Iran to leave Iraq whenever Baghdad deems necessary: Iran FM

Here is a round-up of global news developments:

• Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Iran will leave Iraq whenever Baghdad deems necessary. He stressed that Iran will continue to help Iraq confront terrorism as long as Baghdad asks for it. The Iranian foreign minister criticized what he called the arrogant Saudi Arabia for accusing Tehran of stoking sectarian strife.
• Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has called on the army to slow down the pace of operations to liberate the Daesh-held city of Fallujah. This amid concerns about the plight of tens of thousands of civilians trapped inside the city. Government forces entered Fallujah on Monday.
• The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion has slammed charges brought against Bahrain’s opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman. David Kaye said the move confirms a worrying trend of political repression in Bahrain. A Bahraini court of appeal has more than doubled Salman’s jail term to nine years.
• In the U-S, at least two people have been killed in a shooting at the University of California’s Los Angeles campus. Police called the incident a murder-suicide. The incident forced hundreds of terrified students to hide in buildings and prompted a campus-wide lockdown.
• The death toll from a car bombing and shooting attack on a hotel in the Somali capital has risen to 15. Two lawmakers are among the dead. 20 people were also wounded in the attack in Mogadishu. The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
• Egypt says a French ship has picked up signals that may belong to the black boxes of the crashed EgyptAir passenger plane. 66 people were on board when the Airbus A-320 crashed in the Mediterranean last month. There is evidence suggesting the plane came down due to an explosion aboard.
• A German government spokesperson says Chancellor Angela Merkel has no desire to roll back E-U sanctions against Russia. The revelation comes as some EU states are skeptical about extending the sanctions imposed over Russia’s alleged involvement in the Ukraine crisis. It is unclear if the 28-nation bloc will decide to renew them.
• The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has warned of a low-growth trap unless governments change their spending and trade policies. OECD Secretary General, Angel Gurria, predicted a three-percent global growth for this year. He said a low-growth trap makes businesses cautious about expanding their work.

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