AP - Iraqi and UN officials say the first results from this week's parliamentary elections will likely be released on Thursday.

Reuters - Preliminary results of Iraq's parliamentary election, a vote seen as a litmus test of its young democracy, are likely to be released by Thursday, a United Nations official said Wednesday.

AFP - The commander of US forces in Iraq has predicted it would take "a couple of months" for leaders to form a post-election government but downplayed fears of instability.

AFP - The commander of US troops in Iraq on Tuesday praised Oscar-winning drama "The Hurt Locker," saying that unlike some media coverage it showed the complexities on the field.

AP - The U.S. military says two American soldiers have died in a vehicle accident in Iraq.

AP - Britain opened an inquiry Tuesday into claims that its soldiers murdered and abused civilians in southern Iraq in 2004, some of the most serious allegations made against British forces over the war and occupation of the country.

AFP - Iraq awaited initial results Tuesday from polls touted as a test of its young democracy, with Baghdad holding the key as the prime minister's list and its top secular rival jockeyed for pole position.

AP - American bomb disposal experts in Iraq say few people understood what they did.

The Christian Science Monitor - The Iraq election has shored up the country’s fragile democracy, but the months ahead are fraught with potential dangers far more worrying than the bombs that echoed through Baghdad as voters went to the polls over the weekend.

AFP - The top US general in Iraq said Monday it could be years before the United States can gauge whether its long military campaign there had achieved any measure of success.

The Christian Science Monitor - Iraqi election workers began tallying votes from 47,000 polling stations across the country Monday, a day after the country pulled off a landmark vote despite dozens of scattered explosions that went off in Baghdad and in other parts of the country.

AFP - Britain's decision to back the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 earned it respect in the Middle East and it must not be scared of similar action in the future, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Monday.

AP - The top U.S. general in Iraq says the Iraqi military performed superbly on Sunday's mostly peaceful election day and that President Barack Obama's plan to remove American combat troops from that country by Sept. 1 is proceeding on schedule.

AFP - Iraq war drama "The Hurt Locker" blew away box office king "Avatar" to take six Oscars, with Kathryn Bigelow becoming the first woman to win the best director award on a historic Hollywood night.

AP - President Barack Obama praised the Iraqi people for passing "an important milestone" Sunday, when millions turned out for national elections despite insurgent attacks that killed more than 30 people.