AP, Paris
One month after President Emmanuel Macron’s arrival in power, French voters must now choose lawmakers in parliamentary elections starting Sunday that may dramatically reshape the political landscape. Here’s a look at the French system and what’s at stake: Elections for the National Assembly are organized in two rounds on June 11 and June 18. All 577 seats are up for grabs, and each winner will serve a five-year term.
8 Tehran attack suspects held
AP, Tehran
Iranian authorities have arrested eight suspects for allegedly supporting the Islamic State-claimed attacks on Iran’s parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini that killed 17 people in Tehran, the state-run IRNA news agency reported Saturday.
The report quoted Ahmad Fazelian, chief justice of Alborz province west of Tehran as saying.
India’s plan to develop key Iranian port
Reuters, New Delhi
Western manufacturers are shying away from supplying equipment for an Iranian port that India is developing for fear the United States may reimpose sanctions on Tehran, Indian officials say, dealing a blow to Delhi’s strategic ambitions in the region.
Lying on the Gulf of Oman along the approaches to the Straits of Hormuz, the port of Chabahar is central to India’s hopes to crack open a transport corridor to Central Asia and Afghanistan that bypasses Pakistan.
Suicide bomber kills 20 in Baghdad
AFP, Hilla
A suicide bomber blew himself up in a market in the town of Musayyib, south of Baghdad, on Friday killing at least 20 people, medical and security sources said.
“A suicide bomber blew himself up in Musayyib market, causing 20 civilian martyrs,” an interior ministry spokesman said. At least 34 other people were wounded in the attack in the centre of Musayyib.
