2015年4月12日星期日

Yahoo! News: Iraq

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yahoo! News: Iraq


China, Russia and eastern Europe boost defence spending

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 04:23 PM PDT

Ukrainian servicemen take part in a military drill in the Zhytomyr region, some 150 kms from Kiev, on April 9, 2015Military spending increased sharply in 2014 in China and Russia and the Ukraine conflict prompted eastern European countries to boost their defence programmes, according to a study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released Monday. The United States remains the world's biggest spender on defence, but it spent 6.4 percent less year-on-year in 2014, while China, Russia and Saudi Arabia -- the world's next three highest spenders -- all increased their expenditures.


Hackers attack Belgian press group, second in days

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 03:06 PM PDT

Hackers attacked one of Belgium's top newspaper publishers on Sunday just days after Tunisian Islamist militants took control of a regional government portal to denounce US counter-terror operationsHackers attacked one of Belgium's top newspaper publishers on Sunday just days after Tunisian Islamist militants took control of a regional government portal to denounce US counter-terror operations. "Nothing concrete to link it with TV5 or RW," Hamman said in a tweeted message, referring to the French attack and Friday's takeover of an economic news website run by the Wallonian regional government in southern Belgium. Le Soir is owned by the Rossel Group which has several other publications.


Obama, Abadi to map 'long, long' fight against Islamic State

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 01:47 PM PDT

An Iraqi soldier marches at the site of a mass grave containing the remains of people believed to have been slain by jihadists of the Islamic State group at the Speicher camp in the city of Tikrit, on April 12, 2015President Barack Obama will huddle with Iraq's prime minister at the White House on Tuesday to plot crucial next steps in what US officials admit will be a long fight to defeat the Islamic State. Obama will host Haider al-Abadi and try to forge a strategy to snatch back swaths of territory lost to jihadist fighters, after Iraqi forces' tough victory in Tikrit. It was also a reality check for those who hoped that Baghdad was poised to seize back territory relinquished in northern and central Iraq last year.


Turkey recalls ambassador over pope's Armenia genocide words

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 01:20 PM PDT

Pope Francis arrives to celebrates an Armenian-Rite Mass on the occasion of the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican Sunday, April 12, 2015. Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed by genocide scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey however denies that the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated, and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Sunday marked the 100th anniversary of the slaughter of Armenians by calling the massacre by Ottoman Turks "the first genocide of the 20th century" and urging the international community to recognize it as such. Turkey immediately responded by recalling its ambassador and accusing Francis of spreading hatred and "unfounded claims."


Clinton: A first lady with White House dreams

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 01:10 PM PDT

Hillary Clinton speaks at the Annual Women's Empowerment Principles, entitled Hillary Clinton has been a public fixture for 37 years, and at 67 she is aiming once again to win over a skeptical America. They have not just endured but suffered and thrived in symbiotic tandem under the political spotlight since 1977, the year before Bill's election as governor of Arkansas. Parts of first lady Clinton's archives have been made public, and candid papers of Hillary confidante Diane Blair, who died in 2000, are available at the University of Arkansas. Bill Clinton's sexual proclivities were laid out in explicit detail.


Hillary Clinton Announces Presidential Bid Via Aide

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 01:03 PM PDT

John Podesta emailed donors Sunday to inform them of her intent to run.

14 killed in IS bombings in Egypt's Sinai

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 12:41 PM PDT

An Egyptian man stands in an armoured vehicle as residents gather outside a police station in North Sinai's provincial capital of El-Arish after it was targeted by a car bomb on April 12, 2015Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which has carried out a slew of attacks in Sinai since the army's ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, claimed responsibility. A roadside bomb attack on an army vehicle killed six soldiers and wounded two near the North Sinai town of Sheikh Zuweid, a jihadist stronghold. "An armoured personnel carrier for the army of the apostates was destroyed... killing and wounding all aboard," Ansar Beit al-Madqis said on a Twitter account attributed to it. Hours later a suicide car bomb targeting a police station in North Sinai's provincial capital of El-Arish killed eight people and wounded 45 others, health ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel Gaffar said.


Hillary Clinton: 10 important dates in her own words

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 12:35 PM PDT

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a discussion on "our nation's urban centers" at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC, on March 23, 2015Hillary Clinton officially launched her 2016 presidential bid Sunday. Hillary Diane Rodham was born in Chicago on October 26, to a middle-class suburban family. Clinton enrolled at prestigious Yale Law School where she would meet her future husband Bill Clinton in the spring of 1971. I'm Hillary Rodham.' That was it.


Hillary Clinton announces her presidential campaign

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 12:23 PM PDT

After years of often-breathless speculation about her future, Hillary Rodham Clinton's team confirmed one of the worst-kept secrets in politics: She's running for president.

White House Brief: Things to know about Hillary Clinton

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 12:14 PM PDT

FILE - In this March 23, 2015 file photo, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks in Washington. Clinton will launch her long-awaited 2016 presidential campaign on Sunday, April 12, 2015, according to people familiar with her plans. The former secretary of state is making her second presidential bid and enters the race in a strong position to succeed her one-time rival, President Barack Obama. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — A look at key things to know about Hillary Rodham Clinton, who entered the 2016 Democratic presidential campaign on Sunday:


Reckoning point: Ex-US guards face sentencing in Iraq case

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 11:28 AM PDT

FILE - In these various file photos, Blackwater guards, from left, Dustin Heard, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Nicholas Slatten. A years-long legal fight over a deadly mass shooting of civilians in an Iraq war zone reaches its reckoning point, when four former Blackwater security guards are sentenced for the rampage. Three of the guards, Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty and Paul Slough, face mandatory decades-long sentences because of firearms convictions. A fourth, Nicholas Slatten, faces a penalty of life in prison after being found guilty of first-degree murder. (AP Photo/File)WASHINGTON (AP) — A years-long legal fight over a deadly shooting of civilians in an Iraq war zone reaches its reckoning point with the sentencing this week of four former Blackwater security guards.


Film on PKK fighters pulled from Istanbul festival

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 11:27 AM PDT

Cemil "Cuma" Bayik, one of the main leaders and a founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), speaks during an interview with AFP at his hideout along the Iraq-Iran border, November 22, 2006A documentary film on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters has been pulled from the Istanbul Film Festival at the last minute following an intervention by the Turkish culture ministry, organisers and producers said Sunday. The documentary film "Bakur" ("North") was to have been shown Sunday afternoon in Istanbul but the screening would no longer go ahead, the organisers of the film festival said in a statement. The festival organisers said they had received an official letter from the Turkish ministry of culture "reminding" that films produced in Turkey needed an official registration certificate in order to be screened at festivals.


UN chief calls for resumption of Yemen peace process

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 10:59 AM PDT

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon attends the opening ceremony of the Second International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria, at Bayan palace in Kuwait City, on March 31, 2015UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday pleaded for the resumption of peace talks in Yemen and called for an end to all military action in the war-torn country. Ban, speaking in Doha on the sidelines of a UN crime conference, said the fighting in Yemen should not be allowed to grow into a protracted regional conflict. "There should be a cessation of military moves as soon as possible," said Ban, sitting alongside the Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani.


Pope sparks row with Turkey by calling Armenian massacre genocide

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 10:20 AM PDT

Pope Francis embraces Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II during a mass on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian mass killings, in St. Peter's Basilica at the VaticanBy Steve Scherer VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis sparked a diplomatic row on Sunday by calling the massacre of up to 1.5 million Armenians 100 years ago "the first genocide of the 20th century," prompting Turkey to accuse him of inciting hatred. Muslim Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians died in clashes with Ottoman soldiers beginning in 1915, when Armenia was part of the empire ruled from Istanbul, but denies hundreds of thousands were killed and that this amounted to genocide. At an Armenian rite Mass in St. Peter's Basilica to mark the 100th anniversary of the mass killings, Francis became the first head of the Roman Catholic Church to publicly pronounce the word "genocide" to describe them. Turkey was swift to protest.


Bombings kill 12 people in Iraq

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 10:18 AM PDT

BAGHDAD (AP) — Authorities in Iraq say a series of bombings targeting public places in the capital, Baghdad, have killed 12 people.

On Carter's first Asia trip as Pentagon chief, calm prevails

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 10:15 AM PDT

In this Friday, April 10, 2015 photo, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, right, shakes hands with his South Korean counterpart Han Min Koo upon his arrival at the Defense Ministry in Seoul, South Korea. Carter was on his first visit to Asia since becoming defense secretary in February. He met Friday with President Park Geun-hye and senior members of her government. Earlier in the week he was in Japan. Aides said Carter intended to discuss the South China Sea situation with U.S. officials at Pacific Command in Hawaii on Saturday. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)HONOLULU (AP) — No news is good news. That might have been the bumper sticker for Ash Carter's first tour of Asia as secretary of defense.


U.S., allies conduct 13 air strikes in Syria, Iraq: military

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 09:39 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.-led forces targeted Islamic State militants in Syria with three air strikes from Saturday to Sunday morning, and also conducted 10 air strikes in Iraq, the U.S. military said. All strikes in Syria were near Kobani, while the Iraq strikes hit near Bayji, Mosul, Ramadi and Sinjar, it said in a statement. (Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Two bomb attacks in Egypt's Sinai kill 13, wound dozens

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 09:27 AM PDT

By Yusri Mohamed ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - Two separate bomb attacks targeting security forces in Egypt's Sinai peninsula killed at least 13 people and wounded dozens on Sunday, the latest in a wave of violence in a region hit by an Islamist insurgency. Egypt's military said a roadside bomb detonated by militants killed six soldiers and wounded two others in an attack on an armored military vehicle in the town of Sheikh Zuweid. Two of those killed were officers, it said. ...

Al-Qaida says US drones kill 2 leaders in Pakistan

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 09:25 AM PDT

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) — U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan killed two leaders of al-Qaida's South Asia branch earlier this year, a spokesman for the militants said Sunday, confirming a major blow to the affiliate only months after its creation.

143 foreign nationals evacuated from Yemen, 16,000 stranded: IOM

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 08:19 AM PDT

Luggage is seen outside Sanaa International Airport as hundreds of foreigners were evacuated from the Yemeni capital due to security reasons on March 31, 2015The International Organization for Migration said Sunday it had flown a first planeload of foreign nationals out of Yemen and aimed to continue evacuating foreigners stranded in the conflict-torn country. "The operation was a success and paves the way for continuing the evacuations of more than 16,000 third country nationals who are stranded in Yemen," IOM said in a statement. Spokesman Joel Millman told AFP that 143 passengers had been on Sunday's flight from Sanaa to Khartoum, including nationals from Sudan, Ethiopia, the United States, Nigeria, South Korea, Syria, Iraq, Indonesia, and several European countries. The organisation said 38 countries had asked it to help evacuate their nationals stranded amid the spiralling conflict in Yemen.


Israel's Netanyahu says sanctions should remain on Iran

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 07:26 AM PDT

JERUSALEM (AP) — As the international community moves to finalize a nuclear deal with Iran, Israel's prime minister says crippling sanctions should be maintained against the Islamic Republic until the country ends its regional "aggression."

Militant bomb attack in Egypt's North Sinai kills 6 soldiers: army sources

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 05:32 AM PDT

A convoy of army soldiers arrive to secure the funerals of security personnel killed in the Sinai city of al-Arish in front of Almaza military air-base where the funerals were held in CairoEgypt's military said a bomb detonated by militants killed six soldiers and wounded two others in Egypt's North Sinai on Sunday, a region beset by Islamist insurgents. The army said in a statement that "terrorist and extremist elements" were behind the roadside attack on an armoured military vehicle in the town of Sheikh Zuweid. A Twitter feed that describes itself as the official account for Sinai Province, a militant group that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, claimed responsibility for the attack. North Sinai is the epicentre of an insurgency that has killed hundreds of members of the security services since mid-2013, when then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi after mass protests against his rule.


Video: Islamic State group destroys ancient ruins of Nimrud

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 03:55 AM PDT

BAGHDAD (AP) — Islamic State militants hammered, bulldozed and ultimately blew up parts of the ancient Iraqi Assyrian city of Nimrud, destroying a site dating back to the 13th century B.C., an online militant video purportedly shows.

Exclusive: Iraq's leader to seek arms with deferred payment on U.S. visit

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 02:52 AM PDT

Iraq's Prime Minister Abadi speaks during a news conference at the Foreign Ministry in BaghdadBy Arshad Mohammed and Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraq's prime minister will seek President Barack Obama's help to acquire billions of dollars in drones and other U.S. arms to fight Islamic State during a U.S. visit next week, a senior Iraqi official said. Facing a cash crunch due to a plunge in oil prices and a budget deficit of roughly $21 billion this year, Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi wants to defer payment for the purchases, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Abadi is grappling with an insurgency by militants from Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot that emerged from the chaos in Iraq and neighboring Syria and seized much of northern and central Iraq last year.


Iran's state TV social media accounts hacked

Posted: 12 Apr 2015 12:22 AM PDT

Iran's Arabic-language state TV network Al Alam said on Sunday its Twitter account had been hacked and a false report was posted that an Iran-allied rebel leader in Yemen had died. Al Alam has covered the crisis in Yemen since Saudi Arabia and Arab allies launched air strikes against the Shi'ite Houthi movement this month. The air strikes have raised tensions between Shi'ite Muslim Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia, who are vying for influence amid sectarian wars shaking the region.

Knicks hold off Magic, teams set NBA scoring low for quarter

Posted: 11 Apr 2015 07:41 PM PDT

Orlando Magic's Andrew Nicholson, bottom, becomes entangled with New York Knicks' Quincy Acy while going for the ball during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, April 11, 2015, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The New York Knicks and Orlando Magic have had trouble winning games this season. In their latest matchup, they had an equally tough time scoring points.


Two dead in gun attack at S. Korean embassy in Libya

Posted: 11 Apr 2015 05:53 PM PDT

Bullet holes pictured on April 12, 2015 in the guard post in front of the South Korean Embassy in the Libyan capital Tripoli following an attack on the embassy compoundGunmen killed two people and wounded a third in an attack at the South Korean embassy in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Sunday which was claimed by the Islamic State group. The gunmen opened fire on the embassy compound from a passing car, killing two people and wounding a third, a Libyan interior ministry spokesman told AFP.


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