Updated at 9:30 p.m. EST, Nov. 20, 2009
At least seven Iraqis were killed and 13 more were wounded in light violence. A U.S. sailor was killed in a vehicle rollover in Kuwait. The elections law deadlock continues to be the source of most news coming from Iraq.
A representative of Iraq’s spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, spoke to worshippers in Karbala. Sheik Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalaie called upon lawmakers to break the elections law impasse and warned that failure could create great dangers for Iraq. Parliament will vote on a solution tomorrow. Meanwhile, a demonstration against Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi’s veto took place in Basra. The vice president’s office expressed shock that his veto is the source of any controversy.
In the United States, a former KBR, Inc. contractor was awarded nearly $3 million to settle a claim. The woman alleges she was raped by a State Department employee and subjected to retaliation for reporting recurring harassment while working in Basra.
Four Peshmerga fighters were killed in Sangar.
In Baghdad, a bomb at a restaurant in Doura wounded nine people.
In Mosul, a bomb blast wounded two policemen. Two policemen were killed and two more were wounded in a bomb attack yesterday.
A suicide bomber in Kirkuk failed to leave other casualties. He was targeting a motorcade carrying the governor’s chief of guards.
A bomb in Ramadi left no casualties.
Residents of Tal Afar stopped a suicide bomber and handed him over to security forces.
Four men convicted of murder and two suspects were captured in Jalawla.
Two suspects were arrested in Suwayra.
In Nasariya, the city’s renowned singers complained that the U.S. invasion left them vulnerable to Shi’ite fundamentalists.
FIFA, the group that governs international soccer, suspended Iraq from all tournaments because of political interference. The ruling followed the Iraqi Olympic committe’s own decision to dissolve the national soccer authority’s ruling board due to alleged financial and administrative irregularities.
Transparency International named Iraq as one of the top five corrupt nations in the world.
