Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Brent crude oil dips below $50 on doubts OPEC can coordinate output cut
• Father who lost Muslim son in Iraq berates Trump from mosque
• Islamic State holds up Iraqi army south of Mosul
• Turkey vows to press Syria offensive despite warning from pro-Assad forces
• Obama speaks with Turkey's president about ISIL fight
• Obama, Turkey's Erdogan discuss campaign against Islamic State: White House
• The Latest: Clinton says she'd reach out to GOP next month
• More Republicans expect Clinton, rather than Trump, to win U.S. election
• Air strikes in Syria's Idlib kill 26, mostly children: rescuers, monitor
• The Latest: Clinton's turnout operation dwarfs Trump's
• Secretary of Defense Orders Pentagon Suspend the Collection of Bonuses From California National Guard Soldiers
• The Latest: Trump swipes at McMullin in Utah
• Pentagon suspends California National Guard bonus repayments
• U.N. aid chief to Security Council on Syria: 'Buck stops with you'
• The Atlantic Politics & Policy Daily: Trump Checks Out the Presidential Suite
• IS executes dozens of prisoners near Mosul, officials say
• Apple, oil weigh on global equities
• Inside the US-led coalition war on IS
• Oil down 1 pct on OPEC worry, offsetting U.S. inventory fall
• General: Mosul battle is hard, but Raqqa will be harder
• Closure of Calais 'Jungle' camp: What’s next for former residents?
• Islamic State takes hostages deeper towards Mosul as Iraqi forces advance
• Jihadists 'shave beards' as pressure builds on Mosul
• 'Dr Miracle' calls for tougher line against mass rape
• IS driving hundreds into Mosul, using them as human shields
• Number of Iraqis displaced in Mosul op reaches 10,000
• Islamic State-aligned group takes Somali town, say officials
• Kurdish YPG will be part of coalition effort to isolate Raqqa: U.S. commander
• Pentagon suspends clawback of decade-old enlistment bonuses
• U.S. 'rocket city' hits Islamic State targets in Mosul
• Iraq says regains control over town stormed by Islamic State
• Iraqi troop advance puts civilians on Mosul frontline
• Losing the War on Heroin: Poppy Production Soars in Afghanistan
• Mosul Today: Civilians on the move as Mosul fight progresses
• Displaced Iraqis watch Mosul offensive with longing and fear
• Iraq president calls for revision of law banning booze
• US, UK expect Raqa offensive in next few weeks
• BATTLE FOR MOSUL
• United We Stand to Terminate ISIS
• Blinded Veteran Brad Snyder Finds New Calling as Paralympian Gold Medalist

Brent crude oil dips below $50 on doubts OPEC can coordinate output cut Posted: 26 Oct 2016 05:49 PM PDT Oil prices were below $50 per barrel on Thursday on doubts OPEC will be able to bring together its members and Russia to organize a coordinated crude production cut. International Brent crude oil futures made a push above $50 per barrel early on Thursday, but had dipped back to $49.91 by 0034 GMT, 7 cents below their last closing price. Traders said Brent was struggling to break above $50 over doubts that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC producers like Russia will be able to effectively coordinate curbs in output to prop up prices.

Father who lost Muslim son in Iraq berates Trump from mosque Posted: 26 Oct 2016 05:34 PM PDT NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Khizr Khan, a Muslim-American whose son was killed in Iraq, held back tears Wednesday as he again took on Donald Trump, saying the Republican presidential nominee is peddling hate and no less than the "future of the earth" is at stake in the Nov. 8 election.

Islamic State holds up Iraqi army south of Mosul Posted: 26 Oct 2016 05:22 PM PDT By Babak Dehghanpisheh and Saif Hameed QAYYARA/BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters kept up on Wednesday their fierce defense of the southern approaches to Mosul, which has held up Iraqi troops there and forced an elite army unit east of the city to put a more rapid advance on hold. Ten days into what is expected to be the biggest ground offensive in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003, army and federal police units aim to dislodge the militants from villages in the region of Shora, 30 km (20 miles) south of Mosul. The frontlines in other areas have moved much closer to the edges of the city, the last major stronghold under control of the militants in Iraq, who have held it since 2014.

Turkey vows to press Syria offensive despite warning from pro-Assad forces Posted: 26 Oct 2016 05:15 PM PDT By Tulay Karadeniz and Laila Bassam ANKARA/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Turkey said on Wednesday it will press its military offensive in Syria until Islamic State is driven from the town of al-Bab, despite a warning from forces allied to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a helicopter attack on the rebels it backs. Turkey's incursion into Syria, launched two months ago to drive Islamic State militants from its border and prevent Kurdish fighters from gaining ground in their wake, has complicated an already messy battlefield in northern Syria. As the Turkey-backed rebels push south towards al-Bab, an Islamic State-held town 35 km (22 miles) northeast of Aleppo, they face confrontation with both Kurdish and pro-Assad forces, whose frontlines lie close by.

Obama speaks with Turkey's president about ISIL fight Posted: 26 Oct 2016 05:02 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — As tensions escalate over Turkey's military role in northern Iraq, the White House says President Barack Obama has spoken with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Obama, Turkey's Erdogan discuss campaign against Islamic State: White House Posted: 26 Oct 2016 04:40 PM PDT U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan discussed the next steps in the campaign against Islamic State during a telephone call on Wednesday, the White House said. Obama "welcomed continued dialogue between Turkey and Iraq to determine the appropriate level and form of Turkey's participation in the Counter-ISIL Coalition's efforts in Iraq, and both leaders affirmed their strong support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq," the White House said in a statement, referring to the jihadist group by an acronym.

The Latest: Clinton says she'd reach out to GOP next month Posted: 26 Oct 2016 04:01 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the U.S. presidential race (all times EDT):

More Republicans expect Clinton, rather than Trump, to win U.S. election Posted: 26 Oct 2016 03:52 PM PDT By Chris Kahn NEW YORK (Reuters) - More Republicans now think Democrat Hillary Clinton, rather than Donald Trump, will win the presidency, as their party's candidate struggles with difficulties including allegations of sexual misconduct and his suggestion he may not honor the outcome of the election. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday and conducted from Oct. 20 to Oct. 24 found that 41 percent of Republicans expected Clinton to win the Nov. 8 election, versus 40 percent who picked Trump. Among Trump's supporters, 49 percent in the latest poll said they believed Trump would win, down from 67 percent who felt that way at the beginning of the month.

Air strikes in Syria's Idlib kill 26, mostly children: rescuers, monitor Posted: 26 Oct 2016 03:50 PM PDT Air strikes by Syrian or Russian warplanes on Wednesday killed at least 26 people, most of them schoolchildren, in a village in Syria's rebel-held Idlib province, rescue workers and a monitoring group said. The raids hit a residential area and a school in Haas village, the Syrian Civil Defence rescue workers' network said on its Facebook account. Syria's civil war pits President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Russia, Iran and Shi'ite Muslim militias from Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan against an array of mostly Sunni Muslim rebel groups, including some backed by Turkey, Gulf monarchies and the United States.

The Latest: Clinton's turnout operation dwarfs Trump's Posted: 26 Oct 2016 03:47 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the U.S. presidential race (all times EDT):

Secretary of Defense Orders Pentagon Suspend the Collection of Bonuses From California National Guard Soldiers Posted: 26 Oct 2016 03:40 PM PDT In response to a national outcry, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has ordered the Pentagon to suspend the collection of bonuses that were improperly paid to members of California's National Guard. The Los Angeles Times was first to report on Saturday that thousands of National Guard soldiers had been ordered to repay enlistment bonuses of at least $15,000 a decade after signing up to serve. The Pentagon asked for the money back after it found that the California National Guard had paid bonuses to guardsmen who did not meet the qualifications.

The Latest: Trump swipes at McMullin in Utah Posted: 26 Oct 2016 03:30 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the U.S. presidential race (all times EDT):

Pentagon suspends California National Guard bonus repayments Posted: 26 Oct 2016 03:19 PM PDT The Pentagon worked Wednesday to stave off a public relations nightmare, suspending efforts to force California National Guard troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan to repay their enlistment bonuses ...

U.N. aid chief to Security Council on Syria: 'Buck stops with you' Posted: 26 Oct 2016 03:15 PM PDT By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations aid chief Stephen O'Brien told the Security Council on Wednesday that the "buck stops with you" when it comes to ending the nearly six year war in Syria and he is "incandescent with rage" that no action is being taken to do so. O'Brien's monthly briefing to the 15-member council on the humanitarian aid situation in Syria sparked an angry exchange, pitting Russia against the United States, Britain and France. "I call upon all council members who have operational military assets in Syria to take concrete steps to halt the aerial bombardment of civilian areas," said O'Brien, specifically slamming the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russia for bombing the city of Aleppo.

The Atlantic Politics & Policy Daily: Trump Checks Out the Presidential Suite Posted: 26 Oct 2016 02:44 PM PDT Today in 5 Lines Donald Trump briefly stepped off the campaign trail to attend the grand opening of his new hotel in Washington, D.C. During his address, he congratulated Newt Gingrich for his performance during an interview with Megyn Kelly, who he accused of being "fascinated with sex." Hillary Clinton will have her election-night rally at the Jacob Javits Convention Center on the west side of Manhattan. Defense Secretary Ash Carter ordered the Pentagon to stop collecting bonuses from California National Guard soldiers who reenlisted to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan, calling the process "unfair to service members and to taxpayers." The United States abstained from voting for the first time on a United Nations resolution to condemn the American economic embargo on Cuba.

IS executes dozens of prisoners near Mosul, officials say Posted: 26 Oct 2016 02:22 PM PDT By Stephen Kalin and Michael Georgy ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Islamic State militants have in recent days executed dozens of prisoners taken from villages the group has been forced to abandon by an Iraqi army advance on the city of Mosul, officials in the region said on Wednesday. Most of those killed were former members of the Iraqi police and army who had lived in areas under Islamic State control south of Mosul, Abdul Rahman al-Waggaa, a member of the Nineveh provincial council, told Reuters. The militants forced them to leave their homes with their families, and took them to the town of Hammam Al-Alil, 15 km (9 miles) south of Mosul, where the executions took place, he said in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region, east of Mosul.

Apple, oil weigh on global equities Posted: 26 Oct 2016 02:15 PM PDT Sinking oil and falling Apple caused most world stock markets to retreat Wednesday, although strong Boeing results supported the Dow.

Inside the US-led coalition war on IS Posted: 26 Oct 2016 02:14 PM PDT In a low, windowless building just outside America's sprawling embassy compound in Baghdad, senior military officials from 19 nations work side-by-side, quietly trying to kill jihadists. The front wall of the dreary office space is covered by monitors -- many are blacked out as reporters stop by -- that provide live video feeds from the drones and warplanes endlessly circling the skies over large parts of Iraq. As Iraqi security forces and Kurdish peshmerga units close in on Mosul, US military officials offered a quick glimpse of the Combined Joint Operations Center on Wednesday to highlight how coalition intelligence and air power are helping the Iraqis push the Islamic State group from Iraq.

Oil down 1 pct on OPEC worry, offsetting U.S. inventory fall Posted: 26 Oct 2016 01:32 PM PDT By Ethan Lou NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil settled down more than 1 percent on Wednesday even after a surprise drawdown in U.S. crude inventories, as traders remained cautious that OPEC would be able to cut production come late November. U.S. crude stockpiles fell 553,000 barrels last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said, compared with the 1.7 million-barrel build analysts polled by Reuters forecast. Oil prices pared losses after the EIA data, with U.S. crude briefly trading in positive territory and Brent returning above $50 a barrel.

General: Mosul battle is hard, but Raqqa will be harder Posted: 26 Oct 2016 01:23 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Iraq's battle to reclaim Mosul from the Islamic State group is progressing despite "stiff" resistance from resilient and creative fighters, but a coming offensive to oust them from their main Syria stronghold at Raqqa poses tougher political challenges and could take longer, the U.S. commander of anti-IS coalition forces said Wednesday.

Closure of Calais 'Jungle' camp: What’s next for former residents? Posted: 26 Oct 2016 01:07 PM PDT Since the controversial refugee camp in Calais, France, sprang up over a year ago, the so-called "Jungle" has been a symbol for the refugee crisis in Europe. At its height, the Jungle boasted mosques, churches, restaurants, and even a library. Despite these accomplishments, the shantytown had squalid living conditions with inconsistent access to clean water, and residents had few prospects for being able to access the world outside the camp.

Islamic State takes hostages deeper towards Mosul as Iraqi forces advance Posted: 26 Oct 2016 12:34 PM PDT For two years he had prayed he would again see the family he had left behind when his village near Mosul was overrun by Islamic State while he was off on deployment. Last week he learned from other advancing Iraqi forces who reached his home village that they had arrived too late to protect his family. Fleeing militants had taken them hostage and were bringing them deeper towards Mosul to use as human shields.

Jihadists 'shave beards' as pressure builds on Mosul Posted: 26 Oct 2016 12:26 PM PDT Jihadists with the Islamic State group were shaving their beards and changing hideouts in Mosul, residents said, as a major Iraqi offensive moved ever closer to the city on Wednesday. With pressure building on the 10th day of the Mosul assault, Western defence chiefs were already looking ahead to the next target -- IS's other major stronghold of Raqa in Syria. Recent advances on the eastern front have brought elite Iraqi forces to within five kilometres (three miles) of Mosul, and several residents reached by AFP said the jihadists seemed to be preparing for an assault on the city itself.

'Dr Miracle' calls for tougher line against mass rape Posted: 26 Oct 2016 11:52 AM PDT Rape must be treated as an illegal weapon of war in the same way as chemical weapons, the campaigning gynaecologist Denis Mukwege said Wednesday. The specialist reconstructive surgeon, who has treated 45,000 victims of sexual violence in the strife-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, said a tougher line had to be taken against this "cheap and efficient" form of terror. Mukwege, who has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with gang rape victims from the conflicts that have ravaged his homeland, said the world cannot remain indifferent to the suffering.

IS driving hundreds into Mosul, using them as human shields Posted: 26 Oct 2016 11:46 AM PDT QAYARA, Iraq (AP) — Islamic State militants have been going door to door in villages south of Mosul, ordering people at gunpoint on a mileslong trek into the city and using them as human shields as the extremists prepare to defend it from Iraqi forces, according to residents swept up in the forced evacuations.

Number of Iraqis displaced in Mosul op reaches 10,000 Posted: 26 Oct 2016 11:45 AM PDT More than 10,000 Iraqis have fled their homes since the October 17 start of an offensive to retake Mosul from the Islamic State jihadist group, the United Nations said Wednesday. "Over 10,500 people are currently displaced and in need of humanitarian assistance," the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement. The aid community has been scrambling to build camps and bring equipment to areas on the edges of the Mosul battlefield, a vast area where Iraqi forces are closing in on jihadists from the north, east and south.

Islamic State-aligned group takes Somali town, say officials Posted: 26 Oct 2016 11:36 AM PDT By Feisal Omar and Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A group loyal to Islamic State seized the small port town of Qandala in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region on Wednesday, the first town it has taken since emerging a year ago, officials said. The group, which refers to itself simply as Islamic State, is a rival to the larger al Shabaab force, which is linked to Islamic State's rival al Qaeda and once controlled much of Somalia. "Our soldiers were few and so could not fight longer," district commissioner Jamac Mohamed Khuurshe said.

Kurdish YPG will be part of coalition effort to isolate Raqqa: U.S. commander Posted: 26 Oct 2016 11:19 AM PDT By Idrees Ali and Yeganeh Torbati WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Kurdish YPG militia fighters will be included as a part of the force to isolate the Islamic State-held Syrian city of Raqqa, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq said on Wednesday. Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend also said in a news briefing that the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State wished to move urgently to isolate Raqqa because of concerns about the group using the city - its main stronghold in Syria - as a base to plan and launch attacks against targets abroad. The United States regards the YPG as an ally in its fight against Islamic State, but Turkey regards it as a terrorist organization because of its links with ethnic Kurdish militants involved in a three-decade insurgency within Turkey.

Pentagon suspends clawback of decade-old enlistment bonuses Posted: 26 Oct 2016 11:12 AM PDT The Pentagon is halting efforts to claw back recruitment bonuses paid out a decade ago to enlist troops to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced Wednesday, responding to public outrage. Around 13,000 California National Guard members were involved in a probe over bonuses used as inducements during recruitment drives to overcome a shortage of troops to send to the two conflict zones, a defense official told AFP. Around $20 million had been repaid by the time Carter made his announcement, according to the defense official.

U.S. 'rocket city' hits Islamic State targets in Mosul Posted: 26 Oct 2016 11:11 AM PDT By Babak Dehghanpisheh QAYYARA, Iraq (Reuters) - When Islamic State fighters were pushed out of the Qayyara airbase in July, they tried to demolish anything left behind. "Daesh did everything they could to make the place unusable," said Maj. Chris Parker, a coalition spokesman, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. Now the base, referred to as Q-West by American forces, has become the main staging ground for some 1,000 troops from the U.S.-led coalition along with thousands of soldiers from the Iraqi army and federal police as they try to advance on Mosul.

Iraq says regains control over town stormed by Islamic State Posted: 26 Oct 2016 11:11 AM PDT Iraq's army said it had regained full control of the western town of Rutba on Wednesday, three days after Islamic State attacked it. Islamic State raided Rutba on Sunday in an apparent effort to divert Iraqi government troops from an ongoing assault on its stronghold in Mosul. The militants at one point controlled half of the town on a key route to Syria and Jordan in Anbar province, a hotbed for the largely Sunni Muslim insurgency against Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim-led government.

Iraqi troop advance puts civilians on Mosul frontline Posted: 26 Oct 2016 11:11 AM PDT By Stephen Kalin HASSAN SHAM, Iraq (Reuters) - White flags flying from their radio antennas, the pickup trucks laden with refugees and a few precious livestock snaked out of Tub Zawa after a day of heavy bombardment drove Islamic State fighters from the village on Mosul's eastern edge. Around 700 people fled the village early on Tuesday, escaping the military operation to recapture Iraq's second biggest city from the jihadists who have controlled it for nearly two and a half years. In the first 10 days of the Mosul campaign, the Iraqi army and Kurdish peshmerga fighters backed by U.S.-led air forces and troops have made steady gains through often depopulated villages east and south of Mosul.

Losing the War on Heroin: Poppy Production Soars in Afghanistan Posted: 26 Oct 2016 11:01 AM PDT America is losing a war in Afghanistan, and the casualties are on the streets at home. With a heroin epidemic killing more than 10,000 Americans a year, a new UN report says the production of opium – the raw material of heroin – is up 43 percent in 2016 in Afghanistan. While the statistics cited by the United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime, the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and other sources are inconsistent, all agree that Afghanistan is by far the biggest grower of poppies in the world – a crop that accounts for 80 percent to 95 percent of the opium produced globally.

Mosul Today: Civilians on the move as Mosul fight progresses Posted: 26 Oct 2016 10:43 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi forces moved more than 1,000 people out of villages near Mosul that were recently retaken from the Islamic State group for their safety, officials said Wednesday, as witnesses and Iraqi commanders said the militants have driven hundreds of civilians into the city, using them as human shields.

Displaced Iraqis watch Mosul offensive with longing and fear Posted: 26 Oct 2016 10:35 AM PDT BAHARKA CAMP, Iraq (AP) — Reports about the battle for Mosul play on the TV set in the makeshift barber shop where Faris Khatham cuts hair, but sometimes the news is so overwhelming that he has to change the channel to a sports program.

Iraq president calls for revision of law banning booze Posted: 26 Oct 2016 10:16 AM PDT Iraqi President Fuad Masum called on Wednesday for parliament to revise a law passed over the weekend that included a provision banning alcohol. The ban on the sale, import and production of alcohol, which was slipped into a draft law on municipalities in parliament on Saturday, has been criticised as an infringement on minority rights. Masum's statement did not specifically mention the alcohol provision, but did say the law in question should be revised, and criticised the surreptitious way in which an article was inserted into it as being inconsistent with "democratic legal principles".

US, UK expect Raqa offensive in next few weeks Posted: 26 Oct 2016 10:05 AM PDT The offensive to drive the Islamic State group from its Raqa stronghold in Syria will begin in the next few weeks, top US and British defence officials said Wednesday. US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter and his British counterpart Michael Fallon made the predictions nearly 10 days into a US-backed Iraqi offensive on Mosul, the last major Iraqi city under IS control. "It will be within weeks, not many weeks," Carter told reporters at a two-day NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels.

BATTLE FOR MOSUL Posted: 26 Oct 2016 10:04 AM PDT Graphic shows the geography and strategies so far for taking Mosul, Iraq from the Islamic State group.; 2c x 6 inches; 96.3 mm x 152 mm;

United We Stand to Terminate ISIS Posted: 26 Oct 2016 09:58 AM PDT WASHINGTON, Oct. 26, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Global Alliance for Terminating Al-Qaeda/ISIS is sponsoring a conference that aims to establish international unity, which will assist in GAFTA's goal of terminating ISIS/Al-Qaeda.The meeting will take place on the 1st of November, 2016 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.The event will be held at the National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, in the Murrow Room, Washington D.C. ...

Blinded Veteran Brad Snyder Finds New Calling as Paralympian Gold Medalist Posted: 26 Oct 2016 09:10 AM PDT Brad Snyder couldn't fully appreciate his gold medal ceremony in London in 2012. At the time the swimmer didn't have any sponsors, his family wasn't able to attend, the sheer size of the stadium produced a cacophony that overwhelmed his senses, and 12 months prior he had been permanently blinded by an insurgent's bomb in Afghanistan that ended his career as a Navy special operations officer.

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