Bomb blasts in Iraq push death toll to 41
BAGHDAD – Iraq’s interior ministry spokesman says a suicide bomber has blown himself up among Shiite pilgrims in northern Baghdad, the deadliest in a series of attacks that have killed 41 people.
Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan says the bomber struck a pedestrian checkpoint for pilgrims in the largely Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah. He says at least 56 people also were wounded in the attack.
Police and hospital officials also say a bomb exploded in the religiously mixed Baghdad neighborhood of Baiyaa, killing three people and wounding 13 wounded.
The bombings followed earlier attacks on Saturday that killed 21 other people.
16 Libyan soldiers die in highway attack
TRIPOLI, Libya – Gunmen attacked a Libyan military post southeast of the capital, Tripoli, on Saturday, killing 16 soldiers, officials said.
The attackers rode vehicles mounted with machine guns, a military official said. The highway between the towns of Tarhouna and Bani Walid, on which the post was located, was closed immediately after the attack in an attempt to track down the attackers.
The official said the attack took place at Wishtata area, about 40 miles from the entrance to Bani Walid. The town was one of the last strongholds for supporters of dictator Moammar Gadhafi in the country’s 2011 civil war, and was besieged again by pro-government militias last year.
Haiti disagrees with migrant ruling
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Haiti says it “strongly disagrees” with a court ruling in the Dominican Republic that strips citizenship from the children of Haitian migrants.
The Haitian government has been mostly silent on the court decision but announced this week that it was recalling its ambassador to the Dominican Republic.
The Dominican Republic’s Constitutional Court ruled last week that it will block citizenship for thousands of people born to Haitian migrant workers since 1929. This could affect about 300,000 people, the bulk of them Dominican-born people of Haitian descent.
Egypt journalist gets sentence suspended
CAIRO – An Egyptian military court released an award-winning journalist Saturday after giving him a six-month suspended sentence for endangering national security by spreading false information in his coverage of operations against Islamic militants in the Sinai Peninsula, a security official and a lawyer said.
Ahmed Abu-Draa’s lawyer called the lighter sentence an attempt to defuse criticism about the 38-year-old journalist’s detention while still serving as a warning against challenging the military.
Political tensions have risen sharply ahead of mass rallies planned today to honor the military and rival protests by supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, a combination many fear will lead to a new round of unrest.
Tunisia’s parties sign transition roadmap
TUNIS, Tunisia – Nearly all of Tunisia’s feuding political parties Saturday signed on to a roadmap designed to break their months-old impasse and put an end to the country’s drawn-out democratic transition.
Most of the Islamist-led ruling coalition a well as parties in the largely secular opposition agreed to begin a dialogue on replacing the current government with a technocratic body to supervise new elections. That new body is expected to be in place in about a month.
“I am optimistic for the future of Tunisia and that the dialogue process will lead to free and transparent elections,” President Moncef Marzouki said at the signing ceremony. “The eyes of Tunisians and our friends abroad are on us and we cannot disappoint them – it is an historic responsibility.”
Tunisians kicked off the Arab Spring revolutionary movements in January 2011 by overthrowing their long-serving dictator and then, nine months later, voting the moderate Islamist Ennahda Party into power.
Associated Press
