Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Spanish police arrest 4 suspected members of a jihadi cell
• Japan PM Abe: Execution of Japan captive 'outrageous,' 'impermissible'
• Clint Eastwood on 'American Sniper's' "Biggest Antiwar Statement"
• Group says 'American Sniper' film spurs threats against Muslims
• US Muslims threatened after 'American Sniper'
• How an ISIS Beheading Might Change Japan
• Obama, Cameron condemn Japan hostage 'murder'
• Japan, US condemn unverified video claiming IS hostage dead
• Spain arrests four suspected jihadists
• Kerry to visit Nigeria ahead of election
• Canadian pleads not guilty in US terror case
• Coalition air raids back up Kurdish advance in Iraq: US
• Obama to cut short India trip to pay call on Saudi Arabia
• Libyan extremist group says leader has been killed
• Bank of Japan's Kuroda praises 'big decision' by ECB
• Officials say bombings kill 13 people in Iraq's capital
• Australian women 'joining IS foreign fighters'
• Spain arrests four in swoop of suspected militant cell in north Africa
• Dignitaries head to Saudi Arabia after King Abdullah's death
• U.S., allies conduct air strikes in Syria and Iraq
• Reuters Sports Schedule at 1400 GMT on Saturday, Jan 24
• War Films and 'It' Girls: The Week in Pop-Culture Writing
• Low oil prices chill a once-hot oil town in North Dakota
• Police arrest four suspected Islamist militants in Spain
• Ukraine headache grows for IMF
• Kurdish forces fire into Islamic State-controlled Mosul
• Kerry calls for more resources in anti-extremist fight, warns of Islamophobia
• 5 things to know: Why crisis in Yemen matters to Americans
• Iraq hero Mahmoud dreaming of Asian Cup repeat
• Today in History
• Mosul strikes are start of new effort against Islamic State

Spanish police arrest 4 suspected members of a jihadi cell Posted: 24 Jan 2015 04:50 PM PST MADRID (AP) — Spanish National Police arrested four suspected jihadis Saturday in the country's North African enclave of Ceuta who allegedly had formed a terror cell and were ready to carry out an attack, the Interior Ministry said.

Japan PM Abe: Execution of Japan captive 'outrageous,' 'impermissible' Posted: 24 Jan 2015 04:27 PM PST Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Sunday the apparent killing of a Japanese captive by Islamic State militants was "outrageous" and impermissible," and called again for the release of a Japanese journalist being held by the group. Abe also said that Japan would not give in to terrorism. He made the remarks to public broadcaster NHK after a video surfaced that Japanese captive Haruna Yukawa had been killed.

Clint Eastwood on 'American Sniper's' "Biggest Antiwar Statement" Posted: 24 Jan 2015 03:43 PM PST The 'American Sniper' filmmaker, in his role as producer, took part in the Producers Guild of America's annual Nominees Breakfast

Group says 'American Sniper' film spurs threats against Muslims Posted: 24 Jan 2015 03:26 PM PST By Mark Guarino CHICAGO (Reuters) - An Arab-American civil rights organization has asked "American Sniper" director Clint Eastwood and actor Bradley Cooper to denounce hateful language directed at U.S. Arabs and Muslims after the release of the film about a Navy marksman. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) said in a letter to Eastwood and Cooper that its members had become targets of "violent threats" since early last week, before "American Sniper" went into general release. The ADC said it was working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and police to assess the threats. The film tells the story of Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL sniper.

US Muslims threatened after 'American Sniper' Posted: 24 Jan 2015 02:47 PM PST Muslims are facing increased threats in the United States after the release of the movie "American Sniper," an American-Arab organization said in letters to director Clint Eastwood and star Bradley Cooper. In the open letters released earlier this week, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) said there has been a spike in violent threats against Muslims due to the film that portrays the story of an American sniper during the Iraq war. "A majority of the violent threats we have seen over the past few days are (a) result of how Arab and Muslims are depicted in American Sniper," the ADC said.

How an ISIS Beheading Might Change Japan Posted: 24 Jan 2015 02:35 PM PST A video released on Islamic State-affiliated Twitter accounts show the apparent beheading of Haruna Yukawa, a 42-year-old Japanese citizen who had been held captive by ISIS forces since last August. Yukawa's death hasn't been independently verified, but the Japanese government said it believes the video to be authentic. The beheading came days after ISIS demanded Japan pay a $200 million ransom to free Yukawa and Kenji Goto, a 47-year-old journalist and fellow captive. The Japanese government had pledged to free the hostages, but said it would not "bow to terrorism." According to Goto, who spoke in the video that showed Yukawa's purported execution, ISIS will free him if Sajida Mubarak al-Rishawi, a female affiliate currently imprisoned in Jordan, is released.

Obama, Cameron condemn Japan hostage 'murder' Posted: 24 Jan 2015 02:15 PM PST US President Barack Obama strongly condemned the killing of one of two Japanese hostages by the Islamic State group, announced in a video that has not yet been officially authenticated. Obama's comments, echoed Saturday by British Prime Minister David Cameron who condemned the group's "murderous barbarity," suggested that Western intelligence had authenticated the video posted online. The nearly three-minute recording shows a still image of Kenji Goto holding an apparent photograph of Haruna Yukawa's slain body, with an audio recording in which Goto spoke of the IS group's demand for a prisoner exchange to guarantee his release.

Japan, US condemn unverified video claiming IS hostage dead Posted: 24 Jan 2015 01:59 PM PST TOKYO (AP) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe angrily demanded Sunday that the extremist Islamic State group release a Japanese journalist it is holding hostage after a new online video purported to show that another hostage had been killed.

Spain arrests four suspected jihadists Posted: 24 Jan 2015 01:25 PM PST Spanish police on Saturday arrested four suspected Islamist extremists who were prepared to launch attacks in Spain, the government said. Officers detained two pairs of brothers, Spaniards of Moroccan origin, in the Spanish territory of Ceuta bordering Morocco, the interior ministry said in a statement. Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz compared the suspects to the two brothers -- Cherif and Said Kouachi -- who killed 12 people in an attack on the Paris offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The Ceuta suspects resembled the Paris attackers in their "physical and psychological preparation and their skill in using weapons", he told reporters.

Kerry to visit Nigeria ahead of election Posted: 24 Jan 2015 01:20 PM PST ZURICH (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's plan to stop in Nigeria for meetings with the two leading candidates in the upcoming presidential election signals deep U.S. concerns about postelection violence in a country already devastated by an al-Qaida-linked insurgency.

Canadian pleads not guilty in US terror case Posted: 24 Jan 2015 12:47 PM PST NEW YORK (AP) — A Canadian man pleaded not guilty Saturday to U.S. charges that he sent money and provided other long-distance support to Tunisian jihadists believed responsible for a 2009 suicide attack in Iraq that killed five American soldiers.

Coalition air raids back up Kurdish advance in Iraq: US Posted: 24 Jan 2015 12:09 PM PST US-led forces have carried out dozens of air strikes in Iraq to back up Kurdish forces advancing against Islamic State jihadists near the strategic city of Mosul, the American military said Saturday. Over the past 72 hours, US and coalition aircraft conducted 46 bombing raids in support of Kurdish peshmerga troops near Mosul and 80 hours of reconnaissance flights, the military said in a statement. Kurdish officials said previously that they cut a key road that links Mosul with Tal Afar to the west.

Obama to cut short India trip to pay call on Saudi Arabia Posted: 24 Jan 2015 11:52 AM PST RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AP) — President Barack Obama will shorten his trip to India and divert to Saudi Arabia, paying respects after the death of King Abdullah and meeting with the oil-rich nation's new monarch, the White House said Saturday.

Libyan extremist group says leader has been killed Posted: 24 Jan 2015 11:49 AM PST CAIRO (AP) — Benghazi-based extremist Islamic militant group Ansar al-Shariah said Saturday its leader Mohammed al-Zahawi has been killed.

Bank of Japan's Kuroda praises 'big decision' by ECB Posted: 24 Jan 2015 10:58 AM PST Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Saturday urged a Davos panel not to succumb to pessimism over the state of the world economy, as he welcomed the "big decision" by the ECB to embark on a huge bond-buying spree. Kuroda was addressing the closing event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the four-day gathering that brings together 2,500 of the world's most influential executives and leaders. "Some of the pessimism prevailing in Davos this year is a bit exaggerated," Kuroda said in a talk that also included his counterpart Mark Carney from the Bank of England and Benoit Coeure, executive board member of the European Central Bank. The panel took place two days after the ECB announced a 1.14-trillion-euro ($1.27-trillion) bond-buying programme, or quantitative easing (QE), unleashed to avert deflation in a eurozone stuck at near zero-growth amid high unemployment.

Officials say bombings kill 13 people in Iraq's capital Posted: 24 Jan 2015 10:07 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — A series of bombings, mainly targeting Shiite neighborhoods, killed at least 13 people in Baghdad on Saturday, said Iraqi officials.

Australian women 'joining IS foreign fighters' Posted: 24 Jan 2015 08:25 AM PST Increasing numbers of young women are altering the profile of Australians joining the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq and Syria, Attorney-General George Brandis said Saturday, enticed by the "false glamour" of the organisation. "At an earlier time, perhaps even six months ago, we were concerned almost entirely about young men," Brandis said, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). "But a more recent estimate by the national security agencies suggests that a growing number of young women are travelling to participate in that fighting as well." Brandis said about 90 Australians were now believed to be caught up in the conflict, compared to 70 last year, the ABC reported. Ever more young people were being "enticed and ensnared here in Australia with the false glamour of participating in the civil war on behalf of ISIL, or Daesh," he added, using alternative acronyms for the group.

Spain arrests four in swoop of suspected militant cell in north Africa Posted: 24 Jan 2015 07:49 AM PST Police in Spain's north African enclave of Ceuta arrested four men on Saturday suspected of belonging to a militant Islamist network that may have been planning an attack in Spain, the interior ministry said. Spain has stepped up security as well as efforts to prevent the radicalization of young Muslim citizens following attacks in Paris this month in which Islamist gunmen killed 17 people. "The four men, of Spanish nationality and Moroccan origin, have a very similar profile to those who carried out the attacks in Paris," the interior ministry said in a statement. "They are two pairs of brothers, highly radicalized and highly trained," Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz told reporters.

Dignitaries head to Saudi Arabia after King Abdullah's death Posted: 24 Jan 2015 06:18 AM PST RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — World leaders and top dignitaries began arriving in Saudi Arabia on Saturday to give their condolences following the death of King Abdullah, who died early Friday at age 90 after nearly two decades at the helm.

U.S., allies conduct air strikes in Syria and Iraq Posted: 24 Jan 2015 06:09 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its coalition partners have launched another round of air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, conducting 26 strikes since early Friday. In a statement on Saturday from the Combined Joint Task Force leading the military operation, officials said 13 strikes hit in Syria and also 13 hit in Iraq. In Syria, 12 air strikes targeted Islamic State positions near Kobani. In Iraq, five strikes hit near Mosul and five near Tal Afar, the statement said. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Toby Chopra)

Reuters Sports Schedule at 1400 GMT on Saturday, Jan 24 Posted: 24 Jan 2015 06:00 AM PST Reuters sports schedule at 1400 GMT on Saturday: - - - - TENNIS Australian Open, Melbourne (to Feb 1) Nadal and Murray bid for quarter-finals MELBOURNE - Sixth seed Andy Murray faces off with his Wimbledon nemesis Grigor Dimitrov in a fourth-round clash, with third seed Rafa Nadal and top women's contender Maria Sharapova also in action on day seven at Melbourne Park (TENNIS-OPEN/ (PIX), expect throughout, by Ian Ransom and Greg Stutchbury) MELBOURNE - Top seed Serena Williams and older sister Venus led a foursome of American women into the fourth round, while men's top seed Novak Djokovic ...

War Films and 'It' Girls: The Week in Pop-Culture Writing Posted: 24 Jan 2015 05:30 AM PST I Served in Iraq, and American Sniper Gets It Right. But It's Still Not the War Film We Need. Brian Turner | Vulture "The children of Iraq have far more to teach me about the war I fought in than any film I've yet seen."

Low oil prices chill a once-hot oil town in North Dakota Posted: 24 Jan 2015 05:00 AM PST Emptiness along the newly built road is a portrait of the "echo economy" – an America that looks at plummeting oil prices not as a sign of savings at the pump, but as potential trouble ahead. They are towns as remote as Crosby, where the recent oil boom drove rents to San Francisco levels, or as familiar as Houston, a metropolis bracing for as many as 75,000 layoffs. The oil and gas industry created more than 100,000 US jobs between 2007 and 2013 – a 40 percent increase in US energy industry jobs and a 1 percent boost in total US employment. In many ways, this lonely swath of North Dakota is a bellwether for America's energy economy.

Police arrest four suspected Islamist militants in Spain Posted: 24 Jan 2015 04:55 AM PST Police in Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta arrested four men on Saturday suspected of belonging to a militant Islamist network that may have been planning an attack in Spain, the interior ministry said. Spain has stepped up security as well as efforts to prevent the radicalisation of young Muslim citizens following attacks in Paris this month in which Islamist gunmen killed 17 people. Confirming the arrests, Spanish Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz told reporters: "They are two pairs of brothers,highly radicalised and highly trained." Diaz said there were "many parallels" with the two brothers who attacked the Paris office of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo earlier this month, shooting dead 12 people. El Mundo newspaper quoted Diaz as saying the four detained brothers were of Moroccan origin but held Spanish nationality.

Ukraine headache grows for IMF Posted: 24 Jan 2015 03:25 AM PST The International Monetary Fund is far from being done with Ukraine, its latest mega-bailout client. A new aid plan for Kiev -- larger and longer -- is under discussion and raises the risk for the global crisis lender as Ukraine sinks deeper into war against pro-Moscow separatists. The original program "was based on unrealistic economic and political assumptions and didn't take enough into account the impact of the war in the east," explained Lubomir Mitov, an expert on the Ukraine economy at the Institute of International Finance, the global banking lobby. Talks are well underway, with a proposal planned for submission to the IMF board expected by the end of the month.

Kurdish forces fire into Islamic State-controlled Mosul Posted: 24 Jan 2015 03:04 AM PST Kurdish forces have fired rockets into Mosul for the first time since Islamic State militants overran the northern Iraqi city last summer, Kurdish military sources said on Saturday. A Kurdish officer said 20 Grad missiles had been launched into Mosul on Friday after receiving information that Islamic State militants were gathering to meet near the city's Zuhour neighborhood. "We hit their positions," said Captain Shivan Ahmed, who belongs to the unit that fired the rockets from around 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Mosul. Kurdish officials said the strikes had hit their intended target, but two residents of Mosul contacted by Reuters said three civilians were killed in the attack.

Kerry calls for more resources in anti-extremist fight, warns of Islamophobia Posted: 24 Jan 2015 12:23 AM PST By Warren Strobel DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Countries must devote more resources to fight global extremism, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday, but the battle would falter if it becomes consumed by sectarian division or Islamophobia. Speaking against a backdrop of deadly Islamist militant attacks in France, Pakistan, Nigeria and elsewhere, Kerry told leaders at the annual World Economic Forum: "These kinds of actions can never be excused. Shortly before, President Francois Hollande of France, which is still reeling from the killing of 17 people by Islamist gunmen in Paris two weeks ago, urged global business leaders to help fight terrorism by cracking down on money laundering and trafficking. Kerry also announced he would travel on Sunday to Nigeria, Africa's most populous country battered by an Islamist Boko Haram insurgency that has killed thousands of people.

5 things to know: Why crisis in Yemen matters to Americans Posted: 24 Jan 2015 12:17 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Yemen's U.S.-backed president stepped down this week after Houthi rebels seized the capital of Sanaa, further destabilizing the region and hampering America's ability to fight al-Qaida and other extremists targeting the West. The country's parliament will meet Sunday, but the government's future is unclear.

Iraq hero Mahmoud dreaming of Asian Cup repeat Posted: 24 Jan 2015 12:15 AM PST Iraq hero Younis Mahmoud said he's dreaming of an incredible repeat Asian Cup win after taking centre-stage once again as they reached the semi-finals in dramatic fashion. Mahmoud, 31, made light of a cauldron atmosphere in Canberra to chip a "panenka" penalty past Iranian keeper Alireza Haghighi as Iraq snatched the shoot-out 7-6. "I did it because I wanted to send a message to my players not to worry, look how easy it is to score," said Mahmoud, who scored Iraq's second as it finished 3-3 after extra time. Friday's upset win over the three-time champions puts Iraq into a semi-final against South Korea and tantalisingly close to a second fairytale triumph in eight years.

Today in History Posted: 23 Jan 2015 09:00 PM PST Today is Saturday, Jan. 24, the 24th day of 2015. There are 341 days left in the year.

Mosul strikes are start of new effort against Islamic State Posted: 23 Jan 2015 07:42 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — An uptick in airstrikes in northern Iraq this past week marks the beginning of a broader effort to disrupt Islamic State supply lines ahead of an expected operation later this year to take back the city from militants, U.S. military officials said Friday.

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