Steve Shickles

AP - As of Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008, at least 4,206 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

AFP - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has steered US forces toward the exit in Iraq in a deft two-year performance that helped pull the United States back from the brink of failure in the Middle East.

Reuters - An Iraqi court on Sunday ordered the release of a freelance photographer working for Reuters news agency who has been held by U.S. forces since early September.

McClatchy Newspapers - BAGHDAD - United Nations and Iraqi officials on Sunday revealed a plan to make Iraq’s January elections more transparent and fair in what are expected to be heated races for control of the nation’s provincial governments.

AP - An American journalist for National Public Radio and three Iraqi colleagues escaped injury Sunday when a bomb attached to their car exploded as it was parked along a street in west Baghdad.

AP - Iraq and Iran on Sunday exchanged the remains of 241 soldiers killed during an eight-year war between the two countries — the latest sign of increased cooperation between the neighboring nations that were fierce rivals under Saddam Hussein.

AFP - The UN special envoy to Iraq and local election commissioners on Sunday unveiled new measures designed to prevent fraud during provincial elections set for the end of January.

AP - Being an ear, nose and throat specialist in Iraq doesn’t feel so dangerous any more for Kareem, one of 27 Iraqi medical doctors who spent the past month learning about health care in the United States.

Reuters - Iran and Iraq on Sunday exchanged the remains of a total of 241 soldiers killed in their 1980-88 war, resuming a swap that had been suspended since shortly after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

AFP - Iraq and Iran on Sunday exchanged the remains of nearly 250 soldiers killed during their long and bloody war in the 1980s, in an emotional operation organised by the Red Cross.