U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper urged Turkey on Monday to stop holding up support for a NATO defense plan for the Baltics and Poland, as Ankara presses the alliance to support its fight against U.S.-backed Kurdish YPG militia in Syria.

In an interview with Reuters ahead of the NATO summit, Esper warned Ankara that “not everybody sees the threats that they see” and added he would not support labeling the YPG as terrorists to break the impasse.

He called on Ankara to focus on the larger challenges facing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

“The message to Turkey … is we need to move forward on these response plans and it can’t be held up by their own particular concerns,” Esper said as he flew to London.

“Alliance unity, alliance readiness, means that you focus on the bigger issues — the bigger issue being the readiness of the (NATO) alliance. And not everybody’s willing to sign up to their agenda. Not everybody sees the threats that they see.”

NATO envoys need formal approval by all 29 members for the plan to improve the defense of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia against any threat from neighboring Russia.

The dispute, as NATO prepares to hold its 70th anniversary summit, is a sign of deep divisions between Ankara and Washington over everything from the war in Syria to Turkey’s growing defense relationship with Russia.

Turkey wants NATO to formally recognize the YPG militia, the main component of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as terrorists and is infuriated that its allies have given the militia support.

Ankara has blamed Washington for the current impasse, saying it was caused by the U.S. withdrawal of support from a separate defense plan for Turkey, covering any possible attack from the south where it borders Syria.

Asked whether Washington might agree to branding the YPG as terrorists in order to break the deadlock, Esper said: “I wouldn’t support that.”

“We’re going to stick to our positions, and I think NATO will as well,” Esper said.

The issue is the latest source of friction between the NATO allies, which have also been at loggerheads over Turkey’s purchase of advanced Russian air defenses, which Washington says are incompatible with NATO defenses and pose a threat to Lockheed Martin’s F-35 stealth fighter jets.

Washington said in July it was removing Turkey from the F-35 program and has warned of possible U.S. sanctions.

Two U.S. senators pressed the Trump administration on Monday to impose sanctions on Turkey over its purchase of the Russian missile defense system and said the failure to do so sent a “terrible signal.”

 

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In its biggest military funeral in decades, France is honoring 13 soldiers killed when their helicopters collided over Mali while on a mission fighting extremists affiliated with the Islamic State group.
                   
A few thousand people, veterans, uniformed military units and ordinary residents,  lined the Alexander II Bridge and the esplanade leading toward the gold-domed Invalides monument in Paris on Monday to pay their respects, as 13 hearses drove slowly past.
                   
French President Emmanuel Macron and Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita will preside over the funeral ceremony at the Invalides, a former military hospital that houses Napoleon’s tomb.
                   
The 13 coffins, draped in the French tricolor, arrived in France over the weekend.
                   
Tuesday’s crash was France’s highest military death toll since 1983. The French military says it was the result of complex coordination during a combat operation and has dismissed a claim of responsibility by an IS-linked group. The flight recorders were recovered and an investigation has begun.
                   
The deaths draw new attention to a worrying front in the global fight against extremism, one in which France and local countries have pleaded for more support. In a surge of violence this month, attackers often linked to IS have killed scores of troops in West Africa’s arid Sahel region.

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Hundreds of people gathered in the Indian capital on Monday to demand justice in the case of a veterinarian who was gang-raped and killed last week.
                   
The protesters demanded a fast-track investigation in the case and stringent laws for the safety of women in India.
                   
“We are not safe anymore in India. We are scared to move out of our homes,” said Sejal Kumar, a college student.
                   
The burned body of the 27-year-old woman was found Thursday morning by a passer-by in an underpass in the southern city of Hyderabad after she went missing the previous night.
                   
Police said four suspects have been taken into custody.
                   
Violent crimes against women have been in the spotlight in India since 2012, when the fatal gang rape of a young woman aboard a moving bus in New Delhi prompted hundreds of thousands to take to the streets to demand stricter rape laws.
                   
The outrage spurred quick action on legislation that doubled prison terms for rapists to 20 years and criminalized voyeurism, stalking and the trafficking of women. Indian lawmakers also voted to lower to 16 from 18 the age at which a person can be tried as an adult for heinous crimes.
                   
According to the most recent available official crime records, police registered 33,658 cases of rape in India in 2017, an average of more than 90 every day. But the real figure is believed to be far higher as many women in India don’t register the cases in police stations due to fear.
                   
The data also reveals that more than 90% of cases of crime against women are pending in city courts.
                   
The latest incident was also debated in Parliament.
                   
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said that the government is willing to discuss crime against women and to explore the strongest provisions in the law.
                   
“This act has brought shame to the entire country. It has hurt everyone. The accused must be given the most stringent punishment for their crime,” Singh said.
                   
Activists in India say the government has failed in checking the rising crimes against women.
                   
Jyoti Badekar, a women’s rights activist from Mumbai, said the lack of female police staff is one of the factors fueling the problem.

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London Bridge reopened to cars and pedestrians Monday, three days after a man previously convicted of terrorism offenses stabbed two people to death and injured three others before being shot dead by police.
                   
Political leaders including Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who have traded blame for the security failures that allowed the attack ,attended a vigil at Guildhall Yard in the medieval heart of London to remember the victims and honor members of the emergency services and bystanders who fought the attacker with fists, fire extinguishers and even a narwhal tusk.
                   
The dignitaries, city officials and members of the public observed two minutes of silence in honor of former University of Cambridge students Saskia Jones, 23, and Jack Merritt, 25. They were fatally stabbed by 28-year-old convicted terrorist Usman Khan during an event designed to connect graduate students with prisoners. Both victims worked for the Cambridge-based prisoner rehabilitation program Learning Together.
                   
Two of the three injured people remained in hospital Monday. The third was discharged.
                   
The attacker was attending the event at Fishmongers’ Hall, beside the bridge, and had returned for the afternoon session when he started stabbing people. Police believe he acted alone.
                   
He was pursued onto London Bridge and restrained by staff from the venue and others attending the conference. Police opened fire after he flashed what looked like a suicide vest. It was a fake device.
                   
Toby Williamson, chief executive of Fishmongers’ Hall, paid tribute to staff at the venue who tried to help the injured and fight off the attacker. Williamson said one staffer, whom he identified as Lukasz, pulled a 5-foot (1.5 meter) narwhal tusk from the wall and charged at Khan, allowing others to escape. Williamson told the BBC that Lukasz suffered cuts in a minute of “one-on-one straight combat” with the knifeman.
                   
London Mayor Sadiq Khan told Monday’s vigil that, in the face of tragedy, people should “take hope from the heroism of ordinary Londoners and emergency services who ran toward danger, risking their lives to help people they didn’t even know.”
                   
The attack has pushed security to the top of the agenda in campaigning for the U.K.’s Dec. 12 election.
                   
Johnson, a Conservative, has blamed legal changes made by a previous Labour government for the fact that Khan was freed from prison a year ago after serving half of a 16-year sentence for terrorist offenses, without parole officers assessing whether he still posed a risk.
                   
That rule was changed in 2012 by a Conservative-led government, and Johnson has vowed to end the early release of violent offenders altogether.
                   
Opposition parties blamed years of cuts to the prison and probation services by the Conservatives, who have been in power since 2010. Khan was on probation, subject to restrictions on his movement and wearing an electronic tag when he launched his attack.
                   
“There are enormous questions to be learned from this terrible event that happened last week and that is, what happened in the prison with this particular individual, what assessment was made of his psychological condition before he was released and also what supervision and monitoring he was under after coming out?” said Corbyn.
                   
The family of Merritt also cautioned against knee-jerk responses. They said he “would not want this terrible, isolated incident to be used as a pretext by the government for introducing even more draconian sentences on prisoners, or for detaining people in prison for longer than necessary.”
                   
In the wake of the attack, authorities are urgently reviewing the release of more than 70 other former terrorist prisoners.
                   
As part of that work, a 34-year-old man was arrested Saturday in Stoke-on-Trent, central England, on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts. Police said Monday he had been returned to prison for breaching his release conditions.

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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned of a “point of no return” in climate change as a result of inadequate efforts to stop it. The U.N. chief spoke in Madrid on Sunday ahead of a 10-day climate conference attended by 25,000 people from around the world. Spain has offered to host the event on short notice after Chile withdrew due to political turmoil there. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.

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In next year’s U.S. presidential election, most voters will have one or more additional choice beyond the nominees of the Democratic and Republican parties. And there are indications that a relatively obscure third-party candidate has the potential to decide the election’s outcome.

That happened in 2016 when a smattering of votes in key battleground states in the Midwest enabled Donald Trump to defeat Hillary Clinton, who won the overall popular vote, thus capturing the tabulation for the Electoral College.

Like Clinton, then-Vice President Al Gore, also a Democrat, saw his Oval Office dreams shattered in 2000 when Green Party candidate and consumer activist Ralph Nader tipped the extremely close election of 2000 in favor of Republican George W. Bush.

No coalitions

Compared to most other democracies, the presidential election system of the United States is unusual and not only because of the Electoral College, a system which in 48 of the 50 states the candidate who wins the majority of votes in a state secures all of that state’s electoral votes.

“There are not a lot of strictly presidential systems. Most countries do have something that looks more like a parliamentary system where you are able to develop coalitions between parties,” says Samara Klar, an associate professor of government and public policy at the University of Arizona.

“What we see in the United States, where partisanship sort of becomes wrapped up in your social identity, is very unusual,” Klar tells VOA.

This polarization tends to limit political contests to the two big parties with others only able to nibble at the edges.

Few big splashes

It is thus rare for independent or third-party candidates to make a big splash in modern U.S. presidential elections. The last time a third-party candidate outperformed one of the two major parties was in 1912 when former Republican President Theodore Roosevelt, running on the Progressive ticket, finished second to Democrat Woodrow Wilson.

Recent research by Klar, who studies independent voters, indicates Democratic-leaning independents are currently more satisfied with their party than Republican-leaning independents.

“So I guess if somebody really wanted to make a go for it (in 2020) as a third-party candidate, the Republican-leaning independents seem to be the ones that might be least committed to their own party right now,” explains Klar.

That would indicate a third-party candidate next year would potentially have more opportunity to peel off voters from Trump, a Republican, than his eventual Democratic challenger.

GOP challenger?

No such high-profile outside candidate has yet to emerge. But there will be contenders.

Independent congressman Justin Amash from Michigan, who left the Republican Party, is seen as a potential Libertarian Party candidate to challenge Trump.

The Libertarian nominee in 2016, former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson captured more than 3% of the national vote.

Also a fix: A former West Virginia coal executive, Don Blankenship, who portrays himself as “Trumpier than Trump” is a candidate for the nomination of the Constitution Party, which is expected to be on the ballot in about 15 states.

There is also speculation Democratic presidential hopeful Tulsi Gabbard, who is a U.S. House member from Hawaii, will pursue a third-party candidacy.

Clinton has suggested the Russians are “grooming” Gabbard to make such a run.

The House member from Hawaii says she will not be a third-party candidate and calls accusations she is a Russian agent, “completely despicable.”

Clinton also accuses Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate in 2012 and 2016, of being a “Russian asset.”

“They know they can’t win without a third-party candidate,” Clinton said last month of the Russians.

There is a connection between Moscow and former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura, who says he is interested in the nomination of the Green Party.

Ventura, who became famous nationally as a professional wrestler, hosts a talk show on RT America, a TV channel funded by the Russian government.

Green Party Communications Manager Michael O’Neil is frustrated with the chatter about links between his party and Moscow.

“Anyone who’s presenting a left populist agenda that’s calling for real reform and for dismantling the corporate power structure that runs this country, they say, ‘Oh, they’re foreign agents, they’re a foreign asset, foreign infiltrators,’” O’Neill tells VOA.

The spokesman for the Greens also says the party’s critics oscillate between terming it insignificant and having outsized influence.

“They’re saying that the Green Party or third parties are fringe, they don’t matter, then the next day, they’re saying that we can single-handedly change the outcome of a presidential election. Both of those things cannot be true,” says O’Neill.

What is true, according to the U.S. intelligence community, is the Russians did interfere in the 2016 election and are likely to try to do so again next year.

“A third-party candidate causing electoral chaos would be very attractive from a Russian perspective, given the predilection for trying to sow confusion and mistrust in the democratic process and institutions,” says Steven Lloyd Wilson, assistant professor of Political Science at University of Nevada, Reno.

“The bulk of the disinformation campaign in 2016 revolved around pushing and amplifying existing cleavages in American politics, using largely cut-and-pasted content from American sources, but retweeted by bot networks so as to try to increase the reach,” explains Wilson, who is also the project manager of the V-Dem Institute.

Wilson tells VOA he sees a similar social media campaign as the main risk from Moscow next year supporting a third candidate to try to swing the president election “to reinforce existing narratives being pushed by American actors.”
 

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New Orleans police say 11 people were wounded in a shooting early Sunday on the edge of the city’s famed French Quarter.

A police news release said two people were in critical condition. No arrests were announced by midday Sunday.

Police Supt. Shaun Ferguson told The New Orleans Advocate/The Times-Picayune that a person of interest has been detained, but it was not immediately clear whether the person had any connection to the shooting.

Police said 10 people were taken to two hospitals and another walked in. Further details haven’t been released.

The shooting happened about 3:20 a.m. on a busy commercial block of Canal Street that has streetcar tracks and is near many hotels.

Ferguson said police quickly responded to the scene as patrols were heightened for this weekend’s Bayou Classic, the annual Thanksgiving weekend rivalry football game between Grambling State and Southern University at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Kenneth Culbreth told The New Orleans Advocate/The Times-Picayune that he had gone into a CVS pharmacy in the early morning hours to make a quick purchase. Moments later, he walked out to a crime scene.
 “On my way out of the CVS, I heard pops,” Culbreth said. “It was so many, I couldn’t keep count.”

Culbreth spent the rest of the morning watching the scene, with law enforcement and several emergency vehicles moving in and out at a rapid pace.

 

 

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A passenger bus plunged off a bridge onto a frozen river in Siberia on Sunday, killing 19 of the more than 40 people on board, authorities said.

A tire on the bus burst as it was crossing the bridge over the Kuenga river in eastern Siberia’s Zabaikalsky region.

The vehicle, which was traveling from Sretensk to Chita and carried 40 passengers, skidded off the road and onto the ice.

“Nineteen people died and 21 received various injuries,” the office of the governor of the Zabaikalsky region said in a statement.

Two preschool-aged children were reportedly among the dead.

National television broadcast footage of the mangled wreckage of the bus, which lay upside down on the snow-covered ice surrounded by ambulances and fire engines.

Nineteen people including a 12-year-old girl were hospitalized.

More than 70 people and two helicopters with medics were involved in the rescue operation, officials said.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told his deputy Tatyana Golikova to do everything to help the families of the victims, the government said.

“The head of government expressed condolences to the families of those who died,” the government said in a statement.

The Investigative Committee, which probes serious incidents, said it had opened a criminal inquiry into a possible violation of traffic safety rules.

The head of the powerful Investigative Committee, which reports directly to President Vladimir Putin, demanded a “detailed investigation” into the deadly accident.

Officials said the driver — who died in the crash — had years of experience.

Local authorities launched a crowd-funding campaign to help the victims and their families.

Road accidents are common in Russia, often due to alcohol, the poor state of roads and failure to observe traffic rules.

However, the number of road deaths has gone down in recent years, to around 20,000 per year.

 

 

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Israel has announced a plan for a new Jewish settlement in the West Bank city of Hebron, which is holy to both Jews and Muslims and is a longtime flashpoint for violence. Palestinian officials condemned the move.

Israel’s new defense minister Nafatali Bennet announced his approval for a new Jewish neighborhood in Hebron, where about 1000 Jews live surrounded by 200,000 Palestinians. He said the settlement, which will be built near the city’s old market, will double the number of Jewish settlers in Hebron. He also said it will create “territorial continuity” between an existing Jewish neighborhood and the holy site of the Tomb of the Patriarchs, which Muslims call the Ibrahimi mosque.

The announcement said that the market’s buildings will be demolished and replaced with new stores. It said Palestinians who own ground floor shops will receive the new shops.

Jewish hardliners welcomed the move. The Jewish Committee of Hebron called it an act of historic justice, saying the market has been under Jewish ownership since the early 19th century.

But Palestinians sharply condemned the Israeli decision. Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat blamed the US for the move, saying it was quote “the first tangible result of the US decision to legitimize colonization.”

He was referring to a statement by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week that Jewish settlements in the West Bank are not illegal according to international law. That is a major change in US policy, but has been rejected by much of the international community.
 
“The statements of Secretary Pompeo, as far as we’re concerned, is null and void. It’s an absolute departure of the Trump administration from the squares of international law. And once you depart from the squares of international law you open the squares of chaos, terrorism, extremism, violence and corruption,” said Erekat.
 
Hebron has long been a focus for clashes between Israelis and Palestinians. In 1994, an American-born Jewish settler opened fire inside the mosque killing 29 Palestinians. In 1929, Palestinians killed more than 60 Jews in Hebron.

 

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President Donald Trump is heading to London this week to attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Leaders Meeting. Forged at the start of the Cold War, NATO is celebrating its 70th anniversary and the summit is designed to affirm the strength of the alliance. But European leaders are bracing for Trump ahead of the meeting as they continue to question Washington’s commitment to NATO. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report from London.

 

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Greece’s prime minister says he will ask other NATO members at the alliance’s London summit to support Greece in the face of fellow member Turkey’s attempts to encroach on Greek sovereignty, notably last week’s agreement with Libya delimiting maritime borders in the Mediterranean.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis told the ruling conservative New Democracy party’s congress Sunday that the alliance cannot remain indifferent when one of its members blatantly violates international law and that a neutral approach is to the detriment of Greece, which has never sought to ratchet up tensions in the area.

Cyprus, Egypt and Greece have all condemned the Libyan-Turkish accord as contrary to international law. The foreign ministers of Egypt and Greece, Sameh Shoukry and Nikos Dendias, were discussing the issue Sunday in Cairo.

 

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Corruption, poor economies, political autonomy and personal freedom are among the many issues driving demonstrators’ demands for reform around the world.

Algeria. In February, after President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced his intent to run for a fifth term, an estimated 3 million protesters in Algiers demanded a complete overhaul of Bouteflika’s regime. Bouteflika resigned in April. Elections are scheduled for December.

Bolivia. After elections in October, Bolivians in La Paz protested claims of election fraud against President Evo Morales. In November, Morales announced his resignation and fled to Mexico. His supporters have demanded his return. At least 31 people have been killed.

Chile. Protests began in October in the capital, Santiago, over proposed hikes in subway fares. Protests soon spread around the country, with Chileans demanding income equality, better health care and more money for education. At least 22 people have been killed.

Colombia. Protests began in November over a list of issues, including lack of a national economic plan, corruption and the killing of human rights activists. Protests have drawn more than 250,000 people. At least three people have been killed.

Czech Republic. In November, more than 200,000 people in Prague demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Andrej Babis over allegations of fraud.

Ecuador. Protests and riots erupted in October over President Lenin Moreno’s austerity measures that proposed ending fuel subsidies and cutting the benefits and salaries of civil servants. The protests ended after indigenous groups and the Ecuadorian government reached a deal.

Egypt. Rare protests were held in Cairo, Alexandria and several other cities Sept. 20 and 27, accusing top officials of using public funds for personal fortunes. More than 4,000 people — including 11 journalists and more than 100 children and foreigners — were arrested.

France. In November, thousands protested, demanding changes in stagnant wages, rising prices and income inequality. More than 145 people were arrested.

Haiti. In February, protesters in Port-au-Prince demanded the resignation of President Jovenel Moïse. They also demanded a transitional government and the prosecution of corrupt officials. At least 40 people have been killed since September.

Hong Kong. Protests began in March opposing a proposed bill that would have allowed Hong Kong citizens to be extradited to mainland China. The protests quickly turned into wider calls for democracy. Approximately 2 million people participated in a rally June 16. Two people have died since March.

Indonesia. In September, students in major cities protested the weakening of the Corruption Eradication Commission. At least two were killed. Protesters also demanded the government overturn new laws that penalized people for insulting the president, and banned extramarital sex, and gay and lesbian relations.

Iran. In November, protests erupted across Iran after the government announced a 50% increase in gasoline prices. More than 140 protesters have been killed in 22 cities. More than 1,000 have been arrested in a nationwide crackdown.

Iraq. Since October, anti-corruption protests have been held in Baghdad and the south of the country. By the government’s own count, more than 350 people have died and nearly 1,000 have been injured.

Lebanon. Since October, protesters throughout the country have demanded an end to corruption, calling for a new government made up entirely of “technocrats,” or non-politicians. Protesters also demanded more jobs and improved services such as electricity, water and health care.

Russia. Since summer, approved and unapproved protests have occurred in Moscow, sparked by the city council elections from which opposition candidates were barred. More than 1,500 protesters have been arrested, some sentenced to long prison terms. Demonstrators now demand the release of jailed protesters.

Spain. Pro-independence demonstrators in the Catalonia region flooded the streets in October after nine separatist leaders were given long prison sentences for holding an illegal referendum in 2017.

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The Palestinian Health Ministry said Saturday that Israeli troops had shot and killed a teenager near the West Bank city of Hebron.

The ministry identified the youth as Badawi Masalmeh, 18, adding that Israeli soldiers had taken his body.

The Israeli military said its forces had spotted three people hurling firebombs at Israeli vehicles on a nearby route and had fired at them. The two others were arrested.

Tension has simmered in the West Bank in recent years, where 700,000 Israelis live in settlements across the territory that Israel captured during the 1967 Mideast war.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration said the settlements don’t violate international law, reversing decades of policy and angering the Palestinians who claim the territory as part of a future state. 

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Three anti-government protesters were shot dead and at least 58 others were wounded in Baghdad and southern Iraq on Saturday, security and medical officials said, as Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi formally submitted his resignation to parliament. 

Lawmakers were expected to either vote or accept outright Abdul-Mahdi’s resignation letter in a parliamentary session Sunday, two members of parliament said. 

The prime minister announced Friday that he would hand parliament his resignation amid mounting pressure from mass anti-government protests, a day after more than 40 demonstrators were killed by security forces in Baghdad and southern Iraq. The announcement also came after Iraq’s top Shiite cleric withdrew his support for the government in a weekly sermon. 

The formal resignation came after an emergency cabinet session earlier in which ministers approved the document and the resignation of key staffers, including Abdul-Mahdi’s chief of staff. 

Caretaker cabinet

In a pre-recorded speech, Abdul-Mahdi addressed Iraqis, saying that following parliament’s recognition of his stepping down, the cabinet would be demoted to caretaker status, unable to pass new laws and make key decisions. 

Existing laws do not provide clear procedures for members of parliament to recognize Abdul-Mahdi’s resignation, Iraqi officials and experts said. Cabinet bylaws allow the prime minister to tender his resignation to the president, but there is no specific law that dictates the course of action should this be tasked to parliament. 

“There is a black hole in the constitution. It says nothing about resignation,” said lawmaker Mohamed al-Daraji. 

There are two main laws that could direct parliament’s course of action, he added: Either they vote Abdul-Mahdi out in a vote of no-confidence, per Article 61 of the constitution, or resort to Article 81, reserved for times of crisis when there is a vacancy in the premiership, shifting those duties temporarily to the president. 

“My understanding is this will be taken care of per Article 61,” he said.

A vote of no confidence would demote Abdul-Mahdi’s cabinet to caretaker status for 30 days, in which parliament’s largest political bloc would have to propose a new candidate. 

This is where the real problem comes in, experts and officials said. 

Product of alliance

Abdul-Mahdi’s nomination as prime minister was the product of a provisional alliance between parliament’s two main blocs — Sairoon, led by cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and Fatah, which includes leaders associated with the paramilitary Popular Mobilization Units headed by Hadi al-Amiri. 

In the May 2018 election, neither coalition won a commanding plurality that would have enabled it to name the premier alone. To avoid political crisis, Sairoon and Fatah forged a precarious union. 

“Now we are back to the question of who is the largest bloc that can name the next prime minister,” said one official close to the State of Law party, led by former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. “If they don’t come to an agreement before the 30-day deadline, then we might have to go to the Supreme Court.” 

Officials traded theories as to why Abdul-Mahdi chose to tender his resignation through parliament, with some speculating it was to buy more time or avoid the risk of a vacuum should the post remain empty. 
 Abdul-Mahdi had alluded to the challenges faced by political parties to find consensus candidates, saying in earlier statements he would step down once an alternative candidate was found. 

In his speech, addressing these speculations, Abdul-Mahdi said he was acting on the advice of Iraq’s chief Supreme Court judge. 

“The perspective I received from the chief of the federal Supreme Court is that the resignation should be submitted to those who voted the government in,” he said. 

Low expectations

Abdul-Mahdi listed his government’s accomplishments, saying it had come to power during difficult times. “Not many people were optimistic that this government would move forward,” he said. 

The government, he said, had managed to push through important job-creating projects, improve electricity generation and strengthen ties with neighboring countries. 

“But unfortunately, these events took place,” he said, referring to the mass protest movement that engulfed Iraq on October 1. “We need to be fair to our people and listen to them, where we made mistakes, where we did not make up for the mistakes of previous governments.” 

At least 400 people have died since the leaderless uprising shook Iraq, with thousands of Iraqis taking to the streets in Baghdad and the predominantly Shiite southern part of the country. They have decried corruption, poor services and a lack of jobs, and they have called for an end to the post-2003 political system. 

Security forces have used live fire, tear gas and sound bombs to disperse crowds, leading to heavy casualties. 

Three protesters were killed and 24 wounded in the holy city of Najaf in southern Iraq on Saturday as security forces used live rounds to disperse them from a key mosque, security and hospital officials said. 

Bridge battles

In Baghdad, at least 11 protesters were wounded near the strategic Ahrar Bridge when security forces fired live ammunition and tear gas to prevent demonstrators from removing barricades. The protesters are occupying part of three strategic bridges — Ahrar, Sink and Jumhuriya — in a standoff with security forces. All three lead to the heavily fortified Green Zone, the seat of Iraq’s government. 

In the southern city of Nasiriyah, security forces used live fire and tear gas to repel protesters on two main bridges, the Zaitoun and the Nasr, which lead to the city center. Heavy fighting has taken place in Nasiriyah in recent days, with at least 31 protesters killed. 

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Abdul-Mahdi referred to the rising death toll in his speech. 

“We did our best to stop the bloodshed, and at the time we made brave decisions to stop using live ammunition, but unfortunately when clashes happen there will be consequences,” he said. 

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Apple says it will reevaluate how it identifies “disputed borders” after receiving criticism for displaying Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula as part of Russia on maps and weather apps for Russian users. 
 
Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller told Reuters on Friday that the U.S. technology giant was “taking a deeper look at how we handle disputed borders.” 
 
Muller said Apple made the change for Russian users because of a new law that went into effect inside Russia and that it had not made any changes to its maps outside the country. 

Review of law
 
“We review international law as well as relevant U.S. and other domestic laws before making a determination in labeling on our maps and make changes if required by law,” she told Reuters. 
 
Muller added that Apple “may make changes in the future as a result” of its reevaluation of the policy, without being specific. 
 
Russian and Ukrainian embassies in the United States did not immediately return requests for comment. 
 
When using the apps from the United States, Ukraine, and in parts of Europe, no international borders are shown around the peninsula. 
 
After the reports surfaced of the appearance of Crimea as part of Russia, the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington told RFE/RL that it had sent a letter to Apple explaining the situation in Crimea and demanding that it correct the peninsula’s designation. 
 
It also said on Twitter that “let’s all remind Apple that #CrimeaIsUkraine and it is under Russian occupation — not its sovereignty.” 
 
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystayko tweeted, “Apple, please, please, stick to high-tech and entertainment. Global politics is not your strong side.” 

Applause from Russia
 
Vasily Piskarev, who chairs the Russian State Duma’s Committee on Security and Corruption Control, welcomed Apple’s move, saying, “They have brought [their services] in line with Russian law.” 
 
“The error with displaying Crimean cities on the weather app has been eliminated,” Piskarev told reporters. 
 
Competitor Google Maps has designated Crimea differently over the years depending on the user’s location, listing it as Russian for Russian users and Ukrainian for most others. 
 
“We make every effort to objectively depict the disputed regions, and where we have local versions of Google Maps, we follow local legislation when displaying names and borders,” a Google spokesperson told Tech Crunch magazine. 

Troops entered in 2014
 
Russia took control of Crimea in March 2014 after sending in troops, seizing key facilities and staging a referendum dismissed as illegal by at least 100 countries. 
 
Moscow also backs separatists in a war against government forces that has killed more than 13,000 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014. 
 
The international community does not recognize Moscow’s annexation of Crimea, and the United States and European Union have slapped sanctions on Russia over its actions against Ukraine. 
 
Reuters and the Crimea Desk of RFE/RL’s Ukrainian service contributed to this report. 

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Schools and universities have been shut in parts of Iran, including the capital, Tehran, because of high levels of pollution, state media reported Saturday. 
 
The decision was announced late Friday by Deputy Governor Mohammad Taghizadeh, after a meeting of an emergency committee for air pollution. 
 
“Due to increased air pollution, kindergartens, preschools and schools, universities, and higher education institutes of Tehran province will be closed,” Taghizadeh was quoted by official government news agency IRNA as saying. 
 
Schools in the capital will also be closed Sunday, Taghizadeh said. 
 
“Having examined the index of pollutants in Tehran … it was decided for all schools to be closed tomorrow in Tehran province, except for the counties of Firuzkuh, Damavand and Pardis,” he said. 
 
The young, elderly and people with respiratory illnesses were warned to stay indoors, and all sports activities were suspended Saturday. 
 
Tehran has suffered from dangerous levels of pollution and smog since mid-November. 
 
Schools were also closed in the northern province of Alborz and in the central province of Esfahan, IRNA reported, citing officials. 
 
Other areas where schools were shut included the northeastern city of Mashhad, the northwestern city of Orumiyeh and Qom, south of Tehran. 

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Southern Africa is having one of the worst droughts in years with more than 40 million people expected to face food insecurity because of livestock and crop losses. Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe have declared this year’s drought an emergency. As Mqondisi Dube reports from Botswana’s village of Gamodubu, drought is so frequent that the government plans to stop calling it an emergency and instead make drought a part of the national budget.
 

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They left Vietnam carrying dreams of small fortunes and the heavy burden of family expectations.

But they died in a box, and came home in coffins.

For the 39 migrants who set off from one of the poorest parts of their Southeast Asian country in search of work in Britain, the promise of riches outweighed the risks of the perilous journey through Latvian forests and Belgian streets, to the oxygen-starved truck container in which they met their fate.

The bodies were discovered in late October, in the back of a refrigerated lorry, just outside London.

On Saturday, the last bodies were repatriated to Vietnam.

Here are the stories of three of the victims.

The lost boy

Teenager Nguyen Huy Hung had longed to see his parents, both of whom had left Vietnam to find work in Britain’s nail salons.

“It should have been a family reunion,” said a neighbor who declined to be identified. “His parents reached Britain safely and smoothly. They’d already paid smugglers to arrange his trip. “He was too young to suffer from tragedy.”

Hung was one of two 15-year-old victims. Raised in a small fishing village in Ha Tinh province, rooms in the family home had been rented out because most of his family, apart from Hung’s grandparents, had relocated overseas for work.

Hung flew from Hanoi to Russia on Aug. 26, his sister, who works in South Korea, said in a Facebook post days after news of the incident emerged.

By Oct. 6, he was in France, she wrote, but they lost contact Oct. 21, two days before the container was found.

The family had paid 10,000 pounds ($12,900) to get him to Europe, his sister told Reuters. They were to pay more money to people smugglers in Vietnam once he reached Britain, she added.

Hung’s body was repatriated Saturday.

But with no documentation and their hopes of being reunited with their son in Britain shattered, Hung’s parents will miss his funeral.

The carpenter

Rudimentary dumbbells made from rusted iron and mossy lumps of concrete are some of the few objects Nguyen Dinh Gia has to remind him of his son.

Luong was an honest boy, Gia said. At 20, Luong didn’t drink, he didn’t smoke, and he had never had a girlfriend.

Luong loved sports, and his ramshackle weights. In October 2017, he left Ha Tinh province and found work in a nearby province as a carpenter, a skill he learned from his brother.

“He didn’t try to get into university,” Gia said. “Not many children around here do.”

From there, Luong traveled to Hanoi where he boarded a flight to Russia.

He stayed there until April 2018, when he drifted to Ukraine where he spent his nights with other migrants in a warehouse. He would contact his father sometimes, Gia said.

“I felt comfortable knowing he was safe, living there,” Gia added.

Weeks later, Luong left for Germany. He moved by road, but he walked for seven hours too.

“It was a one-day journey and everyone with him was Vietnamese,” Gia said.

There, Luong begged his father to pay for him to go to France, where he stayed until this October, when he decided to join friends working in Britain.

“I tried to persuade him not to go,” Gia said. “I told him the money he had earned in France was huge for the family.”

Gia had paid $18,000 to people smugglers to get his son that far. A few days before he boarded the doomed truck, Luong called home.

Gia said he was in good spirits.

Luong’s body was repatriated Wednesday and he was buried Thursday.

“After waiting for so many days, my son has finally arrived,” Gia said.

The dreamer

Bui Thi Nhung had been dreaming of Europe.

She hoped to be reunited with her boyfriend, in Britain.

Her Facebook posts in the days before she died showed her in Brussels, where she drank bubble tea on the steps of the old stock exchange.

Like the other two, she flew from Vietnam to Russia, then crossed into Latvia. From there she moved to Lithuania, then Poland, Germany, and Belgium, friends and neighbors told Reuters.

It wasn’t her first attempt.

“My life is full of ups and downs. I want to fly to Europe, but I can’t,” she wrote, four months earlier. 

“I don’t want to stay home, marry young and live penniless,” Nhung told friends who had suggested she stay in Vietnam and raise cattle instead. “I’ll try my luck next time.”

According to her friends, Nhung first wanted to find work in Germany, and spent a year in Vietnam learning to paint nails. “A girl has to have a job otherwise no one will marry her,” she wrote.

On her third try, Nhung finally made it to Europe. The trip ended in disaster.

“I’m about to start a new journey,” Nhung wrote to friends a few days before they lost contact with her.

Nhung’s friends have memorialized her Facebook page to keep her stories alive. Many of her friends are scattered overseas, working in Europe’s nail bars.

“Please don’t blame us,” one of her friends told Reuters. “Don’t blame the 39 victims in the back of the truck.”

Nhung made her final journey home on Saturday.

She was 19 years old.

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An approaching typhoon is threatening to complicate the hosting by the Philippines of the largest biennial games in Southeast Asia, already marred by logistical foul-ups that the president vowed to investigate.

President Rodrigo Duterte is set to welcome Saturday the first few thousand athletes, coaches and sports officials from the region in an opening ceremony to be lit by digital fireworks after nightfall in a huge indoor arena in Bocaue town north of Manila. The expected VIPs include Brunei leader Hassanal Bolkiah, whose son is a player on the sultanate’s polo team.

More than 8,000 athletes and officials were expected to fly in for the games, which began in 1959 in the Thai capital of Bangkok with just a dozen sports. In the Philippines, 56 sports will be featured in 529 events, the largest number in the 11-nation competition so far, which will be held in more than 40 venues including in the traffic-choked capital of Manila.

About 27,000 police have been deployed to secure the 11-day games.

Typhoon Kammuri

A slow-moving typhoon was bearing down in the Pacific and forecasters expect it to blow into the main northern Luzon island early next week. The main sporting venues in Clark and Subic, former U.S. military bases turned into popular leisure and commercial hubs north and northwest of Manila, are in or near Typhoon Kammuri’s path.

Kammuri was packing sustained winds of 140 kilometers (87 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 170 kph (106 mph) as of late Friday but could still strengthen, forecasters said. The prospect of it becoming a super typhoon was unlikely but cannot be ruled out.

“The contingency plan involves delay of the competition, the cancellation of competition,” Ramon Suzara, executive director of the organizing committee, said in a news conference. Indoor competitions could proceed in bad weather if power is not lost but the entry of spectators may be restricted, he said.

Terrible traffic, unfinished facilities

The threat posed by the typhoon comes after widely publicized complaints of athletes who flew in early for training and preliminary matches over long hours of waiting for shuttles at Manila’s airport, getting stuck in the chaotic traffic, food and hotel accommodation issues and unfinished facilities in the city.

An early football match between the men’s teams of Malaysia and Myanmar proceeded despite the absence of a functioning scoreboard at Manila’s Rizal Stadium, which opened in the 1930s but has undergone renovations, according to an Associated Press photographer who covered the match.

Thailand’s football team, which was pressed for time to train and could not afford to plod through Manila’s traffic jams to a stadium, trained on the streets one night instead, its coach was quoted in local news reports as saying.

Duterte and his close political ally, House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, who heads the organizing committee, separately apologized for the troubles.

Funding criticized, inquiry promised

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a former national police chief who supports Duterte’s anti-crime campaign, questioned the transfer of a huge amount of government funds to the organizing committee, which is a private foundation, comparing it to a past corruption scandal where state funds were funneled to nongovernment groups before allegedly being pocketed by some lawmakers.

Suzara denied there was any irregularity, saying government auditors scrutinized how money was spent. He blamed the monthslong delay in the passage earlier this year of the national budget for failure to complete the construction and renovation of some sports facilities on time.

Opposition Sen. Franklin Drilon questioned the propriety of spending about 50 million pesos (nearly $1 million) for the construction of a tower with a cauldron, which would be lit in flames during the games, saying the money for such extravagance could have been used to build classrooms for impoverished children.

“I ignore them because my stomach is titanium,” Suzara told the AP in an interview, explaining how he has endured criticism to focus on preparations.

Cayetano said certain groups opposed to Duterte were trying to sabotage the Philippines’ hosting of the games. He did not elaborate.

Duterte pledged to investigate the mess and Cayetano expressed readiness to face a Senate investigation after the games.

“There was a lot of money poured into this activity and I suppose that with that kind of money, you can run things smoothly,” Duterte said. But he admonished critics: “Do not create a firestorm now because we are in the thick of preparation. … I assure you I will investigate.”

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Supporters cheered late Friday as once-powerful opposition leader and two-time Peruvian presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori left the prison where she had been held while being investigated for alleged corruption. Peru’s Constitutional Tribunal approved her release.

Smiling broadly, the daughter of jailed ex-President Alberto Fujimori walked out of the women’s prison in the Lima district of Chorrillos and was handed a bouquet of roses by her husband, Mark Villanella, who had been on a hunger strike demanding her release.

Keiko Fujimori called her 13-month prison stay the “most painful time of my life, so the first thing I want to do now that I am on the street is thank God for giving me the strength to resist.”

Odebrecht accusations

She was freed by the Constitutional Tribunal in 4-3 vote earlier this week. The magistrates noted the decision on a habeas corpus request does not constitute a judgment on her guilt or innocence with regards to accusations she accepted money from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. Fujimori could still be returned to a cell.

Dozens of riot police were present in case of protests by opponents who have called her release another blow for entrenched impunity for the corrupt in the South American country. But most of the people outside the prison were her supporters.

“The Constitutional Tribunal has corrected a great damage done to us in a process filled with abuses and arbitrariness,” Fujimori said.

Changed political landscape

The 44-year-old, who was jailed in October 2018, faces a radically different political landscape outside of prison.

Her Popular Force party held a majority in congress until September, when President Martin Vizcarra dissolved the legislature in a popular move he described as necessary to uproot corruption. The conservative Popular Force will participate in January legislative elections, but Fujimori is not expected to be a candidate and analysts predict that her party could fare poorly in the voting.

As party leader, Fujimori helped fuel the impeachment of former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski for lying about his ties with Odebrecht. But now Fujimori herself has been ensnared by a corruption scandal that has toppled political and businesses leaders around Latin America.

Corruption allegations have hit all of Peru’s presidents between 2001 and 2016.

Prosecutors accuse Fujimori of laundering $1.2 million provided by Odebrecht for her 2011 and 2016 presidential campaigns. They opened an investigation into the campaigns after seeing a note written by Marcelo Odebrecht, head of the Brazilian mega-company, on his cellphone that said: “increase Keiko to 500 and pay a visit.”

Fujimori denies the accusations and says prosecutors and Peru’s election body have received Popular Force’s accounting books for inspection.

Striking downfall

Her jailing capped a striking downfall for a politician who went from presidential daughter, to powerful opposition leader, to within a hair’s breadth of the presidency.

Fujimori’s father, a strongman who governed Peru from 1990 to 2000, remains a polarizing figure. Some Peruvians praise him for defeating Maoist Shining Path guerrillas and resurrecting a devastated economy, while others detest him for human rights violations. He is serving a 25-year sentence for human rights abuses and corruption.

She tried to follow in her father’s presidential footsteps and forge a gentler, kinder version of the movement known as “Fujimorismo.”

She finished second in the 2011 election and five years later lost in a razor-thin vote, coming within less than half a percentage point of defeating Kuczynski.

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Six European nations say they will join a fledgling financial system to bypass U.S. sanctions against Iran, challenging U.S. President Donald Trump days before he meets leaders of some of those nations in London.

In a joint statement Friday, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden said they are in the process of become shareholders of the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX). Britain, France and Germany launched INSTEX in January to enable companies to trade with Iran without using U.S. dollars or going through U.S. banks, thereby shielding such companies from U.S. sanctions.

Trump has been toughening U.S. sanctions against Iran since November 2018 as part of a campaign of “maximum pressure” on Tehran to reach a new deal to stop its perceived malign behaviors. Earlier last year, he pulled the U.S. out of a 2015 deal in which world powers eased sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on the Iranian nuclear program. Trump said that deal was not tough enough on Tehran.

EU commitments

The Trump administration has warned other nations not to engage in various transactions with Iran or face secondary U.S. sanctions. But the 28-member European Union has pledged to do what is necessary to uphold its nuclear deal commitments, seeing the deal as a major contributor to global nonproliferation and Mideast stability.

In their joint statement, the six European nations said: “In light of the continuous European support for the agreement and the ongoing efforts to implement the economic part of it and to facilitate legitimate trade between Europe and Iran, we are now in the process of becoming shareholders of INSTEX, subject to completion of national procedures.”

The statement did not clarify what those procedures are, or how long the six nations will take to complete them.

Britain, France and Germany have said INSTEX initially will facilitate trade with Iran in humanitarian goods, such as food, medicine and medical devices that the U.S. has declared to be exempt from its sanctions.

The three nations also have said they eventually will expand INSTEX to cover other types of trade, raising the possibility that such transactions will defy U.S. sanctions. But there have been no announcements of any companies using INSTEX to engage in humanitarian or other trade with Iran since its January launch.

In an interview with the Al Arabiya network earlier this month, U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook reiterated that Washington opposes the use of INSTEX for any “sanctionable activity” and has expressed that view to Britain, France and Germany. He also reiterated his skepticism that Iran will create its own INSTEX counterpart that meets international standards against money laundering and terrorism financing.

Counterpart mechanism

Iran has said it created the counterpart mechanism in April, calling it the Special Trade and Finance Instrument (STFI). But European officials have not acknowledged the establishment of any Iranian counterpart mechanism that satisfies their financial transparency requirements.

Four of the nations that agreed to join INSTEX, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway, are NATO allies of Washington, as are Britain, France and Germany. Trump is to meet the leaders of those seven nations at a NATO summit in London, Dec. 2-4.

The White House has said the summit will focus on the alliance’s “unprecedented progress on burden-sharing” in defense spending and the “need … to ensure its readiness for the threats of tomorrow … and those posed by terrorism.”

The State Department did not immediately respond to a VOA Persian request for comment on the decision by six more European nations, four of them NATO members, to join a financial channel that has drawn U.S. warnings against using it for sanctionable transactions.

Iran nuclear deal critic Mark Dubowitz, chief executive of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, dismissed the latest European announcement about INSTEX as a symbolic act with little consequence.

“As long as the Trump administration is willing to enforce U.S. sanctions, very few companies will risk punishment to process transactions through INSTEX. President Trump should make this clear when he meets his NATO counterparts in the coming days,” Dubowitz said in an email to VOA Persian. “To reinforce this message, the Treasury Department should sanction the Iranian INSTEX counterpart STFI, which is linked to several sanctioned entities.”

An FDD policy brief published in May said all of STFI’s shareholders are Iranian banks or controlled by Iranian banks that have been sanctioned by Washington for illicit activities.

Dismissive of INSTEX

Iranian officials also have been dismissive of INSTEX, complaining that its European creators have been too slow to get companies to start using it. They also have threatened to continue violating more provisions of the 2015 nuclear deal unless European powers provide Tehran with adequate economic compensation for the U.S. sanctions.

Iran has seen its currency slump and its unemployment and inflation soar under the strain of sanctions and rampant government corruption and mismanagement.

Iran so far has committed four violations of its 2015 commitments regarding the amount and quality of nuclear materials it can stockpile and produce at certain sites. The steps have slightly reduced the time it would take for Iran to accumulate enough material to make a nuclear bomb, a breakout period that was meant to be at least one year under the deal. Western powers accuse Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, a charge it denies.

Importante décision aujourd’hui de six pays européens de rejoindre INSTEX. Engagement fort des Européens pour soutenir le #JCPOA et l’autonomie d’action européenne. Nous attendons de l’#Iran qu’il revienne dans le cadre de cet accord. https://t.co/AQJpg6JCE8

— Jean-Yves Le Drian (@JY_LeDrian) November 29, 2019

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, in welcoming the decision by the six other European nations to join INSTEX, echoed their call for Iran to reverse its violations of the nuclear deal in a Friday tweet. But neither he nor the other nations set a deadline for Iran to return to full compliance or warned what would happen if Tehran ignored that call.

A Nov. 24 article by Iran’s state-approved Mehr news agency cited Deputy Foreign Minister Gholamreza Ansari as saying that “despite heavy pressure and sanctions,” Iran’s trade volume with Europe in the first nine months of 2019 reached $3.8 billion, of which $3.3 billion was European exports to Iran.

Taken together, the European Union and Switzerland export over three times more medicine to Iran than China, India, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, UAE, and United States combined. Europe is an irreplaceable trade partner for Iran and that’s why efforts like INSTEX are so important. pic.twitter.com/fjm8Q1QMM1

— Esfandyar Batmanghelidj (@yarbatman) November 29, 2019

Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, founder of the “Bourse & Bazaar” media company that supports business diplomacy between Europe and Iran, tweeted that European medicine exports are a significant part of that ongoing trade.

“Europe is an irreplaceable trade partner for Iran and that’s why efforts like INSTEX are so important,” he said.

This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service.

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Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi announced his resignation on Friday after the country’s top Shi’ite Muslim cleric called for lawmakers to reconsider their support for a government rocked by weeks of deadly anti-establishment unrest.

“In response to this call, and in order to facilitate it as quickly as possible, I will present to parliament a demand (to accept) my resignation from the leadership of the current government,” a statement signed by Abdul Mahdi said.

The statement did not say when he would resign. Parliament is to convene an emergency session on Sunday to discuss the crisis.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani earlier urged parliament to considering withdrawing its support for Abdul Mahdi’s government to stem spiraling violence.

Security forces meanwhile shot dead at least three people in the southern city of Nassiriya as clashes continued.

Iraqi forces have killed nearly 400 mostly young, unarmed demonstrators people since mass anti-government protests broke out on Oct. 1. More than a dozen members of the security forces have also died in clashes.

The burning of Iran’s consulate in the holy city of Najaf on Wednesday escalated violence and drew a brutal response from security forces who shot dead more than 60 people nationwide on Thursday.

The unrest is Iraq’s biggest crisis for years. It pits protesters from Shi’ite heartlands in Baghdad and the south against a corrupt Shi’ite-dominated ruling elite seen as pawns of Iran.

‘Chaos and infighting’

Iraq’s current political class is drawn mainly from powerful Shi’ite politicians, clerics and paramilitary leaders including many who lived in exile before a U.S.-led invasion overthrew Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Sistani, who only weighs in on politics in times of crisis and wields huge influence over public opinion, on Friday warned against an explosion of civil strife and tyranny. He urged government forces to stop killing protests and protesters themselves to reject all violence.

The government “appears to have been unable to deal with the events of the past two months … parliament, from which the current government emerged, must reconsider its choices and do what’s in the interest of Iraq,” a representative of Sistani said in a televised sermon.

Protesters “must not allow peaceful demonstrations to be turned into attacks on property or people,” he said.

Wednesday’s attack on the Iranian consulate in Najaf set off a sharp escalation of violence.

On Thursday, security forces shot dead 46 people in another southern city, Nassiriya, 18 in Najaf and four in Baghdad bringing the death toll from weeks of unrest to at least 417, most of them unarmed protesters, according to a Reuters tally from medical and police sources.

Clashes between protesters and security forces broke out early on Friday in Nassiriya killing three people and wounding several others, hospital sources said.

Iraq’s “enemies and their apparatuses are trying to sow chaos and infighting to return the country to the age of dictatorship … everyone must work together to thwart that opportunity,” Sistani said, without elaborating.

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