Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Syria tells U.N.: No one cares more about our people than us
• Turkey detains 27 academics accused of signing 'peace declaration'
• Documents: California terror suspect swore return to Syria
• UN chief unveils plan to counter violent extremism
• UN chief: Combatting violent extremism requires 'cool heads'
• Militants' use of human shields in Ramadi slows progress
• U.S., allies stage 24 strikes against Islamic State: U.S. military
• White House hopeful Bush lays out plans for foreign policy
• Eight more civilians killed in 2015 anti-IS strikes: US
• US military confirms 8 civilian deaths in 2015 airstrikes
• Saudi-born Istanbul bomber planned New Year's Eve attack: sources
• Paris suicide bomber left Belgium for Syria in 2013: prosecutors
• Guzman recapture will not solve Mexico ills
• AP FACT CHECK: Misshapen rhetoric in Republican debate
• Police say Jakarta attack funded by IS in Syria
• Iran oil headed for India, Europe, with sanctions lifting
• The Internet is making some people poorer
• German town bans male asylum seekers from public pools
• Analysis: Old militants with new brand behind Jakarta attack
• Kurdish bombing in Turkey: Is peace attainable?
• In Jakarta attack, plans meet militants' limitations
• Indonesia says larger network suspected in Jakarta attacks
• OPEC's oil basket price drops to $25 a barrel
• Iraqi force enters southern oil city to disarm tribal fighters
• Iraq's top Shiite cleric condemns Diyala violence
• Jakarta bloodshed spotlights rise of IS affiliate in SE Asia
• Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric urges end to militancy after Diyala attacks
• More Germans have doubt over migrants after New Year assaults
• Sacramento man indicted for lying about assisting militant group
• Behind frontline, Iraq town torn as anti-IS forces clash
• Fact-checking the latest GOP debate
• Critic's Notebook: Trump And Cruz Get Nasty, Squabble Over "New York Values" at GOP Debate
• Top Asian News 4:58 a.m. GMT
• Twitter sued by U.S. widow for giving voice to Islamic State

Syria tells U.N.: No one cares more about our people than us Posted: 15 Jan 2016 03:34 PM PST By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Syria told the U.N. Security Council on Friday that no one cares more about the Syrian people than President Bashar al-Assad's government after the United Nations accused rival parties in the five-year conflict of war crimes by starving civilians. The Security Council met to discuss the besiegement of some 400,000 people in Syria. The United Nations says half are in Islamic State controlled areas, some 180,000 in government areas and about 12,000 in areas controlled by opposition armed groups.

Turkey detains 27 academics accused of signing 'peace declaration' Posted: 15 Jan 2016 01:21 PM PST By Ece Toksabay ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish security forces briefly detained 27 academics accused of terrorist propaganda, local media said, over a declaration that criticized military action in the largely Kurdish southeast and urged an end to curfews. President Tayyip Erdogan denounced the more than 1,000 signatories of the document, including U.S. philosopher Noam Chomsky, as "dark, nefarious and brutal" in a speech after Friday prayers. In a more ironic tone, he said those who did not want to do politics in parliament "should go dig trenches or go to the mountains" - a reference to the tactics and hideouts of the Kurdish militant group PKK.

Documents: California terror suspect swore return to Syria Posted: 15 Jan 2016 01:06 PM PST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — An Iraqi-born man living in California swore that "America will not isolate me from my Islamic duty" as he used a social media account associated with the Islamic State group to plot a return to Syria, according to court documents made public Friday.

UN chief unveils plan to counter violent extremism Posted: 15 Jan 2016 12:50 PM PST UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday appealed for a shift from "heavy-handed" responses to the rise of extremists like the Islamic State group as he launched an action plan to prevent violent extremism. "Many years of experience have proven that short-sighted policies, failed leadership, heavy-handed approaches, a single-minded focus only on security measures and an utter disregard for human rights have often made things worse," Ban told the UN General Assembly. Ban's plan of action encompasses a broad range of measures, from boosting education to promoting human rights to counter the recruiting drives of groups like IS and Boko Haram which prey on disaffected youth.

UN chief: Combatting violent extremism requires 'cool heads' Posted: 15 Jan 2016 12:41 PM PST UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the world's nations on Friday to respond to violent extremism with "cool heads and common sense" — not with "mindless policies" that turn people against each other, alienate marginalized groups and play into the hands of the enemy.

Militants' use of human shields in Ramadi slows progress Posted: 15 Jan 2016 11:48 AM PST RAMADI, Iraq (AP) — Six times in the past harrowing month, Um Omar and her family got a knock on the door of whatever home they were occupying in the extremist-held city of Ramadi: It was an Islamic State militant, she said, ordering them to pick up and move with them as human shields because the Iraqi army was approaching.

U.S., allies stage 24 strikes against Islamic State: U.S. military Posted: 15 Jan 2016 10:57 AM PST The United States and its allies conducted two dozen strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria on Thursday in the U.S.-backed coalition's latest daily assault on the militant group, according to a U.S. military statement. Nineteen strikes near nine Iraqi cities hit numerous IS tactical units and fighting positions, as well as a headquarters and improvised explosive device factory, the Combined Joint Task Force leading the operations said in the statement released on Friday. In Syria, five strikes near three cities hit an Islamic State gas and oil separation plant, among other targets, the statement said.

White House hopeful Bush lays out plans for foreign policy Posted: 15 Jan 2016 10:45 AM PST CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Jeb Bush believes he's got the best prescription for American foreign policy, from his strategies for deterring North Korea's nuclear ambitions, to destroying the Islamic State.

Eight more civilians killed in 2015 anti-IS strikes: US Posted: 15 Jan 2016 10:26 AM PST Eight civilians were killed and three others injured in air strikes carried out from April to July of last year against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria, the US military said Friday. US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees operations in the Middle East, said the deaths came during three strikes in Syria and two in Iraq, bringing to 14 the total number of civilians the US-led coalition has acknowledged killing in the two countries since operations against the Islamic State group began in August 2014.

US military confirms 8 civilian deaths in 2015 airstrikes Posted: 15 Jan 2016 09:51 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Eight civilians were killed and three others injured in five U.S.-led coalition airstrikes against Islamic State militants last year in Iraq and Syria, according to investigations by the U.S. military's Central Command.

Saudi-born Istanbul bomber planned New Year's Eve attack: sources Posted: 15 Jan 2016 09:15 AM PST By Orhan Coskun ANKARA (Reuters) - Nabil Fadli, a Saudi-born Syrian who killed 10 German tourists in a suicide bombing in Istanbul, was planning a major attack on New Year's Eve celebrations in Ankara but changed targets after the plot was foiled, two senior Turkish officials have told Reuters. Fadli, born in Saudi Arabia in 1988 where his father was teaching, fought in the ranks of Islamic State in Syria and was at one stage captured and tortured, possibly by a Syrian Kurdish militia, before entering Turkey last month, the officials said.

Paris suicide bomber left Belgium for Syria in 2013: prosecutors Posted: 15 Jan 2016 08:35 AM PST A Belgian-Moroccan man who blew himself up during a police raid days after the Paris attacks had travelled in 2013 to Syria where he joined the Islamic State group, Belgian prosecutors said Friday. Chakib Akrouh, a suspected gunman in the Paris attacks whose identity was released in Paris on Thursday, used a one-way ticket to fly from Brussels to Istanbul on January 4, 2013, the federal prosecutor's office said. "The investigation then indicated his presence in Syria from January 2013 when he joined the ranks of the Katibat al-Muhajereen, then the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant," it said in a statement, using another name for the Islamic State.

Guzman recapture will not solve Mexico ills Posted: 15 Jan 2016 08:31 AM PST Mexico's president declared "mission accomplished" when drug baron Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was recaptured. While President Enrique Pena Nieto's administration has basked in the triumph of returning Guzman to prison, critics and analysts are reminding him that the arrest will not fix the country's security and corruption problems. Some have compared Pena Nieto's reaction to images of former US president George W. Bush standing under a "mission accomplished" banner when he announced the end of major combat operations in Iraq in May 2003.

AP FACT CHECK: Misshapen rhetoric in Republican debate Posted: 15 Jan 2016 08:29 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Ted Cruz stretched matters involving Iran and his own finances. Donald Trump seemed to forget he proposed a massive tax on Chinese goods. Chris Christie took a magic eraser to things he's said and Ben Carson was caught unaware of the punishing ways the Islamic State group says, Thank You for Not Smoking.

Police say Jakarta attack funded by IS in Syria Posted: 15 Jan 2016 08:17 AM PST JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — An audacious attack by suicide bombers in the heart of Indonesia's capital was funded by the Islamic State group, police said Friday, as they seized an IS flag from the home of one of the attackers and carried out raids across the country in which one suspected militant was killed.

Iran oil headed for India, Europe, with sanctions lifting Posted: 15 Jan 2016 08:07 AM PST By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - With Iran ready to resume business as usual with the world under a historic nuclear deal, Tehran will target India, Asia's fastest-growing major oil market, and old partners in Europe with hundreds of thousands of barrels of its crude. Iran expects the United Nations nuclear watchdog to confirm on Friday it has curtailed its nuclear program, paving the way for the unfreezing of billions of dollars of assets and an end to bans that have crippled its oil exports. Tehran plans to lift exports by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) post-sanctions and gradually raise shipments by the same amount again, adding to a global glut and likely putting more pressure on oil prices which have already dropped 70 percent since 2014, to below $30 per barrel.

The Internet is making some people poorer Posted: 15 Jan 2016 07:29 AM PST A new study finds that digital technology is pushing prosperity further away from the world's poor.

German town bans male asylum seekers from public pools Posted: 15 Jan 2016 07:25 AM PST A town in Germany has banned male asylum seekers from public swimming pools after complaints from women that they were being harassed by migrants, AFP learnt Friday. A spokesman for the local government of Bornheim said the ban on male asylum seekers above the age of 18 came after six people filed complaints "over the sexually offensive behaviour of some migrant men at the pool". The measure aimed at "making it clear to the men that the right of women in Germany is inviolable", he added.

Analysis: Old militants with new brand behind Jakarta attack Posted: 15 Jan 2016 07:22 AM PST JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — In the course of six years without a major terrorist attack, Indonesia had grown more and more confident that it had stayed on top of any threat from Islamic militants.

Kurdish bombing in Turkey: Is peace attainable? Posted: 15 Jan 2016 07:12 AM PST Suspected Kurdish militants attacked a police station in southeast Turkey Wednesday night, killing six people, including toddlers and a baby, and wounding 39. The assault comes barely 24 hours after an Islamic State (IS) suicide bomber struck at the heart of Istanbul's tourist district. Turkish security forces now find themselves fighting on two fronts, taking the fight to IS in Syria and Iraq, as well as seeking to subdue Kurdish group within the country.

In Jakarta attack, plans meet militants' limitations Posted: 15 Jan 2016 06:20 AM PST By Aubrey Belford and Kanupriya Kapoor JAKARTA (Reuters) - This week's militant attack in the heart of Indonesia's capital at first appeared to bear the hallmarks of recent spectacular strikes by Islamic State: a meticulously planned, multi-stage assault designed to sow confusion and take many lives. In interviews with witnesses and authorities, as well as video obtained by Reuters, a picture emerges of a calculated attack that swiftly fizzled out due to the militants' lack of sophisticated weaponry and amateurish execution. Police say the five militants who attacked a Starbucks cafe and police post in central Jakarta came lightly armed, with just two pistols and about a dozen low-yield homemade bombs.

Indonesia says larger network suspected in Jakarta attacks Posted: 15 Jan 2016 05:56 AM PST Indonesian police launched raids across the country on Friday following deadly coordinated attacks on Jakarta, saying they suspected a broader extremist network helped carry out an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. The operations came as authorities ramped up security at public places following Thursday's combination of suicide bombings and shootings in the capital that left five attackers and two other people dead. Confusion has reigned after the incident, with authorities struggling to provide concrete information on the shock attack that unfurled in daylight on a busy street lined with shopping malls, top hotels, and foreign embassies.

OPEC's oil basket price drops to $25 a barrel Posted: 15 Jan 2016 05:11 AM PST The average price for a basket of crudes from OPEC producers fell to $25 a barrel on Thursday, the group said, even before unrestrained exports from Iran hit the market. Benchmark global oil prices took a fresh hit on Friday with the market bracing for more supplies from Iran earlier than expected. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said the price of a basket of crudes produced by its 13 members was assessed at $25.69 on Wednesday.

Iraqi force enters southern oil city to disarm tribal fighters Posted: 15 Jan 2016 05:06 AM PST By Aref Mohammed BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq has sent an armored army division and a police strike force into the southern oil city of Basra to disarm residents amid intensified feuding among rival Shi'ite Muslim tribes, local officials and security sources said on Friday. Forces had been deployed earlier to restore calm to rural areas running north of the city towards West Qurna and Majnoon oilfields on Wednesday, but a local official reassured foreign companies their assets were secure. "The oil companies and oil sites and the roads leading to them are completely safe.

Iraq's top Shiite cleric condemns Diyala violence Posted: 15 Jan 2016 04:37 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's top Shiite religious authority is condemning recent sectarian violence, saying security forces are responsible for preventing such incidents.

Jakarta bloodshed spotlights rise of IS affiliate in SE Asia Posted: 15 Jan 2016 03:43 AM PST The deadly Paris-style attack in Jakarta has thrown a spotlight on a shadowy Southeast Asian faction of the Islamic State group and offers new evidence of the spread of IS franchises. Under growing pressure in Iraq and Syria from the US-led bombing campaign, the extremist group is spreading its tentacles, metastasising into new regions. Now, with its claim of responsibility for Thursday's suicide bomb and gun attacks in Jakarta -- which left five attackers and two other people dead -- the brutal grouping appears to be getting a foothold in Southeast Asia.

Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric urges end to militancy after Diyala attacks Posted: 15 Jan 2016 03:37 AM PST Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, on Friday urged the government to prevent militant attacks and condemned bombings claimed by Islamic State and retaliatory assaults this week on Sunni mosques in the province of Diyala. Sistani has millions of followers in Iraq and elsewhere and wields authority that few Iraqi politicians would openly challenge. "We place full responsibility on the government security forces for (the attacks') repetition and to not permit the presence of militants outside the framework of the state," his spokesman, Sheikh Abdul Mehdi Karbala'i, said in a sermon broadcast on state television.

More Germans have doubt over migrants after New Year assaults Posted: 15 Jan 2016 02:13 AM PST Most Germans now doubt their country's ability to cope with a record migrant influx, and fear refugees more, after the New Year's Eve mass assaults on women in Cologne, opinion polls released Friday show. A survey by public broadcaster ZDF found that 60 percent of respondents believe Germany cannot cope with the large numbers of new arrivals, which reached 1.1 million in 2015. The Cologne attacks clearly had an impact, the broadcaster said, as only 46 percent of people surveyed in December felt that way.

Sacramento man indicted for lying about assisting militant group Posted: 15 Jan 2016 01:05 AM PST By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - One of two Iraqi-born men arrested last week on federal terrorism-related charges was indicted by a federal grand jury in Sacramento on Thursday for lying about traveling to Syria and assisting a militant group. Aws Mohammed Younis al-Jayab, 23, who was arrested in Sacramento, is accused of making a false statement when he said he had gone to Turkey to visit his grandmother in late 2013 and 2014. In the indictment released on Thursday, prosecutors said that after going to Turkey, al-Jayab went to Syria and became a member of a "rebel group, militia or insurgent organization." Al-Jayab was one of two men from the Middle East who came to the United States as refugees and were arrested on federal terrorism charges last week in California and Texas of supporting Islamist militant groups.

Behind frontline, Iraq town torn as anti-IS forces clash Posted: 14 Jan 2016 11:10 PM PST When a wave of deadly ethnic violence swept through the northern Iraqi town of Tuz Khurmatu, Ahmed Hassan Majid's house was on the wrong side of an invisible line. Turkmen leaders recently voiced outrage over the Kurdish authorities' digging of a trench along their frontlines with IS.

Fact-checking the latest GOP debate Posted: 14 Jan 2016 11:04 PM PST In their rush to slam the Obama administration, play up their records and play down inconvenient realities, Republican presidential candidates served up some misshapen rhetoric in their latest presidential debate.

Critic's Notebook: Trump And Cruz Get Nasty, Squabble Over "New York Values" at GOP Debate Posted: 14 Jan 2016 09:00 PM PST The only things that all of the candidates could agree on were the sacredness of the Second Amendment and that Hillary Clinton would destroy the country.

Top Asian News 4:58 a.m. GMT Posted: 14 Jan 2016 08:59 PM PST JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian police on Friday arrested three men on suspicion of links to the brazen attacks in the heart of the country's capital, and said they recovered a flag of the Islamic State group from the home of one of the attackers. The discovery of the flag bolsters authorities' claim that the attack Thursday was carried out by the Islamic State group, which controls territory in Syria and Iraq and whose ambition to create an Islamic caliphate has attracted 30,000 foreign fighters from around the world, including a few hundred Indonesians and Malaysians. The arrests of the three took place at dawn at their homes in Depok on the outskirts of Jakarta, police said in a text message, citing Col.

Twitter sued by U.S. widow for giving voice to Islamic State Posted: 14 Jan 2016 05:29 PM PST Twitter Inc is being sued by the widow of an American killed in Jordan who accuses the social media company of giving a voice to Islamic State, adding to the pressure to crack down on online propaganda linked to terrorism. Tamara Fields, a Florida woman whose husband Lloyd died in the Nov. 9 attack on the police training center in Amman, said Twitter knowingly let the militant Islamist group use its network to spread propaganda, raise money and attract recruits. Lawyers specializing in terrorism said Fields faces an uphill battle, though the case could lead to more calls for social media companies such as Twitter and Facebook Inc to take down posts associated with terrorist groups.

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