Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• The Latest: US says progress made cutting uranium stockpiles
• Canadian news outlet ordered to hand over jihadist interview
• Seven police killed in bomb attack in Turkey's Diyarbakir
• Iraqi PM moves to reshuffle Cabinet amid fight against IS
• Family Research Council Announces Stand with the Persecuted Sunday on April 17th
• Iraqi PM names new cabinet to fight corruption
• Car bomb kills seven police officers in Turkey's Diyarbakir: officials
• Iraq's Sadr ends sit-in after PM proposes new ministers
• Australia's anti-migration scheme goes to the movies
• What We're Following This Afternoon
• Greece begins moving hundreds of refugees stranded at port to other towns
• Syria aid deliveries face growing difficulties, U.N. says
• I want freedom in Europe: IS chief Baghdadi's ex-wife
• Palmyra's dynamited temple can be restored, de-miners use robots
• Iraq's Sadr calls for an end to sit-in near Baghdad's Green Zone
• Iraqi PM names Numan for Oil Ministry, Allawi for finance: state TV
• Iraqi parliament postpones session until Saturday: state TV
• Wounded Veterans Expand Horizons on the Water
• Bahrain punishes opponents by revoking their citizenship
• In Washington, Turkey's president is angling for a close-up
• Visits to Berlin's Islamic Museum restore pride in Syrian refugees
• U.S., allies conduct 27 strikes against Islamic State: U.S. military
• More than 125,000 U.S. Veterans of the Middle East Were Denied VA Benefits
• Islamic State urges attacks on German chancellery, Bonn airport: SITE group
• Iraqi forces advance towards western town held by Islamic State
• With jihadis at the door, Syrians rush to rescue history
• No plans for killer US military robots... yet
• Once a beacon, Lebanese dailies lose regional sway
• Assad insists on unity government despite opposition demands
• Pentagon to send about a dozen Guantanamo inmates to other countries soon
• In Mississippi, a glimpse of ISIS run by women
• Nuclear terrorism fears loom over Obama's final atomic summit

The Latest: US says progress made cutting uranium stockpiles Posted: 31 Mar 2016 03:33 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the nuclear security summit convened by President Barack Obama in Washington (all times local):

Canadian news outlet ordered to hand over jihadist interview Posted: 31 Mar 2016 02:08 PM PDT A court has ordered a Canadian news outlet to hand over records of a reporter's online chat with an alleged jihadist to federal police, according to the ruling obtained by AFP Thursday. The information includes screenshots of an online chat between Vice Media reporter Ben Makuch and Farah Shirdon, a Canadian charged in absentia last September with leaving the country to join a banned terrorist group, threatening Canada and its allies, and related offences. Between June and October 2014 Makuch wrote three articles published by Vice Media about Shirdon's involvement with IS, based on communications with him.

Seven police killed in bomb attack in Turkey's Diyarbakir Posted: 31 Mar 2016 12:50 PM PDT Seven Turkish police officers were killed and at least 27 people wounded on Thursday in a bomb attack on their vehicle in the Kurdish-majority southeastern city of Diyarbakir that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned should show the world the "true face" of terror in the country. The attack blamed on Kurdish militants took place on the eve of a rare visit by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, whose government has waged a relentless campaign against Kurdish rebels since last summer, to central Diyarbakir on Friday. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Washington on a hugely sensitive visit to the United States, confirmed the death toll and said the attack showed the world the true nature of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Iraqi PM moves to reshuffle Cabinet amid fight against IS Posted: 31 Mar 2016 11:34 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's prime minister proposed a new Cabinet lineup to the country's lawmakers on Thursday, after weeks of pressure from supporters of a radical Shiite cleric who have staged rallies in the Iraqi capital and a sit-in next to the government headquarters to demand reforms.

Family Research Council Announces Stand with the Persecuted Sunday on April 17th Posted: 31 Mar 2016 11:01 AM PDT WASHINGTON, March 31, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As Christians around the world face unprecedented levels of persecution, Family Research Council is joining an effort to call upon churches across America to stand with the persecuted. The call is to devote just a small portion of their time in their weekend services to pray and act on behalf of those around the globe who have been targeted for no other reason than their faith in Jesus Christ. FRC is joining with four leading international religious liberty groups: Open Doors USA, the Institute for Religion and Democracy, Voice of the Martyrs, and In Defense of Christians in this call to American churches.

Iraqi PM names new cabinet to fight corruption Posted: 31 Mar 2016 10:52 AM PDT By Stephen Kalin and Saif Hameed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi named Nizar Salem al-Numan as a candidate for the key post of oil minister on Thursday as part of a cabinet reshuffle aimed at fighting corruption, state television said citing its correspondent. Abadi also named prominent Shi'ite politician Ali Allawi for the post of finance minister and tagged Sharif Ali bin al-Hussein, a relative of Iraq's king deposed in 1958, for foreign minister, state TV added.

Car bomb kills seven police officers in Turkey's Diyarbakir: officials Posted: 31 Mar 2016 10:50 AM PDT By Orhan Coskun and Seyhmus Cakan ANKARA/DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - A car bomb killed seven police officers and wounded around two dozen people in Turkey's Diyarbakir on Thursday, security sources and officials said, a day before the prime minister is due to visit the biggest city in the largely Kurdish southeast. A parked car laden with explosives was detonated by remote control as a minibus carrying the police officers turned a corner on a busy street, the sources said, adding that civilians were also among the wounded. President Tayyip Erdogan, who is on a visit to Washington for a nuclear security summit, denounced the attack, saying it showed the "ugly face" of militants "as they are cornered".

Iraq's Sadr ends sit-in after PM proposes new ministers Posted: 31 Mar 2016 10:12 AM PDT Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers to end a two-week sit-in on Thursday after the country's premier proposed new ministers for a technocratic cabinet that he had demanded. The sit-in at entrances to Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, home to Iraq's main government institutions and foreign embassies, was aimed at pressuring authorities to carry out reforms. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had himself repeatedly called for the current cabinet of party-affiliated ministers to be replaced with technocrats, but has faced resistance from powerful blocs and their ministers, who rely on ministries for patronage and financial gain.

Australia's anti-migration scheme goes to the movies Posted: 31 Mar 2016 10:11 AM PDT A $4.6-million film warning would-be asylum seekers about the risks of going to Australia has hit TV screens in Afghanistan, part of a multi-year campaign to convince potential migrants they're better off at home.

What We're Following This Afternoon Posted: 31 Mar 2016 09:20 AM PDT Overpass collapses in Kolkota: At least 18 people are dead when the structure, which has been under construction since 2009, collapsed near Girish Park, one of the Indian city's most densely populated neighborhoods. K. Panduranga Rao, a senior official of the IVRCL group, the firm that is building the overpass, called it "nothing but God's act." The company is cooperating with investigators who are looking into what caused the structure to collapse.

Greece begins moving hundreds of refugees stranded at port to other towns Posted: 31 Mar 2016 09:16 AM PDT By Lefteris Karagiannopoulos ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek authorities on Thursday began bussing hundreds of migrants and refugees to accommodation in other parts of Greece from a port near Athens, where they have spent weeks sleeping in the open in filthy conditions. Nearly 6,000 people, most from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, have been stuck at the port of Piraeus and tensions have increasingly flared over food and phone chargers. Piraeus is about 12 km (eight miles) from central Athens.

Syria aid deliveries face growing difficulties, U.N. says Posted: 31 Mar 2016 09:11 AM PDT By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations voiced concern on Thursday over stalled aid deliveries to besieged areas in Syria, with convoys delayed or surgical equipment being removed, mainly by government forces. Jan Egeland, chairman of a task force on humanitarian aid, urged countries such as Russia, Iran, China and Iraq to pressure Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government to enable more deliveries of food and medicines. "We still have not gotten access, a green light to go at all to Douma, Daraya, east Harasta," he told reporters after major and regional powers in the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) met to review progress during the month-long ceasefire.

I want freedom in Europe: IS chief Baghdadi's ex-wife Posted: 31 Mar 2016 08:57 AM PDT An ex-wife of Islamic State group (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, with whom he had a daughter, wants to live in Europe "in freedom", she told Swedish daily Expressen in an interview published Thursday. "I want to live in a European country, not an Arab country," Saja al-Dulaimi said in the interview filmed in Lebanon. "I want to live in freedom," the 28-year-old said, while praising Islamic Sharia law which she said provided "freedom and rights for women".

Palmyra's dynamited temple can be restored, de-miners use robots Posted: 31 Mar 2016 08:10 AM PDT By Kinda Makiyeh DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Palmyra's renowned Temple of Bel, blown up by Islamic State last year, is not beyond repair but the full extent of damage in the ancient city could take weeks to establish because of mines laid amid the ruins, Syria's antiquities chief said. Satellite pictures taken after the 2,000-year-old temple was dynamited by the jihadi group, and other images broadcast since Syrian government forces retook the city on Sunday, show almost the entire structure collapsed in a heap of rubble. Despite the extensive damage, Maamoun Abdelkarim said that the Temple of Bel had not been pulverized and its foundations were largely intact.

Iraq's Sadr calls for an end to sit-in near Baghdad's Green Zone Posted: 31 Mar 2016 08:06 AM PDT BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's powerful Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Thursday told supporters to end a sit-in at the gates of Baghdad's fortified Green Zone after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi presented a new cabinet lineup aimed at fighting corruption. In a televised speech, Sadr described Abadi's proposed cabinet lineup as "courageous" and called on his supporters to withdraw from around the district that houses government offices and the parliament where they have been camping out for about two weeks. (Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli and Stephen Kalin; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Iraqi PM names Numan for Oil Ministry, Allawi for finance: state TV Posted: 31 Mar 2016 07:31 AM PDT BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi named Nizar Salem al-Numan as a candidate for oil minister as part of a cabinet reshuffle aimed at combating corruption, state television said on Thursday citing its correspondent. Abadi also named prominent Shi'ite politician Ali Allawi for the post of finance minister and tagged Sharif Ali bin al-Hussein, a relative of Iraq's king deposed in 1958, for foreign minister, state TV added. (Reporting by Stephen Kalin and Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Alison Williams)

Iraqi parliament postpones session until Saturday: state TV Posted: 31 Mar 2016 06:42 AM PDT BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's parliament postponed its session until Saturday after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi presented a new cabinet lineup aimed at combating corruption, state television said on Thursday. (Reporting By Maher Chmaytelli, Writing by Stephen Kalin, Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Wounded Veterans Expand Horizons on the Water Posted: 31 Mar 2016 06:04 AM PDT PENSACOLA, Fla., March 31, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Wounded veterans and their families learned about local marine life and visited with friendly swimming mammals when they set sail on a dolphin cruise in Pensacola. Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) brought the families together for a relaxing Alumni program event designed to bring injured veterans together to build camaraderie and create support through shared experiences. "We have lived along the coast but have not had many adventures, so the chance to do something alongside other WWP families with similar experiences was inviting.

Bahrain punishes opponents by revoking their citizenship Posted: 31 Mar 2016 05:33 AM PDT By Sami Aboudi MANAMA (Reuters) - The decision to revoke Taimoor Karimi's Bahraini citizenship was read out on state media late one night while he was fast asleep at his home in the capital Manama. A Shi'ite Muslim lawyer who took part in Bahrain's pro-democracy protests in 2011 and defended prominent activists jailed afterwards, Karimi has fought the order for three years, during which he says he lost his ID, job and bank account. The government says the measure is only used when the threat is "both present and severe" to national security of the Gulf Arab state, which, like Saudi Arabia, is a key U.S. ally.

In Washington, Turkey's president is angling for a close-up Posted: 31 Mar 2016 05:28 AM PDT President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's visit to Washington this week comes at a low point in US-Turkish relations and amid another round of bad security-related news back home. Recommended: Think you know Turkey? All this in addition to the NATO member's strategic challenges, particularly the conflict in Syria – where the US and Turkey are at odds over the best way to battle the so-called Islamic State – and Turkey's renewed war against its own Kurdish separatists.

Visits to Berlin's Islamic Museum restore pride in Syrian refugees Posted: 31 Mar 2016 05:05 AM PDT By Joseph Nasr BERLIN (Reuters) - Arabic-language guide Razan Nassreddine says Syrian refugees visiting Berlin's Museum of Islamic Art often ask her how and when the artifacts clearly marked as stemming from their war-torn country ended up in the German capital. Others jokingly wonder if the shrapnel holes on centuries-old palatial facades and gates brought from the Middle East were caused by fighting between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the rebels seeking to unseat him. More than 1,600 refugees from Syria and Iraq have visited the museum since November, when it launched the Multaka (or "meeting point" in Arabic) project, which trains refugees from those countries to become Arabic tour guides for their peers.

U.S., allies conduct 27 strikes against Islamic State: U.S. military Posted: 31 Mar 2016 05:02 AM PDT The United States and its allies conducted 27 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria on Wednesday, according to the coalition leading the operations' latest daily attacks against the militant group. In a statement on Thursday, the Combined Joint Task Force said it had staged 25 strikes near eight Iraqi cities. The strikes were concentrated near Mosul, Qayyarah and Sultan Abdallah, and hit nine Islamic State tactical units as well as multiple fighting positions and a communications facility, the task force said.

More than 125,000 U.S. Veterans of the Middle East Were Denied VA Benefits Posted: 31 Mar 2016 05:00 AM PDT There seems to be a huge disconnect between the nation's mounting concerns about suicides among U.S. veterans of the Middle East wars and the Department of Veterans Affairs' shabby treatment of tens of thousands of veterans who left the military under less than ideal terms. More than half of the 2.7 million veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are struggling with physical or mental health problems that often lead to debilitating depression – and suicide -- according to some experts.

Islamic State urges attacks on German chancellery, Bonn airport: SITE group Posted: 31 Mar 2016 02:44 AM PDT Islamic State posted pictures on the Internet calling on German Muslims to carry out Brussels-style attacks in Germany, singling out Chancellor Angela Merkel's offices and the Cologne-Bonn airport as targets, the SITE intelligence group reported. Western Europe is on high security alert after last week's Islamic State suicide bombings in the Belgian capital that killed 32 people at its airport and in a metro station. The Islamic State images and graphics, widely published by German media on Thursday, included slogans in German inciting Muslims to commit violence against the "enemy of Allah." Germany's BKA federal police, who monitor suspected militants with German passports returning from stints fighting in Syria and Iraq, said it knew of the images but that their publication did not necessitate extra security measures.

Iraqi forces advance towards western town held by Islamic State Posted: 31 Mar 2016 02:07 AM PDT Iraq's counter-terrorism forces backed by army troops and U.S.-led coalition air strikes advanced towards the western town of Hit on Thursday in an attempt to dislodge Islamic State militants, the military said. A senior officer from the counter-terrorism forces, the elite U.S.-trained units which led the recapture of nearby Ramadi three months ago, said his troops were one kilometer from the town center, 130 km (80 miles) west of the capital Baghdad. The recapture of Hit, strategically located on the Euphrates River near Ain al-Asad air base where several hundred U.S. forces are training Iraqi army troops, would push Islamic State further west towards the Syrian border, cutting a connection to the northern town of Samarra and leaving Falluja their only stronghold near the capital.

With jihadis at the door, Syrians rush to rescue history Posted: 31 Mar 2016 12:22 AM PDT DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — With Islamic State group militants on the doorstep of his hometown in eastern Syria, Yaroob al-Abdullah had little time. He had already rushed his wife and four daughters to safety. Now he had to save the thousands of ancient artifacts he loved.

No plans for killer US military robots... yet Posted: 30 Mar 2016 11:38 PM PDT Robotic systems and unmanned vehicles are playing an ever-growing role in the US military -- but don't expect to see Terminator-style droids striding across the battlefield just yet. A top Pentagon official on Wednesday gave a tantalizing peek into several projects that not long ago were the stuff of science fiction, including missile-dodging satellites, self-flying F-16 fighters and robot naval fleets. Work, who helps lead Pentagon efforts to ensure the US military keeps its technological edge, described several initiatives, including one dubbed "Loyal Wingman" that would see the Air Force convert an F-16 warplane into a semi-autonomous and unmanned fighter that flies alongside a manned F-35 jet.

Once a beacon, Lebanese dailies lose regional sway Posted: 30 Mar 2016 08:27 PM PDT Its slogan was "the voice of the voiceless", but after four decades the prestigious Lebanese daily As-Safir is in danger of falling silent, illustrating the unprecedented crisis rocking the country's media. Lebanese newspapers, long seen as a beacon of freedom in a tumultuous region, are suffering because of the country's political paralysis and a slump in funding from rival regional powers. As-Safir's main competitor, An-Nahar, is also struggling to survive and its employees have not been paid for months.

Assad insists on unity government despite opposition demands Posted: 30 Mar 2016 08:17 PM PDT Syrian President Bashar al-Assad reiterated his call for a national unity government, as the White House said his inclusion would make any such proposal a "non-starter". As the two sides appeared deadlocked over the political transition, UN chief Ban Ki-moon highlighted the impact of the five-year conflict by urging greater efforts to tackle the country's refugee crisis at a conference in Geneva. In an interview published Wednesday, Assad told Russia's RIA Novosti state news agency it would be "logical for there to be independent forces, opposition forces and forces loyal to the government represented" in the new authorities.

Pentagon to send about a dozen Guantanamo inmates to other countries soon Posted: 30 Mar 2016 07:46 PM PDT By Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon plans to transfer about a dozen inmates of the Guantanamo military prison to at least two countries that have agreed to take them, a U.S. official said on Wednesday, the latest move in President Barack Obama's final push to close the facility. Among them will be Tariq Ba Odah, a Yemeni man who has been on a long-term hunger strike and has lost about half of his body weight. There are now 91 prisoners at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In Mississippi, a glimpse of ISIS run by women Posted: 30 Mar 2016 06:07 PM PDT On the surface, the arrest of a young Mississippi couple at an airport last year, as they were on their way to join the Islamic State in Syria, looks no different than numerous other cases of Western men and women caught trying to join the terrorist group in recent years. Jaelyn Young acknowledged that she was "the planner of the expedition and that [her fiancé] was going as her companion of his own free will," according to court documents. Ms. Young and her fiancé, Muhammad Dakhlalla, were arrested Aug. 8 trying to board a plane from Columbus, Miss., to Istanbul.

Nuclear terrorism fears loom over Obama's final atomic summit Posted: 30 Mar 2016 05:57 PM PDT By Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Just as fears of nuclear terrorism are rising, U.S. President Barack Obama's drive to lock down vulnerable atomic materials worldwide seems to have lost momentum and could slow further. With less than 10 months left in office to follow through on one of his signature foreign policy initiatives, Obama will convene leaders from more than 50 countries in Washington this week for his fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit, a high-level diplomatic process that started and will end on his watch. A boycott by Russian President Vladimir Putin, apparently unwilling to join in a U.S.-dominated gathering at a time of increased tensions between Washington and Moscow, adds to doubts that the meeting will yield major results.

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