| Chronology of news events in 2015 Posted: 25 Dec 2015 02:53 PM PST DECEMBER |
| On Muslims, Democrats find an unlikely ally: George W Bush Posted: 25 Dec 2015 02:37 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Taunted by Republicans to declare war on "radical Islamic terrorism," Democrats are turning to an unlikely ally: George W. Bush.
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| In Christmas message, pope speaks out on conflicts, migrants Posted: 25 Dec 2015 10:17 AM PST  Pope Francis offered a Christmas message Friday of mitigated hope for an end to the world's conflicts, backing recent accords on Syria and Libya and praising those who shelter migrants. Delivering his Christmas message from the balcony of St Peter's Basilica, the 79-year-old pontiff touched on several other conflict zones, including Iraq, Yemen, the DR Congo, Burundi and South Sudan following a year of violence and suffering that forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes. After a year that saw more than one million migrants reach Europe, Francis praised those who shelter them, asking God to "repay all those, both individuals and states, who generously work to provide assistance and welcome" to them.
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| Exclusive: Islamic State sanctioned organ harvesting in document taken in U.S. raid Posted: 25 Dec 2015 09:52 AM PST  By Warren Strobel, Jonathan Landay and Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Islamic State has sanctioned the harvesting of human organs in a previously undisclosed ruling by the group's Islamic scholars, raising concerns that the violent extremist group may be trafficking in body parts. For a U.S. government translation of the document, click http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/doc/document.pdf Reuters couldn't independently confirm the authenticity of the document. U.S. officials say it was among a trove of data and other information obtained by U.S. special forces in a raid in eastern Syria in May. "The apostate's life and organs don't have to be respected and may be taken with impunity," says the document, which is in the form of a fatwa, or religious ruling, from the Islamic State's Research and Fatwa Committee. "Organs that end the captive's life if removed: The removal of that type is also not prohibited," Fatwa Number 68 says, according to a U.S. government translation. The document does not offer any proof that Islamic State actually engages in organ harvesting or organ trafficking.
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| AP PHOTOS: Editor's picks from Mideast, Afghanistan-Pakistan Posted: 25 Dec 2015 07:59 AM PST  This week, Christians and Muslims marked the birth of both Jesus Christ and the Prophet Muhammad across the region, offering moments of respite from an otherwise tumultuous winter.
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| Iraqi forces consolidate position in Ramadi ahead of final push against Islamic State Posted: 25 Dec 2015 07:08 AM PST  Iraqi troops who have fought their way deep into the Islamic State stronghold of Ramadi were consolidating their positions on Friday ahead of a planned final assault to capture the city.Soldiers were clearing bombs from roads and homes in districts of Ramadi they had already taken since launching their assault on the city on Tuesday, state TV said. Successfully recapturing Ramadi, a provincial capital in the fertile Euphrates River valley just two hours drive from Baghdad, would be one of the most important victories achieved by Iraq's armed forces since Islamic State militants swept across a third of the country in 2014. Shi'ite militia units backed by Iran, which have played a major part in other government offensives, have been kept away from the battlefield in Ramadi to avoid angering Sunni Muslim residents.
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| U.S. reports 31 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria Posted: 25 Dec 2015 07:01 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its allies conducted 31 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria on Thursday, the coalition leading the operations said in a statement on Friday. In Syria, a dozen strikes using fighters and drones near five cities included eight strikes near Mar'a and Manbij that struck seven tactical fighting units, destroyed several vehicles and wounded three Islamic State fighters. ...
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| Pope calls in Christmas message for unity against militant atrocities Posted: 25 Dec 2015 05:28 AM PST  By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis urged the world in his Christmas message on Friday to unite to end atrocities by Islamist militants that he said were causing immense suffering in many countries. Security was tight at the Vatican as Francis, marking the third Christmas since his election in 2013, read his traditional Christmas Day "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) address from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica. After calling for an end to the civil wars in Syria and Libya, the pope said: "May the attention of the international community be unanimously directed to ending the atrocities which in those countries, as well as in Iraq, Libya, Yemen and sub-Saharan Africa, even now reap numerous victims, cause immense suffering and do not even spare the historical and cultural patrimony of entire peoples." He was clearly referring to Islamic State militants who have carried out numerous attacks in those countries and destroyed many cultural heritage sites.
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| Iraq's top Shiite cleric calls for release of Qatari hunters Posted: 25 Dec 2015 04:08 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's top Shiite cleric has denounced the abduction earlier this month of up to 26 falconry hunters from Qatar who were seized by gunmen in a remote desert area in southern Iraq. |
| Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric Sistani calls for the release of Qatari hunters kidnapped in Iraq Posted: 25 Dec 2015 02:43 AM PST  Iraq's top Shi'ite Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called for the release of a group of Qatari hunters kidnapped in the south of the country, his representative said on Friday. "We demand that all kidnapped people be released no matter who they are," Ahmed al-Safi said in a sermon in the holy Shi'ite city of Karbala, south of Baghdad, broadcast on state TV. "We condemn the kidnappings for political goals, including the recent kidnapping of a number of hunters who entered the country legally," he said.Iraq's foreign minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari denied on Tuesday that his government had anything to do with the kidnapping.
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| Iraqi forces to retake Mosul from Islamic State after Ramadi secured: PM Posted: 25 Dec 2015 01:42 AM PST  Iraq's armed forces will move to retake the major northern city of Mosul from Islamic State once they capture the western city of Ramadi, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Friday. Capturing Mosul would deprive the militant group of its biggest population center in both Iraq and Syria, effectively abolishing the state structure of IS in Iraq, depriving it of a major source of funding and dealing a blow to its influence. The capture of Ramadi would give the army a major psychological boost in its move toward Mosul.
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| Iraqi forces close in on key Ramadi district Posted: 23 Dec 2015 04:15 PM PST  Iraqi forces battled the last jihadist fighters holed up in the centre of Ramadi city Thursday, slowed in their advance by stiff resistance, booby traps and fears for trapped civilians. Fighting raged around the former government headquarters in Ramadi, a key position whose recapture by federal forces would mark another key step toward reclaiming the city they lost to the Islamic State group in May. "The Iraqi forces are in Hoz neighbourhood... about 500 metres (yards) away from the governmental complex," an army lieutenant-colonel told AFP from Anbar province.
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