BAGHDAD (RFE/RL) — Former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein was buried overnight in his home village of Awja, near Tikrit, following his execution by hanging on December 30 for crimes against humanity.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Hussein’s death “ends a dark chapter” in the country’s history.
Hussein was laid to rest in the same family shrine […]
CAPITOL HILL - Family, friends and colleagues gathered in Washington Saturday to honor the memory of former President Gerald Ford. Mr. Ford died Tuesday at the age of 93.
A ceremonial honor guard escorted the body of former President Gerald Ford up the steps of the U.S. House of Representatives late Saturday. The former president’s remains […]
WHITE HOUSE - U.S. President George Bush says Saddam Hussein’s execution is an important milestone for Iraq, but will not stop the violence there. Mr. Bush is working on what he says will be a new way forward in the war in Iraq.
President Bush says Saddam’s hanging comes at the end of a difficult year […]
BAGHDAD (RFE/RL) — From Saddam Hussein’s rise within the ranks of the Ba’ath Party and the Revolution Command Council, to his regime’s ruthless persecution of perceived enemies at home and abroad.
1937: Saddam Hussein is born on April 28 in Al-Awja, about 15 kilometers from Tikrit, Iraq.
1947: At the age of 10, Hussein moves to Baghdad […]
BAGHDAD (RFE/RL) — Iraqi authorities today confirmed the execution of Saddam Hussein, the former president and dictator who was overthrown by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The hanging of Hussein at dawn ends a life marked by war, bloodshed, and oppression. But it has not ended the suffering in Iraq, where many Iraqis are […]
BAGHDAD - Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been executed, Iraqi state television reports.
According to the reports, the deposed Iraqi dictator was executed by hanging at dawn. Earlier, an adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Hussein would be hanged at dawn today. He said the time was agreed upon during a meeting on December […]
BOULDER, CO -The Native American Rights Fund (NARF), a non-profit law firm in Boulder, Colorado announced today that it has filed a class action lawsuit in federal district court in Washington, D.C. on behalf of over two hundred and fifty (250) Indian Tribes. The suit seeks full and complete accountings from the federal government for […]
ISLAMABAD - Afghan President Hamid Karzai denounced Pakistani plans to fence and mine sections of its border with Afghanistan. The proposal was announced earlier this week, amid mounting criticism from Afghanistan that Islamabad was not doing enough to end deadly cross-border raids by suspected Taleban insurgents.
Speaking to reporters Thursday afternoon, Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged […]
WASHINGTON - Former U.S. President Gerald Ford said in a 2004 interview the Iraq war was not justified and he disagreed with President Bush’s decision to invade the country.In an exclusive interview with veteran reporter Bob Woodward published in The Washington Post Thursday, Mr. Ford said he “very strongly” disagreed with Mr. Bush’s justifications for […]
WASHINGTON - Former U.S. Senator John Edwards has officially announced he will seek the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.Edwards announced his candidacy Thursday in a neighborhood of the southern U.S. city of New Orleans that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.
He said the neighborhood helped illustrate his campaign theme of the need to fight poverty […]
BAGHDAD - Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who faces hanging before the end of January, has written a letter to the Iraqi people, urging them to unite and saying he is prepared to sacrifice his life for his country. Iraqis are of mixed opinions over Saddam’s letter and his fate.
Saddam’s letter appeared Wednesday on the […]
NAIROBI - Somalia’s prime minister, Ali Mohamed Gedi, says the government’s Ethiopian-backed troops have reached entry points into the capital, Mogadishu, after Islamists abandoned the city. Tensions between rival clans in the capital are escalating, as they compete to fill the power vacuum left by the Islamists.
Islamist fighters - many of whom had been called back […]
WASHINGTON - The United States is proposing to declare polar bears a threatened species because of their shrinking Arctic ice habitat.
U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne says he is making the proposal because receding Arctic sea ice may be responsible for polar bear population declines. He notes that Canada’s western Hudson Bay polar bear numbers have […]
WASHINGTON - The annual season of Hajj is now under way. Every Muslim who is financially capable is required by the Koran, the holy Muslim scripture, to make the pilgrimage to Mecca at the annual season of Hajj at least once in the lifetime. The culmination of the Hajj is the “Id-Al Adha,” the festival […]
WASHINGTON - Flags across the United States are flying at half-staff as the country prepares to bury former U.S. President Gerald Ford.
Mr. Ford died Tuesday at his home in Rancho Mirage California, where he lived with his wife, Betty.
Officials say Mr. Ford’s funeral services will begin Friday in California, before services at the Capitol Saturday […]
WASHINGTON - Former United States President Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King, Jr.) has died today, December 27, 2006, at his home in Rancho Mirage, California at the age of 93.
Gerald Ford was a prominent politician from Grand Rapids, Michigan before his appointment to the vice-presidency, having served in the United States House […]
STATE DEPARTMENT - The United States said Tuesday Ethiopia has genuine security concerns in Somalia and has intervened at the request of that country’s legitimate governing authority. But the State Department called on the Addis Ababa government to show restraint and urged the Somali parties to return to peace talks.
The United States had previously declined […]
HONG KONG - Much of Asia faces days of slow Internet connections and cut phone lines after a powerful earthquake in Taiwan disrupted telecommunications around the region. Experts say it could take days before connections are fully restored.
Millions of Internet users and businesses in Asia woke Wednesday to find they had little or no access […]
WASHINGTON — The incoming chairman of the U.S. Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee says he will oppose any effort by President George W. Bush to increase the number of U.S. troops in Iraq.
Senator Joseph Biden, a member of the Democratic Party that will take majority control of both chambers of the U.S. Congress in January, told […]
IRBIL - Iraq’s highest appeals court has upheld the death sentence for Saddam Hussein ordering him to be put to death in the next 30 days. Meanwhile, Iraqi security officials say car bombings and roadside explosions across Baghdad today killed at least 37 people and wounded many more.
The court rejected Saddam’s appeal to overturn the […]
WASHINGTON - Former President Gerald Ford is dead at the age of 93. Mr. Ford had been in declining health this year, battling pneumonia and undergoing two heart procedures. He suffered a mild stroke in 2000. The 38th president of the United States, Gerald Ford is best known as a man who helped the country […]
WASHINGTON - U.S. President George Bush heads to his Texas ranch Tuesday for a week-long holiday break.
President Bush is expected to announce a revised strategy for Iraq early in 2007. And, over the course of the next week, he will have a chance to continue consultations and review his options in the informal setting of […]
WASHINGTON (RFE/RL) — Iran is vowing to push ahead with uranium enrichment despite UN Security Council sanctions aimed at discouraging such nuclear activities, with President Mahmud Ahmadinejad saying today the sanctions will have “no impact” on the course of Tehran’s nuclear program.
The sanctions, unanimously adopted by the 15 members of the Security Council on December […]
JERUSALEM - Israel says it would like to revive negotiations with neighboring Syria. Israel is setting down some tough pre-conditions.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says he would like to renew peace talks with Syria, but first there must be a change of heart in Damascus.
Mr. Olmert said the two countries could arrive at dialogue if Syria […]
