Iraq

RALEIGH, N.C. - A combative Barack Obama said Tuesday that Republican John McCain "doesn't know what he's up against" in this election and challenged his rival to stop questioning his character and patriotism.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - The trial of a former US Marine accused of killing two Iraqi detainees during fighting in Fallujah four years ago began Tuesday with jury selection in the landmark case, justice officials said.

NEW YORK - The city has agreed to pay $2 million to settle a lawsuit claiming 52 Iraq war activists were unjustly arrested, lawyers announced Tuesday.

As of Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008, at least 4,144 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq's security forces found Tuesday the bodies of 15 Iraqis in a village that was until three-weeks ago controlled by Al-Qaeda, a defence ministry spokesman told AFP.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces raided the office of a provincial governor and arrested the son of a leading Sunni Arab politician in separate incidents on Tuesday that could stoke sectarian and political tension.

BAGHDAD - Iraqi forces raided the provincial government compound in Diyala Province in a chaotic operation early Tuesday, killing the governor's secretary and seizing computers and cars before local police engaged them in a two-hour gun battle, police and local officials said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City has agreed to pay a $2 million settlement to protesters arrested during a 2003 rally against the Iraq war who said their civil rights had been violated, lawyers for both sides said on Tuesday.

Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama and John McCain are locked in a tight battle for president, with the Democrat capitalizing on voter concern over the economy and energy and the Republican benefiting from his experience and success in neutralizing the issue of the unpopular Iraq war.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces arrested a son of the leader of the country's main Sunni Arab political bloc at his house in Baghdad on Tuesday evening, accusing him of terrorism, the politician said.

WARSAW, Poland - Poland's prime minister says his country will offer asylum or a $40,000 payment to any Iraqi working for its military or police in Iraq.

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Swedish immigration authorities said Tuesday they suspect Iraqi refugees have taken advantage of the country's generous financial support for rejected asylum seekers.

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The United Nations on Tuesday commemorated the fifth anniversary of the bombing of its office in Baghdad that killed 22 staffers, including top envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.

BAQUBA, Iraq (AFP) - Baghdad ordered a probe into an Iraqi military unit's raid on the governor's office in Diyala province during which police came under fire and two people were killed on Tuesday.

BAGHDAD - Iraqi railway officials say Saddam Hussein's personal luxury train will return to service next month.

WAJIHIYAH, Iraq (Reuters) - The U.S. commander dons his headset as a convoy of armored vehicles rumbles along the dusty roads of the fertile Diyala river valley in Iraq, and he starts his macabre tour.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq's human rights ministry says it wants to put on trial torturers who benefit from full immunity despite what it says are dozens of proven cases of abuse in the country's prisons.

NEWARK, N.J. - Thousands of Iraqi refugees have arrived in the United States as part of a nationwide resettlement program to bring 12,000 Iraqis to the United States by the end of next month, officials said.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - 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.

WASHINGTON - Republican John McCain again insisted victory in Iraq "is finally in sight." So why, asked Democrat Barack Obama, does his presidential opponent still oppose a timetable for withdrawing American forces.

ORLANDO, Fla. - John McCain told fellow veterans Monday that Democratic rival Barack Obama tried to legislate failure in Iraq and has refused to admit he erred when opposing the military increase there last year.

RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - A suicide bomber detonated a car bomb at a police checkpoint in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi on Monday, killing five policemen and wounding seven, police said.

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (AFP) - Democrat Barack Obama berated his White House rival John McCain Monday as an out-of-touch economic illiterate, hardening his attacks in the pre-convention runup to his pick of a running mate.

BAGHDAD - The Shiite-led government is cracking down on U.S.-backed Sunni Arab fighters in one of Iraq's most turbulent regions, arresting some leaders, disarming dozens of men and banning them from manning checkpoints except alongside official security forces.

NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) - Iraq is to install 300 closed-circuit television cameras in the Shiite holy city of Najaf as it seeks to adopt a less intrusive security stance in the pilgrimage centre, a provincial official said on Monday.

BEIRUT (AFP) - Prime Minister Fuad Siniora is to travel to Baghdad this week for trade talks, becoming the first Lebanese leader to visit Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein, officials said on Monday.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - A Shiite cleric was shot dead and 17 people, mostly Iraqi policemen, were injured in a wave of bombings in Baghdad on Monday, security sources said.

Washington - The American military has depended on private contractors since sutlers sold paper, bacon, sugar, and other small luxuries to Continental Army troops during the Revolutionary War.

IRVINE, Calif. - A former Marine sergeant facing the first federal civilian prosecution of a military member accused of a war crime says there is much more at stake than his claim of innocence on charges that he killed unarmed detainees in Fallujah, Iraq.