ATHENS (Reuters) – Two boats carrying activists from 17 countries will leave the Mediterranean island of Cyprus next week bound for Gaza in a bid to break an Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory, organizers said on Tuesday.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A major pilgrimage of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shi’ites to a Baghdad shrine passed peacefully on Tuesday, a day after three female suicide bombers killed 35 people among crowds of pilgrims.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey’s military said its fighter jets attacked Kurdish separatist targets in northern Iraq on Tuesday and killed a number of guerrillas.