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.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
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