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It’s 10:00 Universal Time. Here is the news from the Voice of America.

I’m Carmen English from the VOA News Center in Washington.

Iraqi authorities say three suicide bombers in different parts of the country killed at least 22 people and wounded more than 50 today. Officials say one attack occurred near the northern city of Mosul when a suicide bomber detonated his car in front of an office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, killing 10 people and wounding 20. Police say a suicide car bomber also stuck a police station in Baquba, 60 kilometers northeast of Baghdad, killing at least 10 people and wounding 23. Authorities say a bomber blew himself up in a restaurant in central Baghdad, leading at least two dead and ten wounded. US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker said in a news conference today that American military will respect the wishes of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki who said he has ordered the halt to construction of a wall around a bad dead neighborhood.

In other news, European Union Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana confirmed in Luxemburg today that he will meet Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani in Turkey Wednesday. It will be the first face-to-face talks between the two since the United Nations passed fresh sanctions on Iran in March after Teheran refused to halt uranium enrichment. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday he believes there can be a diplomatic solution to the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program.

Preliminary results show Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist Segolene Royal have won the first round of voting in the French presidential election. According to Interior Ministry final results issued Sunday Sarkozy obtained slightly over 31% while Royal had less than 26%. Anita Elash reports from Paris.

Pollsters has predicted that Segolene Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy would win in the first round, but there was also a large number of undecided voters and that raised questions about whether one of the alternate candidates would bump either of the front runners. But neither of the potential spoilers came close. Centrist Francois Bayrou and far right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen finished a distant third and fourth. After the early results were announced, Sarkozy appealed to voters for support.

He said that by putting him in the first place and royal in second, voters have set clearly that they want a full debate between two ideas of the nation, two value systems and two ideas about politics. Royal made her speech in Melle, in southwestern France. Voters have a clear choice on May 6th between two very different voices, she said. She said she was extending her hand to everyone who believes that French must change a system but no longer works. Anita Elash for VOA News, Paris.

Fighting between the Ethiopian forces and insurgents rocked the Somali capital Mogadishu for the 6th straight day today. [屏蔽] officials have urged civilians to leave the country immediately. VOA correspondent Alisha Ryu has the latest from Nairobi.

Witnesses in Mogadishu say it is becoming too dangerous to stay in the city which has been destroyed by artillery, mortars and tank fire. Since the latest round of fighting began on Wednesday more than 200 people are believed to have been killed and hundreds of others wounded.

The Interior Minister of Somalia’s Ethiopian backed government Mohamed Mahmud Gama Dhere says the fighting is strictly between the government and terrorists linked with the al-Qaida terrorist network.

'We believe only al-Qaida is fighting against the government. // are fighting.'

Mogadishu residents disagree saying there are clan-based insurgents as well as those who simply oppose the presence of Ethiopian troops on Somali soil. Alisha Ryu for VOA News, Nairobi.

Classes are resumed today at the US University one week after a student gundown fellow students and teachers before killing himself. Virginia Tech plans a moment of silence followed by the tolling of the bell. The bell will ring 32 times and mourners will release 32 white balloons, one for each of the shooter’s victims. Students have returned to a campus covered with memorials, flowers, candles and written tributes to those who died.

I’m Carmen English, VOA news.

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