Security forces in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan, the heartland of the Kurdish minority long tormented by Saddam Hussein, routinely torture detainees with beatings and electric shocks and hold hundreds of prisoners for long periods without charge, a human rights group said Tuesday.

Iraq’s Cabinet on Tuesday approved an amended draft oil law — a key plank to help unite the country’s warring communities — and forwarded the bill to the parliament.

Yemen’s president said on Tuesday that security authorities knew Al Qaeda was plotting attacks in the impoverished country, after a suicide car bomber killed seven Spanish tourists and two local drivers.