Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Top Asian News at 11:30 p.m. GMT
• US investigating whether Islamic State used chemical weapons
• Tenor Anthony Kearns Headlined Private Concert for Wells of Life Charity
• Military says it is committed to fairness in Manning case
• Ex-President Warren Harding's Love Child Confirmed Through DNA Testing
• Jeb Bush leaves door open for use of torture by government
• U.S. believes Islamic State likely used mustard agent in Iraq attack: WSJ
• U.S. bombing of Islamic State rebels surged in July
• Jeb Bush rejects Democrats' criticism over his Iraq stance
• Egypt beheading blow to tourism, may boost military aid
• Sarah Chayes battles a worldwide scourge: deep-rooted corruption
• Egyptian military plane crashes near Libyan border, four dead
• Kuwait seizes arms, holds suspects in militant plot: local media
• Did the Army and Air Force Squander $500 Million Fighting Over a Drone?
• Truck bomb targeting Shiites kills 67 at Baghdad market
• Croatia says 2 groups were involved in Egypt abduction
• Turkey faces autumn election after coalition talks fail
• IS Afghan operations growing, evolving: US
• Kuwait breaks ups 'terror' cell
• IS truck bomb kills at least 54 in Baghdad market
• US general says Islamic State gaining in Afghanistan
• What If Barack and Bibi Are Both Right?
• Paris murder suspect faces trial as Kurdish tensions resurface
• Iraq PM condemns US officer's remarks on partition
• Blood from gay donors in art exhibit protesting FDA's ban
• A Female VP for Trump? Here Are 5 Options (Plus Oprah!)
• IRAQ ATTACKS
• U.S., allies target Islamic State in Syria, Iraq with 24 air strikes: U.S. military
• Hidden damage revealed in veterans' brains from IED blasts
• One soldier, 7 Kurdish rebels killed in Turkey unrest: army
• Turkey coalition talks fail; new elections loom
• Turkey faces snap polls as coalition talks fail
• Army's top officer: Pioneering women in Ranger School have 'impressed'
• Al-Qaeda's Zawahiri pledges allegiance to new Taliban chief
• Iraq's PM office says U.S. general's comments on partition 'irresponsible'
• 4-Star General Calls for Troops on the Ground to Break ISIS Stalemate
• Pakistan sentences 7 to death over school attack
• Iraq's Anbar governor sacking all aides under Abadi reform plan
• Kerry complains to Moscow about Iran general's visit
• Iraqi Kurdish forces hit with chemical weapon attack: Germamy

Top Asian News at 11:30 p.m. GMT Posted: 13 Aug 2015 04:32 PM PDT TIANJIN, China (AP) — The death toll from the fiery explosions at a warehouse of hazardous chemicals climbed Thursday to 50, and the Chinese government sent experts to the shattered and smoldering port to assess any environmental dangers from the spectacular blasts. More than 700 people were injured and dozens were reported missing in the explosions shortly before midnight Wednesday that demolished a workers' dormitory, tossed shipping containers as if they were toy blocks and turned a fleet of 1,000 new cars into scorched metal husks. Windows were shattered for miles around by the shockwaves.

US investigating whether Islamic State used chemical weapons Posted: 13 Aug 2015 04:25 PM PDT EDGARTOWN, Massachusetts (AP) — The United States is investigating whether the Islamic State used chemical weapons, the White House said Thursday, following allegations that IS militants deployed chemical weapons against Kurdish forces in northern Iraq.

Tenor Anthony Kearns Headlined Private Concert for Wells of Life Charity Posted: 13 Aug 2015 04:07 PM PDT LAGUNA BEACH, Calif., Aug. 13, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On July 24, 2015, renowned tenor Anthony Kearns headlined a private performance in support of Wells of Life, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit group dedicated to providing safe drinking water to communities in Uganda. Wells of Life was founded in 2009 by real estate broker Nick Jordan to break the cycle of poverty in Uganda by funding 1,000 water wells. The goal of 1,000 wells will provide clean water to one million villagers.

Military says it is committed to fairness in Manning case Posted: 13 Aug 2015 04:03 PM PDT WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The U.S. military said Thursday that it is committed to "a fair and equitable process" in the case of national security leaker Chelsea Manning and other prisoners accused of breaking rules at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth.

Ex-President Warren Harding's Love Child Confirmed Through DNA Testing Posted: 13 Aug 2015 03:52 PM PDT After nearly 100 years of rumors and historical speculation, DNA testing has confirmed that President Warren Harding had a child out of wedlock – his only biological child – with mistress Nan Britton. Britton first came forward publically with the claim that her daughter, Elizabeth Ann, was Harding's daughter in a 1927 autobiography "The President's Daughter." In her account, Britton detailed a steamy six-year-long affair with the 29th president, including one encounter in a White House closet, before his untimely death in 1923. Britton was labeled a "sex pervert" and "degenerate," and a book was even written to counter her claims about Harding, who was married to Florence Mabel Harding.

Jeb Bush leaves door open for use of torture by government Posted: 13 Aug 2015 03:39 PM PDT DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Thursday declined to rule out resuming the use of torture under some circumstances by the U.S. government.

U.S. believes Islamic State likely used mustard agent in Iraq attack: WSJ Posted: 13 Aug 2015 03:33 PM PDT The United States believes Islamic State militants likely used mustard agent in an attack on Kurdish forces in Iraq earlier this week, the first indication the militant group has obtained a banned chemical weapon, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. "We have credible information that the agent used in the attack was mustard," a senior U.S. official told the Journal. Islamic State could have obtained the mustard agent in Syria, whose government admitted to having large quantities of the blistering agent in 2013, when it agreed to give up its chemical weapons arsenal, the newspaper reported.

U.S. bombing of Islamic State rebels surged in July Posted: 13 Aug 2015 03:29 PM PDT By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. bombing campaign against Islamic State rebels surged in July as Kurdish fighters pushed into territory held by the militant group in Syria and Iraqi forces prepared an offensive to retake strategic northwestern cities, Pentagon figures showed. The U.S. military spent an average of $4.6 million per day on bombs and other munitions between July 15 and July 31, nearly double the daily average of $2.33 million spent in the previous month. Lieutenant Commander Kyle Raines, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said the number of bombs and other munitions used in July increased by 67 percent over the previous month, jumping from 1,686 to 2,829.

Jeb Bush rejects Democrats' criticism over his Iraq stance Posted: 13 Aug 2015 03:06 PM PDT By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush accused President Barack Obama on Thursday of not ensuring Iraq remained stable after his brother left a "fragile but secure" environment, returning to the topic of Iraq for the second time this week. At a national security forum in Davenport, Iowa, Bush rejected Democratic criticism that he is trying to rewrite history by saying Obama's policies, not the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq launched by then-President George W. Bush, contributed to the rise of the Islamic State militant force.

Egypt beheading blow to tourism, may boost military aid Posted: 13 Aug 2015 02:23 PM PDT The Islamic State group's apparent beheading of a Croatian engineer in Egypt threatens to scare off tourists and foreign investment but could boost Western support for Cairo's fight against jihadists, analysts say. The purported execution of Tomislav Salopek, who worked for a French geoscience company, is likely to encourage the policy of Washington and Paris of supplying weapons to Cairo to battle extremists, according to experts. The West has been accused of turning a blind eye to human rights violations under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the ex-army chief who has overseen a deadly crackdown on supporters of his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi.

Sarah Chayes battles a worldwide scourge: deep-rooted corruption Posted: 13 Aug 2015 02:00 PM PDT Sarah Chayes bounds around the corner to greet a guest who's just stepped off the elevator at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. Before joining the international think tank, Ms. Chayes was a correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor and National Public Radio and  was assigned in 2001 to cover post-Taliban Afghanistan. First she lived as a civilian in Afghanistan for nearly a decade, where she launched Arghand, a sustainable soap and skincare cooperative in Kandahar Province that created jobs for impoverished women.

Egyptian military plane crashes near Libyan border, four dead Posted: 13 Aug 2015 01:55 PM PDT An Egyptian military aircraft crashed near the Libyan border while on a mission against Islamist militants on Thursday, killing four people and injuring another two, the military said. The Egyptian army and air force were conducting a joint operation against militants in the border area and destroyed four of their vehicles, a military spokesman said. Egypt is facing an increasingly brazen insurgency based in the Sinai region that has killed hundreds of police and soldiers since the army ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi after mass protests against his rule in 2013.

Kuwait seizes arms, holds suspects in militant plot: local media Posted: 13 Aug 2015 01:45 PM PDT Kuwait authorities seized a huge arms cache smuggled from Iraq and hidden beneath houses near the border, arresting three suspected members of a militant cell that was plotting to destabilize the country, local media said. Majority-Sunni Muslim Kuwait has been on alert since an Islamic State suicide bomber blew himself up at a Shi'ite mosque in the capital Kuwait city in late June, killing 27 people. A total of 19,000 kg (42,000 lb) of ammunition, 144 kg of explosives, 68 weapons and 204 grenades were seized from three properties in the al-Abdali area, state news agency KUNA said.

Did the Army and Air Force Squander $500 Million Fighting Over a Drone? Posted: 13 Aug 2015 01:31 PM PDT A newly uncovered report by the Defense Department's own top watchdog says the Army and Air Force may have squandered more than $500 million to develop the same unmanned drone aircraft. A 2010 Pentagon ...

Truck bomb targeting Shiites kills 67 at Baghdad market Posted: 13 Aug 2015 01:20 PM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — In one of the deadliest single attacks in postwar Baghdad, a truck bomb shattered a popular fruit-and-vegetable market in a teeming Shiite neighborhood Thursday, killing 67 people and wounding more than 150 others.

Croatia says 2 groups were involved in Egypt abduction Posted: 13 Aug 2015 01:19 PM PDT SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — The alleged beheading of a Croatian hostage in Egypt took a sinister new turn Thursday with the revelation that a criminal gang kidnapped him, then demanded a ransom from his employer before turning him over to the Islamic State group.

Turkey faces autumn election after coalition talks fail Posted: 13 Aug 2015 12:45 PM PDT By Gulsen Solaker and Ercan Gurses ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey faces a snap election this autumn after talks on forming a coalition government broke down on Thursday, increasing uncertainty in the NATO member state as it battles Islamic State insurgents on its borders and Kurdish militants at home. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said a fresh election now appeared to be the only option after last-ditch negotiations between his Islamist-rooted AK Party and the main opposition CHP yielded no deal. "An understanding has emerged that there are no grounds right now to form a government partnership," Davutoglu told a news conference after meeting CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

IS Afghan operations growing, evolving: US Posted: 13 Aug 2015 12:40 PM PDT The Islamic State group is operating in Afghanistan but does not appear able to coordinate their operations in the country, a top US military official said Thursday. The extremist group is now considered "operationally emergent," said Brigadier General Wilson Shoffner, the spokesman for the US-led mission in Afghanistan. "We do have reports of them operating in different part of the country but again not in a coordinated fashion," Shoffner told reporters, speaking from Kabul.

Kuwait breaks ups 'terror' cell Posted: 13 Aug 2015 12:34 PM PDT Kuwait has broken up a new three-member "terror" cell and seized large amounts of weapons, ammunition and explosives, the interior ministry said on Thursday. Three Kuwaiti citizens were arrested and have confessed to joining a "terror" group, a statement said. Security forces seized "19 tonnes of ammunition" as well as 144 kilos (316 pounds) of TNT, as well as rocket propelled grenades, hand grenades, firearms and detonators, the ministry said.

IS truck bomb kills at least 54 in Baghdad market Posted: 13 Aug 2015 12:21 PM PDT A truck bombing claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 54 people in a Shiite-majority area of Baghdad Thursday, the deadliest single attack in Iraq's capital in months. The blast, which was likely aimed at undermining confidence in the government and stoking sectarian tensions, came after the outgoing US army chief warned that reconciliation in Iraq is becoming increasingly difficult and that the country may ultimately have to be partitioned. The bomb went off in a wholesale vegetable market in the Sadr City area of north Baghdad at around 6:00 am (0300 GMT), peak time for shops buying produce.

US general says Islamic State gaining in Afghanistan Posted: 13 Aug 2015 12:14 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The Islamic State group is making small inroads in Afghanistan and could grow into a more worrisome threat, a U.S. Army general said Thursday.

What If Barack and Bibi Are Both Right? Posted: 13 Aug 2015 12:10 PM PDT Robert Hunter, a former ambassador and longtime foreign-policy eminence, has written that the Iran debate has reached the familiar "cairn-building" stage. That's the stage in which each side adds a new rock—of argument, endorsement, rebuttal—to the piled-up cairn it has created. "The merits of the arguments are politically meaningless," Hunter says. "The side with the highest pile of stones wins!" But as he goes on to say, these piles themselves also become meaningless. All that matters is what actually weighs on the senators and representatives who will cast up or down votes.

Paris murder suspect faces trial as Kurdish tensions resurface Posted: 13 Aug 2015 11:52 AM PDT A Turkish man suspected of murdering three Kurdish activists in Paris in 2013 is to face trial, putting the spotlight on a key rallying point for ethnic Kurds amid renewed violence in Turkey's Kurdish southeast. According to a French judicial source, the charge against the main suspect in the case, 33-year-old Omer Guney, will be "assassination in connection with a terrorist organization", as requested by an investigating magistrate in July. Judicial sources have said he is thought to have acted under instructions from people in Turkey, and that those people may have had connections to the Turkish intelligence services.

Iraq PM condemns US officer's remarks on partition Posted: 13 Aug 2015 11:50 AM PDT Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office condemned Thursday outgoing US army chief General Raymond Odierno's "irresponsible" statement on the possibility that Iraq might be partitioned. It was "an irresponsible statement and reflects an ignorance of the Iraqi reality," Abadi's media office said. The United States is a key partner in Iraq's battle against the Islamic State group, leading a coalition that is carrying out air strikes against the militants and is training Baghdad's forces.

Blood from gay donors in art exhibit protesting FDA's ban Posted: 13 Aug 2015 10:46 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — A Washington museum will exhibit a sculpture that uses the blood of nine gay, bisexual and transgender men to protest the federal ban on blood donations from men who have sex with other men.

A Female VP for Trump? Here Are 5 Options (Plus Oprah!) Posted: 13 Aug 2015 10:45 AM PDT After a week of controversy over his battle with Fox News debate moderator Megyn Kelly, Donald Trump now says he would consider a woman as his running mate if he manages to win the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. "Certainly, I would consider a woman as a running mate," the high-flying Trump told Michael Sneed of CBS-Chicago on Wednesday. Republicans have long had trouble attracting women, Hispanics and other minorities to support their national tickets, and Trump may have just pushed that problem to new heights with his combative – and even menacing – comments to Kelly during the two-hour Republican debate on Fox News last week.

IRAQ ATTACKS Posted: 13 Aug 2015 10:37 AM PDT Chart shows the deadliest attacks in Iraq; 2c x 3 inches; 96.3 mm x 76 mm;

U.S., allies target Islamic State in Syria, Iraq with 24 air strikes: U.S. military Posted: 13 Aug 2015 10:29 AM PDT U.S.-led forces conducted 12 air strikes against the Islamic State in Syria on Wednesday and also targeted the group with 12 strikes in Iraq, the U.S. military said on Thursday. Strikes in Syria were concentrated near Al Hasakah, where five hit tactical units and destroyed fighting positions and a vehicle, the military said in a statement. U.S.-led forces hit Islamic State targets in Iraq, the statement said.

Hidden damage revealed in veterans' brains from IED blasts Posted: 13 Aug 2015 10:28 AM PDT By Jillian Kitchener A research team at Johns Hopkins University says they have found a unique honeycomb pattern of broken and swollen nerve fibers in brains of Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans who survived improvised explosive device (IED) blasts, but later died of other causes. The team of eight researchers, led by Vassilis Koliatsos, professor of pathology, neurology and psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, studied the brains of five U.S. combat veterans and compared them to 24 other brains of people who died from causes such as car accidents, drug overdoses and heart attacks.

One soldier, 7 Kurdish rebels killed in Turkey unrest: army Posted: 13 Aug 2015 10:17 AM PDT One Turkish soldier and seven suspected members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were killed in new violence blamed on the Kurdish rebels, the army said Thursday. The deaths were the latest in an escalating cycle of violence between Turkish security forces and Kurdish rebels that has left a 2013 ceasefire in tatters. The soldier was killed when an explosive device laid by PKK rebels near a railway line in the Genc district of the eastern Bingol province was detonated, the army said.

Turkey coalition talks fail; new elections loom Posted: 13 Aug 2015 09:59 AM PDT ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Efforts on Thursday by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to forge a coalition alliance with the country's pro-secular party failed, edging Turkey closer toward new elections as it grapples with escalating violence.

Turkey faces snap polls as coalition talks fail Posted: 13 Aug 2015 09:48 AM PDT Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Thursday that coalition talks with the main opposition party had failed, paving the way for snap legislative elections as Ankara battles its biggest security crisis against militants in years. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its overall majority in June 7 polls for the first time since it came to power in 2002, in a major setback for its co-founder President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. AKP leader Davutoglu and Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu had held a one-and-half hour meeting in Ankara in what was seen as a final chance to agree a coalition government.

Army's top officer: Pioneering women in Ranger School have 'impressed' Posted: 13 Aug 2015 09:43 AM PDT In his last press conference on the job, the Army's top officer reflected on his tenure, including significant shifts in policy that are giving women an ever-greater role – and, as a result one day, a greater voice – in America's armed forces. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno, who is retiring from the military after 39 years of service, also outlined what he sees as the most tenable way forward in Iraq, which may involve partitioning the violence-plagued nation. A lifelong infantry officer who previously commanded all US forces in Afghanistan, General Odierno said that the feedback on the female soldiers currently making their way through Army Ranger School – for the first time in US military history – has been almost universally positive.

Al-Qaeda's Zawahiri pledges allegiance to new Taliban chief Posted: 13 Aug 2015 09:24 AM PDT Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri on Thursday pledged his group's allegiance to new Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour who is facing a bitter struggle over his leadership. "As emir of Al-Qaeda, I pledge to you our allegiance, following the path of Sheikh (Osama) bin Laden and his martyred brothers in their allegiance to Mullah Omar," Zawahiri said in a recording, referring to the former Al-Qaeda leader and to the longtime Taliban chief, whose death was confirmed last month.

Iraq's PM office says U.S. general's comments on partition 'irresponsible' Posted: 13 Aug 2015 09:21 AM PDT Comments attributed to the most senior U.S. army official about the possibility of Iraq being partitioned are irresponsible and ignorant, the media office of the country's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Thursday. General Ray Odierno, who retires as U.S. Army chief of staff on Friday, told reporters in Washington on Wednesday that partition "could happen" but was for the region, politicians and diplomats to figure out. "It might be the only solution, but I'm not ready to say that yet," said Odierno, who has spent most of the last two decades dealing with conflict in Iraq.

4-Star General Calls for Troops on the Ground to Break ISIS Stalemate Posted: 13 Aug 2015 09:00 AM PDT In one of the most negative assessments yet of America's war against ISIS, Gen. Ray Odierno said the U.S. should commit ground troops to bolster local forces in order to break the "stalemate" against the terror group. At his final press conference on Wednesday, the outgoing Army Chief of Staff who retires on Friday confirmed the U.S. strategy against ISIS forces in Iraq has stalled and might need more American troops on the battlefield to work.

Pakistan sentences 7 to death over school attack Posted: 13 Aug 2015 08:58 AM PDT ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani military courts have sentenced seven Islamic militants to death over a series of attacks, including an assault on an army-run school that killed more than 150 people, the army said Thursday.

Iraq's Anbar governor sacking all aides under Abadi reform plan Posted: 13 Aug 2015 08:41 AM PDT The governor of Iraq's Anbar province said on Thursday he was sacking all aides as part of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's crackdown on corruption and incompetence to boost the government in its battle against Islamic State insurgents. The announcement came two days after parliament unanimously approved Abadi's sweeping reform plan -- the biggest shake-up in Iraq's governing system since the U.S. military occupation.

Kerry complains to Moscow about Iran general's visit Posted: 13 Aug 2015 08:37 AM PDT US Secretary of State John Kerry called his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Thursday to express concern about a visit to Moscow by the commander of Iran's covert forces, a senior State Department official said. General Qassem Suleimani, head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps' foreign operations, reportedly visited Russia late last month despite being subject to UN-backed international sanctions. A State Department spokesman said Wednesday the United States had confirmed the trip had taken place and said US officials would raise their concerns with Russia at an upcoming New York meeting on violent extremism.

Iraqi Kurdish forces hit with chemical weapon attack: Germamy Posted: 13 Aug 2015 07:04 AM PDT Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State (IS) jihadists in northern Iraq have reported being attacked with chemical weapons, the German defence ministry said Thursday. "We have indications that there was an attack with chemical weapons" against the peshmerga fighters that left many suffering from "respiratory irritation," a ministry spokesman told AFP. A senior official from the peshmerga told AFP the attack happened two days ago and wounded several dozen fighters.

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