Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Canada to give UN $75 million for Syrian refugee relief
• Germany offers France recon jets, frigate for IS fight
• Russia, France agree to tighten cooperation against IS
• Germany to support military campaign against IS after French appeal
• Niger says Boko Haram gunmen kill 18 in village bordering Nigeria
• Cameron makes case for Britain to join Syria air strikes
• Many players, divergent interests in anti-IS fight
• Tunisia leaders urged to rethink anti-jihad strategy
• US soldiers in Syria to back anti-IS Kurds: Kurdish sources
• France says UK air force needed in Syria to raise pressure on Islamic State
• Surge in French police, army sign-ups after Paris attacks
• Cameron: UK must attack IS in Syria to deny group safe haven
• Britain's Cameron says time to bomb militants in Syria
• Widows: Railroad knew of defect before veterans killed
• Stranded migrants try to storm into Macedonia, tear down fence
• Tunisia identifies bus suicide bomber as Tunisian national
• Remember the Pilgrims, Obama says, in appeal for generosity to Syrian refugees
• U.S., allies lead 27 strikes against Islamic State: U.S. military
• Philippine forces kill 8 suspected to have IS sympathies
• France, Italy see need to stop Islamic State in Libya
• Germany will send Tornado jets to Syria, lawmaker confirms
• Iraqi forces cut last IS supply line to Ramadi by retaking bridge
• Saudi Arabia to execute more than 50 convicted of terrorism, local media say
• Morocco arrests three suspected Islamic State militants
• Turkey risks sparking world war, says Iraq's Maliki
• Special Report: Egypt locks up lawyers in Islamist fight
• Britain's Labour Party says considering 'free vote' for lawmakers on Syria airstrikes
• German interior minister calls for European refugee cap: newspaper
• Stories of those who died in the Paris attacks
• Turkish military says did not know downed jet was Russian
• Facts take a back seat in White House race
• Exclusive: U.S. has urged legal reforms abroad to block Islamic State recruits
• Importing Terrorism and Other American Values

Canada to give UN $75 million for Syrian refugee relief Posted: 26 Nov 2015 02:55 PM PST TORONTO (AP) — Canada's Liberal government announced on Thursday a US$75 million (CA$100 million) contribution to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to help fleeing Syrians, fulfilling a campaign promise from its recent federal election.

Germany offers France recon jets, frigate for IS fight Posted: 26 Nov 2015 02:14 PM PST Germany on Thursday offered France Tornado reconnaissance jets, a naval frigate, aerial refuelling and satellite images to back the fight against the Islamic State jihadist group. "France was struck to the bone by the horrific attacks by the IS but we know that this inhumane rage can hit us or other societies at any time too," said Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen, announcing the support. The offer will have to be formally approved by Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet and supported by parliament, where Merkel's "grand coalition" has an overwhelming majority.

Russia, France agree to tighten cooperation against IS Posted: 26 Nov 2015 01:59 PM PST MOSCOW (AP) — The presidents of France and Russia agreed Thursday to tighten cooperation in the fight against the Islamic State group, although they remained at odds over their approach toward Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Germany to support military campaign against IS after French appeal Posted: 26 Nov 2015 01:50 PM PST By Noah Barkin and Sabine Siebold BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will join the military campaign against Islamic State militants in Syria by deploying Tornado reconnaissance jets, refueling aircraft and a frigate to the region, after a direct appeal from close partner France for Berlin to do more. The decision to commit military personnel and hardware is a shift for Germany, which has resisted such direct involvement in the conflict. It still has no plans to join France, the United States and Russia in conducting air strikes in Syria.

Niger says Boko Haram gunmen kill 18 in village bordering Nigeria Posted: 26 Nov 2015 01:23 PM PST Niger's government said on Thursday that Boko Haram militants killed 18 people, including a local religious leader, in an attack on a village in Niger's southern border area of Diffa on the Nigerian border. The Islamist militants rarely claim attacks but they are based in the north of Nigeria and often launch cross border attacks in Niger, Chad and Cameroon. The gunmen arrived in the village of Gogone near the shores of Lake Chad on foot and fired indiscriminately on residents and attacked their homes, security sources said.

Cameron makes case for Britain to join Syria air strikes Posted: 26 Nov 2015 12:52 PM PST Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday argued his case to MPs for Britain to join air strikes on Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria, amid signs that opposition was weakening after the Paris attacks. Cameron told the House of Commons that Britain should not "wait until an attack takes place here" before acting, adding it was "morally" unacceptable to be "content with outsourcing our security to our allies". While the numbers are tight, MPs look set to approve the move, meaning the first British air strikes on Syria could come within days.

Many players, divergent interests in anti-IS fight Posted: 26 Nov 2015 12:33 PM PST The battle against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq has become an international priority, but it faces a patchwork of conflicting agendas and strategies from a wide array of actors. The Russians and Iranians, meanwhile, have maintained their firm support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, thus complicating efforts to reach a diplomatic solution. The US has been bombing the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria since mid-2015, accounting for the vast majority of the coalition's air strikes.

Tunisia leaders urged to rethink anti-jihad strategy Posted: 26 Nov 2015 12:13 PM PST Tunisia's leaders faced calls Thursday to rethink their strategy in the fight against extremism, following a suicide bombing by the Islamic State group that killed a dozen presidential guards. The struggle against Islamist violence has taken on added urgency for North African nation following three major attacks there this year by IS, which has made Tunisia one of its main targets. Authorities closed the border with strife-wracked Libya for 15 days, imposing a nationwide state of emergency and a night-time curfew in Tunis after 12 presidential guards were killed in Tuesday's blast.

US soldiers in Syria to back anti-IS Kurds: Kurdish sources Posted: 26 Nov 2015 12:03 PM PST US soldiers are in Kobane, the town in northern Syria nearly destroyed in fierce fighting with the Islamic State group, to train Kurdish forces to battle the jihadists, Kurdish sources said Thursday. Mustapha Abdi, an activist in the town on the Turkish border, told AFP the American instructors had arrived "in recent hours", in what is the first official deployment of US ground troops in Syria. A source with the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) said the Americans would help plan offensives against two Syrian cities held by IS -- Jarablus and the jihadists' Syrian "capital", Raqa.

France says UK air force needed in Syria to raise pressure on Islamic State Posted: 26 Nov 2015 11:59 AM PST British air force capabilities would make a difference in the fight against Islamic State in Syria, with precision strikes especially increasing pressure on the group, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a column on Thursday. The opinion piece in Britain's Guardian newspaper was published after Prime Minister David Cameron urged parliament on Thursday to back British air strikes against Islamic State in Syria. Cameron told lawmakers Britain could not "subcontract its security to other countries".

Surge in French police, army sign-ups after Paris attacks Posted: 26 Nov 2015 11:35 AM PST France's emergency services and military have seen a surge of interest from young people keen to join up after watching the Paris attacks unfold on television. The police, fire brigade and armed forces have all reported a jump in young people asking about careers -- or like Chaudemanche, wanting to volunteer for a few months. A day or so later the 20-year-old decided to go and volunteer with the Paris fire brigade, where the recruitment office is seeing up to 20 enquiries a day -- five times more than before the November 13 carnage, which left 130 people dead and 350 wounded.

Cameron: UK must attack IS in Syria to deny group safe haven Posted: 26 Nov 2015 10:59 AM PST LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister David Cameron urged skeptical lawmakers to back airstrikes on the Islamic State group in Syria, saying Thursday that the Paris attacks have given the fight new urgency and Britain owes it to key allies to act.

Britain's Cameron says time to bomb militants in Syria Posted: 26 Nov 2015 10:36 AM PST By Elizabeth Piper and Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday it was time to join air strikes against Islamic State in Syria because Britain cannot "subcontract its security to other countries". Many Britons are wary of entering into another war in the Middle East after Western intervention in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya failed to bring stability to the region and some believe led to the rise of militants groups such as Islamic State. Cameron lost a vote on air strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces in 2013 and must persuade some wary members of his own Conservative Party and in the opposition Labour Party to back him if he is to win parliament's support for military action.

Widows: Railroad knew of defect before veterans killed Posted: 26 Nov 2015 09:05 AM PST LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Intensive care nurse Angie Boivin had just tended to a woman whose leg was severed near the hip when she saw her husband Larry lying nearby under an American flag blanket. She says that she was with him when he took his last breath.

Stranded migrants try to storm into Macedonia, tear down fence Posted: 26 Nov 2015 08:20 AM PST Hundreds of Moroccans, Algerians and Pakistanis tried to storm the border between Greece and Macedonia on Thursday, tearing down part of the barbed wire fence at the crossing and demanding to be allowed to carry on into northern Europe. Some threw stones at police while others fell to their knees shouting, "We want to go to Germany!" A few ran across into Macedonia but were quickly detained by police. Police in riot gear guarded a gap where migrants had torn down about 30-40 meters of fence, and a Reuters photographer saw riot police armed with assault rifles.

Tunisia identifies bus suicide bomber as Tunisian national Posted: 26 Nov 2015 08:12 AM PST Tunisian authorities have identified as a Tunisian national the suicide bomber from Tuesday's bus attack which killed 12 presidential guards, the interior ministry said on Thursday. Islamic State has claimed the bombing, the third major militant attack in Tunisia this year following assaults on a beach resort at Sousse and the Bardo museum in the capital, both of which targeted foreign visitors. Interior Minister Najem Gharselli named Tuesday's attacker as Houssem Abdelli, 28, a street seller who lived near Ettadhamen, one of the poorer neighborhoods of Tunis.

Remember the Pilgrims, Obama says, in appeal for generosity to Syrian refugees Posted: 26 Nov 2015 07:54 AM PST By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama urged Americans to show generosity to Syrian refugees in a Thanksgiving message on Thursday, reminding them that the Pilgrims who came to America in 1620 were themselves fleeing persecution. Obama's plan to accept 10,000 refugees from Syria has drawn political criticism since attacks in Paris two weeks ago that killed 130 people, and which Islamic State claimed responsibility for. The United States is leading an international coalition fighting the group in Syria and Iraq.

U.S., allies lead 27 strikes against Islamic State: U.S. military Posted: 26 Nov 2015 07:19 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its allies staged 27 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria on Wednesday, the coalition leading the operations said in a statement on Thursday. The fresh round of daily strikes included 23 in Iraq concentrated in Mosul, Ramadi and Sinjar where they hit 11 Islamic State tactical units and destroyed several fighting positions and vehicles used by the militant group, the statement said. In Syria, four air strikes near Al Hawl and Ar Raqqa hit three tactical units, among other targets, the statement from the Combined Joint Task Force said. ...

Philippine forces kill 8 suspected to have IS sympathies Posted: 26 Nov 2015 05:57 AM PST MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine marines killed eight suspected sympathizers of the Islamic State group in a clash in the southern Philippines on Thursday, seizing bomb-making equipment, assault rifles and black flags, military officials said.

France, Italy see need to stop Islamic State in Libya Posted: 26 Nov 2015 05:11 AM PST World powers need to step up efforts to stop Islamic State gaining ground in Libya while keeping up the fight against the militant group in Syria and Iraq, France and Italy said on Thursday. French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who met in Paris, expressed concern that instability in the North African country was providing fertile soil for IS to flourish, with Renzi warning that Libya risked becoming "the next emergency". France is pushing for a grand coalition of world powers to destroy the militant group following the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris and Hollande, after meeting Renzi, spoke of the need for a Libyan government of national unity to end anarchy.

Germany will send Tornado jets to Syria, lawmaker confirms Posted: 26 Nov 2015 05:11 AM PST BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will deploy Tornado reconnaissance jets to support France in the fight against Islamic State militants in Syria, a senior lawmaker for Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives confirmed on Thursday. "Germany will be a more active contributor than it has been until now," Henning Otte, defense expert for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) said in a statement on Thursday. "Not only will we bolster our training mission in northern Iraq but we will, among other things, make a contribution to the fight against IS terror with Tornado reconnaissance jets. ...

Iraqi forces cut last IS supply line to Ramadi by retaking bridge Posted: 26 Nov 2015 05:03 AM PST Iraqi forces have cut Islamic State's last supply line into the western city of Ramadi by seizing a key bridge, Iraqi officials and a military officer said on Thursday. The capture of Palestine Bridge, straddling the Euphrates river in northwestern Ramadi, means Iraqi forces have the city surrounded. "We are tightening our grip on them (Islamic State)." Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, fell to Islamic State in May, dealing the biggest blow in nearly a year to government forces and dampening hopes of routing the militants from the country's north and west.

Saudi Arabia to execute more than 50 convicted of terrorism, local media say Posted: 26 Nov 2015 04:28 AM PST Saudi Arabia plans to execute more than 50 people convicted of terrorism, two Saudi newspapers reported this week, in what appears to be a warning to would-be jihadists at a time of militant attacks on the kingdom. Some of those facing execution were affiliated with al Qaeda, Okaz said. Diplomats in Riyadh say their governments have been assured Saudi Arabia will not execute Shi'ites convicted after protests.

Morocco arrests three suspected Islamic State militants Posted: 26 Nov 2015 04:09 AM PST Moroccan police have arrested three people suspected of belonging to a militant cell with ties to the Islamic State group, the interior ministry said on Thursday. The cell, the latest in a series of Islamist militant groups the authorities say they have uncovered, and the second to be dismantled after the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, had been active in the central cities of Fez and Casablanca and the southern town of Oula Taima, a ministry statement said. Hundreds of fighters from Morocco and other Maghreb nations, such as Tunisia, have joined Islamist militant forces in the conflict in Iraq and Syria, and also in Libya.

Turkey risks sparking world war, says Iraq's Maliki Posted: 26 Nov 2015 03:38 AM PST Iraqi Vice President Nuri al-Maliki Thursday accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of pushing the world to the brink of a global conflict after Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane. Maliki, a former prime minister who remains very influential, lashed out at Erdogan after Turkey shot down a Russian jet it said briefly violated its airspace during operations in northern Syria on Tuesday. "Erdogan claims that a Russian aircraft entered Turkey's airspace for a few seconds, forgetting that its own planes violate Iraqi and Syrian airspace every day," he said in a statement.

Special Report: Egypt locks up lawyers in Islamist fight Posted: 26 Nov 2015 02:56 AM PST By Michael Georgy and Yara Bayoumy CAIRO (Reuters) - (This October 22, 2015 story was refiled to correct the year of Sisi's presidency in paragraph 10) As Egypt cracks down on its Islamist dissidents, many of the country's lawyers are finding themselves on the wrong side of the law as well. Attorney Mohsen al-Bahnasy says so many fellow lawyers have been arrested or charged in recent months that he now spends much of his time defending them in court. One of the lawyers he represents is accused of distributing leaflets supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group banned by the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Britain's Labour Party says considering 'free vote' for lawmakers on Syria airstrikes Posted: 26 Nov 2015 12:10 AM PST Britain's opposition Labour Party is considering allowing its lawmakers to vote as they wish on whether to approve Prime Minister David Cameron's plan to extend airstrikes to Syria, its finance spokesman said on Thursday. Britain is already bombing Islamic State in Iraq but Cameron wants to get Parliament's support to strike militants in Syria.

German interior minister calls for European refugee cap: newspaper Posted: 26 Nov 2015 12:02 AM PST Europe should set a limit on the number of refugees it takes in and seek out those most clearly entitled to protection, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said in an interview with Austrian newspaper Der Standard. In remarks published a day after Chancellor Angela Merkel, a fellow conservative, pledged to stick to her open-door refugee policy, de Maiziere said Europe should commit to "a generous concluding intake of refugees", but did not provide a number. "Truly needy cases -- from Syria, from Iraq -- will be jointly sought out." French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said this week that Europe could no longer accommodate more refugees.

Stories of those who died in the Paris attacks Posted: 26 Nov 2015 12:02 AM PST Among the 130 victims killed in attacks in Paris were students, a filmmaker, a doctor, artists, music lovers and beloved parents and children. They had varied backgrounds and interests. Here are some of their stories:

Turkish military says did not know downed jet was Russian Posted: 25 Nov 2015 11:20 PM PST Turkey's military said it did not know the warplane it shot down on the Syrian border was Russian, adding that it was ready for "all kinds of cooperation" after Moscow called the incident a "planned provocation". In a statement issued after tensions surged between Ankara and Moscow, the Turkish armed forces said they had made significant efforts to find and rescue the two pilots after shooting down the jet on Tuesday. The sole surviving pilot said he had received no warning and the aircraft did not violate Turkish air space, prompting the Turkish army to release audio recordings it said showed the Russian jet was repeatedly warned to change course.

Facts take a back seat in White House race Posted: 25 Nov 2015 08:41 PM PST Republican Donald Trump's claim that Arab Americans cheered during the September 11, 2001 attacks is just the latest in a string of falsehoods from US presidential candidates. Trump is not alone among the candidates in distorting the truth, according to fact-checkers. Democrats have stretched the truth as well -- Hillary Clinton by claiming that her handling of emails through a private server was "permitted" by the State Department.

Exclusive: U.S. has urged legal reforms abroad to block Islamic State recruits Posted: 25 Nov 2015 05:10 PM PST By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department has provided specific suggestions to governments in Europe and elsewhere on how to strengthen counterterrorism laws in order to arrest would-be foreign fighters before they join groups like Islamic State, according to a policy paper reviewed by Reuters. U.S. government officials distributed the paper to overseas government agencies earlier this year as part of a push by the Obama administration to track and stem the flow of homegrown foreign fighters from Europe bound for Syria and Iraq, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

Importing Terrorism and Other American Values Posted: 25 Nov 2015 05:09 PM PST Americans keep being hectored to take "refugees" from terrorist-producing countries because to do otherwise would be "a betrayal of our values," as President Obama said on Monday. The rise of Donald Trump reminds us of the popularity of another, long-forgotten American value: protecting Americans. Contrary to Obama's laughable reference to "the universal values" that "all of humanity" share, most of the world does not share our values, at all.

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