday in a very public way: The chairs of the Senate and House Armed Services committees warned that the GOP-controlled Congress risks jeopardizing national security unless more spending is authorized. Unless Congress agrees to approve President Obama's request to lift statutory caps and a $534 billion defense budget request for fiscal 2016, Republicans will "share the blame for the national security failures that will inevitably result," the two Republicans wrote.

US military hopes to learn from victim of chimp attack Posted: 10 Mar 2015 12:06 PM PDT BOSTON (AP) — Charla Nash never served in the military. She was horribly disfigured, not in combat, but in a 2009 attack by a rampaging chimpanzee. The Pentagon, though, is watching her recovery closely.

GOP senator behind Iran letter: Hard-charging rookie Posted: 10 Mar 2015 11:57 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The rookie Republican senator leading the effort to torpedo an agreement with Iran is an Army veteran with a Harvard law degree who has a full record of tough rhetoric against President Barack Obama's foreign policy.

Noir Festival to Feature Q&A With Son of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall Posted: 10 Mar 2015 11:34 AM PDT Noir City Festival takes place from April 3 - 19 in Hollywood.

To Stop Iran Deal, Tom Cotton Drops a Diplomatic Bombshell Posted: 10 Mar 2015 11:26 AM PDT Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) is the exception. The former House member, who was elected to the Senate last November, was the lead author of a controversial open letter to the leadership of Iran released yesterday. Signed by 47 GOP senators, including the entire Senate leadership team, the letter was presented as an offer to "educate" the Iranian leadership on the realities of American politics. The letter warned Iran that the deal that the Obama administration — along with every other major world power — is negotiating now could well be overturned by the next president, unless Congress approves it.

34 killed in explosion at market in northeastern Nigeria Posted: 10 Mar 2015 11:21 AM PDT BAUCHI, Nigeria (AP) — At least 34 persons were killed by a teenage girl suicide bomber on Tuesday at a crowded market in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, said witnesses.

IS jihadists in Iraq blow up key Tikrit bridge Posted: 10 Mar 2015 11:02 AM PDT The Islamic State group blew up the only bridge over the Tigris river in the entire Tikrit area Tuesday as Iraqi forces continued to seal off the city, security sources said. The village of Albu Ajil, which Iraqi forces retook on Sunday, is on the eastern side of the river, as is the town of Al-Alam, where jihadist fighters expelled from rural areas have been regrouping. Ad-Dawr, the other town where IS fighters have been trying to resist the huge operation launched on March 2 to retake Tikrit, lies south of the city on the eastern bank of the Tigris. They have said their goal was to lay siege to Tikrit, a Sunni city about 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of Baghdad which has been under IS control for nine months.

Frenchman gets three years for helping girl of 14 to go to Syria Posted: 10 Mar 2015 11:01 AM PDT A French court sentenced a man on Tuesday to three years in jail for helping a 14-year-old girl who wanted to travel to Syria to marry an Islamic State fighter there. The sentencing underscored how French authorities are cracking down not only on volunteer jihadists trying to join militant groups in Syria and Iraq but also on supporters who help them to leave France. Riad Ben Cheikh, 41, a crane operator who has three children and whose Facebook account flags his support for Islamic State, denied during his trial that he wanted to wage 'jihad' or holy war but said he merely wanted to help a "brother in religion". The "brother", based in the Syrian city of Raqqa and calling himself 'Tony Toxico', had contacted Ben Cheikh via Facebook and had asked for his help in getting the girl to Syria.

Iraq seizes town on outskirts of Islamic State-held Tikrit Posted: 10 Mar 2015 10:54 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi soldiers and Shiite militiamen captured a town Tuesday on the outskirts of the Islamic State-held city of Tikrit, sealing off Saddam Hussein's hometown in preparation to confront the extremists in one of their biggest strongholds, officials said.

Libya oilfield attack is blow to U.N. peace talks Posted: 10 Mar 2015 10:51 AM PDT By Ulf Laessing CAIRO (Reuters) - An attack by Islamist militants on a Libyan oilfield where they beheaded security guards and kidnapped foreign workers underlines the difficulties facing U.N.-sponsored peace talks due to resume this week. Libyans have become accustomed to chaos, with their country split between two rival governments each allied to heavily armed groups that have been fighting for control of the oil-producing nation since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Instead, they mounted a show of force that appeared in line with warnings that the Islamists are bent on exploiting Libya's turmoil to extend their influence. "They came to burn the facilities and kidnap or kill the workers and guards," said Ali al-Hassi, a spokesman for an oilfield security force.

Islamic State says it has killed two men for homosexuality Posted: 10 Mar 2015 10:25 AM PDT Islamic State militants said on Tuesday they had killed two men in northern Iraq for homosexuality and another for blasphemy. The group controls a large, self-declared caliphate in parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria, where it enforces an ultra-purist vision of Islam that condemns all but the narrowest interpretation of centuries-old Sunni Muslim law as deviance. In a report published online, Islamic State showed an elderly bearded man reading out, in front of a crowd of people, a death sentence for two men accused of homosexuality and a third accused of cursing God. Another picture showed two papers, dated March 8, from an Islamic State court in the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh.

Iraqi troops, militia retake strategic town north of Tikrit from Islamic State Posted: 10 Mar 2015 09:30 AM PDT By Thaier al-Sudani AL-ALAM, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi troops and militias drove Islamic State insurgents out of the town of al-Alam on Tuesday, clearing a final hurdle before a planned assault on Saddam Hussein's home city of Tikrit in their biggest offensive yet against the ultra-radical group. The power base of executed former president Saddam's clan, Tikrit is the focus of a counter-offensive against Islamic State by more than 20,000 troops and Shi'ite Muslim militias known as Hashid Shaabi, backed by local Sunni Muslim tribes. If Iraq's Shi'ite-led government is able to retake Tikrit it would be the first city clawed back from the Sunni insurgents and would give it momentum in the next, pivotal stage of the campaign - to recapture Mosul, the largest city in the north.

AP Interview: Syrian magnate denies buying Islamic State oil Posted: 10 Mar 2015 09:30 AM PDT DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A Syrian businessman facing European Union sanctions denied on Tuesday allegations that he bought oil from the Islamic State group for President Bashar Assad's government.

Overshadowed by IS, Somalia's Shebab loses jihadist lustre Posted: 10 Mar 2015 09:19 AM PDT Eclipsed by newer, more bloodthirsty and media-savvy global jihadists, Somalia's Shebab militants are struggling to stay relevant. On Saturday the two most rapidly ascendant militant Islamist groups joined forces, in words at least, as Nigeria's Boko Haram declared its allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria. The rise of these two groups has left Al-Qaeda aligned Shebab in the dust, damaging its capacity to attract foreign recruits, said Ken Menkhaus, a Somalia expert and professor at Davidson College, North Carolina. "Shebab has renewed its links with Al-Qaeda but hasn't yet said anything negative about IS," said Matt Bryden, director of Sahan Research in Nairobi.

A Islamic scholar tells a female Lebanese TV host to 'shut up.' What happens next? Posted: 10 Mar 2015 09:05 AM PDT The exchange occurred March 2, during a discussion on Lebanon's Al-Jadeed TV of reports that Christians were joining the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. Hani Al-Siba'i, a London-based Egyptian scholar, launched into a review of the phenomenon's historical precedent, when the host, Rima Karaki, interrupted to ask him to focus on the present.

Terror fight's tricky question: Should Islamic State be shut down on Twitter? Posted: 10 Mar 2015 08:47 AM PDT This has led the counterterrorism community to grapple with a tricky question – should it encourage social media companies to suspend these accounts in an effort to shut down potential avenues of radicalization – and stop IS from attracting new supporters – or keep them open to better monitor the jihadist group's activities? "Fundamentally, tampering with social networks is a form of social engineering," authors J.M. Berger and Jonathon Morgan remind readers. The social world they discover within Twitter is illuminating.

Jordan's king says Mideast peace needed to defeat extremists Posted: 10 Mar 2015 07:49 AM PDT King Abdullah II of Jordan warned Tuesday that an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal was essential for combating Islamic extremists, saying the conflict served as a rallying cry for jihadists. Abdullah told the European Parliament that the battle against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria was "first and foremost" a fight for Muslim nations to carry out. Jordan has stepped up its role in the US-led coalition against IS after the group burned to death a captured Jordanian military pilot in a grisly video released last month. "And it has given the extremists a powerful rallying cry.

Amman city cleaners to bin orange jumpsuits over IS videos Posted: 10 Mar 2015 07:37 AM PDT Jordan's capital Amman said Tuesday it is replacing the orange jumpsuits worn by its city cleaners because of their similarity to those of hostages murdered in Islamic State group videos. Starting from March 20, Amman's more than 6,000 street cleaners will trade in their orange jumpsuits for turquoise uniforms, city authorities said in a statement. The decision was taken at the request of city residents and the brother of Maaz al-Kassasbeh, the deceased pilot, because "the colour orange is now associated with the terrorist practices of Daesh," the statement said, using an Arabic acronym for IS. IS, which has taken control of large parts of Iraq and Syria, has dressed hostages including Western journalists and aid workers, as well as Egyptian Coptic Christians, in orange jumpsuits before killing them in recorded executions.

China says IS fighters back from Syria caught in Xinjiang Posted: 10 Mar 2015 07:24 AM PDT The top Communist official in China's Xinjiang said Tuesday that extremists from the mainly Muslim region have been apprehended after returning from fighting in Syria with the Islamic State group. Zhang Chunxian, party head in Xinjiang, told reporters that the radicals were caught when a terror plot was recently uncovered, reported the Global Times, which is affiliated with the ruling party mouthpiece People's Daily. He said that they had returned to Xinjiang, the homeland of China's Uighur ethnic minority, to participate in violent terror plots, the report said. Other Chinese media carried similar reports, but did not specifically mention Syria.

Bosnia to donate ammunition to Iraq to help fight IS Posted: 10 Mar 2015 07:20 AM PDT SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Bosnia's defense ministry says the country will donate small arms ammunition to Iraq to help the fight against Islamic State militants.

10 Things to Know for Today Posted: 10 Mar 2015 06:18 AM PDT Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:

U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association to Honor 2015 Distinguished Graduates Posted: 10 Mar 2015 06:00 AM PDT ANNAPOLIS, Md., March 10, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The United States Naval Academy Alumni Association will honor four Naval Academy alumni at the 17th Annual Distinguished Graduate Award ceremony on March 27 at 4:30 p.m. in Alumni Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy. Each recipient of the 2015 Distinguished Graduate Award has demonstrated commitment to a lifetime of service and has made significant contributions to the U.S. Naval Academy, the Navy, the Marine Corps and the nation.

Iraqi man seeing snow for 1st time is fatally shot in US Posted: 10 Mar 2015 05:21 AM PDT DALLAS (AP) — Dallas police are investigating the killing of an Iraqi man who was shot to death as he took photos of his first ever snowstorm.

Iraqi man seeing snow for 1st time is fatally shot in Dallas Posted: 10 Mar 2015 05:15 AM PDT DALLAS (AP) — Dallas police are investigating the killing of an Iraqi man who was shot to death as he took photos of his first ever snowstorm.

With help from his allies, Syria's Assad looks set to stay Posted: 10 Mar 2015 05:04 AM PDT By Tom Perry and Laila Bassam BEIRUT (Reuters) - As the United States and Iran negotiate the final stages of a nuclear deal, they are still oceans apart on another area of conflict: the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Assad seems more likely to survive the Syrian crisis than at any point since it began four years ago. Iran's support is as solid as ever to its confident-looking ally in Damascus. The civil war has no doubt left Assad weakened, but he is stronger than the groups fighting to topple him.

U.S., allies conduct 12 air strikes in Syria, Iraq Posted: 10 Mar 2015 04:31 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and coalition forces conducted eight air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Iraq during a 24-hour period, while U.S. forces led four air strikes in Syria, the U.S. military said on Tuesday. The Syria strikes, all near Kobani, hit four Islamic State tactical units and destroyed nine fighting positions and a vehicle, according to the military's statement. In Iraq, four strikes near Kirkuk destroyed fighting positions, buildings, vehicles, a culvert crossing, a heavy machine gun and a potential car bomb while also hitting tactical units. ...

You are subscribed to email updates from Iraq News Headlines - Yahoo! News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States