BAGHDAD (AFP) — The genocide trial of Saddam Hussein heard its penultimate witness Monday in a sign it will soon concentrate on documents allegedly linking former Iraqi authorities to the 1988 massacres of Kurds.

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.