BAGHDAD-Official campaigning for Iraq's March 7 general election started on Friday in a tense atmosphere overshadowed by angry demands from provincial leaders that workers linked to Saddam Hussein be fired.

ISTANBUL- Kurdish artists Rojda was taken into custody by reason of having spread "propaganda for an illegal organization" by performing a Kurdish song at a festival in Diyarbakir. Rojda is one of 160 artists invited by the Prime Minister to discuss the "Kurdish initiative".

DIYARBAKIR— The banned Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, launched a campaign in mainly Kurdish southern Turkey targeting people and organizations supporting the ruling party in Ankara.

WASHINGTON-Influential Israeli lobbyist groups based in D.C. are prodding the Obama administration to endorse the creation of a Kurdish state in North of Iraq. The Israeli ambassador to US, Michael B. Oren has raised the issue with senior Pentagon and Congress members on myriad occasions.

QAMISHLIS- Syrian authorities from the Political Security Branch in Rakka arrested three citizens on 17 January 2010:

A few days left to the Anniversary of 1979 Revolution in Iran, and everyone views this year’s celebrations and anniversary differently. The general perception is that the Islamic regime that hijacked the 1979 Revolution, its days are numbered and the people in Iran can create another epic in their history.

QARAQOSH-There was a hope, not long ago, that democracy would mean peace and stability for Nineveh, a place where cultures and armies have clashed since biblical times. Instead, democracy is hardening divisions — of people, of resources, of land — in ways that threaten the future of Iraq itself.

Baghdad- Hundreds of protesters denounced Iraqis still loyal to Saddam Hussein's Baath Party on Sunday as tensions soared over the decision to blacklist suspected Baathists from next month's election.

Suleimani-Kurdish parties that are part of the Supreme Council of Political Parties in Iraqi Kurdistan say they will boycott meetings o f the council because President Massoud Barzani takes unilateral decisions, the Sulaimaniyah-based independent newspaper Hawlati reported Sunday.