April 19, 2008 | By Kimi Yoshino, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

SULAYMANIYA, IRAQ -- The tallest player on the women's national basketball squad is 5 feet 7 inches. She and her teammates cannot practice in the nation's capital because of poor security. And in northern Kurdistan, where they are now based, they practice outdoors, often in frigid temperatures.

April 20, 2008 | Secretary Condoleezza Rice

Baghdad, Iraq - PRESIDENT TALABANI: (Via interpreter.) First of all, I want to start by thanking our guest and friend, Secretary Rice, for her visit. We started our meeting by thanking her for convincing our brothers from the Arabic Gulf Council to include (inaudible) in their conference tomorrow in Bahrain. And we gave her an update about Iraq and also, before me, Prime Minister Maliki gave her an update about what’s happening in Iraq. And we told her that we are living the Iraqi political spring.

April 17, 2008 | Bitterlemons-International.org | Steven A. Cook, Douglas Dillon Fellow

With all the attention in Iraq over the last five years focused on the fate of al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the conflict between Sunni and Shi’ite, the role of Iran, the security of Anbar province, the “surge” and, most recently, the further deterioration of Basra, the situation in northern Iraq has only received sporadic attention.

April 16, 2008 | By BEN LANDO | UPI Energy Editor

WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Iraq's central and Kurdish region governments have reached a deal on an oil law, including a method for weighing the validity of the oil deals the Kurds have signed with foreign firms, the top government spokesman told United Press International.

Wed Apr 16, 2008 | By Wojciech Moskwa and Joergen Frich

OSLO, April 16 (Reuters) - Shares in Norwegian oil and gas producer DNO (DNO.OL: Quote, Profile, Research) soared on Wednesday on hopes Iraq is close to finalising an oil and gas law for Baghdad to back oil contracts signed by Kurdish authorities.

April 15, 2008  | The Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey: A Turkish court on Tuesday found 53 Kurdish mayors guilty of praising a criminal group because they asked Denmark to let a television station with alleged links to Kurdish guerrillas continue to operate there.

Monday, April 14, 2008 | By Gareth Jenkins

Turkey and Iran will look to boost security cooperation during the 12th meeting of the Turkey-Iran High Security Commission in Ankara on April 14-18. The agenda is expected to be dominated by discussions about cooperation against violent rebel Kurdish groups: the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which targets Turkey, and the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), which is active in Iran.

April 14, 2008 By Stefan Buchen, John Goetz and Sven Röbel

NEW KURDISH TERROR GROUP?

A new Kurdish party, the PJAK, is causing Germany's intelligence agencies concern. Public prosecutors are investigating whether the group, whose leader lives in Cologne, is a terrorist organization.

March 11, 2008 | Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

Turkey, with a population of approximately 70.5 million, is a constitutional republic with a multiparty parliamentary system and a president with limited powers elected by the single‑chamber parliament, the Turkish Grand National Assembly. In an October 21 referendum that was deemed free and fair, voters approved a constitutional amendment that allows the president to be elected by popular vote for a maximum of two five-year terms. In the July 22 parliamentary elections, also considered free and fair, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) won the majority of seats and formed a one‑party government. Two opposition parties entered parliament, and independent candidates representing four additional parties also entered parliament. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces.

  
April 11, 2008 | By Abdulkadir Onay

Earlier this month, Europol -- the European Union law enforcement agency that handles criminal intelligence -- released its annual Terrorism Situation and Trend Report, part of which addresses the European criminal activities of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).