Morning Brief: Tensions rise ahead of Iraqi election results

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Official results from Iraq’s provincial elections are due to be released today, but the initial optimism they brought on is already beginning to fade. Fifteen people were killed by a suicide bomber in northeastern Iraq today, one of the worst attacks in recent days.

Claims of widespread fraud in the Iraqi election are being investigated, as Sunni tribal leaders claim they have hundreds of documents proving irregularities. In Anbar province, Sunni leaders are promising violent reprisals if they do not win at the ballot box.

Allies of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and secularist parties are still expected to win big.

Middle East

FP‘s Laura Rozen has reaction from Gen. Anthony Zinni on being passed over for the Iraq ambassador’s job.

Israel has seized a ship carrying aid to Gaza.

Americas

The U.S. Senate has agreed to water down the “Buy American” provisions in the stimulus bill after pressure from the White House.

The recently enacted U.S.-Peru trade pact has gone into effect.

Cancun’s top antidrug official was killed after less than one day on the job.

Europe

British judges say they’ve been pressured by the United States to suppress evidence about the torture of a prisoner at Guantánamo Bay.

Pope Benedict XVI now says excommunicated bishop Richard Williamson must recant his beliefs about the Holocaust if he is to be reinstated.

Croatia’s planned entry into the E.U. this year may be threatened by an ongoing border dispute with Slovenia.

Asia

The Kyrgyz parliament will vote next week on whether to shut down a U.S. airbase.

A drought in northern China has been declared an emergency.

Sri Lanka’s president says the country’s military is poised to “decisively defeat” the Tamil Tiger rebels.

Africa

The Ukrainian ship carrying weapons that was captured by Somali pirates in September has been released.

Five Sudanese men were charged with murdering a U.S. aid worker and his driver.

New African Union chair Muammar al-Qaddafi said that African democracy inevitably leads to bloodshed.

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images