Yahoo! News: Iraq

---

• Oil prices edge up on anticipation of OPEC-led production cut
• Civilian victims of mortar, sniper fire pour into Mosul clinic
• Father of injured pipeline protester says she may lose arm
• Syrian group: Rebels preventing refugees from fleeing Aleppo
• Factbox: Contenders for key jobs in Trump's administration
• For jihadists, Trump election brings a change in strategy
• US airstrikes top 1,000 against IS in Iraq and Syria
• Oil prices end near flat on uncertain outcome from OPEC meeting
• OPEC to debate oil output cut next week but Iraq, Iran hesitate
• Interpol: Use biometric data to find extremist fighters
• Iraq has to up oil output because of 'budget hole': FM
• ICC eyeing foreign fighters in Syria, Iraq
• Day of the Generals: Trump’s Tilt Toward the Military
• Iraqis finally put out some oil fires set months ago by IS
• Landmine casualties increased sharply last year: monitor
• The Latest: UN says over 68,000 displaced by Mosul operation
• Status of main battle fronts in Iraq and Syria
• Cooperation With Russia Is Possible
• Turkey seeks arrest of Syrian Kurdish leader
• US names French IS suspect as Paris attacks planner
• Adam McKay to Direct Dick Cheney Film at Paramount
• 'Factory scale' use of homemade mines pushes global casualties to 10-year high: study
• Iraqi forces move to retake another Mosul neighborhood
• Former Turkish General: Coup Attempt Was Conducted By FETO To Undermine Turkey
• Turkey issues arrest warrants for Syrian Kurdish leader
• Coalition destroys Mosul bridge to isolate jihadists
• From soldiers to midwives, Turkey dismisses 15,000 more after coup bid
• Special Report: Japan forces a harsh choice on children of migrant families
• More than 1,000 combatants from Iran killed in Syria: official
• Factbox: Market watchers believe OPEC will cut oil output but 'fudge factor' runs high
• Trial of Islamic State suspects shows Turkish security flaws before bombings
• U.S. strike destroys bridge, restricts Islamic State in Mosul: official
• In Mosul camps, traders profit as aid falls short
• US-led coalition strike destroys Mosul bridge
• Iraq after ISIS: At site of massacre, bridge-building replaces blood feud
• Turkey-backed forces besiege Syria's al-Bab, eyes on Manbij: Erdogan
• Senior German lawmaker worried by Trump's lack of Middle East policy
• Iraq says would not be fair to be asked by OPEC to cut oil output
• Britain, Germany each win 3 International Emmys

Oil prices edge up on anticipation of OPEC-led production cut Posted: 22 Nov 2016 05:35 PM PST Oil prices edged up on Wednesday in anticipation of an OPEC-led crude production cut that is planned to be finalised by the end of the month, through trading was thin ahead of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were trading at $46.13 at 0128 GMT, up 10 cents from their last settlement. International Brent crude oil futures were at $49.22 a barrel, up 10 cents.

Civilian victims of mortar, sniper fire pour into Mosul clinic Posted: 22 Nov 2016 03:26 PM PST By John Davison KOKJALI, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi military medics rushed a man whose mouth had been blown apart by mortar shrapnel into their temporary field clinic on the eastern edges of Mosul. "And two dead." All the victims are from areas closer to the center of Mosul and which Iraqi forces recaptured from Islamic State two weeks ago - but which they have sometimes struggled to secure as civilians remain within the range of the jihadists' mortar and sniper fire. Black armored vehicles sped into the clinic run by the elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) throughout the morning, ferrying in the casualties - an elderly man shot through the knee, another with a leg wound, a girl hit in the chest.

Father of injured pipeline protester says she may lose arm Posted: 22 Nov 2016 02:48 PM PST BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A New York woman seriously hurt protesting the Dakota Access oil pipeline faces multiple surgeries and could lose an arm, her father said Tuesday, and protesters and law enforcement gave conflicting accounts about what might have caused the explosion that injured her.

Syrian group: Rebels preventing refugees from fleeing Aleppo Posted: 22 Nov 2016 02:30 PM PST BEIRUT (AP) — A Syrian monitoring group alleged Tuesday that rebels are preventing dozens of families from fleeing eastern Aleppo as Russian-backed government forces intensify their bombardment of the besieged quarter.

Factbox: Contenders for key jobs in Trump's administration Posted: 22 Nov 2016 02:17 PM PST (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump held additional meetings in New York on Tuesday as he worked to fill administration positions ahead of his inauguration on Jan. 20. Below are people mentioned as contenders for senior roles. See end of list for posts already filled. TREASURY SECRETARY * Steven Mnuchin, former Goldman Sachs Group Inc executive and Trump's campaign finance chairman * Jeb Hensarling, Republican U.S. ...

For jihadists, Trump election brings a change in strategy Posted: 22 Nov 2016 01:29 PM PST Jihadists abroad say they will use Donald Trump's election and appointments as powerful recruitment tool, pushing their claims that the West and Islam are heading toward a clash of civilizations. For two decades, jihadists have largely used United States actions ­– such as wars and foreign policy – to support claims of an anti-Islam agenda. "For years we have focused on the Palestinian occupation, America's deceitful alliance with Iran and [Syrian President] Bashar [al-Assad] in the slaughter of Sunnis in Syria and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as proof that America, and Americans, are waging a war against Islam," says Abu Omar, the nom de guerre of an Al Qaeda operative in Syria aligned with the militant group Jabhat Fatah al-Sham.

US airstrikes top 1,000 against IS in Iraq and Syria Posted: 22 Nov 2016 01:27 PM PST USS EISENHOWER, Persian Gulf (AP) — One after another, fighter jets catapult from the flight deck of the USS Eisenhower, a thousand-foot (305-meter) American aircraft carrier, afterburners glowing amber above the blue Persian Gulf, on their way northwest to join the fight in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State.

Oil prices end near flat on uncertain outcome from OPEC meeting Posted: 22 Nov 2016 12:35 PM PST By Scott DiSavino NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil ended little changed on Tuesday in volatile trade that saw prices rise and fall by $1 a barrel depending on the latest comment from OPEC officials at a technical conference in Vienna on whether the cartel members would agree to an output cut. Officials at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting tried to hammer out the details of an agreement to cut output before a formal meeting on Nov. 30. During the session, Brent gained $1 a barrel, bringing it to within four cents of $50, its highest since Oct. 28, after comments from a Nigerian official at the OPEC technical meeting that it was likely all countries would be "on board" by the end of the day.

OPEC to debate oil output cut next week but Iraq, Iran hesitate Posted: 22 Nov 2016 12:33 PM PST By Alex Lawler and Rania El Gamal VIENNA/DUBAI (Reuters) - OPEC will debate an oil output cut of 4.0-4.5 percent for all of its members except Libya and Nigeria next week but the deal's success hinges on an agreement from Iraq and Iran, which are far from certain to give full backing. Three OPEC sources told Reuters a gathering of experts from the oil producer group in Vienna had decided on Tuesday to recommend that a ministerial meeting on Nov. 30 debate a proposal from member Algeria to reduce output by that amount. Such a cut would bring OPEC's current output down by more than 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd), according to Reuters calculations based on the group's October production, and is towards the upper end of market expectations.

Interpol: Use biometric data to find extremist fighters Posted: 22 Nov 2016 12:08 PM PST UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Interpol urged all countries on Tuesday to obtain biometric data from fighters for the Islamic State and other extremist groups to help law enforcement track them down, especially when they return home.

Iraq has to up oil output because of 'budget hole': FM Posted: 22 Nov 2016 11:49 AM PST Iraq has to up its crude output because dwindling oil prices and the fight against Islamic State have left "a huge hole" in the economy, Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said Tuesday, as the OPEC cartel scrambles to agree a production cut deal. "As oil makes up for more than 90 percent of Iraq's budget, a huge hole was knocked in the budget by the fall in prices right at the same time as we have had to increase spending on the army due to the fight against IS," Jaafari told reporters during an official visit in Budapest. Iraq may be a rich country but it has huge problems.

ICC eyeing foreign fighters in Syria, Iraq Posted: 22 Nov 2016 11:47 AM PST The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Tuesday put foreigners fighting with Islamic State jihadists on notice that she was seeking ways of bringing to justice those behind crimes in Syria and Iraq. Neither Syria or Iraq have joined the tribunal, but chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told AFP her office had jurisdiction over crimes committed in either country by citizens of the 124 nations which have signed up to court. "We definitely have jurisdiction over those nationals," Bensouda told AFP, in an interview in the ICC's new headquarters on the outskirts of The Hague.

Day of the Generals: Trump’s Tilt Toward the Military Posted: 22 Nov 2016 11:25 AM PST President-elect Donald Trump's soldierly experience consists of attending a private military academy for high school and getting a medical deferment from the Vietnam Era draft. Three-star General Mike Flynn, who was fired as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency by President Obama, is Trump's choice for National Security Adviser. At the other elbow will be another adviser with military experience and less obvious national security chops, the much maligned campaign mastermind and now White House strategist-to-be Steve Bannon.

Iraqis finally put out some oil fires set months ago by IS Posted: 22 Nov 2016 11:18 AM PST QAYARA, Iraq (AP) — For months, residents of the Iraqi town of Qayara have lived under a dark cloud of toxic fumes released by oil well fires lit by retreating Islamic State fighters.

Landmine casualties increased sharply last year: monitor Posted: 22 Nov 2016 11:07 AM PST The number of casualties from landmines and similar explosive devices soared to a 10-year high last year as armed conflicts raged across the world, a report found Tuesday. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) blamed the sharp increase on wars in Libya, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen, but also noted that a greater availability of casualty data had pushed numbers higher. According to this year's Landmine Monitor, an annual report by the ICBL, the number of people killed and wounded by mines, improvised devices and "explosive remnants of war" rose to 6,461 in 2015.

The Latest: UN says over 68,000 displaced by Mosul operation Posted: 22 Nov 2016 10:47 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — The Latest in the month-long campaign to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State group (all times local):

Status of main battle fronts in Iraq and Syria Posted: 22 Nov 2016 10:40 AM PST US-led coalition warplanes bombed a key bridge in the northern city of Mosul to isolate fighters of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group in their major stronghold in Iraq, as a relative lull takes hold in fighting on the ground. Since the October 17 start of a broad offensive to retake Mosul, Iraqi forces have already retaken several eastern neighbourhoods despite fierce jihadist resistance. On Tuesday, elite forces from the Counter-Terrorism Service secured most of the Aden neighbourhood.

Cooperation With Russia Is Possible Posted: 22 Nov 2016 10:22 AM PST In his recent interview with Henry Kissinger, Jeffrey Goldberg asked the former secretary of state and national security advisor what he would advise the next president of the United States to do first. That president, Kissinger replied, should ask, "What are we"—the United States—"trying to achieve, even if we must pursue it alone? … What are we trying to prevent, even if we must combat it alone?" But he also noted that the next president would be taking office at a uniquely challenging moment in international politics. Drawing on the campaign rhetoric of President-elect Donald Trump, we can posit some preliminary answers to Kissinger's questions, and some preliminary suggestions as to how he might handle Russia, in particular.

Turkey seeks arrest of Syrian Kurdish leader Posted: 22 Nov 2016 09:56 AM PST Turkey on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for the leader of the main Syrian Kurdish political party over a deadly bombing in Ankara in February blamed on Kurdish militants. Arrest warrants were issued for the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) leader Salih Muslim as well as several fugitive leaders of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) over the February 17 bombing against military vehicles, the state-run Anadolu news agency said. Turkey had blamed the PYD and its military wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG), for the attack which left at least 28 people dead and was followed by another devastating bombing in the capital in March.

US names French IS suspect as Paris attacks planner Posted: 22 Nov 2016 09:54 AM PST The United States on Tuesday named a French veteran of the Foreign Legion as a suspect in the planning of bloody attacks in Paris and Brussels. The designation said he founded 300-strong Islamic State "European foreign terrorist fighter cell" and reportedly helped plan the deadly attacks. US and French officials describe Himich as 27 or 28 years old and as a Moroccan-born French citizen who served six months in the French Foreign Legion.

Adam McKay to Direct Dick Cheney Film at Paramount Posted: 22 Nov 2016 09:20 AM PST The helmer is reteaming with Plan B for an untitled movie about the former vice president.

'Factory scale' use of homemade mines pushes global casualties to 10-year high: study Posted: 22 Nov 2016 09:04 AM PST By Umberto Bacchi LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of people killed or injured by landmines across the world reached a 10-year high last year, driven by a spike in improvised devices planted by militant groups like the Islamic State, researchers said on Tuesday. Casualties caused by landmines, victim-activated explosive devices and unexploded weapons left behind after war totaled 6,461 in 2015, a 75 percent increase on the previous year, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). An overwhelming majority of casualties were recorded in just five conflict-ridden countries - Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Syria and Ukraine - according to the report.

Iraqi forces move to retake another Mosul neighborhood Posted: 22 Nov 2016 08:28 AM PST IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi troops gained a foothold Tuesday in another neighborhood in the northern city of Mosul after fierce battles against Islamic State militants dug in behind heavy fortifications, according to a top Iraqi commander.

Former Turkish General: Coup Attempt Was Conducted By FETO To Undermine Turkey Posted: 22 Nov 2016 08:07 AM PST WASHINGTON, Nov. 22, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Washington, DC-based think tank, The Turkish Heritage Organization (THO), hosted Turkey's 26th Chief of the General Staff, Gen. (Ret.) Ilker Basbug, for a discussion at the National Press Club where issues discussed included Turkey's national security and the future of U.S.-Turkey relations. During his remarks at the National Press Club, Gen. Basbug discussed the July 15th coup attempt and U.S.-Turkey relations. Throughout the discussion, Gen. Basbug drew upon his extensive military experience, which culminated in his service as Chief of the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) between 2008 and 2010.

Turkey issues arrest warrants for Syrian Kurdish leader Posted: 22 Nov 2016 07:57 AM PST ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish authorities on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for the leader of a U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish group while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed a threat to oust Syrian Kurds from a key town in northern Syria.

Coalition destroys Mosul bridge to isolate jihadists Posted: 22 Nov 2016 07:57 AM PST Mosul (Iraq) (AFP) - The US-led coalition bombed a key bridge in Mosul Tuesday to isolate jihadists whose stiff resistance in the east of the city is threatening to bog down Iraqi forces.

From soldiers to midwives, Turkey dismisses 15,000 more after coup bid Posted: 22 Nov 2016 07:52 AM PST By Tuvan Gumrukcu and Nick Tattersall ANKARA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey dismissed 15,000 more state employees on Tuesday, from soldiers and police officers to tax inspectors and midwives, and shut 375 institutions and several news outlets, deepening purges carried out since a failed coup. The dismissals, announced in two decrees, bring to more than 125,000 the number of people sacked or suspended in the military, civil service, judiciary and elsewhere since July's coup attempt. President Tayyip Erdogan said the measures had significantly weakened the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose followers are blamed by Ankara for infiltrating state institutions over several decades and carrying out the attempted putsch.

Special Report: Japan forces a harsh choice on children of migrant families Posted: 22 Nov 2016 07:49 AM PST By Minami Funakoshi, Ami Miyazaki and Thomas Wilson MATSUDO, Japan (Reuters) - Gursewak Singh composed his first letter to Japan's justice minister when he was 10 years old. "My family loves Japan," Gursewak wrote to then-Justice Minister Keiko Chiba on March 6, 2010. "We really don't want to go back to India.

More than 1,000 combatants from Iran killed in Syria: official Posted: 22 Nov 2016 07:33 AM PST More than 1,000 combatants sent from Iran to fight in support of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria have been killed in the conflict, the head of Iran's veterans' affairs office said Tuesday. "The number of martyrs from our country defending the shrines has now passed 1,000," Tasnim news agency quoted Mohammad Ali Shahidi Mahalati, the head of Iran's Foundation of Martyrs' and Veterans' Affairs, as saying. Iran has sent military advisers, as well as volunteer fighters recruited from Afghanistan and Pakistan, to work with Assad's forces.

Factbox: Market watchers believe OPEC will cut oil output but 'fudge factor' runs high Posted: 22 Nov 2016 07:19 AM PST (Reuters) - Oil prices have risen to their highest in nearly a month, as expectations grow among traders and investors that OPEC will agree to cut production, but market watchers reckon a deal may pack less punch than Saudi Arabia and its partners want. Brent crude has risen 6.5 percent in the last two weeks, hitting nearly $50 a barrel for the first time since late October, with Saudi Arabia embarking on a last-minute push for unanimous agreement to cut output when OPEC meets next week. OPEC members seem to accept that Libya and Nigeria should be left out of any deal, as the two countries struggle to raise output curtailed by violence, but there are still a number of hitches the group must overcome.

Trial of Islamic State suspects shows Turkish security flaws before bombings Posted: 22 Nov 2016 07:01 AM PST By Ece Toksabay ANKARA (Reuters) - For two years, Haci Ali Durmaz says he used to cross the Turkish border into Syria, join the ranks of Islamic State for a few months, and then return to Turkey to work in construction. Now on trial for involvement in Turkey's deadliest suicide bombing, an attack last year that killed more than 100 people in Ankara, his testimony has highlighted flaws in border security and intelligence which lawyers say has allowed parts of Turkey to become a rear base for jihadists. The Turkish government has improved border security since the bombing and a spate of other attacks, but the consequences of such breaches are potentially far-reaching.

U.S. strike destroys bridge, restricts Islamic State in Mosul: official Posted: 22 Nov 2016 06:38 AM PST By Saif Hameed and Stephanie Nebehay BAGHDAD/GENEVA (Reuters) - U.S. forces backing an Iraqi army campaign against Islamic State in Mosul carried out an air strike on a bridge spanning the Tigris river, restricting militant movements between western and eastern parts of the city, a U.S. official said on Tuesday. U.S.-trained Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service forces are pushing deeper into east Mosul, the last major city controlled by the Sunni hard-line group in Iraq, while army and police units, Shi'ite militias and Kurdish fighters surround it to the west, south and north. Militants have steadily retreated into Mosul from outlying areas.

In Mosul camps, traders profit as aid falls short Posted: 22 Nov 2016 06:22 AM PST "I've already had business here and it's my first day selling at Hasan Sham camp," said an upbeat Safin Hamza, a phone salesman from the town of Kalak, about 10 miles (15 km) away. Dozens of mostly Iraqi Kurdish street sellers from towns close to the Hasan Sham and Khazir camps, which are hosting thousands of people displaced by the fighting to drive Islamic State out of Mosul, have started coming every day to sell food, water and household items to those living inside. "There is aid, but some things really aren't enough, so we have to buy the rest," said 48-year-old Nada, who lives in a tent in Hasan Sham with her husband and three children.

US-led coalition strike destroys Mosul bridge Posted: 22 Nov 2016 06:14 AM PST The strike leaves Mosul's oldest bridge, which was British-built, as the only one still standing out of five in the centre of the city, according to residents. "So we're not going to let that happen," Colonel John Dorrian told AFP. The eastern bank of the Tigris was expected to offer less resistance when tens of thousands of Iraqi forces launched a huge offensive on Mosul on October 17.

Iraq after ISIS: At site of massacre, bridge-building replaces blood feud Posted: 22 Nov 2016 05:13 AM PST Darkness descends upon the massacre memorial at the water's edge, where gutted concrete buildings – the remains of a Saddam Hussein palace – are smeared with graffiti that evokes loss and calls for revenge. The Tigris River flows wide and silent here, as it did on that June day in 2014 when it was stained with the blood and floating corpses of Iraqi Shiites, victims of the single most deadly event in Iraq since the US invasion of 2003. It was designed, filmed, and broadcast both to shock and terrorize Iraqi security forces – which duly disintegrated as IS militants swept across northern Iraq that summer – and to hammer a permanent sectarian wedge between Sunnis and Shiites.

Turkey-backed forces besiege Syria's al-Bab, eyes on Manbij: Erdogan Posted: 22 Nov 2016 05:05 AM PST ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey-backed forces have besieged the Islamic State-held Syrian town of al-Bab from the west and have set their sites on Manbij for their next offensive, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday. In a speech in the capital Ankara, Erdogan said YPG Kurdish militia forces must completely leave Manbij. Erdogan, who views the Syrian Kurdish fighters as hostile forces, also accused Kurdish militants of trying to turn Iraq's Sinjar into a base. He said Turkey will not allow Sinar to become a "terror centre". ...

Senior German lawmaker worried by Trump's lack of Middle East policy Posted: 22 Nov 2016 03:58 AM PST A contender to be the next German foreign minister urged U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday not to cancel the Iran nuclear deal or move too close to Moscow, saying such policy shifts could cause more instability in the Middle East. Rolf Muetzenich, a potential successor to Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier if the latter is elected German president in February, said Trump had not articulated a clear agenda for the Middle East, creating a "conceptual vacuum". "We have to prepare for difficult situations, particularly if Trump and the Republicans try to cancel the Iran nuclear deal," Muetzenich, foreign policy speaker for Germany's Social Democrats, told broadcaster Suedwestrundfunk.

Iraq says would not be fair to be asked by OPEC to cut oil output Posted: 22 Nov 2016 02:20 AM PST OPEC should allow Iraq to continue raising output with no restrictions, Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari told reporters in Budapest on Tuesday, commenting on a plan by the organization to limit supply in order to support prices. Iraq is in a special situation ...we are at war," he said, referring to the ongoing military campaign to defeat Islamic State. Iraq is the second-largest producer of the 14-member group, behind Saudi Arabia.

Britain, Germany each win 3 International Emmys Posted: 21 Nov 2016 10:54 PM PST NEW YORK (AP) — TV hit-maker Shonda Rhimes vowed to be a voice for those who feel scared about being marginalized following Donald Trump's election victory as she accepted an honorary International Emmy award on Monday night.

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