Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• IS group doubles number of fighters in Libya: US
• Islamic State grows in Libya, but local militias fight back
• Oil slips on modest Keystone impact; more volatility seen
• IS accused of kidnapping 300 Syrian factory workers
• Clinton, Sanders get tough as Democratic race narrows
• For Muslim-Americans, a big election about more than Trump
• Turkey investigating Russian claims on smuggled Syrian antiquities
• HIT IRAQ OFFENSIVE
• War of Words: Sanders and Clinton Spar Over Qualifications
• Here’s the Big Risk Sanders and Clinton Are Taking as They Trade Insults
• Mosul easier prospect than Raqa for coalition forces: spokesman
• Denmark arrests four for suspected IS support, two for weapons
• Elusive Saddam henchman Douri feared until last moment
• Video suggests aide to Iraq's Saddam may still be alive
• Siege tactics complicate fight for key IS-held Iraqi town
• IS setbacks in Syria and Iraq
• Spanish party files 'crimes against humanity' complaint against PM
• Senator Graham open to selling Boeing F-18 to Kuwait, Qatar
• Sanders vs. Clinton gets personal. Why now?
• Senator Lindsey Graham wants billions in emergency funds for Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon
• Saudi king arrives in Egypt to official fanfare, high hopes
• The Latest: Merkel: Protecting Greece's border a key EU goal
• Czechs scrap programme to resettle Iraqi Christians
• The Abduction of Syrian Workers by ISIS
• Czech government ends program to take in Iraqi Christians
• In Denmark, 4 arrested suspected of joining Islamic State
• Iraqi widows, mothers and girls face heightened risks in displaced camps
• U.S., allies stage 27 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq, Syria: statement
• Rights group, tribes urge Iraqi forces to save 'starving' Falluja
• AP PHOTOS: Iraqi museum refuge for relics of the past
• Three wounded in Turkey as 'IS rockets' hit town centre
• Iraqi Shi'ite paramilitaries say will join offensive to retake Mosul
• How Voter Anger Finally Erupted and Gave Us Trump and Sanders
• Turkish military hits PKK targets near Iraqi border: statement
• German president urges swift refugee integration to counter extremism risk
• Country icon Merle Haggard, champion of the underdog, dies
• Rights group calls for aid to Iraq's 'starving' Fallujah
• Rocket fire from Syria wounds three people in Turkish border town
• Turkish warplanes hit Kurdish militant targets in Iraq: Anadolu

IS group doubles number of fighters in Libya: US Posted: 07 Apr 2016 04:15 PM PDT The number of Islamic State group fighters in Libya has doubled to up to 6,000 in as little as a year, the head of US forces in Africa warned Thursday. Despite the vast increase the IS group is not likely to settle and seize swathes of territory inside Libya, as it has done in Syria and Iraq, said General David Rodriguez, head of the US Africa Command. The Islamic State group has exploited the turmoil in Libya since the overthrow of dictator Moamer Kadhafi five years ago, raising fears that it is establishing a new stronghold on Europe's doorstep.

Islamic State grows in Libya, but local militias fight back Posted: 07 Apr 2016 03:04 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Islamic State militants in Libya has doubled in the last year or so to as many as 6,000 fighters, with aspirations to conduct attacks against the U.S. and other nations in the West, the top U.S. commander for Africa said Thursday.

Oil slips on modest Keystone impact; more volatility seen Posted: 07 Apr 2016 01:11 PM PDT "The energy trade remains choppy amidst fundamental and macroeconomic cross-currents that are shifting daily," Jim Ritterbusch of Chicago-based oil markets consultancy Ritterbusch & Associates said in a note. U.S. crude futures finished down 49 cents at $37.26, after tumbling as low as $36.69. Prices fell after market intelligence firm Genscape reported a build of 255,804 barrels at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub for U.S. crude futures in the week to Tuesday.

IS accused of kidnapping 300 Syrian factory workers Posted: 07 Apr 2016 01:01 PM PDT The Islamic State group was accused Thursday of kidnapping more than 300 employees of a cement factory in Syria, in the latest mass abduction by the jihadists. IS attacked the town of Dmeir, east of Damascus, after suffering a series of territorial losses at the hands of regime troops in recent weeks, including in the ancient city of Palmyra. In another setback for the jihadists, anti-government rebels were reported to have seized their main supply route to Turkey on Thursday.

Clinton, Sanders get tough as Democratic race narrows Posted: 07 Apr 2016 12:59 PM PDT Hillary Clinton and leftist challenger Bernie Sanders turned up the heat Thursday in the Democratic race for the White House, locking horns over trade and the "Panama Papers" scandal ahead of the New York primary. Clinton, the frontrunner and former secretary of state, holds a six-point lead over Sanders in the RealClearPolitics national poll average but has lost seven of the last eight nomination contests to the Vermont senator. The New York primary on April 19 has turned into a battleground, where Clinton needs a commanding win in her adopted home state, which elected her twice to the Senate in 2000 and 2004.

For Muslim-Americans, a big election about more than Trump Posted: 07 Apr 2016 12:45 PM PDT Subhan Chaudry wants to be heard.

Turkey investigating Russian claims on smuggled Syrian antiquities Posted: 07 Apr 2016 12:30 PM PDT Turkey is investigating Russian claims that Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq have profited from smuggling stolen antiquities through its territory, but it believes the charges are politically motivated, a Turkish official said on Thursday. Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that the radical Islamist militant group was netting $150 million to $200 million a year from the illicit trade. "Turkey has taken all measures to prevent historical artifacts from Syria being removed and marketed," the official said, adding that it had sent findings on the matter to UNESCO, the U.N. cultural agency, in the past.

HIT IRAQ OFFENSIVE Posted: 07 Apr 2016 12:28 PM PDT Map shows details of the offensive on the Islamic State-held town of Hit, Iraqi.; 2c x 5 inches; 96.3 mm x 127 mm;

War of Words: Sanders and Clinton Spar Over Qualifications Posted: 07 Apr 2016 12:17 PM PDT The latest battle reached its pinnacle as Senator Bernie Sanders listed a host of reasons why he thinks former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton isn't qualified to be president. Rather than focusing on the positions she has held in public service, Sanders has been ticking off a list of policy positions he disagrees with, including her vote for the Iraq War and various trade agreements. Comments that Clinton made began the back-and-forth, but she is now trying to take the proverbial high road when asked about the criticisms.

Here’s the Big Risk Sanders and Clinton Are Taking as They Trade Insults Posted: 07 Apr 2016 12:15 PM PDT There was a time when the Democratic presidential campaign was a sea of tranquility and civility compared with the mud wrestling going on between billionaire Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz and others in the Republican race. Capping a day of acrimonious back and forth between the two rivals, Sanders told a large group of supporters in Philadelphia that he does not believe the former secretary of state and U.S. senator from New York is qualified to be president because she was beholden to Wall Street for massive campaign contributions and speaking fees, because she supported free trade agreements that he thinks have hurt the economy, and because of her vote for the Iraq War. "She's been saying lately that she thinks I am quote-unquote not qualified to be president," Sanders said.

Mosul easier prospect than Raqa for coalition forces: spokesman Posted: 07 Apr 2016 12:11 PM PDT The US-led coalition fighting Islamic State (IS) group jihadists in Iraq and Syria is better prepared to retake the Iraqi city Mosul than Syria's Raqa, a US military spokesman said Thursday. Iraq's second city Mosul and Raqa, the IS group's de facto Syrian capital, are the coalition's top objectives. "The plan to liberate Raqa is not as developed as the plan to liberate Mosul," coalition spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said during a video news conference broadcast from Baghdad.

Denmark arrests four for suspected IS support, two for weapons Posted: 07 Apr 2016 11:36 AM PDT By Teis Jensen COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Danish police said they had arrested four people on Thursday suspected of having been recruited by Islamic State (IS) to commit terrorist violence, and two others of breaking Danish weapons law. Police said in a statement the four had been indicted for "having violated the penal code ... by allowing themselves to be recruited by IS in Syria to commit terrorist acts". The two will be indicted for breaking Danish weapons law, Copenhagen Police said in a statement.

Elusive Saddam henchman Douri feared until last moment Posted: 07 Apr 2016 11:17 AM PDT Ezzat al-Douri, the right-hand man to late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein who was reportedly killed, rose from an ice block seller as a boy to one of the country's most feared men. The governor of Iraq's Salahuddin province said on Friday that Douri, who was Saddam's last man standing after the U.S. invasion, was killed in a military operation. Born in 1942, Douri was a top official in Saddam's Baath Party and has been declared dead several times before.

Video suggests aide to Iraq's Saddam may still be alive Posted: 07 Apr 2016 11:17 AM PDT A video clip broadcast on Saudi-owned television on Thursday suggested that a former right-hand man to late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein who Iraqi forces and Shi'ite militias said had been killed a year ago may still be alive. Ezzat al-Douri, ranked by Washington after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion as the sixth most-wanted Iraqi and later a leader of Iraq's Sunni insurgency, appeared in footage on al-Hadath TV wearing the green military uniform of Saddam's Baath Party. Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the video, but comments he made about the war in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia has been leading a military intervention since March 2015 against the Iranian-backed Houthis, provided a rough time-frame.

Siege tactics complicate fight for key IS-held Iraqi town Posted: 07 Apr 2016 11:12 AM PDT HIT, Iraq (AP) — As they advanced on the Islamic State-held town of Hit, Iraqi counterterrorism troops had to decide how to press the attack. If they stormed in with armor and airstrikes, they risked heavy casualties and might allow the militants to flee.

IS setbacks in Syria and Iraq Posted: 07 Apr 2016 11:03 AM PDT The jihadist Islamic State group has faced major setbacks in Syria and Iraq over the past 15 months. The latest was its loss on Thursday of its main supply route to Turkey. After a series of victories, IS suffers its first serious setback on January 26, 2015 in Kobane, a Syrian Kurdish town near the border with Turkey known in Arabic as Ain al-Arab.

Spanish party files 'crimes against humanity' complaint against PM Posted: 07 Apr 2016 10:56 AM PDT A Spanish far-left party filed a court complaint Thursday against acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy for "crimes against humanity" over his support of a controversial EU accord to send refugees back to Turkey. Activists, rights groups and opposition parties in Spain have been hugely critical of the deal struck last month to try and rein in Europe's biggest migration crisis since World War II, joining a rising chorus of outrage on the continent. "Mr. Rajoy is making us accomplices of this atrocity," Alberto Garzon, head of Izquierda Unida (IU), told reporters.

Senator Graham open to selling Boeing F-18 to Kuwait, Qatar Posted: 07 Apr 2016 10:53 AM PDT Israel's government worries that equipment sent to Gulf states could fall into the wrong hands and eventually be used against the Jewish state. Partners without capability are paper partners.' ... So I'll probably be in the camp of pushing the increased capability of Gulf Arab states, understanding Israeli's concern," Graham said.

Sanders vs. Clinton gets personal. Why now? Posted: 07 Apr 2016 10:42 AM PDT Bernie Sanders and Hillary Rodham Clinton this week have both questioned whether the other is fit to occupy the Oval Office. The cycle started on Wednesday when Mrs. Clinton made disparaging remarks about Senator Sanders's knowledge of policy, including his signature issue of Wall Street reform. Recommended: How much do you know about Hillary Rodham Clinton?

Senator Lindsey Graham wants billions in emergency funds for Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon Posted: 07 Apr 2016 10:21 AM PDT By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator Lindsey Graham said on Thursday he would seek an emergency appropriation of "multiple billions" of dollars to help Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon as they try to cope with the fallout from the war with Islamic State. Graham, who recently returned from a trip to the region, said the three countries are facing severe stresses as a result of the political and refugee crisis caused by the Syrian civil war and the overrun of parts of Syria and Iraq by Islamic State. "One thing I'm going to talk... about is an emergency appropriation that would help Egypt, Jordan and probably Lebanon to deal with the stresses they're facing," said Graham, chairman of the Senate appropriations subcommittee overseeing foreign aid.

Saudi king arrives in Egypt to official fanfare, high hopes Posted: 07 Apr 2016 10:06 AM PDT CAIRO (AP) — Egypt welcomed Saudi Arabia's monarch on a landmark visit to the Arab world's most populous country on Thursday, with Cairo seeking to boost ties and garner deals to prop up the nation's shaky economy despite some persistent divisions with the Sunni powerhouse.

The Latest: Merkel: Protecting Greece's border a key EU goal Posted: 07 Apr 2016 09:12 AM PDT PIRAEUS, Greece (AP) — The Latest on the flow of refugees and other migrants into Europe (all times local):

Czechs scrap programme to resettle Iraqi Christians Posted: 07 Apr 2016 08:54 AM PDT The Czech government on Thursday abandoned a programme to resettle Iraqi Christians after some refugees left for Germany and others decided to return home. "Based on my proposal, the government has dropped its project to resettle 153 Iraqis to the Czech Republic," Interior Minister Milan Chovanec said on Twitter. "It's impossible to support a project which doesn't meet its goals," he said, adding that the Czech Republic could not be "mistaken for a travel agency".

The Abduction of Syrian Workers by ISIS Posted: 07 Apr 2016 08:06 AM PDT State TV and AFP, the French news agency, both reported the abductions of at least 250 people after militants attacked a cement factory in Dumeir, outside Damascus.

Czech government ends program to take in Iraqi Christians Posted: 07 Apr 2016 06:44 AM PDT The Czech Republic will halt a program to take in 153 Christian refugees from Iraq after some of those who have arrived tried to move to Germany and others returned home, Interior Minister Milan Chovanec said on Thursday. One family has decided to return to Iraq. "It is impossible to support a project that is not meeting its objectives," Chovanec said on his Twitter account.

In Denmark, 4 arrested suspected of joining Islamic State Posted: 07 Apr 2016 06:26 AM PDT COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish police on Thursday arrested four people suspected of having joined the Islamic State group with the intention of committing terror.

Iraqi widows, mothers and girls face heightened risks in displaced camps Posted: 07 Apr 2016 06:03 AM PDT By Sofia Barbarani MAKHMOUR, Iraq (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Fearing for the safety of her four children in battles between Iraqi security forces and Islamic State militants, Umm Rayyad left everything she once owned and last month fled her hometown of Khurbardan, in northern Iraq. The start of a military campaign to retake Iraq's second-largest city Mosul has seen the Iraqi army pushing westward towards the Tigris River. The northern city has been controlled by Islamic State, also known as ISIS, since June 2014.[nL2N1780LP] Clashes between the two sides have caused a fresh wave of displacement with 2,000 civilians forced from their home since the latest escalation in violence on March 24.

U.S., allies stage 27 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq, Syria: statement Posted: 07 Apr 2016 06:00 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its allies conducted 27 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria on Wednesday, the coalition leading the operations said. In a statement released on Thursday, the Combined Joint Task Force said eight strikes near four cities in Syria hit five tactical units, disabled seven well-heads and destroyed fighting positions, a rocket system and four vehicles. In Iraq, 19 strikes near 10 cities destroyed bridges, assembly areas, a tunnel system and a homemade explosive cache, among other targets, the statement said. (Reporting by Megan Cassella)

Rights group, tribes urge Iraqi forces to save 'starving' Falluja Posted: 07 Apr 2016 05:39 AM PDT By Stephen Kalin BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday called on Iraqi forces besieging the Islamic State-held Falluja to allow aid to reach tens of thousands of residents facing acute shortages of food and medicine. The Iraqi army, police and Iranian-backed Shi'ite Muslim militias - backed by air strikes from a U.S.-led coalition - have maintained a near total siege on Falluja, located 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, since late last year. Desperate residents are making soup from grass and using flour from ground date seeds to make bread, New York-based HRW said in a report.

AP PHOTOS: Iraqi museum refuge for relics of the past Posted: 07 Apr 2016 05:24 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — After the destruction wreaked on archaeological sites by Islamic State group, the collections at the Iraq's National Museum in Baghdad have become even more important. It's now one of the only places you can find relics from the ancient cities that fell into the extremists' hands.

Three wounded in Turkey as 'IS rockets' hit town centre Posted: 07 Apr 2016 04:44 AM PDT Three people were wounded on Thursday when two Katyusha-type rockets fired from an area in Syria controlled by Islamic State (IS) jihadists slammed into the centre of a Turkish town near the Syrian border, a report said. The rockets hit the centre of the town of Kilis at around 0545 GMT, the Dogan news agency reported. Dogan said one of the rockets hit a building used by Syrian refugees and two of those wounded were Syrian citizens.

Iraqi Shi'ite paramilitaries say will join offensive to retake Mosul Posted: 07 Apr 2016 04:17 AM PDT By Maher Chmaytelli BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi Shi'ite paramilitary group said it will join government forces preparing to fight Islamic State for Mosul despite objections of politicians who fear this could instigate sectarian bloodshed in the mostly Sunni Muslim city. A much-touted government offensive to retake Iraq's largest northern city two years after its seizure by the Sunni Islamist insurgents has made a faltering start, casting doubt on the army's ability to do so without more ground support. The campaign will require the participation of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a coalition of mostly Shi'ite Muslim militias, said a spokesman for Asaib Ahl al-Haq, one of its most powerful factions.

How Voter Anger Finally Erupted and Gave Us Trump and Sanders Posted: 07 Apr 2016 04:15 AM PDT It probably started just after the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, when Enron, a company that employed 20,000 people, declared bankruptcy and its executives were ultimately accused of fraud.

Turkish military hits PKK targets near Iraqi border: statement Posted: 07 Apr 2016 02:33 AM PDT ANKARA (Reuters) - The Turkish military hit targets belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) near the Iraqi border, the military said in a statement on Thursday. The military said it hit caves and other targets in a rural area near the southeastern town of Yuksekova. It also said it hit an area near Zap in northern Iraq. (Reporting by Tulay Karadeniz and Ayla Jean Yackley; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

German president urges swift refugee integration to counter extremism risk Posted: 07 Apr 2016 02:03 AM PDT Germany must take care to integrate refugees as quickly as possible after they arrive in the country or risk the rise of political and religious extremism, President Joachim Gauck said on Thursday. Germany has borne the brunt of Europe's biggest refugee crisis since World War Two, with more than one million asylum seekers arriving in the country last year, most fleeing war and poverty in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. Gauck, a former Christian pastor in communist East Germany, said the experience of other countries had shown that the sooner new arrivals with a realistic chance of staying could learn German and find work, the better for everyone.

Country icon Merle Haggard, champion of the underdog, dies Posted: 07 Apr 2016 01:25 AM PDT NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Country giant Merle Haggard, who rose from poverty and prison to international fame through his songs about outlaws, underdogs and an abiding sense of national pride in such hits as "Okie From Muskogee" and "Sing Me Back Home," died Wednesday at 79, on his birthday.

Rights group calls for aid to Iraq's 'starving' Fallujah Posted: 07 Apr 2016 01:24 AM PDT Human Rights Watch called Thursday for Iraq to allow aid to reach starving residents of the city of Fallujah, and for the Islamic State group to allow civilians to leave. "The people of Fallujah are besieged by the government, trapped by (IS), and are starving," HRW's deputy Middle East director, Joe Stork, said in a statement. Anti-government fighters took control of Fallujah, just 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad, in early 2014 during unrest that broke out after security forces demolished a protest camp farther west, and it later became an IS stronghold.

Rocket fire from Syria wounds three people in Turkish border town Posted: 07 Apr 2016 12:41 AM PDT As many as three people were wounded when rocket fire from an Islamic State-controlled area in northern Syria entered Turkish territory, striking the border town of Kilis on Thursday, security sources. The artillery hit a house in the town center, they said. NATO member Turkey, which faces multiple security threats, is on heightened alert after four suicide bombings already this year, two of which have been blamed on Islamic State, which holds swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.

Turkish warplanes hit Kurdish militant targets in Iraq: Anadolu Posted: 06 Apr 2016 09:58 PM PDT ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish warplanes conducted air strikes on Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq on Wednesday, destroying caves and shelters used by the rebels, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Thursday. Citing security sources, it said F-16 and F-4 jets destroyed the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in the Zap area of neighboring Iraq, where PKK militants are based. (Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Ayla Jean Yackley)

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