Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Factbox: Short list of potential Trump administration picks
• Australia PM says asylum seekers to be resettled in U.S. after Trump takes office
• Trump could return Iraq war boosters to power
• Reuters Sports Schedule at 0001 GMT on Tuesday, Nov 15
• Is US trying to defeat ISIS too quickly?
• Chelsea Manning asks Obama to cut sentence to time served
• New York vows Islamic State will not ruin Thanksgiving parade
• The Latest: Obama blames Congress for not closing Guantanamo
• Factbox: President-elect Trump's top goals, biggest hurdles
• Three Minnesota men sentenced for trying to aid Islamic State
• The next stage: Will anti-Trump marches become a movement?
• Oil rebounds from three-month lows on renewed hopes for OPEC cut
• 11 Arab nations accuse Iran of sponsoring 'terrorism'
• Suicide bombers kill 12 in Iraqi cities of Fallujah, Karbala
• Ouster of extremists from Iraqi town leaves bitter divisions
• Islamic State claims suicide attacks as Mosul campaign makes slow progress
• WikiLeaks' Assange questioned by prosecutors
• In Iraq, Syrian Kurds long to return home to fight Islamic State
• Trump poses daunting new challenge for Germany's Merkel
• New Congress: Minorities gain but still overwhelmingly white
• Shaves at barber's, corpses in streets as Islamic State retreats in Mosul
• UAE jails Emiratis up to 10 years for Islamist links
• Iraqi Kurds deny 'strategic' plan to demolish Arab homes
• Austria: 40 percent of Islamic radicals entered as migrants
• Islamic State ousted from Yazidi villages west of Mosul -Kurdish-Yazidi force
• Iraq suicide bombings claimed by IS, kill 15
• In test of Trump's immigration stance, Australia to transfer refugees to US
• Police, migrants scuffle on border between Serbia and Croatia
• Drones fly over ancient Nimrud to help secure Assyrian ruins
• Battle with IS leaves melting pot Iraq town in ruins
• Iraqi civilians stranded north of Mosul grow desperate
• Islamic State uses wooden tanks and bearded mannequins in decoy attempts
• Today's News: Nov. 14, 2016
• Hungary's Jobbik to resubmit measure banning resettlement of migrants
• Suicide bomber kills six near Iraq's Kerbala at start of Shi'ite ritual
• Hand grenade drone adds to IS arsenal around Mosul
• Dutch government warns of risks from returning jihadis
• Danger and relief as Iraqi Special Forces push deeper into Mosul
• Boko Haram leader warns Trump 'war has just begun'
• Chelsea Manning asks Obama for reduced sentence: report

Factbox: Short list of potential Trump administration picks Posted: 14 Nov 2016 05:29 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump recently announced the first major appointments to his administration but still has many positions to fill ahead of his inauguration on Jan. 20.

Australia PM says asylum seekers to be resettled in U.S. after Trump takes office Posted: 14 Nov 2016 04:46 PM PST By Colin Packham SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's prime minister said on Monday resettlement to the United States of many of the 1,200 asylum seekers held in detention camps on Papua New Guinea and the Pacific island of Nauru would begin after President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration in January. Whether Trump honors the deal Australia reached with the outgoing Obama administration, and announced earlier this month, will provide an early test of Trump's anti-immigration stance. Campaigning for the presidency, Trump had started by advocating a blanket ban on Muslims entering the United States, but later adjusted his stance to propose that the ban should apply to people from nations that had been "compromised by terrorism".

Trump could return Iraq war boosters to power Posted: 14 Nov 2016 04:27 PM PST By Warren Strobel and John Walcott WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite his professed opposition to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, President-elect Donald Trump is considering several of the major advocates of that war for top national security posts in his administration, according to Republican officials. Among those who could find places on Trump's team are former top State Department official John Bolton and ex-CIA Director James Woolsey. Both men championed the Iraq invasion, which many analysts have called one of the major U.S. foreign policy debacles of modern times.

Reuters Sports Schedule at 0001 GMT on Tuesday, Nov 15 Posted: 14 Nov 2016 04:01 PM PST Reuters sports schedule at 0001 GMT on Tuesday (times GMT): NFL Giants aim for fourth successive win Quarterback Eli Manning and the (5-3) New York Giants will be looking for their fourth straight win to make up ground on the pacesetting Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East when they host the (3-4-1) Cincinnati Bengals. ...

Is US trying to defeat ISIS too quickly? Posted: 14 Nov 2016 03:21 PM PST An American-led coalition and its allies opened a second front against the apocalyptic jihadi group last week, even as fighting was still under way in the Iraqi city of Mosul. The target of the new offensive is Raqqa, Syria, a city of half a million which since 2014 has served as the administrative capital of ISIS's so-called caliphate and its center of governance. The city is ISIS's last real stronghold in Syria, where it hopes to usher in an end-of-days war with Western armies further northwest in the town of Dabiq. Capturing Raqqa would represent an important symbolic victory for the West and its allies, but it poses a number of logistical challenges that could undermine the offensive – and possibly the fight against ISIS in Mosul, as well.

Chelsea Manning asks Obama to cut sentence to time served Posted: 14 Nov 2016 03:14 PM PST KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chelsea Manning, who is more than six years into a 35-year sentence for leaking classified government and military documents to the WikiLeaks website, is asking President Barack Obama to commute her sentence to time served.

New York vows Islamic State will not ruin Thanksgiving parade Posted: 14 Nov 2016 03:11 PM PST New York City police sought to reassure residents and tourists on Monday that they would be safe attending the city's Thanksgiving Day parade despite the militant group Islamic State calling on its followers to attack the event with trucks. The largest U.S. city has prepared for such attacks in the past and will be prepared again, John Miller, deputy police commissioner for counter-terrorism, said at a news conference. "Come to the Thanksgiving Day parade.

The Latest: Obama blames Congress for not closing Guantanamo Posted: 14 Nov 2016 02:54 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — The latest on President Barack Obama's news conference ahead of his last overseas trip as president (all times EST):

Factbox: President-elect Trump's top goals, biggest hurdles Posted: 14 Nov 2016 02:47 PM PST In his campaign, Trump argued that international trade agreements had hurt U.S. workers and the country's competitiveness. As president, Trump does have some power to raise tariffs on countries such as China. President Barack Obama's administration has suspended its efforts to win congressional approval for TPP, saying its fate was up to Trump and Republican lawmakers.

Three Minnesota men sentenced for trying to aid Islamic State Posted: 14 Nov 2016 02:24 PM PST The three are part of a larger group of nine men who will be sentenced in Minnesota this week for their attempts to aid Islamic State, which holds territory in Iraq and Syria. Abdullahi Yusuf, 20, was given no additional prison time and ordered to serve 20 years of supervised release, the department said in a statement. Yusuf was stopped by FBI agents at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in May 2014 as he sought to fly to Turkey.

The next stage: Will anti-Trump marches become a movement? Posted: 14 Nov 2016 02:10 PM PST Demonstrators upset over the election of Donald Trump have marched in cities around the country over the past week, and some are making plans to be in Washington for his inauguration Jan. 20. But whether ...

Oil rebounds from three-month lows on renewed hopes for OPEC cut Posted: 14 Nov 2016 01:31 PM PST By Devika Krishna Kumar NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices were largely steady on Monday, rebounding from three-month lows, on a report saying that OPEC members were seeking to resolve their differences on a deal to cut production ahead of a meeting later this month. OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia and fellow exporters Iran and Iraq have been at odds over how to rein in supply to reduce a glut in global markets. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said it was imperative for OPEC to reach a consensus on activating the deal made in September in Algiers to cut production, according to Algeria's state news agency APS on Sunday.

11 Arab nations accuse Iran of sponsoring 'terrorism' Posted: 14 Nov 2016 12:37 PM PST UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Eleven Middle East and North African countries accused Iran of sponsoring "terrorism" and constantly interfering in the internal affairs of Arab nations, sparking tension and instability in the region.

Suicide bombers kill 12 in Iraqi cities of Fallujah, Karbala Posted: 14 Nov 2016 12:37 PM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Suicide bombers targeted two major cities in Iraq on Monday, striking security forces in the Sunni city of Fallujah and Shiite pilgrims in the holy city of Karbala in the country's south, killing at least six people in each attack.

Ouster of extremists from Iraqi town leaves bitter divisions Posted: 14 Nov 2016 12:13 PM PST QAYARA, Iraq (AP) — On the main shopping street of the town of Qayara, murals put up by the Islamic State group that told people how to dress and behave have been hastily painted over. New signs touting nationalism and unity now line a main highway since Iraqi forces drove the extremists from the Tigris River Valley town in August.

Islamic State claims suicide attacks as Mosul campaign makes slow progress Posted: 14 Nov 2016 11:26 AM PST By Maher Chmaytelli BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State claimed a series of suicide attacks that killed at least 14 people south and west of Baghdad on Monday as a U.S.-backed campaign to capture Mosul, the insurgents' last urban stronghold in Iraq, made slow progress. The attacks showed that even though the jihadists have been losing territory over the past year - and face a big battle to hold Mosul in the north - they retain the ability to strike across Iraq, even in the central areas near the capital. Eight people were killed and about 25 wounded when two suicide bombers blew up their cars at police checkpoints in Falluja, a former Islamic State stronghold west of Baghdad.

WikiLeaks' Assange questioned by prosecutors Posted: 14 Nov 2016 10:50 AM PST Prosecutors were questioning WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadoran embassy in London on Monday, the latest twist in the long-running legal battle over a rape allegation against him. Swedish prosecutor Ingrid Isgren, due to be present while Assange faced a grilling by an Ecuadoran prosecutor, entered the embassy behind the famous Harrods department store shortly before 1000 GMT, an AFP photographer said. Assange's lawyer Per Samuelsson said the questioning is expected to last several days at the embassy where the founder of the secret-spilling website has been holed up for four years, refusing to come out over fears he could be extradited to the United States.

In Iraq, Syrian Kurds long to return home to fight Islamic State Posted: 14 Nov 2016 10:28 AM PST By Michael Georgy BASHIQA, Iraq (Reuters) - Days after helping to capture the Iraqi town of Bashiqa northeast of Mosul, Syrian Kurdish fighters walk proudly past the corpses of Islamic State combatants still lying in the ruins. Fighting alongside Iraqi troops, Shi'ite militias and Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters, they believe they can win the battle for Mosul, the jihadists' last big city stronghold in Iraq.

Trump poses daunting new challenge for Germany's Merkel Posted: 14 Nov 2016 10:22 AM PST By Noah Barkin BERLIN (Reuters) - Donald Trump's victory has been a shock for America's major partners around the world. On virtually every issue of importance to the German chancellor, from confronting Russian aggression and promoting free trade, to combating climate change and tackling the tide of refugees fleeing Syria, Trump seems likely to turn Washington from an ally into an adversary.

New Congress: Minorities gain but still overwhelmingly white Posted: 14 Nov 2016 09:56 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Just like college freshmen, newly elected members of the House descended on Washington Monday for a week of orientation, a class photo and a lottery to determine their offices for the next two years.

Shaves at barber's, corpses in streets as Islamic State retreats in Mosul Posted: 14 Nov 2016 09:54 AM PST By Stephen Kalin MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - The only shop to open so far after the army fought its way into the Intisar district of eastern Mosul is Ali Bashar's barbershop. Inside, men were lining up to shave off the long beards they had been forced to wear under Islamic State. A few blocks away, four bodies of Islamic State fighters lay on the road, covered with blankets and swarming with flies.

UAE jails Emiratis up to 10 years for Islamist links Posted: 14 Nov 2016 09:26 AM PST A UAE court Monday jailed two Emiratis up to 10 years for their links to a "terrorist" organisation seen as a branch of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, media said. The local Gulf News daily said in its online edition that he was found guilty of joining the outlawed Al-Islah group, which authorities accuse of activities aimed at overthrowing the government and seizing power. The same Abu Dhabi-based Federal Supreme Court sentenced another Emirati to seven years in prison after it convicted him of joining the same organisation, running one of its offices in the Gulf country, and promoting its ideology, the sources said.

Iraqi Kurds deny 'strategic' plan to demolish Arab homes Posted: 14 Nov 2016 09:19 AM PST Iraqi Kurdish authorities on Monday denied that the destruction of Arab homes in areas recaptured from Islamic State was part of a strategic plan. The comments came in response to a report by Human Rights Watch which said Iraqi Kurdish fighters battling the jihadists in northern Iraq unlawfully destroyed Arab homes in scores of towns and villages in what may amount to a war crime. "There was no strategic intention" for the destruction of homes, Dindar Zebari, the head of a Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) committee tasked with responding to international reports, told Reuters.

Austria: 40 percent of Islamic radicals entered as migrants Posted: 14 Nov 2016 09:15 AM PST VIENNA (AP) — Austria's interior ministry says that of the 287 Islamic radicals identified in the country in the past few years, 40 percent arrived as migrants looking for asylum.

Islamic State ousted from Yazidi villages west of Mosul -Kurdish-Yazidi force Posted: 14 Nov 2016 09:03 AM PST A mixed Kurdish and Yazidi armed force said on Monday it had dislodged Islamic State (IS) militants from five Yazidi villages west of Mosul in an offensive that began on Saturday. It coincided with a larger, ongoing Iraqi government and Kurdish offensive to recapture Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, from IS with aerial support from the U.S.-led military coalition. Iranian-backed Shi'ite Muslim militias are also in the Mosul campaign, battling IS to the west of the city.

Iraq suicide bombings claimed by IS, kill 15 Posted: 14 Nov 2016 09:00 AM PST Suicide bombings claimed by the Islamic State group killed 15 people on Monday in an oasis town south of Baghdad and the city of Fallujah to its west, officials said. The attacks come as Iraqi forces battle IS in the northern city of Mosul, the last major population centre the jihadists hold in the country. IS has carried out a series of attacks in other areas since the operation to retake Mosul was launched on October 17 in an apparent bid to draw attention and possibly troops away from the city.

In test of Trump's immigration stance, Australia to transfer refugees to US Posted: 14 Nov 2016 08:13 AM PST Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia said Sunday that the United States had agreed to take a "substantial" number of refugees currently detained on the Pacific islands of Manus and Nauru. The announcement comes after Australia agreed in September to participate in Washington's plan for resettling Central American refugees, Prime Minister Turnbull's government having said it would take people from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, as well as boosting its annual refugee intake from 5,000 to 18,750.

Police, migrants scuffle on border between Serbia and Croatia Posted: 14 Nov 2016 07:20 AM PST SID, Serbia/TOVARNIK, Croatia (Reuters) - A group of migrants scuffled with police on Monday as they tried to enter Croatia from Serbia and continue their way towards Western Europe. Some 100 migrants broke a Serbian police cordon and tried to enter Croatia across fields, but were stopped by police forces from both countries who encircled them in the no-man's-land, Reuters witness said. The migrants, largely from Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to local media, marched for two days on the highway some 125 km (80 miles) from the Serbian capital Belgrade and arrived at the border on Sunday evening.

Drones fly over ancient Nimrud to help secure Assyrian ruins Posted: 14 Nov 2016 06:55 AM PST By Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi soldiers began painstaking work on Monday to secure the remains of the 3,000-year-old city of Nimrud, a day after driving out Islamic State militants who overran and ransacked the ancient Assyrian capital. Nimrud's palace and temples, once at the heart of an empire which stretched across the Middle East, were razed by the ultra-hardline zealots after they swept through northern Iraq in 2014, destroying historic sites they declared idolatrous. Whether any treasures at Nimrud can be rescued will be hard to assess until archaeologists can get there.

Battle with IS leaves melting pot Iraq town in ruins Posted: 14 Nov 2016 06:52 AM PST Dilshad Salim stares in disbelief at the devastated ruins of his hometown Bashiqa in northern Iraq several days after Kurdish forces took it back from the Islamic State jihadist group. It is the first time that Salim -- or any of his family -- have been back to Bashiqa since IS fighters took the town in August 2014 and the population fled en masse. Once a bustling community on the road leading to Turkey, it was a melting pot of different ethnic groups and beliefs that was famed for its olives and local liquor arak.

Iraqi civilians stranded north of Mosul grow desperate Posted: 14 Nov 2016 05:55 AM PST By Stephen Kalin BAYBUKH, Iraq (Reuters) - Hundreds of civilians who fled fighting near Islamic State-controlled Mosul last week are stranded without basic humanitarian assistance, underlining the challenges of the largest military operation in Iraq in over a decade. Families have been living for up to six days in abandoned homes and a school building in the village of Baybukh, about 6 km (4 miles) from the frontline at Mosul's northern border. The army is fighting within sight of city neighborhoods, but advances have been slowed by the presence of civilians who officers say are being used by the militants as human shields.

Islamic State uses wooden tanks and bearded mannequins in decoy attempts Posted: 14 Nov 2016 05:13 AM PST By Stephen Kalin BAWIZA, Iraq (Reuters) - Islamic State is using wooden replicas of tanks and Humvees in a bid to subvert an air campaign by the U.S.-led military coalition supporting Iraqi forces in the Mosul operations, even using bearded mannequins to simulate jihadist fighters. The Iraqi army captured a handful of the mockups last week at a training site it retook from the group north of Mosul, Islamic State's last major stronghold in the country, which government forces have almost surrounded but only breached so far from one direction. "As our troops advanced toward the areas we were charged with liberating, Daesh used tanks and vehicles made of wood to divert the military planes," Lieutenant Colonel Abbas al-Azaji said on Sunday, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

Today's News: Nov. 14, 2016 Posted: 14 Nov 2016 04:49 AM PST —New Zealanders are recovering from a powerful earthquake that struck early Monday, triggering a tsunami and dozens of aftershocks. At least two people died in the quake.

Hungary's Jobbik to resubmit measure banning resettlement of migrants Posted: 14 Nov 2016 04:22 AM PST By Marton Dunai BUDAPEST (Reuters) - The Hungarian nationalist opposition party Jobbik said on Monday it would resubmit to parliament a constitutional amendment banning the resettlement of migrants in Hungary. The amendment was submitted by Prime Minister Viktor Orban but fell short of the needed two-thirds majority in parliament last week, largely because Jobbik abstained from voting. Jobbik said it had blocked the amendment's passage because of the government's refusal to scrap a separate scheme allowing foreigners to buy residency rights.

Suicide bomber kills six near Iraq's Kerbala at start of Shi'ite ritual Posted: 14 Nov 2016 02:46 AM PST A suicide bomber killed six people near Iraq's holy city of Kerbala on Monday at the start of a major Shi'ite Muslim ritual, an attack claimed by the hardline Sunni militants of Islamic State. The bomber blew himself up west of the city where hundreds of thousands of Shi'ites were gathering to mark Arbaeen, which comes at the end of a 40-day mourning period for Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad. Islamic State said in a statement it had planned to target Shi'ites, police and army personnel.

Hand grenade drone adds to IS arsenal around Mosul Posted: 14 Nov 2016 02:29 AM PST Down below, the grenade exploded on the roof of a building where Iraqi police forces were sheltering as they advanced some 10 kilometres (six miles) south of Mosul, the last IS-held Iraqi city. No one was injured, according to an Iraqi officer, but the incident nonetheless represents another escalation in the war of commercially available drones that is playing out as Iraqi forces battle the jihadists. Masters of invention, IS jihadists have booby trapped household appliances and turned cars into armoured suicide bombs as they try to stymy the Iraqi forces.

Dutch government warns of risks from returning jihadis Posted: 14 Nov 2016 02:19 AM PST THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch counterterrorism coordinator warned Monday that if the Islamic State group's self-declared caliphate collapses it could trigger an increase in jihadi fighters returning home and compound the threat of an extremist attack in the Netherlands.

Danger and relief as Iraqi Special Forces push deeper into Mosul Posted: 14 Nov 2016 02:00 AM PST QADISIYAH, IRAQ — An explosion went off outside the safe house where Iraqi Counter Terrorism Services Gen. Abdulwahab al-Saadi kept watch over his men. Another suicide car bomb had detonated.

Boko Haram leader warns Trump 'war has just begun' Posted: 14 Nov 2016 01:38 AM PST The leader of the jihadist group Boko Haram has reacted to the election of Donald Trump to the White House with a warning that "the war has just begun" against the West. "Do not be overwhelmed by people like Donald Trump and the global coalition fighting our brethren in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and everywhere," Abubakar Shekau said in an audio message posted on YouTube late Sunday. Boko Haram is waging a seven-year-old uprising against the Nigerian state that has claimed more than 20,000 lives, with the insurgency spilling over the West African nation's borders into neighbouring states.

Chelsea Manning asks Obama for reduced sentence: report Posted: 14 Nov 2016 01:31 AM PST Imprisoned transgender soldier Chelsea Manning, who is serving 35 years behind bars for leaking classified US documents, has asked President Barack Obama to reduce her sentence before he leaves office, reports said. Originally called Bradley, Manning was convicted in August 2013 of espionage and other offenses after admitting to handing classified documents to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. Manning, who has already spent half a dozen years in prison, said she is not asking for a pardon and understands that the conviction will stay on her record, according to a statement accompanying the petition, which was published by the New York Times on Sunday.

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