A huge car bomb on Monday killed Lebanon's former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri, a businessman turned politician who masterminded the country's reconstruction after its 1975-90 civil war.

Clark got his meeting only a week

Memo warned Bush of al-Qaida threat
Friday 11 February 2005

A recently declassified memo warned the Bush administration of al-Qaida's threat to the US and the Muslim world before 9/11.

Secretary straight into discussions with Tony Blair    Friday, February 4

LONDON, England (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is at No. 10 Downing Street to huddle with British Prime Minister Tony Blair -- the first in a series of meetings with European and Middle East leaders.

The secretary-general

Annan vows action after inquiry
   An investigation into the UN oil-for-food programme for Iraq has said the director of the operation got oil allocations for a firm run by a friend, and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has vowed to discipline the director. 

US troops have occupied Iraq for

US plan to reassign troops in Iraq

US military commanders are planning to reassign thousands of US troops in Iraq to advise and train Iraqi military units, military officials said.

Democracy marches ahead By Husain Haqqani

Villagers queue up to vote

Iraqis Brave Bombs to Vote

BAGHDAD, 31 January 2005 — Iraqis braved bombs and voted in their millions in Iraq’s first free election in half a century yesterday. Insurgents made good their promise of turning the election into a bloodbath. Nine of their suicide bombers killed at least 35 people.

Soldiers find weapons caches

Gunmen kill high-ranking Iraq Justice Ministry official Five U.S. soldiers die in vehicle accident

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A high-ranking official in Iraq's Justice Ministry was gunned down Tuesday morning as he was leaving his home southeast of Baghdad, according to Baghdad police headquarters

Defiant Squatters Pose a Headache By  Faisal Ali
MINA, 19 January 2005 — Pilgrims were facing a lot of hardship in moving around and finding their camps due to squatting by pilgrims all over the place in the valley of Mina yesterday. These pilgrims’ enthusiasm to perform Haj knows no limits and is not regulated by the rules.

Pilgrims move into Mina in groups

Arafat Standing to Mark Haj Climax
MINA, 19 January 2005 — The valley of Mina reverberated with the chants of the talbiyah as more than three million pilgrims prepared for their journey today to the Plains of Arafat to bring this year’s Haj to a grand climax.

Archbishop Casmoussa

Kidnapped archbishop freed in Iraq

MOSUL, Iraq (CNN) -- A Catholic archbishop has been released one day after he was kidnapped in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the Vatican confirmed Tuesday