News

Two Iraqi Sunni Muslim candidates were killed less than a week before local elections that will be a test of the country's political stability after U.S. troops left more than a year ago.

The election on Saturday to select provincial council members will measure Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's political muscle against Shi'ite and Sunni rivals before the parliamentary election in 2014.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) is considering amending its 2013 regulation that requires all media outlets to provide equal coverage of every legislative candidate.

Some organizations and politicians have said the regulation would shackle press freedom.

According to Article 46 (1), any media outlets that do not provide equal portion of duration or space to each legislative hopeful will receive sanctions ranging from written warnings to publication or broadcasting bans.

Hassan Rohani, director of the Strategic Research Center of the Expediency Council, announced on Thursday that he will run in the presidential election set for June 14.

Rohani said that if he wins the vote, he will introduce a plan to “save” the national economy, revive morality, and establish constructive interaction with the world.

Iran’s former nuclear negotiator also said that he will form a “government of wisdom and hope” if he is elected president.

Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik told the Hague trial of his predecessor Radovan Karadzic that there was no criminal plot to expel Muslims and create a mono-ethnic state.

The GNC today passed tough legislation against torture, kidnapping and discrimination, with a final article mentioning specifically holders of public office, bureaucrats and members of the security forces.

Article One of the new law, which deals with kidnapping, provides for sentences of not less than seven years for anyone found guilty of detaining, imprisoning or depriving a person of their liberty, by force, threat or deception. It was stated that this applied to public officials exceeding their authority.

Bosnian presidency member Zeljko Komsic’s party is promising youthful faces and a fresh democratic alternative, but some analysts suggest that ethnic interests dictate that it will struggle for support.

BEIRUT: Speaker Nabih Berri said Friday that his Development and Liberation bloc has named Beirut MP Tammam Salam to form the new government.

“The bloc announced the nomination of [MP] Tammam Salam to form a national and consensual government, to restore peace among the Lebanese,” Berri told reporters following the bloc’s meeting at his Beirut residence in Ain al-Tineh.

“This is a new page opened by the former majority [March 14] toward the former opposition [March 8],” Berri said.

The Socialist Movement for Integration, LSI, has withdrawn its ministers from the government after joining the opposition Socialist Party coalition ahead of the elections.