WASHINGTON — After a five-year Republican lock on power, the quagmire in Iraq handed US President George W. Bush a Democrat-controlled Congress in late 2006, which is likely to make his last two years in the White House tough ones.

CAIRO — Mohammad Gad walks barefoot through the muddy tannery, seemingly not bothered by the acrid odours of chemicals and the stink of unprocessed skins.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Foreign Ministry on Sunday summoned Swiss charge d’affaires in Tehran to reflect the Islamic Republic’s strong protest at the savage behavior of the US police towards an Iranian student of California University.