Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• 26 killed as attacks rock Egypt's Sinai
• Jordan still holding prisoner demanded by Islamic State as deadline passes
• Islamic State's Egypt wing claims attacks that killed 27: official Twitter
• Reuters Sports Schedule at 0001 GMT on Friday, Jan 30
• Pentagon wrestles with how to shield current veterans from budget cuts
• Simultaneous attacks in Egypt's Sinai kill 26
• New Saudi king announces major government shake-up: royal decrees
• Dems threaten to block action on Homeland-immigration bill
• John McCain erupts at protesters during hearing. Why the anger?
• Iraq, UAE vie for Asian Cup third spot
• If Jordanian pilot is still alive, will the Islamic State even release him?
• Former soldier charged with stealing $250,000 in benefits
• Jordan demands proof pilot alive as IS deadline passes
• Families plead for lives of IS hostages as swap hopes fade
• Iraq cuts budget due to falling oil prices
• Attacks kill 19 people in Iraq
• Rights abuses fuelled rise of Islamic militants: HRW
• France's anti-jihadi efforts net an 8-year-old schoolboy
• Factbox: Under-reported conflicts in 2015
• Hopes of return muted in devastated Syrian Kurdish town
• Japan hostage wife begs Tokyo, Amman to save husband
• Violence in Baghdad suburbs kills 21: sources
• Under-reported conflicts seen affecting millions in 2015
• Islamic State standoff involves prisoner, pilot, journalist
• Novel Eye-Tracking Technology Detects Concussions And Head Injury Severity
• Syria Kurds kill 22 jihadists around Kobane: monitor
• Survivors accuse Shiite militia of Iraq village massacre
• Iraqi female jihadist an important symbol for IS
• IS captive Goto's wife urges Jordan, Japan to work for his relief
• Rights group blasts IS for atrocities
• Failed Iraqi bomber at center of international hostage drama
• Katherine Jenkins Puts Classical Twist On Queen Song
• As Iraqi Kurds gain ground from IS, local Sunnis are wary
• EU moves to help states seize terror suspects' passports
• Turkey, Lebanon restart Baghdad flights after shooting, Gulf waits
• Egypt, Syria, Iraq used 2014 turmoil to abuse rights: report
• ISIS Appears to Arrange Prisoner Swap in New Hostage Recording
• Obama’s Enemies List Targets Red State Voters
• News Guide: A look at the Islamic State hostage crisis
• Golden boot glitters as UAE size up Iraq in Asian Cup

26 killed as attacks rock Egypt's Sinai Posted: 29 Jan 2015 04:39 PM PST Militants fired a barrage of rockets and set off a car bomb Thursday killing at least 26 people, mostly soldiers, in Egypt's North Sinai province, where security forces are battling a raging Islamist insurgency. Jihadists have regularly attacked security forces in the Sinai Peninsula since Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was ousted by then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in July 2013.

Jordan still holding prisoner demanded by Islamic State as deadline passes Posted: 29 Jan 2015 04:33 PM PST By Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Linda Sieg AMMAN/TOKYO (Reuters) - Jordan said on Thursday it was still holding an Iraqi would-be suicide bomber as a deadline passed for her release set by Islamic State militants who threatened to kill a Jordanian pilot unless she was handed over by sunset. An audio message purportedly from a Japanese journalist also captured by the insurgents said the pilot would be killed unless Jordan freed Sajida al-Rishawi, who is on death row for her role in a 2005 suicide bomb attack that killed 60 people in Amman. The message postponed a previous deadline set on Tuesday in which the journalist, Kenji Goto, said he would be killed within 24 hours if Rishawi was not freed. The hostage crisis comes as Islamic State, which has already released videos showing the beheadings of five Western hostages, is coming under increased military pressure from U.S.-led air strikes and by Kurdish and Iraqi troops pushing to reverse the Islamist group's territorial gains in Iraq and Syria.

Islamic State's Egypt wing claims attacks that killed 27: official Twitter Posted: 29 Jan 2015 04:27 PM PST By Yusri Mohamed, Ali Abdelaty and Mostafa Hashem ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - Islamic State's Egypt wing claimed responsibility for a series of attacks that killed at least 27 on Thursday in some of the worst anti-state violence in months, after commemorations around the anniversary of the 2011 uprising turned deadly this week. Egypt's government faces an Islamist insurgency based in Sinai and growing discontent with what critics perceive as heavy handed security tactics. A series of tweets from the Sinai Province's Twitter account claimed responsibility for each of the four attacks that took place in North Sinai and Suez provinces within hours of one another on Thursday night.

Reuters Sports Schedule at 0001 GMT on Friday, Jan 30 Posted: 29 Jan 2015 04:01 PM PST Reuters sports schedule at 0001 GMT on Friday: - - - - TENNIS Australian Open, Melbourne (to Feb 1) 'Djoker' v 'The Man' 3.0 to decide who faces Murray MELBOURNE - Top seed Novak Djokovic and defending champion Stan Wawrinka brace themselves for another epic clash at the Australian Open as they bid for a place in the final against Britain's Andy Murray. ...

Pentagon wrestles with how to shield current veterans from budget cuts Posted: 29 Jan 2015 03:53 PM PST A major review of military pay and benefits out Thursday could portend big changes to longstanding – and some say, fundamental – benefits for United States troops, including retirement pay. Personnel benefits make up one-quarter of the Pentagon budget, though the size of the overall force has been reduced by roughly half since 1990. Yet even as Pentagon personnel expenses soar, there is a concerted effort not to meet budgetary goals by cutting services and benefits for veterans who have returned from Iraq or Afghanistan and might need long-term care. "That is the fundamental question that we're posing, too – we're demonstrating that personnel costs are going up over time and, at the same time, maybe that is the cost of this social contract, and that's something we need to think about," says Katherine Kidder, co-author of a report on military compensation from the Center for a New American Security that was released earlier this week.

Simultaneous attacks in Egypt's Sinai kill 26 Posted: 29 Jan 2015 03:25 PM PST EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — Militants struck more than a dozen army and police targets in the restive Sinai Peninsula with simultaneous attacks involving a car bomb and mortar rounds on Thursday, killing at least 26 security officers.

New Saudi king announces major government shake-up: royal decrees Posted: 29 Jan 2015 03:25 PM PST Saudi Arabia's new King Salman on Thursday further cemented his hold on power, with a sweeping shakeup that saw two sons of the late King Abdullah fired, and the heads of intelligence and other key agencies replaced alongside a cabinet reshuffle. "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud issued a royal order today, relieving Prince Khalid bin Bandar bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, Chief of General Intelligence, of his post," the official Saudi Press Agency said. A separate decree said Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a nephew of Abdullah, was removed from his posts as Secretary General of the National Security Council and adviser to the king. Two sons of the late monarch were also fired: Prince Mishaal, governor of the Mecca region, and Prince Turki, who governed the capital Riyadh, according to the decrees broadcast on Saudi television.

Dems threaten to block action on Homeland-immigration bill Posted: 29 Jan 2015 02:42 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats threatened Thursday to block action on legislation funding the Homeland Security Department until Republicans jettison House-passed provisions that reverse President Barack Obama's key immigration policies.

John McCain erupts at protesters during hearing. Why the anger? Posted: 29 Jan 2015 01:33 PM PST Sen. John McCain (R) of Arizona in no uncertain terms Thursday told a bunch of protesters that they weren't going to be disrupting his congressional hearing. Senator McCain is the chairman of the Armed Services Committee now that Republicans control the chamber. On Thursday, he invited a contingent of former secretaries of State to speak on global problems and US security strategy. They included Republican George Shultz, Democrat Madeleine Albright, and Henry Kissinger – the dean of the GOP foreign policy establishment and winner of the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in establishing a cease-fire and withdrawing US troops from Vietnam.

Iraq, UAE vie for Asian Cup third spot Posted: 29 Jan 2015 01:13 PM PST Prolific striker Ali Mabkhout can put one hand on the Asian Cup's golden boot when the United Arab Emirates face Iraq in the third-place play-off in Newcastle on Friday. The UAE went down 2-0 to Australia this week and Iraq lost by the same scoreline to South Korea as their dreams of continental glory ended in the semi-finals.

If Jordanian pilot is still alive, will the Islamic State even release him? Posted: 29 Jan 2015 01:04 PM PST IS has demanded the release of Sajida al-Rishawi, an Iraqi woman affiliated with its predecessor, Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), who participated in the murder of 58 people in a series of hotel bombings in Amman in 2005. The Sunni Muslim militant group has implied that it might release Japanese hostage Kenji Goto if Rishawi is released. Jordan has said it is willing to swap Ms. Rishawi for Kasasbeh.

Former soldier charged with stealing $250,000 in benefits Posted: 29 Jan 2015 01:00 PM PST SEATTLE (AP) — A former Idaho National Guard soldier who is also an official in the Washington city of Snoqualmie has been indicted on charges that he lied his way to a Purple Heart and more than $250,000 in government benefits.

Jordan demands proof pilot alive as IS deadline passes Posted: 29 Jan 2015 12:56 PM PST Jordan demanded proof Thursday that a pilot threatened with execution by the Islamic State group was alive, as a deadline set by the jihadists to free a female militant expired. IS had vowed to kill airman Maaz al-Kassasbeh unless Iraqi jihadist Sajida al-Rishawi was handed over at the Turkish border in return for captured Japanese journalist Kenji Goto. The extremist group had set a deadline of sunset Thursday for the exchange, but there was no news of the hostages after night fell over parts of Iraq and Syria where IS is based. Jordan said it was still waiting for evidence that the airman is alive and well.

Families plead for lives of IS hostages as swap hopes fade Posted: 29 Jan 2015 12:40 PM PST AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — The father of a Jordanian fighter pilot and the wife of a Japanese journalist held by the Islamic State group pleaded for their loved ones' lives after a possible prisoner swap wasn't carried out by a deadline of sunset Thursday.

Iraq cuts budget due to falling oil prices Posted: 29 Jan 2015 11:34 AM PST Iraq cut its 2015 budget Thursday by nearly $3 billion (2.7 billion euros) due to the falling price of oil, on which its government is almost entirely dependent for revenue. MPs approved a budget of $99.6 billion, down from the $102.5 billion the cabinet proposed last month. The projected oil price was also lowered from $60 to $56 a barrel, while the expected deficit rose from $19.1 billion to $21.1 billion.

Attacks kill 19 people in Iraq Posted: 29 Jan 2015 11:23 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Bombings and a shooting killed at least 19 people around the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Thursday, including soldiers and Shiite militiamen, officials said.

Rights abuses fuelled rise of Islamic militants: HRW Posted: 29 Jan 2015 11:01 AM PST Governments increasingly view human rights as "a luxury" they can ill afford, Human Rights Watch said Thursday, warning that abuses fuel crises in world trouble spots like Syria and Ukraine. Western powers, including the United States, are far from blameless and in some cases their wrongdoing has fed the very climate in which serial rights abusers like Islamic State group jihadists thrive. Ignoring human rights while addressing global security risks "fails to get at the root causes that gave rise to many of these threats," HRW director Kenneth Roth told reporters in Beirut.

France's anti-jihadi efforts net an 8-year-old schoolboy Posted: 29 Jan 2015 11:01 AM PST French officials have announced a series of counterterrorism measures aimed at disaffected youth, part of an expanded campaign to fight the kind of Islamic extremism that inspired the terror attacks in Paris earlier this month. Last week, officials announced new measures aimed at reinforcing secular values in French schools.

Factbox: Under-reported conflicts in 2015 Posted: 29 Jan 2015 10:32 AM PST By Alex Whiting LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The wars in Syria, Iraq and Ukraine are getting wide coverage in Western media, but there are at least 30 other conflicts in the world that are likely to go largely unnoticed this year and keep millions of people in crisis. Here are a few of them: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO Fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo's east displaced 770,000 people in 2014 alone. An estimated 7 million people across the country need aid, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Elections next year will be pivotal as the violence in the east is largely a symptom of the government's poor governance, says the International Crisis Group (ICG).

Hopes of return muted in devastated Syrian Kurdish town Posted: 29 Jan 2015 10:18 AM PST By Osman Orsal KOBANI, Syria (Reuters) - Sheets meant to hide residents from snipers' sights still hang over streets in the Syrian border town of Kobani, and its shattered buildings and cratered roads suggest those who fled are unlikely to return soon. Kurdish forces said this week they had taken full control of Kobani, a mainly Kurdish town near the Turkish border, after months of bombardment by Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot that has spread across Syria and Iraq. Their victory, raising Kurdish flags where the black symbols of Islamic State once flew, prompted celebration among the more than 200,000 refugees who have fled to Turkey since the assault on the town began in September. "Coming back to Kobani will be even more difficult than leaving it," said one fighter from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), clutching a machinegun and standing in front of the ruins of a building.

Japan hostage wife begs Tokyo, Amman to save husband Posted: 29 Jan 2015 10:15 AM PST The wife of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, who is being threatened with execution by Islamic State militants, broke her silence Thursday hours before the deadline for a hostage swap that could save his life. Islamic State militants say they will kill the airman unless Jordan frees failed Iraqi suicide bomber Sajida al-Rishawi in exchange for Goto. "In the past 20 hours the kidnappers have sent me what appears to be their latest and final demand," Rinko said in a statement published on the website of the Rory Peck Trust, an organisation that supports freelance journalists. "If Sajida is not on the Turkish border ready for the exchange for Kenji by Thursday 29th Jan at sunset, the Jordanian pilot will be executed immediately." In their latest message, IS -- which rules large swathes of Iraq and Syria under an extreme version of Islamic law -- said they were willing to free Goto, a respected war reporter.

Violence in Baghdad suburbs kills 21: sources Posted: 29 Jan 2015 10:11 AM PST At least 21 people, mostly civilians, were killed on Thursday in the outskirts of Baghdad by explosions at five separate locations and a shooting, security and medical sources said. Later in the day, two suicide bombers attacked the headquarters of a Sunni Sahwa militia in the al-Mashahida area on the northern outskirts of Baghdad, killing seven and wounding 21 others. A car bomb then went off at a security checkpoint in the Sunni farming district of Tarmiya, north of the capital, killing three policemen and a civilian. Bombings are frequent in Baghdad, where Sunni insurgents from Islamic State, which controls large swathes of territory in Iraq's north and west, regularly target Shi'ite neighborhoods with car bombs.

Under-reported conflicts seen affecting millions in 2015 Posted: 29 Jan 2015 10:09 AM PST By Alex Whiting LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - While wars in Syria, Iraq and Ukraine make headlines in the West, around 30 other conflicts receive little press coverage, and the resulting lack of pressure for change could have serious implications for millions of people, experts say. Civil wars in Sudan's western Darfur region and its southern states have almost disappeared from the media despite affecting huge numbers and displacing 2.4 million people in Darfur alone. Neighboring South Sudan is also an overlooked crisis that urgently needs attention, said Jean-Marie Guehenno, president of Brussels-based think tank International Crisis Group, which is currently tracking more than 30 conflicts globally. South Sudan ranked alongside Afghanistan and Syria last year as the three least peaceful countries in the world in an annual index compiled by the Institute for Economics and Peace.

Islamic State standoff involves prisoner, pilot, journalist Posted: 29 Jan 2015 10:03 AM PST AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — A young Jordanian fighter pilot, a female al-Qaida recruit who tried to blow up a hotel ballroom in Amman and a veteran Japanese war correspondent are at the center of a life-and-death standoff with the Islamic State group.

Novel Eye-Tracking Technology Detects Concussions And Head Injury Severity Posted: 29 Jan 2015 10:03 AM PST NEW YORK, Jan. 29, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- New research out of NYU Langone Medical Center could move the medical community one step closer toward effectively detecting concussion and quantifying its severity. Neuroscientists and concussion experts from NYU Langone and elsewhere, in a study publishing online January 29 in Journal of Neurotrauma, present a unique, simple and objective diagnostic tool for concussion that can be utilized in the emergency room or, one day, on the sidelines at sporting events. The study utilized a novel eye-tracking device to effectively measure the severity of concussion or brain injury in patients presenting to emergency departments following head trauma. "Concussion is a condition that has been plagued by the lack of an objective diagnostic tool which, in turn, has helped drive confusion and fears among those affected and their families," says lead investigator Uzma Samadani, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Departments of Neurosurgery, Psychiatry, Neuroscience and Physiology at NYU Langone.

Syria Kurds kill 22 jihadists around Kobane: monitor Posted: 29 Jan 2015 08:32 AM PST Kurdish fighters killed 22 jihadists around Kobane Thursday, days after recapturing the Syrian town, but the Islamic State group still controls hundreds of villages in the area, a monitor said. "Nineteen IS members were killed in fighting against the (Kurdish) People's Protection Units (YPG) in the hills surrounding Manaz to the west of Kobane," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman. "Another three jihadists died in fighting around villages to the east of Kobane, while the YPG also took one IS member prisoner," he told AFP. Kurdish forces recaptured the town on the Turkish frontier on Monday, in a symbolic blow to the jihadists who have seized large swathes of territory in their onslaught across Syria and Iraq.

Survivors accuse Shiite militia of Iraq village massacre Posted: 29 Jan 2015 08:19 AM PST The Iraqi government vowed Thursday to investigate accusations backed by eyewitness accounts that Shiite militias massacred more than 70 Sunni villagers during an operation against jihadists in Diyala province. Survivors and Sunni officials say the massacre took place on Monday in Barwana as soldiers and allied militias wrapped up an operation to expel Islamic State (IS) jihadists from their last urban bastion in Diyala. Barwana is a small village located just west of the town of Muqdadiyah. Shiite militiamen entered Barwana on Monday and allegedly selected young men after checking their IDs before lining them up to be shot.

Iraqi female jihadist an important symbol for IS Posted: 29 Jan 2015 07:37 AM PST Sajida al-Rishawi, thrust into the spotlight by the Islamic State group's demand she be released in a prisoner exchange, is an important symbol for the jihadists, experts say. Closely linked to IS's predecessor organisation in Iraq, Rishawi is on death row in Jordan for her role in 2005 suicide bombings in Amman that killed 60 and shocked one of the Middle East's most stable countries. Rishawi, now 44, was arrested four days after the November 9, 2005 attacks in which her husband Ali Hussein al-Shammari and two other Iraqis blew themselves up in Amman. "Rishawi is important for her link to Al-Qaeda in Iraq and one of the most significant operations outside Iraq in its history -- the Amman bombings," Aymenn al-Tamimi, a fellow at the Middle East Forum, said in reference to the group that preceded IS.

IS captive Goto's wife urges Jordan, Japan to work for his relief Posted: 29 Jan 2015 07:35 AM PST The wife of a Japanese journalist thought to be held by Islamic State insurgents in Syria urged the Japanese and Jordanian governments to work for his release shortly before a deadline set by his captors expired. "I fear that this is the last chance for my husband, and we now have only a few hours left to secure his release and the life of (Jordanian air force pilot) Lieutenant Muath al-Kasaesbeh," Kenji Goto's wife Rinko said in a statement to Reuters and other media. "I beg the Jordanian and Japanese government(s) to understand that the fates of both men are in their hands," she said in her first public comments since Goto appeared in a purported Islamic State video on Jan. 20 with fellow captive Haruna Yukawa, whose apparently beheaded body appeared in a subsequent video on Saturday. Goto announced the Islamic State deadline in an audio message earlier on Thursday that the Japanese government said appeared genuine.

Rights group blasts IS for atrocities Posted: 29 Jan 2015 07:07 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — Human Rights Watch on Thursday blasted Islamic State militants over their atrocities, but also criticized the "sectarian and abusive" policies of the Syrian and Iraqi governments, saying they fuel extremism.

Failed Iraqi bomber at center of international hostage drama Posted: 29 Jan 2015 06:42 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — In the moments after her husband blew himself up in the ballroom of a Jordanian hotel as part of an al-Qaida plot, Sajida al-Rishawi fled the scene of chaos wearing her own explosive belt.

Katherine Jenkins Puts Classical Twist On Queen Song Posted: 29 Jan 2015 06:33 AM PST Mezzo-soprano singer Katherine Jenkins sings Queen's "We Are the Champions" like you've never heard it sung before. It was a very happy year in my work life, my personal life and so I was looking for uplifting and happy songs for the album," she told Access Hollywood on Wednesday. "Looking at anthems, I can't think of a better sporting anthem than something like 'We Are the Champions.' Maybe not the obvious choice for a classical singer, but, you know, Queen is incredibly anthemic, works well with a symphony orchestra and I think that, you know, Freddie Mercury probably could have been a classical singer. A great year it was, indeed! Katherine was awarded Officer of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in March 2014 and told Access all about receiving the honor.

As Iraqi Kurds gain ground from IS, local Sunnis are wary Posted: 29 Jan 2015 05:59 AM PST ESKI MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — An unarmed Sunni Arab man walked along a road in a patch of northern Iraq newly liberated from Islamic State extremists, holding a white surrender flag — a signal to Kurdish fighters that he is not a militant. Cars drove by, a similar white banner flying from their windows.

EU moves to help states seize terror suspects' passports Posted: 29 Jan 2015 04:36 AM PST BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has introduced new measures to help member nations seize the travel documents of people suspected of trying to join terrorist organizations outside the EU.

Turkey, Lebanon restart Baghdad flights after shooting, Gulf waits Posted: 29 Jan 2015 03:30 AM PST Turkish Airlines and Lebanon's Middle East Airlines (MEA) resumed flights to Baghdad on Thursday after halting them earlier in the week when bullets hit a plane as it was landing in the Iraqi capital. Samir Kubba, the head of Iraq's civil aviation authority, told Reuters a flight from Istanbul had landed and another from Beirut was expected shortly. An MEA official and the Turkish Airlines website confirmed that both carriers, which provide daily flights to Baghdad, had resumed service. At least seven airlines suspended flights to Baghdad following the shooting incident.

Egypt, Syria, Iraq used 2014 turmoil to abuse rights: report Posted: 29 Jan 2015 03:25 AM PST By Oliver Holmes BEIRUT (Reuters) - The governments of Egypt, Syria and Iraq used real and perceived security threats in 2014 as an excuse to downplay or abandon the rights of their citizens, which ultimately fuelled crises, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday. In its annual review of global human rights, the group said security forces across the globe are ignoring rights in dealing with threats, such as China's crackdown on Uighurs in Xinjiang, Mexico's war on drugs and Nigeria's fight against Boko Haram. Kenneth Roth, executive director of the New York-based group, told Reuters "there has been a tendency, particularly in the Middle East, to play shortsighted security concerns over principled support for human rights." "Not only is that an unprincipled approach.

ISIS Appears to Arrange Prisoner Swap in New Hostage Recording Posted: 29 Jan 2015 03:01 AM PST In a new message uploaded online today, a Japanese hostage of the terror group ISIS purportedly arranges a prisoner swap in which he would go free in exchange for a convicted terrorist held by Jordan -– or a Jordanian pilot held by ISIS will be killed. In an audio recording, allegedly made by captive Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, Goto says that if al Qaeda convict Sajida al-Rishawi "is not ready for exchange for my life at the Turkish border by Thursday sunset" then Jordanian pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh "will be killed immediately." The recording refers to sunset in Mosul, Iraq, meaning mid-morning east coast time. Earlier today Jordan's government said it would go through with a prisoner swap with the terror group ISIS in order to get its captured pilot back, but a top official of the Middle Eastern nation says the government has not received proof that he's still alive. Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh posted a message on Twitter saying the government asked for, but has not received, "evidence of health and safety of the hero, Muath." Al-Kaseasbeh was captured by ISIS last December after his aircraft was shot down.

Obama’s Enemies List Targets Red State Voters Posted: 29 Jan 2015 02:15 AM PST We wrote stories about the abuse of earmarks, the self-aggrandizement of Capitol Hill lifers such as Robert Byrd, Ted Stevens, Charlie Rangel, and the connection between pork barrel politics and the passage of ever-increasing federal budgets. Congress eventually produced internal reforms that made it much more difficult to apply earmarks, especially in secret. In 2006 Senators Tom Coburn and Barack Obama partnered on a bill that created a federal database from the federal budget -- one which allowed voters to find earmarks and federal contracts by zip code, author, recipients, and cost. To be sure, this activist effort had its critics, most of whom either served in Congress or had some business connection to Capitol Hill.

News Guide: A look at the Islamic State hostage crisis Posted: 29 Jan 2015 01:09 AM PST A new message purportedly from Islamic State group militants holding a Japanese journalist and a Jordanian air force pilot sets yet another deadline to meet their demands. Here's a look at the latest twists and turns in this crisis.

Golden boot glitters as UAE size up Iraq in Asian Cup Posted: 29 Jan 2015 12:36 AM PST Sharpshooter Ali Mabkhout can win a tight race for the Asian Cup's golden boot when the United Arab Emirates face Iraq for the consolation prize of finishing third on Friday. The UAE went down 2-0 to Australia this week and Iraq lost by the same scoreline to South Korea, as their dreams of Asian Cup glory were shattered in the semi-finals.

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