BAGHDAD: Tens of thousands attended mass prayers Friday in Baghdad’s Green Zone in a new power play by Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr after his adversaries conditionally backed his call for early elections.
Sadr, a longtime political and religious force in the oil-rich but war-scarred country, has for months been in a political standoff with a rival Shiite alliance backed by Iran.

KHARTOUM: Five Sudanese security forces were killed in an ambush by an “outlawed” armed group in the restive Darfur region, police said in a statement Friday.
“A joint security force comprising the armed forces, police and the Rapid Support Forces came under treacherous attack yesterday evening by an outlawed group in Central Darfur state,” the statement said, without identifying the group.
The attack “left five security forces killed including a police lieutenant,” it said, adding that an unspecified number of others were wounded.

UN, New York: The UN Security Council on Thursday welcomed the Aug. 2 renewal of the truce in Yemen for two additional months, and called on parties in the country to intensify negotiations toward expanding it into a durable ceasefire.

The UNSC also urged the Houthis to be more flexible and open roads in and around Taiz governorate, which has been under siege for over seven years.

Council members commended “regional partners” for backing the truce, and asked for their continued support.

WASHINGTON: Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin on Thursday launched six people to space, including the first from Egypt and Portugal, on the company’s sixth crewed flight.
Mission “N-22” saw the New Shepard suborbital rocket blast off around 8:58 am local time (1358 GMT) from Blue’s base in the west Texas desert.
The autonomous, re-usable vehicle sent its crew capsule soaring above the Karman line, the internationally recognized space boundary, 62 miles (100 kilometers) above sea level.

RABAT: A Moroccan court imposed 8-month prison sentences Thursday on 14 migrants for attempting, along with hundreds of others, to scale a border fence separating the north African country from the autonomous Spanish enclave of Melilla in June.
Nador’s Court of First Instance also ordered the defendants to pay 2,000-dirham ($194) fines each over the events of June 24.
The Moroccan Association for Human Rights, known as AMDH, said at least 27 migrants trying to enter Spain died that day, and numerous others — both migrants and police — were hurt.