In brief: Kim Jong Un hailed as leader

Pyongyang, North Korea – North Korea hailed Kim Jong Il’s son as “supreme leader” of the 1.2-million strong military, ramping up its campaign to install the young man as the nation’s next leader even as the mourning for his father continued a week after his death.

Kim Jong Un made a third visit Saturday to the palace where his father’s body is lying in state – this time as “supreme leader of the revolutionary armed forces” and accompanied by North Korea’s top military brass, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

The new title and public show of support from the military leadership sent a strong signal that the nation will maintain Kim Jong Il’s “military first” policy for the time being.

Iraqis arrest security officers

Baghdad – The Iraqi government has arrested four of its own security officers in connection with a devastating wave of car bombs that killed 65 and wounded more than 200 civilians in Baghdad on Thursday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki disclosed Saturday.

Al-Maliki did not say whether the four worked for the ministry of the interior, the defense ministry or another part of government, and Ali Moussawi, his media coordinator, had no further details.

Even with such sparse details, al-Maliki’s disclosure reinforced a conviction long held by many Iraqis, that much of the violence against innocent civilians as well as security officials here is directed by senior political figures.

Iraq is in the throes of a major political crisis over allegations that Sunni Vice President Tariq al Hashemi was effectively running a death squad out of his personal security detail.