19/05/2005 KurdishMedia.com

- In his Salahuddin HQ north of Hawler, KDP leader Massoud Barzani received on Sunday the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who described Barzani as a prudent leader who can play a great role in rebuilding federal Iraq. Rice said she came to consult with Barzani.

ANKARA (AA) - Mehmet Elkatmis, the Chairman of the parliamentary human rights follow-up committee met Claudia Roth, the Chairwoman of German-Turkish parliamentary friendship group on Tuesday.

By Richard A. Oppel Jr. The New York Times
[International Herald Tribune-MONDAY, MAY 16, 2005 (PARIS)]

BAGHDAD Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flew to Iraq on Sunday to urge its new leaders to greatly increase the involvement of Sunni Arabs in writing the Iraqi constitution amid the growing alarm of American officials who fear that a chance to bring dispossessed Sunni Arabs into the fold is slipping away. And she issued a stern warning to neighboring Syria, accusing it of harboring Iraqi terrorists and "standing in the way of the Iraqi people's desire for peace."

LAST UPDATE: 5/15/2005 10:44:02 AM
United Press International

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a surprise trip to Iraq Sunday -- her first visit to that nation -- to meet with government officials.

13 May 2005 01:04:27 GMT Source: Reuters
By Lin Noueihed

DAMASCUS, May 13 (Reuters) - Ismael Hami is a foreigner in the country of his birth. He cannot vote, run for office or register property in his name. A pink card stamped "not for travel" is one of a few documents proving he even exists.

STRASBOURG, May 12 (AFP) - 14h13 - The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday upheld a ruling in favour of jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, saying that he had been unfairly tried by a Turkish court, and urged Ankara to retry him.
Ocalan was sentenced to death in a high-profile trial in 1999, but his sentence was commuted to a life sentence, which he is currently serving in the prison island of Imrali.

Thursday 12 May 2005 9:27 AM GMT
Kilometre Zero is the first Iraqi film chosen for the competition

Iraq - past and present - has made its presence felt at the Cannes film festival with two films, one Iraqi and one from Japan, being screened.

BRASILIA, Brazil, May 11 (Reuters) Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, on his first overseas trip since Iraq held elections, urged South American and Arab nations to help his country's reconstruction with investment.

Army Takes Offensive As Kurdish Rebels Return From Iraq

By Karl Vick - Washington Post Foreign Service - Tuesday, May 10, 2005; A12

PERVARI, Turkey - Residents of this town nestled in the cliffs of southeastern Turkey counted 86 military vehicles lurching deeper into the mountains one day last month, with foot soldiers peering out. Overhead, Cobra attack helicopters stuttered across an epic blue sky laced by the contrails of F-16 warplanes.

IBRAHIM JAAFARI: PRIME MINISTER
Ibrahim Jaafari, a 58-year-old physician, was spokesman for the Islamic Daawa Party, one of Iraq's oldest political parties. Born in Karbala in 1947, he was educated at Mosul university as a medical doctor. He lived in Iran and UK from the 1980s until the fall of Saddam Hussein. When he was serving in the mainly ceremonial role of vice-president in the US-appointed interim regime, an opinion poll last year suggested Mr Jaafari was Iraq's most popular politician. Mr Jaafari is widely seen as a unifying figure, keen to bring Sunni Arabs into the democratic fold after their widespread absence from election polling stations.