Debris from car bomb in southern Baghdad

Iraq: Iraqi security officials say at least 15 people were killed and 25 wounded today (Sunday) in a large explosion in a town south of Baghdad.
Police said the blast was caused by a car bomb in the town of Mahmudiyah, about 30 kilometers south of Baghdad.
Also today (Sunday), the U.S military announced the capture of a senior al-Qaida leader and two others during a raid in Baghdad.
The military says the man has ties to several senior al-Qaida members and is allegedly linked to a number of deadly vehicle bombings.
A statement by a U.S. military spokesman (Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver) calls the capture a significant step in efforts to disrupt the vehicle bomb network and their devastating attacks against the Iraqi people.

Afghanistan: NATO officials in Afghanistan say a roadside bomb blast has killed one NATO soldier and wounded another.

Afghan fire fighters wash the road after a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan.

A NATO spokeswoman (Maria Carl) says the attack took place this (Sunday) morning in southern Afghanistan. She did not give the location or nationality of the casualties.
About 45-hundred NATO forces are fighting alongside Afghan soldiers against Taleban militants in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province.
On Saturday, suspected Taleban gunmen killed six members of an Afghan mine-clearing team and a woman bystander in the western province of Farah.
The convoy of Afghan de-miners and their guards was ambushed as it traveled from the southern province of Kandahar to Herat province in the west. The Afghans worked for a U.S. mine-clearing company (Ronco Consulting Corporation).

Israel – Palestinians: Israeli officials say they are reviewing a list of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners that Gaza militants want released in exchange for a captured Israeli soldier.

Palestinians carry the body of Mohamad Bani Odah, 25, during his funeral procession in the northern West bank.

The release of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit is considered a precondition for any progress in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.
Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti said Saturday the list was given to Israel through Egyptian mediators. He said the next move is up to Israel.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas recently said (in an interview broadcast Friday on French television) that the militants will soon release Corporal Shalit. His abduction in a cross-border raid by militants last June sparked a major confrontation between Israel and the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, Israeli security forces say they wounded a Palestinian today (Sunday) after he wounded two Israeli police officers in a knife attack.
A military spokesman says the attack took place in the West Bank city of Hebron near the Tomb of the Patriarchs, which is holy to both Jews and Muslims. Earlier reports said the Palestinian had been killed.

North Korea – US: A U.S. delegation is in North Korea as part of an effort to claim the remains of missing U.S. service members killed in the Korean War.

north korea

The bipartisan group arrived in Pyongyang today (Sunday) for a four-day visit at the invitation of North Korea.
The high-level delegation includes the Bush administration's former secretary of Veterans Affairs, Anthony Principi, and New Mexico state Governor Bill Richardson.
Richardson is a 2008 presidential hopeful for the Democratic Party.
The armistice agreement that ended the Korean War (in 1953) contains provisions on the repatriation of remains from the conflict. The White House says the U.S. government has invested "considerable energy" persuading North Korea to adhere to those provisions.

China – Cambodia: China's state news agency says 20 crew members are missing from a Cambodian cargo ship after the vessel collided with a Chinese ship off China's east coast.

China

Marine police in Zhejiang province's city of Taizhou told Xinhua that the Cambodian ship sank immediately after crashing into the Chinese vessel before dawn today (Sunday) in Taizhou Bay.
The 65-hundred-ton Cambodian ship was traveling from Shanghai to Vietnam when it hit the 17-thousand-ton Chinese ship in Taizhou Bay. The Chinese ship was heading from Fujian province to Jiangsu province.
Xinhua says five patrol and rescue boats, a helicopter and four fishing boats are searching for the missing crew members, which include 19 Chinese and one Indonesian.
The Chinese navy has also sent two escort vessels and a helicopter to help the rescue efforts.

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