World briefs 5/9/16

Attacks in, around Baghdad kill 12

BAGHDAD -- Separate attacks in and around the Iraqi capital on Sunday killed at least 12 people and wounded dozens, officials said. The deadliest was in Baghdad's western suburb of Abu Ghraib, when a suicide bomber blew up himself outside a funeral tent for the wife of a local official, killing three policemen and two civilians, a police officer said. At least 16 others were wounded in that attack. Elsewhere, three civilians were killed and 10 wounded in a bomb explosion in a commercial area in the town of Madain, about 14 miles southeast of Baghdad, another police officer said. Four other civilians were killed and 17 wounded in two bomb attacks on commercial areas in Baghdad, police added.

'El Chapo' sent to worst Mexico prison

MEXICO CITY -- The northern Mexico prison where authorities suddenly transferred convicted drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is rated as the worst in the federal penitentiary system for inmate conditions and other factors, according to the government's reporting. The Cefereso No. 9 facility on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez, which borders El Paso, Texas, scored well on "conditions of governability," perhaps an indication authorities believe they can control Guzman's environment there and limit the risk of him pulling off a third jailbreak. But Michael Vigil, former head of international operations for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, questioned the logic of sending Guzman to a less-secure prison in territory controlled by "El Chapo's" Sinaloa cartel. "It just doesn't make any sense," Vigil said Sunday.

Landslide buries 33 builders in China

BEIJING -- Rescuers on Sunday searched for 33 construction workers missing in a landslide at the site of a hydropower project after days of heavy rain in southern China. Eight other workers were pulled out alive, officials and state-run media reported. Rocks and mud with a volume of 3.5 million cubic feet buried an office building and the workers' living area at the site in Taining County in Fujian province about 5 a.m. Sunday, according to a website run by the county's Communist Party's publicity department. State broadcaster China Central Television later reported seven workers were rescued alive, with injuries including broken bones. By evening, rescuers had detected suspected signs of life at three spots, CCTV said.

Kim: N. Korea won't use nukes first

PYONGYANG, North Korea -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country will not use its nuclear weapons unless its sovereignty is invaded and announced a five-year economic plan at a congress of North Korea's ruling party, which entered its third day Sunday. Kim said he is ready to improve ties with "hostile" nations and called for more talks with rival South Korea to reduce misunderstanding and distrust. He urged the United States to stay away from inter-Korean issues. "Our republic is a responsible nuclear state that, as we made clear before, will not use nuclear weapons first unless aggressive hostile forces use nuclear weapons to invade on our sovereignty," Kim said in a three-hour speech shown Sunday on the North's Korean Central Television.

-- From wire reports