Meanwhile in Iraq

Iraqi captive died with 93 injuries: Captive Iraqis were beaten with iron bars, kicked, starved, and forced to drink their own urine during abuse which led to the death of a prisoner, the first court martial of British troops accused of war crimes was told yesterday.

Iraq: At least 61 Killed As Bloody U.S Occupation Grinds On: A total of 35 bodies were found in the last 24 hours in Baghdad, police said.

Four US soldiers die across occupied Iraq: Another four US soldiers have died in series of incidents across Iraq, the US military reported on Tuesday.

No One Dares to Help: The wounded die alone on Baghdad's streets. An offer of aid could be your own death sentence, an Iraqi reporter writes.

U.S. general says attacks against American troops have increased : The attacks against U.S. troops were mostly carried out by suicide car bombers or roadside bombs. He added that the number of killings by death squads also had increased in the past week.

Did the U.S. choose the correct puppet?: Doubts Rise on Iraqi Premier’s Strength : Senior Iraqi and American officials are beginning to question whether Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has the political muscle and decisiveness to hold Iraq together as it hovers on the edge of a full civil war.

Time running out for Iraqis, study group leaders warn: Iraq's government has only until the end of 2006 to make major progress in curbing violence and improving basic services before the country's situation turns even more dire, the two leaders of a bipartisan, blue-ribbon study group on U.S. policy in Iraq warned Tuesday.

UK soldier 'enjoyed' Iraqis' pain : A British soldier "enjoyed" hearing Iraqis call out in pain as they were kicked and punched while in a detention centre, a court martial has heard.

The Ground Truth: Iraq War Veterans Speak Out : Drill instructors are shown dehumanizing recruits as part of the process of training them to dehumanize the adversary. Rare video footage from Iraq, accompanied by first-hand accounts from soldiers featured in the film, reveal the ways their training to "Kill, kill" leads them to target Iraqi civilians.

Israelis trained Kurdish troops in Iraq-BBC report: Former Israeli special forces soldiers entered Iraq from Turkey in 2004 to train two groups of Kurdish troops, one of the former Israeli trainers told the BBC's "Newsnight" programme.

Annan warns of civil war in Iraq: "If current patterns of alienation and violence persist much longer, there is a grave danger that the Iraqi state will break down, possibly in the midst of full- scale civil war," he said on Monday. Asked about Annan's comments, Barham Salih, Iraqi's deputy prime minister, said that his government faced many security challenges and obstacles "but that does not mean we are facing a civil war."

Shia community watchdogs 'will spy for death squads': The Sciri has its own 15,000-man militia, the Badr Corps, which Sunnis blame, along with the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, for much of Iraq's sectarian violence. Sunnis are threatening to form their own citizen groups. "Sciri's proposal aims to bring new militias into communities. This is unacceptable," said the MP Ayad al- Samarrai, who belongs to Iraq's largest Sunni political group, the Islamic Party.

British soldier admits war crime: Corporal Donald Payne today became the first member of the British armed forces to admit a war crime when he pleaded guilty to inhumanely treating civilians detained in Iraq. He is one of seven British troops who went on trial today.

Ties to GOP Trumped Know-How Among Staff Sent to Rebuild Iraq: A 24-year-old who had never worked in finance -- but had applied for a White House job -- was sent to reopen Baghdad's stock exchange. The daughter of a prominent neoconservative commentator and a recent graduate from an evangelical university for home-schooled children were tapped to manage Iraq's $13 billion budget, even though they didn't have a background in accounting.

Journalist shot dead in Baghdad: Report: Militants murdered a Baghdad TV journalist in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported on Tuesday.

U.S. Resorting to 'Collective Punishment': Ahmad, a local doctor who withheld his last name for security purposes told IPS. "This city has been facing the worst of the American terror and destruction for more than two years now, and the world is silent."

There is more than one triangle of resistance: What the occupiers of Iraq still refuse to accept is that the resistance is supported and protected by Iraqis.

Turkey official warns on Iraq federalism: "The core of the problem is that if Iraq is divided, definitely there will be civil war and definitely neighboring countries will be involved in this," Abdullah Gul said. "The Middle East can't shoulder this. It's too much."

Kurdish party to get shut down in Iraq : The Iraqi government said Tuesday it will shut down all offices belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, around the country.