SIx In The Morning

On Sunday

'The war is over': Last US soldiers leave Iraq
The last American troops crossed the border from Iraq into Kuwait early Sunday, ending the U.S. military presence there after nearly nine years.

By NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news services
As the last convoy left Iraq at daybreak Sunday, soldiers whooped, bumped fists and embraced each other in a burst of joy and relief, The Associated Press reported. NBC News' Richard Engel tweeted from the border: "The gate to #iraq is closed. Soldier just told me, 'that's it, the war is over.'" The final column of around 100 mostly U.S. military MRAP armored vehicles carrying 500 U.S. troops trundled through the night along an empty highway, across the southern Iraq desert to the Kuwaiti border.

Force-fed and beaten – life for women in jail
New UN guidelines are being flouted worldwide, Independent on Sunday research shows

MOLLY GUINNESS SUNDAY 18 DECEMBER 2011
Female prisoners around the world are being subjected to body cavity searches, beatings and force-feeding, are held in padded cells, shackled during childbirth, and made to work in chain gangs. Some of the worst conditions are in developing countries, but there are also serious abuses and overcrowding in Europe and North America. These are the major findings of a survey by The Independent on Sunday to mark the first anniversary of United Nations rules governing the treatment of women in prison. The "Bangkok Rules" make stipulations about contact with families, gender-specific healthcare, psychological treatment and hygiene, and they forbid strip searches in most circumstances. The guidelines were adopted on 21 December 2010, but reports from around the world show they are being widely flouted.

Philippines steps up search for flood survivors
Rescuers are continuing the search for survivors after floods killed more than 500 people and left hundreds more missing in the southern Philippines.

The BBC 18 December 2011
Naval vessels are scouring the coast along the island of Mindanao while soldiers searched swollen rivers. Officials said many bodies remained unclaimed, suggesting entire families had been swept away. The flash floods were triggered by a tropical storm that coincided with high tides, trapping many in their homes. The major ports of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan were among the areas worst hit on Friday night. Almost 35,000 people were still sheltering in evacuation centres on Sunday, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said.

Is Puerto Rico becoming a narco-state?
The island's murder rate, which will likely set a record this year, and a police force that a top official at the US Justice Department called 'one of the worst I've seen' both fit the definition of a narco-state

By Elyssa Pachico, Guest blogger
With over 1,000 murders in Puerto Rico this year, some commentators have warned that the US territory is on the verge of becoming a "narco-state" that has been infiltrated by the drug trade. Amid this record high in homicides and lagging police reform, a recent article in the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Dia said that the US territory is on the verge of becoming a "narco-state." The article lists 15 characteristics of narco-states, as defined by the United Nations, and concludes that 12 of them apply to Puerto Rico.

Gabon's ruling party set for easy victory
President Ali Bongo's ruling party was expected to cruise to victory in elections Saturday in Gabon after a divided opposition failed to rattle the regime's decades-old grip on the oil-rich state.

Sapa-AFP
For the first legislative polls since his father Omar died in 2009 after 41 years in power, Ali Bongo, 52, has campaigned on his economic achievements and the hosting of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. Inspired by the Arab Spring and a string of protest movements against long-standing rulers in sub-Saharan Africa, Gabon's opposition once looked like mounting a serious challenge. The west African country's myriad opposition parties were adamant a few weeks ago that the election should not go ahead before the introduction of biometric polling material but their unity crumbled in the home stretch.

Angelina Jolie's harrowing war film startles the critics
The actress's directorial debut, an unflinching portrayal of the genocide in Bosnia, has sent shockwaves through the Balkans – and may mark the start of a career behind the camera

Vanessa Thorpe, arts and media correspondent The Observer, Sunday 18 December 2011
Angelina Jolie's name has remained a byword for sex appeal for longer than most film stars could hope, but the 36-year-old Oscar-winner's status as one of the most compelling women in Hollywood is about to change. Her harrowing directorial debut, In the Land of Blood and Honey, has been met with such unexpected critical acclaim that a future for the actress behind the camera, as well as on screen, now looks certain. The film, which premiered in New York this month, has already been recognised with a Stanley Kramer award for work in the cinema that draws attention to injustice and social issues. Last week it also received a Golden Globe nomination. And, in stark contrast to the recent directorial foray by fellow millionaire performer Madonna, Jolie's film has been judged by critics as an authentic attempt to inform and entertain