Morning Brief: A violent day in Iraq

Top Story More than 30 people were killed in a series of bombings throughout Iraq on Monday. In the most deadly attack, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the crowded wake of the brother of a Kurdish official in Diyala province killing 25 and wounding 45. An earlier blast killed in nine in a ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.
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587524_090324_Iraq5.jpg
An Iraqi boy drives his bicycle past a US soldier patroling Baghdad's Sheikh Omar neighbourhood on March 24, 2009. US troops patrolled the area as tribesmen, clerics and prominent figures from Baghdad's Sunni neighbourhoods of al-Fadel and Sheikh Omar met with their Shiite compatriots from Abu Saifain and Bab al-Sheikh neighbourhoods in a reconciliation ceremony. AFP PHOTO/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE (Photo credit should read AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images)

Top Story

Top Story

More than 30 people were killed in a series of bombings throughout Iraq on Monday. In the most deadly attack, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the crowded wake of the brother of a Kurdish official in Diyala province killing 25 and wounding 45. An earlier blast killed in nine in a house in Fallujah. Yet another attack in Abu Ghraib killed at least eight including the commander of one of the Sunni “Awakening Councils” which were critical to the U.S. surge.

The violence comes Turkish President Abdullah Gul visits Iraq, the first Turkish head of state to do so in over three decades. The Kurdish rebel group PKK has rejected a call by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to stop fighting Turkey and leave Iraqi territory.

Americas

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will defend his bank rescue plan before the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee today.

New York’s attorney general says most of the AIG executives have agreed to repay their bonuses.

Mexico is offering a $2 million reward for information leading the arrest of the country’s top 24 drug lords.

Asia

The head of China’s central bank suggested the creation of a new international currency reserve system. FP‘s Blake Hounshell comments.

Hundreds of Tibetan protesters attacked a police station in Northwestern China.

The American journalists detained in North Korea are being questioned on espionage charges.

Europe and Caucasus

Nine members of a leading opposition party were arrested on gun charges in Georgia.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon will travel to the U.S. this weekend to try to convince the Obama team of the need for more banking regulation ahead of the G20 summit.

The Swedish government is refusing a bailout to carmaker Saab.

Middle East

Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu has won the support of the Labor party leader Ehud Barak for his coalition.

Israeli police dispersed a riot in an Israeli Arab town after a march by Jewish extremists.

Africa

A peace conference in South Africa has been cancelled after the government denied a visa to the Dalai Lama.

A Sudanese aid worker was killed by gunmen in Darfur.

The World Health Organization says Zimbabwe’s cholera epidemic has passed its peak.

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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