News in Brief

Iraq inspects flights: Iraq inspected an Iranian cargo plane bound for Syria on Monday, a day after it searched a Syrian aircraft flying from Moscow to Damascus, the head of Iraq’s civil aviation authority said.

No prohibited items were found on either flight, Nasser Bandar told AFP.

Washington has for months accused Baghdad of looking the other way as Tehran sends military equipment through Iraqi airspace to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, and has called on Iraqi authorities to make random, unannounced inspections. (AFP)

Registration begins: Iran’s state radio says candidates can begin to register for municipal council elections scheduled for June.

The councils have little power. But unlike in parliamentary and presidential contests, the candidates are not vetted by a clerically dominated constitutional watchdog group and are considered an indicator of political trends.

Iranian elections pit the dominant conservatives against reformers and the populist following of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who broke with the conservatives after he was perceived to challenge clerical authority last year. (AP)

Libyan shot: A security official says the leader of an Islamic extremist militia in Libya suspected of involvement in an attack in Benghazi that killed the US ambassador has been shot.

Sufyan bin Qumu, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, was shot Sunday in the area of alThruwn in the eastern city of Darna, a stronghold of Islamic extremists. (AP)