On a sultry morning in Basra, Muna Saud, her face framed by a black shawl, slipped unnoticed past the thick knots of men at the provincial health ministry. She glided from office to office until she found Zahra Abdul-Zahra, a former student, and greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. ...more

December 21, 2008

To make up for losing the recent referendum for change in the nation's governance, the losers have come up with a snappy comeback: a coup. ...more

November 23, 2008

About a quarter of the nation's core intelligence work force are contractors, perhaps as many as 37,000 private employees who work side-by-side with civil servants as analysts, technology specialists and mission managers, according to a report about government outsourcing by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. ...more

August 28, 2008

The mangonel was the big gun of antiquity. But this siege engine, used to catapult rocks, burning objects or dead animals into fortified cities, troubled Islamic scholars. Some early authorities disallowed it on the ground that it was an indiscriminate weapon. ...more

July 27, 2008

Secret government documents on al-Qaida and Iraq were left on a commuter train, prompting a major police investigation into the latest in a series of embarrassing security breaches, British officials said Wednesday. ...more

June 12, 2008

A key opposition group vowed Sunday to try to undo amendments President Pervez Musharraf made to the constitution before lifting emergency rule, changes critics say will keep a tight lid on dissent. ...more

December 17, 2007

Thousands of people used shovels and buckets in a massive operation Sunday to clean up the South Korea's largest oil spill, which blackened beaches along the country's western coast. ...more

December 10, 2007

When King Bhumibol Adulyadej checked out of a hospital in a pink blazer, he made a fashion statement that resonated around Thailand. ...more

December 1, 2007

President Nicolas Sarkozy stood firm against spreading strikes Tuesday, insisting he will not water down plans for a thorough overhaul of France, even as civil servants joined the walkouts and thousands of protesters took to the streets. ...more

November 21, 2007