The Red Cross is warning that despite some improvements in security in Iraq, the condition of the country's infrastructure remains dire. 　　In a statement issued from their headquarters in Geneva, the Red Cross said it was particularly concerned about poor water supplies. 　　It estimates that over 40% of Iraq's civilian... More

　　Iraq's medical professionals have reacted with caution to a government waiver that doctors be allowed to carry arms for self-defense purposes. 　　The Baghdad government is hoping the arms initiative will improve security conditions to lure doctors who now reside in Syria, Jordan, Egypt and the Gulf back to the country.... More

　　As the Iraqi parliament continues to debate the US-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement (Sofa), residents of Baghdad are urging the government to tear down the walls which separate their neighborhoods. 　　Iraqis say the walls were designed to consolidate sectarianism and establish a number of cantons; now that security has improved,... More

　　Gaza Strip residents are going back to the days of kerosene stoves and firewood-gathering as Israel's blockade of foreign aid supplies of fuel and food bites much deeper. 　　Bakeries in the territory are now using low-quality grain or animal feed to produce bread. 　　Israel closed border crossings to Gaza although... More

　　More Afghans are being detained without trial, with poor people or those without powerful connections, the most common victims, unable to pay bribes to secure their release, the United Nations said on Monday. 　　Afghanistan is emerging from nearly 30 years of war and its judicial and law enforcement systems are... More

　　The US-led force's $100bn effort to rebuild Iraq has failed amid bureaucratic quarrels, ignorance of Iraqi society and violence in the country, the New York Times says, quoting a US federal report. 　　The newspaper said on its website on Saturday that it had obtained a draft copy of Hard Lessons:... More

　　As the death toll from Israel's aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip continues to climb, Al Jazeera asked Gazans to describe the situation where they are and to explain how the offensive is affecting them. 　　Majed Badra, 23, Gaza City, cartoonist and student at the Islamic Universitysaid: 　　"Unfortunately the situation... More

　　Maintaining a night vigil along the border with Israel, Hamas fighters sat within reach of a device connected to wires running underground. 　　"What you see are little surprises, but what awaits (the Israelis) is beyond their imagination," said Abu Sakher, a Hamas battalion commander making the rounds of frontier positions... More

　　"It is so much more than disappointment," explains Abir, a Gazan now living in the West Bank city of Ramallah. 　　"In my worst nightmares I never imagined that Gaza would literally be slaughtered and the West Bank would be quiet." 　　While protests against the Israeli assaults on Gaza have surged... More

　　The prominent Muslim scholar Dr. Youssef al-Qaradaawi strongly criticized Israel over its unjust assault on Gaza and appealed to the United States to end its support for the Jewish state. 　　"Our message to the aggressor Jews ... who rely on the power, money, arms of America and its veto power... More

　　IN the annals of war crimes, the name "Zeitoun" will assume its place alongside names like "My Lai," "Fallujah," "Sabra-Shatila," "Guernica," "Nanking," "Lidice," and "Wounded Knee." 　　In the last two days, the massacre that took place in Zeitoun, a neighborhood on the southern flats approaching Gaza City, has only now... More

　　By: Khalid Mish'al 　　For 18 months my people in Gaza have been under siege, incarcerated inside the world's biggest prison, sealed off from land, air and sea, caged and starved, denied even medication for our sick. After the slow death policy came the bombardment. In this most densely populated of... More

　　Sloganeers, propagandists and politicians often use the word "genocide" in ways that the law does not permit. But rarely is the crime of genocide invoked when Western militaries murder Muslim groups. 　　This essay argues that the internationally recognized crime of genocide applies to the intentional killings that NATO troops commit... More