Meanwhile in Iraq

Iraqi leader criticises US report: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has criticised some of the main findings of a high-level US report calling for a change of strategy in Iraq.

U.S., Iraqi troops seal off Haditha - residents: The U.S. military said troops were manning checkpoints and building a sand berm to crack down on insurgents in Haditha and in neighboring Barwana. It said U.S. troops were protecting "the population and good citizens of Haditha."

26 killed in Iraq attacks, including suicide bomb at shrine: Overnight, Baghdad police found the bodies of 10 people who had been trussed up and shot dead at close range, then dumped in the street.

Photos confirm US raid child deaths : Al Jazeera has obtained exclusive footage that confirms children were among the victims of a US air raid northwest of Baghdad. Local officials said that the bodies of 17 civilians, including six children and eight women, had been pulled from the debris of two houses in al-Ishaqi.

U.S., Iraqi troops seal off Haditha - residents: Residents in Haditha, said electricity has been cut off and that no food is being allowed into the city.

'You must leave in 24 hours or your heads will be cut, your houses burnt': Two gunmen had walked down the street like postmen and dropped the letter off at every Shia home. Once they had covered the block, a car picked them up.

Cabinet minister says Britain advised U.S. not to disband Iraqi army : British officials tried in vain to persuade the United States not to disband the Iraqi army after the fall of Saddam Hussein, a senior Cabinet minister said in comments published Saturday

GOP senator says war may be 'criminal': Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith, a Republican who voted in favor of the Iraq war in 2002 and has supported it ever since, now says the current U.S. war effort is "absurd" and "may even be criminal."

U.S. Ranger alleges war crimes: "We are looking to be able to prosecute 30 to 40 members of Task Force 626 for war crimes, including rape, murder, et cetera," Sommer said in a telephone interview this week.

No evidence found of war crimes Ranger alleged, Pentagon says: Sommer said that he was ordered to guard prisoners at a pre-interrogation facility used by the Army's elite Delta Force. While on guard, Sommer said he saw members of Delta Force badly beat an Iraqi man and woman and then rape the woman in the back of a truck trailer.

New Pentagon Plan at Odds with Iraq Study Group's: Top Military Advisers -- in Iraq and at the Pentagon -- Present Their Own Plan to President Bush

Bush: Iraq Study Group Agrees With Me: In his weekly radio address, President Bush said the bipartisan Iraq Study Group's report released this week "explicitly endorses the strategic goal we've set in Iraq," though he ignored sections of the panel's report that criticize his administration's handling of the war.

Iran Offers To Help U.S. Withdraw From Iraq: Iran's foreign minister says his country wants to help the U.S. get out of Iraq.

Poll: Plurality of Americans say they back Iraq Study Group report; Over a quarter said 'what report?': Newsweek's poll, consisting of interviews with 1,000 adults conducted between Dec. 6 and Dec. 7, "Americans back the ISG’s recommendations by a two-to-one margin," as "39 percent of Americans said they generally agree with the group’s 79 recommendations, while 20 percent said they disagree."

Secret American talks with insurgents break down: SECRET talks in which senior American officials came face-to-face with some of their most bitter enemies in the Iraqi insurgency broke down after two months of meetings, rebel commanders have disclosed.