Charles Recknagel is standards editor for RFE/RL.
British troops patrolling in Al-Basrah (file photo) Details remain confused about an operation by British forces to free two soldiers arrested by Iraqi authorities in the southern city of Al-Basrah. The operation used armored vehicles to storm the prison where the soldiers were held and came after a day of rioting in the city by crowds demanding the soldiers remain in jail. What is behind the clashes in Al-Basrah and what does it say about British efforts to maintain order in a city increasingly dominated by Shi’ite militias?
North Korea pledged today that it will give up all of its nuclear weapons and programs and return to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. In exchange, South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia, and China -- which have been holding talks with North Korea in Beijing -- have expressed willingness to provide Pyongyang oil and energy aid and security guarantees. But are the statements from both sides enough to end the North Korean nuclear crisis?
Zalmay Khalilzad (file photo) U.S. officials again warned Syria to stop allowing insurgents to penetrate Iraq from its territory. U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said in Washington that “patience is running out with Syria” and that “all options are on the table.” The stepped-up warnings come as U.S.-backed Iraqi forces continue efforts to take control of the border town of Tal Afar. U.S. and Iraqi commanders say the town is a staging post for foreign fighters infiltrating from Syria.
Pilgrims on their way to the shrine on the morning of 31 August Iraq is observing three days of mourning following Wednesday’s stampede among Shi’ite pilgrims on a bridge in Baghdad that killed nearly 1,000 people. The stampede was set off by rumors of suicide bombers in the crowd. Hundreds of people were crushed to death. Others tumbled into the Tigris River, where they drowned. Both in Iraq and abroad, the tragedy is being called the work of terrorists.
The Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility (file photo) Iran says it has successfully applied biotechnology to manufacturing a precursor material for nuclear fuel. The claim -- made on Iranian state television -- is impossible to immediately confirm but is sure to heighten tensions over Iran's already controversial nuclear activities. The United States says Iran wants to develop nuclear arms under the cover of a peaceful nuclear energy program. Iran denies the charges.
Members of Iraq's constitutional committee (file photo) Liberal Iraqi women and secular parties fought hard to protect women’s rights in the drafting of Iraq’s first post-Saddam Hussein constitution. But their opponents -- Iraq’s ascendant religious parties -- succeeded in including a vague provision that no law can be passed that contradicts the fixed principles of Islam. RFE/RL speaks with an Iraqi women’s rights activist about some of the uncertainties the provision raises for the future of women’s rights in the country.
Iraq's long process of writing its first post-Saddam draft constitution is over. The overdue document, originally planned to be completed on 15 August was presented to the National Assembly and read aloud in the chamber on 28 August. But even as the document was presented to the Shi'a-dominated assembly, many Sunni negotiators involved in the weeks of hard bargaining said their concerns were ignored and they will now work to get the draft constitution rejected in the planned mid-October referendum.
A protest yesterday against the constitution in Ba'qubah Wrangling over terms continues to hold up the finalizing of Iraq’s overdue draft constitution. Iraqi leaders say discussions will last at least another day, but have set no new deadline for wrapping up the process. Meanwhile, new disputes have arisen regarding the proper procedures for approving the draft document before it goes to a national referendum in October.
Al-Sadr loyalists outside the cleric's house today Factional tensions in Shi’ite areas of Iraq are rising in the wake of clashes yesterday in Al-Najaf, Baghdad, and Al-Basrah. The clashes appear largely connected to longstanding power struggles between Shi’ite parties and their armed wings for political control of key centers. But the fallout could affect efforts in Baghdad to finally approve the country’s first post-Saddam Hussein draft constitution. According to the latest timetable, the National Assembly is due to vote by midnight today on whether to approve the document.
Sa'd Jawal Qandil, a member of the constitution-drafting committee Iraqi leaders have given themselves three more days to resolve the sticking points that are preventing approval of the country’s draft constitution. The toughest of the remaining disputes -- the debate over federalism -- largely pits the Shi’a against the Sunni and is becoming increasingly tense. What are the prospects for finding a compromise?
Some fear Iraqi women would lose out if religious law is employed Iraq is once again counting down to a midnight deadline for completing the draft of its first post-Saddam Hussein constitution. The countdown comes just a week after the committee drafting the constitution failed to meet its original deadline of 15 August and was given until 22 August --> http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/8/A4ECE30E-B44D-4563-B1A4-6A2F8C3E30A3.html to finish the work. The question now is whether the committee has been able to solve key disputes -- including the role of Islam and federalism -- that have divided the members along political and communal lines.
SCIRI head Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim (file photo) In Baghdad, a constitutional drafting committee continues to struggle to define what kind of state Iraqis want to live in. Iraq's Shi'a religious parties, which dominate the interim government, have seized the chance to press hard for their vision of a state with strong Islamic colorings. Now, one of the two largest parties has increased the stakes further by calling for a Shi'a autonomous region in southern Iraq and a special status for the Shi'a holy cities of Al-Najaf and Karbala.
Prime Minister al-Ja'fari thinks next week will be enough for a consensus to be found (file photo) Iraq's National Assembly has voted to extend the deadline for drafting the country's first post-Saddam Hussein constitution until 22 August. The extra days are intended to give time to the drafting committee to resolve several problems that so far have proven intractable. But as RFE/RL reports, the heated bargaining in the run-up to the original deadline of 15 August appears to have only added new difficulties to the process.
Kurdish calls for autonomy increased as the constitution deadline approached Iraq’s constitutional committee faces a deadline today for completing the draft of the country’s first post-Saddam Hussein charter and submitting it to the National Assembly for approval. But while U.S. and Iraqi officials are expressing optimism that the document will be ready on time, there is no certainty that remaining disputes will not force a delay.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says coalition forces have unambiguous evidence that weapons and bombs are being sent across the border from Iran into Iraq. He stopped short of saying whether the Iranian government is directly involved in the arms transfers, which Washington says add to the instability in Iraq. The charges come despite recent progress by Iran and the Shi'a-led Iraqi government to forge closer ties, including Iranian aid for building a new airport and an offer to help train Iraqi troops.
Members of Iraq's constitution-drafting committee (file photo) Efforts to draft a new Iraqi constitution are in trouble. The committee drafting the document is supposed to have it ready for Iraq’s provisional parliament -- the National Assembly -- to approve by Monday (15 August). The constitutional committee has completed much of the new constitution, but some of the most difficult points remain unresolved. They include to what extent Iraq will be a federal state and how much Iraq’s legal code should be based on Islamic law.
Magdi el-Nashar was arrested in Egypt The focus of the investigation into the 7 July London bombings has focused increasingly on the search for who masterminded the operation and who made the explosives used by the suicide attackers. Police appealed to the public for any information that might help them track the movements of the bombers and identify their accomplices. Meanwhile, the death toll from the attacks now stands at 54, as another one of those seriously wounded in the bombings has died.
The International Olympic Committee, meeting in Singapore, has chosen London as the venue of the 2012 Olympic Games. London won in a contest against four other strong candidates: Paris, Madrid, New York, and Moscow. All of the rivals mounted sizeable publicity efforts in an effort to host the event.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev (R) with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao 5 July 2005 -- The leaders of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan met today in Astana for a summit of their regional security group, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
The nuclear-power plant at Bushehr, Iran (file photo) Prague, 26 June 2005 (RFE/RL) -- One of the biggest questions surrounding Iran's 24 June election of a new, ultraconservative president is how that might affect international negotiations over Iran's nuclear activities. In his first press conference as president-elect on 26 June, Mahmud Ahmadinejad spoke of the negotiations only in general terms and showed no difference from Tehran's existing position.
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