UN scolds nations for deporting Iraqis back into danger zone
BAGHDAD (AP) — The head of the U.N. refugee agency scolded nations Sunday for deporting Iraqis back into danger, delivering his criticism on a day when insurgents rattled the Baghdad area with a series of bombings that killed 10 people.
Antonio Guterres, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, said an estimated 2,000 Iraqis have been fleeing their homeland every month, including a “significant number of Christians.”
Israeli panel clears military and government of wrongdoing in raid
 
ERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli panel on Sunday cleared the military and government of any wrongdoing during last year’s deadly raid on a Gaza-bound international flotilla, but the finding appeared unlikely to repair damage to Israel’s standing.
Nine pro-Palestinian activists, eight Turkish citizens and a Turkish American, were killed as Israeli commandos boarded one of the ships in the flotilla, the Mavi Marmara, last May 31. The report said the armed defense of Israel’s maritime blockade of the Hamas-ruled coastal strip was justified under international law.
 
Albainian Parliament holds special session to investigate protests
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s parliament held a special session late Sunday to discuss the investigation of the violent opposition protest that the governing Democratic Party called an attempted overthrow of the government.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha said at a Cabinet meeting the parliament would convene “to create an investigative parliamentary commission on the putsch.”
Opposition Socialist Party leader Edi Rama urged people to come to a peaceful demonstration Friday.
 
California nonprofits vying to host decomissioned USS Iowa
 
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The USS Iowa supported U.S. forces fighting the Japanese during World War II and helped tankers safely navigate the Persian Gulf in the Iran-Iraq War.
Though the ship has long since been out of service, its final battle is still being waged. Two California nonprofits — one in the San Francisco Bay area, the other in Los Angeles — are vying to host the decommissioned ship as a tourist attraction. The Navy is expected to make a decision within a few months.
 
FBI: Woman who raised stolen NY baby held after parole violation
 
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A North Carolina woman who raised a child kidnapped from a New York hospital two decades ago was taken into custody Sunday on a parole violation charge, the FBI said.
Ann Pettway surrendered Sunday morning to the FBI and Bridgeport, Conn., police on a warrant from North Carolina, FBI supervisory special agent William Reiner said.
Pettway, who has family in Bridgeport, was on probation because of a conviction for attempted embezzlement.