Iraq's president said yesterday he would call the country's new parliament into session for the first time on March 12, staring the clock on a 60-day period during which the legislature must elect a new head of state and sign off on a prime minister and Cabinet.
"We will call today [Monday] for holding the meeting on the 12th of this month because it is the last day that the Constitution allows us to hold the meeting of the new parliament," Jalal Talabani told reporters.
The Constitution requires parliament to hold its first meeting no later than four weeks after the vote was certified, which occurred Feb. 12, nearly two months after the election was held.
Iraq is in the midst of a political crisis, with its many parties deeply divided over the main Shiite bloc's decision to name Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to a new term.
A coalition of Sunni, Kurdish and some secular politicians launched a drive last week to block al-Jaafari from continuing as head of government.
Meanwhile, a series of explosions rocked Baghdad and a market to the north of the capital through the morning yesterday, killing at least 10 people and ending a relative lull in bombings over the past several days.
Toward noon, five mortar rounds could be heard slamming to earth in quick succession in southeastern Baghdad, but there were no immediate details on targets or casualties.
A few minutes earlier a suicide car bomber struck a police patrol near al-Mustansiriyah University in eastern Baghdad, killing two policemen and wounding three, according to police Captain Ahmed Qassim.
At 9:30am, a bomb exploded as a police patrol was driving through the northern Azamiyah neighborhood, killing a policeman and a civilian bystander, Interior Ministry official Major Falah al-Mohammedawi said.
Three people were wounded in the blast, including another policeman, he said.
About half an hour later, a car bomb targeting another police patrol exploded in the downtown Nidhal Street, wounding at least seven people, police said. Thick black smoke billowed into the sky.
North of Baghdad, a car bomb targeting a police patrol exploded near a market in Baqouba, killing at least six people and injuring 23, police said.
The bomb was detonated by remote control shortly after 10:30am, police said. Four policemen were among the injured; the dead were all civilians, they said.
Baqubah, a mixed Sunni-Shiite city 60km northeast of Baghdad, has been at the forefront of a wave of sectarian and other violence since the Feb. 22 bombing of a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra.
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
RSS