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BySameerN.Yacoub The Associated Press BAGHDAD Morethan2,000 families have fled the Iraqi city of Ramadi with little more than the clothes on their backs, officials said Thursday, as the Islamic State group closed in on the capital of western An- bar province, clashing with Iraqi troops and turning it into a ghost town. The extremist group, which has controlled the nearby city of Fallujah for more than a year, captured three villages on Rama- di's eastern outskirts on Wednesday. The advance is widely seen as a counter- offensive after the Islamic State group lost the city of Tikrit, Saddam Husse- in's hometown, earlier this month. Hundreds of U.S. troops are training Iraqi forces at a military base west of Ra- madi, but a U.S. military of- ficial said the fighting had no impact on the U.S. sol- diers there, and that there were no plans to withdraw them. The fleeing Ramadi res- idents were settling in the southern and western sub- urbs of Baghdad, and tents, food and other aid were be- ing sent to them, said Sat- tar Nowruz, an official of the Ministry of Migration and the Displaced. The ministry was assess- ing the situation with the provincial government in order "to provide the dis- placed people, who are un- dergoing difficult condi- tions, with better services and help," Nowruz said. Sporadic clashes were still underway Thursday, according to security offi- cials in Ramadi. Govern- ment forces control the city center, while the IS group has had a presence in the suburbs and outskirts for months. They described Ra- madi as a ghost town, with empty streets and closed shops. Video obtained by The Associated Press showed plumes of thick, black smoke billowing above the city as fighter jets pounded militant targets. On the city outskirts, displaced resi- dents frantically tried to make their way out amid the heavy bombardment. U.S.-led coalition air- strikes targeted the IS group in Sjariyah, Albu- Ghanim and Soufiya, the three villages the extrem- ists captured Wednesday, the officials added. They spoke on condition of ano- nymity because they were not allowed to talk to the media. Anbar's deputy gover- nor, Faleh al-Issawi, de- scribed the situation in Ra- madi as "catastrophic" and urged the central govern- ment to send in reinforce- ments. "We urge the Baghdad government to supply us immediately with troops and weapons in order to help us prevent the city from falling into the hands of the IS group," he told the Associated Press in a tele- phone interview. The spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, Ste- phane Dujarric, said access to the city was limited but humanitarian workers were trying to verify the reports of fleeing residents. Prior to the current bout of fighting, some 400,000 Iraqis were already displaced, includ- ing 60,000 in Ramadi dis- trict, according to the In- ternational Organization for Migration. Al-Bayan, the Islamic State group's English- language radio station, claimed IS fighters had seized control of at least six areas and most of a sev- enth to the east of Ramadi since Wednesday, accord- ing to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors mil- itant websites. American troops fought some of their bloodiest bat- tles in Anbar during the eight-year U.S. intervention, when Fallujah and Ramadi were strongholds of al-Qa- ida in Iraq, a precursor to the IS group. Fallujah was the first Iraqi city to fall to the militants, in January 2014. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who was visiting Washington on Wednesday, made no men- tion of the events in Ra- madi. Instead he spoke op- timistically about recruit- ing Sunni tribal fighters to battle the extremists, say- ing about 5,000 such fight- ers in Anbar had signed up and received light weapons. IRAQ Th ou sa nd s fle e as I S gr ou p ad va nc es o n Ra ma di THEASSOCIATEDPRESS People leave their hometown Ramadi, 70miles west of Baghdad, Iraq, on Thursday to escape the fighting. By Ahmed Al-Haj The Associated Press SANAA, YEMEN Al-Qaida seized control of a major airport, a sea port and an oil terminal in southern Ye- men on Thursday, consoli- dating its hold on the coun- try's largest province amid wider chaos pitting Shiite rebels against forces loyal to the exiled president and a Saudi-led air campaign. Military officials and res- idents said al-Qaida fight- ers clashed briefly with members of one of Yemen's largest brigades outside Mukalla, a city the mili- tants overran earlier this month and where they freed prison inmates. The militants then seized con- trol of the Riyan airport and moved to secure their hold on the city's main sea port, which is also an oil terminal. The security officials, speaking from Sanaa on condition of anonymity be- cause they were not autho- rized to brief the press, said the leaders of the brigade in charge of protecting the entire area fled. The latest advance marks a major gain for al- Qaida in the Arabian Pen- insula, as the Yemeni af- filiate is known, which has been linked to sev- eral failed attacks on the U.S. and is widely seen as the global network's most dangerous franchise. The group claimed responsi- bility for the attack on a French satirical magazine earlier this year. The group has exploited the chaos in Yemen, where Shiite rebels, along with al- lied military units loyal to former President Ali Abdul- lah Saleh, captured the cap- ital in September and have been advancing despite a three-week Saudi-led air campaign. The rebels are staunch opponents of al-Qaida but are currently locked in fierce battles with forces loyal to Yemen's interna- tionally recognized Presi- dent Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled to Saudi Arabia last month. The southeastern city of Mukalla is the capital of Yemen's largest province, Hadramawt, where al-Qa- ida has long maintained a presence despite U.S. drone strikes and Yemeni coun- terterrorism operations. A politician in the city, Ali al-Kathiri, said al-Qa- ida and local tribal leaders had been negotiating with the brigade commanders to ensure a peaceful hando- ver. But some fighters, sus- pected of being loyal to Saleh, clashed with the mil- itants. A Saudi-led coalition has been striking the Houthis and their allies from the air since March 26, but has carried out no attacks on Mukalla or other al-Qaida- controlled areas. SOUTH ARABIAN CONFLICT Al-Qaida captures major airport, oil terminal in south Yemen By Nicole Winfield and Rachel Zoll The Associated Press VATICAN CITY The Vatican has unexpectedly ended its controversial overhaul of the main umbrella group of U.S. nuns, cementing a shift in tone and treatment of the U.S. sisters under the social justice-minded Pope Francis. The Vatican said Thurs- day it had accepted a final report on its investigation of the Leadership Confer- ence of Women Religious and declared the "imple- mentation of the mandate has been accomplished" nearly two years ahead of schedule. The umbrella group for women's religious orders had been accused of straying from church teach- ing. The brief report stated the organization would have to ensure its publica- tions have a "sound doctri- nal foundation," and said steps were being taken for "safeguarding the theologi- cal integrity" of programs. But no major changes were announced and the direct Vatican oversight that the sisters considered a threat to their mission was over. "I think there are still some questions about how this is going to play out, but that it concluded early was an overwhelming affirma- tion of what the sisters do," said Natalia Imperatori-Lee, a religious studies professor at Manhattan College. The report's tone stood in stark contrast to the 2012 Vatican reform mandate, which said the nuns' group was in a "grave" doctri- nal crisis. Vatican officials said the Leadership Confer- ence had over-emphasized social justice issues when they should have also been fighting abortion, had un- dermined church teaching on homosexuality and the priesthood, and had pro- moted "radical feminist" themes in their publications and choice of speakers. The nuns' group called the alle- gations "flawed." But on Thursday, lead- ers of the umbrella organi- zation and the Vatican offi- cials in charge of the over- haul released statements of mutual respect, and the sis- ters met in Rome for nearly an hour with Pope Francis. The turnabout suggested possible papal intervention to end the standoff on ami- cable grounds before Fran- cis' high-profile trip to the United States in Septem- ber. The investigation, and a separate but parallel re- view of all women's reli- gious orders, prompted an outpouring of support from the public for the sis- ters, who oversee the lion's share of social service pro- grams for the church. RELIGION Vatican ends crackdown of nun group MUSA SADULAYEV — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A Chechen woman looks at a TV screen with Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking during his live televised call-in show with the nation in Chechnya's provincial capital Grozny, Russia, on Thursday. By Vladimir Isachenkov The Associated Press MOSCOW Russia has weathered the worst of its economic troubles and is on the road to recovery, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday during a marathon call-in TV show, offering to normalize ties with the West if it treats Moscow as an equal part- ner and not a "vassal." He also defended the de- livery of a long-range air de- fense missile system to Iran, casting it as a reward for Tehran'sflexibilityinnuclear talksandvowingtocontinue workingwithglobalpartners to reach a definitive solution to the country's contested nuclear program. Putin mixed promises with stern warnings and some humor during the carefully choreographed four-hour national broad- cast, an annual affair in- tended to burnish his fa- ther-of-the nation image and secure his control over the Russian political scene. His main message was that the gravest challenges are over and the slumping economy will be back on track soon. He also made it clear that Russia wants an end to fighting in eastern Ukraine and is interested in rebuilding damaged ties with the United States and other Western nations. The U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on Russia over Moscow's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and accusations of supporting separatists in Ukraine. At the same time, he re- affirmed his long-held crit- icism of what he sees as U.S. aspirations of global domination, saying Wash- ington must learn to treat Russia as an equal partner. "The main condition for restoring normal relations is to have respect for Rus- sia and its interests," Pu- tin said, adding that the United States "doesn't need allies; they need vassals." While Putin sounded confident and looked re- laxed while discussing the economy and global crises, he appeared uneasy and tense while responding to questions about the killing of top opposition leader Bo- ris Nemtsov just outside the Kremlin on Feb. 27. Putin described the shooting death as "tragic and shameful" and com- mended police for quickly tracking down the sus- pects, but said he wasn't certain if law enforcement agencies would be able to find those who organized it. Putin confident on the economy, offers to mend frayed ties with West NATIONAL, GLOBAL CHALLENGES N EWS D AILY RED BLUFF TEHAMA COUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U NTY S I N C E 1 8 8 5 FAX: (530)528-0130 545 Diamond Avenue • P.O. Box 220 • Red Bluff, CA 96080 Support our classrooms, keep kids reading. DONATE YOUR VACATION newspaper dollars to the Newspaper In Education Program HELP OUR CHILDREN For more details call Circulation Department (530) 73 7-5047 | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2015 10 B