Over the weekend, major rioting broke out in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Basra is a Shiite city near the Iranian border and heavily influenced by Iran.

A bomb exploded outside the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad on Aug. 7, killing 11 people and injuring nearly 60 others. On the same day, an explosive device wounded two U.S. soldiers on Karada Street in Baghdad, and in a brief ensuing firefight, one Iraqi bystander was killed. Overnight Aug. 6, two U.S.

A couple of U.S. allies are heading toward a crisis of confidence that could radically reshape them in the near future. In Turkey, President Ahmet Necdet Sezer granted final approval to a batch of reforms that reduce the military-dominated National Security Council to a purely advisory role.

An American employee of the Halliburton Corp. was killed today, Aug. 5, in Iraq and three soldiers were wounded. Despite this, it appeared that the number of attacks in Iraq might be continuing to decrease slightly. It is difficult to determine the tempo of operations, since the definition of what constitutes an incident is such that the U.S.

Things are rapidly evolving in Iran. We think we understand the general direction, but the route being taken is, to say the least, complex. The major news of the day was a report published in the Los Angeles Times that asserted that Iran is closing in on building a nuclear weapon.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade has ended its cease-fire with Israel. The decision came after Palestine National Authority (PNA) security personnel arrested 20 brigade members who had been under the protection of PNA Chairman Yasser Arafat in Ramalah.

There has been a sudden spate of positive economic news in the United States. The July 30 "Beige Book" report from the Federal Reserve Bank indicated a strengthening economy. Business investment increased by 7 percent, and we've had two consecutive weeks of falling jobless claims.

It was an interesting day in the sense that it wasn't all that interesting. Or, to be more precise, no single issue dominated the day, not even Iraq. There was a range of issues, some as ordinary as the Europeans squabbling over deficits, that required attention today, July 30. Such disjointedness used to be commonplace.

U.S. President George W. Bush met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al Faisal and told him the United States would not declassify a portion of a report on the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that appeared to deal with Saudi involvement. In a deliberate slap at the Saudis, Bush did not wait to deliver the message privately.

Today, July 28, was dominated by the ongoing struggle in Washington over Iraq's past and future -- with reports and denials over the possible appointment of former Secretary of State James Baker, or someone like him, to oversee Iraqi reconstruction -- and the meeting planned for tomorrow between Saudi Arabia's foreign minister and U.S.