Eight people have died today after three bombs ripped through a sprawling Baghdad market at the beginning of a Muslim festival.

A UN-backed court investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has issued four arrest warrants.

A roadside bomb has exploded in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, narrowly missing a member of a Sunni-backed political group but killing one of his bodyguards, officials said.

THE number of US troops in Iraq has fallen below 50,000 for the first time since the 2003 US-led invasion and ahead of the end-of-the-month deadline mandated by President Barack Obama.

The vote winner in Iraq’s parliamentary elections said today he wanted to negotiate with all parties to form a government that can restore Iraq’s place in the Arab and Muslim world.

Iraq’s secular former prime minister edged out Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as final results of the parliamentary elections were released today.

Iraqis anxiously awaited the final result in their parliamentary election today amid fears the expected razor-thin margin could spark violence.

At least six people have been killed today by a series of bomb blasts targeting Shiite pilgrims in Iraq, hospital officials said.

Heavy fighting broke out between pro and anti-government supporters in Lebanon’s central mountains overlooking the capital today sending echoes of gunfire and explosions rolling across Beirut, security officials said.

Violence left at least 46 people dead in two major southern cities in Iraq when members of a messianic cult attacked police and fellow Shiite worshippers.

The lasting legacy of the North’s peace process could be to point a way forward for other conflict zones around the world, a leading US statesman claimed today.

US and Iraqi forces detained 37 suspected insurgents over the past two days in raids in and around Baghdad, the US military said today.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard insisted oil had nothing to do with Australia’s involvement in the Iraq war, contradicting his defence minister who said protecting Iraq’s oil supplies was one of his country’s motivations for keeping troops there.

Iraq’s beleaguered prime minister Nouri al-Maliki today warned against “conspiracies” in foreign capitals against his government.

The Iraqi refugee crisis in neighbouring countries could spread unless the United States and the EU take urgent measures, a human rights group said today.

Iraq’s prime minister appealed today for international help to cut off networks aiding extremists and warned envoys from neighbours and world powers that Iraq’s growing sectarian bloodshed could spill across the Middle East.

The US plans to allow 7,000 Iraqi refugees to settle in the United States over the next year, a huge expansion at a time of mounting international pressure to help those who have fled the war.

Arab diplomat Mokhtar Lamani has resigned, disillusioned and nearly drained of hope, after spending months in Iraq trying to coax Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish leaders into peace.

Hundreds of police secured a religious procession through Peshawar in north-west Pakistan today, after a suicide bomber killed 15 people near a similar Shiite Muslim gathering and heightened fears of sectarian violence.

IRAQI Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has told a US newspaper he wishes he could leave office before his four-year term is up and would not run again.

The prime minister of Iraq today ordered an investigation into the conduct of Saddam Hussein’s execution in a bid to learn who in the group of witnesses taunted the former Iraqi leader in the last minutes of his life and leaked a mobile-phone video of his death to an Arab satellite television station and website.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates rushed back to Washington to give President George Bush advice on transforming US policy in Iraq after talks in the war zone with military and political leaders.

The Iraqi Red Crescent today closed all of its Baghdad branches, a day after gunmen staged a brazen mass kidnapping.

US and Iraqi forces swept into Baghdad’s Sadr City Shiite slum in an early morning raid today, killing four Iraqis, wounding eight and detaining five, police said.

Gunmen wearing Iraq Interior Ministry commando uniforms kidnapped up to 150 staff from a government research institute in Baghdad today, the head of the parliamentary education committee said.

SADDAM HUSSEIN has told his countrymen Iraq’s “liberation is at hand” and called on insurgents to be merciful with their enemy, according to an open letter obtained Monday.

Iraq's government indefinitely postponed a much-anticipated national reconciliation conference today as at least 83 people were reported dead in a two-day spree of sectarian revenge killings and insurgent bombings.

Gunmen attacked women picking vegetables in a field outside the Iraqi capital, killing six adults and two young girls and kidnapping two teenagers.

US and Iraqi forces clashed with Shi’ite militiamen yesterday in the southern city of Diwaniyah after a raid on the home of a leader of the Mahdi Army, which is accused of killing Sunnis.

Iraq’s prime minister announced a new plan aimed at ending the deepening crisis between Shiite and Sunni parties in his government and uniting them behind the drive to stop sectarian killings that have bloodied the country for months.

Bombers and gunmen killed eight people in Iraq today as security forces prepared to further tighten security ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, when violence traditionally spikes across the country.

Bombs in Baghdad and the northern oil centre of Kirkuk today killed more than 60 people, police said.

One of Iraq’s largest Sunni Arab groups endorsed the prime minister’s national reconciliation plan today, and the government announced new benefits to help freed detainees return to normal lives.

One of Saddam Hussein’s lawyers was killed today after he was abducted from his home by men wearing police uniforms in Baghdad.

US and Iraqi authorities released 500 more prisoners today, the deputy justice minister said, the latest batch of the 2,500 inmates to be freed under Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s national reconciliation plan.

Two bombs aimed at police patrols exploded today in Baghdad as a series of attacks killed at least 24 people nationwide, while insurgent groups offered condolences for the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and warned they would continue his campaign of violence.

It was a good day for Iraq’s new prime minister. Not only did he announce the death of the country’s most-feared terror leader, he also won approval for new security ministers, the men charged with stopping the violence in Iraq.

TWO bombs struck in quick succession at a pet market in Baghdad yesterday, killing at least five people and wounding 57.

Iraq’s Shiite alliance nominated tough-talking politician Jawad al-Maliki as prime minister, in a move that broke the long impasse over forming a new government to pull the country out of its sectarian strife.

IRAQI Shi’ite politicians agreed yesterday to nominate Jawad al-Maliki as prime minister, replacing the incumbent in a bid to clear the way for a long-delayed new government.

Embattled Iraqi prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari today asked the Shiite alliance to confirm his nomination for a second term, and Shiite politicians plan to meet this weekend to decide whether to replace him.

A TOP Shi’ite lawmaker yesterday said names of selections for top posts in the new Iraqi government must be agreed upon before parliament can convene next week, casting doubt on whether the legislature will meet as announced.

The Sunni Arab bloc in Iraq’s parliament remains opposed to a new term for Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and will ask the Shiites to present new names for consideration for the top government post, a Sunni spokesman said today.

The US and UK expect Iraq to quickly restrain militias and unify around a stable government, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said today in a visit meant to resonate both in Iraq and at home.