Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Navy SEAL killed in Iraq identified as an Arizona native
• CORRECTS: Arizona governor says Navy Seal killed in Iraq is Charlie Keating IV, grandson of financier involved in savings and loan scandal.
• Russia hopes for Syria truce in Aleppo 'within hours'
• SEAL death shows growing risks US troops face in Iraq, Syria
• Oil down second straight day; rising output reignites glut worry
• Islamic State kills U.S. Navy SEAL in northern Iraq
• IRAQ COMBAT DEATHS
• Daniel Aaron, groundbreaking scholar, dead at 103
• South Carolina military police on tap for Guantanamo force
• US combat death in Iraq reflects intensifying war
• IS kills US Navy SEAL in Iraq attack
• Pilgrims brave bomb threat to flock to Baghdad shrine
• Founder of Germany's far-right Pegida fined for inciting hatred
• IS may be making chemical weapons, warns watchdog
• Kenya says arrests key member of militant group plotting attacks
• Dozens of Kurdish militants killed in air strikes, clashes: Turkish military
• Obama briefed on death of U.S. service member in Iraq: White House
• UN demands protection for hospitals in conflicts
• Syria conflict: How does Russia view the endgame?
• German 'jihadist' goes on trial accused of Syria war crimes
• Niger tells Europe it needs 1 billion euros to fight illegal migration
• Jewish leader urges Sweden to prioritize anti-Semitism fight
• Niger tells Europe it needs 1 bln euros to fight illegal migration
• Singapore detains 8 Bangladeshis suspected of IS group links
• Air raids on IS Syria bastion kill 19 civilians: monitor
• Commentary: The ‘bad boy’ cleric poised to be Iraq’s next kingmaker
• Iraq holding hundreds of detainees in 'inhumane conditions': Amnesty
• U.S. targets Islamic State in Mosul, other cities in Iraq, Syria
• Hungary to hold EU migrant quota referendum by October
• Turkey war planes hit Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq
• Special Report: A generation of Syrian children who don't count
• Defense Secretary Ash Carter: US serviceman killed 'in the neighborhood' of Irbil, Iraq
• Islamic State breaches peshmerga defenses north of Mosul
• Turkish warplanes hit PKK targets in northern Iraq, killing 18: military sources
• Oil down 3 pct on OPEC output hike, speculative ramp-up in Brent
• Air strikes hit Islamic State stronghold in Syria: monitor
• Navy SEALs grab limelight in years since bin Laden death

Navy SEAL killed in Iraq identified as an Arizona native Posted: 03 May 2016 04:51 PM PDT PHOENIX (AP) — The Navy SEAL killed in Iraq has been identified as Charlie Keating IV, the grandson of the late Arizona financier involved in savings and loan scandal.

CORRECTS: Arizona governor says Navy Seal killed in Iraq is Charlie Keating IV, grandson of financier involved in savings and loan scandal. Posted: 03 May 2016 04:42 PM PDT PHOENIX (AP) — CORRECTS: Arizona governor says Navy Seal killed in Iraq is Charlie Keating IV, grandson of financier involved in savings and loan scandal. (Corrects APNewsAlert to add attribution )

Russia hopes for Syria truce in Aleppo 'within hours' Posted: 03 May 2016 04:39 PM PDT Russia hoped Tuesday a new ceasefire could be announced within hours for Syria's battered city of Aleppo, where fresh fighting including rocket fire on a maternity hospital left close to 30 dead. As the city was struck by some of its heaviest reported clashes in days, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said efforts were under way to agree on a freeze in the fighting. "I am hoping that in the near future, maybe even in the next few hours, such a decision will be announced," Lavrov said after meeting UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura in Moscow.

SEAL death shows growing risks US troops face in Iraq, Syria Posted: 03 May 2016 03:46 PM PDT The killing of a Navy SEAL by Islamic State fighters highlights the increasing risks US troops face in Iraq and Syria as they inch ever closer toward the jihadists' frontlines. IS fighters on Tuesday used suicide bombers and firepower to blast their way past Kurdish peshmerga forces that US troops were supporting north of Mosul in northern Iraq. It is only the third time a US serviceman has been killed in combat since the United States launched an international coalition to fight the IS group in August 2014.

Oil down second straight day; rising output reignites glut worry Posted: 03 May 2016 02:05 PM PDT Brent crude futures settled down 86 cents, or 1.9 percent, at $44.97 a barrel. U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures fell $1.13, or 2.5 percent, to $43.65. The two crude benchmarks gave back some losses in post-settlement trade after industry group American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a smaller U.S. crude stockpile build of 1.3 million barrels last week, compared with analysts' forecasts of a 1.7 million-barrel rise.

Islamic State kills U.S. Navy SEAL in northern Iraq Posted: 03 May 2016 01:58 PM PDT By Phil Stewart and Andrea Shalal STUTTGART, Germany (Reuters) - Islamic State militants killed a U.S. Navy SEAL in northern Iraq on Tuesday after blasting through Kurdish defenses and overrunning a town in the biggest offensive in the area for months, officials said. The elite serviceman was the third American to be killed in direct combat since a U.S.-led coalition launched a campaign in 2014 to "degrade and destroy" Islamic State and is a measure of its deepening involvement in the conflict. A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the dead serviceman was a Navy SEAL.

IRAQ COMBAT DEATHS Posted: 03 May 2016 01:32 PM PDT Chart shows U.S. combat deaths in Iraq since 2002; 2c x 3 inches; 96.3 mm x 76 mm;

Daniel Aaron, groundbreaking scholar, dead at 103 Posted: 03 May 2016 12:15 PM PDT NEW YORK (AP) — Daniel Aaron, a founding scholar and ambassador of American studies who explored and explained his country through books, essays and diplomatic missions and helped preserve the literary canon as the first president of the Library of America, has died.

South Carolina military police on tap for Guantanamo force Posted: 03 May 2016 12:07 PM PDT COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Military police from the South Carolina Army National Guard have been ordered to prepare for a possible deployment to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba as early as this fall, a Guard official said Tuesday.

US combat death in Iraq reflects intensifying war Posted: 03 May 2016 12:02 PM PDT STUTTGART, Germany (AP) — The combat death Tuesday of a U.S Navy SEAL who was advising Kurdish forces in Iraq coincides with a gradually deepening American role in fighting a resilient Islamic State, even as the Iraqis struggle to muster the military and political strength to defeat the militants.

IS kills US Navy SEAL in Iraq attack Posted: 03 May 2016 11:32 AM PDT The Islamic State group broke through Kurdish defences in northern Iraq on Tuesday and killed a US Navy SEAL deployed as part of the US-led coalition against the jihadists. The attack came as the United Nations said that fighting with IS in northern Iraq could displace another 30,000 people, adding to millions who have already fled their homes. The sailor from the special operations force was at least the third coalition member killed by enemy fire in Iraq since IS overran swathes of the country in 2014.

Pilgrims brave bomb threat to flock to Baghdad shrine Posted: 03 May 2016 11:30 AM PDT The days-long pilgrimage to mourn the 799 AD death of Imam Musa Kadhim came as Iraq wallowed in political limbo after the storming of parliament by protesters on Saturday. "This pilgrimage represents a defeat for terrorism," said Mohammed Nayif, a 32-year-old from Babil province, south of Baghdad. An official from the shrine said that "millions" of people participated in the pilgrimage in recent days.

Founder of Germany's far-right Pegida fined for inciting hatred Posted: 03 May 2016 11:25 AM PDT The founder of Germany's xenophobic and anti-Islamic Pegida movement was Tuesday convicted of inciting racial hatred and fined nearly 10,000 euros for branding refugees "cattle" and "scum" on social media. Lutz Bachmann, founder of the far-right "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident" movement, was ordered to pay 9,600 euros ($11,000) over the widely-shared Facebook posts. Judge Hans Hlavka told the court in the eastern city of Dresden it was "clear" that Bachmann was responsible for the comments on the social network and that his insults could not be considered as free speech.

IS may be making chemical weapons, warns watchdog Posted: 03 May 2016 11:11 AM PDT There are "extremely worrying" signs that the Islamic State group may be making its own chemical weapons and may have used them already in Iraq and Syria, a global watchdog said Tuesday. The head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Ahmet Uzumcu, said his body's fact-finding teams have found evidence of the use of sulphur mustard in attacks in the two countries. "Although they could not attribute this to Daesh... there are strong suspicions that they may have used it (chemical weapons)," Uzumcu told AFP, using the alternative name for the jihadist group.

Kenya says arrests key member of militant group plotting attacks Posted: 03 May 2016 11:00 AM PDT By Humphrey Malalo NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan police have arrested a suspected key member of an Islamist militant group that was plotting attacks similar to one in 2013 on the Westgate shopping mall that killed at least 67 people, authorities said on Tuesday. Militant attacks mostly by al Shabaab militants from neighboring Somalia have increased in recent years in Kenya, which has a large Muslim population concentrated mostly along its Indian Ocean coast. President Uhuru Kenyatta sent troops into Somalia in 2011 to join African Union military operations against al Shabaab that have driven it out of its major territorial strongholds but not ended its ability to carry out selective, deadly attacks.

Dozens of Kurdish militants killed in air strikes, clashes: Turkish military Posted: 03 May 2016 10:58 AM PDT At least 42 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants were killed in air strikes and clashes on Monday and Tuesday and three soldiers died, the Turkish military said on Tuesday. It said Turkish warplanes hit caves and gun positions of the PKK in the Qandil mountains in northern Iraq, where its leadership is based, late on Monday, killing 18 fighters. It also said one soldier and five militants were killed in clashes in a rural area of Cukurca in Hakkari province, which borders Iran and Iraq, on Tuesday.

Obama briefed on death of U.S. service member in Iraq: White House Posted: 03 May 2016 10:43 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has been briefed on the death of a U.S. service member who, according to initial reports, was killed by Islamic State militants in northern Iraq on Tuesday, the White House said. "This service member's death reminds us of the risks our brave men and women in uniform face every single day," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a daily press briefing, extending the Obama administration's condolences. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton, Doina Chiacu and David Alexander; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Dan Grebler)

UN demands protection for hospitals in conflicts Posted: 03 May 2016 10:14 AM PDT UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council responded to an upsurge in deadly attacks on hospitals and medical personnel, unanimously adopting a resolution Tuesday demanding that all parties to conflicts protect staff and facilities treating the wounded and sick.

Syria conflict: How does Russia view the endgame? Posted: 03 May 2016 09:51 AM PDT Efforts to salvage a failing cease-fire in Syria moved to Moscow today, in a sign of Russia's influence over the battlefield and of growing anxiety over the surge of violence in the northern city of Aleppo that has taken 250 more lives in just over a week. A coalescing of grim milestones in the five-year conflict propelled UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura to Moscow. Peace talks in Geneva all but collapsed last week, even as government forces renewed an offensive on Aleppo.

German 'jihadist' goes on trial accused of Syria war crimes Posted: 03 May 2016 08:59 AM PDT A suspected German jihadist went on trial Tuesday for war crimes in Syria after appearing in photographs holding the severed heads of two victims of the conflict. At the first trial in Germany for war crimes committed in Syria's five-year conflict, Aria Ladjedvardi, 21, told the court he "didn't want to be in" the incriminating pictures, and that he "could not imagine that they would be circulated on social media". Prosecutors have accused Ladjedvardi of a war crime as he had treated the unidentified victims "in a degrading and humiliating manner".

Niger tells Europe it needs 1 billion euros to fight illegal migration Posted: 03 May 2016 08:57 AM PDT Niger, a major transit country for Africans seeking to reach the EU, told foreign ministers visiting from Europe on Tuesday it needs 1 billion euros to combat illegal migration. As many as 150,000 migrants, most coming from other West African nations, will travel through Niger this year, crossing the Sahara Desert on their way to the Mediterranean coast, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). A vast landlocked country, Niger borders Nigeria in the south and Libya to north - from whose coast many migrants set off on the perilous sea journey to EU members Italy or Malta.

Jewish leader urges Sweden to prioritize anti-Semitism fight Posted: 03 May 2016 08:55 AM PDT STOCKHOLM (AP) — The president of the European Jewish Congress says Sweden needs to be vigilant of anti-Semitism among some refugees seeking shelter in the Nordic country.

Niger tells Europe it needs 1 bln euros to fight illegal migration Posted: 03 May 2016 08:51 AM PDT Niger, a major transit country for Africans seeking to reach the EU, told foreign ministers visiting from Europe on Tuesday it needs 1 billion euros to combat illegal migration. As many as 150,000 migrants, most coming from other West African nations, will travel through Niger this year, crossing the Sahara Desert on their way to the Mediterranean coast, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). A vast landlocked country, Niger borders Nigeria in the south and Libya to north - from whose coast many migrants set off on the perilous sea journey to EU members Italy or Malta.

Singapore detains 8 Bangladeshis suspected of IS group links Posted: 03 May 2016 07:46 AM PDT SINGAPORE (AP) — Singapore has detained eight Bangladeshi workers on suspicion of planning attacks linked to the Islamic State group in their home country, authorities said Tuesday

Air raids on IS Syria bastion kill 19 civilians: monitor Posted: 03 May 2016 07:44 AM PDT Heavy air strikes throughout the night on the Islamic State group's de facto Syria capital Raqa killed 19 civilians and 10 jihadists, a monitor said in a new toll Tuesday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had first reported the air strikes on Tuesday morning and said 13 civilians and five IS fighters had been killed. The Britain-based monitor had no immediate word on whether the strikes were carried out by the Damascus regime, its ally Moscow or the US-led coalition battling IS.

Commentary: The ‘bad boy’ cleric poised to be Iraq’s next kingmaker Posted: 03 May 2016 07:43 AM PDT For years after the 2003 American invasion of Iraq, the Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr had an outsized influence on the country's politics: he was able to mobilize the Shi'ite masses in a way few other Iraqi leaders could match, his followers created one of the most powerful militias during Iraq's civil war, and he played kingmaker in the selection of prime ministers. But after U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq in late 2011, Sadr went into a self-imposed seclusion from politics, even as his supporters continued to run for parliament and to control several key ministries. Sadr was waiting on the sidelines for his opportunity to play the savior of Iraq's Shi'ites.

Iraq holding hundreds of detainees in 'inhumane conditions': Amnesty Posted: 03 May 2016 07:43 AM PDT Amnesty International said on Tuesday Iraq is holding more than 1,000 detainees, some as young as 15, without charge in "inhumane and degrading conditions" at makeshift holding centers in western Anbar province. The London-based human rights watchdog said 683 men have been crammed into disused warehouses in Amiriyat al-Falluja, just west of Baghdad, which counter-terrorism forces (CTF) have turned into a detention and interrogation facility. "The detainees are squeezed into a space of less than one square meter each, sitting in a crouching position day and night, unable to stretch or lie down to sleep and are rarely allowed outside for fresh air," the organization's secretary general Salil Shetty said following an April 30 visit.

U.S. targets Islamic State in Mosul, other cities in Iraq, Syria Posted: 03 May 2016 07:43 AM PDT The United States and its allies targeted Islamic State on Monday with 29 strikes against the militants in Syrian and Iraq, including the northern city of Mosul under militant control, the coalition leading the operations said in a statement. In Iraq, the Combined Joint Task Force staged 25 strikes, including seven near Islamic State's stronghold of Mosul, which coalition forces, alongside the Iraqi government, are trying to wrest away from the militant group. The strikes near the key city hit six groups of Islamic State fighters as well as two vehicles, three weapons caches, a mortar system and other targets.

Hungary to hold EU migrant quota referendum by October Posted: 03 May 2016 05:35 AM PDT Hungary will hold a referendum in September or early October on whether to accept any future European Union quota system for resettling migrants, the prime minister's office said on Tuesday. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has taken an increasingly anti-immigrant stance since the migration crisis escalated last year and opposes a plan, agreed by a majority of EU governments in September, to redistribute 160,000 migrants around the bloc. Along with Slovakia, Hungary has launched a court challenge against that plan, which will set quotas for each EU country to host a share of the migrants over two years.

Turkey war planes hit Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq Posted: 03 May 2016 04:33 AM PDT ISTANBUL (AP) — The Turkish military says its warplanes have pounded Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq, killing 18 militants.

Special Report: A generation of Syrian children who don't count Posted: 03 May 2016 03:28 AM PDT Swaddled in a faded pink blanket against the cold, Nour is the first of her Syrian parents' three children to be born as a refugee. Crammed two to a seat in a bus, her parents and two older siblings traveled 70 miles (112 km) into Lebanon, where Nour was born. A birth certificate is the crucial first step to securing Syrian citizenship.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter: US serviceman killed 'in the neighborhood' of Irbil, Iraq Posted: 03 May 2016 02:46 AM PDT STUTTGART, Germany (AP) — Defense Secretary Ash Carter: US serviceman killed 'in the neighborhood' of Irbil, Iraq.

Islamic State breaches peshmerga defenses north of Mosul Posted: 03 May 2016 02:39 AM PDT Islamic State militants attacked Kurdish peshmerga forces on multiple fronts in northern Iraq on Tuesday, breaching their defenses and briefly taking over a town, military sources said. The attacks around the northern city of Mosul are the largest against Kurdish forces in recent months by the insurgents, who have been losing ground to an array of forces in the north and west of the country. The head of a Christian militia said the insurgents had overrun their positions at dawn around the town of Tel Asqof, 20 km (12 miles) north of Mosul, and occupied it until being beaten back with the help of air strikes from a U.S.-led coalition.

Turkish warplanes hit PKK targets in northern Iraq, killing 18: military sources Posted: 03 May 2016 02:26 AM PDT ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish warplanes hit targets belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq on Monday evening, killing 18 militants, military sources said on Tuesday. They said the warplanes struck targets in the Qandil mountains, where the PKK leadership is based. (Reporting by Tulay Karadeniz; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Daren Butler)

Oil down 3 pct on OPEC output hike, speculative ramp-up in Brent Posted: 03 May 2016 12:19 AM PDT By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell about 3 percent on Monday as production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries neared all-time peaks and record speculative buying in global benchmark Brent sparked profit-taking on last month's outsized rally. Morgan Stanley said it expected the drop in the U.S. rig count that helped crude prices recover to end soon as shale oil producers increase drilling.

Air strikes hit Islamic State stronghold in Syria: monitor Posted: 03 May 2016 12:15 AM PDT More than 35 air strikes hit Islamic State's de facto capital in Syria overnight, killing at least 13 people and wounding many in the city of Raqqa, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The monitoring group said it did not know if the planes were Russian or belonged to the international coalition led by the United States which is attacking Islamic State in Syria and neighboring Iraq. Russia's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva was quoted as saying on Friday that Syria's army was planning to attack Raqqa, backed by the Russian Air Force.

Navy SEALs grab limelight in years since bin Laden death Posted: 02 May 2016 07:15 PM PDT They are supposedly bound by a code of silence, but several of the US Navy SEALs involved in killing Osama bin Laden published accounts of the raid -- to the dismay of fellow fighters who fret the disclosures could put future missions at risk. Demand is high for tell-all stories of how the SEALs killed America's Public Enemy No. 1, and the years since his death have seen a flow of films, books, documentaries and news interviews giving juicy details of the May 2, 2011 raid. SEALs and other commando units are shrouded in secrecy and, traditionally at least, the special operators have frowned upon talking publicly about past missions.

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