Middle East

Basra Security Breakdown

Violence on the rise as rival Shia parties vie for power.

Violence Drives Doctors From Iraq

Patients suffer as medics under threat leave the country.

Food Rations Cut Hurting Poor

The government has slashed subsidised food, despite rising poverty.

Kurdish Press Freedom Abuses

The authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan are coming down hard on probing journalists.

Iraq: Shooting the Messenger

The spiraling sectarian violence is taking its toll on IWPR journalists - but they’re determined to keep going.

Mobile Phones Used to Text Threats

Modern cellphones may be convenient, but many Iraqis are abandoning them because they bear nothing but bad news.

Downside of Iraqi Marriage Boom

Judges and doctors concerned at growing numbers of underage brides.

Kurds Finally Get Anfal Reckoning

Saddam and his henchmen go on trial for their role in notorious military operation nearly 20 years ago.

Over the Mountains to Iran

Turkmenistan: Pressed into Service

Recruiters will take anyone, no matter how unfit, to fill the ranks of an army whose main job is to provide a free labour force.