Friday, 6 October, 2006 , 10:02 AFP — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was stuck in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil Friday because the plane she flew in on from Baghdad earlier in the day was damaged on landing, a member of her entourage said.

Friday, 6 October, 2006 , 08:53 AFP — US Secretary of State Rice continued her surprise visit to Iraq on Friday with a trip to the Kurdish autonomous region in the north for talks on sharing of the country's oil wealth.

Friday, 6 October, 2006 , 07:28 AFP — Iraq's parliament condemned the assassination of a Kurdish deputy on Friday following the discovery of his body and that of his bodyguard in a Sunni neighborhood.

Friday, 6 October, 2006 , 07:13 AFP — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived Friday in Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan, for talks with regional president Massoud Barzani on efforts to ensure that Iraq's oil resources benefit the entire country, an AFP journalist traveling with her said.

Monday, 2 October, 2006 , 17:19 AFP — US President George W. Bush on Monday backed Turkey's push for European Union membership and hailed joint efforts to fight terrorism as he met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Monday, 2 October, 2006 , 10:49 AFP — The Turkish military vowed Monday to fight on against Kurdish separatists despite a rebel ceasefire ordered at the weekend, saying that the only way out for them was to surrender.

Sunday, 1 October, 2006 , 17:50 AFP — Iraqi Kurds were left reeling after two independent newspapers named scores of people who allegedly cooperated with Saddam Hussein's feared intelligence services, including many now in positions of power.

Sunday, 1 October, 2006 , 15:43 AFP — Turkey expects Washington and Baghdad to do more to curb Kurdish rebels, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said in an interview Sunday, warning that Turkey would "do the job ourselves" if needed.

Sunday, 1 October, 2006 , 12:46 AFP — Despite the ceasefire in its 22-year struggle to gain freedom from Turkey announced this weekend by Kurd rebels, the conflict was expected to be at the heart of talks Monday in Washington between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President George W. Bush.

Sunday, 1 October, 2006 , 12:44 AFP — Writer Mohammed Ghanem and young Kurd militant Shevan Abdo were freed from prison Sunday after serving their sentences, the National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria said in a statement.