Middle Orient

BAGHDAD — Disenchanted Sunni Arabs, who largely boycotted Iraq’s first post-Saddam elections in January, are gearing up in force to participate in the upcoming referendum on the constitution, despite deadly threats from Al Qaeda. “The participation in this process [referendum] is a duty and a responsibility. We all should take …

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — US diplomats have conceded ground to Islamists on the role of religion in Iraq, negotiators said on Saturday as they raced to meet a 48-hour deadline to draft a constitution under intense US pressure. US diplomats, who have insisted the constitution must enshrine ideals of equal rights …

KFAR DAROM, Gaza Strip (Reuters) — Israeli troops using cranes and water cannon battled protesters on the rooftop of a Gaza settlement synagogue on Thursday as they assaulted the last bastions of resistance to evacuation of the occupied Strip. In the most violent, frenzied scenes since the start of forced …

BAGHDAD (AP) — A spokesman for the biggest Shiite party Thursday predicted a breakthrough on the constitution within the next two days, as negotiators scrambled to finish the draft by next week’s deadline. A roadside bomb killed four more US soldiers in a city north of Baghdad. Four days before …

BEIRUT (AP) — First came the blast, followed by heavy black smoke and cars on fire. Bloodied casualties lay on the ground and ambulances rushed to the scene. It all looked too familiar, but it wasn’t real. A security drill by army troops and police on handling car bombs and …

DAKAR — When it comes to fighting militants in Africa, choosing allies is a risky business. Soldiers who overthrew Mauritania’s president this month may have ended 21 years of authoritarian rule and triggered dancing in the streets, but they also deprived the United States of a key ally in its …

RABAT (Reuters) — Morocco prepared to welcome home on Thursday the last 404 prisoners of war (PoW) who were held by Western Sahara’s exiled Polisario Front independence movement, many of them for almost two decades. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the release in Tindouf, Algeria, followed …

VIENNA — Despite suspending sensitive nuclear activities due to Western fears it is seeking to make atomic bombs, Iran has still managed to make progress on its programme but analysts differ on just how far along it has got. The question is critical, as Iran this month resumed work on …

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Iraq’s presidency has signed death sentences for three men convicted of murder, paving the way for the first state-endorsed executions since the fall of Saddam Hussein. The men will be hanged. President Jalal Talabani, who opposes capital punishment, did not sign the document, but his deputy signed …

RIYADH (AFP) — Saudi security forces shot dead one of the country’s top Al Qaeda leaders in the holy city of Medina Thursday, the latest of the group’s chiefs in the Kingdom to be gunned down in a shoot-out. The clash that killed Saleh Al Ufi coincided with another operation …