KABUL, Afghanistan: A mother who tried to stop her son from carrying out a suicide bomb attack triggered an explosion in the family’s home in southern Afghanistan that killed the would-be bomber, his mother and three siblings, police said.

Influential Shiite cleric Ammar Hakim held talks in Ramadi on Sunday with a powerful Sunni tribal sheikh, which observers said were highly symbolic for reconciliation in war-torn Iraq.

Traders in Tyre’s bustling market say UN peacekeepers have brought “baraka” and a dose of good fortune to south Lebanon, making up at least in part for the ravages of last year’s Israel-Lebanon war.