Kirkuk, Iraq News

In a photo provided by the Dept. of Defense, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates talks with personal security detail members while waiting for a flight in Kabul, Afghanistan Wednesday, Dec.

"Gunmen killed four policemen at a checkpoint in Abu Ghraib. A cache containing TNT, cannon balls and other explosives was also found.

Today's coordinated car bombings in Baghdad rank among the most lethal terror attacks in Iraq since the 2003 invasion March 2 2004 Coordinated blasts from suicide bombers, mortars and planted explosives strike Shia Muslim shrines in Karbala and in Baghdad, killing at least 181 people.

Iraq's fractious Parliament agreed to a compromise paving the way for legislative elections early next year after an 11th-hour phone call from President Obama to a top Kurdish leader removed remaining objections to a deal.

Minutes before a midnight deadline to approve the amended law, lawmakers who had been arguing in conference rooms and around cafeteria tables voted in the Parliament chamber to approve an election law placed in jeopardy when it was vetoed by Iraq's Sunni vice president three weeks ago.

Iraqi lawmakers reached a minutes-to-midnight deal late Sunday, clearing a path to national elections early next year that are seen as crucial to a smooth U.S. troop withdrawal.

Reporting from Kirkuk, Iraq - Across a bleak desert landscape dotted with blazing oil fires on the northern edge of this ancient city, new houses are rising from the sands -- thousands of them in neat rows, mostly unfinished save for their gray cinder-block shells.

Four Iraqi police who had been deployed to guard shoppers and vendors at a vegetable market west of Baghdad were among six people killed on Sunday by unknown gunmen, government and security officials said.

Cover story Kurdistan: A lot of oil, a lot of risk Iraqi workers walk in South Rumaila oil field, in southern Iraq, December 2, 2009.

The soldiers of Battery B were on a routine walk through a downtown market when they heard the noise: a low crack that was followed by a plume of black smoke 500 yards away.

Mud-coated sandals belonging to Iraqi soldiers at an Iraqi Army base near Kirkuk.

In the run-up to the election, could Iraqi minds be concentrated strongly enough to find at least a temporary solution to an age-old and dangerous conundrum? AFP IT SOUNDS far-fetched but it may be true.

Led by a conflicted president of a divided party and nation, America is deepening her involvement in a war in its ninth year with no end in sight.

While President Barack Obama prepares to announce that he's sending tens of thousands more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, his problems in Iraq are far from over.

We stand against such attempts. They are doomed to fail. a danger of foreign intervention in the electoral process Two politically influential Shia Muslim preachers yesterday warned of possible foreign interference in Iraq 's coming parliamentary elections.

Spc. Kyle Martin is a Fairmont native serving with the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

An Iraqi air force airman performs a preflight inspection on an AC-208 from Squadron 3 at Kirkuk Air Base, Iraq, Oct.

"When will the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline be free of saboteurs? Problems have arisen again along Iraqa s main export pipeline, which runs from Kirkuk in the Kurdish area of the country to the export terminal located at Ceyhan, Turkeya s Mediterranean seaport.

American Forces Press Service Nov. 24, 2009 - Iraqi police killed a suspected bombing-cell member and arrested six others in operations over the last two days, military officials reported.

A bomb attack in Salahuddin province damaged the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline more than four days ago and the damage will take up to four more days to fix, an Iraqi Oil Ministry official said on Tuesday.

O'Malley says foes overcame hurdles, will keep talking By James F. Smith Globe Staff / November 23, 2009 Overcoming walkouts and threatened boycotts, Iraqi legislators ended three days of ground-breaking negotiations in Baghdad on the future of the disputed city of Kirkuk with an agreement yesterday to keep talking in coming months, a Boston-based ...