Iraq's top Shiite cleric urged unity on Friday after Nouri al-Maliki agreed to step down as prime minister, reviving hopes for a new government that can take on Sunni insurgents who have overrun large parts of the country. Al-Maliki announced he was giving up his post on national television late Thursday, standing alongside senior members of his Shiite Islamic Dawa Party, including his rival and premier-designate Haider al-Abadi.
Christians and Muslims have joined to try to help free millions of men, women and children held in modern-day slavery, forced to work as maids, prostitutes, child soldiers and manual laborers. The Global Freedom Network launched Monday at the Vatican aims to eradicate slavery by encouraging governments, businesses, educational and faith institutions to rid their supply chains of slave labor.
A new wave of bombs tore through Baghdad on Monday, officials said, killing at least 55 people. Most of the blasts were car bombs detonated in Shiite neighborhoods, the latest of a series of well-coordinated attacks blamed on hard-line Sunni insurgents determined to rekindle large-scale sectarian conflict. Multiple coordinated bombing strikes have hit Baghdad repeatedly over the last five months.
A new wave of car bombs rocked commercial streets in the Iraqi capital on Tuesday, killing 20 in the latest apparent attack by hard-line Sunni insurgents aiming to undermine confidence in the Shiite-led government. Meanwhile, Sunni leaders in Basra said unknown gunmen had shot dead 17 Sunnis in the Shiite-dominated city over the past two weeks, following threats to retaliate against them for attacks on Shiites in other parts of Iraq.
