Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• 'American Sniper' cancellation draws Maryland lawmaker's ire
• U.N. invites Syrian parties to Geneva peace talks in May
• Hostage locations difficult to track - and may be getting harder
• US aircraft carrier heading away from Yemen: officials
• Angelina Jolie rips world powers on Syria's refugee crisis
• Univ. of Florida suspends frat over abuse of wounded vets
• Business Highlights
• Record crowds as Australia and New Zealand mark Anzac Day
• Oil, gas, power, prices: big themes from energy meeting
• Military vets plan to summit peak in Memorial Day tribute
• After drone killings, pressure for a new hostage strategy
• Iraqi general, 3 officers killed in Islamic State ambush
• U.N. aid chief urges Syria sanctions, Jolie pleads for refugee help
• Jihadicare: ISIS Launches Its Own Weird ‘National Health Service'
• Saudi Arabia says IS group behind killing of 2 policemen
• Eight women finish first week of US Army Ranger test
• Iraq lacks DNA results to test body of 'Saddam deputy'
• Falling prices, rising threats cool interest in Kurdish oil
• "Military Contractors Belie Myth Of Leaving Iraq And Afghanistan" Fmr White House & Cong Spokesman Robert Weiner, policy Analyst Daniel Wallace Assert In Cleveland Plain Dealer
• Saudis seize bombs, accuse IS of killing police
• Former foes honor Gallipoli's fallen on 100th anniversary
• U.S.-led coalition targets Islamic State with 15 air strikes: statement
• Islamic State behind Riyadh police deaths, say Saudi authorities
• Ahead of election, Miliband says PM Cameron has squandered Britain's global clout
• Bahrain jails Iraqi 'rioter' for three years
• Bombings in Iraq near market and courthouse kill 7
• Iraqi boy's dream of becoming dancer defied threats, borders
• Petraeus sentenced to 2 years' probation for military leak
• Police out in force for Anzac ceremonies in Australia
• Why Is Yemen Our War?
• Tribeca Film Festival Names 'Virgin Mountain' Top Narrative Feature
• Mistaken killings by US drone show limits of spycraft

'American Sniper' cancellation draws Maryland lawmaker's ire Posted: 24 Apr 2015 04:28 PM PDT By John Clarke WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A state lawmaker launched an online campaign on Friday to overturn a decision to cancel a screening of "American Sniper" at the University of Maryland after a Muslim student group objected to the film about a U.S. Navy marksman in Iraq. Neil Parrott, a Republican state delegate, said the decision to cancel the screening at the university's College Park campus was an exercise in political correctness and infringes on First Amendment rights to free speech. "The university should not let the complaints of a few students result in the cancellation of an important film honoring an American hero and accurately portraying the horrors of war," Parrott said in a statement. The university's Student Entertainment Events organization announced the cancellation on Wednesday.

U.N. invites Syrian parties to Geneva peace talks in May Posted: 24 Apr 2015 03:41 PM PDT By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations envoy to Syria said on Friday he will begin meeting in May with the country's government, opposition groups, and regional powers including Iran to assess by the end of June whether there is any hope brokering an end to the war. Staffan de Mistura briefed the U.N. Security Council on the latest bid to find a political solution to the 4-year conflict that has killed some 220,000 people, displaced an estimated 7.6 million and forced nearly 4 million to flee the country. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked de Mistura earlier this month to "focus much more to re-launch a political process" after his attempt to broker a local truce in the northern city of Aleppo failed to materialize. "There is nothing new telling us today that the political process will succeed or not," de Mistura told reporters.

Hostage locations difficult to track - and may be getting harder Posted: 24 Apr 2015 03:38 PM PDT By Warren Strobel and Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. drone strike that accidentally killed two hostages in Pakistan exposes intelligence shortfalls that former and current U.S. officials say appear to be growing more frequent as militants expand their safe havens and as Washington gathers less on-the-ground human intelligence. Obtaining timely intelligence on hostages has always been difficult, especially in volatile regions where the United States has limited access and where militants have well-established operations.

US aircraft carrier heading away from Yemen: officials Posted: 24 Apr 2015 03:29 PM PDT A US aircraft carrier and a guided-missile cruiser are leaving the waters off Yemen and heading back to the Gulf after an Iranian naval convoy also turned back from the area, officials said Friday. The carrier and the cruiser, the USS Theodore Roosevelt and the USS Normandy, had deployed to the region this week amid signs of a possible showdown with the Iranian flotilla. Washington suspected the convoy of carrying weapons destined for Shiite Huthi rebels in Yemen. Seven other American combat ships would remain in the Gulf of Aden and waters in the vicinity of Yemen, officials said.

Angelina Jolie rips world powers on Syria's refugee crisis Posted: 24 Apr 2015 03:28 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Actress Angelina Jolie pleaded with world powers Friday to help the millions of Syrian refugees, sharply criticizing the U.N. Security Council for being paralyzed by its division over Syria's four-year conflict.

Univ. of Florida suspends frat over abuse of wounded vets Posted: 24 Apr 2015 03:02 PM PDT GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The University of Florida suspended one of its fraternities on Friday after allegations that its members hurled drunken insults and spat at a group of disabled military veterans at a Panama City Beach resort.

Business Highlights Posted: 24 Apr 2015 03:01 PM PDT ___ Comcast abandons Time Warner Cable bid after gov't pushback What killed Comcast's $45 billion bid for Time Warner Cable? Regulators' desire to protect the Internet video industry that is reshaping ...

Record crowds as Australia and New Zealand mark Anzac Day Posted: 24 Apr 2015 02:55 PM PDT Record numbers of Australians and New Zealanders turned out Saturday to mark the centenary of the Gallipoli landings amid tight security, a formative event that helped forge their identities as independent nations. Dawn services were held across the two countries on the anniversary of the ill-fated 1915 campaign of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps that left 11,500 of them dead in what is now Turkey during World War I. "They loved and were loved in return, were prepared to fight for their beliefs, were, like us, prey to fears and human despair," said Chief of Army David Morrison in an emotive address in Canberra at the Australian War Memorial. In New Zealand, more than 20,000 people attended a ceremony at the national war memorial in Wellington, where Governor-General Jerry Mateparae was joined by Australian counterpart Peter Cosgrove. Anzac Day affirmed "the qualities we prize: courage, compassion and comradeship, qualities which were displayed by our troops on the Gallipoli Peninsula and by our armed forces in subsequent conflicts," Mateparae said.

Oil, gas, power, prices: big themes from energy meeting Posted: 24 Apr 2015 02:46 PM PDT HOUSTON (AP) — In the year since the energy industry last gathered for its big annual confab in Houston, prices for oil and natural gas took a dive that few, if anyone, saw coming.

Military vets plan to summit peak in Memorial Day tribute Posted: 24 Apr 2015 02:25 PM PDT ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Four military veterans are aiming to summit North America's tallest mountain on Memorial Day, armed with the names of hundreds of Americans who have died while serving their country.

After drone killings, pressure for a new hostage strategy Posted: 24 Apr 2015 01:21 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The accidental killing of two hostages in a U.S. operation against al-Qaida has put a new spotlight on the Obama administration's reliance on drones in the battle against terrorism — and has also raised pressure on the White House to revise the nation's oft-criticized strategy for dealing with abducted Americans and their families.

Iraqi general, 3 officers killed in Islamic State ambush Posted: 24 Apr 2015 01:12 PM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Fighters from the Islamic State group ambushed an Iraqi army convoy on Friday with a bulldozer packed with explosives, killing the commander of the Iraqi 1st Division and three of his staff officers north of Fallujah, said military officials.

U.N. aid chief urges Syria sanctions, Jolie pleads for refugee help Posted: 24 Apr 2015 12:49 PM PDT By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations aid chief on Friday urged the Security Council to impose an arms embargo and sanctions in Syria for violations of humanitarian law as special envoy Angelina Jolie pleaded with council members to visit millions of Syrian refugees. The aid official, Valerie Amos, also appealed to the council to mandate the United Nations' commission of inquiry on Syria to investigate besieged areas, the militarization of schools and hospitals, and attacks on those facilities. The United Nations says about 440,000 people are besieged in Syria's civil war, now in its fifth year.

Jihadicare: ISIS Launches Its Own Weird ‘National Health Service' Posted: 24 Apr 2015 12:45 PM PDT The video, which uses branding, logos and even pictures that appear to be completely stolen from advertisements for the United Kingdom's National Health Service, promises the imminent opening of the Islamic State Dewan of Health, or the ISHS. "My name is Abu Yusuf," he says. I made hijrah from Australia to the Islamic State to live under the caliphate. The release of the video comes as the fortunes of ISIS in Iraq and Syria are being severely tested.

Saudi Arabia says IS group behind killing of 2 policemen Posted: 24 Apr 2015 12:14 PM PDT RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Two Saudi men operating under orders from members of the extremist Islamic State group in Syria are suspected of being behind the killing of two policemen in the capital Riyadh, the kingdom's Interior Ministry said Friday.

Eight women finish first week of US Army Ranger test Posted: 24 Apr 2015 12:08 PM PDT Eight women have successfully made it through the initial round of the US Army's grueling Ranger School course, as commanders weigh allowing female troops to join the ranks of the elite corps, officials said Friday. The results of the first week of the Ranger School test represented another milestone as the American military seeks to open more combat specialities to women. Out of 19 women who started the Ranger course Monday at Fort Benning, Georgia, eight remained, army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said. The success rate for men, 48 percent, and for the women, 42 percent, was "within historic norms for the Ranger course," Smith said.

Iraq lacks DNA results to test body of 'Saddam deputy' Posted: 24 Apr 2015 11:39 AM PDT Iraq's health ministry does not have DNA test results from a close relative of Izzat al-Duri that could determine whether Saddam Hussein's long-fugitive deputy has been killed, a spokesman said Friday. "The ministry does not have any DNA test (results) for any relative of Duri at the present time," ministry spokesman Dr Ziyad Tareq told AFP. Tareq said such results are necessary if DNA testing is to be able to positively identify a man killed a week ago by pro-government forces as Duri. For years, Duri has been the most senior member of Saddam's regime still at large.

Falling prices, rising threats cool interest in Kurdish oil Posted: 24 Apr 2015 10:50 AM PDT The hall for the Irbil Oil and Gas Exhibition this week was crowded with company displays, executives and investors. But conspicuously absent were international oil giants like Shell, Exxon-Mobil and Chevron ...

"Military Contractors Belie Myth Of Leaving Iraq And Afghanistan" Fmr White House & Cong Spokesman Robert Weiner, policy Analyst Daniel Wallace Assert In Cleveland Plain Dealer Posted: 24 Apr 2015 09:41 AM PDT WASHINGTON, April 24, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "Military Contractors Belie the Myth of the U.S. Leaving Afghanistan and Iraq," argue Robert Weiner and Daniel Wallace in an article they wrote in the Cleveland Plain Dealer / Cleveland.com today.  They assert that the U.S. army leaving Iraq and Afghanistan is a myth when there are still thousands of private military contractors there. They cite President Obama, who said the U.S. "will maintain a limited military presence in Afghanistan to train, advise and assist." They commend the President for praising U.S. troops who served.  However, Weiner and Wallace question how we can hold leaders accountable if the presence and number of contractors who remain is obscured by the "black budget," which Edward Snowden revealed as over $50 billion.

Saudis seize bombs, accuse IS of killing police Posted: 24 Apr 2015 08:56 AM PDT Saudi Arabia said Friday it had foiled a bomb plot by the Islamic State group and blamed the jihadists for shooting dead two policemen in the capital earlier this month. A Saudi man arrested at a farm north of Riyadh on suspicion of carrying out the shooting has confessed that he was following orders received from IS in Syria, the interior ministry said. He was identified as 23-year-old Yazid bin Mohammed Abdulrahman Abu Niyan. The authorities offered a one-million-riyal ($267,000, 246,220-euro) bounty for a second suspect, another Saudi identified as Nawaf bin Sharif Samir al-Anzi, wanted over several other criminal cases.

Former foes honor Gallipoli's fallen on 100th anniversary Posted: 24 Apr 2015 07:29 AM PDT By Dasha Afanasieva GALLIPOLI PENINSULA (Reuters) - Britain's Prince Charles and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan led commemorations on the Gallipoli peninsula on Friday to mark the 100th anniversary of a World War One battle that helped shape the birth of new nations. Thousands of Australians and New Zealanders have flocked to the peninsula on Turkey's Aegean coast to remember the fallen in an ill-fated Allied campaign a century ago that claimed more than 130,000 lives. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his New Zealand counterpart John Key are also due to lead commemorations including a dawn service on Saturday at ANZAC Cove, the narrow beach where thousands of soldiers from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) struggled ashore in April 25, 1915. "Tens of thousands of youths buried their futures in this land," President Tayyip Erdogan told an international ceremony at the main Turkish memorial on the peninsula.

U.S.-led coalition targets Islamic State with 15 air strikes: statement Posted: 24 Apr 2015 07:13 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its allies conducted 15 air strikes since early on Thursday targeting Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, the Combined Joint Task Force leading the operation said on Friday. Eleven air strikes in Iraq were conducted near the cities of Ramadi, Falluja, Mosul and Tal Afar, while four air strikes in Syria targeted Islamic State forces near the key border town of Kobani, the task force said in a statement. (Reporting by Washington Newsroom)

Islamic State behind Riyadh police deaths, say Saudi authorities Posted: 24 Apr 2015 06:16 AM PDT The Saudi Arabian man arrested on suspicion of shooting dead two policemen and injuring two others in separate attacks in Riyadh was acting on instructions from the Islamic State group in Syria, the Interior Ministry said on Friday. Mohammed Abdulrahman Abu Niyan, 23, has confessed to carrying out the shootings in March and April on behalf of Islamic State, after meeting a representative of the group in the Saudi capital, the ministry said in a statement carried by state media. Islamic State last year called on followers in the kingdom to carry out attacks against the authorities, Western expatriates and members of the Shi'ite Muslim minority there instead of traveling to Syria or Iraq to join the group. Abu Niyan recorded footage of the shooting on a mobile phone, the ministry said in its statement, and was preparing car bombs for use in future attacks.

Ahead of election, Miliband says PM Cameron has squandered Britain's global clout Posted: 24 Apr 2015 05:31 AM PDT By William James LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron has squandered Britain's global influence by forging an inward-looking approach to international affairs that has left the world's fifth-largest economy isolated, opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband said on Friday. Less than two weeks before a May 7 election, Miliband dragged Cameron's foreign policy record to the heart of a campaign which has so far seen almost no debate of international affairs beyond references to immigration. Citing Cameron's absence from Franco-German talks on Ukraine with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, the chaos in Libya and the Conservative promise of a vote on European Union membership, Miliband said the prime minister has torpedoed British clout.

Bahrain jails Iraqi 'rioter' for three years Posted: 24 Apr 2015 04:48 AM PDT The small Sunni-ruled kingdom has seen frequent unrest since 2011 when security forces crushed protests led by the Shiite majority demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister. The authorities in Bahrain, which is home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, accuse some of their opponents of ties with Iran and Shiites in Iraq. At least 89 people have been killed in Bahrain in clashes with security forces, while hundreds, most of them Shiite, have been arrested and put on trial, human rights groups say. Shiite opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman is on trial for allegations of trying to overthrow the regime.

Bombings in Iraq near market and courthouse kill 7 Posted: 24 Apr 2015 04:42 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say two bombings, one near a marketplace and the other near a courthouse, have killed seven people.

Iraqi boy's dream of becoming dancer defied threats, borders Posted: 24 Apr 2015 03:41 AM PDT AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — As a boy in pre-war Baghdad, Adil Faraj dreamed of becoming a dancer, inspired by a Michael Jackson performance he watched on DVD.

Petraeus sentenced to 2 years' probation for military leak Posted: 24 Apr 2015 01:10 AM PDT CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — His outstanding career in the military and national security has been ruined; so have his political aspirations, because he provided classified information to his mistress.

Police out in force for Anzac ceremonies in Australia Posted: 24 Apr 2015 12:11 AM PDT Police Friday vowed a heavy security presence as Australia prepares to honour its war dead at Anzac Day commemorations a week after an alleged terror plot was foiled. Victoria state police Deputy Commissioner Lucinda Nolan said while undercover officers would be deployed, most officers would be uniformed.

Why Is Yemen Our War? Posted: 24 Apr 2015 12:00 AM PDT For a month now, the Saudi air force has been bombing Yemen to reverse a takeover of that nation of 25 million by Houthi rebels, and reinstall a president who fled his country and is residing in Riyadh. The Saudis have hit airfields, armor and arms depots, and caused a humanitarian catastrophe. Why is Yemen's civil war America's war? While they bear us no love, their Houthi rebellion was an uprising against a pair of autocrats who had been imposed upon them, and against al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

Tribeca Film Festival Names 'Virgin Mountain' Top Narrative Feature Posted: 23 Apr 2015 06:15 PM PDT The film, a co-production from Iceland and Denmark, also took home the best actor award for Gunnar Jónsson's performance and screenplay honors for Dagur Kári.

Mistaken killings by US drone show limits of spycraft Posted: 23 Apr 2015 01:31 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The accidental killing of al-Qaida hostages in Pakistan by a U.S. drone, which President Barack Obama called a regrettable mistake, illustrates the limitations of U.S. intelligence even in a region that has been closely watched for more than a decade.

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