Bombs killed 46 in Iraqi cities as Shi’ite pilgrims are targeted. And Syria says the rebel enclave is cleaned and retaken.

I’m Frances Alonzo, reporting from Washington.

Bombs have (exploded) in cities across Iraq as Shi’ite Muslims gathered for annual religious processions. Iraqi authorities say at least 46 people were killed in one of the country’s deadliest waves of violence this year. They said four bombs targeted Shi’ite pilgrims in and around Baghdad, killing at least 19 people, while car bombs killed at least five people in the mainly Shi’ite town of Balad to the north. Officials said bombs also exploded in the central city of Hilla, killing at least 21 people, and in the northern city of Kirkuk, killing at least one.

Syrian state television says government forces have retaken control of the rebellious western town of al-Haffeh after a week of heavy fighting that led the United States to warn of a potential massacre. Wednesday’s report said forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had restored calm and security in the strategic Sunni Muslim town after they cleansed it of armed terrorist groups. Anti-government rebels said they withdrew from al-Haffeh overnight following (intense) fighting there and in nearby villages.

Japanese officials say China has violated a U.N. embargo by supplying North Korea with vehicles capable of transporting and launching ballistic (missiles). Local media Wednesday quoted government sources as saying that a Chinese company sent four giant, 16-wheel missile launch vehicles to North Korea last August.

The poorly-regulated global arms market is paralyzing development, according to a report by the Britain-based aid group Oxfam. The report was timed for release before international negotiations on the global arms trade begin next month in New York. Selah Hennessy reports for VAO from London.

Deepayan Basu Ray, a policy adviser for Oxfam on arms trade. “Most fragile and conflict-affected states are spending very heavily on their military and this is often the case triple that of the regular expenditure on health or education.” The Oxfam report says the global trade in arms is a double-edged sword, it can fuel and exacerbate armed conflict while at the same time diverting resources away from poverty (reduction). Oxfam say it wants development to be a key concern when countries meet at the United Nations in New York to negotiate an Arms Trade Treaty. Selah Hennessy for VOA news, London.

Long-time Burmese democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi has departed on a landmark European tour that will include her formal acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to her more than 20 years ago. The opposition leader, who spent much of the past two decades under house arrest, set out from Rangoon Wednesday for her first trip to Europe in 24 years.

United Nations officials today visited the capital of Burma’s Rakhine state where ethnic and sectarian clashes erupted earlier this month. Danielle Bernstein reports.

Vijay Nambiar, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s special envoy to Burma, traveled to Rakhine state accompanied by Burma’s Border Affairs Minister Thein Htay and ten Muslim leaders from Rangoon on Wednesday. While he was in the state capital Sittwe, he met with state officials to discuss the situation. The visit comes after Bangladesh denied the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ request that it open its border to Rohigya people fleeing the ethnic and sectarian violence that broke out last week. Human Rights Watch says that the fighting in the Rakhine state has led local companies to (suspend) operations, adding pressure to the government efforts to resolve the situation. Danielle Bernstein, Bangkok.

The United Nations says more children are becoming (casualties) of the Afghan war, with five children killed or wounded in Afghanistan per day. In a new report released by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, more than 1,700 children were killed or injured in the conflict last year compared with nearly 1,400 in 2010.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen says he hopes supply routes through Pakistan into neighboring Afghanistan will be reopen soon. Rasmussen spoke Wednesday during a visit to Australia, days after a team of U.S. (negotiators) left Pakistan without a new transit deal. Pakistan closed the NATO supply lines in November after U.S. airstrikes mistakenly killed 24 Pakistani troops near the Afghan border.

More at voanews.com, I’m Frances Alonzo, VOA news.