Turkey Pol: The only candidate in Turkey's presidential election, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul of the ruling A.K. Party, has ended his bid for the largely ceremonial office. Mr. Gul announced he was withdrawing his candidacy after parliament failed twice today (Sunday) to reach the quorum needed for the vote.
Last week, Turkey's Constitutional Court annulled parliament's first-round of voting in favor of Mr. Gul because there were not enough lawmakers present for the vote to be valid.
Controversy over the selection of a new president has sparked weeks of massive demonstrations across the country by pro-secular Turks who say they fear the A.K. Party party has a hidden Islamic agenda.
Iraq: Iraqi authorities say a car bomb ripped through a commercial
district in western Baghdad today (Sunday), killing nearly 30 civilians. The explosion in the Bayaa neighborhood wounded scores of others.
Elsewhere, police say two suicide car bombers attacked police positions in the city of Samarra today (Sunday) in coordinated attacks, killing at least six people, including a local police chief. Several people were wounded.
Earlier, Iraqi officials said U.S. and Iraqi forces raided the Shi'ite neighborhood of Sadr City in Baghdad today (Sunday), killing at least eight gunmen.
The early morning operation involved U.S. forces backed by Iraqi troops. A Coalition statement says troops found a torture room, and destroyed a large cache of explosives and weapons.
Police and witnesses say aircraft carried out strikes on several houses.
Authorities said at least six civilians were wounded in the raid.
Cameroon Plane Crash: Rescuers in southern Cameroon are searching thick tropical forests for the wreckage of a Kenya Airways passenger jet that crashed early Saturday with 114 people on board.
Two helicopters joined the air and ground search for the cash site today (Sunday) after bad weather forced authorities to suspend operations overnight.
The Boeing 737(-800) went down near the Cameroonian town of Lolodorf, shortly after taking off from the coastal city of Douala during a rainstorm. The plane initially emitted a distress signal, but no more signals have been detected.
A Kenyan government spokesman (Alfred Matua) says the United States, Britain and France have offered to help search for the plane.
The Kenya Airways jet was only six months old. It was bound for the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on a flight that originated in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. There is no word on casualties.
Egypt Plane Crash: Egyptian security forces say nine foreign peacekeepers, including eight French troops, were killed today (Sunday) when a small aircraft belonging to the multinational observer force crashed in the northern Sinai region.
An official said the French plane was headed from the northern Sinai airport of Al-Gurah to St. Catherine's airport farther south when it went down today (Sunday) with nine people on board. The nationality of the ninth victim has not yet been disclosed. Officials have not said what may have caused the crash.
The Multinational Force and Observers supervise the security provisions of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
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