IRAQ: Business Becomes a Big Casualty

Most Iraqi businesses have collapsed under the weight of U.S.-backed economic laws, the breakdown of security, lack of electricity and fuel, and the shooting inflation.

POLITICS-US: Spying Won’t Deter Us, Peace Groups Say

A coalition of U.S. peace groups are pressing ahead with plans for what they hope will be a massive march on Washington Jan. 27, even though newly released documents show the antiwar community is under Pentagon surveillance.

IRAQ: Hopes of a Solution Recede by the Day

The latest upsurge of violence in Iraq comes as a big blow to the slim remaining hopes of ending violence.

BOOKS-US: Former Prosecutor Imagines Bush’s Judgment Day

The scene is a U.S. federal grand jury room. There, impaneled ordinary citizens listen intently as a veteran federal prosecutor asks them to return an indictment unique in U.S. history.

IRAQ: Death Toll Rises and Rises

The worst killings on a single day since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 sent Baghdad reeling Thursday, but they top a casualty toll that has been rising alarmingly.

IRAQ: Medical System Becomes Sickening

After three and a half years of occupation, Iraq's medical system has sunk to levels lower than seen during the economic sanctions imposed after the first Gulf war in 1990.

IRAQ: Support Gathers for Sunni Leader

The arrest warrant issued last week by the Iraqi government for Sunni leader Dr. Harith al-Dhari has sent shockwaves through the government, and galvanised much of the Sunni population.

IRAQ: Education Under Siege

The recent kidnapping of scores of academics in Baghdad highlights the desperate situation of the educational system in occupied Iraq.

POLITICS: Dialogue or Sanctions – U.S. Dilemma Over Iran

The United States, which is making little headway in its attempts to impose mandatory U.N. sanctions on Iran, is facing a political dilemma as it comes under increasing pressure to initiate a dialogue with the very country it is trying to punish for its defiant nuclear programme.

IRAQ: Locals Accuse U.S. of Massacre in Ramadi

U.S. military tank fire killed scores of civilians in Ramadi, capital of Al-Anbar province, late Monday night, according to witnesses and doctors. Anger and frustration were evident at the hospitals and during the funerals in the following days.

IRAQ: Farmers in Dire Straits

Despite the Iraqi prime minister's optimism for the agricultural sector, the farmers who are struggling to survive tell another story.

DEATH PENALTY: Russians Say Spare Saddam’s Life

Russian politicians and Muslim leaders here have thrown their weight against the death sentence handed down early this month to Saddam Hussein, and suggest that an independent, international tribunal be set up to retry the former Iraqi president.

FILM-IRAQ: A Glimpse of Life Under Occupation

The most honoured film about the Iraq war is opening at theaters across the United States this month.

DISARMAMENT: The Silent Killers in the World’s War Zones

When mortars and rockets fall silent in the world's battle zones, the killings do not necessarily end with ceasefires and peace talks.

POLITICS: Ideology Widening Muslim-West Divide

The key reasons for the growing divide between Muslim and Western societies are not religious but political, concludes a report presented to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Monday in Istanbul, Turkey.

IRAQ: Kurds Want Early Death for Saddam

As Saddam Hussein faces his second trial, this one over the killing of an estimated 180,000 Kurds in the late 1980s, people in Kurdistan are taking a particular interest whether the death sentence in the first case will be carried out before there can be a verdict in the Kurds case.

ELECTIONS-US: Antiwar Voters May Get Less Than They Bargained For

Democratic majorities in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, and the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld as defence secretary, will not necessarily mean major changes for the war in Iraq, analysts say.

POLITICS-US: Iran Is Key to Course Change on Iraq

Two political earthquakes hit the United States this week. On Tuesday, the Democrats took control of Congress, and the following day, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was replaced by Robert Gates, a member of the senior Bush's foreign policy team.

IRAQ: Bechtel Departure Removes More Illusions

The decision of the giant engineering company Bechtel to withdraw from Iraq has left many Iraqis feeling betrayed. In its departure they see the end of remaining hopes for the reconstruction of Iraq.

POLITICS: US Foreign Policy Set to Change Dramatically

The abrupt replacement of Pentagon chief, Donald Rumsfeld, by former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Robert Gates, combined with the Democratic sweep in Tuesday's mid-term elections, appears to signal major changes in United States foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East.

POLITICS-US: Democrats Drub Republicans, Face Own Tests

Come January, Democrats will control one and possibly both houses of the U.S. Congress for the first time in more than a decade after voters snubbed President George W. Bush's Republican Party and prompted Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to quit his embattled post.