MIDEAST: WMD Question Rises Again over Israel

A disparate group of demonstrators and international media representatives welcomed Israel's nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu Wednesday upon his release from prison after completing his 18-year sentence.

IRAQ: Sadr Attacks U.S. with Democracy

Until recently, it was easy to find Sheikh Salim Mejid Jumar, one of Muqtada Sadr's top leaders in Baghdad.

POLITICS: U.N. Battles Fresh Bribery Charges Over Iraq Probe

The United Nations is facing fresh charges of bribery against three of its senior officials, who are alleged to have accepted multi-million-dollar kickbacks from the Saddam Hussein regime while overseeing the controversial oil-for-food programme in Iraq.

ENVIRONMENT: No Earth Day Fete for Iraq

Three wars combined with decades of neglect and mismanagement have devastated the natural environment of Iraq, and international efforts to restore it are being constrained by the ongoing conflict.

IRAQ: Think of Those the U.S. Has Detained

Private First Class Matt Maupin assigned to the U.S. Army Reserve's 724th Transportation Company based at Bartonville, Illinois, became the first prisoner taken by Iraqi insurgents since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

POLITICS: U.N. Might Not Be Washington’s Saviour in Iraq

When U.S. President George W Bush and his opponent, Democratic aspirant John Kerry, were asked about U.S. plans to stabilise an increasingly violent Iraq, both singled out U.N. Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi as the potential saviour who could rescue the country from possible disaster.

IRAQ: Fallujah Cannot Even Bury Its Dead

The story of Yusuf Fakri Amash is the story of so much of Fallujah. The 11-year-old boy just managed to escape from the town with his family. But not before the U.S. military killed his best friend.

IRAQ: Latest Killings of Media Workers Fit Pattern, Says Watchdog

U.S. soldiers' negligence appears to be the cause of Monday's killings of two Iraqi media workers in the city of Samara north of Baghdad, said an official from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on Tuesday.

IRAQ: Decision to Withdraw Honduran Troops Welcomed at Home

Civil society groups in Honduras applauded the government's decision to withdraw the country's 370 troops from Iraq, while voices in El Salvador called for a pullout of the Salvadoran forces as well.

MIDEAST: Hamas Killing Could Strengthen Arafat

Israel's killing of Hamas leaders Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi in short succession seems aimed at nudging Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority to re-establish control over the Gaza strip.

POLITICS: Hostage Crisis Forces Japan to Grow Up

As shocking as the hostage-taking of Japanese nationals is in Iraq, it has also signalled Japan's entrance - if cautiously at first - onto the world stage and is testing its mettle, analysts here say.

MIDEAST: Diplomatic and Military Blows Shake Palestinians

Politics and violence got all tangled up once again in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict this weekend.

IRAQ: The Mess Is Getting Harder to Clear

Iraq may slowly be emerging from a month of the most intense bloodshed since the declared end of the war almost a year ago. But a lull in the fighting in the bloodstained Sunni town of Faluja, west of Baghdad, and a tentative deal with the Sadr Shia militia in the south seem exceedingly fragile. If there is a pause, nobody expects it to last very long.

IRAQ-U.S.: Fallujah Puts Bush in Crisis Mode

How do you know when the president of the United States is in crisis mode? When he cuts short his Easter holiday at his Texas ranch and returns to Washington to hold a rare press conference that he asks U.S. television networks to air on prime time.

IRAQ: Violence Hurting the Needy

The violence rocking Iraq is hurting no one more than the weakest sections in the country.

POLITICS: Iraq Oil-for-Food Programme Blame Game Heats Up

The U.N. Secretariat, accused of nepotism and corruption in overseeing Iraq's multi-billion-dollar, oil-for-food programme, is expected to name an independent commission this week to investigate the widespread charges of abuse.

POLITICS: Activists Crusade Against E-Jihad

For millions of Muslims, invitation to martyrdom is just a mouse click away. So-called "jihad sites" are springing up all over the Internet to offer the latest news, images and slogans of Islamic holy war.

IRAQ-U.S.: One, Two, Many Messes

While the United States does not look quite yet like the ''pitiful, helpless giant'' that tortured Richard Nixon's imagination during the Vietnam War, the past week's events seem to have moved it very much in that direction.

IRAQ: Neo-Cons See Iran Behind Shiite Uprising

Neo-conservatives close to the administration of President George W Bush are pushing for retribution against Iran for, they say, sponsoring this week's Shiite uprising in Iraq led by radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

POLITICS-IRAQ: A Year After Occupation, Resistance Digs In

Iraqi groups opposed to the U.S.-led occupation of their country have regained full or partial control of four Iraqi cities and are resorting to the kidnapping of foreigners, a scenario that spells more violence ahead as the country marked on Friday the first anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.

POLITICS-JAPAN: Abductions Upset Tokyo’s Focus on Its Role in Iraq

Just as Japan has focused its foreign policy on its involvement in the reconstruction of Iraq, this week's abduction of three of its volunteers there has jarred a largely pacifist population - and may well undercut Tokyo's attempt to play a bigger role in international affairs.