Around the world

key in extremist battles,

but controls needed

BAGHDAD — Former Sunni insurgents — wearing masks and wailing in grief — joined a funeral procession Friday for a leader killed for turning his guns on Islamic extremists instead of America in a contested city that al-Qaida in Iraq once considered its capital.

The burial of 29-year-old Naseer Salam al-Maamouri, placed in a casket draped with the Iraqi flag, also served as a show of resolve for the tribes that have chosen to back the U.S.-led struggle to regain control of Baqouba, the strategic urban hub of Diyala province northeast of Baghdad.

For the moment, the tribal militias — known as Awakening Councils, Concerned Citizens and other names — have given U.S. and Iraqi forces a key advantage in seeking to clear extremist-held pockets in and around Baghdad. But the Sunni militiamen are demanding something in return: permanent jobs and influence in Iraq’s security forces.

The Shiite-led government has been slow to respond, despite Washington’s fears that the tribal support could collapse into chaos without swift integration into the standing forces.

Nicaragua frees U.S.

man after court

overturns conviction

in killing of girlfriend

MANAGUA, Nicaragua — American Eric Volz was freed by a judge on Friday despite an uproar in Nicaragua after an appeals court overturned his conviction and 30-year-sentence in the slaying of his Nicaraguan girlfriend.

The 28-year-old from Nashville, Tenn., accompanied by his mother, planned to immediately catch a flight to Atlanta. "There will be no further comment until we receive confirmation that Eric is safely out of Nicaragua,” Volz family spokeswoman Melissa Campbell said in an email to the Associated Press. Live television broadcasts showed a news media caravan following his police-escorted car from a prison hospital where Volz was treated for kidney stones to the office where he was to sign release papers.

An appeals court on Monday overturned Volz’s conviction in the death of 25-year-old Doris Ivania Jimenez, enraging prosecutors, human rights and women’s rights activists who believe Volz is guilty.

The court upheld the conviction of a Nicaraguan man in the murder.

A surfer-turned-real-estate-broker who also founded a local magazine in Nicaragua, Volz has claimed his innocence all along, saying he was two hours away from the crime scene at the time.

Volz’s release was ordered by the same judge who convicted him, a step that is required by Nicaraguan law.

Judge Ivett Toruno, who convicted Volz, waited four days before agreeing to release him, citing problems with the files.

Volz’s attorney claimed the judge was delaying the process to allow time for another appeal. It wasn’t clear Friday where that effort stood.