IRAQ

A man threw his shoe at Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in a public conference in the capital on Monday, a particularly insulting action in Arab culture, eye witnesses said.

Three large car bombs rocked well-known Baghdad hotels on Monday, killing at least 36 people and ending a 1-1/2-month lull in coordinated assaults on the Iraqi capital as the country heads into a March election.

Vice President Joe Biden told Iraqi officials on Saturday the United States backed a ban on Saddam Hussein's Baath party and said he had faith Iraq would resolve a row over the banning of election candidates suspected of links to it.

Oilfield services leader Schlumberger Ltd posted a quarterly profit tarnished by weak margins, but talked of more spending by oil companies this year, including those in Iraq.

The city of Baghdad asked foreign companies on Thursday to sign up for a project to design and build 75,000 apartments, the first phase of a $10 billion plan to rebuild the Iraqi capital's sprawling Sadr City slum.

Russia's navy will strengthen its Baltic fleet in response to U.S. plans to deploy Patriot missiles in Poland, Russia's state RIA news agency reported on Thursday, citing an unnamed senior navy official.

President Barack Obama's promise to build a new Haiti out of the ruins of the earthquake could prove politically risky if the United States finds itself in a losing battle to rebuild the impoverished nation.

An Iraqi court sentenced Ali Hassan al-Majeed, the Saddam Hussein henchman widely known as Chemical Ali, on Sunday to death by hanging for a 1988 gas attack that killed about 5,000 Kurds, a court official said.

A plan by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to join a consortium advocating revenue transparency earned the praise of those watching its emerging oil sector. Maliki during the weekend announced plans to implement the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative by becoming an EITI candidate country in February.

A suicide bomber blew up a truck near a police station in Iraq's western Anbar province on Wednesday, killing seven people and wounding six, police said.

U.S. President Barack Obama plans to ask Congress for $33 billion (20.3 billion pounds) in emergency war funding for a major U.S. troop buildup in Afghanistan this year, defence officials said on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Tony Blair told U.S. President George W. Bush in 2002 that Britain would back military action if diplomatic efforts to disarm Iraq's Saddam Hussein failed, his former communications chief said on Tuesday.

Iraq joined a global transparency initiative Sunday in a bid to heal its reputation as a nation plagued by corruption and misuse of its vast oil wealth.

China ended 2009 with record monthly imports of crude oil and soybeans and a strong appetite for iron ore and copper, while its aluminium and steel sectors saw a welcome increase in export volumes.

China ended 2009 with record monthly imports of crude oil and soybeans and a strong appetite for iron ore and copper, while its aluminum and steel sectors saw a welcome increase in export volumes.

President Barack Obama got some unwelcome news on Friday showing unemployment still stuck at 10 percent in December and that businesses had unexpectedly shed another 85,000 jobs.

A Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a U.S.-bound plane on Christmas Day was recruited by al Qaeda in London and met a radical American Muslim cleric in Yemen, a senior Yemeni official said on Thursday.

Are you sure you want to go to that bus station? the surprised sounding taxi driver asked. Where do you want to travel to?

U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday plans to unveil reforms aimed at thwarting future attacks like the attempted Christmas Day airliner bombing, as he seeks to limit political fallout from the incident.

Let's have a cup of tea is an offer that many can't resist in India.Meetings and discussions can't take place without this favourite beverage. But it is by no means unique to India, according to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), it has become a global habit no matter the price. But in 2009, tea growers gained as production slumped due to bad weather in India, Sri Lanka and Kenya and tea prices zoomed to all time high.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said instability in Yemen posed a global threat and pledged on Monday to plug any holes in U.S. security procedures after a Christmas Day airline bombing attempt.