In other news Monday, twin car bomb explosions killed at least 18 people south of Baghdad. Many of the dead were Shiite pilgrims traveling outside Karbala for annual religious rituals. In Tunisia, protests continued in the capital after allies of…

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the top Shiite cleric in Iraq, held a rare meeting with Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi Thursday to assess a strategy to unite the country's divided leaders and end sectarian violence.

By PBS NewsHour