Yahoo! News: Iraq

---

• Damascus, allies see risks in Mosul campaign
• U.S. expects Islamic State to wield chemical weapons in Mosul fight
• The Latest: Michelle Obama shines in Versace at state dinner
• Iraq urges U.S.-led coalition to prevent Islamic State escape to Syria
• FBI, State Dept. official say no talk of email quid pro quo
• Report finds racial bias in facial recognition technology
• The Latest: Russia introduces Aleppo statement at UN
• IS traps Mosul civilians as human shields, Pentagon says
• Retaken villages show IS increasingly driven underground
• Michael Moore drops surprise Trump film
• In Mosul, residents report new terrors as Iraqi forces near
• Ankara, coalition agree Turkish jets to join Mosul operation: minister
• For IS jihadists, losing Mosul spells caliphate doom
• Mosul Today: Iraqi army advances as Turkey tensions rise
• Iraqi advance on Mosul slows after day of fighting
• BATTLE FOR MOSUL
• Obama: 'Mosul will be a difficult fight'
• American College of Surgeons Commits to Preventing 30,000 Trauma Deaths per Year
• Is a Better World Possible Without U.S. Military Force?
• The Latest: More than 100 US troops with Iraqi forces
• Islamic State said to use human shields as coalition advances on Mosul
• IS vows to 'defeat America' in Mosul video
• Trump accuses FBI, State Dept. and DOJ of ‘collusion’ on Clinton emails
• Iraq says safe exit routes from Mosul have been secured
• Kuwait telecom Zain profit rises in Q3
• In Mosul, the battle is for more than territory
• Fears of abuse as Iraq Shi'ite fighters set to storm city
• Red Cross, IOM brace for chemical weapons use in Mosul
• Boko Haram ready to negotiate release of 83 more Chibok girls - govt
• Columbia University Redefines the Boundaries of Research at its Global Center in Istanbul
• Inside Mosul, tense wait under the clouds of war
• French court lifts Salafist travel ban amid tensions with Islam
• Mosul offensive meets with early success. What's next?
• ICRC seeks talks with Islamic State on Mosul rules of war
• Ministers to meet in Paris this week to discuss Mosul's future
• French defense minister says battle for Mosul won't be 'blitzkrieg'
• Germany: Fight against IS won't increase security threat
• Turkey to use jets in Iraq's Mosul when time comes, PM says
• Iraqis fleeing IS face revenge attacks: Amnesty

Damascus, allies see risks in Mosul campaign Posted: 18 Oct 2016 05:12 PM PDT By Laila Bassam and Tom Perry BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - The Syrian army and its allies see a risk that Islamic State will regroup in eastern Syria as it is forced from the Iraqi city of Mosul in a U.S.-backed operation, posing new risks for President Bashar al-Assad. Both the Syrian army and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah have warned of what they have called a U.S. plan to open a path of retreat for Islamic State from Iraq into Syria.

U.S. expects Islamic State to wield chemical weapons in Mosul fight Posted: 18 Oct 2016 04:37 PM PDT By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States expects Islamic State to use crude chemical weapons as it tries to repel an Iraqi-led offensive on the city of Mosul, U.S. officials say, although adding that the group's technical ability to develop such weapons is highly limited. U.S. forces have begun to regularly collect shell fragments to test for possible chemical agents, given Islamic State's use of mustard agent in the months before Monday's launch of the Mosul offensive, one official said. In a previously undisclosed incident, U.S. forces confirmed the presence of a sulfur mustard agent on Islamic State munition fragments on Oct. 5, a second official said.

The Latest: Michelle Obama shines in Versace at state dinner Posted: 18 Oct 2016 04:26 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's official visit to the White House and the final state dinner of the Obama administration (all times EDT):

Iraq urges U.S.-led coalition to prevent Islamic State escape to Syria Posted: 18 Oct 2016 03:53 PM PDT Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday it was the duty of the U.S.-led coalition to prevent Islamic State militants from escaping into nearby Syria from the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The coalition is providing air and ground support to Iraqi government and Kurdish forces that launched an offensive on Monday to retake Mosul, Islamic State's last major urban stronghold in Iraq which it captured in 2014. "It is the responsibility of the coalition to cut the road to Syria for Daesh," Iraqi state television quoted Abadi as saying, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

FBI, State Dept. official say no talk of email quid pro quo Posted: 18 Oct 2016 03:09 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — A now-retired FBI agent and a State Department official involved in a discussion over the classification of information in one of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's emails said Tuesday they had discussed mutual agency requests but had not linked the two as a bargain, as another FBI employee had reported.

Report finds racial bias in facial recognition technology Posted: 18 Oct 2016 02:57 PM PDT US law enforcement agencies store images of 117 million adults as part of facial recognition programs that have become critical tools in modern police work.

The Latest: Russia introduces Aleppo statement at UN Posted: 18 Oct 2016 02:36 PM PDT The Latest on the developments in the Syrian civil war (all times local): 1:20 a.m. Russia has introduced a draft statement to the Security Council calling on countries with influence on Syrian opposition ...

IS traps Mosul civilians as human shields, Pentagon says Posted: 18 Oct 2016 02:36 PM PDT Islamic State jihadists are trapping Mosul's civilians to use as human shields, the Pentagon said Tuesday as President Barack Obama warned of "significant" potential displacement as the offensive for the Iraqi city progresses. Authorities and aid agencies are bracing for a massive flow of civilians fleeing the northern Iraqi city as the fight to seize the last remaining IS stronghold in the country progresses. Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said IS had for weeks kept Mosul's estimated population of 1.5 million from escaping, with the start of the offensive offering them no respite.

Retaken villages show IS increasingly driven underground Posted: 18 Oct 2016 01:50 PM PDT BADANA, Iraq (AP) — This farming village east of Mosul was turned into a bunker during more than two years of Islamic State rule: A network of tunnels and cramped living quarters betrays an extremist group increasingly forced to operate underground by a punishing air campaign and mounting territorial losses.

Michael Moore drops surprise Trump film Posted: 18 Oct 2016 01:26 PM PDT In 2004, director Michael Moore took on George W. Bush in "Fahrenheit 9/11." On Tuesday, the filmmaker surprised his fans with news that he would debut his new film about Donald Trump. "Michael Moore in TrumpLand" will have a free pre-screening Tuesday night in New York, he announced on Twitter. The movie is apparently based on his failed efforts to stage a one-man show about Trump in an Ohio theater.

In Mosul, residents report new terrors as Iraqi forces near Posted: 18 Oct 2016 12:57 PM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — On the eerily quiet streets of Mosul, fighters from the Islamic State group are killing suspected spies, blocking roads and planting bombs ahead of a showdown with Iraqi forces.

Ankara, coalition agree Turkish jets to join Mosul operation: minister Posted: 18 Oct 2016 12:24 PM PDT Turkish jets will continue to take part in the air operation backing Iraqi forces and Kurdish Peshmerga to retake Iraq's second city of Mosul from jihadists after the defence minister said late Tuesday Ankara had agreed a deal with its coalition partners. "We have agreed with coalition forces for our air forces to take part in the Mosul operation," Fikri Isik was quoted as saying by the official Anadolu agency. "Without Turkey, it is impossible to make decisions on the future of Mosul," he added during a visit to Rome.

For IS jihadists, losing Mosul spells caliphate doom Posted: 18 Oct 2016 11:15 AM PDT It was in Mosul's Great Mosque of al-Nuri that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the Islamic State group's "caliphate" and its recapture would finally end that dream of statehood. When the IS supremo publicly proclaimed the caliphate from the minbar of the mosque in Mosul in June 2014, the group was inviting Muslims globally to move to an expanding new "state". After losing several key cities in Iraq and also in Syria, the jihadists' "state" is already looking threadbare and the loss of Mosul would all but seal its disintegration.

Mosul Today: Iraqi army advances as Turkey tensions rise Posted: 18 Oct 2016 10:59 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — The pace of operations slowed on Tuesday as Iraqi forces began pushing toward larger villages and encountering civilian populations on the second day of a massive operation to retake the northern Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State group.

Iraqi advance on Mosul slows after day of fighting Posted: 18 Oct 2016 10:56 AM PDT GWER, Iraq (AP) — The pace of operations slowed Tuesday in the fight to retake Mosul from the Islamic State group, as Iraqi forces advancing to the east and south of the city began pushing toward larger villages and encountering civilian populations.

BATTLE FOR MOSUL Posted: 18 Oct 2016 10:30 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;

Obama: 'Mosul will be a difficult fight' Posted: 18 Oct 2016 10:05 AM PDT President Barack Obama warned Tuesday of a tough battle ahead as Iraqi forces backed by a US-led coalition advance on Mosul to wrest the city from the Islamic State group. "There will be ups and downs in this process, but my expectation is that ultimately it will be successful," he told a joint news conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. "This will be, I think, a key milestone in what I committed to doing when ISIL first emerged," Obama said, using an acronym for the jihadist group.

American College of Surgeons Commits to Preventing 30,000 Trauma Deaths per Year Posted: 18 Oct 2016 09:53 AM PDT WASHINGTON, Oct. 18, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Trauma leaders and experts gathered at the 2016 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) this week to formally announce their commitment to working together with partners to achieve zero preventable military and civilian deaths from trauma. The NASEM report, "A National Trauma Care System: Integrating Military and Civilian Trauma Systems to Achieve Zero Preventable Deaths," calls on military, government, and health care leaders to join together to establish a coordinated national trauma system. The battlefield has long been a source of innovation in trauma care, and the percent of fatalities among all wounded service members has dropped significantly in recent decades – from 23 percent during the Vietnam War to 9.3 percent in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the report.

Is a Better World Possible Without U.S. Military Force? Posted: 18 Oct 2016 09:51 AM PDT The eight years of the Obama presidency have offered us a natural experiment of sorts. Not all U.S. presidents are similar on foreign policy, and not all (or any) U.S. presidents are quite like Barack Obama. After two terms of George W. Bush's aggressive militarism, we have had the opportunity to watch whether attitudes toward the U.S.—and U.S. military force—would change, if circumstances changed. President Obama shared at least some of the assumptions of both the hard Left and foreign-policy realists, that the use of direct U.S. military force abroad, even with the best of intentions, often does more harm then good. Better, then, to "do no harm."

The Latest: More than 100 US troops with Iraqi forces Posted: 18 Oct 2016 09:51 AM PDT KHAZER, Iraq (AP) — The Latest on the Iraqi offensive to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State group (all times local):

Islamic State said to use human shields as coalition advances on Mosul Posted: 18 Oct 2016 09:44 AM PDT By Ahmed Rasheed and Michael Georgy BAGHDAD/ERBIL (Reuters) - Residents of Mosul said Islamic State was using civilians as human shields as Iraqi and Kurdish forces captured outlying villages in their advance on the jihadists' stronghold. The leader of Islamic State was reported to be among thousands of hardline militants still in the city, suggesting the group would go to great lengths to repel the coalition. Islamic State militants were preventing people fleeing Mosul, they said, and one said they directed some towards buildings they had recently used themselves.

IS vows to 'defeat America' in Mosul video Posted: 18 Oct 2016 08:57 AM PDT The Islamic State group vowed to "defeat America" in a video claiming to show jihadist fighters patrolling the streets of Mosul after the launch of a major Iraqi offensive to retake the city. The video released Tuesday by the IS-linked Amaq news agency showed masked fighters in battledress patrolling a deserted, dimly lit thoroughfare in what it said was Mosul. A masked fighter addressed the camera and said the United States would be defeated in Iraq.

Trump accuses FBI, State Dept. and DOJ of ‘collusion’ on Clinton emails Posted: 18 Oct 2016 08:09 AM PDT According to the summaries of interviews released Monday, Patrick Kennedy, a top State Department official, tried to get the FBI to declassify information in one of Clinton's emails about the deadly 2012 terror attack on a U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, in exchange for help in increasing the FBI's personnel in Iraq. The State Department and the FBI both said there was "no quid pro quo," and State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the exchange never occurred.

Iraq says safe exit routes from Mosul have been secured Posted: 18 Oct 2016 08:01 AM PDT BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday that safe exit routes have been secured out of Mosul for civilians who want to leave the Islamic State-held city that Iraqi forces are advancing on, state TV reported in Baghdad. (Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Dominic Evans)

Kuwait telecom Zain profit rises in Q3 Posted: 18 Oct 2016 07:55 AM PDT Kuwaiti telecoms giant Zain said Tuesday its net profits rose in the third quarter and the first nine months of 2016 despite regional conflicts and currency fluctuations. The company's net profit in the third quarter increased 12 percent to 43 million dinars ($142.4 million) from 38.4 million dinars ($127.2 million) in the same quarter last year, it said in a statement. Net income for the first nine months was up 5.0 percent to 124 million dinars ($410.6 million) compared with 118 dinars ($391 million) in the same period last year.

In Mosul, the battle is for more than territory Posted: 18 Oct 2016 07:45 AM PDT The battle for Mosul is not so much a question of whether United States-trained Iraqi troops will push the Islamic State from the crucial city, but when and how, experts say. In addition, Pentagon officials anticipate houses wired for destruction with explosives and other booby traps, and ditches filled with oil that can be ignited, filling the sky with dense smoke that makes it more difficult for the US military to conduct aerial assaults in support of the Iraqi troops. The Islamic State's clear goal is to keep Mosul at any cost or to turn its loss it into a humanitarian disaster.

Fears of abuse as Iraq Shi'ite fighters set to storm city Posted: 18 Oct 2016 07:44 AM PDT By Babak Dehghanpisheh DAQUQ (Reuters) - (In this October 17 story, corrects the location of the UNICEF field office to Erbil from Daquq in paragraph 20. The head of the Erbil field office was speaking at a Daquq camp.) Shi'ite irregulars will help storm a smaller city in northern Iraq while government troops launch their upcoming offensive against Islamic State's biggest stronghold Mosul, raising fears among Iraqi officials and aid workers of sectarian retribution. The decision to steer the Popular Mobilisation Forces away from Mosul to Hawija 100 km (60 miles) away is intended to ease sectarian animosity during the fight for Mosul, expected to be the biggest battle in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.

Red Cross, IOM brace for chemical weapons use in Mosul Posted: 18 Oct 2016 07:26 AM PDT International aid groups including the Red Cross said Tuesday they were preparing for the possible use of chemical weapons in the battle for the Iraq city of Mosul. Iraqi forces backed by an international coalition are making gains in their advance on the city, the last major urban centre in Iraq under the Islamic State (IS) group's control. There have been warnings the battle to take Mosul will be a long, bloody affair, with the jihadists expected to fight back with hit-and-run tactics, snipers, booby traps and and trenches.

Boko Haram ready to negotiate release of 83 more Chibok girls - govt Posted: 18 Oct 2016 07:20 AM PDT By Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani ABUJA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which last week freed 21 of more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls it kidnapped in April 2014 in northeast Nigeria, is willing to negotiate the release of 83 more of the girls, the president's spokesman said on Sunday. Around 220 girls were taken from their school in 2014 in Chibok in northeastern Borno state, where Boko Haram has waged a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic state, killing thousands and displacing more than 2 million people. The main faction of Boko Haram led by the group's established figurehead Abubakar Shekau released 21 of the girls last week after the Red Cross and the Swiss government brokered a deal.

Columbia University Redefines the Boundaries of Research at its Global Center in Istanbul Posted: 18 Oct 2016 06:30 AM PDT NEW YORK, Oct. 18, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "Political unrest and socioeconomic transformations on a global scale require a new level of engagement with the world and an even deeper understanding of local dynamics," says Professor Safwan Masri, Executive Vice President for Global Centers and Global Development at Columbia University. Founded in 2011, Columbia Global Centers | Istanbul is one of eight Global Centers that Columbia has established around the world.

Inside Mosul, tense wait under the clouds of war Posted: 18 Oct 2016 06:22 AM PDT As Iraqi forces close in on Mosul, trapped civilians report thick smoke enveloping the city's empty streets as their jihadist rulers attempt to shield themselves from intensifying US-led coalition air strikes. Mosul, a large city split by the Tigris river, is where IS declared its "caliphate" two years ago but is now the jihadists' last major stronghold in Iraq. Abu Saif, a 47-year-old former company manager contacted by AFP, said the streets felt eery as fighters and civilians alike stayed indoors.

French court lifts Salafist travel ban amid tensions with Islam Posted: 18 Oct 2016 06:22 AM PDT By Chine Labbé PARIS (Reuters) - A French Muslim won a court order on Tuesday lifting a travel ban she says was imposed due to her ultra-conservative Salafist beliefs, in a case exposing tensions between France's official secularism and its Muslim minority. The travel ban on the young woman, who has asked French media not to use her name, was imposed on anti-terrorism grounds. The government feared she might try to join Islamist militant groups fighting in Syria and Iraq.

Mosul offensive meets with early success. What's next? Posted: 18 Oct 2016 06:06 AM PDT The initial stages of an offensive strike against Islamic State forces in Mosul saw success Monday, as forces reclaimed villages and made their way closer to the occupied city. The strike intends to recapture the city that has become the Islamic State's main stronghold in northern Iraq, but also will serve as a test of President Obama's effort to defeat extremists without putting American forces on the ground. Recommended: How much do you know about the Islamic State?

ICRC seeks talks with Islamic State on Mosul rules of war Posted: 18 Oct 2016 05:53 AM PDT By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross appealed to all sides including Islamic State on Tuesday to show humanity on the battlefield and spare civilians in the Iraqi city of Mosul as government forces close in to re-take the city of 1.5 million. Robert Mardini, ICRC regional director, said the agency had reminded the allies trying to dislodge the militants - the Iraqi government, Kurdish authorities and the U.S.-led coalition - of their duties under international humanitarian law. It had not yet managed to establish dialogue with Islamic State, also known as ISIL, on the "basic rules of war".

Ministers to meet in Paris this week to discuss Mosul's future Posted: 18 Oct 2016 05:13 AM PDT By John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - Foreign ministers from several Western and Middle Eastern countries will meet on Thursday to discuss how to restore peace and stability to Mosul after Islamic State has been routed from its Iraqi stronghold. As the battle for Mosul entered its second day on Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who will host the meeting in Paris, said: "We cannot wait. What happens after Mosul is liberated from Islamic State?

French defense minister says battle for Mosul won't be 'blitzkrieg' Posted: 18 Oct 2016 04:58 AM PDT The anti-Islamic State coalition's battle to take Mosul in Iraq from the militant Islamist group will take time and "won't be a Blitzkrieg," French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Tuesday. "This battle is crucial because it is the stronghold of Daesh," he told reporters using an acronym for Islamic State. "Mosul is the stronghold of our enemy... but the battle will be long, it won't be a Blitzkrieg, this is a town of a million-and-a-half inhabitants so it's a long term affair, several weeks, perhaps months," he said.

Germany: Fight against IS won't increase security threat Posted: 18 Oct 2016 04:55 AM PDT BERLIN (AP) — Germany's interior minister says efforts to combat the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria won't increase the risk of attacks at home.

Turkey to use jets in Iraq's Mosul when time comes, PM says Posted: 18 Oct 2016 04:33 AM PDT Turkish jets have not yet been used in the offensive to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State, but will be deployed when the time comes, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim was quoted as saying on Tuesday. Yildirim was cited by news channel NTV's website as also telling reporters there was agreement on Turkey taking part in the coalition in Iraq. Yildirim's office confirmed his remarks.

Iraqis fleeing IS face revenge attacks: Amnesty Posted: 18 Oct 2016 03:01 AM PDT Paramilitary groups and government forces in Iraq have tortured, arbitrarily detained and executed thousands of civilians escaping areas controlled by the Islamic State group, Amnesty International warned Tuesday. The London-based rights group said the abuses, often revenge attacks directed at Sunnis suspected of being complicit with IS, must not be repeated as Iraqi forces advance on the jihadists' stronghold in Mosul. "After escaping the horrors of war and tyranny of IS, Sunni Arabs in Iraq are facing brutal revenge attacks at the hands of militias and government forces, and are being punished for crimes committed by the group," said Philip Luther, Amnesty's Middle East research director.

You are subscribed to email updates from Iraq News Headlines - Yahoo! News. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States