Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Boston bomber Tsarnaev sentenced to death
• Obama seeks to reassure Gulf allies, sees no early end to Syria war
• US insists IS on 'defensive' despite advances in Iraq
• Islamic State raises flag over local government HQ in Iraq's Ramadi
• US plays down IS militants' gains in Iraq
• O'Malley calls death penalty 'ineffective'
• Belmokhtar rejects IS allegiance pledge: Mauritanian agency
• IS seizes government HQ in Iraq's Ramadi
• IS kills Syria civilians in advance on ancient Palmyra
• Jihadists in Iraq and Syria: a timeline
• Foreign ownership of US debt rises; China reclaims top spot
• IS group seizes government compound in Iraq's Ramadi
• Baath party TV releases recording of Saddam deputy
• Russia voices worry over Macedonian violence
• Iran minister says nuclear deal likely if partners serious
• UNESCO chief alarmed by clashes near Syria's ancient Palmyra
• Baghdadi message reaffirms IS leadership
• U.S.-led coalition launches 24 air strikes against Islamic State -task force
• Highlights of $612 billion defense bill approved by House
• Latest war adds new generation of mental trauma in Iraq
• IRAQ RAMADI
• U.S. Air Strikes Target Hidden ISIS Forces
• Jeb Bush on Disagreeing With Family: 'I Have a Hard Time With That'
• The best & brightest MBAs in the class of 2015
• Pakistan officials question group's claim of Islamic State funding
• Nicolle Wallace talks about her new book, 2016 and life on ‘The View’
• House set to pass defense policy bill opposed by Obama
• IS on the offensive in Iraq's Anbar region
• As Jeb Bush Bumbles, Rubio Seizes a Moment
• Russ Feingold Wants a Rematch
• Bosnia indicts 12 for fighting in Syria, Iraq
• Obama vows to keep Arab allies secure amid Iran deal fears
• Quotations in the News
• Our Next Mideast War -- Syria
• Ex-Soviet Central Asia raises alarm over IS recruitment
• Today in History
• Spike Lee Defends 'Chiraq' Film: "Let's Not Put the Loss of Property and Profit Over Human Life"
• Anti-IS coalition pledges 'no ransoms' for hostages
• Court vacates $85 million award for Oregon National Guardsmen in Iraq health case

Boston bomber Tsarnaev sentenced to death Posted: 15 May 2015 04:36 PM PDT A US jury on Friday sentenced 21-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death for his role in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, one of the worst assaults on American soil since the September 11, 2001 attacks. The same 12-member panel of jurors convicted him on April 8 on all 30 counts relating to the April 15, 2013 bombings, the murder of a police officer, a carjacking and a shootout while on the run. Tsarnaev went on the run and was arrested four days later, hiding and injured in a grounded boat on which he had scrawled a bloody message defending the attacks as a means to avenge US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He showed no emotion as he stood, flanked by female lawyers and wearing a dark blazer with his hands clasped before him as the court clerk declared the death penalty verdict before a hushed room.

Obama seeks to reassure Gulf allies, sees no early end to Syria war Posted: 15 May 2015 04:30 PM PDT By Rania El Gamal and Sami Aboudi DUBAI (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday that Washington would help Gulf allies face conventional military aggression but also get them to work more in their own defence against any unconventional menace, such as destabilising Iranian actions in the region. Obama said Syria's civil war would "probably not" end before he left office, describing the situation as heartbreaking but adding that Washington could never on its own have brought that conflict to an end. Many states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are critical of what they see as Obama's hesitant approach to the war in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad is backed by their regional rival Iran.

US insists IS on 'defensive' despite advances in Iraq Posted: 15 May 2015 04:19 PM PDT The IS group's latest advances in Ramadi, where the extremists seized a government compound, did not represent a setback, said Brigadier General Thomas Weidley, chief of staff of the US command overseeing the American-led air war against the IS group. "We firmly believe Daesh is on the defensive throughout Iraq and Syria," Weidley told reporters in a teleconference, using an alternative acronym for the IS group. Despite months of US-led bombing raids, the Iraqi army has struggled to gain the upper hand against the IS group in western Anbar province as well as in Baiji, north of Baghdad. IS fighters had staged a "complex attack" earlier Friday in Ramadi, the capital of western Anbar province, and Iraqi government forces managed "to repel most of these attacks but some gains were made" by the jihadists, Weidley said.

Islamic State raises flag over local government HQ in Iraq's Ramadi Posted: 15 May 2015 03:21 PM PDT Islamic State militants raised their black flag over the local government headquarters in the Iraqi city of Ramadi on Friday and claimed victory through mosque loudspeakers after overrunning most of the western provincial capital. If Ramadi were to fall it would be the first major city seized by the insurgents in Iraq since security forces and paramilitary groups began pushing them back last year. The insurgents attacked Ramadi overnight using six suicide car bombs to reach the city centre, where the Anbar provincial government compound is located, police sources said. Fighting continued in one district of Ramadi, 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad, and government forces were still in control of a military command centre to the west of the city.

US plays down IS militants' gains in Iraq Posted: 15 May 2015 03:20 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite major new setbacks in Iraq, the U.S. military command leading the fight against Islamic State militants insisted Friday that its strategy is working and that the militants' takeover of a key oil refinery and a government compound are fleeting gains feeding an IS propaganda machine.

O'Malley calls death penalty 'ineffective' Posted: 15 May 2015 02:59 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley says he respects the verdict of the jury in the Boston Marathon bombing case but remains opposed to the death penalty and considers it "ineffective."

Belmokhtar rejects IS allegiance pledge: Mauritanian agency Posted: 15 May 2015 01:51 PM PDT Algerian jihadist commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar distanced himself on Friday from a pledge of allegiance made by his jihadist group to the Islamic State organisation, Mauritanian media reported. Belmokhtar's north African Al-Murabitoun group was linked to Al-Qaeda but a recording broadcast by Mauritanian news agency Al-Akhbar on Thursday said it was aligning itself with the IS organisation and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. It quoted Belmokhtar as saying Al-Murabitoun would continue its backing for the Egyptian Ayman al-Zawihiri, the worldwide leader of al-Qaeda, wanted for attacks in the United States, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Al-Akhbar said Thursday's pledge of allegiance was read out on behalf of Adnan Abu Walid Sahraoui, adding that it was clear that he had become the group's leader, since only the chief has the right to sign such a declaration.

IS seizes government HQ in Iraq's Ramadi Posted: 15 May 2015 01:41 PM PDT Islamic State fighters seized the government compound in the city of Ramadi on Friday and edged closer to what would be their biggest victory in Iraq this year, officials said. The loss of the capital of Anbar province, which Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had said would be the next target of government forces after wresting back Tikrit last month, would be a major setback. The government stressed that Ramadi had not fallen yet and announced that a major counter-offensive was under way as Abadi held an emergency meeting with top security officials. IS has threatened to take control of Ramadi for months, and the breakthrough came after a wide offensive on multiple fronts in the province, including an assault using several suicide car bombs in Ramadi on Thursday.

IS kills Syria civilians in advance on ancient Palmyra Posted: 15 May 2015 01:38 PM PDT Extremists from the Islamic State jihadist group executed at least 23 civilians on Friday as they advanced towards Syria's ancient desert metropolis of Palmyra, a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said nine children were among the 23 shot dead by IS militants near the UNESCO world heritage site. "The Islamic State group executed by gunfire 23 civilians, including nine children, in the village of Amiriyeh, north of Tadmor," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. Palmyra, which means City of Palms, is known in Arabic as Tadmor, or City of Dates.

Jihadists in Iraq and Syria: a timeline Posted: 15 May 2015 01:33 PM PDT Beirut (AFP) - The main dates concerning jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria, notably the Islamic State which has seized swathes of territory in both countries and made new gains on Friday.

Foreign ownership of US debt rises; China reclaims top spot Posted: 15 May 2015 01:28 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Foreign holdings of U.S. debt rose in March as China ramped up its purchases and displaced Japan as the leading owner of U.S. Treasury securities.

IS group seizes government compound in Iraq's Ramadi Posted: 15 May 2015 12:50 PM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Islamic State militants seized the main government headquarters in Ramadi, raising their black flag over the compound and setting it ablaze hours after a series of suicide car bombings heralded the start of a major new offensive by the extremists on the strategic city.

Baath party TV releases recording of Saddam deputy Posted: 15 May 2015 12:18 PM PDT The TV channel of Iraq's former ruling Baath party on Friday released an audio recording purportedly of the elusive Saddam Hussein deputy some officials said had been killed last month. Several officials and leaders of Shiite militia groups had claimed to have killed Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri more than a month ago near the city of Tikrit. Friday's audio recording was released by the Baath party's Al-Tagheer channel. "Nukhayb represents a strategic position for Iran inside Iraq, and one of the aims of occupying Nukhayb is to open a front against Saudi Arabia, and connect with the fronts in Syria and Lebanon after the northern passages were closed," he said.

Russia voices worry over Macedonian violence Posted: 15 May 2015 11:33 AM PDT Russia's foreign minister said Friday that Moscow was worried about the stability of Macedonia and the whole Balkans region after a recent eruption of deadly violence there. "The latest events in Macedonia are very worrying... as well as terrorist tendencies emerging in the Balkans," Sergei Lavrov told reporters in the Serbian capital. The incident came amid a political crisis in the country, with an ongoing struggle between Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and main opposition party leader Zoran Zaev that has sparked clashes in the streets of the capital Skopje.

Iran minister says nuclear deal likely if partners serious Posted: 15 May 2015 11:30 AM PDT Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif voiced optimism about reaching a nuclear deal with world powers in comments published Friday by German newsweekly Der Spiegel. Arab and largely Sunni Muslim states of the Gulf fear a nuclear deal could be a harbinger of closer US ties with their Persian and Shiite arch-foe Iran, a country they also see as fuelling conflicts in Yemen, Syria and Iraq. The United States as well as Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany are in the midst of negotiations with Tehran to finalise a deal by June 30 that would prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, in exchange for an easing of crippling economic sanctions. US President Barack Obama tried to reassure America's Gulf allies at a Camp David summit Thursday that engaging with Iran would not come at their expense.

UNESCO chief alarmed by clashes near Syria's ancient Palmyra Posted: 15 May 2015 11:29 AM PDT BEIRUT (AP) — The U.N. cultural agency expressed alarm Friday over clashes between Islamic State militants and Syrian government forces near the ancient city of Palmyra — one of the Middle East's most famous UNESCO world heritage sites.

Baghdadi message reaffirms IS leadership Posted: 15 May 2015 11:28 AM PDT The Islamic State's release of an audio message by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi reaffirmed his leadership of the group following a six-month silence and rumours over his health. In his half-hour speech posted on jihadist forums on Thursday, Baghdadi calls for a general mobilisation and urges all Muslims to move to the caliphate he proclaimed last year or wage jihad (holy war) wherever they are. Rumours emerged last month that Baghdadi was seriously wounded in a March air strike and had relinquished the organisation's leadership to a militant called Abu Alaa al-Afari. The recording provides no clues as to Baghdadi's health but largely dispels any notion he is no longer the overall leader of an organisation which now claims branches all over the region, as well as in Asia and Africa.

U.S.-led coalition launches 24 air strikes against Islamic State -task force Posted: 15 May 2015 11:11 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its allies conducted 24 air strikes since early on Thursday targeting Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, the Combined Joint Task Force carrying out the operations said. In Syria, 12 air strikes hit near Al Hasakah, Kobani and other towns, the task force said in a statement Friday. In Iraq, 12 strikes hit buildings and other structures near Bayji, Fallujah, Ramadi and other towns, it said. (Reporting by Washington newsroom)

Highlights of $612 billion defense bill approved by House Posted: 15 May 2015 10:54 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Highlights of a $612 billion defense policy bill for next year that the House approved Friday by 269-151, despite a threatened veto by President Barack Obama:

Latest war adds new generation of mental trauma in Iraq Posted: 15 May 2015 10:46 AM PDT CHAMISHKO CAMP, Iraq (AP) — The group of women, members of Iraq's Yazidi religious minority, first did deep breathing as a relaxation technique. Then, as their children played in the center of the room, they talked about the traumas they had lived through when Islamic State extremists rampaged through their town.

IRAQ RAMADI Posted: 15 May 2015 09:47 AM PDT Map locates Ramadi in Iraq, where Islamic State militants captured the main government building on Friday; 1c x 3 inches; 46.5 mm x 76 mm;

U.S. Air Strikes Target Hidden ISIS Forces Posted: 15 May 2015 09:40 AM PDT After directing most of its fire power to blowing up buildings in Iraq and Syria in pursuit of ISIS terrorists, the U.S and allied forces more recently have altered their tactics by going after smaller targets to flush out and kill the enemy, according to the Pentagon. Recent allied successes -- including the Iraqi government forces' reclaiming of the northern city of Tikrit from ISIS terrorists – has underscored the importance of U.S. air power being used in close coordination with Iraqi and other allies on the ground. Rick Brennan, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation who spent five years as a senior adviser to the U.S. military in Iraq, told Defense One that ISIS is providing fewer large targets for coalition strikes.

Jeb Bush on Disagreeing With Family: 'I Have a Hard Time With That' Posted: 15 May 2015 08:50 AM PDT Jeb Bush seems to have a talking point to explain why he hesitated so long to say, in hindsight, that the Iraq war was a mistake: He won't "go out of way" to disagree with his brother.Bush said those words both at a press gaggle after the town hall where he finally gave his Iraq answer and in a speech to the RNC's spring meeting in Flagstaff Thursday night. ...

The best & brightest MBAs in the class of 2015 Posted: 15 May 2015 07:51 AM PDT The best of the Class of 2015 is a rich and widely diverse group of talented young professionals who upend the stereotypes that MBAs are detached quants and sharp-elbowed climbers. They are former marines, athletes, actors, and lawyers.

Pakistan officials question group's claim of Islamic State funding Posted: 15 May 2015 07:38 AM PDT By Saud Mehsud DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - The militant group that said it was behind Wednesday's massacre of 45 commuters in Karachi is a dangerous outfit with ties to Pakistan's Taliban, but intelligence sources voiced doubts about claims it had received financial support from Islamic State. Jundullah, a Sunni Muslim organization that targets Pakistan's minority Shi'ite community, pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS) last year, one of several smaller jihadist groups in South Asia to do so.

Nicolle Wallace talks about her new book, 2016 and life on ‘The View’ Posted: 15 May 2015 06:46 AM PDT Few people know the ins and outs of Washington politics and the White House better than Nicolle Wallace. Wallace served as communications chief under President George W. Bush and as a senior advisor for the McCain-Palin campaign. She is currently the co-host of ABC's "The View." She is also an accomplished author — her latest novel, "Madam President" is the third in a trilogy about a fictional Republican president who also happens to be the first female president of the United States. Her vice president is also a woman — and a Democrat. Her secretary of state? You guessed it: female.

House set to pass defense policy bill opposed by Obama Posted: 15 May 2015 05:37 AM PDT The House is on track to pass a nearly $612 billion defense policy bill, a measure that usually garners bipartisan support but this year has drawn a veto threat from President Barack Obama, angered a Shiite ...

IS on the offensive in Iraq's Anbar region Posted: 15 May 2015 03:38 AM PDT The Islamic State group has launched attacks on multiple fronts in Iraq's western province of Anbar, in its latest attempt to retake the initiative on the ground, sources on both sides said. Jihadist fighters gained fresh ground in the provincial capital Ramadi during the past 48 hours, also launching attacks near Fallujah and taking over the small town of Jubbah in western Anbar.

As Jeb Bush Bumbles, Rubio Seizes a Moment Posted: 15 May 2015 03:37 AM PDT For Jeb Bush, the timing couldn't have been worse. While he was struggling on Wednesday to explain his views on his brother's decision to invade Iraq in 2003, his one-time protégé and now GOP presidential rival Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) was artfully burnishing his foreign policy credentials with a major speech in New York. The former two-term Florida governor and brother of former GOP president George W. Bush for now rides relatively high in the national polls and is raking in tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions that will assure that he runs a first-rate campaign.

Russ Feingold Wants a Rematch Posted: 15 May 2015 03:03 AM PDT Timing may be everything in politics, but it hasn't been kind to Russ Feingold. When the former—and perhaps future—Wisconsin senator was supporting gay marriage and railing against corporate welfare, trade deals, the Iraq War, and the Patriot Act, his was a lonely voice in the Democratic Party. Feingold lost an election he surely would have won had it occurred two years earlier or later. For starters, unlike in 2010 he'll be running in a presidential-election year, and the Democratic nominee has carried Wisconsin every four years since 1984.

Bosnia indicts 12 for fighting in Syria, Iraq Posted: 15 May 2015 02:49 AM PDT Bosnia has indicted 12 people for forming a terrorist group and traveling to Syria and Iraq to fight for the Islamic State, the state prosecutor's office said on Friday. "The accused are charged with... accepting radical ideology of the so-called Islamic State organized on the territory of Syria and Iraq, collecting means and leaving Bosnia to join terrorist organizations," it said. It said the men had left for Turkey during 2013 and 2014 and from there illegaly crossed into Syria, where they stayed for several months and took part in terrorist activities. The Islamic State group has seized large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq, imposing a radical interpretation of Islam and calling on muslims to support their campaign.

Obama vows to keep Arab allies secure amid Iran deal fears Posted: 15 May 2015 12:48 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Charging toward an Iran nuclear agreement, President Barack Obama is assuring Arab allies that they are safe from the threat of an empowered Tehran as he seeks to shore up some of America's most critical security partnerships. However, Obama's claim of winning Arab support for his nuclear diplomacy appears far from certain.

Quotations in the News Posted: 15 May 2015 12:02 AM PDT "He would go on vacation and bring back subway maps. He would go places with his family, and he would talk about the trains instead of the places." — Stefanie McGee, on friend and Amtrak engineer Brandon Bostian, who operated the train involved in the deadly derailment in Philadelphia this week.

Our Next Mideast War -- Syria Posted: 15 May 2015 12:00 AM PDT Jeb Bush has spent the week debating with himself over whether he would have started the war his brother launched on Iraq. When he figures it out, hopefully, our would-be president will focus in on the campaign to drag us into yet another Mideast war — this time to bring down Bashar Assad's regime in Syria. While few would mourn the passing of the Assad dynasty, there is a problem: If Assad falls, a slaughter of Christians will follow and the battle for control of Damascus will be between the Syrian branch of al-Qaida, the Nusra Front, and the crazed terrorists of the Islamic State. Turkey, which turned a blind eye to ISIS volunteers slipping into Syria, has aided the Nusra Front in setting up its own capital in Idlib, near the Turkish border, to rival the ISIS capital of Raqqa.

Ex-Soviet Central Asia raises alarm over IS recruitment Posted: 14 May 2015 10:21 PM PDT Farrukh Sharifov, a 25-year-old Tajik who repented after joining the Islamic State group in Syria, spoke softly as he addressed a room full of journalists and police in his Central Asian homeland. "Hundreds and hundreds of young men from the countries of Central Asia go to war in Syria," Sharifov warned at a press conference last week called by Tajikistan's authoritarian government. Ex-Soviet Tajikistan, where remittances from migrants working in Russia account for around half of economic output, is the poorest of five former communist republics in Central Asia.

Today in History Posted: 14 May 2015 09:00 PM PDT Today is Friday, May 15, the 135th day of 2015. There are 230 days left in the year.

Spike Lee Defends 'Chiraq' Film: "Let's Not Put the Loss of Property and Profit Over Human Life" Posted: 14 May 2015 09:00 PM PDT Joined by John Cusack, the filmmaker — whose latest project title references Chicago's gun violence and war-torn Iraq — responded to critics worried about the city's business and tourism.

Anti-IS coalition pledges 'no ransoms' for hostages Posted: 14 May 2015 07:42 PM PDT Members of a US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State jihadist group vowed to stick by global resolutions to refuse to pay ransoms for citizens held hostage by militants, US officials said. The pledge to abide by UN Security Council resolutions came after some 25 members of the coalition Counter-ISIL Finance Group met in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on May 7. A communique issued by the group "rejects the payment or facilitation of ransoms to ISIL, so as to deny ISIL an important source of funds and remove a key incentive for ISIL to engage in further kidnapping or hostage-taking activities," the US Treasury and State Departments said. The group, co-chaired by Italy, Saudi Arabia and the United States, was set up in Brussels in 2014 as part of US-led efforts to fight the militants also known by the acronym, ISIL.

Court vacates $85 million award for Oregon National Guardsmen in Iraq health case Posted: 14 May 2015 06:57 PM PDT By Shelby Sebens PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned on Thursday a jury verdict awarding $85 million to 12 Army National Guardsmen who accused defense contractor KBR of failing to protect them from cancer-causing chemicals when they served in Iraq. An Oregon jury awarded each of the guardsmen $850,000 in noneconomic damages and another $6.25 million in punitive damages in 2012 for "reckless and outrageous indifference" to their health while they were providing security for civilian workers restoring an Iraq oil industry water plant in 2003 after the U.S.-led invasion. The appeals court agreed and referred it back to Oregon district court where it could be either dismissed or transferred to another court, KBR lead trial attorney Geoffrey Harrison said. "The court of appeals ruling is exactly what KBR asked the district court to do nearly five years ago and it is the exact result that KBR sought in this appeal, which is vacating the legally and factually incorrect judgment of the trial court in its entirety," Harrison said.

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