Meanwhile in Iraq

Saudi Arabia Will Protect Sunnis if the U.S. Leaves: The economic powerhouse of the Middle East, the birthplace of Islam and the de facto leader of the world's Sunni community (which comprises 85 percent of all Muslims), Saudi Arabia has both the means and the religious responsibility to intervene. (Oh yeah, just look at what a great job they are doing of protecting Sunnis in Palestine).

At least 28 killed in another bloody day in Iraq: Iraqi police said a U.S.-Iraqi force killed eight civilians. Police said the dead were a man and his three sons and a neighbouring couple, their son and daughter.

25 Killed as Fierce fighting shuts down Iraqi city: By 3 p.m., 13 insurgents, six policemen, and six civilians had been killed, including two Iraqi females who were caught up in a coalition raid north of the capital, police and U.S. officials said. That raised to seven the number of Iraqi females, including an infant, who had died during American raids in Iraq in the last two days.

American military concedes daily toll of civilians likely to rise far above 100: Violence against Iraqi civilians, which is already taking between 60 and 100 lives a day, is likely to rise still further, Major General William Caldwell, the US military spokesman in Baghdad, conceded yesterday.

Witnesses detail Iraq burning deaths: The suspected Shiite militiamen took automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers from the vehicles. They then blasted open the front of the mosque, dragged six worshippers outside, doused them with kerosene and set them on fire.

Sadr bloc quits government in Bush protest: The political bloc of Muqtada al-Sadr has suspended its participation in Iraq's national unity government in protest at the Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki's meeting with the US president.

Damage control on leak of Iraq memo: Following the leak of a memorandum in which President Bush's national security adviser pointedly questioned the competence of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's young government in confronting sectarian violence within Iraq, the Bush administration insisted today it has faith in al-Maliki.

Iraqi Prime Minister canceled a presummit dinner with Bush: Prospects for the already-delayed meeting were put into further doubt when al-Maliki canceled a presummit dinner with Bush.

U.S.-Iraq Summit Put Off Until Thursday: President Bush's high-stakes summit with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was put off Wednesday after public disclosure of U.S. doubts about his capacity to control sectarian warfare. The White House said the two leaders would meet on Thursday.
Saudi will intervene in Iraq if US withdraws-aide: Using money, weapons or its oil power, Saudi Arabia will intervene to prevent Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias from massacring Iraqi Sunni Muslims once the United States begins pulling out of Iraq, a security adviser to the Saudi government said on Wednesday.

Pentagon Considers Moving Troops From al-Anbar Province to Baghdad: There are now 30,000 U.S. troops in al-Anbar, mainly Marines, braving some of the fiercest fighting in Iraq. At least 1,055 Americans have been killed in this region, making al-Anbar the deadliest province for American troops.

Powell: Iraq Is In A Civil War And Bush Should Stop Denying It: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Iraq’s violence meets the standard of a civil war and thinks President Bush needs to acknowledge that.

Kurdish Officials Sanction Abductions in Kirkuk: Police and security units, forces led by Kurdish political parties and backed by the U.S. military, have abducted hundreds of minority Arabs and Turkmens in this intensely volatile city and spirited them to prisons in Kurdish-held northern Iraq, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials, government documents and families of the victims.

Iranian president urges Americans to demand withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq: Iran's president urged the American people in an open letter Wednesday to demand the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and reject the Bush administration's policies in the war on terrorism.

Iraq's oil industry in grip of despair: The present state of Iraq's collapsing oil sector, its economic lifeline, is bleak and its future looks far worse, despairing officials say.

Powell: Bush must accept Iraq in civil war: A report filed by CNN asserts that former Secretary of State Colin Powell has said that President Bush must accept that Iraq has descended into civil war.