NEWS OF THE DAY
1 Arms deal: Iraq is reconsidering plans to buy more than $4 billion in arms from Russia, officials said Saturday. The turnaround follows the ouster of Russia’s defense minister last week, as well as allegations by Iraqi lawmakers and local media that the pending deal is tainted by graft. Ali al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said the deal is now “under investigation.” The United States is the largest supplier of arms to Iraq, which has agreed to buy a range of Americanmade weapons, including tanks and F-16 fighter jets.
2 Fatal derailment: A tanker train carrying fuel derailed and exploded about 500 miles north of Rangoon, killing 25 people and injuring more than 90 others, Burmese authorities said Saturday. State television reported that dozens of people rushed to skim fuel from the train’s overturned carriages before the blast Friday.
3 Bahrain unrest: Bahrain’s paramilitary National Guard deployed into new areas around the violence-racked Persian Gulf nation Saturday in an apparent sign that authorities are stepping up efforts to quell political unrest. Wider use of the National Guard could signal a tougher strategy by Bahrain’s embattled Sunni monarchy as riot police struggle to contain the Shiite majority’s 21-month uprising. A government statement said the National Guard — a force separate from the regular military — will be patrolling “strategic locations” that have been scenes of arson attacks and clashes.
4 Helicopter crash: A Turkish military helicopter carrying soldiers on a mission against Kurdish rebels crashed in bad weather on Saturday, killing all 17 troops on board, officials said. The aircraft went down in a mountainous part of Pervari district in Siirt province, in southeastern Turkey, where the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party is fighting for self-rule. The provincial governor, Ahmet Aydin, blamed the crash on heavy fog and ruled out an attack by the rebel group.
5 Brazil violence: Sao Paulo’s Public Safety Department said Saturday that at least 140 people have been slain in South America’s biggest city over the past two weeks in a rising wave of violence. An official told the Associated Press that the killings have been ordered by imprisoned leaders of an organized crime group called the First Capital Command as a reprisal against crackdowns on the drug trade. He spoke on condition of anonymity.
6 Casinos approved: Legislators in Jamaica have unanimously approved two bills that will allow casinos to be built on the island for the first time. Jamaica currently has only a few hundred slot machines at hotels in the capital of Kingston and in popular tourist areas. Religious groups on the island have long opposed casinos, saying they will lead to problems.
7 Prison clash: The death toll from a shootout between rioting prisoners and security forces at a prison in Sri Lanka’s capital of Colombo rose to at least 27 inmates, while police said Saturday that they arrested five prisoners who had escaped and were searching for others. Another 42 people were wounded in the clashes Friday. Police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody said the fighting erupted when officers conducting a search at the Welikada prison were attacked by inmates hurling stones. Prison officials said they had restored order at the facility by Saturday morning.