Gunmen in four cars yesterday opened fire on a convoy of buses carrying Iranian pilgrims through Iraq, killing five of them, Iraqi police said as the war-wracked country’s Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki headed to the White House for talks with US President Barack Obama.
Thirty-five people were wounded in the attack, which took place near the village of Kebasi north of the capital. The convoy was part of the movement of millions pilgrims — many of them from Iran — visiting the holy Shiite cities of Najaf and Karbala throughout the year.
At least 18 people died in bomb blasts around Iraq on Tuesday.
Children, shoppers and men looking for a day’s work were among the dead in attacks in Baghdad, Ramadi and Baqubah, cities that saw some of the most intense fighting of Iraq’s long war.
There was no indication that insurgents timed the attacks to coincide with the US meeting, though they have in the past carried out operations around election days and other politically significant dates.
Maliki was to have his first meeting with Obama yesterday since US troops withdrew from Iraqi cities at the end of last month, a milestone in Iraq’s rehabilitation after the 2003 US-led invasion.
Maliki arrived in Washington having overseen a considerable transformation in his country since he took office three years ago, at a time of sprawling interfaith violence.
The two leaders, who met in Baghdad in April, “will have frank conversations and we will have discussions on the need to keep the political process going [to avoid] any back-sliding or deterioration,” a senior US official said on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The US “will not dictate the solutions to the Iraqi government,” the official said, but will offer to support Baghdad’s “efforts to address political issues and build national unity.”
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)