Baghdad market bombing adds to soaring death toll

A market bombing in central Baghdad killed 15 people Friday morning, continuing the spike in violence as the deadline approaches for the United States to withdraw combat troops from Iraqi cities. The bomb went off in a commercial area where men buy and sell motorcycles, an Interior Ministry official said.

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What Iraqis Think About Iran’s Election Turmoil

Iraq and Iran have rarely had the luxury of ignoring each other; in the 1980s, the two fought a bitter eight-year war, and more recently, since the U.S. toppling of Saddam Hussein, Iran has taken an active — and some would argue malign — interest in its neighbor to the west.

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Judge orders release of 3 U.S. contractors held in Iraq

Three of five Americans contractors detained in Baghdad have been ordered released by an Iraqi judge, because of insufficient evidence, a court spokesman said Thursday. The other two other contractors remain in custody, according to Judge Abdul Sattar al-Beeraqdar, a spokesman for Iraq’s Higher Judicial Council.

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How the Economy Could Crush Iraq’s Hopes

Ahmed Basim Mohammed al-Abaje is understanding about slow salary payments from the Iraqi government. He and other citizens of Baghdad are beginning to realize that the Iraqi government is running low on cash owing to the global financial crisis.

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When a Soldier Commits Murder: Life in Prison for Steven Green

Just over three years and two months ago, Steven Green raped 14-year-old Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi and murdered her, her parents and her six-year-old sister in the family’s isolated farm house 20 miles south of Baghdad. On Thursday afternoon, after deliberating on a death sentence for 10 hours over two days, a jury of nine women and three men in Paducah, Kentucky’s U.S.

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