Middle Orient

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraq postponed executing two of Saddam Hussein’s henchmen Thursday amid international pressure following the ousted leader’s bungled and much criticised hanging.

Speaker of the House-elect Nancy Pelosi blows a kiss Thursday while receiving applause after being nominated for the post  at a swearing in ceremony for the 110th Congress in the House Chamber of the US Capitol in Washington, DC

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — A year after Ariel Sharon’s stroke abruptly propelled him into the prime minister’s seat, Ehud Olmert finds himself badly out of favour and under a darkening cloud of scandal.

RIYADH — Saddam Hussein’s unruly execution on the feast of Eid Al Adha by masked Shiite hangmen taunting him on the gallows has revived Sunni Arab fears that the Iraqi government is run by vengeful sectarian Shiites backed by Iran.

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 …

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 …