Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Marine killed in helicopter accident was doing rope training
• Refugees in Hungary start moving west on foot; buses offered
• Obama says US, Saudis want inclusive government in Yemen
• Why is ISIS blowing up history?
• Europe should have seen refugee crisis coming: U.N. official
• As crisis grips Europe, a look at how US takes in refugees
• UN agency forced to cut food aid to 229,000 Syrian refugees
• German U.N. official seen as favorite for Libya post: envoys
• Obama says US, Saudis want functioning government in Yemen
• G20 grapples with Europe's migrant crisis
• 17 killed in Tajikistan shootouts blamed on top official
• At least 10 killed in armed attacks in Tajikistan, U.S. embassy shut
• U.S., allies conduct 21 air strikes against Islamic State: U.S. military
• Editorial Roundup: Excerpts from recent editorials
• Jobless rates fell in August for young workers, recent vets
• Britain to provide extra £100 mln in humanitarian aid for Syria: PM
• IS blows up famed tower tombs at Syria's Palmyra
• Austria lorry migrants 'suffocated in no time at all'
• Iraq's top cleric demands real steps in fighting corruption
• Islamic State blows up tower tombs in Syria's Palmyra: antiquities chief
• Putin says Syria's President Assad would share power with opponents
• What Saudi King wants from Obama meeting
• Germany wants tougher EU asylum rules for west Balkans nationals
• Iran's elite military is entangled in regional wars. Mission creep?
• S&P rates Iraq for first time
• Russia says Syria's Assad ready to share power
• At a Berlin church, Muslim refugees converting in droves
• German police say five people hurt in fire at refugee shelter
• Today in History
• The Strange and Dangerous Journey to 'Finding Noah' Documentary
• Once the 2016 standout, Bush now playing catch-up

Marine killed in helicopter accident was doing rope training Posted: 04 Sep 2015 04:15 PM PDT RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The U.S. Marine who died during a helicopter accident at Camp Lejeune was part of a Virginia-based anti-terror and security team training on how to use ropes to access difficult terrain, officials said Friday.

Refugees in Hungary start moving west on foot; buses offered Posted: 04 Sep 2015 03:53 PM PDT BICSKE, Hungary (AP) — Hundreds of migrants, exhausted after long treks from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, broke away from Hungarian police on Friday and headed on foot for Western Europe. In a surprise nighttime announcement, Hungary's government said it would send buses to take them to the border with Austria.

Obama says US, Saudis want inclusive government in Yemen Posted: 04 Sep 2015 03:25 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Hosting Saudi Arabia's new monarch for the first time, President Barack Obama said Friday that the U.S. shares King Salman's desire for an inclusive government in Yemen that can relieve that impoverished Arab country's humanitarian crisis. Their talks also addressed the Iran nuclear deal, a source of lingering tension in the U.S.-Saudi relationship.

Why is ISIS blowing up history? Posted: 04 Sep 2015 02:47 PM PDT Last May, as Islamic State (IS) fighters swept into Palmyra, Syria, a UNESCO World Heritage site, they promised to protect the city's emblematic ruins, a glimpse into Roman-era history. Archaeologists, who spent years miserably watching as war and terrorism took their toll on the Middle East's artifacts, breathed a sigh of relief.

Europe should have seen refugee crisis coming: U.N. official Posted: 04 Sep 2015 01:14 PM PDT By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - European countries were warned repeatedly about the refugee crisis now playing out on their doorstep and the flood of war-weary, desperate people into Europe should surprise no one, a senior U.N. official said on Friday. Ivan Simonovic, assistant U.N. secretary-general for human rights, spoke to reporters in New York about the escalating migration crisis in Europe, saying it would not subside anytime soon. More than 300,000 people have crossed to Europe by sea so far this year and more than 2,600 have died doing so.

As crisis grips Europe, a look at how US takes in refugees Posted: 04 Sep 2015 12:55 PM PDT TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Europe is struggling with a surge of refugees and immigrants that has resulted in countless deaths, including that of a 3-year-old Syrian who washed up on a beach in Turkey and has become a symbol of the crisis.

UN agency forced to cut food aid to 229,000 Syrian refugees Posted: 04 Sep 2015 12:17 PM PDT AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — The cash-strapped World Food Program has had to drop one-third of Syrian refugees from its food voucher program in Middle Eastern host countries this year, including 229,000 in Jordan who stopped receiving food aid in September, a spokeswoman said Friday.

German U.N. official seen as favorite for Libya post: envoys Posted: 04 Sep 2015 11:36 AM PDT By Louis Charbonneau and Tom Miles UNITED NATIONS/GENEVA (Reuters) - Martin Kobler, a German United Nations official currently overseeing the mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is the top candidate to take over as head of the world body's mission to Libya, U.N. diplomats said. If U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon decides to appoint Kobler to head the mission in conflict-torn Libya, he would replace Bernardino Leon, who the diplomats said was expected to step down soon and may have political ambitions in his home country of Spain. Four years after the ousting of late leader Muammar Gaddafi, militant groups allied to each of two rival administrations have brought the country's oil-dependent economy to its knees, and most of Libya is lawless and run by armed groups.

Obama says US, Saudis want functioning government in Yemen Posted: 04 Sep 2015 10:48 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Hosting Saudi Arabia's new monarch for the first time, President Barack Obama said Friday the U.S. shares King Salman's desire for an inclusive, functioning government in Yemen that can relieve that impoverished Arab country's humanitarian crisis. Their talks also addressed the Iran nuclear deal, a source of lingering tension in the U.S.-Saudi relationship.

G20 grapples with Europe's migrant crisis Posted: 04 Sep 2015 10:47 AM PDT Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the world's top 20 economies discussed the unprecedented migrant arrivals to the European Union as the G20 began to grapple with the crisis for the first time, a Turkish minister said Friday. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) meanwhile emphasised at the meeting that "well-managed" migration could bring benefits to developed economies. "We discussed for the first time the migration issue in the context of labour migration," Turkey's Labour and Social Security Minister Ahmet Erdem told reporters in Ankara after the first sessions of the two-day G20 meeting got underway in the Turkish capital.

17 killed in Tajikistan shootouts blamed on top official Posted: 04 Sep 2015 10:37 AM PDT Eight police officers and nine alleged militants were killed in two shootouts in Tajikistan on Friday that the government blamed on a deputy defence minister and the country's moderate Islamic opposition. The US embassy in Tajikistan meanwhile warned the unrest might be a precursor to "other acts of violence." An armed group killed four police in an early morning shootout on the outskirts of the capital Dushanbe and a further four policemen were killed in a shootout in the town of Vahdat just outside the capital Dushanbe, the interior ministry said. "The terrorist group was led by deputy defence minister Abduhalim Nazarzoda," a police spokesman told AFP.

At least 10 killed in armed attacks in Tajikistan, U.S. embassy shut Posted: 04 Sep 2015 10:35 AM PDT By Gabriela Baczynska and Maria Tsvetkova MOSCOW (Reuters) - At least eight policemen and two gunmen were killed in Tajikistan on Friday in attacks the authorities in the Central Asian nation blamed on forces loyal to the country's own deputy defense minister. Tajikistan, an impoverished Muslim nation of 8 million and the poorest ex-Soviet state, is still volatile after a 1992-97 civil war that killed tens of thousands. The events prompted the U.S. embassy in Dushanbe, the Tajik capital, to shut.

U.S., allies conduct 21 air strikes against Islamic State: U.S. military Posted: 04 Sep 2015 10:32 AM PDT An international coalition led by the United States conducted 15 air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq on Thursday and also targeted the militant group with six strikes in Syria, the U.S. military said in a statement on Friday. The Iraq attacks "struck and eliminated Daesh terrorists, along with weapon systems, in the vicinity of Tuz" said Colonel Wayne Marotto, public affairs officer for the Combined Joint Task Force, using an Arabic name for Islamic State. One strike near Tuz hit a tactical unit and destroyed 10 Islamic State rockets and a vehicle, according to the military statement.

Editorial Roundup: Excerpts from recent editorials Posted: 04 Sep 2015 10:02 AM PDT Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad:

Jobless rates fell in August for young workers, recent vets Posted: 04 Sep 2015 09:09 AM PDT Young workers ended the summer with more jobs. The unemployment rate for people ages 20 to 24 fell to 8.9 percent, the lowest level since April 2008. Younger workers have had a hard time finding jobs since ...

Britain to provide extra £100 mln in humanitarian aid for Syria: PM Posted: 04 Sep 2015 08:43 AM PDT Britain will provide an extra 100 million pounds (137 million euros, $153 million) in humanitarian aid for the Syrian crisis, bringing its total contribution to more than 1.0 billion pounds, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Friday. "That is the UK's largest-ever response to a humanitarian crisis. No other European country has come close to this level of support," he told a news conference in Madrid.

IS blows up famed tower tombs at Syria's Palmyra Posted: 04 Sep 2015 07:52 AM PDT Islamic State group jihadists have blown up several of ancient Palmyra's famed tower tombs as they press their demolition of the UNESCO-listed world heritage site, Syria's antiquities chief said Friday. IS has carried out a sustained campaign of destruction against heritage sites in areas under its control in Syria and Iraq, and in mid-August beheaded the 82-year-old former antiquities chief in Palmyra. News of the demolition of the tower tombs which date to the first century AD comes after the jihadists' destruction of the ancient shrine of Baal Shamin and the 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel, regarded as Palmyra's masterpiece.

Austria lorry migrants 'suffocated in no time at all' Posted: 04 Sep 2015 06:57 AM PDT The 71 migrants found dead in an abandoned lorry in Austria last week had most likely suffocated soon after they were picked up by a smuggler in Hungary, police said Friday. Preliminary autospy results indicate that "if you take into account the number of people and lack of oxygen, it's fair to assume that asphyxiation occurred within no time at all," police spokesman Hans Peter Doskozil said. The 59 men, eight women and four children were discovered piled on top of each other in the back of a refrigerated poultry truck in a motorway layby near the Hungarian border on August 27.

Iraq's top cleric demands real steps in fighting corruption Posted: 04 Sep 2015 06:40 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's top Shiite cleric said on Friday the government must start hunting the "big heads" as part of its anti-corruption drive, calling for "convincing and assuring steps" as proof of the government's seriousness in implementing its highly-touted reform plan.

Islamic State blows up tower tombs in Syria's Palmyra: antiquities chief Posted: 04 Sep 2015 06:23 AM PDT By Kinda Makieh DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Islamic State has blown up three ancient funeral towers in the ancient city of Palmyra, Syria's antiquities chief said on Friday, continuing the destruction of a World Heritage site that UNESCO has condemned as a war crime. The militants, who have already attacked two Roman-era temples in the city, blew up the tombs dating from between 44 and 103 AD, Maamoun Abdulkarim told Reuters. The four-storey building was one of the best preserved of Palmyra's funeral towers, sandstone constructions built to hold the remains of the ancient city's richest families.

Putin says Syria's President Assad would share power with opponents Posted: 04 Sep 2015 05:44 AM PDT Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has agreed to hold early parliamentary elections and to share power with some members of the opposition. The US, Europe, and Turkey, as well as the Gulf states, sided with the Syrian opposition after antigovernment unrest began in 2011. Russia and Iran have backed the Assad regime.

What Saudi King wants from Obama meeting Posted: 04 Sep 2015 05:18 AM PDT The first White House visit by a Middle Eastern leader since President Obama secured enough congressional support for the Iran nuclear deal will not be about looking backward, but about US reassurances and commitments going forward. While Iran is indeed likely to dominate the conversation Friday between Mr. Obama and Saudi Arabia's King Salman, the nuclear deal won't be the crux of it, regional experts say. The Saudi king will still be wanting to thwart a nuclear-armed Iran, which under the deal should be at least a decade away.

Germany wants tougher EU asylum rules for west Balkans nationals Posted: 04 Sep 2015 04:35 AM PDT Germany is calling on the European Union to tighten asylum rules for western Balkans nationals by designating the states of the region "safe countries of origin", a government spokesman said Friday. As Germany grapples with a massive influx of refugees and economic migrants, it said the EU must take action to ensure stable, secure countries keep their nationals at home. "The states of the western Balkans are making their way toward Europe, some of them have ambitions of applying for membership (of the European Union)," government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters.

Iran's elite military is entangled in regional wars. Mission creep? Posted: 04 Sep 2015 04:00 AM PDT President Obama appears to have the votes to ensure congressional approval of the landmark nuclear deal with Iran, a key plank of which is an easing of economic sanctions. And one of the beneficiaries will be Iran's primary tool for projecting power – the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and especially its elite Qods Force, which handles operations abroad.

S&P rates Iraq for first time Posted: 04 Sep 2015 03:10 AM PDT American financial service company Standard & Poor's issued war-torn Iraq a credit rating for the first time Thursday, with the country's conflict with Islamic State militants and low oil prices giving it a junk score. Iraq has been plagued by war and violence since the 2003 US invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Currently violent jihadists have taken over large parts of the country, something Standard & Poor's took into account when it handed out its B- rating.

Russia says Syria's Assad ready to share power Posted: 04 Sep 2015 02:27 AM PDT By Denis Dyomkin VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is ready to hold snap parliamentary elections and could share power with a "healthy" opposition. Russia, along with Iran, has been Assad's principle international ally in the war that has raged in Syria for four-and-a-half years and has claimed a quarter of a million lives. Moscow has made clear it does not want to see Assad toppled and has seized on gains made by Islamic State in Syria and Iraq to urge his foreign foes, including the United States and Saudi Arabia, to work with Damascus to combat the common enemy.

At a Berlin church, Muslim refugees converting in droves Posted: 04 Sep 2015 01:30 AM PDT BERLIN (AP) — Mohammed Ali Zonoobi bends his head as the priest pours holy water over his black hair. "Will you break away from Satan and his evil deeds?" pastor Gottfried Martens asks the Iranian refugee. "Will you break away from Islam?"

German police say five people hurt in fire at refugee shelter Posted: 03 Sep 2015 11:30 PM PDT German police said on Friday five people were injured when a fire broke out at a refugee shelter in the town of Heppenheim in the West German state of Hesse. Germany, which expects the influx of refugees and migrants to quadruple to about 800,000 this year, has witnessed more than 100 arson attacks on asylum shelters in recent months. "One resident who tried to rescue himself by jumping out of a window from the second floor was seriously wounded," police spokeswoman Christiane Kobus said in a statement.

Today in History Posted: 03 Sep 2015 09:00 PM PDT Today is Friday, September 4, the 247th day of 2015. There are 118 days left in the year.

The Strange and Dangerous Journey to 'Finding Noah' Documentary Posted: 03 Sep 2015 09:00 PM PDT The film is headed for 640 screens next month, and was made under extraordinary circumstances that included dealings with a Middle Eastern terrorist group.

Once the 2016 standout, Bush now playing catch-up Posted: 03 Sep 2015 08:49 PM PDT Republican frontrunner Donald Trump's taunt of "sad" rival Jeb Bush -- "he was supposed to win, and he just doesn't have the energy" -- speaks volumes about the billionaire's propensity to go for the jugular. The Bush campaign has shown puzzling lack of traction against brash real-estate mogul Trump as he seeks to break out from the rest of the crowded field, reinforcing American voter skepticism about Jeb following his father's and brother's footsteps into the White House. In a video clip circulated on the Internet by pro-Democrat groups, an attendee at a Bush town hall is seen napping, re-enforcing Trump's biting charge last month that Bush just does not excite voters.

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