QUOTE OF THE DAY “You have this wide tapestry of jihadi groups now, like a spider’s web.All of these groups have the same ideology, they’re part

of the jihadi framework, but they might have different focuses.” Aaron Zelin of the Washington Institute of Near East Policy, on al-Qaida’s decision to formally dissociate itself from the extremist group the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant Article, this page

Thai protesters continue anti-vote effort

BANGKOK - Anti-government protesters in Thailand vowed Monday to stage larger rallies in central Bangkok and push ahead with efforts to nullify an election they disrupted, preventing millions of people from voting.

Despite fears of violence, voting proceeded peacefully in 90 percent of polling stations Sunday. The protesters forced polling booths to close in Bangkok and southern Thailand, leaving some legislative seats unfilled. As a result, a series of special elections are required to complete the balloting, extending the country’s political paralysis for months.

Election results will not be announced until all areas have successfully voted.

After sabotaging the election process, the protesters and their allies said they will go to court to try to have the polls nullified on several grounds, including that they were not completed in one day.

The opposition Democrat Party, which backs the protesters and boycotted the vote, said Monday that it is studying other legal justifications to invalidate the election.

Koreas to work out family reunion plans

SEOUL, South Korea - The rival Koreas have agreed to hold talks Wednesday on arranging the first reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War in more than three years, officials said Monday.

North Korea agreed 10 days ago to restart the reunions and asked South Korea to pick the date. The South subsequently chose Feb. 17-22 and proposed that talks be held to discuss the details. But North Korea didn’t respond for a week, drawing complaints from South Korean officials.

The reunion program is one of several cooperation projects between the divided Koreas that have been stalled amid tensions in recent years. The program is highly emotional because most applicants are in their 70s or older and want to see their long-lost relatives before they die.

Millions of Koreans have been separated since the Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula still technically in a state of war. The rivals are separated by a heavily fortified border, and citizens are barred from exchanging letters, phone calls or emails.

Iran official sure nuclear deal possible

BERLIN - Iran’s foreign minister said Monday that he is confident his country will be able to forge a final agreement with world powers on its nuclear program by July 20.

Mohammad Javad Zarif said a deal can be reached within the six-month deadline set when Iran agreed to halt its most sensitive uranium enrichment activities in return for an easing of Western sanctions.

“We need to use the six months that we have in order to reach an agreement, because if we lose these six months the public momentum will swing to the other side,” Zarif said at the German Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank in Berlin.

“I believe that we can do it by July 20,” he said. The next round of nuclear talks will take place in Vienna on Feb. 18.

Car bombings kill 23 in, around Baghdad

BAGHDAD - A series of car bombings in and around Baghdad on Monday killed at least 23 people, officials said, as Iraq’s Shiite-led government grapples with a stubborn Sunni extremist-led insurgency in the western Anbar province.

In the town of Mahmoudiya, a car bomb went off near the local council building, followed by another at a nearby outdoor market, a police officer said. The blasts in the town, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, killed nine people and wounded 28.

In Baghdad, an explosives-laden car ripped through a commercial area in the northern Hurriyah neighborhood, killing four people and wounding 11, he added. Three bystanders were killed and nine were wounded in another car bomb explosion in the city’s eastern Baladiyat neighborhood, another police officer said.

A sticky bomb attached to a minibus exploded in Baghdad’s Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City, killing one passenger and wounding four others, police said.

After nightfall, a car bomb went off near an outdoor market in Baghdad’s Abdu Dashir district, killing six shoppers and wounding 14 others, they added.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 02/04/2014