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Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi attends the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Sharm el-Sheikh July 15, 2009. REUTERS/Khaled El Fiqi/Pool

Iraq parliament passes new vote law

Mon Nov 23, 1:27 PM ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's parliament on Monday approved an amended law needed to hold an election next year, but the new text risks being vetoed a second time -- which could delay both the vote and next year's partial U.S. troop withdrawal.

  • Captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is seen in this file photo of a video grab released on October 2, 2009 by Israeli television. Israel has softened its terms for a prisoner swap with Hamas and the two enemies are nearing a deal to exchange hundreds of Palestinian inmates for Shalit, an Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip, officials said on November 23, 2009. REUTERS/Handout/Files
    Israel-Hamas prisoner swap deal near Mon Nov 23, 1:36 PM ET

    CAIRO (Reuters) - Israel has softened its terms for a prisoner swap with Hamas and the two are nearing a deal to exchange hundreds of jailed Palestinians for an Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip, officials said on Monday.

  • Belgian pleads guilty in U.S. jet parts sale to Iran 32 minutes ago

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Belgian man pleaded guilty on Monday to charges of conspiring to illegally export F-5 fighter jet engines and parts from the United States to Iran, the Justice Department said.

  • Congo warlords in the dock at Hague court Mon Nov 23, 6:18 PM ET

    THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The world's first permanent war crimes court opens its second trial on Tuesday when two Congolese warlords face charges they ordered subordinates to attack civilians, rape women and enlist child soldiers.

  • Tajikistan fails to curb abuse of women: Amnesty Mon Nov 23, 7:14 PM ET

    ALMATY (Reuters) - The government of the Central Asian state of Tajikistan is failing to protect women from violence and abuse, human rights group Amnesty International said in a report on Tuesday.

  • A Sudanese man walks while a peacekeeper from the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) secures the area outside a military base in Kor Abeche, south Darfur, March 15, 2009. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
    Peacekeepers should prepare to leave Darfur: Sudan Mon Nov 23, 4:19 PM ET

    UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Khartoum's U.N. envoy, rejecting a bleak U.N. assessment of the situation in Sudan's conflict-torn western Darfur region, said on Monday it was time for international peacekeepers to prepare to leave.

  • Jordan king dissolves parliament, calls election Mon Nov 23, 5:43 PM ET

    AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan's King Abdullah has dissolved parliament halfway through its four-year term and called for early elections, state television reported Monday.

  • Colleagues wait for information of trapped miners at Xinxing coal mine following a gas explosion at the mine in Hegang, Heilongjiang Province November 22, 2009. REUTERS/Aly Song
    China families protest mine disaster, toll hits 104 Sun Nov 22, 9:57 PM ET

    HEGANG, China (Reuters) - Relatives of victims of a gas blast at a mine in northeastern China scuffled with police and demanded answers from the owners on Monday as state media put the toll from the country's latest mine disaster at 104.

  • A security official wearing a protective mask keeps an eye on cars at a checkpoint between Jeddah and Mecca before the start of the annual Hajj pilgrimage November 21, 2009. REUTERS/Caren Firouz
    Saudi Arabia seeks to curb flu and stop protest at haj Mon Nov 23, 11:07 AM ET

    RIYADH (Reuters) - More than two million Muslims gather this week for the annual haj pilgrimage to Islam's holy city of Mecca, where Saudi authorities hope to minimize spread of the H1N1 virus and prevent any political demonstration.

  • Remains of British hostage found in Lebanon Mon Nov 23, 9:53 AM ET

    BEIRUT (Reuters) - A forensics team has found the remains of a British journalist kidnapped by Palestinian militants in Lebanon 24 years ago, the British embassy said on Monday.

  • Gunmen kill 21 in Philippine political war Mon Nov 23, 8:39 AM ET

    MANILA (Reuters) - Gunmen abducted and killed at least 21 people in the southern Philippines Monday, apparently to prevent a woman filing her husband's nomination to run for provincial governor in elections next year, the military said.

  • In this image released by the White House, President Barack Obama holds meeting on Afghanistan in the Situation Room of the White House, Monday, Nov. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/The White House, Pete Souza)
    Two Afghan ministers suspected of embezzlement Mon Nov 23, 9:26 AM ET

    KABUL (Reuters) - Two Afghan cabinet ministers are being investigated under suspicion of embezzlement, a deputy attorney general said on Monday, at a time when President Hamid Karzai faces tough Western pressure to clean up his government.

  • REUTERS PICTURES OF THE DECADE. A Kashmiri girl refugee carries a stone to helps her father to build a wall in the Neelum Valley near Kamsar camp, some 10 km (6 miles) north of the earthquake-devastated city of Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir February 15, 2006. Winter weather has made life more difficult for survivors of last year's massive earthquake in South Asia, where more than two million people have been living in tents or crude shelters patched together from ruined homes. REUTERS/Thierry Roge (PAKISTAN-ADMINISTERED KASHMIR)
    Pakistani forces attack Taliban, kill 22 Mon Nov 23, 9:00 AM ET

    HANGU, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani security forces, backed by tanks and artillery, attacked Taliban positions in the northwest of the country, killing 22 militants, a senior police official on Monday.

  • Russia says new blast at arms depot kills 8 Mon Nov 23, 11:13 AM ET

    MOSCOW (Reuters) - Eight soldiers were killed and two injured Monday when munitions exploded at a Russian navy arms depot, 10 days after a series of blasts ripped through the same complex, the Defense Ministry said.

  • A vehicle carrying Kaing Guek Eav, former Khmer Rouge prison chief, aboard arrives at a U.N.-backed tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009. Cambodia's genocide tribunal continues its historic trial of the accused Khmer Rouge torture chief on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
    Khmer Rouge torturer had broad autonomy, lawyer says Mon Nov 23, 7:47 AM ET

    PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - The Khmer Rouge's chief torturer ran a camp "dedicated to death" with broad autonomy, a lawyer said on Monday in closing arguments at the U.N.-backed "Killing Fields" tribunal in Cambodia.

  • India tests nuclear-capable missile after sunset Mon Nov 23, 10:18 AM ET

    BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) - India's army tested a nuclear-capable Agni missile after sunset on Monday for the first time to demonstrate it could be fired whenever required, defense officials said.

  • Policemen carry coffins of victims of a sunken ferry as they arrive in Dumai, Riau province November 24, 2009. An overloaded ferry sank in bad weather off Indonesia's Riau islands on Sunday, killing 29 people, while 245 passengers survived the accident, officials said. REUTERS/Stringer (INDONESIA DISASTER ENVIRONMENT)
    Indonesian ferry sinks; 29 dead, most survive Mon Nov 23, 2:02 AM ET

    JAKARTA (Reuters) - An overloaded ferry sank in bad weather off Indonesia's Riau islands on Sunday, killing 29 people, while 245 passengers survived the accident, officials said.

  • Cheque-cashing crew makes millions in Baghdad Mon Nov 23, 8:53 AM ET

    BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi authorities are investigating large-scale fraud at Baghdad municipality where employees have stolen millions of dollars, officials said on Monday.

  • China quake activist jailed for three years Mon Nov 23, 1:18 AM ET

    BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese dissident who tried to help victims of last year's Sichuan earthquake was jailed for three years on Monday on charges of illegally possessing state secrets, his wife said, decrying the sentence as "revenge."

  • Pakistani militant group an intractable Indian foe Mon Nov 23, 1:39 AM ET

    ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The Pakistan-based militant group that attacked the Indian city of Mumbai a year ago remains an implacable Indian foe and could strike again despite Pakistani efforts to rein it in.