SANA — A US drone strike in southern Yemen killed nine suspected Al Qaeda militants and three civilians Saturday, authorities said. The attack struck a vehicle carrying the militants in the Sawmaa area in the al-Bayda province as another car carrying civilians passed by. One of the civilian survivors said an SUV he was in was tossed about 20 yards. (AP)
IRAN
Reactor’s output to be cut sharply
TEHRAN — Iran will redesign its Arak heavy water reactor to greatly limit the amount of plutonium it can make, Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi said Saturday, marking a major concession in talks with world powers over Iran’s nuclear program. Salehi said the redesigned Arak would produce one-fifth of the plutonium initially planned, eliminating concerns the material could be used to make a bomb. (AP)
IRAQ
16 die in series of bomb attacks
BAGHDAD — Attacks across Iraq, including a series of bombings targeting shoppers in a Sunni neighborhood in the country’s capital, killed at least 16 people Saturday. Five bomb blasts in the Dora neighborhood killed nine people. Outside Baghdad, a suicide bomber killed five soldiers at a checkpoint and a roadside bomb killed two soldiers. (AP)