BAGHDAD (AP) — The chief judge in Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial said Thursday that he did not believe the former Iraqi leader was a dictator, sparking demands from Kurds that he be removed from the case.

Pope Benedict XVI did not intend to offend Muslim sensibilities with remarks about holy war, the Vatican said Thursday night, scrambling to defend the pontiff as anger built in the Islamic world over some of his remarks during his pilgrimage in Germany.

UNITED NATIONS — UN chief Kofi Annan said most Middle East leaders he recently conferred with considered the Iraq war “a real disaster,” but felt the United States should not pullout just yet.