Female suicide bomber kills at least 20 Iraqis during iftar

A female suicide bomber blew herself up in a crowd of people during an iftar in the Iraqi province of Diyala on Monday, killing at least 20 people and wounding around 30, a top military officer said.

General Abdel Karim alRubaie, the commander of Iraqi troops in Diyala, north of Baghdad, said the attack was in the town of Bala Druz, south of the provincial capital Baquba. He said the bomber blew herself up at around 7:30 pm when people had gathered to break the Ramadan fast at the home of a detainee who was released from a US military prison on Sunday.

Baquba police Lieutenant Ali Ahmed also confirmed the attack,saying the former detainee, a police officer, had arranged a special dinner on Monday for his friends and relatives when the attack took place.Ahmed said the released detainee was killed in the blast, along with his father and another senior police officer from Bala Druz.

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Some of Iraq's public art returns to Baghdad streets

Shahryar has recovered his hand and Abu Nuwas will soon be clutching his wine goblet again. Statues damaged during the US-led invasion are being restored to their former glory across Baghdad.

Legendary king of Samarkand in "OneThousand and One Nights," Shahryar is back on his pedestal near a statue of storyteller Sheherazade overlooking the Tigris River, complete with a new hand to replace the one hacked away by vandals.

Abu Nuwas, the famed eighth-century poet who wrote about wine and the joys of drinking, will soon recover the bronze cup spirited away by thieves after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime following the March 2003 invasion.

Craftsmen and artists commissioned by Baghdad municipality are busy restoring the cup and other items that have vanished since US-led troops entered Baghdad more than five years ago.

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Jordan's king visits Iraq, urges Arabs to support country

Jordan's King Abdullah II held talks with Iraqi leaders on Monday on the first visit to Iraq by an Arab head of state since the 2003 US-led invasion of the country.

The monarch went immediately on arrival in the Iraqi capital into talks with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki before meeting Vice President Adel Abdel-Mehdi, officials said.

Discussions focused on means "to improve bilateral relations in all fields" and were "frank and positive," a Foreign Ministry statement said.

Maliki's hailed the ties between the neighbors.

"This visit will open a new page in relations between the two countries which will help to maintain the stability and security in Iraq and all the region," Maliki said.

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Washington must be ‘very clear' on timeline for withdrawal - Iraqi minister

The United States must provide a "very clear timeline" to withdraw its troops from Iraq as part of an agreement allowing them to stay beyond this year, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Ze bari said on Sunday.

It was the strongest public assertion yet that Iraq is demanding a timeline. US President George W. Bush has long resisted setting a firm schedule for pulling troops out of Iraq, although last month the White House began speaking of a general "time horizon" and "aspirational goals" to withdraw.

Iraq's leaders have become more confident of their ability to provide security as the country has become safer. But attacks which killed at least 15 people on Sunday, including a US soldier, were a reminder it is still a violent place.

In an interview with Reuters, Zebari said the agreement, including the timeline, was "very close" and would probably be presented to the Iraqi Parliament in early September.

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At least 56 killed in Iraq violence, including 25 pilgrims

Three female bombers blew themselves up on Monday in a crowd of Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad,one of a string of attacks in Iraq that killed at least 56 people, undermining hopes of a drop in violence.

Scores of people were also wounded in the attacks, which came after a relative lull in the sectarian violence that has sharply escalated in Iraq since February 2006, when insurgents blew up a Shiite mosque in the central city of Samarra.

The triple attack in Baghdad killed at least 25 pilgrims as they headed to a holy shrine for a major religious ceremony on the Shiite Muslim calendar that has been marred by bloodshed in the past, security officials said.

Another 27 people died and 126 others were wounded in a suicide bombing during a protest rally in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, and by gunfire in a panicked stampede that followed, local officials said.

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Obama shift gears on issues, including Iraq

Barack Obama bills himself as a new brand of leader poised to drain Washington's swamp of political cynicism. But despite spellbinding calls for "Change We Can Believe In," the Democratic hopeful is not shirking from cold-eyed positioning to boost his hopes of victory over Republican White House hopeful John McCain.

Obama has turned down the crowd-swooning oratory since beating Hillary Clinton to the Democratic nomination last month. The Illinois senator has switched to a general election strategy, making a beeline for the fabled political center, with policy adjustments, tonal shifts and speeches extolling faith and patriotism. Obama also appeared to be maneuvering for room on Iraq, after his anti-war stance and calls for immediate troop withdrawals underpinned his primary triumph.

But Thursday Obama denied he had changed his mind,despite claims from Republicans he had performed another "flip-flop."

Political scientist Costas Panagopoulos of New York's Forham University said Obama's tactics were normal behavior for a presidential candidate.

"This is typical in presidential campaigns, to run with more extreme positions in primaries, and then to slowly drift to the center to appeal to the greatest number of voters in a general election," he explained.

"I think for Obama it is especially crucial, because to some extent he can't run away from his record, which is one of the most liberal voting records in Congress," said Panagopoulos.

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Turkish warplanes pond PKK targets in Iraq