The world in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY “We will do everything together in the next four years to make them successful years for Germany.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose conservative Union bloc triumphed in Sunday’s elections, sending her to a third term Article, 1AAttack in Iraq kills 16 Sunni mourners

BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt among Sunni mourners attending a funeral in Baghdad on Sunday, killing 16 people and wounding 35 others, officials said.

Police officials said the evening attack took place when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt inside a tent where the funeral was being held in Baghdad’s southern neighborhood of Dora.

Earlier on Sunday, a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a residential area in the city of Kirkuk, wounding 35 people, Kirkuk Police Brig. Gen. Anwar Mohammed Qadir said.

Hours after the Kirkuk bombing, police said a roadside bomb struck a security convoy near the northern city of Mosul, killing two soldiers and wounding two others.

Acting United Nations Envoy in Iraq Gyorgy Busztin condemned the bombings, urging the government to boost security measures and Iraqis to refrain from revenge attacks.

Guinea sides clash after delayed vote

CONAKRY, Guinea - Security forces in Guinea’s capital used tear gas to break up clashes that broke out Sunday between supporters of the opposition and ruling parties campaigning for long-delayed legislative elections, resulting in multiple injuries, witnesses said.

The clashes come one day after a United Nations special envoy announced that the vote, scheduled for Tuesday, would be pushed back to Saturday in response to opposition concerns about the voter list and other issues.

A group supporting the ruling party of President Alpha Conde was gathering in Conakry’s Bambeto neighborhood when a caravan of opposition supporters on motorbikes approached and provoked a confrontation Sunday afternoon, said Kaba Mamady, one of the Conde supporters.

But opposition supporter Gadirou Barry said the altercation began when ruling party supporters lobbed stones at the opposition caravan and later set a minibus on fire.

He said 20 people were injured, though officials couldn’t confirm that number.Swiss vote to keep conscription army

BERN, Switzerland - For the third time in almost 25 years, neutral Switzerland has voted to maintain its conscription army.

By a margin of 73 percent, voters in all 26 Swiss states rejected a referendum Sunday that pacifists and leftist parties had put forward to do away with mandatory service in the army, Swiss public broadcaster SRF reported.

Swiss voters have a close attachment to the military. In a nation of 8 million, farmers, watchmakers and bankers alike undergo basic training for 18 to 21 weeks, then keep their uniforms and weapons at home to be ready for tours of duty and rapid mobilization. The army requires parttime service from each Swiss man between 18 and 34;

women can serve voluntarily.

Leftist and humanitarian critics have said too much is spent on the military. They argue that the end of the Cold War eliminated the need for large-scale forces with fighter planes, tanks and artillery.

Front Section, Pages 5 on 09/23/2013

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