2015年3月20日星期五

Yahoo! News: Iraq

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yahoo! News: Iraq


3 suicide bombings target Shiite rebel mosques in Yemen

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 04:40 PM PDT

Map of Yemen locating triple suicide bombings in SanaaADEN, Yemen (AP) — Triple suicide bombers hit a pair of mosques crowded with worshippers in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, on Friday, causing heavy casualties, according to witnesses. The attackers targeted mosques frequented by Shiite rebels, who have controlled the capital since September.


Factors gel for jihadist fertile ground in Tunisia

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 04:01 PM PDT

Tunisians walk past police during a demonstration in Tunis on March 20, 2015, two days after gunmen attacked the National Bardo MuseumSeveral factors have combined to create a fertile breeding ground for jihadist violence in Tunisia where gunmen mowed down 21 people in a high-profile attack on its national museum, analysts say. They say economic and social woes on top of political upheavals since a 2011 revolution which ousted longtime strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali have disorientated the country's youth. Tunisia has contributed the largest number of citizens to radical movements such as the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group. Other factors have also contributed: a fledgling democracy, proximity to the political and security mayhem in neighbouring Libya, and a lack of Muslim religious training that contributed to the import of Salafist ideology since the 1980s.


U.S. must release more Abu Ghraib photos: Federal judge

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 04:01 PM PDT

A federal judge ruled on Friday that the U.S. government must release photographs showing the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and other sites. Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan ruled that his order would not take effect for 60 days to give the U.S. Department of Defense time to decide whether to appeal. The order is a victory for the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a lawsuit against the government in 2004 seeking the release of the photographs. "They're the best evidence of what took place in the military's detention centers, and their disclosure would help the public better understand the implications of some of the Bush administration's policies." The Department of Defense did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

More than 100 killed in Syria attacks

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 04:00 PM PDT

People's Protection Units fighters stand on top of a hill at sunset on February 26, 2015, after they retook parts of the town of Tal Hamis, after six days of clashes with Islamic State group jihadists in Syria's Hasakeh provinceMore than 100 people were killed in Syria in 24 hours of violence after Islamic State fighters attacked regime troops and a suicide bomber caused carnage at Kurdish new year celebrations, a monitor said Friday. More than 70 members of government forces were killed when IS attacked checkpoints and other positions in the central Homs and Hama provinces, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. "IS has faced setbacks recently in the provinces of Aleppo and Raqa and in Hasakeh in confrontations with Kurds on the one hand and regime forces on the other, and are now trying to score military points, even limited ones, to offset their losses," said Abdel Rahman. The suicide bomber struck at Syria's Kurdish minority on Friday, killing more than 33 people as they celebrated Kurdish new year in Hasakeh, northeast Syria.


A Deadly Day in Yemen

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 03:36 PM PDT

A Deadly Day in YemenRepresentatives of the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack—the second time this week the group has taken credit for an attack far from its main base in Iraq and Syria, after gunmen stormed the Bardo Museum in Tunisia on Wednesday—though the claims could not be verified in either case. "A statement from the group [claiming responsibility] was published on Twitter accounts known as reliable sources for IS propaganda," the BBC reported.


Ex-Wisconsin Rep. Kastenmeier, early Vietnam critic, dies

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 03:30 PM PDT

This undated photo shows former Wisconsin Congressman Robert Kastenmeirer speaking at an unknown location. Kastenmeier, an early and staunch opponent of the Vietnam War who served 32 years in Congress, died Friday, March 20, 2015, in Arlington, Va. He was 91. (AP Photo/Wisconsin State Journal)MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Bob Kastenmeier, a liberal Democrat from Wisconsin whose 32 years in Congress were marked by his early and staunch opposition to the Vietnam War, died Friday. He was 91.


APNewsBreak: Report says 640,200 Syrians in besieged areas

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 03:21 PM PDT

FILE - In this Sunday Feb. 9, 2014, file photo, provided by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian army soldiers, top background, look on as two women walk towards a bus to evacuate the battleground city of Homs, Syria, where a Syrian Red Crescent official says around 300 more people were evacuated from besieged rebel-held neighborhoods in the area. A report due out the week of March 23, 2015, says the number of Syrian people living in besieged areas is at least three times as high as the official estimate and is closer to 650,000, while offering a graphic accounting of hundreds of deaths in communities that the world has struggled to reach for years. (AP Photo/SANA, File)UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Nearly 650,000 Syrians are living in besieged communities in the country's civil war, more than three times the U.N. estimate, according to a new report that offers a graphic account of hundreds of deaths in areas the world has struggled for years to reach.


Canada police lay terrorism-related charges against Alberta youth

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 03:07 PM PDT

By Scott Haggett CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Canadian police said on Friday they have laid two terrorism-related charges against an Edmonton, Alberta-area youth, with local media reporting he was allegedly seeking to travel to join Islamic State fighters. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the young person was arrested without incident on Friday. The Edmonton Journal reported the suspect was a 17-year-old boy arrested in Beaumont, Alberta, a bedroom community about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the provincial capital. The teen was allegedly trying to leave to fight with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, CBC reported.

Tunisia says museum gunmen trained in Libya

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 03:06 PM PDT

Tunisian Interior Minister Mohammed Najem Gharsalli (L) and French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve (2L) lay a wreath at the Bardo Museum on March 20, 2015 in Tunis, two days after an attack by gunmenTunisia said two gunmen who killed 21 people at its national museum trained at a militant camp in Libya, as the country marked Independence Day in sombre mood on Friday. The Islamic State group claimed Wednesday's attack on foreign tourists in Tunis, the deadliest since the 2011 revolution which sparked the Arab Spring regional uprisings. The assailants "left the country illegally last December for Libya and they were able to train with weapons there," Secretary of State for Security Rafik Chelly said.


U.S. fears Islamic State is making serious inroads in Libya

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 03:04 PM PDT

Libya Dawn fighter uses a monocoular to look at Islamic State (IS) militant positions near SirteBy Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is increasingly concerned about the growing presence and influence of the Syria-based Islamic State movement in Libya, according to U.S. officials and a State Department report. The officials said what they called "senior" Islamic State leaders had traveled to the country, which is whacked by civil war, to help recruit and organize militants, particularly in the cities of Derna and Sirte. Since late January, Islamic State militants have carried out attacks, including a car bombing and siege at the Corinthia, a luxury hotel in Tripoli, and an attack on the Mabruk oilfield south of Sirte, according to a report circulated this week by the State Department's Diplomatic Security Bureau. The State Department document said estimates of the number of Islamic State fighters operating in Libya ranged from 1000 to 3000.


142 dead in Yemen mosque bombings claimed by IS

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 03:00 PM PDT

Yemeni armed men inspect the damage following a bomb explosion at the Badr mosque in southern Sanaa on March 20, 2015Multiple suicide bombings claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 142 people Friday at Shiite mosques in Yemen's capital -- one of the strife-torn country's deadliest ever jihadist attacks. The killings were the first claimed by IS in Yemen and represent a strong show of force by the group in a country where rival Al-Qaeda is the most prominent jihadist organisation, and which reacted by saying it would not attack mosques. Charred bodies and pools of blood were at the scene of the blasts, which targeted supporters of the Huthi Shiite militia that has seized control of the capital Sanaa. One suicide bomber struck inside Badr mosque in southern Sanaa while another targeted worshippers as they fled outside, witnesses said.


Suicide bombers kill 137 in Yemen mosque attacks

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 02:42 PM PDT

The attacks on mosques used by supporters of the Shi'ite Muslim Houthi fighters who control the city were the deadliest in a years-long campaign of violence in the country, where Washington has been waging a drone air war against a local branch of the Sunni Muslim militant group al Qaeda. "Let the polytheist Houthis know that the soldiers of the Islamic State will not rest and will not stay still until they extirpate them," the group said in a statement posted by supporters on Twitter, claiming responsibility for the attacks.

100 bodies in Nigeria 'mass grave' in town taken from Boko Haram

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 01:56 PM PDT

A Boko Haram flag flutters from an abandoned command post in Gamboru, February 4, 2015N'Djamena (AFP) - Around 100 bodies were found Friday in a mass grave on the edge of a town in northeast Nigeria after it was freed from Boko Haram Islamists, a Chadian army spokesman told AFP. Soldiers discovered the bodies -- some decapitated -- under a bridge just outside Damasak, which was retaken from Boko Haram on March 9 by troops from Chad and Niger. "There are about 100 bodies spread around under the bridge just outside the town," said Colonel Azem Bermandoa Agouna, adding that he had visited the scene himself close to the border with Niger. Colonel Bermandoa Agouna said several of the victims had been decapitated while others had been shot.


Police arrest Alberta teenager on terror charges

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 01:42 PM PDT

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Royal Canadian Mounted Police say a teen has been arrested in Alberta and charged with terror-related offenses.

Tunis museum assailant was a high school loner

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 01:35 PM PDT

Tunisian security forces and forensic experts stand at the visitors entrance of the National Bardo Museum in Tunis on March 19, 2015, in the aftermath of an attackJabeur Khachnaoui, one of Tunisia's Bardo museum assailants, was months away from graduating from high school when he abruptly left home and went to Libya, a relative told AFP Friday. Jabeur, who was killed by security forces after Wednesday's massacre in which 21 people died, mostly tourists, was pious and a loner who never gave his parents a hard time, said the relative who declined to be identified. Prime Minister Habib Essid, hours after the attack, identified one of the two attackers killed in the capital Tunis as Hatem Khachnaoui. He was born in 1994 in Ibrahim Zahar, in the impoverished Kasserine region near the border with Algeria.


Attack on Kurds in NE Syria kills at least 20, wounds 70

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 01:16 PM PDT

BEIRUT (AP) — A twin bombing attack targeting Kurds celebrating their New Year on Friday killed at least 20 people and wounded more than 70 in a northeast Syrian city, activist groups and state media said.

White House: cannot confirm link between Yemen attack, Islamic State

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 01:07 PM PDT

The White House cannot confirm a claim by Islamic State that suicide bombers who attacked two mosques in Yemen were affiliated with the militant group, a spokesman said on Friday. "There is not, at this point, clear evidence of an operational link between these extremists in Yemen and ISIL fighters in Iraq and Syria," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, using a different acronym for Islamic State. He said the United States was trying to find out whether there were "command-and-control structures in place" to show any involvement by Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot that has seized large areas of Iraq and Syria.

For Iraqis, years after US invasion seem like unending war

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 01:04 PM PDT

Alaa al-Qureishi shows a religious poster honoring his mother, three brothers and a brother-in-law, who were killed in 2006 and 2007, at his house in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, March 20, 2015. Twelve years after the U.S. invaded Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein, the country is still mired in war. Today, many of his fellow Shiites are on the front lines battling the Islamic State group. But al-Qureishi, 37, is sitting this one out. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)BAGHDAD (AP) — Alaa al-Qureishi's home is full of ghosts — the photos of dead relatives decorating the walls of every room.


Plans for leisurely visit in Tunisia turn to horror

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 01:04 PM PDT

Giovana, right and Hector Gonzalez, both from Nicaragua, talk, during an interview with The Associated Press after surviving the attack at Tunis' National Bardo Museum, at the Las Ramblas boulevard in Barcelona, Spain, Friday, March 20, 2015. Miami resident Giovana Gonzalez had just finished a brief bathroom break at the end of a museum tour when TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Around lunchtime, the crackle of gunfire broke the leisurely calm of a visit to one of Tunisia's best-known museums: At least two attackers went on a rampage targeting tourists. By the end, after police traded fire with the gunmen and special forces barreled in, the duo and 21 others were dead.


Car bombs kill 20 at Syrian Kurdish new year celebration

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 11:22 AM PDT

The Observatory, which tracks the four-year-old Syrian civil war, said the attack also wounded 80 people and was carried out by Islamic State, a hard-line jihadist group which has fought Kurds in Syria and Iraq. Nowruz is an important festival in Kurdish culture in which people gather to play games, dance and eat. In Syria, Nowruz is also celebrated as an expression of identity for the stateless Kurdish minority. Redur Xelil, a spokesman for the Kurdish YPG militant group which operates in northeastern Syria, also said Islamic State was responsible for the attack, which he said killed mostly women and children.

Italy hosts meeting to combat Islamic State group financing

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 11:14 AM PDT

ROME (AP) — Rome has hosted a first meeting to combat the Islamic State group's funding and other financial resources.

White House 'strongly condemns' Yemen suicide bombings

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 10:44 AM PDT

A Yemeni man inspects the damage following a bomb explosion at the Badr mosque in southern Sanaa on March 20, 2015Washington (AFP) - The White House on Friday condemned twin suicide bombings on Yemeni mosques that killed at least 142 worshippers, but said it was too early to pin blame on the Islamic State group.


Republicans in Mad Scramble to Placate Defense Hawks

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 10:39 AM PDT

Republicans in Mad Scramble to Placate Defense HawksRepublican leaders are in a mad scramble to shower tens of billions of dollars more on the Defense Department to persuade defense hawks to back the House and Senate budget blue prints next week and to signal their resolve to bolster the military in the war against ISIS terrorists. "The process is broken," Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), a fiscal conservative opposed to the defense spending political gamesmanship, told The Wall Street Journal. On Thursday, the Republican controlled House and Senate Budget Committees rejiggered their budget blue prints to placate defense hawks. They did that by circumventing defense spending caps mandated by the 2011 Budget Control Act and substantially boosting overall Pentagon spending in the coming fiscal year well beyond President Obama's already sizable request.


Blatter says Russia World Cup can ease tensions

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 10:34 AM PDT

FIFA President Sepp Blatter gives a press conference on March 20, 2015 in Zurich at the end of a two-day meeting to decide the dates of the 2022 World Cup in QatarFIFA leader Sepp Blatter said Friday that the 2018 World Cup in Russia would stabilise the region though he acknowledged "rumours" about the event. Blatter said he was "sure" Russia would hold the 2018 event and added his voice to opposition over calls for a boycott of the 2018 World Cup over the conflict in Ukraine. "A boycott of the World Cup or of any sporting event has never brokered any solutions," the FIFA leader told a press conference. "In my opinion the World Cup in Russia will be able to stabilise the situation that in this region of Europe ... that is suffering now," he said.


Tunisian took break from travel agent job to shoot tourists

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 09:51 AM PDT

Policemen are pictured near damaged tiles inside the Bardo museum in TunisBy Tarek Amara OMRANE SUPERIEUR, TUNISIA (Reuters) - Shortly before he and a friend gunned down 20 foreign tourists at Tunisia's Bardo museum, Yassine al-Abidi sat down to a breakfast of olive oil and dates with his family and left for work at his travel agency as usual. They said he was typical of the young men of Tunis' Omrane Superieur suburb. They were innocent, why did they have to pay the price of a false understanding of Islam," said his uncle Mohamed Abidi. We are the victims of a demagogic network that wants only death." Yassine's family had set up a traditional mourning tent outside their home, a well-made orange duplex standing in contrast to the more rundown residences nearby.


Philanthropist Lois Pope And American Humane Association Honor Valor And Courage Of Military Dogs And Their Handlers At Special "K-9 Battle Buddies" Luncheon In Palm Beach

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 09:24 AM PDT

Five of these special K-9 Battle Buddy teams were honored on Tuesday March 17th for their bravery and service to the nation at a special luncheon at the Mar-a-Lago Club, hosted by philanthropist Lois Pope and American Humane Association. The afternoon's honorees were Sergeant Matt Hatala and MWD Chaney, Corporal Jeff DeYoung and MWD Cena, Corporal Jonathan Cavender and MWD Maxi, Corporal Nick Caceres and MWD Fieldy, and Army Specialist Brent Grommet and MWD Matty. The American public named Chaney as the Military Dog of the Year at the 2014 American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards™, presented by the Lois Pope LIFE Foundation.

New global grouping meets to counter Islamic State finances

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 08:55 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Officials from the United States, Italy and Saudi Arabia led talks in Rome this week among a group of countries seeking to combat the financial activities of Islamic State militants, the U.S. Treasury said on Friday. Officials held an inaugural meeting Thursday and Friday of the Counter-ISIL Finance Group (CIFG), which countries will use to exchange information and develop countermeasures. ISIL is an acronym often used for the militants, who control swaths of Iraq and Syria. ...

Soccer-Blatter tells politicians to 'leave sport alone'

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 08:38 AM PDT

By Brian Homewood ZURICH, March 20 (Reuters) - FIFA president Sepp Blatter told politicians to leave football alone on Friday and said the 2018 World Cup could stabilise the situation in host nation Russia. "There has been increasingly more interference (in football) with cases in Africa, in Europe, in South America... and that is why I made the executive committee take a decision which means, in a nutshell, stop this political interference in sport," Blatter told a news conference. His comments came after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Monday called on his allies on to boycott the tournament if Russia did not pull its troops out of his country's territory.

Congressional Medal of Honor Society and Foundation Release Medal of Honor Day Schedule

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 08:00 AM PDT

ARLINGTON, Va., March 20, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Congressional Medal of Honor Society and Foundation announced today the 2015 National Medal of Honor Day and Citizen Honors Program schedule.  The three 2015 Citizen Honorees, selected from 20 finalists for their acts of courage and selflessness, are: Alton Brieske, Jon Meis and Michael Reagan.  The honorees will be recognized by members of the Medal of Honor Society in a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on National Medal of Honor Day, Wednesday, March 25, 2015. Schedule of events:2:00 p.m. ...

Islamic State claims responsibility for Yemen mosque bombings: Twitter statement

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 07:49 AM PDT

Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot that has seized large areas of Iraq and Syria, has claimed responsibility for suicide bomb attacks on two mosques used mainly by Shi'ite Muslims in Yemen on Friday, a statement on Twitter showed.

Japan remembers subway gas attack, 20 years on

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 07:32 AM PDT

Station master Mitsuaki Ota, carrying a bouquet of flowers, walks toward an altar for the victims of the 1995 deadly nerve-gas attack in Tokyo on March 20, 2015Japan marked the 20th anniversary Friday of coordinated attacks on the Tokyo subway system, when a doomsday cult released a Nazi-developed nerve gas on packed trains, killing 13 people and injuring 6,000. At Kasumigaseki, one of the hardest hit subway stations, staff and relatives of some of those who died in the biggest attack on post-WWII Japan fell silent at 8:00 am to remember those who were lost and those still affected. "Twenty years have passed but I think the victims are still suffering," said Fumiko Suzuki, who was there to pay tribute to a friend made ill by the invisible clouds of sarin that spread through rush-hour trains. "We should not forget about the attack." Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also visited the station in the afternoon to place flowers in memory.


Column: After Qatar's heat, an even bigger test for 2022 cup

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 07:09 AM PDT

FILE- In this Jan. 3, 2011 file photo, a worker cleans the road outside Khalifa sport complex in Doha, Qatar. The 2022 World Cup host nation announced on Thursday, March 19, 2015 that the final World Cup game of the 2022 tournament will be on Dec. 18. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung-file, File)PARIS (AP) — It certainly took a while, longer than it should, for the penny to drop at FIFA that deserts get hot in summer. Having belatedly adjusted for that fact, moving the 2022 World Cup to cooler months, FIFA boss Sepp Blatter and the entire sport he oversees must now shift gears and fully focus on the real problem that threatens to sour the tournament in Qatar.


Queiroz quits as Iran boss

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 07:00 AM PDT

Iran's coach Carlos Quieroz (centre) looks on during their football match against Bahrain at the AFC Asian Cup in Melbourne on January 11, 2015Carlos Queiroz has quit as Iran coach citing external "pressures" just six months after extending his contract until 2018, the Iranian Football Federation confirmed on Friday. "I didn't want to leave and was not even thinking about it," the Portuguese coach told the Fars news agency. According to the Fars, Queiroz wanted to pick Sardar Azmoon, of Russia's FC Rostov, and Alireza Jahanbakhsh, of NEC in the Netherlands, for two friendlies in Europe. The decision appears to have been the last straw for Queiroz, whose rows with the federation and Iran's Sports Ministry have played out in the media.


In museum attack, Tunisia sees Libya's instability cross the border

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 06:25 AM PDT

Evidence emerged that the terrorist attack that killed 23 people in Tunis Wednesday – most of them tourists – was in part enabled by the chaos in neighboring Libya, even as rallies were held across Tunisia denouncing violence. Security Minister Rafik Chelly told Al Hiwar Ettounsi TV that two of the attackers on the Bardo Museum who were killed by security forces had attended militant training camp in Libya last December. The self-styled Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack, though whether the group or a member of its lose network of affiliates in North Africa was actually responsible is hard to say. Nevertheless, IS supporters have been highly active in Libya, both participating in and benefiting from the civil war.

MBA Road Trip: Harvard Business School

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 05:30 AM PDT

During class discussions -- participation often counts for half the grade -- professors are "more of a facilitator than they are an instructor," says first-year student Ben Zatlin, 27, who worked in engineering and manufacturing roles at Abbott Laboratories before coming to Harvard. This case method of instruction has been the cornerstone of the MBA program here for some 90 years, and all told, students work through more than 500 case studies. The highly credentialed faculty includes innovation expert Clayton Christensen and world-renowned strategy pioneer Michael Porter, as well as former executives of companies like General Motors, Amgen and Fidelity. While tradition is a vital part of Harvard's DNA, "we can be simultaneously classic and contemporary," says Dean Nitin Nohria.

U.S., allies launch eight airstrikes against Islamic State: task force

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 05:08 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its coalition allies staged eight air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq since early Thursday, the Combined Joint Task Force overseeing the operations said in a statement. One strike hit near the key Syrian border town of Kobani, the task force said. Seven other air strikes were conducted in Iraq near Al Hawayja, Bayji, Haditha and Mosul, the statement on Friday said. (Reporting by Washington Newsroom)

Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric urges more professionalism in fight against IS

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 04:13 AM PDT

A Shi'ite fighter sits in the back of a vehicle as he leaves from Najaf in a convoy of vehicles heading to Tikrit to continue the offensive aSistani, who speaks for millions of Iraqis and has a worldwide following, also urged greater participation of Sunni residents in Islamic State-controlled areas of Salahuddin and Anbar provinces in the fight. In Salahuddin, Iraqi security forces and mainly Shi'ite militia are fighting to dislodge the insurgents from Saddam Hussein's hometown, Tikrit, which they overran last summer.


Warning over president's 'victory' claims against Boko Haram

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 04:07 AM PDT

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan (pictured in Lagos on March 12) said Boko Haram was "getting weaker and weaker every day"Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday said the military hopes to recapture towns seized by Boko Haram within a month, in what would be a swift victory after six years of bloody conflict. Jonathan, who is seeking re-election on March 28, said Boko Haram was "getting weaker and weaker every day". Nigeria has claimed major gains against the Islamists with the help of coalition partners Cameroon, Chad and Niger, achieving in just over one month what for years it had failed to on its own.


IS claims beheading of three Iraqi Kurdish fighters

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 03:39 AM PDT

Iraqi Kurdish forces hold a position near Al-Assal village, west of Kirkuk, on February 1, 2015, after retaking the area from Islamic State (IS) fightersThe Islamic State group claimed to have beheaded three Iraqi Kurdish fighters in an online video and threatened to kill more unless the Kurds stop bombardment of jihadist-controlled areas. Peshmerga forces from Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, backed by US-led air strikes, are battling IS in the country's north and have pushed the jihadists back in Nineveh and Kirkuk provinces. The video starts with images of people being brought to a hospital and a voiceover saying that they were wounded by peshmerga rocket fire. The video was said to have been filmed in Nineveh province, though the exact location was unclear, and there was no immediate confirmation from Kurdish authorities that the victims were peshmerga.


Former Australian leader Malcolm Fraser dead at 84

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 03:02 AM PDT

Australian former prime minister Malcolm Fraser laughs during the launch of his first political memoir at the University of Melbourne's Law School, March 4, 2010Former conservative prime minister Malcolm Fraser, who came to power in 1975 after Australia's greatest constitutional crisis, died on Friday after a short illness at the age of 84. His death came just five months after the demise of Gough Whitlam, the man Fraser replaced after the Labor figure became Australia's only prime minister to be sacked. "It is with deep sadness that we inform you that after a brief illness John Malcolm Fraser died peacefully in the early hours of the morning of 20 March 2015," a statement said. Fraser, from Australia's conservative Liberal Party, began his term as the country's 22nd prime minister after the representative of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, Sir John Kerr, dismissed Whitlam's government in November 1975 in a constitutional crisis.


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