Meanwhile in Iraq

Curfew locks down Baghdad until Sunday: Iraq’s government shut down the capital with a curfew from Friday night until Sunday morning, ordering all cars and pedestrians off the streets, but giving no reason for the measure.

Saddam Judge's Relatives Gunned Down: The brother-in-law of the new judge presiding over Saddam Hussein's genocide trial was shot to death Friday morning in Baghdad in an attack that also seriously wounded his son, police said. Kadhim Abdul-Hussein and his son Karrar were shot in their car in the capital's western Ghazaliya neighborhood by unidentified assailants, police 1st Lt. Thaer Mahmoud said.

At least 15 killed as bloody U.S. occupation grinds on: Gunmen firing from a car killed three Iraqi soldiers, two of them brothers, in the small town of Rashad, 20 km (12 miles) southwest of the northern oil city of Kirkuk, police said.

More Tortured Bodies Found In Baghdad: The corpses of six men and one woman were all found in east Baghdad neighborhoods. They were blindfolded, and had their hands and legs bound, police said.

Five killed in U.S. air strike -police, medics: - Iraqi police and hospital officials said a woman and two children were among five people killed in an air strike on a car on Thursday, but the U.S. military said it was unaware of any such incident.

Two U.S. occupation force soldiers killed in Iraq : Two U.S. soldiers were killed in two incidents in the volatile Anbar province, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

U.S. army `coming to end of its rope': Not only are troop levels not being reduced, but almost 8,000 soldiers have just had their 12-month tours of duty extended.

Iraq situation dire, says Straw : The current situation in Iraq is "dire" according to former foreign secretary Jack Straw.

U.S. Commander Says Insurgency In Iraq Unlikely To Be Defeated Until U.S. Forces Leave: The insurgency in Iraq's volatile western Anbar province can be beaten but probably not until after U.S. troops leave the country, the commander of forces in the provincial capital said Friday.

Book says Bush ignored urgent warning on Iraq : The White House ignored an urgent warning in September 2003 from a top Iraq adviser who said that thousands of additional American troops were desperately needed to quell the insurgency there, according to a new book by Bob Woodward

Sen. Trent Lott On Iraq: ‘Why Do Sunnis Kill Shiites? … They All Look The Same To Me’: Speaking shortly after a meeting with President Bush and Vice President Cheney, Lott added that Iraq wasn’t among the White House’s priorities.