Iraqi MPs approved an agreement that aims to bring all of Iraq's feuding political blocs into a new government led by Shiite prime minister Nouri Maliki.

Iraq’s president today called for a recount in this month’s parliamentary elections.

THE United States inaugurated its largest embassy ever in the heart of the Green Zone yesterday, officially opening the fortress-like compound that was built as a testament to America’s commitment to Iraq.

A SUICIDE bomber struck a crowded restaurant in northern Iraq yesterday where Kurdish officials were meeting with Arab tribal leaders to discuss long-standing ethnic tensions, killing at least 55 people, police said.

The Turkish army clashed with Kurdish rebels in the south east and northern Iraq in their deadliest battle in eight months, as the government pledged there would be no let-up.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown today said it was his intention to reduce British troop numbers in Iraq, but he would not set an “artificial timetable” to bring forces home.

Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad flew out from Iraq at the end of his ground-breaking visit today with a final volley of taunts at the West’s presence there.

A car bomb today ripped through a Kirkuk bus terminal that serves travellers to Iraq’s Kurdish region, killing eight people and wounding 26, according to a police spokesman.

The Iraqi president today raised objections to the planned execution of Saddam Hussein’s former defence minister, who is due to be hanged with two other former regime officials for their roles in a massacre of Kurds.

Iraqi president Jalal Talabani is expected to undergo a medical check-up during a three-week visit to the US.

A TOP insurgent leader boasted that his al-Qaida-linked group was making its own rockets, while Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Malaki said his government was talking with militant groups to try to stop the violence.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani today left a Jordanian hospital to fly back to Baghdad.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani will leave his Jordanian hospital tomorrow and return to Baghdad, Iraq’s ambassador to Jordan said today.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is recovering well from his weekend collapse from exhaustion and a pulmonary inflammation, the Iraqi ambassador said in Jordan today.

US and Iraqi forces staged raids in Baghdad’s main Shiite militant stronghold today as part of politically-sensitive forays into areas loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

IRAQ’S Shi’ite vice president escaped an apparent assassination attempt yesterday after a bomb exploded in municipal offices where he was making a speech, knocking him down with the force of the blast that left at least 10 people dead.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s private doctor today said the president had not suffered any heart troubles.

Iraqi president Jalal Talabani fell ill yesterday and was taken unconscious to a hospital before being flown to neighbouring Jordan for a medical check-up, medical and government officials said.

Syria’s president promised to do what he could to ease tensions in neighbouring Iraq during a landmark visit by the country’s president Jalal Talabani, just days after US president George Bush accused Syria of backing Iraq’s uprising.

The half-brother of Saddam Hussein and the former head of Iraq’s Revolutionary Court were hanged before dawn today, two weeks and two days after the former dictator was executed in a disturbing scene that drew worldwide criticism.

The Iraqi foreign minister today said the five Iranians detained by US-led forces in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq were working in a liaison office that had government approval and was in the process of being approved as a consulate.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani today called for the execution of two of Saddam Hussein’s co-defendants to be delayed.

In an internet letter in the name of Saddam Hussein, the deposed dictator has called on Iraqis not to hate the invaders of their country.

An appeals court decision upholding Saddam Hussein’s death sentence is final and does not require the approval of Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, a presidential spokesman said today.

IRAQ’S highest appeals court yesterday upheld the death sentence on Saddam Hussein.

Iraq’s highest appeals court upheld the death sentence for Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s national security adviser said today.

Iraqi security forces are doing everything they can to protect victims of sectarian violence in Baghdad, including families that are being driven from their homes in mixed neighbourhoods of Shiites and Sunni Arabs, a government official said today.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani today harshly criticised the bipartisan report recommending changes to US war policies, saying it contained some “very dangerous” recommendations that would undermine the sovereignty of Iraq.

Iraq’s president rejected suggestions that an international conference be held to address the violence wracking his country, echoing sentiments expressed by other leading politicians.

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei today blamed the US for the chaos in Iraq, saying that the answer to the violence is the withdrawal of foreign forces.

US President George Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will discuss a speedier hand-over of security control to Iraqi forces as a prelude to the start of a US withdrawal when they meet in Amman, Jordan, later this week, top Iraqi government officials said today.

A curfew that had banned vehicles from Baghdad’s streets and closed its international airport to all civilian flights for three days was lifted today, clearing the way for Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to travel to Iran for an official visit.

Revenge-seeking militiamen seized six Sunnis as they left prayers and burned them alive with kerosene in a savage new twist to the brutality shaking the Iraqi capital.

Iran has invited the Iraqi and Syrian presidents to Tehran for a weekend summit with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to thrash out ways to cooperate in curbing violence in Iraq, four key politicians said today.

A sombre Saddam Hussein called on Iraqis to forgive each other today, when he returned to court in Iraq two days after another panel of judges had condemned him to death for crimes against humanity.

IRAQ’S appeals court is expected to rule on Saddam Hussein’s guilty verdict and death sentence by the middle of January, the chief prosecutor said yesterday.

Iraq's appeals court is expected to rule on Saddam Hussein's guilty verdict and death sentence by the middle of January, the chief prosecutor said today.

Two bombs went off within minutes of each other today in northern Baghdad, killing at least nine people and wounding 39.

Iraq’s prime minister sharply criticised a US-Iraqi attack on a Shiite militia stronghold in Baghdad, exposing a rift with his American partners on security tactics, as 24 people were killed today in a series of bombings and shooting.

A suicide truck bomber struck the provincial headquarters of an Iraqi police commando force north of Baghdad today, killing at least 10 troops and wounding 18 others, police said.

Iraqi and US forces raided a Shiite militia stronghold in Baghdad today, triggering a gunbattle that left three people dead, while 12 others were killed elsewhere.

President Jalal Talabani said today that Iraqi forces will take over security of all provinces in the country by the end of the year, which at present is largely in the hand of US forces.

President Jalal Talabani has said Iraqi forces will take over security of the country by the end of the year.

Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he may be ready to name his nominees for defence and interior minister, the two men who will likely lay the groundwork for carrying out his pledge to take over security around within 18 months, and eventually open the way for US troops to go home.