IRIN reports the survey findings as follows: " ... women's basic rights under the Hussein regime were guaranteed in the constitution and more importantly respected, with women often occupying important government positions. Now, although their rights are still enshrined in the national constitution, activists complain that, in practice, they have lost almost all of their rights."

Moreover, leaders of women's groups say that in Iraq's new government, more men in power follow conservative Sharia (to wit, Islamic law) on women's rights and on their role in society. Senar Muhammad, president of the Baghdad-based non-government organization Woman Freedom Organization, is quoted by IRIN as saying, "When we tell the government we need more representation in parliament, they respond by telling us that, if well-qualified women appear one day, they won't be turned down. ... Then they laugh at us."

Last week, on April 12, Libby counter-filed to demand extensive documents in the possession of the prosecutor. His filing, written by his lawyers, reveals that he intends to put Karl Rove on the stand as a witness to question him about his leaking of Plame's name to reporters and presumably his role in the "concerted action" against Wilson. In his request for documents from Rove's files, Libby dropped mention of Rove's current legal status.

For months, Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, has assured the press that his client, who was believed to be vulnerable to indictment for perjury, is in the clear. But Libby insisted that he was entitled to "disclosure of such documents" in Rove's files "even if Mr. Rove remains a subject of a continuing grand jury investigation".

Karl Rove is a subject of Fitzgerald's investigation - this is the headline buried in Libby's filing.

Crude oil for May delivery rose as much as 48 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $70.88 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That broke the record of $70.85 set Aug. 30 after Hurricane Katrina wrecked oil and natural gas rigs, platforms and pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico.

A big jump in gasoline prices pushed inflation at the wholesale level up in March at the fastest pace in three months, as oil prices above $70 a barrel sent U.S. consumers a high-octane warning of expensive fuel costs ahead.

However, outside of the volatile energy and food sectors, core inflation was well-behaved in March, rising by just 0.1 percent, leaving core inflation rising by a moderate 1.7 percent over the past 12 months.

U-S Senator Tom Coburn isn't naming names, but he expects six congressmen and a fellow senator will go to jail.

That's because he thinks they'll be facing corruption charges following investigations involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff and others.

In the past 40 or so years, the United States presidency has had four major political scandals, and they involved Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Clinton and George W. Bush. Of the four, Bush's season of scandal could well go down as the most infamous.

We know the tales. Johnson engaged in fakery with the Gulf of Tonkin incident so he could lock the nation into the Vietnam War. He ended up not running for re-election.

Nixon and his operatives were such persistent bunglers at political dirty tricks in the Watergate scandal that his chief advisers landed in jail and he was forced to resign.

With Clinton, trumped-up but endlessly pursued charges of financial shenanigans came to naught, but his sexual adventures almost cost him his office.

And Bush? They all look like midgets next to him.

U.S.-led coalition forces using warplanes and artillery clashed with a small band of militants holed up in a house and a cave complex in eastern Afghanistan in fighting that killed seven Afghan civilians and wounded three, the military said Sunday.

The U.S. military launched an investigation into the deaths, inflicted during an operation involving 2,500 Afghan and coalition forces to counter an upsurge in attacks by Taliban-led militants.