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Ideas for a better world in 2011

To start the new year off right, the Monitor asked various thinkers around the world for one idea each to make the world a better place in 2011. We talked to poets and political figures, physicists and financiers. The results range from how to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world to ways to revamp Hollywood.
In Pictures: US hikers detained in Iran

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Iraq's unity tested by rising tensions over oil-rich Kurdish region

As Iraqi Kurdistan ramps up oil production that could soon surpass Libya's output, Kurdish leaders have warned they may seek independence if disputes over oil revenues, power-sharing aren't resolved.
Iraq's Maliki accused of jailing, torturing opponents

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was accused by former prime minister and rival Ayad Allawi of using the security services to torture members of opposition groups into giving false confessions.
Turkey and Iran carve up a ruptured Arab world

Many analysts say the Middle East is the focus of a geopolitical power struggle between the United States and Iran. That misses the primary thread of events – namely, the ongoing soft partition of the Arab republics between Turkey and Iran, with Turkey the stronger power.
Terrorism & Security
Iraq bombings, political crisis raise concerns of renewed civil war

Bombings in Iraq targeted two Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad today. The violence, coming amid a Sunni-Shiite political crisis, threatens to inflame the tensions that led to civil war in 2006-07.
Backchannels
Could Iraq descend into a civil war again? (VIDEO)

The scars of Iraq's painful bloodletting are deep, and a powerful disincentive against a return to open warfare. But Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is moving against Sunni Arabs, his political enemies.
Terrorism & Security
Syria warns world against recognition of opposition, even as it alienates Kurds (VIDEO)

Damascus faces a double threat: growing international support for the Syrian National Council and the prospect that Syria's Kurd population could join the opposition's ranks.
Backchannels
Norway attacks: the latest terror strikes in Western Europe

Details are still sketchy on who carried out the Oslo bombing, but Norwegian police are also connecting it to a gunmen who attacked a political youth camp shortly after.
A Kurdish family's loss symbolizes northern Iraq's unmet promise

A 16-year-old protester was among the first to be killed in democracy protests earlier this year against the corruption and authoritarianism that pervade Kurdish politics.
Arab Spring crackdown damages Kurdistan's image as regional model

The US has long championed semi-autonomous Kurdistan as a democratic model for the rest of Iraq and the Middle East. But Kurdish leaders have violently shut down dissenters.
Ideas for a better world in 2011

To start the new year off right, the Monitor asked various thinkers around the world for one idea each to make the world a better place in 2011. We talked to poets and political figures, physicists and financiers. The results range from how to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world to ways to revamp Hollywood.
Tumultuous parliamentary session threatens Iraq's fragile new government

Ayad Allawi's Iraqiya coalition was relegated to head a powerful new strategic council, a bitter disappointment to his secular and Sunni followers who believed he would usher in a new era.
Iraqi official: leaders have framework to form new government

Under the agreement hammered out Wednesday evening, Iraq's new government would look a lot like the old government, a senior official told the Monitor. Parliament meets Thursday.
Iraqi Christians flee homes after fresh Baghdad attacks

Bombings in Baghdad late Tuesday and early Wednesday targeted Christians, killing at least four just 10 days after more than 50 Christians were killed by Al Qaeda-linked gunmen who stormed a church during Sunday mass.
In Iraq, Christians fear they could be wiped out – like Jews before them

The Oct. 31 attack on a Baghdad church – the worst in recent memory – has spurred a fresh exodus among Iraq's Christian community, already decimated by the war.
Iraq's divided leaders meet for the first time since March elections

Iraq's leaders met to try to break a political deadlock that has left Iraqis vulnerable to escalating violence, including two car bombings today.
Terrorism & Security
Al Qaeda ally in Iraq says all Christians 'legitimate targets'

The Islamic State of Iraq, the umbrella group for Al Qaeda in the country, claims Muslim women are being held against their will in Coptic churches in Egypt.
In Pictures: US hikers detained in Iran
The Adam Smith Institute Blog
'Invisible hand' visible in Kurdistan

In the wake of untold violence, Kurdistan's street blooms with chatter and commerce. What besides the 'invisible hand' could explain it?
Iraq road map: the new US ambassador explains hurdles

Iraq's new US ambassador has been welcomed by Iraqi political leaders, who criticized his predecessor for not being actively engaged in the political process.
Troops withdraw, but US work in Iraq war unfinished and fragile

The last US combat troops leave Iraq Thursday, shifting the American role in the Iraq war from the Pentagon to the State Department, which faces a potentially unprecedented task.
Iraq foreign ministry reopens as symbol of defying terrorists

Iraq reopened a rebuilt foreign ministry building in Baghdad Wednesday, just nine months after a major truck bombing. 'The best answer to the terrorists ... is to rise from the ashes again,' said Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.
Iraqi Christians attacked ahead of Iraq election

Killings of Iraqi Christians in the northern city of Mosul have sparked an exodus from the Arab-controlled city to Kurdish areas. The number of Iraqi Christians attacked has spiked in the run-up to elections, scheduled for Sunday.
Difference Maker
Saving cultural treasures in war-torn lands

Stuart Gibson circles the globe to help endangered museums undergo rebirth.
Iraq election official: Even if Kurdish boycott averted, January deadline impossible

Top Iraq election official says the Iraq elections cannot be held by the January deadline. US Gen. Ray Odierno reserved judgment on whether a delay would affect the US withdrawal.
In the Iraq war, Christians pushed to the brink

Iraq’s Christians have been targeted for kidnapping and forced to flee their homes. One advocate says that in a generation, Christians could be gone from the land they’ve lived in for 2,000 years.