QAZVIN — Banned from becoming president and with just a dozen MPs, women have started making inroads in the male-dominated world of Iranian politics by boosting their numbers on local councils.

GENEVA (AP) — The trial and execution of Saddam Hussein showed that Iraq has failed to move on from the era of injustice it endured under the former dictator, a UN human rights expert said Thursday.

GAZA CITY (AP) — A resurgence in factional violence in Gaza on Wednesday killed five Palestinians, including a  woman, indicating that a fragile truce between Hamas and Fateh has collapsed. After nightfall, warring sides in southern Gaza agreed to stop the violence, but it was unclear if this would end …

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was scheduled to meet today with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a key regional mediator, as part of efforts to restart Mideast peace talks and free a captured Israeli soldier, but Israeli officials said they did not expect a breakthrough on the …

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraq will execute two former aides of Saddam Hussein on Thursday, five days after the former leader was himself hanged in Baghdad, an official in prime minister’s office said Wednesday. Iraqi authorities, meanwhile, arrested a guard present during Saddam’s execution as part of an inquiry into how …

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President George W. Bush, just days from unveiling his new plan for Iraq, urged opposition Democrats who will control the US Congress until he leaves office in 2009 to back his spending priorities. “Congress has changed. Our obligations to the country haven’t,” he said, acknowledging the …

VIENNA (Reuters) — The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is reviewing its technical aid projects in Iran to see if any might violate a new UN resolution imposing sanctions on Tehran over concerns it is secretly trying to build atom bombs.

GARISSA, Kenya (Reuters) — Kenyan soldiers and helicopters beefed-up defences at the Somali border on Wednesday after Ethiopian warplanes and ground forces attacked fleeing Islamists on the other side of the frontier. The Islamists, which left their last stronghold on Monday after two weeks of war with Somali government troops …

NAIROBI — Under fire at home for costly military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US government has managed to achieve a major policy goal in strategic Somalia without firing a shot —  thanks to Ethiopia. The Ethiopian military, one of the continent’s strongest, decisively routed Islamists both Washington and …

BEERSHEBA — An Israeli firm has designed a security system to ensure jailbreakers or intruders find a guard dog’s bark can indeed be worse than its bite. Harnessing technology that interprets barking — to see if an animal is responding to a threat instead of just routinely woofing — the …