Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• On social media, terror suspects left few signs of extremism
• IMF plans $833 mn in emergency aid to Iraq
• Alcoholism killed ex-leader of Britain's Liberals: family
• A foreign policy checkmark for Jeb Bush
• Tariq Aziz: a portrait of Saddam Hussein's right-hand man
• US general dismisses doubts about air war against IS
• British Museum 'guarding' looted Syrian artifact
• General: Criticism of air war against IS based on fiction
• ISIS Aims New Recruitment Video at Balkan Muslims
• President Obama Travels to Germany for G-7 Summit: 5 Things to Watch
• Air Force: ISIS selfie leads to headquarters destruction
• Video calls for jihad in Balkans on eve of pope's visit
• Jailed 'voice of Saddam' Tareq Aziz dies in south Iraq
• Hezbollah vows to displace 'millions' in Israel if Lebanon attacked
• Tariq Aziz, top aide to Saddam Hussein, dies in hospital
• AP Analysis: Fair to boycott Israel? Global momentum grows
• Tariq Aziz was Saddam's voice through war and crises
• Jobless rates drop for recent veterans and older workers
• Afghan Taliban, female lawmakers held informal talks in Oslo
• Tareq Aziz, voice of Saddam's brutal rule, dies at 79
• IS militant divulges location with social media picture: U.S. Air Force
• Israel and Saudi Arabia: Togetherish at Last?
• How Iran has brought Israel and Saudi Arabia together
• Beau Biden memorial: The good he leaves behind
• OPEC keeps taps open despite low oil price
• Migrant arrivals in Greece 6 times higher than last year
• Migrant arrivals up six-fold in Greece, says UN
• Tariq Aziz, Iraqi foreign minister under Saddam, dead: BBC
• U.S. quietly starts channeling arms from $1.6 billion fund to Iraq
• Greece needs help to cope with six-fold migrant increase - U.N
• OPEC price hawk Iran joins others seeing $75 oil as "fair"
• Iraqi oil minister sees rising demand; crude at $75 by year end
• Merkel pursues ambitious agenda for G7 summit
• OPEC members approve Indonesia's bid to rejoin: Indonesia Energy Ministry
• U.S. to send team to Nigeria to renew cooperation over Boko Haram
• Pope visits Bosnia in 'delicate' security context
• Is ISIS Coming to Damascus?
• Pakistan bus attack points to growing IS influence
• Today in History

On social media, terror suspects left few signs of extremism Posted: 05 Jun 2015 04:54 PM PDT BOSTON (AP) — Usaama Rahim liked an Islamic State page on Facebook but also spoke out against the kind of violence Islamic State extremists are fomenting across the Middle East.

IMF plans $833 mn in emergency aid to Iraq Posted: 05 Jun 2015 03:48 PM PDT The International Monetary Fund said Friday it was preparing $833 million in emergency financial assistance to Iraq as the country battles the Islamic State insurgency. The IMF said a mission had agreed on the aid with the Iraqi government under the Fund's Rapid Financing Instrument program, subject to IMF management approval, which is likely to come in July. "The Fund is ready to assist Iraq in its efforts to tackle the economic impact of the conflict with ISIS (Islamic State) and the decline in global oil prices," it said.

Alcoholism killed ex-leader of Britain's Liberals: family Posted: 05 Jun 2015 03:06 PM PDT Charles Kennedy, the former leader of Britain's Liberal Democrats, died as a result of his drinking problem, his family said Friday after his post-mortem. Kennedy, who led the party to its best general election result since the 1920s, died suddenly at his home in Fort William on the west coast of Scotland on Monday. "The report makes clear this was a consequence of his battle with alcoholism," it said.

A foreign policy checkmark for Jeb Bush Posted: 05 Jun 2015 02:52 PM PDT DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Jeb Bush heads to Europe next week to put a checkmark in a final box before making his 2016 Republican presidential campaign official: an overseas visit to catch up with a few of America's friends.

Tariq Aziz: a portrait of Saddam Hussein's right-hand man Posted: 05 Jun 2015 02:41 PM PDT A diplomat and a politician, he served as deputy prime minister of Iraq from 1981 to 2003 and also acted as the foreign minister during part of that time. As AP reported, Aziz was born to a Chaldean Catholic family and studied English literature at the Baghdad College of Fine Arts.

US general dismisses doubts about air war against IS Posted: 05 Jun 2015 02:30 PM PDT A top US Air Force general insisted Friday the American-led air campaign against the Islamic State was effective, rejecting criticism that it was too slow or overly cautious. The bombing raids against the IS jihadists in Iraq and Syria have had a "profound effect on the enemy" and taken out "more than a 1,000 enemy fighters a month from the battlefield," said Lieutenant General John Hesterman, head of the air fleet under US Central Command. Coalition strikes have helped ground forces in Iraq and northern Syria regain territory from the IS and destroyed most of the group's oil refining capacity, Hesterman told reporters via telephone from Qatar.

British Museum 'guarding' looted Syrian artifact Posted: 05 Jun 2015 01:53 PM PDT Selling ancient artifacts is one of Islamic State's (IS) main sources of income, but at least one looted object is now sitting safely in Britain. The British Museum says it is guarding a precious artifact that was looted from Syria and it will keep it until the civil war in the country ends. "We are holding an object we know was illegally removed from Syria and one day it will go back," British Museum director Neil MacGregor told The Times.

General: Criticism of air war against IS based on fiction Posted: 05 Jun 2015 01:31 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — In an emphatic defense of the air war in Iraq and Syria, a senior American general fired back Friday at critics who call the campaign timid and ineffective, saying bombs have tied down Islamic State fighters without killing large numbers of civilians.

ISIS Aims New Recruitment Video at Balkan Muslims Posted: 05 Jun 2015 01:20 PM PDT But Klein said the U.S. and NATO ended the killings of Muslims in the region and brought peace to the Balkans. If it hadn't been for the West interjecting itself in the Balkans, it would have been worse if the Serbs had gotten their way," said Klein, who also is a retired U.S. Air Force major general.

President Obama Travels to Germany for G-7 Summit: 5 Things to Watch Posted: 05 Jun 2015 01:20 PM PDT President Obama travels to Krün, Germany this weekend for a quick, two-day trip to the G-7 summit, where the topics of ISIS, Ukraine, Russia and Iran will be high on the agenda. This year's summit takes place at Schloss Elmau, a 100-year-old castle-turned-resort nestled in a national forest in the Bavarian Alps. The president will spend Sunday and Monday with the leaders of Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom as well as leaders from Iraq, Nigeria and Tunisia.

Air Force: ISIS selfie leads to headquarters destruction Posted: 05 Jun 2015 01:09 PM PDT Islamic State's presence on social media, especially Twitter, has been linked to its worldwide recruiting success, and the group has been called the most media-savvy terror group in history. US Air Force Gen. Hawk Carlisle, head of Air Combat Command, explained at an Air Force Association breakfast on Monday how a group of airmen stationed at Hurlburt Field, Florida, saw a photo on social media of an Islamic State militant at his command post. Less than a day later, the Air Force claim, they destroyed the Islamic State headquarters building in the photo.

Video calls for jihad in Balkans on eve of pope's visit Posted: 05 Jun 2015 01:02 PM PDT Islamists claiming to be members of the Islamic State (IS) group called for jihad in the Balkans in a video widely reported Friday by local media, on the eve of a visit by Pope Francis to Sarajevo. The 21-minute video, made in a slick style and carrying the logo of a production company linked to IS propaganda, appears similar to other videos released by the group. The video does not make any reference to the pope's visit and it was not possible to determine when and where it was recorded.

Jailed 'voice of Saddam' Tareq Aziz dies in south Iraq Posted: 05 Jun 2015 12:41 PM PDT Tareq Aziz, who served as the voice of Saddam Hussein's regime, died in Iraqi hospital Friday aged 79 after years of poor health as a convicted prisoner, a doctor said. "Tareq Aziz arrived at the Hussein Teaching Hospital at 3 pm," Dr Saadi al-Majed, the head of the health department in Dhi Qar, the province where he was jailed, told AFP. "He died because of a heart attack," the doctor said.

Hezbollah vows to displace 'millions' in Israel if Lebanon attacked Posted: 05 Jun 2015 12:39 PM PDT The head of Lebanon's powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah threatened on Friday that his group would displace "millions" in Israel if the Jewish state attacks Lebanon. Hassan Nasrallah made the threat in a televised address weeks after an Israeli army official warned that Israel would "have to" target civilian areas in Lebanon in a future confrontation with Hezbollah. "If they threaten to displace 1.5 million Lebanese, then the Islamic resistance in Lebanon (Hezbollah) threatens to displace millions of Israelis," Nasrallah hit back.

Tariq Aziz, top aide to Saddam Hussein, dies in hospital Posted: 05 Jun 2015 12:22 PM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Tariq Aziz, the debonair Iraqi diplomat who made his name by staunchly defending Saddam Hussein to the world during three wars and was later sentenced to death as part of the regime that killed hundreds of thousands of its own people, has died in a hospital in southern Iraq, officials said. He was 79.

AP Analysis: Fair to boycott Israel? Global momentum grows Posted: 05 Jun 2015 11:32 AM PDT In boardrooms and campuses, on social media and in celebrity circles, momentum seems to be growing for a global pressure campaign on Israel. The atmosphere recalls the boycotts that helped demolish apartheid South Africa a quarter century ago.

Tariq Aziz was Saddam's voice through war and crises Posted: 05 Jun 2015 10:46 AM PDT (Reuters) - Through long years of conflict and crisis in Saddam Hussein's Iraq, Tariq Aziz was his master's voice to the outside world - an urbane, cigar-smoking diplomat who relayed Saddam's tough and uncompromising stance to his enemies. In the months leading up to the 199 1 Gulf War, when U.S.-led troops drove Iraqi occupation forces out of Kuwait, the silver-haired foreign minister took center stage, refusing to give ground in the face of growing international pressure on Baghdad. In a last-ditch meeting with U.S. Secretary of State James Baker aimed at averting that war, Aziz pointedly declined to accept a letter from President George Bush addressed to Saddam, because of what he described as its humiliating tone.

Jobless rates drop for recent veterans and older workers Posted: 05 Jun 2015 10:38 AM PDT Recent veterans fared well on the jobs front in May. The unemployment rate for men and women who served in Iraq and Afghanistan dropped to 5.4 percent — the lowest level in a year — from 6.9 percent a ...

Afghan Taliban, female lawmakers held informal talks in Oslo Posted: 05 Jun 2015 10:37 AM PDT KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Taliban representatives have held unprecedented meetings with a large delegation of Afghan women in Norway's capital this week, an apparently incremental step in efforts to end a bitter 14-year war that has killed thousands, officials said Friday.

Tareq Aziz, voice of Saddam's brutal rule, dies at 79 Posted: 05 Jun 2015 10:18 AM PDT Iraq's jailed former foreign minister Tareq Aziz, who used his mastery of English to put a gloss on Saddam Hussein's murderous regime for two decades, died in hospital Friday aged 79. As Saddam's principal spokesman, the bespectacled Aziz -- the only Christian in the now-executed president's inner circle -- was a recognisable figure internationally whose rise was attributed to unswerving loyalty to Saddam. Aziz was found guilty of "deliberate murder and crimes against humanity" for a crackdown on religious parties in the 1980s, and was sentenced to death in October 2010.

IS militant divulges location with social media picture: U.S. Air Force Posted: 05 Jun 2015 09:58 AM PDT An insurgent posted a picture of himself at an Islamic State headquarters on social media — allowing the U.S. military to figure out his location.

Israel and Saudi Arabia: Togetherish at Last? Posted: 05 Jun 2015 09:56 AM PDT No, not curbing Iran's nuclear program—though negotiations on a deal with Tehran remain on the front burner as a June 30 deadline approaches. Israel and Saudi Arabia don't have diplomatic relations and never have, but on Thursday, the two countries revealed at an event at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington that they've been covertly conducting diplomacy to discuss Iran over a series of five meetings since 2014. The reveal came from Anwar Eshki, a former Saudi general and ambassador to the U.S., and Dore Gold, a former Israeli ambassador to the UN.

How Iran has brought Israel and Saudi Arabia together Posted: 05 Jun 2015 09:54 AM PDT In a rare public meeting on Thursday at the Washington office of the Council on Foreign Relations, former officials of both Israel and Saudi Arabia talked about secret meetings between the two countries on how to deal with Iran. Retired Saudi general Anwar Majed Eshki and former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Dore Gold publicly announced that since the beginning of 2014, representatives from Israel and Saudi Arabia have had five secret bilateral meetings to discuss Iran in India, Italy, and the Czech Republic. Recommended: How much do you know about Iran?

Beau Biden memorial: The good he leaves behind Posted: 05 Jun 2015 08:55 AM PDT At Beau Biden's memorial service on Thursday, Delaware House Speaker Peter Schwartzkopf talked about the time Beau Biden dropped into his office to give him a hug. Mr. Biden said that was the only reason for his visit, according to state Representative Schwartzkopf. The Delaware lawmaker was his friend, and he didn't get to see him that much.

OPEC keeps taps open despite low oil price Posted: 05 Jun 2015 08:46 AM PDT OPEC on Friday again defied calls to cut output despite the low oil price, extending its new strategy to preserve market share and fend off competition from the US shale energy boom. The decision to maintain output levels, made at a key production meeting in Vienna, leaves the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC) official collective target at 30 million barrels per day -- where it has stood for more than three and a half years. You will be surprised how amicable the meeting was," Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told reporters after the gathering of the 12-nation oil producers' cartel that pumps one third of the world's crude.

Migrant arrivals in Greece 6 times higher than last year Posted: 05 Jun 2015 08:38 AM PDT ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The United Nations refugee agency says an estimated 42,000 migrants have reached Greek shores since the start of the year — six times more than in the same period last year and almost as many as those arriving in Italy.

Migrant arrivals up six-fold in Greece, says UN Posted: 05 Jun 2015 08:11 AM PDT "In recent weeks, sea arrivals from Turkey have been averaging some 600 people a day," said Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman of the UN refugee agency UNHCR. Late last month, the European Union asked member states to admit 40,000 asylum seekers from Syria and Eritrea over the next two years to help overwhelmed Italy and Greece.

Tariq Aziz, Iraqi foreign minister under Saddam, dead: BBC Posted: 05 Jun 2015 08:07 AM PDT (Reuters) - Tariq Aziz, who was foreign minister of Iraq under Saddam Hussein, has died in prison, the BBC reported on Friday, citing unidentified officials. (Writing by Robin Pomeroy Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)

U.S. quietly starts channeling arms from $1.6 billion fund to Iraq Posted: 05 Jun 2015 07:47 AM PDT By Phil Stewart and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has quietly started delivering promised arms for Iraqi soldiers from a $1.6 billion fund approved by Congress last year, officials said, following mounting Iraqi frustration over the pace of coalition assistance. The Pentagon said long-awaited equipment from the Iraq Train and Equip Fund (ITEF) started being fielded about two weeks ago and was moving as fast as possible. Officials noted extensive, previous arms transfers under different U.S. authorities.

Greece needs help to cope with six-fold migrant increase - U.N Posted: 05 Jun 2015 04:30 AM PDT By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - Greece urgently needs help to cope with a six-fold rise in migrants arriving on its islands since last year, piling more pressure on its debt-ridden economy, the United Nations said on Friday. An average of 600 migrants were arriving by sea each day, many of them fleeing poverty and conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Libya, at a time when the Athens government is facing its own economic crisis, said the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR. The European Union needed to come to Greece's aid as it "does not have the resources to handle an additional humanitarian crisis.

OPEC price hawk Iran joins others seeing $75 oil as "fair" Posted: 05 Jun 2015 04:29 AM PDT Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said on Friday that most members of OPEC agree $75 a barrel is a "fair" oil price, the first such comment from one of the group's most hawkish nations. "I think most of the OPEC members believe that a price around $75 is a fair price for both sides and is working well," Zanganeh told reporters as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) prepared to meet in Vienna, where the group will likely agree to carry on pumping at full throttle. The comment adds to signs that many of the world's biggest producers are gravitating towards a new equilibrium price that they believe may be low enough to deter competition from higher-cost frontiers without wrecking OPEC members' budgets.

Iraqi oil minister sees rising demand; crude at $75 by year end Posted: 05 Jun 2015 02:39 AM PDT Iraqi Oil Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi said he expects prices and demand to rise, while all options on output would be discussed as ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) gathered for their policy meeting on Friday. ‎"Demand is higher than expected, this explains why prices rose in the previous period," Abdel Mahdi told reporters in Vienna, adding that he saw prices heading towards $75 per barrel by the end of this year. OPEC is set on Friday to stick by its policy of unconstrained oil output for another six months, setting aside warnings of a second lurch lower in prices as some members such as Iran look to ramp up exports.

Merkel pursues ambitious agenda for G7 summit Posted: 05 Jun 2015 02:34 AM PDT BERLIN (AP) — When Germany last hosted a summit of the world's leading industrialized democracies, Chancellor Angela Merkel was a relative newcomer on the world stage. With less than two years in office she focused on one major theme: the fight against climate change.

OPEC members approve Indonesia's bid to rejoin: Indonesia Energy Ministry Posted: 05 Jun 2015 01:13 AM PDT Indonesia has gained approval from all OPEC members for its plan to rejoin the oil exporters group, a statement from Indonesia's energy ministry said on Friday, citing support from Saudi Arabia Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi. "The Saudi Arabian government delegation appreciate and fully support the decision of the Indonesian government to become an OPEC member again, because Indonesia is one of the founders of OPEC," Indonesian Energy Minister Sudirman Said said in the statement. Saudi Arabia is Indonesia's top crude supplier.

U.S. to send team to Nigeria to renew cooperation over Boko Haram Posted: 05 Jun 2015 01:00 AM PDT The United States will send a team to Nigeria in the next few weeks to discuss with the new government ways to renew cooperation in the fight against the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Thursday. Washington has quickly reached out to new President Muhammadu Buhari since his election victory in March and sent U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to his inauguration last week to underscore U.S. interest in working with his government. Tensions emerged between the former government of President Goodluck Jonathan and the Obama administration last year over corruption and human rights abuses by the Nigerian military in its campaign to crush Boko Haram.

Pope visits Bosnia in 'delicate' security context Posted: 05 Jun 2015 12:23 AM PDT Pope Francis's visit Saturday to Bosnia, where he is expected to be greeted by 100,000 people, is posing a significant security challenge in the Balkan country that has become a fertile ground for homegrown jihadists, experts said. The pope's one-day stopover in Sarajevo comes a month after an attack on a police station in northeastern Bosnia in which a suspected member of a local Islamist movement shot an officer dead and wounded two others before he was killed in the shootout. "We must finally face the fact that there is a serious problem of terrorism which is growing in Bosnia," Security Minister Dragan Mektic said after the deadly attack in Zvornik.

Is ISIS Coming to Damascus? Posted: 05 Jun 2015 12:00 AM PDT For the war is going badly for Bashar Assad, whose family has ruled Syria since Richard Nixon was president. Last month, ISIS captured Palmyra in central Syria, as it was taking Ramadi in Iraq. A coalition, at the heart of which is the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, seized Idlib province in northern Syria and is moving toward the coast and Latakia.

Pakistan bus attack points to growing IS influence Posted: 04 Jun 2015 11:59 PM PDT Investigators probing the first attack claimed in Pakistan by the Islamic State group believe a notorious local sectarian group may have carried out the massacre as it seeks to expand its ties to the Middle East. Gunmen stormed a bus in Karachi last month, killing 45 members of the Shiite Ismaili community in one of the deadliest incidents in Pakistan this year. The slaughter was swiftly claimed by IS, marking the first time the jihadists, who have seized control of large areas of Iraq and Syria and declared a "caliphate", said they were behind an attack in Pakistan.

Today in History Posted: 04 Jun 2015 09:01 PM PDT Today is Friday, June 5, the 156th day of 2015. There are 209 days left in the year.

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