In Iraq, at least forty people were killed and another 100 wounded in a bombing in the northern town of Kirkuk. The attack came hours after US troops completed their withdrawal from major Iraqi towns and cities to surrounding military bases. It was the latest in a string of recent bombings that have killed over 250 people in the past ten days. At the White House, President Obama praised the pullback and called it a step toward Iraqi sovereignty.

President Obama: “The future belongs to those who build, not those who destroy, and today’s transition is further proof that those who have tried to pull Iraq into the abyss of disunion and civil war are on the wrong side of history.”