Baghdad - The Iraqi Presidential Board on Saturday ratified Article 50 of the law on provincial council elections, concerned with the controversial issue of representation of minorities in local councils.
"Today, the Presidential Board ratified Article 50 of the provincial council elections law, which was approved by the Parliament last week," the head of the presidential office, Naseer al-Aani, told Voices of Iraq news agency.
Berlin - Germany is to end its long-standing coolness to the US-backed government of Iraq, sending its foreign minister to Baghdad next year, Foreign Ministry aides confirmed Saturday.
The change would be a gesture of support for the Mideast policies of US president-elect Barack Obama, one newspaper, Handelsblatt, was set to report on Monday, quoting senior German Foreign Ministry officials.
Baghdad - One person was killed and seven injured on Saturday in a bomb blast in northern Baghdad, police said.
The bomb went off in the al-Qahira neighborhood, damaging nearby shops and vehicles, the Voices of Iraq news agency reported.
Meanwhile, a prominent al-Qaeda-in-Iraq leader was killed in the north of the Iraqi capital during an operation by Iraqi forces, Sahwa fighters and coalition forces, a US army statement said on Saturday.
Baghdad, Nov 8: The US military unit in Iraq has claimed that a senior Al Qaeda leader in the country was killed in a weapons cache-clearing operation carried out in north of Baghdad.
A statement issued by the US military on Friday said that Abu Ghazwan was killed late on Thursday in the Tarmiyah area.
Ghazwan led many terrorist cells in the Tarmiyah and Taji areas, and he advised and financed other terrorist cells in northern Iraq, The News quoted the statement as saying.
It said that the operation was carried out by coalition-supported Iraqi security forces and “Sons of Iraq”, also known as “Awakening Councils”. The paramilitary groups composed mainly of former insurgents who now work with US forces to fight al-Qaida in Iraq.
Baghdad - Hungary, Bulgaria and South Korea will each withdraw their troops from Iraq by the end of 2008, a spokesman for Iraq's Ministry of Defence told the Voices of Iraq news agency on Friday.
The troops will leave after finishing their tour of duty, said spokesman Mohamed al-Askary adding that most of the soldiers duties were "humanitarian."
Bulgarian Minister of Defence Teodor Melescanu was quoted by US media as saying some Bulgarian personnel would stay in Iraq to work as advisors to the Iraqi national authorities.
Baghdad - The Iraqi Presidential Board on Saturday ratified Article 50 of the law on provincial council elections, concerned with the controversial issue of representation of minorities in local councils.
Berlin - Germany is to end its long-standing coolness to the US-backed government of Iraq, sending its foreign minister to Baghdad next year, Foreign Ministry aides confirmed Saturday.
Baghdad - One person was killed and seven injured on Saturday in a bomb blast in northern Baghdad, police said.
Baghdad - Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zibari on Friday said there was a possibility for Iraqi-Syrian relations to get back to normal.
Baghdad - Hungary, Bulgaria and South Korea will each withdraw their troops from Iraq by the end of 2008, a spokesman for Iraq's Ministry of Defence told the Voices of Iraq news agency on Friday.
