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Nearly a year after the American public was informed that Joe Biden had classified documents at his home and think tank office, lawmakers in Congress have a pressing question: Was there anything in those memos valuable to his son Hunter’s overseas business clients? The issue catapulted to prominence recently when House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, showed up at the House Oversight Committee’s first impeachment inquiry hearing and said there was real reason to fear that Hunter Biden’s clients had an interest in the memos that Joe Biden improperly secreted away at his home and office. “Obviously, his son...

BAGHDAD — Over the past three decades, Hadi al-Amiri has gone from being a guerrilla fighting on behalf of Iran against his home country, Iraq; to notorious militia leader accused of running "death squads"; to parliament member in Baghdad, where he has emerged as a key player in the fight against the Islamic State (IS). “The Iraqi people, they love bravery,” Amiri said, by way of explaining his newfound influence. -excerpt- Amiri is the leader of the Badr Organization, a Shiite militia infamous during Iraq's civil war for its brutal tactics, which has now transformed into a political party that...

On March 5 in AD 493, Theodoric the Ostrogoth entered Ravenna, having forced Odoacar the Scirian, who had ruled Italy as rex for 17 years, to agree to joint rule. This agreement ended the war between them which had been ongoing for nearly four years. Odoacar had deposed the last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, in AD 476 and had ruled Italy himself since then. Attempts by the Eastern Roman emperor Zeno to get Odoacar to recognize even the appearance of Roman suzerainty over Italy were continually rebuffed. In 489, when faced with a dangerous Ostrogothic horde outside the walls...

From the BNO Newsroom. WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) -- White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs released the following statement on Wednesday on the passing of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. "We were saddened to learn of the passing of His Eminence Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, who has played an important role in Iraq’s national history. We offer our condolences to his family and colleagues," Gibbs said.

Sources close to Iraqi Shi'ite leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim say the cleric has died. Hakim was being treated for lung cancer at a hospital in Iran, and those close to the man said his health was deteriorating. A family member and an aide to Hakim, speaking on the condition of anonymity, separately told reporters Wednesday that he had suffered a setback. Hakim was known for his close links with Iran, and he led the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, one of Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite groups. In June, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani visited Hakim in Tehran, where the ailing cleric was...

BEIRUT, Lebanon – The United States has completed intensive negotiations with Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait and Turkey for using their territories and air space to carry out an attack against Iraq meant to oust Saddam Hussein, daily As-Safir reported Thursday. As-Safir, a Lebanese newspaper that often reflects Syrian views, quoted diplomatic sources as saying Saudi Arabia informed Washington of its final decision refusing to allow U.S. forces to use its territories or to allow U.S. bases in the Kingdom in any battle against Iraq. The sources said the United States then stopped pressing Riyadh and began trying instead to confirm deals...

Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite party will make key changes to its platform, party officials said on Friday, in a move that will increasingly align it with Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The changes could distance the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) from neighbouring Shi'ite Iran, where the party was formed in the 1980s to oppose the late President Saddam Hussein. Under the new platform, the party would get its guidance from the Shi'ite religious establishment as before, but more from Sistani, SCIRI officials said. That would mark a shift from SCIRI's current platform,...

KUT, Iraq, (Reuters) - U.S. troops detained the eldest son of Iraq's powerful Shi'ite politician Abdul Aziz Hakim at a border checkpoint with Iran on Friday, Iraqi security force officials told Reuters. The U.S. military said it was checking the report. Ammar Hakim's convoy was stopped at the Badrah checkpoint in Wasit province as he returned from Iran, they said. It was not immediately clear why he had been detained. The Iraqi security sources said U.S. forces had taken him to forward operating base Delta, a U.S. camp in nearby Kut, capital of Wasit province. Ammar's father is leader of...

US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad and State department spokesman Sean McCormack said the US would soon present evidence of Iran’s hand in the violence besetting Iraq. The spoke as US-Iran military tensions over Iraq continued to rise. The ambassador stressed too that the charges against the Revolutionary Guards al Quds Brigade agents detained at the Iranian “liaison center” in Irbil on Jan 11 would be made public. The detainees are still in custody. McCormack spoke of “solid evidence” that Iranian agents sent by the Iranian government are working with individuals and groups in Iraq. He quoted President Bush who...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's Kurdish president backed his Shiite allies Wednesday by openly supporting a militia that Sunni Arab leaders have accused of killing members of their minority. Clashes in Baghdad and other attacks around Iraq killed at least eight people as the Sunni-dominated insurgency pressed on with its campaign against the Shiite-led government. The bloody wave of violence that broke out after the April 28 announcement of Iraq's new Shiite and Kurdish dominated government has killed more than 874 people. During the spree, more than 10 Sunni and Shiite clerics have been killed in apparent tit-for-tat slayings that raised...

A Shiite Muslim political leader said Friday that rumors were circulating of an impending coup attempt against the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and warned that "we will not allow it." A new government would mean "canceling the constitution, canceling the results of the elections and going back to square one . . . and we will not accept that," he said. Amiri is also a top official in the Badr Organization, the armed wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which is the leading member of a coalition of Shiite political parties governing...

Baghdad, 5 April (AKI) - With outgoing Iraqi prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari showing no intention of stepping aside to allow fellow Shiite, Adel Abdel Mahdi, to head a new 'unity' government, fingers are being pointed at nearby Iran. Shiite sources in Baghdad say Tehran may have fostered the split within the mainly Shiite alliance which won the relative majority in the new parliament. Jaafari's candidature has been rejected by Kurds, Sunnis and secular Shiites, who say he is too close to Tehran, but there are now allegations that some Shiite MPs, are on the payroll of Iran's Revolutionary Guards or...

Sunni Arabs gain American backing in negotiations to form a new government.BAGHDAD – One month after Iraq's Dec. 15 election, a shift is afoot that will probably weaken Shiite political clout as the country's factions enter serious negotiations to form a new government. Increasingly, the US is throwing its weight in Iraq behind Sunni Arabs, about 20 percent of the country, to ensure they are part of a new coalition government. Analysts say the US is convinced reconciliation with Sunni Arabs will help stop the insurgency. There is also an American unease with the growing influence of Iran on Iraq's...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Angry Shiites marched Wednesday and set fire to the offices of a secular politician after a Sunni Arab guest criticized Iraq's Shiite religious leaders during an Al-Jazeera talk show. Al-Rubaei made his comments during the "Opposite Direction" program shown Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon on Al-Jazeera. Hours later, thousands of people chanted anti-Al-Jazeera slogans in the streets of the Baghdad neighborhoods of Sadr City and Karradah, and in the southern cities of Najaf and Karbala. The demonstrations, which turned into political rallies, threatened to further polarize Thursday's parliamentary elections after angry Shiites in the southern city of...

London, Nov. 27 – The United States Congressional Research Service issued a report warning of Iran’s dominating influence in neighbouring Iraq. The report, recently posted on the website of the U.S. State Department, cited Iranian support for militant groups and Shiite political parties in Iraq. “Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iran has showcased its growing political and economic influence over and mentorship of the Iraqi government”, it said, adding that the “thrust of Iran’s strategy in Iraq has been to engineer and perpetuate domination of Iraq’s government by pro-Iranian Shiite Islamist movements that would, in Iran’s view, likely align...

Basra, 25 Nov. (AKI) - A security source in the southern Iraqi city of Basra has revealed that the local authorities are investigating three Iranians who entered the city illegally. The source, who asked to remain anonymous, said the intelligence services in the province are carrying out inquiries into several people working for the Iranian secret services who arrived in the city last week. According to information released by one of the local religious movements, the three people arrived in the city to issue directives on the killing of several Basra citizens, including several journalists, who feature on a long...

Suicide bombers killed 52 worshippers at a mosque in western Iraq on Friday, while in Baghdad two car bombs killed eight Iraqis and destroyed the blast wall protecting a hotel housing foreign journalists. The suicide attackers targeted the Sheik Murad Shi'ite mosque in Khanaqin, 140 kilometers (87 miles) northeast of Baghdad, as dozens of people were attending Friday prayers, police said. Iraqi army Col. Hazim al-Sudani said 52 people were killed and 65 injured in the largely Kurdish town. The blast near the Hamra hotel in Baghdad knocked down the blast walls protecting the hotel and blew out windows, but...

A major explosion shook central Baghdad Friday morning near an interior ministry building where U.S. troops found detainees showing signs of torture, witnesses said. There was no immediate information about casualties. The blast in the Jadiriyah neighborhood reverberated through the city center, sent a mushroom cloud hundreds of feet into the air and was followed by the sounds of sporadic small arms fire. The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. Earlier this week U.S. troops found up to 173 malnourished detainees, some showing signs of torture, in the building. Most were believed to be Sunni Arabs, the main...

Armed men entered Baghdad's municipal building during a blinding dust storm on Monday, deposed the city's mayor and installed a member of Iraq's most powerful Shiite militia. The deposed mayor, Alaa al-Tamimi, who was not in his offices at the time, recounted the events in a telephone interview on Tuesday and called the move a municipal coup d'état. He added that he had gone into hiding for fear of his life. "This is the new Iraq," said Mr. Tamimi, a secular engineer with no party affiliation. "They use force to achieve their goal." The group that ousted him insisted that...

Opponents of the US-led invasion of Iraq nearly came to blows in Berlin Saturday with pro-US demonstrators accusing them of supporting "terrorism" and tolerating Saddam Hussein. About 200 people, mainly German pacifist and left-wing activists, attended an unofficial meeting called to condemn the war against Iraq and demand the withdrawal of American troops. But the gathering was interrupted by hecklers blaming anti-war demonstrators for supporting the wave of extremist violence in Iraq. Outside, about 20 people demonstrated against the conference, saying it was indirectly supporting the old Saddam regime. "We don't hate the Americans and we condemn suicide bombings against...