Iraqi forces surrounded a neighborhood in Baghdad yesterday, searching cars and houses for militants behind a rocket attack that killed two UN contractors, officials said.
Security forces searched cars leaving the al-Amin neighborhood and distributed flyers requesting information on two men suspected of firing the rocket, which struck near the UN compound in the heavily fortified Green Zone on Saturday.
“Security forces are looking for wanted individuals and the people are supplying the forces with information on the gang that has been firing rockets,” said Major General Qassim Atta, the military’s Baghdad spokesman.
Meanwhile, influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has reservations about a pact allowing US troops to stay for three more years, but politicians must decide its value, a source said on Saturday.
Iraq’s parliament passed a law approving the long-awaited security pact on Thursday, paving the way for US forces to withdraw by the end of 2011 and taking the country a step closer to full sovereignty. They agreed it should be put to a national referendum by the end of July next year.
The cleric’s acceptance of the pact is crucial for it to be accepted by Iraq’s mostly Shiite population.
Sistani signaled the week before the vote that he would abstain from judging the pact and leave it to lawmakers to decide on two conditions: that it does not violate Iraq’s sovereignty and that it gets consensus from all of its communities.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number