Middle Orient

Israel said Tuesday it would stop dealing with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas if he goes ahead with plans to join Hamas in a new government, as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Arab allies sought a way to break the Hamas logjam and push forward the stalled peace process.

A suicide bomber struck a funeral in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least seven people as militants show increasing defiance to a major security operation in the capital.

The Federation Council’s International Affairs Committee Chairman Mikhail Margelov is to travel to Iran for talks with the Iranian leadership on the situation in the region.

A Marine who said he never fired a shot in the kidnapping and murder of an Iraqi man has been sentenced to eight years in military prison — the longest sentence yet in the case.

Kiki Munshi was showcased by the media in September as a seasoned U.S. diplomat who came out of retirement to lead a rebuilding group in Iraq.

Senate Democrats said Sunday they might try to restrict President Bush’s ability to wage war in Iraq by approving a more limited version of the 2002 measure that authorized the use of force against Saddam Hussein.

Iran’s foreign ministry on Sunday dismissed talk of immediate suspension of uranium enrichment ahead of this week’s UN Security Council deadline despite a recent flurry of Iranian diplomacy that had raised hopes of a compromise.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sought explanations on Sunday from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas about a unity government that Israel said it had agreed with Washington to shun.

THE shocking toll of six American helicopters shot down in Iraq within three weeks has sparked a Pentagon inquiry into the use of surface-to-air (Sam) missiles against the aircraft.

WHEN Iraqi soldiers and police smashed their way into Mohammed al-Jabouri’s home on the first day of Baghdad’s latest security crackdown last week, he did not imagine they would steal the family’s life savings.