2016年2月24日星期三

Yahoo! News: Iraq

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yahoo! News: Iraq


The Supermarket That Wants Everyone to Buy Food Waste

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 04:40 PM PST

The Supermarket That Wants Everyone to Buy Food WasteResidents of Copenhagen can cut their grocery bills by as much as half thanks to a new supermarket that opened in the city this week. WeFood, started by the nonprofit DanChurch Aid, gets all of its products—from dairy to meat to dry goods—from supermarket chains that would otherwise throw the food away. Located in the Amager neighborhood of Copenhagen, which has largely gentrified its way out of a very working-class past, the market appears to be more symbolically neutral than similar efforts undertaken in the United States.


Women in Combat Is an Idea That's Spreading

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 04:38 PM PST

Women in Combat Is an Idea That's SpreadingIndia will soon allow women to enlist in combat in its army, navy, and air force, making it one of just a handful of countries to do so. The initial group of women pilots will be appointed into the fighter stream in June, and could enter combat within the following year.


Islamic State bomb supply chain includes firms in 20 countries: report

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 04:09 PM PST

An Islamic State flag hangs amid electric wires over a street in Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, near the port-city of Sidon, southern LebanonBy Dasha Afanasieva ANKARA (Reuters) - Companies from 20 countries are involved in the supply chain of components that end up in Islamic State explosives, a study found on Thursday, suggesting governments and firms need to do more to track the flow of cables, chemicals and other equipment. The European Union-mandated study showed that 51 companies from countries including Turkey, Brazil, and the United States produced, sold or received the more than 700 components used by Islamic State to build improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Islamic State controls large swathes of Iraq and Syria.


Report: Most IS bombs made with civilian components

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 04:07 PM PST

IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — The Islamic State group relies on commercially available components for most of its bombs, with some parts coming from as far away as the United States and Japan, according to a report released Wednesday by a London-based arms research group.

Signs grow of new Western urgency to stop Islamic State in Libya

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 03:00 PM PST

A view shows damage at the scene after an airstrike by U.S. warplanes against Islamic State in SabrathaSirte is its stronghold. "They're getting stronger because no one is fighting them," said Misrata forces commander Mahmoud Gazwan at the Wadi Bey checkpoint, a dusty outpost serving as a mobile base for his brigade of fighters. There are signs of a growing Western urgency to stop Islamic State (ISIS), and Libyan commanders say Western weapons and air strikes will make a vital difference in the coming battle against their better-armed enemy.


Germany tries three migrants for thefts in New Year chaos

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 02:36 PM PST

Defendants accused of theft during New Year's Eve in Cologne hide their faces as they arrive for the opening of their trial at a courtroom in Cologne, western Germany, on February 24, 2016German courts Wednesday tried three North African men for crimes committed on New Year's Eve in Cologne when hundreds of women reported being sexually assaulted or robbed. In two more cases, also dealing with property crimes not sexual assaults, a 22-year-old Tunisian man and an 18-year-old Moroccan man were accused of stealing a man's camera in the melee outside Cologne's main railway station and Gothic cathedral. The mob violence inflamed tensions in Germany, which took in nearly 1.1 million asylum seekers in 2015, mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, and put pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel for her welcoming stance toward refugees fleeing war.


Is Guantanamo a Terrorist Recruitment Tool?

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 12:54 PM PST

Is Guantanamo a Terrorist Recruitment Tool?In his last year in office, President Obama has submitted to Congress a plan to achieve what he had promised to do in his first: Close the facility housing terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In the interim, Obama and a series of other officials, including former CIA Director David Petraeus, have called the prison a propaganda tool for terrorists. Shuttering the detention center, Obama argues, would eliminate that tool.


Afghan migrants 'voluntarily' head home from Germany: IOM

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 12:54 PM PST

A group of 135 Afghan migrants landed back in Kabul from Germany after volunteering to return homeA group of 135 Afghan migrants landed back in Kabul from Germany on Wednesday after volunteering to return home due to a lack of prospects in Europe, officials said. The International Organisation for Migration arranged the transport and reception of the group, which included 107 males and 18 females including ten children. It did not say how the Afghans reached Germany or how much time they had spent there.


Pressure builds ahead of deadline for Syria ceasefire

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 12:48 PM PST

A Syrian man rides his bike along a street damaged by shelling in the neighbourhood of Jobar, on the eastern outskirts of Damascus, on February 24, 2016Pressure was building on Syria's warring parties Wednesday to abide by a partial ceasefire brokered by Moscow and Washington that is due to take effect this weekend. Russia and the United States have set a deadline of midnight Damascus time (2200 GMT) Friday for the "cessation of hostilities" between President Bashar al-Assad's regime and non-jihadist rebel forces. The deal -- which excludes the Islamic State (IS) group and other Sunni extremists -- marks the biggest diplomatic push yet to help end Syria's violence.


Where ISIS Is Doubling

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 12:16 PM PST

The Libyan branch of ISIS staged a gruesome attack Wednesday on government-security headquarters in the western city of Sabratha. According to the AP, the group beheaded 12 officers before taking control of the complex.

Turkish air force hits PKK targets in the southeast, Iraq; kill 12

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 12:12 PM PST

By Seyhmus Cakan DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkish military helicopters killed 12 Kurdish militants in strikes near the southeastern border with Syria on Wednesday, security sources said, in a conflict becoming increasingly intertwined with developments in Turkey's war-torn neighbor. The Cobra attack helicopters launched the assault at around 6 a.m. (0400 GMT) as a group of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters traveled through a mountainous area near the Idil district of Turkey's Sirnak province, the sources said. Parts of Idil were placed under 24-hour curfew last week as the security forces carried out an operation against the militants.

Turkish warplanes strike PKK targets in northern Iraq: sources

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 12:10 PM PST

DIYARBAKIR (Reuters) - Turkish warplanes struck Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant targets in northern Iraq late on Wednesday, hitting logistical centers, ammunition depots and shelters, security sources said. The jets took off from an air base in the predominantly Kurdish southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, sources said. (Reporting by Seyhmus Cakan; Writing by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Anti-IS gains in Syria clear way for Raqa assault: US

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 12:07 PM PST

Fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) gather on the outskirts of the town of al-Shadadi in the northeastern Syrian province of Hasakeh, on February 19, 2016Recent gains by US-backed fighters battling the Islamic State group in northeastern Syria are paving the way for an assault on Raqa, the jihadists' de facto Syrian capital, a US official said Wednesday. A Kurdish-led alliance called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have encircled the town of Al-Shadadi in Hasakeh province in recent days. "There's still work to be done and we expect ISIL fighters to put up a fight, but we expect Shadadi to be liberated in the very near future," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said, using an alternative acronym for the IS group.


Obama sounds cautious note about pending Syrian cease-fire

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 12:06 PM PST

President Barack Obama talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington,Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama sounded a cautious note Wednesday about steps the U.S. and Russia are taking to put in place a cease-fire to help end the Syrian civil war, even as he also cited progress in pushing the Islamic State group out of territory in Iraq and Syria.


Sixty linked to terror back in Canada

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 12:00 PM PST

A Canadian flag flies in front of the peace tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada on December 4, 2015Sixty Canadians have returned home after travelling abroad to join banned terror groups, while another 180 are still engaged with these organizations, Canada's spy master told a local newspaper. "The total number of people overseas involved in threat-related activities, and I'm not just talking about Iraq and Syria, is probably around 180," Canadian Security Intelligence Service director Michel Coulombe told the Globe and Mail newspaper. "In Iraq and Syria, we are probably talking close to 100," he added.


CIA Director John Brennan Backs FBI in Apple Privacy Debate

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 11:54 AM PST

CIA Director John Brennan Backs FBI in Apple Privacy DebateThe FBI has a "legitimate basis to try to understand" what is on the San Bernardino shooter's cellphone, CIA Director John Brennan said, siding with the FBI in the brewing battle over whether Apple should be forced to hack into the phone. Apple has refused to allow the FBI to access the shooter's locked and encrypted iPhone, which the FBI argues could have important information about the attack that left fourteen dead. But "electronic communications, like other means of communication, or means of storage, have the opportunity for the government, when there is a legitimate basis, to access it," Brennan told NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly during a interview this weekend at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.


The Latest: Greece to demand EU members share migrant burden

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 11:31 AM PST

Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, left, welcomes United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi before their meeting at Maximos Mansion in Athens, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016. The wave of asylum-seekers has grown in pace even compared to last year's massive influx of more than 1 million people. The International Organization for Migration said more than 102,500 people had crossed into Greece since Jan. 1 and another 7,500 had streamed into Italy — numbers that weren't reached last year until June. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)VIENNA (AP) — The Latest on the influx of migrants into Europe all times local):


Obama says cautious about expectations for Syria deal

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 09:25 AM PST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday said he was cautious about raising expectations regarding the agreement to pause hostilities in Syria. But, if some progress is made in Syria, then that will lead to a political process to end the five-year-old civil war in the country, Obama told reporters after a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah in the Oval Office. Obama said the United States is committed to helping Jordan deal with the refugees who have fled to its borders to escape the conflicts in Syria and Iraq. ...

Al-Qaeda Is Taking Control of a Pivotal Middle-East Country

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 09:25 AM PST

Al-Qaeda Is Taking Control of a Pivotal Middle-East CountryThe 11-month-long chaotic civil war in Yemen has reached a decisive moment. The Saudi-led coalition and Yemeni government forces are now about 30 miles from the capital, Sana'a. The city was captured in September 2014 by a coalition of Shiite Houthi rebels and elite military units loyal to the country's former dictator, Ali Abdullah Saleh.


Donald Trump is a moderate. That doesn't mean what you think

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 09:22 AM PST

Is Donald Trump a moderate Republican?

Ex-military chiefs say Britain is 'stronger' in EU

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 07:54 AM PST

Britain will hold an in-out referendum on EU membership after a deal was struck in Brussels granting the country special concessionsTwelve former senior military officers insisted Britain should stay in the European Union Wednesday, saying the country was "stronger" as a member of the 28-nation bloc in a "dangerous world". Writing ahead of a membership referendum on June 23, the retired military chiefs said the EU helped protect the country against threats from Islamic State (IS) jihadists and Russia. "Will Britain be safer inside the EU or outside it?


High hopes collide with reality ahead of Iran vote

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 07:36 AM PST

Nearly 55 million people are eligible to cast ballots during the upcoming Iranian electionsAs Iranians vote on Friday for a new parliament and the clerics who choose the Islamic republic's supreme leader, many poorer people believe that major change is unlikely to happen. "The people have so many problems they can't be counted," said Yadollah Sabzi, a small trader in the busy Molavi district of south Tehran. Molavi is in stark contrast with the visible wealth of north Tehran.


Turkey's Erdogan says U.S.-Russian Syria plan could benefit Assad

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 07:34 AM PST

By Humeyra Pamuk and Tulay Karadeniz ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday he feared a U.S.-Russian ceasefire plan would do little more than benefit Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and accused the West, Russia and Iran of only seeking to further their own interests. The United States and Russia have announced plans for a cessation of hostilities in Syria to take effect starting on Saturday. "The West, the United States, Russia, Iran, the European Union and United Nations have unfortunately not managed to stand tall by the honor of humanity," Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara broadcast live on television.

Petition, TV Ad Urge Secretary Kerry to Declare Christian Genocide in the Middle East

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 06:18 AM PST

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new online petition is urging Secretary of State John Kerry not to exclude Christians from a declaration of genocide at the hands of ISIS. The petition is being promoted by a new nationwide TV ad that includes quotes by Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio endorsing a genocide declaration for Christians in the Middle East, a position supported by 55 percent of Americans, according to a 2015 K of C-Marist poll.

Rescue of Swedish girl held by ISIS highlights role of Iraqi Kurds

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 05:06 AM PST

Iraqi Kurdish anti-terrorist forces rescued a 16-year-old Swedish girl from the Islamic State in Iraq, near Mosul, on Feb. 17. The Swedish government asked the Kurdish Regional Government, which leads an semi-autonomous northern region, to help rescue Marlin Stivani Nivarlain. "She [Nivarlain] is currently in the Kurdistan Region and is provided the care afforded to her under international law," said the Kurdistan Region Security Council in a statement.

Get ready for this drag on markets to turn into a tailwind

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 04:11 AM PST

It's looking bleak for the bulls, with oil back to its losing ways and yet again dragging stocks down with it. The bulls are still out there though, arguing we may no longer have to worry about one thing ...

U.S., allies conduct 18 strikes against Islamic State: U.S. military

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 04:10 AM PST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its allies have conducted 18 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria since Tuesday, the U.S. military coalition leading the operations said in a statement on Wednesday. Coalition forces conducted 14 strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria using ground-attack, attack and fighter aircraft, while in Iraq, it conducted four air strikes, the statement said. (Reporting by Eric Walsh)

Western European cities dominate quality of living ranking

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 03:53 AM PST

Belvedere Palace ViennaVienna, Austria has emerged the most utopian of world cities, topping a new quality of living index dominated by Western European cities.


With woman running S. Korea, North's insults turn sexist

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 03:51 AM PST

In this Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016 photo, South Korean President Park Geun-hye delivers a speech at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea. North Korea's description of Park as an SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea's description of South Korea's president as an "old, insane bitch" destined for violent death may take the rivals' hateful propaganda battle to a new level of hostility, which is saying something for neighbors with such a long, bloody history of hating each other's guts.


Nowhere to Turn: Sunnis Fleeing ISIS Seek Sanctuary

Posted: 24 Feb 2016 02:40 AM PST

Nowhere to Turn: Sunnis Fleeing ISIS Seek SanctuaryMoises Saman traveled to Iraq to photograph Sunnis uprooted from their homes.


Rescued Swedish girl says life under Islamic State 'really hard'

Posted: 23 Feb 2016 10:37 PM PST

A Swedish teenager rescued from Islamic State militants in Iraq has said life in the so-called caliphate was "really hard" and that she was duped into going there by her boyfriend. In her first interview since Kurdish special forces recovered her in northern Iraq, the 16-year old told a Kurdish TV channel she had met her boyfriend in mid-2014 after dropping out of school in Sweden. "First we were good but then he started to look at ISIS videos and speak about them and stuff like that," she told Kurdistan 24 in a brief interview, using another name for the Islamic State group.

Analysis: Despite skepticism, Syrian truce may have a chance

Posted: 23 Feb 2016 04:29 PM PST

Syrians walk past a shop with a painting of the national flag in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016. The Syrian government and the main umbrella for Syrian opposition and rebel groups announced on Tuesday they both conditionally accept a proposed U.S.-Russian cease fire that the international community hopes will bring them back to the negotiating table in Geneva for talks to end the war.(AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)BEIRUT (AP) — After five years of carnage, the Syrian civil war can seem poised to go on indefinitely. But the "cessation of hostilities" engineered by the U.S. and Russia may actually stand a chance, in part because of the weakness of the mainstream rebels fighting President Bashar Assad.


bnzv