The Kurdistan regional government in northern Iraq on Tuesday denied unconfirmed television reports that Turkish military helicopters seeking Kurdish rebels had bombed two empty villages in the area.

Corruption among Afghan officials is rife and government must be reformed to help end 30 years of war, misery and oppression, President Hamid Karzai said on Tuesday in an unusually frank assessment of his country’s woes.

The United States on Tuesday cast doubt on Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili’s claims that Russia was involved in stirring up civil strife in the crisis-torn Caucasus nation.

Provincial officials said on Monday that Iraqi forces will take over security for Babel province south of Baghdad next month, but the U.S. military said it was not aware of any plans to transfer control.

Turkish military helicopters bombed villages in northern Iraq in strikes directed against Kurdish rebels, two Turkish television channels reported on Tuesday.

A Turkish soldier was killed and three others injured in clashes with Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas in southeast Turkey on Tuesday, security sources said.

NATO forces in Afghanistan may be breaching their own operating rules by handing detainees to Afghan security services despite reports that they torture their prisoners, rights group Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

One month into the new academic year and education at the sprawling University of Baghdad is as near to normal as it has been for years – the grisly killings of two professors and two students aside.

An Iraqi taxi driver was shot dead by a private security guard hired to protect US convoys driving through Baghdad, Iraqi officials said Monday.

Turkish women protest on Monday against Israel in Istanbul as Israeli President Shimon Peres was in Ankara to address parliament today. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who arrived in Ankara on Monday, is also due to address the assembly.