“Delaying the elections would be a disaster for Iraq,” said Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, warning that rival parties would try to rig the vote. Populist Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said Wednesday he backed early elections overseen by the UN, in a rare news conference outside his home in the Iraqi …

The intentions of the parties that particularly interfered in the crisis, such as Turkey, raise doubts about the prospects of success for the ceasefire agreement and the UN agenda as a whole.

The president of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizing committee, Yoshiro Mori, will resign over a sexist remark that sparked an outcry, two sources said on Thursday, while the former prime minister said he could not let the controversy drag on.