Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• U.S. approves Boeing, Lockheed fighter jet sales to Gulf: sources
• Pentagon: Tests confirm no mustard agent in Iraq attack
• US to send 600 more troops to Iraq for Mosul offensive
• Iraq questions OPEC method on oil output estimates
• Saudi Arabia has ways to hit back at 9/11 lawsuit effort
• Obama: 'best people' make US military world's strongest
• Warplanes knock out Aleppo hospitals as Russian-backed assault intensifies
• Arabs greet Peres death with silence and animosity
• U.S. to send more troops to Iraq ahead of Mosul battle
• U.S. will send about 600 more troops to Iraq: defense chief
• U.S. ready to provide more military personnel for Mosul: official
• Officials: US to send more troops to Iraq to help with Mosul
• Barriers protected Cedar Rapids but not fit for all floods
• Spanish court jails ex-Guantanamo inmate
• Black man shot dead by police near San Diego, probe underway
• Syrian children relish return to school in ex-IS bastion
• US seeks to address Turkey worries over Iraq, Syria pushes: official
• The Movies Already Getting Oscar Buzz
• Beautiful game gives kiss of life to 'dust of life'
• US says no mustard gas found in Iraq rocket attack
• As Islamic State loses ground, risk in U.S. rises: FBI official
• Iraq requests more US troops ahead of Mosul battle
• Lebanese army faces jihadist threat on Syrian border
• The Aspen Institute Launches $35,000 Aspen Words Literary Prize For Fiction with Social Impact
• The Latest: Serbia to seek more EU aid for migrant handling
• Islamic State loses control of last oil wells in Iraq: oil ministry
• Egypt sentences 40 suspected IS members to life in prison
• EU anti-terror chief worried by chemical weapon attacks
• Factbox: Clinton's policies on economy, Islamic State, other issues
• Factbox: Trump's policies on immigration, economy, other issues
• German police shoot dead knife-wielding refugee
• Iraqi minister's downfall hurts prospect for financial bailout
• Five arrested on suspicion of forming European Islamic State cell
• Police shoot, kill man in San Diego area; protesters gather
• Today in History
• History and Peter Berg Team for 'Warfighters' Docuseries
• Trump Time Capsule #116: ‘Somebody Who Likes to Eat’

U.S. approves Boeing, Lockheed fighter jet sales to Gulf: sources Posted: 28 Sep 2016 03:25 PM PDT The United States on Wednesday began notifying lawmakers that it has approved $7 billion in long-stalled sales of Boeing Co fighter jets to Kuwait and Qatar, and more than $1 billion in Lockheed Martin Corp jets to Bahrain, sources familiar with the decision said. The sales had been pending for more than two years amid concerns raised by Israel, Washington's closest Middle East ally, that arms sold to Gulf Arab states could be used against it, and criticism of Qatar for alleged ties to armed Islamist groups. U.S. officials began notifying lawmakers informally about the sale of 36 Boeing F-15 fighter jets to Qatar valued at around $4 billion, and 28 F/A- 18E/F Super Hornets, plus options for 12 more, to Kuwait for around $3 billion, the sources said.

Pentagon: Tests confirm no mustard agent in Iraq attack Posted: 28 Sep 2016 02:56 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says that an Islamic State rocket that hit a military base used by hundreds of U.S. troops in northern Iraq did not contain any sulfur chemical agent, as initially feared.

US to send 600 more troops to Iraq for Mosul offensive Posted: 28 Sep 2016 02:46 PM PDT The United States will send about 600 extra troops to Iraq to train local forces for an offensive on the Islamic State group stronghold of Mosul, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Wednesday. IS seized Mosul along with other areas in June 2014, but the country's forces have since regained significant ground from the jihadists and are readying for a drive to retake Iraq's second-largest city. "These (US) forces will be primarily to enable Iraqi security forces, and also peshmerga, in the operations to isolate and collapse ISIL's control over Mosul," Carter told reporters on a work trip to New Mexico, using an IS acronym.

Iraq questions OPEC method on oil output estimates Posted: 28 Sep 2016 02:45 PM PDT Iraq on Wednesday questioned one of the two methods OPEC is using to estimate the oil production of its members, signaling the issue could be a problem for the country to join output limits that the group agreed to start implementing this year. OPEC uses two sets of figures for output estimates - submissions by the countries themselves and estimates by secondary sources, which are usually lower but are seen as better reflecting real output. "These figures (secondary sources) do not represent our actual production," Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar Ali al-Luaibi said.

Saudi Arabia has ways to hit back at 9/11 lawsuit effort Posted: 28 Sep 2016 02:44 PM PDT DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia and its allies are warning that U.S. legislation allowing the kingdom to be sued for the 9/11 attacks will have negative repercussions.

Obama: 'best people' make US military world's strongest Posted: 28 Sep 2016 02:40 PM PDT FORT LEE, Va. (AP) — In a farewell visit of sorts, President Barack Obama on Wednesday told Virginia-based service members that the U.S. military is setting a good example for the rest of the country during a heated and divisive political campaign season.

Warplanes knock out Aleppo hospitals as Russian-backed assault intensifies Posted: 28 Sep 2016 12:41 PM PDT By Ellen Francis and Tom Perry BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russian or Syrian warplanes knocked two hospitals out of service in the besieged rebel sector of Aleppo on Wednesday and ground forces intensified an assault in a battle which the United Nations said had made the city worse than a slaughterhouse. Two patients died in one of the hospitals and other shelling killed six residents queuing for bread under a siege that has trapped 250,000 people with food running out. "The warplane flew over us and directly started dropping its missiles ... at around 4 a.m.," Mohammad Abu Rajab, a radiologist at the M10 hospital, the largest trauma hospital in the city's rebel-held sector, told Reuters.

Arabs greet Peres death with silence and animosity Posted: 28 Sep 2016 12:41 PM PDT Israel's Shimon Peres was widely admired around the world as a peacemaker and visionary, but the view in the Arab world was more complex: Memories linger of another Peres, who built up Israel's military ...

U.S. to send more troops to Iraq ahead of Mosul battle Posted: 28 Sep 2016 12:28 PM PDT By Stephen Kalin and Yeganeh Torbati BAGHDAD/ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (Reuters) - The United States will send around 600 new troops to Iraq to assist local forces in the battle to retake Mosul from Islamic State that is expected later this year, U.S. and Iraqi officials said on Wednesday. The new deployment is the third such boost in U.S. troop levels in Iraq since April, underscoring the difficulties President Barack Obama has had in extracting the U.S. military from the country. "American President Barack Obama was consulted on a request from the Iraqi government for a final increase in the number of trainers and advisers under the umbrella of the international coalition in Iraq," Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a statement.

U.S. will send about 600 more troops to Iraq: defense chief Posted: 28 Sep 2016 12:28 PM PDT ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (Reuters) - The United States will send about 600 more troops to Iraq to help Iraqi forces retake the city of Mosul from Islamic State, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Wednesday. The troops will train and advise Iraqi forces, provide logistics support, and help in intelligence efforts, Carter told reporters while traveling in New Mexico. A senior U.S. defense official said the exact number of new troops would be 615, and that they would be joining the effort "in the coming weeks." (Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati, Editing by Franklin Paul)

U.S. ready to provide more military personnel for Mosul: official Posted: 28 Sep 2016 12:28 PM PDT The United States is prepared to provide more military personnel to help Iraqis in their campaign to retake Mosul from Islamic State, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. "In consultation with the government of Iraq, the U.S. is prepared to provide additional U.S. military personnel to train and advise the Iraqis as the planning for the Mosul campaign intensifies," the official said.

Officials: US to send more troops to Iraq to help with Mosul Posted: 28 Sep 2016 12:14 PM PDT ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (AP) — The U.S. is sending 615 more troops to Iraq as the stage is set for an Iraqi-led battle to reclaim Mosul, the northern city that has been the Islamic State group's main stronghold for more than two years. The offensive, starting as soon as October, looms as a decisive moment for Iraq and for President Barack Obama's much-criticized strategy to defeat IS.

Barriers protected Cedar Rapids but not fit for all floods Posted: 28 Sep 2016 12:11 PM PDT CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Miles of hastily erected barriers were remarkably effective in preventing the surging Cedar River from pouring into Cedar Rapids, Iowa's second-largest city, but officials said the sand-filled containers wouldn't work in every flooding situation.

Spanish court jails ex-Guantanamo inmate Posted: 28 Sep 2016 11:14 AM PDT A Spanish court jailed a former Guantanamo Bay inmate for 11 and a half years Wednesday after convicting him of leading a recruitment cell that sent jihadists to fight in Syria. The National Court sentenced Lahcen Ikassrien, a 48-year-old Moroccan, to 10 years in prison for leading a terrorist organisation and one year and six months for falsifying an official document. After being extradited to Spain from Guantanamo Bay in 2005, he was found to have led a cell from Madrid that dispatched recruits to Syria for the Islamic State and the Al-Nusra militant groups.

Black man shot dead by police near San Diego, probe underway Posted: 28 Sep 2016 10:36 AM PDT EL CAJON, Calif. (AP) — A black man reportedly acting erratically at a strip mall in suburban San Diego was shot and killed by police after pulling an object from his pocket, pointing it at officers and assuming a "shooting stance," authorities said.

Syrian children relish return to school in ex-IS bastion Posted: 28 Sep 2016 10:22 AM PDT Children rushed out into the schoolyard for break time on the first day of classes in the Syrian town of Manbij, ignoring the Islamic State group insignia on a nearby wall. IS overran Arab-majority Manbij in early 2014, imposing the hardline interpretation of Islamic law it has adopted across its self-styled "caliphate" straddling Syria and Iraq. "When the Islamic State was here, they wouldn't let us come to school," Ghefran said.

US seeks to address Turkey worries over Iraq, Syria pushes: official Posted: 28 Sep 2016 09:53 AM PDT Washington is making progress in addressing Turkey's concerns that the US plans to use Kurdish militia to help dislodge jihadists from Iraq and Syria, a senior US diplomat said in an interview broadcast Wednesday. US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken told NTV that Washington had plans to help local forces push Islamic State (IS) jihadists out of their strongholds in Raqa and Dabiq in Syria and Mosul in Iraq.

The Movies Already Getting Oscar Buzz Posted: 28 Sep 2016 09:07 AM PDT With the main film festivals of the fall (Telluride, Venice, and Toronto) now concluded, and Martin Scorsese finally confirming that his much-anticipated drama Silence will come out at the end of the year, the next three months will bring a calendar loaded with prestige releases. Among them are films that better reflect the wide range of faces and voices in America (and around the world), which have recently been severely under-represented on Oscar night. Audiences and critics will be paying especially close attention to the works and actors the Academy chooses to recognize, after the awards were condemned this year for nominating only white performers two years in a row.

Beautiful game gives kiss of life to 'dust of life' Posted: 28 Sep 2016 08:29 AM PDT Brazilian World Cup winner Gilberto Silva knows what it is like to grow up without money, but admits he cried when he heard first hand the harrowing story of one homeless child. "I came from a poor background but at least I had my family around me," said the 39-year-old, a former midfielder who won the World Cup in 2002 and was also a key member of the Arsenal side known as the "Invincibles" that went through a season unbeaten in the Premier League. "Of course there were challenges, but nothing compared to the children I met.

US says no mustard gas found in Iraq rocket attack Posted: 28 Sep 2016 08:10 AM PDT The US military has concluded that a rocket fired earlier this month at an Iraqi air base housing hundreds of US troops contained no mustard gas, as initially suspected. Test results released Tuesday "determined there were no chemical warfare agents present in the munitions fired toward the Qayyarah-West Airfield, Iraq, Sept 20, 2016," according to the US military command in Baghdad. No one was injured in the rocket attack and no one showed any immediate signs of exposure to the suspected mustard agent.

As Islamic State loses ground, risk in U.S. rises: FBI official Posted: 28 Sep 2016 08:07 AM PDT The United States is likely to face a higher risk of Islamic State-inspired attacks over the next two years as the group loses land in the Middle East, a top official with the Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Wednesday. "I'm fairly convinced that 2017 and 2018 in the homeland will be more dangerous than we've seen before, because as we shrink ISIS, they'll lash out," Michael Steinbach, executive assistant director of the FBI's national security branch, told a security conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Islamic State proclaimed a caliphate over parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014 but has lost a significant amount of territory since then to U.S.-backed offensives, though it still controls oil wells on Syrian land.

Iraq requests more US troops ahead of Mosul battle Posted: 28 Sep 2016 07:43 AM PDT Iraq has asked Washington to deploy additional trainers and advisers as its forces prepare for the battle to retake Mosul from the Islamic State group, the premier's office said Wednesday. IS seized Mosul along with swathes of other territory in June 2014, but the country's forces have since regained significant ground from the jihadists and are readying for a drive to retake Iraq's second city. Iraq has requested "a final increase in the number of American trainers and advisers... to support the heroic Iraqi security forces in their impending battle to liberate Mosul," Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office said in a statement.

Lebanese army faces jihadist threat on Syrian border Posted: 28 Sep 2016 07:37 AM PDT By Angus McDowall ARSAL, Lebanon (Reuters) - From a sandbagged army post near the border with Syria, Lebanese soldiers gaze through tripod-mounted binoculars into hills where jihadist militants are entrenched, a forgotten front in Syria's civil war that has led to bombings inside Lebanon. There is frequent fighting between the army and around 1,000-1,200 militants dug into the hills around Arsal in a large pocket of territory straddling the border, Lebanese General Youssef al-Dik said. The Sunni militants are members of Islamic State and the former Nusra Front, groups fighting Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

The Aspen Institute Launches $35,000 Aspen Words Literary Prize For Fiction with Social Impact Posted: 28 Sep 2016 07:05 AM PDT ASPEN, Colo., Sept. 28, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Aspen Institute announced today the launch of the Aspen Words Literary Prize, an annual award recognizing an influential work of fiction that focuses on vital contemporary issues. Open to authors of any nationality, the $35,000 award is one of the largest literary prizes in the United States, and one of the few focused exclusively on fiction with a social impact. Eligible works include novels or short story collections that address questions of violence, inequality, gender, the environment, immigration, religion, race, or other social issues.

The Latest: Serbia to seek more EU aid for migrant handling Posted: 28 Sep 2016 07:04 AM PDT ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The Latest on the flow of migrants into Europe (all times local):

Islamic State loses control of last oil wells in Iraq: oil ministry Posted: 28 Sep 2016 06:56 AM PDT Islamic State militants no longer control any oil wells in Iraq after being ousted by government forces last week from an area near Kirkuk, the oil ministry said on Wednesday. The ultra-hardline Sunni Muslim group were driven out of Shirqat on Thursday by U.S-backed Iraqi forces. Last month it lost the Qayyara oilfield, south of Mosul, to government forces thrusting northwards in an offensive to retake the largest city under IS control.

Egypt sentences 40 suspected IS members to life in prison Posted: 28 Sep 2016 06:08 AM PDT CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court has sentenced 40 people to life in prison over alleged ties to the Islamic State group and for helping recruit youth to join the extremists in Syria and Iraq.

EU anti-terror chief worried by chemical weapon attacks Posted: 28 Sep 2016 05:54 AM PDT BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's counter-terrorism coordinator fears that foreign fighters could launch attacks in Europe with chemical weapons, using techniques learned in Syria and Iraq.

Factbox: Clinton's policies on economy, Islamic State, other issues Posted: 28 Sep 2016 02:41 AM PDT Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has pledged to raise taxes on the wealthy, preserve the Dodd-Frank financial reform law and provide a path to citizenship for undocumented workers. Here are the proposals the former secretary of state has made as part of her argument that she is best qualified to occupy the Oval Office: ECONOMIC POLICY Clinton has said the rich, not the middle class, would see their taxes go up. Clinton has also called for an additional 4 percent tax on those making more than $5 million annually.

Factbox: Trump's policies on immigration, economy, other issues Posted: 28 Sep 2016 02:41 AM PDT (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump wants to build a wall on the border with Mexico, boost spending on the military and slap trade tariffs on China. Here are those positions and others the real estate developer, who has never held elective office, has put forward to convince the American people that he should be the next U.S. chief executive: ECONOMIC POLICY Trump has proposed collapsing the current seven income tax brackets to three with rates of 12 percent, 25 percent and 33 percent. Trump has proposed increasing spending on the U.S. military and infrastructure but says he would reduce spending on other categories by 1 percent each year.

German police shoot dead knife-wielding refugee Posted: 28 Sep 2016 02:25 AM PDT German police shot dead a knife-wielding Iraqi in a refugee shelter who was attacking a Pakistani he suspected of having sexually abused his young daughter, police said Wednesday. The 29-year-old Iraqi died after being hit by several police bullets late Tuesday in the asylum seekers' shelter in the central Berlin district of Moabit.

Iraqi minister's downfall hurts prospect for financial bailout Posted: 28 Sep 2016 01:39 AM PDT By Stephen Kalin BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Last week's dismissal of Iraqi Finance Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, the latest convulsion in Baghdad's increasingly unstable politics, risks delaying billions of dollars in badly needed budget support from international lenders and investors. Parliament dismissed Zebari, a prominent Kurdish official who served previously as foreign minister for more than a decade, after questioning him over alleged corruption and mishandling of public funds. Zebari denied the charges as "vengeful, politicized and short-sighted", accusing former prime minister Nuri al-Maliki of orchestrating his ouster in a bid to topple the government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

Five arrested on suspicion of forming European Islamic State cell Posted: 28 Sep 2016 01:30 AM PDT Spanish, German and Belgian authorities have arrested five people suspected of forming an "active and dangerous" Islamic State cell and promoting Islamist militancy in the three countries, Spain's interior ministry said on Wednesday. Two were detained in Barcelona, one in Spain's North African enclave of Melilla, one in Brussels and one in Wuppertal, Germany. Spanish police worked in conjunction with German and Belgium federal law enforcers in the arrests, the ministry said.

Police shoot, kill man in San Diego area; protesters gather Posted: 27 Sep 2016 11:39 PM PDT EL CAJON, Calif. (AP) — A black man reportedly acting erratically at a strip mall in suburban San Diego was shot and killed by police after pulling an object from his pocket, pointing it at officers and assuming a "shooting stance," authorities said.

Today in History Posted: 27 Sep 2016 09:01 PM PDT Today in History

History and Peter Berg Team for 'Warfighters' Docuseries Posted: 27 Sep 2016 09:00 PM PDT History will launch the docuseries with a four-hour marathon on Veteran's Day.

Trump Time Capsule #116: ‘Somebody Who Likes to Eat’ Posted: 27 Sep 2016 05:25 PM PDT There's no way to tell which moments might end up being remembered from last night's first Clinton-Trump debate. Perhaps Donald Trump's implicit confirmation that he had not paid taxes ("That's called smart!")? Or his acknowledgement that he'd "sort of hoped" for and profited from the devastating crash of housing values in 2008 ("That's called business, by the way")? His Montgomery Burns-like comment that he had not paid subcontractors because "he was not satisfied with their work"? His frequent "manterruptions" of Hillary Clinton ("Wrong!") or talking over her answers, as a modern counterpart of Rick Lazio's over-aggressive stage manners toward her during their New York Senate debates in 2000? His resurrection of his false claims that Hillary Clinton had started the birther movement, and that he had opposed the Iraq war?

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