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Amnesty International said it has uncovered a "pattern of torture" of Iraqi prisoners by coalition troops, and called for an independent investigation into the claims of abuse.
The London-based human rights group said it had received "scores" of reports of ill treatment of detainees by British and American troops.
British military police are investigating allegations of abuse by U.K. soldiers after the Daily Mirror newspaper published photos allegedly showing a hooded Iraqi prisoner who (…)

Peter Beaumont, Kamal Ahmed and Chris Stephens, The Guardian
Chilling new evidence of the torture and sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers emerged last night in a secret report accusing the US army leadership of failings at the highest levels.
Detainees were subjected to ’sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses’, according to a military investigation suggesting that last week’s photographs of US soldiers humiliating their naked captives may only have been the tip of (…)

Fadel Badran, Reuters
Eight-year-old Anas Mohamed wept as his father picked through the rubble where their family house once stood in the besieged Iraqi town of Falluja.
"My books have been burned so how will I study?," he asked. "Where will we live? Where will we live?" he cried.
Iraqi insurgents celebrate while riding through the streets of Falluja, May 1, 2004. Soldiers of the old Iraqi army led by one of Saddam Hussein’s generals patrolled the city of Falluja on Saturday, a year (…)

By Huck Gutman
The situation in Iraq is going badly for the occupying American forces. Despite a staged-for-television proclamation of victory aboard an aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean last year, President Bush has recently found his policies, from spurious reasons for waging war against Iraq, to the badly bungled early occupation, to politically-inspired deadlines for handing over "authority" to an as-yet non-existent Iraqi government, criticized more and more frequently.
We live (…)

BRIAN BRADY AND MIKE THEODOULOU IN CYPRUS
IT WAS pitch dark when Walid Fayay Mazban drove home through British-controlled southern Iraq late on August 24 last year.
As so often happened amid the confusion still gripping Iraq less than six months after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the street lights were not working.
Mazban’s family are convinced this was why he did not see the makeshift roadblock erected by British soldiers near their base in Basra. They also believe that one ’mistake’ (…)

An American magazine has reported that Iraqi prisoners faced numerous "sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses" by US soldiers including sodomy and beatings.
The New Yorker magazine in its 10 May issue quotes extensively from a 53-page, internal US military report, confirming widespread abuses at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison.
The army report authorised by Lt General Ricardo Sanchez - the top US army officer in Iraq - lists out the diabolical tortures often heaped on Iraqi prisoners. (…)

Although officials say it’s unlikely, extended service of reservists worries young
By Frank Oliveri Gannett News Service
WASHINGTON - Eighteen-year-old Ravi Mohandie has a plan for his life.
He’s studying to become a civil engineer at the University of Hawaii. Then he wants a master’s degree in oceanography and a job helping protect the state’s big island from tidal waves.
Nowhere in his plan is the possibility of being drafted for military service.
"I already know where I want to (…)

I’m Not Scared: Drama-thriller. Starring Giuseppe Cristiano. Directed by Gabriele Salvatores. Written by Niccolo Ammaniti and Francesca Marciano, from Ammaniti’s novel.(R. In Italian with English subtitles. 101 minutes.)
By David Hudson
I’m Not Scared I’m Not Scared (Io non ho paura) might sound like the title of a new horror flick, but while there are several pretty intense moments and one in particular that literally had the audience jolt back in their seats, it isn’t. Could have been, (…)

Iraqi prisoners have faced numerous "sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses" by U.S. soldiers, including sodomy and beatings, according to a U.S. Army report quoted by the New Yorker magazine.
The New Yorker said it had obtained a 53-page, internal U.S. military report into alleged abuses at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad. In an article posted on its Web site on Saturday, the magazine said the report had been authorised by Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. (…)

An ongoing workers’ strike has ground production at Italian automaker Fiat to a complete halt, bellaciao.org reports.
Striking metalworkers union members, demanding better pay and shifts, have blocked off roads around a Melfi, Italy, plant to prevent parts from reaching other Fiat plants in Italy.
Latest company figures show that the strike has prevented Fiat, headquartered in Turin, Italy, from producing a planned 16,300 vehicles. Fiat is losing production of 4,000 more cars a day.
An (…)