Iraq Travel News

Elections scheduled for next January in Iraq are still 'technically possible' but security must improve in order for the United Nations to be able to send in more personnel to help with the planning, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today.

Reporting from Baghdad - As Iraqi lawmakers repeatedly miss deadlines for writing the new law urgently needed for elections to go ahead in January -- and for U.S. troops to go home -- America's diminishing role in the political process is very much in evidence.

The American schedule for withdrawing troops from Iraq is under threat after the Iraqi parliament's failure yesterday to meet a deadline for setting up national elections as planned in January.

It may be better known for sectarian violence than sun, sand and sightseeing, but Iraq has set its sights on becoming the next up-and-coming holiday destination for British travellers.

The northern Iraq factor in the 'Kurdish opening' "The northern Iraq factor in the 'Kurdish opening' SEMIH IDIZ Foreign Minister Davutoglu's recent visit to Iraq, which included high-level meetings in Basra Mosul and Arbil, represented another breakthrough for Ankara in terms of its foreign policy administration.

Merced is mourning the loss of Pfc. Lukas Hopper - a 2007 Goldlen Valley High School graduate - who died in a crash in Baghdad last week.

The official charged with carrying out Iraq's crucial January polls warned Wednesday that they will be delayed if parliament doesn't approve a key electoral bill.

Iraqi workers repair the windows and doors of the Chinese embassy in Iraq in Baghdad, capital of Iraq, on Oct.

Share + Nov 2, 2009 7:41 pm US/Central Reporting Don Shelby BASRA, Iraq 1 of 1 WCCO's Don Shelby and Tom Aviles were in a heavily armored Humvee and rode in a convoy with about seven others.

Concern over crucial Iraqi elections grew on Monday as parliamentarians here considered a new United Nations proposal aimed at breaking a two-month deadlock over how to conduct the vote, slated for January. Negotiations over the election law have remained stalled over one of the most emotional issues in the country - the disputed city of Kirkuk.

The United States and the UN, concerned that a further delay would require postponing elections past January, have issued unusually pointed statements in the past week urging the Iraqi factions to try to settle their differences. US Vice President Joe Biden telephoned Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish Regional government, on Sunday to urge him to agree to an election law, Kurdish officials say.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki meeting in Baghdad recently with Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations.

The Iraqi parliament's oil and gas committee has expressed concern to British officials over what it called an "illegal" multi-billion-dollar deal that BP will sign with the Iraqi government tomorrow, a lawmaker said.

Australia has ended its combat role in Iraq, but Aussie troops remain in Baghdad protecting diplomats in what has become an increasingly benign security environment compared with the dark days of not long ago.

Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani on October 30 praised Turkish steps to address a decades-old Kurdish conflict and called for an end to ethnic violence during a visit to the region by Turkey's foreign minister.

The LSJ is all about local news. Even as a general circulation newspaper with a healthy dose of state, national and international news, it is local coverage that's our franchise.

The Iraqi Government has banned alcohol in Baghdad's heavily fortified green zone, home to foreign embassies and some legendary drunken parties in recent years.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and State Minister for foreign trade Zafer Caglayan will travel to Iraq on Friday.

Among the many ways to judge the continued progress in Iraq is by counting the increasingly fewer number of U.S.-controlled properties in the International Zone.

Staff members of Chinese Embassy to Iraq cover the broken window with a plastic sheet at the embassy, Baghdad of Iraq, Oct.

THE outlook remains far rosier than two years ago. Violence has dropped to the level of a few months after the American invasion in 2003.