ERBIL (AFP) — The prime minister of Iraqi Kurdistan raised fresh calls on Thursday for a referendum to decide the future of the country’s crucial oil hub of Kirkuk, warning that Kurdish patience had limits.

BEIT LID, West Bank — Urban warfare exercises by Israeli troops in full battle gear have been giving Palestinians in this West Bank village some sleepless nights.

ROME // Italy’s strategy of negotiating the release of Taliban militants in exchange for an Italian hostage in Afghanistan has put Premier Romano Prodi under fire days before a crucial parliamentary vote on keeping the country’s troops in Afghanistan.The move has drawn the ire of conservative opponents – whose backing …

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says if the Congress does not approve additional funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by mid-April, without special conditions, the department will have to make cuts that could affect troop training and deployments.  VOA’s Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon. Secretary Gates began …

UNITED NATIONS, March 22: The United Nations drug Czar said on Wednesday that corruption must be stamped out and borders strengthened to run emerging Afghan drug cartels out of business, particularly in the new ‘Golden Triangle’ of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.

Explosives looted from Iraq munitions sites probably will continue to support terrorist attacks throughout the region, a congressional report said Thursday. It said some sites were still not secure more than 3 1/2 years after the war started.

The Saudi-proposed Arab peace initiative could be used as a basis for negotiation between Israel and moderate force in the Arab world, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Thursday.

Iranians residing in Japan celebrated Norouz (New Year) here on Wednesday.

Iran’s representative to an international conference in Russia, Seyed Reza Hashemi, stressed on Thursday on the need to transfer Russia’s remarkable experiences to Iran in the scientific and technological fields.

President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has recently said that Iran’s ties with the Arab states of the Persian Gulf region was as important to Syria as its bilateral relations with Iran, it was reported here on Thursday.