DUBAI (AP) — Ships packed with 17,000 sailors and US marines moved into the Persian Gulf Wednesday as the US navy staged another show of military force off Iran’s coast — just days before the US start of direct talks with Iran in Baghdad.

BAGHDAD — From hiding, possibly in Iran, anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr is believed to be honing plans to sweep into the power vacuum made all the more intense by news that his chief Shiite rival has lung cancer. And he’s betting the US won’t keep its troops in Iraq …

LONDON (AFP) — Amnesty International said on Wednesday in its annual report that Iraq continued its descent into civil war in 2006 and that both Israel and Hizbollah committed war crimes during their 34-day conflict.