IRAQ: ‘A Real Election After All’

Election day in Iraq's violence-prone, third largest city Mosul ended as it began, with a spate of bomb attacks. But in between a fair number of people voted.

IRAQ: Kurds Could Not Wait To Vote

It is 8.30 in the morning and the roads of Arbil appear for a moment to be eerily silent. Most cars have been banned from the streets of this Kurdish city of 800,000. Roadblocks are up all over town.

IRAQ: Hollow Election Held on Bloody Day

An overnight rocket attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad that killed two Americans and injured four others set the tone for the election Sunday.

IRAQ: This Democracy Could Be Paper Thin

Many Kurds in Northern Iraq are facing new threats - and they do not come from masked Arab terrorists. They come from the two main Kurdish parties doing all they can to gain strength in the election Sunday, independent local journalists and opposition politicians say.

IRAQ: Worried Turkey Keeps Close Watch

The afternoon call to prayer sounds on the final Friday before election on Sunday, and thousands of Kurds across Northern Iraq file into their mosques. At each one of them, imams appointed by the ruling Kurdish factions give the same message: go out and vote.

IRAQ: Hunters Become the Hunted

-Mosul could be the most dangerous city in Iraq on election Sunday. The city is something of a Sunni island in the Kurd-dominated north of Iraq.

IRAQ: One Nation, Divided People

As Iraq's first national election since the fall of Saddam Hussein draws near, the country seems more on the brink of falling apart than of coming together in a celebration of democracy.

IRAQ: The Dollar Campaigns for Allawi

U.S.-appointed interim Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi recently handed out 100- dollar bills to journalists at a press conference. He then gave teachers an unexpected 100-dollar bonus.

IRAQ: Cracks Surfacing Fast in the North

Tensions in the northern Iraqi city Kirkuk have reached breaking point after Arab parties announced they will boycott the election Jan. 30.

IRAQ: Some See Hope, Others Civil War

Some Iraqis are hoping for a new unity following elections Jan. 30, but others seem convinced that existing divisions will increase, leading possibly to civil war.

IRAQ: Kurdish Parties Eye Independence

Ahmed Khani sips his tea as he reclines in a high-back leather chair, a sepia-toned portrait of the father of Iraqi Kurdish nationalism, the late Mullah Mustafa Barzani behind him.

IRAQ: Vote Where, How, and for Whom?

With elections just four days away, many Iraqis are still uncertain how they will vote, or even where the polling stations are..

IRAQ: How the U.S. Can Attack an Ally

Arbil is normally a quiet place. Capital of the Kurdish autonomous area in Northern Iraq, the city of 800,000 has largely avoided the bloodshed of 22 months of war and occupation.

RIGHTS: Israeli Trench Could Destroy 3,000 Palestinian Homes

As Israeli and Palestinian leaders move to increase security cooperation in Gaza, a major U.S. human rights organisation is urging the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to reject proposals to build an anti-smuggling trench along the Gaza-Egyptian border that could destroy up to 3,000 Palestinian homes.

IRAQ: Some Saddam Men Make It to the Election List

Iraq's two main Kurdish political parties have put aside their differences for the Jan. 30 election. Like the Shias in the South, they have organised a single, sectarian ticket that they hope all Kurds will vote for.

IRAQ: Election Divides a Nation

The elections due Jan. 30 appear to have brought more chaos and division amongst Iraqis than unity and hope. And they have brought greater security fears.

MIDEAST: Could It Be Good News, Then

The signs have been so surprisingly positive that they elicited upbeat assessments even from some of Israel's more circumspect leaders. "We are witness to the beginning of positive developments on the Palestinian side," Israel's military chief, Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya'alon, said over the weekend.

IRAQ: Kirkuk Comes to the Crossroads

It is Eid al-Athad, one of the holiest days in the Muslim calendar. It marks the day when Abraham saved his son Isaac from sacrifice after a lamb was offered up instead.

IRAQ: Welcome Back to Kurdistan

My journey back to Iraq began, as most trips to the north of the country do, at the airport in Diyarbakkir, the largest Kurdish majority city in Turkey.

IRAQ: U.S. Military Resorting to Collective Punishment

The U.S. military is resorting to collective punishment tactics in Iraq similar to those used by Israeli troops in the occupied territories of Palestine, residents say.

IRAQ: Election Begins to Worry Neighbours

Iraq's neighbours have begun to worry seriously about its national election scheduled for Jan. 30.