As of Friday, Jan. 9, 2009, at least 4,223 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
The government wants to require foreign and Iraqi journalists to sign a code of conduct in exchange for permission to attend this month's provincial elections, raising concerns among media analysts that independent coverage could be undermined.
A leading Shiite human rights activist in Bahrain said he was summoned Friday by Bahrain's state prosecutors on suspicion of inciting against the kingdom's Sunni rulers.
Israel will drive a hard bargain to halt its offensive in the Gaza Strip, with no truce deal likely unless it crushes Hamas' ability to launch rockets and smuggle in weapons.
Israeli jets and ground troops hammered at Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip and Islamic militants fired barrages of rockets at southern Israeli cities Friday, ignoring a U.N. resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire after two weeks of combat.
An estimated 50,000 people protested in the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria after Friday prayers, joining thousands of people in more than a dozen cities in the Middle East and elsewhere rallying against the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Iraq's prime minister warned police cadets Friday against favoring political or religious groups as they join a security force that has been heavily influenced by militias and extremists.
American troops in Iraq will be allowed to drink beer without fear of court-martial for this year's Super Bowl - an exception to a strict military ban on drinking alcohol in combat zones.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights called Friday for an independent war crimes investigation in Gaza after reports that Israeli forces shelled a house full of Palestinian civilians, killing 30 people.
With fighting all around them, Israeli troops knocked on the door of the Samouni clan in Gaza City last weekend and told them to leave, directing them to the building owned by a relative. Twenty-four hours later, three shells slammed into the structure where dozens of people were huddling, according to survivor accounts Friday.
Syria has responded to Israel's Gaza offensive with harsh words for the Israelis and expressions of firm support for Hamas. But it's unlikely to do much more.
Palestinian children are dying at a heavy rate in the Israeli-Hamas fighting - about one of every three persons killed, according to Gaza statistics.
A Gaza health official says a Ukrainian woman has been killed by an Israeli tank shell. She is the first foreign national to die in nearly two weeks of violence in the Palestinian territory.
As of Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009, at least 4,223 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Tiny bodies lying side by side wrapped in white burial shrouds. The cherubic face of a dead preschooler sticking up from the rubble of her home. A man cradling a wounded boy in a chaotic emergency room after Israel shelled a U.N. school.
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Israel, Hamas defy UN call for cease-fire
