World Briefs

BAGHDAD – A total of 12,000 American and 4,000 British troops will leave Iraq by September, the U.S. military said Sunday, hours after a suicide bomber killed 32 people at the entrance of Baghdad's main police academy.

The blast — the second major attack to hit Iraqis in three days and the deadliest to strike Baghdad in nearly a month — was a bloody reminder of the ability of insurgents to defy security improvements and stage dramatic attacks as the U.S. begins to draw down its forces.

Maj. Gen. David Perkins said the troop withdrawals will reduce U.S.combat power from 14 brigades to 12 along with some supporting units.

DAOFU, China – Military convoys rumble along winding mountain roads, the Internet has been cut in potential trouble spots and motorists must run a gantlet of inspection checkpoints as Beijing mounts a show of force in Tibetan areas to prevent a repeat of uprisings against Chinese rule.

A volatile period begins Tuesday, the 50th anniversary of a failed revolt that sent the Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, into exile.

A year ago, Tibetans erupted in protest — sometimes violently. Today, checkpoints and garrisons are numerous, resulting in a kind of martial law, with constant tension across a third of Beijing's territory.

ANTRIM, Northern Ireland – Leaders of Northern Ireland's Catholic-Protestant government pledged to keep the peace Sunday after Irish Republican Army dissidents fatally shot two off-duty British soldiers meeting pizza delivery men at a barracks entrance.

The two senior figures in the 22-month-old coalition postponed a U.S. trip and pledged to intensify their cooperation in response to the first deadly attack on British security forces in 12 years.

EL FASHER, Sudan – Sudan's president threatened to kick out more aid groups and expel diplomats and peacekeepers on Sunday during his first trip to Darfur after an international court issued an arrest warrant against him for war crimes there.

Sudan has already expelled 13 of the largest aid groups operating in Darfur.

TIJUANA, Mexico – Mexican authorities say a U.S. man was among three decapitated victims found this week in the northern border city of Tijuana.

State prosecutors say the body of 38-year-old Jorge Norman Harrison was found by joggers Tuesday along with two other bodies near Tijuana's bullring. Police say the three bodies also were missing their hands and one its feet.

Prosecutors said in a statement Friday that Norman Harrison had been convicted for drug trafficking in the United States.