This seems to be the big-picture story in Iraq:
Sunni Arab politicians, meanwhile, expressed anger over remarks by Iraq’s most powerful Shiite politician suggesting that the new constitution, approved in October, would not be amended….
A key Sunni demand is weaker federalism and a stronger central government. The constitution now gives most power — including control over [...]

A continent renowned for its supposed machismo seems about to get its first female president, Michelle Bachelet. This in itself is interesting, but equally interesting is the divide that can be seen across the continent between a more or less pragmatic group of politicians - Bachelet herself, Kirchner in Argentina, Lula in Brazil, or, to [...]

Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda o Barcelona
Which is Welsh (the language of my childhood) for Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year from sunny Barcelona. Well, I just added the sunny part, since the sun is, right now, also rising.
Since I am not religious, and I am not really a dedicated fan of [...]

Following up on my spoof post about the complexity of making bets when it comes to new pharma products, worries about Tamiflu continue. The original issue was one of unexplained deaths in Japan, which were, more or less, subsequently explained. Now there are questions about its efficacy in the case of the H5N1 flu strain, [...]

There’s an interesting piece in the FT today about how oil output is steadily decining in Iraq due to over explotation of existing wells and the difficulties in attracting the technical staff necessary for serious development of new capacity:

Iraq’s oil industry has gone backwards since the fall of Mr Hussein in the spring of 2003. [...]

The FT has just put this up:
The Kurdish regional government’s surprise announcement that it had begun drilling for oil in the north of Iraq sparked alarm yesterday, two weeks ahead of national elections.
As the FT indicates, the decision of the Kurdish government hinges on the controversial article 109 of Iraq’s constitution, which gives the [...]

Wow! The FT today has a very long and extensive story about how the US military have been ‘placing’ stories in the Iraqi press. While I don’t disagree with the observation by one commentator in that “I don’t think that there’s anything inherently evil or morally wrong with it” in a war [...]

This link is not exactly recent, but it is a reasonably good summary of something.

How would you like your eggs done here sir, scrambled or sunny- side up? Of course my hilarity here may be due to the fact that Huevos in Spanish has a rather different connotation:
A South Korean scientist whose cloning of a dog Time magazine called this year’s most amazing invention resigned on Thursday as head [...]

Does this add a new dimension to the term “laying down a smokescreen“?
The British military uses white phosphorous in Iraq but only to lay smoke screens, the government said Wednesday, after allegations that U.S. troops used the incendiary weapon against civilians during the battle of Fallujah last year…
“In the British army, we only use white [...]